June 6, 1997



Dinah Washington, 1996, oil on linen, shown at right.

Frederick Brown's Jazz Paintings at the Sheldon

Jazz Concert Follows Opening Reception June 10

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery will present Frederick Brown: The Jazz Paintings, a Sheldon Solo exhibition, from June 10 through July 20. Sheldon Solo is an ongoing series of one-person exhibitions focusing on the work of individual artists.

This exhibition of over 20 paintings not only features a selection of recently completed paintings of jazz performers, but also offers a broad cross-section of the work of one of the most eclectic and aesthetically diverse African-American painters working today. Born in Greensboro, Ga., and reared in Chicago, Frederick Brown has achieved an international reputation for his highly charged expressionistic portraits of a range of subjects, from blues and jazz performers to clowns, Native American heroes, and religious figures.

In 1970, after graduating with a B.A. in painting from the University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale, Brown moved to New York and became intimately involved with a community of jazz musicians with whom he collaborated on multi-media projects and from whom his life-long interest in jazz and blues began to play a definitive role in his painting. He also met the 20th century master Willem de Kooning whose work was highly influential in the development of Brown's own expressionistic style.

Since the 1980s, Brown's work has been in high demand and he has fulfilled many commissions, from cover illustrations of The New Yorker to public monuments, such as his colossal 33' x 28' The Assumption of Mary at the Xavier College Library in New Orleans and his The History of Art, a 110-foot painting mural at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City. His paintings are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of Art, Washington, D.C., and the White House.

The jazz paintings featured in this exhibition are to be part of Brown's most ambitious project to date: a 300-panel mural consisting of portraits of the famous as well as the lesser known performers who have made important contributions to the development of jazz music, an artform which has contributed significantly to American culture. These highly expressionistic paintings communicate Brown's unique interpretations of the performer's physical and spiritual characteristics through highly energetic brushwork and vibrant colors.

An opening reception will be from 5 to 7 p.m. June 10 in the Sheldon Gallery. Brown will present a gallery talk in the exhibition space. Following the reception, "Karin Allyson and Friends" will perform in the Sculpture Garden as part of the Jazz in June concert series held each Tuesday in June from 7 to 9 p.m.

Kim Todd Named Assistant to Chancellor

Kim Todd, director of campus planning at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been promoted to assistant to the chancellor for community affairs and campus planning by Chancellor James Moeser.

Her promotion is part of a restructuring of the campus planning office which will now become part of the chancellor's office. She will also be responsible for a number of government and community liaison functions and will serve as a member of the chancellor's cabinet. Her promotion is effective July 1.

"Kim Todd is a proven leader both within the university community and the community at large, " Moeser said. "Bringing Kim and the campus planning function into the chancellor's office will consolidate our administrative structure and should help us become more efficient."

Moeser said that as part of administrative downsizing within the chancellor's office, the position of executive director of university relations will be eliminated. Todd had served as interim executive director of university relations since November.

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Todd, 43, earned her bachelor's degree in landscape architecture at Iowa State University (1975) and her master's degree in community and human resources at Nebraska (1983). She joined the UNL staff in 1978 as campus landscape architect and assistant professor in the architecture and horticulture departments. She became director of campus planning last year.

She won the first Oldt Award for service and support of humanitarian and civic programs from the University Association for Administrative Development in 1992 and the Builder's Award from the Downtown Lincoln Association in 1993.

Todd was interim director of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum for one year and from 1985-93 was landscape architect for the Center for Landscape Stewardship, a program that provides design assistance to Nebraska communities. She is past chair of the state board of examiners for landscape architects and is a member of the Nebraska Capitol Environs Commission.

Moira Ferguson Named Faculty Associate To Chancellor

Moira Ferguson, James E. Ryan Chair in English and Women's Literature and Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been named Faculty Associate to the Chancellor for the 1997-98 academic year.

The appointment, which begins in August, was announced by Chancellor James Moeser.

"I cannot think of a better person to continue this program, " Moeser said. "She has an outstanding reputation with the faculty in the Department of English, not only because of her strong research portfolio but also because she is a first-rate classroom teacher.

"She has a sincere interest in learning about administrative work and in working toward a leadership position at the university, which is exactly the intent of the Faculty Associate position. "

Created in 1992, the faculty associate position is intended to increase the number of women and ethnic minority faculty members in the administrative affairs of the university. Other goals are to prepare faculty for administrative positions, to increase faculty understanding of the workings of university administration and to provide administrative role models for women and ethnic minority faculty.

The program provides that a faculty member, preferably fully promoted or nearing that goal, serve in the office of a dean, vice chancellor or the chancellor for an academic year, working shoulder to shoulder with the administrator and his or her staff and participating as a member of the administrative team.

The ultimate goal is for the faculty member to assume a leadership position at the University of Nebraska.

Ferguson, who has been associated with NU since the fall of 1975, has won numerous fellowships, awards and accolades for her teaching and research as a member of the English Department. She was founding chairwoman of the Women's Studies Program in 1976.

In 1995, she received the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award from the NU System, the highest honor recognition granted by the university for faculty scholarship, research or artistic achievement. She received the university's Annis Chaikin Sorensen Award in 1987 for Distinguished Teaching. She also has been recognized for her excellence in teaching and service to students by the UNL Parents' Association and was named an Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 1996 by ASUN, the student government at UNL.

She has published 17 books and numerous articles on a variety of subjects: gender relations under British colonialism, particularly in Africa and the Caribbean; 18th Century British women writers; and animal rights. Among courses she has taught are honors English, Restoration and 18th Century literature, women's literature, feminist theory and criticism and African-Caribbean women novelists.

She has been a consultant to the British Broadcasting Co. She was a U.S. delegate to the Non-Governmental Organizations Committee at the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. She has delivered invited lectures at universities in the United States, Canada, Bermuda and China. In 1995, she received a Tribute to Women Award from the Lincoln YWCA.

A native of Scotland, she earned a bachelor's degree from the University of London's Birkbeck College and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Washington.

Summer Session More Than Just Classes

Events, Performances Scheduled Throughout Term

Summer session classes, which began May 19, offer students much more than just a chance to catch up or get ahead, said Nancy Stara, director of summer sessions.

"We offer traditional academic fare, of course, but we also offer a series of courses designed to stimulate diversity in the Multicultural Teaching Fellows Program," Stara said. "We bring four visiting instructors in to teach three-credit-hour courses that will give our students a little different perspective on important subjects. This program has been well received in the past and I'm sure it will be again this summer. There will also be a variety of cultural events on campus that will appeal to both students and the general public."

The Multicultural Teaching Fellows Program will offer two courses in each of the two five-week sessions. In the first five-week session, beginning June 9, Naomi Warren of the University of Texas at Austin will teach "Communication and Ethnic Groups" and Ronald J. Stephens of Wayne State University in Detroit will teach "Contemporary Black Social Movements." In the second five-week session, beginning July 14, Walter Rucker of the University of California at Riverside will teach "Slave Resistance in North America" and Clarence Taylor of Florida International University will teach "Post-World War II America." Stara said each course meets the requirements of the university's Comprehensive Education Program.

The Summer Arts Program of the College of Fine and Performing Arts has scheduled four performances, all free and open to the public: In addition, the University Program Council has scheduled a series of "Grassy Grooves" musical performances, the "Jazz in June" series, outdoor movies and three Omaha Royals baseball trips. All events are open to the public and all are free of charge, except the Omaha Royals trips June 27, July 18 and Aug. 1. Cost for the Royals trips are $5 for students and $8 for adults, including game ticket, transportation to and from Rosenblatt Stadium and a box lunch.

The Grassy Grooves series will be from noon to 1 p.m. between the Nebraska Union and Canfield Administration every Thursday (except July 3) through Aug. 14. The series schedule: June 12, folk musician Terri Dahlquist; June 19, folk musician Dave Marsh; June 26, bluegrass group Toasted Ponies; July 10, traditional folk musician Chris Sayre; July 17, Lightning Bugs jazz ensemble; July 24, Nebraska Jazz; July 31, Plain Label String Band; Aug. 7, Nebraska Brass; Aug. 14, Aspen, a contemporary soft rock group.

Jazz in June will be presented in the Sheldon Sculpture Garden at 7 p.m. June 10, 17 and 24. Movies will be shown on an outdoor screen on the greenspace north of the Nebraska Union beginning at dusk June 17, July 9 and 23, and Aug. 6 and 20. The film "Kansas City" will be screened June 17.

Summer classes end Aug. 15. More than 1,400 courses and special workshops are offered. Summer enrollment usually runs between 14,000 and 16,000 students.

Law Professor Named Institutional Representative

Josephine R. "Jo" Potuto, Richard H. Larson Professor of Constitutional Law, will be the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's institutional representative to the Big 12 Conference and the NCAA, Chancellor James Moeser announced recently.

Potuto will assume her duties July 1, Moeser said. She attended the Big 12 spring meetings May 19-23 in Dallas with Jim O'Hanlon, who is stepping down after 14 years as institutional representative to concentrate on his duties as dean of Teachers College.

Potuto is Nebraska's eighth institutional representative. She was preceded by T.J. Thompson (1931-46), Earl S. Fullbrook (1947-58), Charles S. Miller (1959-64), Merk Hobson (1965-68), John R. "Jack" Davis (1969-70), Keith Broman (1971-82) and O'Hanlon.

"I've always enjoyed college athletics," Potuto said. "It's an important aspect of campus life at the university. I also believe my experience and educational background are well-suited to the position. I teach, or have taught, constitutional law, contracts and administrative law, three subjects that frame a number of issues facing the NCAA."

Potuto said there are several issues that she and other leaders in intercollegiate athletics will have to deal with soon.

"Gender equity has been on the front burner and it's going to stay there," she said. "Another thing the NCAA is at least thinking about is trying to reach an agreement with Major League Baseball that would allow the expansion of the college baseball season. Academic standards for student-athletes have been, are now and will continue to be a major issue.

"And at some point, we all have to figure out how the student-athlete fits into student life generally. We have problems on our campuses with relationship situations, with alcohol, with drugs, with behavioral problems - and it's unfair to focus on the student-athlete as the sole source of those problems."

"In Jo Potuto, the University of Nebraska will be represented before the NCAA and the Big 12 by a first-class legal mind," Moeser said. "Some very complex issues face intercollegiate athletics in the next few years and her leadership and expertise will be critical for Nebraska's voice to be heard. I expect she will make significant contributions to resolving those issues."

Potuto is secretary and vice chair of the rules governance committee of the university's NCAA certification committee and last year completed a three-year term on the academic senate's intercollegiate athletics committee. During that term, the committee reevaluated and rewrote Nebraska's policy governing student-athletes' class absences for competition. Potuto also chaired a subcommittee that created a policy for student-athlete appeals of withdrawal of athletic scholarships.

Potuto joined the Nebraska law faculty as an assistant professor in 1974. She was promoted to associate professor in 1978 and to professor in 1981. She was named to the Larson professorship in 1988 and has been a faculty member at NU's Center on Children, Family and the Law since 1987. She has been a visiting professor of law at the University of Arizona, Rutgers University, the Cardozo College of Law at New York's Yeshiva University, the University of Oregon, the University of North Carolina and Seton Hall University.

While on sabbatical during the 1983-84 academic year, she was an assistant prosecutor in Essex County, N.J. (Newark). She has also spent four of the last six summers working in the prosecutor's office in Morris County, N.J.

She is a member of the bar for the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, U.S. District Court and the state bars in Nebraska and New Jersey.

Potuto earned her bachelor's degree in journalism at Rutgers' Douglass College (1967), then earned her master's degree in English literature at Seton Hall (1971) and her juris doctorate at the Rutgers Law College (1974).

Jacobson, Stara Named Associate Vice Chancellors

Evelyn Jacobson and Nancy Stara have been named associate vice chancellors for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln by Rick Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Jacobson, acting chair of the UNL department of modern languages and literatures and professor of German, will replace Al Kilgore effective July 1 and will have responsibility for all academic personnel issues, including hiring, promotion and tenure. Kilgore, who has served as associate vice chancellor since 1993, will return to Teachers College as a professor of educational administration and curriculum and instruction.

Stara, professor of accounting in the College of Business Administration, has been interim associate vice chancellor for academic affairs since July. Her permanent appointment begins June 1. She replaces Liz Grobsmith, who left last summer to become dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Stara is responsible for the university's undergraduate programs and is director of summer sessions.

"I'm delighted to have attracted two outstanding campus leaders. They both have strong academic credentials and they share a vision for the future of the university," said Edwards, who joined UNL in April after six years as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky.

"We have very high aspirations for the university's development during the next decade, both in serving Nebraska's outstanding students and in strengthening the research profile and reputation of the campus. Achieving these aspirations will require us to approach our responsibilities in new ways and with new ideas."

Edwards said both Jacobson and Stara bring qualities to their academic affairs posts that will help the university meet those aspirations.

"Evelyn Jacobson has an excellent background in academic administration based on her strong intellectual commitments and her excellent leadership abilities," he said. "Nancy Stara brings a keen, analytic mind and a passionate commitment to building high-quality undergraduate programs for our undergraduates."

Jacobson earned her bachelor's degree at City College of the City University of New York (1966) and her master's (1969) and doctoral (1977) degrees at the University of Chicago. She also did postgraduate work at the universities of Gottingen and Heidelberg in Germany. She was an instructor in elementary and intermediate German, German culture and Middle High German at Schiller College in Heidelberg from 1970-72, then came to Nebraska in 1974 as assistant coordinator of course programs in the Division of Continuing Studies and International Educational Services. Jacobson joined the modern languages and literatures faculty as an assistant professor of German in 1978, became a tenured associate professor in 1985 and professor in 1995. She was named assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1991 and was associate dean of the college from 1992-96. The college honored her with a Distinguished Teaching Award in 1989.

Stara joined the UNL faculty as an assistant professor in the school of accountancy in 1985 and in 1991 was promoted to associate professor and named Nebraska Society of CPAs Distinguished Professor of Accountancy. She was promoted to professor this year. Stara received a College of Business Administration Distinguished Teaching Award and was named Outstanding Faculty Member by the UNL chapter of Delta Sigma Pi, a business student organization, in 1991. Stara was associate dean of the College of Business Administration from 1991-94, then returned to the teaching faculty. She earned her bachelor's degree at Park College (1964), then earned a juris doctorate from the University of Nebraska (1967) and an L.L.M. degree in taxation from the University of Denver (1985). Stara was admitted to the Nebraska bar in 1967 and the Colorado bar in 1970, and has been a certified public accountant in Nebraska since 1976. Her publications in the tax area have appeared in such journals as Tax Adviser, St. Louis Law Journal, Nebraska Law Review and Taxation for Accountants. Before joining the Nebraska faculty, Stara was senior legal counsel for the Nebraska Department of Revenue, tax manager for Johnson Grant and Co., CPAs, and counsel for national and local law firms.

Pioneer Hi-Bred Donates Experimental Soybean Lines to NU

Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. has donated experimental soybean lines valued at just over $1 million to the University of Nebraska Foundation to benefit NU's soybean breeding program.

The donation consists of small-seeded, food-grade soybean lines, or germplasm, and research information on these lines. Some of these lines are one or two years from commercialization; others are just entering the testing process.

The Pioneer donation was part of a food-grade soybean research and development program, which the company discontinued.

"The University of Nebraska has a vital, full-fledged food-grade breeding program," said Clark Jennings, Pioneer's soybean research manager. "This germplasm complements their efforts and ensures the public will benefit from the total research and development efforts."

The small-seeded lines Pioneer donated are best suited for human use as sprouts or natto, a specialty product considered a health food in Japan, said George Graef, soybean breeder in NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

"This material adds another dimension to our small-seeded soybean breeding program," Graef said. "Developing soybeans for human uses is a major focus for us."

NU breeders will begin testing some of the donated lines this season, he said. "We look forward to working with this material and anything we eventually commercialize from this donation will benefit our Nebraska growers."

Specifically, Graef said, the donation consists of 27 soybean lines in advanced testing stages and 103 lines in the first stage of wider testing. There also are about 5,000 lines available for preliminary testing and about 50 populations from which breeders will make selections to begin line evaluations in 1998 or 1999, Graef said.

Don Helmuth, UNL associate vice chancellor for research, said NU's strong agronomy
research program was a major factor in the donation.

The donation agreement encourages NU to commercialize any lines that prove suitable to assure that the public benefits from Pioneer's and NU's development efforts, Helmuth added.

"We're also going to collaborate with others and share information" with other land-grant university plant breeders, he added.

The NU Foundation is a nonprofit corporation supplementing faculty, student, facility and program support at the University of Nebraska's four campuses through gifts from alumni, friends, corporations and other foundations.

- Vicki Miller

Cooperative Extension Receives $800,000 Families Grant

University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension has received an $800,000 federal grant to further statewide support of community-based programs for children, youth and families.

The announcement for Building Family Friendly Communities was made by Dean Ken Bolen May 5 during a Keeping Families First news conference at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. UNO also received a grant to launch a similar program in the Omaha Public Schools.

Nebraska is one of 14 states to receive a five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for targeted programs that include electronic connectivity for new and existing community sites.

"Cooperative Extension will collaborate with communities around the state to offer educational programs and family enrichment activities that provide families with tools for making healthy choices," Bolen said.

Nebraska's program will put additional focus on Thurston and Dawson counties because of minority populations there, said Gary Heusel, administrative project leader and NU state 4-H program leader.

The Nebraska grant was developed by a team of extension faculty members throughout the state who will serve as project directors, Heusel said. The project will include statewide training to enhance the ability of extension faculty and community leaders to build "family friendly" communities.

Businesses, churches, schools and community organizations that pledge to make a special effort to support families will form partnerships to build communities in which families are valued, Heusel said.

This concentrated, community-wide effort will help families nurture, build and preserve the best quality of life possible for all members of the community, he added. The process will increase public awareness about the critical role families play in shaping the individual lives in various communities, Heusel said.

Thurston and Dawson counties will be demonstration sites for the program's curriculum and teaching methods, Heusel noted. Coalitions in these counties will focus on identifying issues and concerns relating to Hispanic and Native American children, youth and family.

The programs developed at these two pilot sites will serve as a model for other Nebraska communities. Cooperative Extension faculty and community leaders from Thurston and Dawson counties will share what they learn with colleagues statewide, the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources administrator noted.

Potential program components include parenting coalitions, after school 4-H, adult and teen leadership development, community teen advisory groups and youth exchanges. Basic prevention strategies will be used to overcome behaviors such as drug, alcohol and tobacco use, teen pregnancy, school drop out, violent behavior and gang development. Adults and youth in the pilot communities will learn to use electronic technology to communicate between Nebraska communities and with other project communities nationwide.

A "Families First" work team representing all collaborators will be created to initiate the project, Heusel noted. Work is expected to begin by July 1.

- Cheryl Alberts

Division of Continuing Studies on the Vanguard of Distance of Education

By Ted Genoways

In 1908, the University of Nebraska was a lively campus, rich in tradition - a program already 40 years old, the first graduate school west of the Mississippi, budding author Willa Cather among its early alumni. Yet, enrollments had begun to plateau. Travel was still difficult across Nebraska, and many young men and women were needed on their family homesteads. If the young people of Nebraska couldn't come to the University, the University would have to go to them.

So in 1909, Nebraska instituted one of the nation's first college-level independent study programs and in 1929 expanded to include high school level courses. In the early days, only a handful of courses were offered; those who registered received course packets copied on early Edison-designed mimeograph machines, delivered by horse-drawn rural carriers. When Director of Distance Education Monty McMahon began at the University of Nebraska 30 years ago, "little had changed," he said. "Course developers were still typing stencils and mimeographing course packets sent out by mail."

Since then, Distance Education at the University has moved to the vanguard of this field dedicated to providing services to high school and college students unable to attend traditional classes. Today teachers are able to guide and monitor students through courses delivered over the Internet and other electronic formats still being developed - most notably the CLASS project, an innovative multi-format system that has already received a Department of Education Star School award and promises to set new standards for distance education worldwide.

These new technologies have been carefully integrated into what had once been an exclusively print-based field. A complete Curriculum Branch develops courses designed specifically for distance students - both in the Independent Study High School (the only full-accredited, university-based program in the country) and for college-level instruction from twenty-five different departments. The Department of Distance Education has taken the lead in developing new instructional designs according to current learning theory.

"Application of learning rather than proof of learning," McMahon said, a motto that defines the methodology all courses follow.

By trusting students to read, review, and learn the information, instructors are freed to guide each student toward new ways of applying that knowledge in a real-world setting. Independent study and distance education programs around the world have begun to explore ways of expanding their curricula beyond simple, proof testing. Many have come to the University of Nebraska to study this system - both curriculum and delivery.

"The emphasis now is 'distributed education' versus 'distance education,' " said James Sherwood, assistant director of Distance Education. "In the last five years we've begun to literally bring the University to the student. We still reach out to traditionally under-served students in ever-expanding numbers, but we've also seen student needs expand. To accommodate those changes, we've had to step up our development - from evolutionary to revolutionary."

McMahon, who retires from the directorship this month after 30 years of service to the University, echoes that sentiment. He has helped bring about an era of remarkable change.

"I don't see retirement as the end of the world," he said, "because I'm comfortable with what we've accomplished here. Continuing Education used to be the backdoor to the university, but now it's the front door."

Back to menu

For questions regarding the Scarlet's Web pages, contact:
dtaurins@unlinfo.unl.edu
(402) 472-8518, Fax: (402) 472-7825