Lentz Center FlowersThe Celebration of Spring wraps up today at the Lentz Center for Asian
Culture in Morrill Hall, where an installation of spring flowers has been
on display this past week. The flowers arrangements were to honor the
60th
anniversary of the Ichiyo School of Ikebana (Japanese Flower Arrangement)
and ranged from small table top arrangements to larger floor
installations |
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Gerald Vizenor, the most prolific Native American writer of the 20th century, will deliver several lectures April 6-9 at the annual Abraham Lincoln Lecture Series.
The four lectures, collectively titled Fugitive Poses: Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Presence, all begin at 7:30 p.m. on consecutive evenings in the Great Plains Art Collection, 215 Love Library. They are free and open to the public.
Lectures are:
April 6, Native American Sovereignty: Visionary Transmotion and Survivance; April 7, Fugitive Poses: Interimage Simulations of Native Americans; April 8, Literary Animals: Figurative Creatures in Native American Fiction; and April 9, Wistful Envies: Narratives of Absence and Presence.
Vizenor's visit is sponsored by the NU Press, the UNL departments of anthropology and athletics, the Center for Great Plains Studies, the College of Arts & Sciences, and Native American Studies program. A reception will follow the final speech on April 9.
Degree Grade Rosters identifying May 9 degree candidates will be mailed to faculty on April 10. The deadline for returning the rosters to the Records Office is April 24.
"Russia's Rocky Road to Freedom" is the title of the final lecture in the 1997-98 E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues at 3:30 p.m. April 9 at the Lied Center.
Hedrick Smith won the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting as the Moscow correspondent for the New York Times. His lecture is free and open to the public.
Smith will provide an insightful look at the remarkable changes taking place in Russia, from its fragile democratic institutions to its "cowboy capitalism." He will describe how the masses continue to grumble while a new and rich elite amasses enormous amounts of money.
A longtime newspaper correspondent who now produces documentaries on current events, Smith also will discuss how the news media of the old Soviet Union faces great challenges as it learns to operate in the new democracy.
The Thompson Forum lectures are a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation and the University of Nebraska. The lectures are shown live via satellite as sites throughout Nebraska, including College Park in Grand Island, state colleges, community colleges and high schools.
-Tom Simons, Public Relations
Applications and nominations for the interim director of the newly created Nebraska Public Policy Center will be reviewed beginning April 15. The center is a collaborative effort of the four University of Nebraska campuses to inform public policy by developing and analyzing applied research for the public, elected officials, executive agencies and others.
The interim director will initiate and implement the mission of the center, develop relationships among the four campuses and develop client relationships . The candidate will have an understanding of public policy issues in Nebraska, have academic expertise and have the ability to relate to a broad spectrum of people. Position requirements are status as a University of Nebraska administrator and a master's degree. A doctoral degree is preferred.
The position is half-time and begins immediately. A permanent director is expected to be named in six to nine months.
Interests persons should send a letter of interest, current resume and the names of four references to David Brinkerhoff, chair, Public Policy Center Search Committee, 208 Canfield, NU, Lincoln, NE 68588-0420. Telephone is (402) 472-3751. Fax is (402) 472-4929.
The Vice Chancellor for Research will host a reception in honor of Robert Rutford from 5 to 7 p.m. April 9 in the Dana Board Room of the Wick Alumni Center. Rutford was vice chancellor for research from 1977 to 1982, and was president of the University of Texas-Dallas from 1982 to 1994.
Every Wednesday, airlines announce last-minute bargain fares to fill empty seats on weekend flights. You can check 10 airlines' offerings at once on Web Flyer at http://webflyer.com/@deal/@dea l.htm. You can also phone the airlines and ask for their Internet weekend fares.
Please note that the Campus Recreation Center will be open April 12 from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. (this is a departure from the typical spring semester hours).
Also note that the East Campus Activities Building will be closed on April 11 and 12. It will reopen at 6:30 a.m. on April 13.
Please remember that the Campus Recreation Center will be closed May 10 to May 16. This is the annual closedown for maintenance and repairs. Campus Recreation will make additional hours available that week at the East Campus Activities Building. The closedown week is necessary to effect repairs which cannot be made during the regular course of the year due to the length of time required for some projects and the odors which sometimes accompany this work. Thank you for your understanding. Inquiries: 472-3467.
Human Resources Policies and Procedures for office/service and managerial/professional employees are being revised. The proposed revisions appear on the Human Resources homepage <http://www.unl.edu/hrhomepage.html>. Members of the campus community are invited to read the proposed revisions and give comments and suggestions to Bruce Currin or Faye Moulton on or before April 17.
The Teaching and Learning Center will sponsor "WebCT" at 8 to 9:30 a.m. April 7 in 265 Mabel Lee Hall. Ronald Roeber, associate professor, IANR Communications and Computing, will describe the various uses of WebCT.
The WebCT is a web-based tool that facilitates the creation and administration of sophisticated, on-line educational environments. Developed by faculty at the University of British Columbia, WebCT can be used to create entire on-line courses, or as a supplement to curriculum based instruction. WebCT components include conferencing, chat, student progress tracking, group project organization, quizzes and exams, grade maintenance and statistics, calendar, student home pages, and much more.
To register, contact the TLC by email at teaching@unlinfo.unl.edu or by phone at 472-3079.
The University Honors Program and the Teaching and Learning Center will co-sponsor "Honors Courses in the Sciences"at 8 to 9:30 a.m. April 9 in the Selleck Hall private dining room. Paul Kelter, associate professor of chemistry, will discuss the development of honors courses in the Chemistry Department to serve as an illustration of an honors curriculum in the sciences. These honors courses are based on a model that presumes that student involvement in research and the chemical literature are the keys to honors-level understanding of the subject. Discussion will also focus on the value of "breakout" honors classes in which separate honors recitations or labs are combined with large open-enrollment lectures.
To register, contact the TLC by email at teaching@unlinfo.unl.edu or by phone at 472-3079.
Earlier this spring a demonstration of some features of the TopClass Classroom Management System was provided for UNL faculty and students. Information Services and the Teaching and Learning Center will co-sponsor this follow-up workshop from 1:30 to 5 p.m. April 10 in the New Media Center, Mabel Lee Hall. The workshop leaders include Charles Ansorge, Teachers College, and Paul Erickson, Information Services.
This hands-on workshop will permit participants to view (and experience) the following feature set of TopClass: e-mail, threaded discussion list, automated or instructor-corrected testing system, and group announcement.
Participants will be able to develop content for a Demo Module and access TopClass as both an instructor and student to observe differences in the two modes of access. This hands-on workshop will involve the use of PageMill to create text and graphic material for importing into TopClass. An on-line testing program designed by John Orr, mathematics and statistics, will also be demonstrated.
Registration is limited. To register, contact the TLC by email at teaching@unlinfo.unl.edu or by phone at 472-3079.
The Education Employment Services at the university will host the 23rd annual Education Recruitment Day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 20 at the Clifford M. Hardin Center for Continuing Education.
The theme, in keeping with Teachers College 90th birthday celebration, is "Ninety Years of Training Top Educators." Nearly 60 schools from 10 states will attend to screen candidates as part of the recruitment process for Fall 1998 teaching positions. Registration is open to all teaching candidates, new graduates and alumni. For more information, contact Janet Ehlers, 472-3145, or visit the website at http://www.unl.edu/careers/ ees/erd/htm.
The College of Architecture has two more Hyde Lectures in April.
Tom Fisher, dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of Minnesota-Minneapolis, "The Works of Tom Fisher," 4 p.m., April 16, Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
Fisher previously was editorial director for Progressive Architecture. Fisher obtained his bachelor's degree in architecture from Cornell University and a master's in interdisciplinary studies from Case Western Reserve University. His lectures include: The Future of Practice, Architectural Education as a Design Problem, Issues in Architecture, Alternative Careers in Architecture, The Profession's Public Responsibilities and Can This Profession be Saved? He has challenged much critical thinking to the process of education of architects both in institutions of higher reaming and in practice.
Susan Sanders, Hyde Chair of Excellence, Spring Semester 1998, "Willa Cather Meets Johnny Mnemonic on the Great Plain(e) of Cyberspace," 4 p.m., April 30, 127 Architecture Hall.
Most recently from Atlanta, Ga., and the Savannah College of Art & Design, Sanders comes to the University of Nebraska to pursue a comparative project of the millennium, a study of the fiction of Willa Cather as emblematic of the 19th Century midwestern relationship of the individual to the wealth and promise of the land of the Great Plains, and the 21st Century individual as portrayed by William Gibson, a contemporary writer who coined and defined the term "cyberspace" (as a consensual hallucination) the next great frontier of design. Not a complete foreigner to the midwest, Sanders taught for five years at the University of Arkansas and established a small but productive private practice. Her studio and seminar teaching investigates architecture as not only a tangible material construction but perhaps more significantly as a reflective and reflexive barometer of the cultural state of humanity. While in Lincoln she will be teaching a fifth-year design studio, promoting discussions on the current topics in architecture with both students and faculty.
These lectures are made possible by the A. Leicester Hyde Memorial Fund.
The Teaching Council and the Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable invite proposals from all faculty for projects aimed at improving teaching and learning at the university. The TC and the TLTR are independent groups with the common objective of supporting innovative approaches to teaching, instructional development, strengthening courses and curricula and assessment of student learning. Proposals will be directed to the TC if they focus primarily on instructional design and pedagogy and to the TLTR if they focus primarily on the use of new technologies to enhance teaching and learning.
For more information, contact the Teaching Council or the Teaching and Learning Center at 472-3079.
Gov. Ben Nelson signed LB1100 into law on March 31.
LB1100 was the University of Nebraska's highest priority this legislative session. It appropriates funds for the major deferred maintenance needs of the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska State Colleges. The legislation provides matching funds of $5.9 million from the State General Fund each year for up to 10 years beginning in FY 2000 for major repair, renovation or replacement projects at the four campuses of the university and at the three state colleges. LB1100 was introduced by Sen. Dan Lynch and co-sponsored by 14 members of the Legislature including the members of the Appropriations Committee and the Task Force for Building Renewal.
The Academic Activities Committee of the University Libraries continues its Annual Visiting Scholar Program at 10 a.m. April 17 in the Steinhart Room of the Lied Center. This year's guest will be Joseph Migga Kizza, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and a 1990 Ph.D. graduate of UNL. He will speak on "Information Ethics in the Computer Age."
With a major interest in social computing, Kizza has published and presented extensively on the ethics of computing and its impact on information and the information profession. Some articles include "Ethics in the Computer and Information Professions," "Legislate or Teach Information Ethics," and a chapter in a recent supplement to the Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology called "Ethics in the Computer Age." "Ethics in the Computer Age," has also been the title and focus of several conferences that Kizza has helped organize. His most recent book, "Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age," will be followed this year by his book "Regulating the Internet: The Balancing Act of Promoting Good Use and Preventing Misuse."
Registration for the program begins at 9:30 a.m. The program will reconvene at 1:30 with a panel discussion which will be open to questions from the audience. The program is free and open to the public.
The videoconference, "The Changing American College Student Implications For the Freshman Year and Beyond" will be presented from noon to 3 p.m. April 21 in 314 Benton Hall.
Presenters will be Alexander Astin, John Gardner and Linda Sax.
How well do we really understand the characteristics of our students? Is there more to students than meets the eye? Compare your perceptions of college students to what the data show during this important teleconference bringing together some of the nation's most renowned experts on American college students. This teleconference will address a variety of questions and issues.
To register, contact the Teaching and Learning Center, 121 Benton Hall, 0623. Or register by e-mail teaching@unlinfo.unl.edu, phone 472-3079.
As the university's largest workforce, student workers - from desk workers, to food servers, to lab assistants, to peer counselors - make this campus work. Celebrate your student staff during National Student Employment Week, April 6-10. Due to construction in the Nebraska Union, the Student Employment and Internship Center, will not be posting individual notices of recognition from university departments in the Union this year, but they encourage you to personally recognize the important contributions student workers make to the University.
Ways you might celebrate your student staff:
Or create your own way of telling your student workers "Thank You" for getting the business of the university done. For more information on National Student Employment Week, contact Emily Wilber, SEIC's Student Employment Specialist, at ewilber1@unl.edu or at 472-6364.
The UNL Emeriti Association will meet at 12:30 p.m. April 23 in the East Union. The speaker will be Moira Ferguson, James E. Ryan Chair of English and women's literature and faculty associate to the chancellor. Members are reminded that this meeting is on the fourth Thursday, rather than the usual third Thursday.
"The 'Threatening' Immigrant and the Extreme Right Vote in Belgium and Europe," will be presented at 3:30 p.m. in the Georgian Room of the Nebraska Union. Marc Swyngedouw, Catholique University of Brussels is the presenter.
The fear of immigrants and ethnic minorities from Islamic countries plays an important role in the mobilization of the extreme-right political parties in Belgium, as well as in all of Europe. In this lecture, Swyngedouw will examine the rise of the extreme right in Europe, with a special focus on the Belgium-Flemish case.
Swyngedouw is co-director of the Belgian National Election Studies based at the University of Leuven and former dean of the Political and Social Sciences at the Catholique University of Brussels. He is responsible for exit polling for Belgium's media and comments regularly in the international press.
This lecture is co-sponsored by the Gallup Research Center, the Research Council, and the Departments of Sociology, Political Science, and Mathematics and Statistics.
Information on prescription pharmaceuticals and drug interactions is available via the Internet to parents of special-needs children and professionals who coordinate services for special-needs families in Nebraska.
Through the Partnership IDEAS Network Web site, created by the Nebraska Pharmacists Association and the University of Nebraska's Center on Children, Families and the Law, families and professionals may receive private e-mail responses to their questions about drug side effects, availability and reliability. All questions will be reviewed by licensed pharmacists at the Nebraska Pharmacists Association.
Any Nebraska parent or foster parent of a child with special needs may register to join the Partnership IDEAS Network, said Gregg Wright, IDEAS director at the center. Any services coordinator from a state or nonprofit agency may also participate.
Allison Jorgensen, assistant executive director of the Nebraska Pharmacists Association and the Nebraska Medicaid drug use review director, said the Web site is unique asset to parents of special needs children.
"The Nebraska Pharmacists Association works with AskRX (the network's electronic form for submitting queries) because patients need access to patient specific medical information," she said. "It's one thing to look up general comments in a reference book or on the Web, but it's something different to send patient-specific information to a pharmacist and get an answer - or more questions - to assist in patient care."
Families who do not have Internet access at work or home may find Internet access at local libraries, county extension offices or hospitals.
Wright said the IDEAS Network is a collaboration of public and private organizations, including the Nebraska Health and Human Services System, Department of Education, Library Commission and FHC Options Inc. The U.S. Department of Commerce will fund 41 percent (more than $360,000) of the total cost of the project. Nearly $25,000 will be funded by non-governmental sources.
To find out more information about the Partnership IDEAS Network, visit the IDEAS Web site http://nncf.unl.edu/ideas or call the toll-free number at (800) 746-8420 (472-0844 in Lincoln).
-Nancy Shank, Center on Children, Families and the Law
Two lectures at the University of Nebraska College of Law will explore the psychology of juries as part of the "Social Science in the Courtroom" series April 6.
Valerie Hans, a national expert on jury behavior, will present "The Myth of the Robin Hood Jury" at 11 a.m. in Room 112 of the Law College.
Hans, a professor of criminal justice and psychology at the University of Delaware and coauthor of "Judging the Jury," studies the relationship between the public and the courts. Her lecture will debunk the belief that juries are strongly pro-plaintiff in civil suits against corporations. Her research indicates that juries are not uniformly hostile to business interests.
Hans is working on a new book about how juries make decisions in cases that involve businesses and corporations. While at NU, she also will deliver the psychology department's Morris Lecture.
At noon, a jury consultant for a national litigation services firm will present "The Psychology of Jury Decision Making: Practical Suggestions for Trial Lawyers." Michelle Larson, a Nebraska law and psychology graduate, works for the FTI Corp. in Chicago.
The lecture series is sponsored by the NU law and psychology program; Sci-Jur, a university legal resources service; and the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys. The presentations are free and open to the public.
-Amy Cyphers, Public Relations
A three-day conference on entrepreneurship, under way til April 4 and staged by the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Nebraska College of Business Administration, consists of four main events under one tent.
More than $30,000 in scholarships, cash and prizes will be awarded through the Donald Duncan/Duncan Aviation Business Plan Competition, the Promodel Corp. Productivity Improvement Competition, the Coleman Foundation Collegiate Entrepreneurs of the Heartland Conference and the Allen Dayton Young Entrereneur Contest. The Nebraska Entrepreneur of the Year awards also will be presented.
The conference is expected to draw 250 college students from across the United States and Canada, plus 150 college and high school students from Nebraska in addition to prominent entrepreneurs from around the state.
In its 10th year, the Duncan Aviation Business Plan Competition gives teams of college students the opportunity to present a viable business plan to a team of judges - all successful entrepreneurs - for feedback. More than $10,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded to the top teams in graduate and undergraduate divisions. Sponsors include Duncan Aviation, Cormack Enterprises, Sandhills Publishing and the Jim Gaylord family.
The Promodel Corp. Productivity Improvement Competition asks college students to demonstrate their ability to identify a problem in an organization, evaluate alternative courses of action and recommend a solution, much like what a consulting team would present to an organization's management. The competition includes tracks for service and medical applications and for manufacturing applications. Students will compete for $10,000 in cash and prizes before a combination of industry and academic judges. Sponsors include Promodel, Pella Corp., Inacom and National Crane.
The third-annual Coleman Foundation Collegiate Entrepreneurs of the Heartland Conference April 4 will give college and high school students the opportunity to learn how to raise and spend money, how to put together a successful business team and how to use emerging technologies to improve business. Lou Keller of Promodel will provide the keynote address and prominent business people will be in attendance to share their experiences with students and faculty. The Gupta Institute for Enterprise Development sponsors scholarships for university students to attend this event.
Also on April 4, 10 Nebraska high school seniors chosen from a field of more than 300 in the Allen Dayton Young Entrepreneur Contest will receive $10,000 in scholarships to the University of Nebraska. The contest recognizes high school seniors with outstanding potential to become entrepreneurs and to build successful businesses. Entrants submitted essays and finalists were interviewed to elaborate on their entrepreneurial skills and outlooks.
In addition, six Nebraska entrepreneurs will receive Entrepreneur of the Year awards at the honors luncheon April 4.
-Tom Simons, Public Relations
The Nebraska Investment Finance Authority again is offering grants to encourage 4-H members to choose careers in agriculture.
NIFA is making $25,000 available to outstanding 4-H clubs, said Gary Heusel, University of Nebraska 4-H program leader. Twenty-five clubs each will receive a $1,000 grant to be used for community workshops, sponsor tours for members, or develop a program that provides opportunities for young people to learn more about agricultural careers. Both urban and rural 4-H clubs are encouraged to apply for the grants.
NIFA is a nonprofit organization that provides funds to small farmers and first-time home buyers, Heusel said. The organization is interested in encouraging young people to choose careers in agriculture and is offering the grants through 4-H to do so.
Skills learned, community service performed, awards earned and the club's plan for use of the grant are considered in determining grant recipients. There are 2,556 Nebraska 4-H clubs eligible for the grants.
There are many careers in agriculture, of which young people may be unaware, Heusel said. The grant program gives 4-H an opportunity to support agricultural roots and help its members expand those career possibilities, Heusel said.
Grant applications must be submitted to local Cooperative Extension offices by April 20. The 25 clubs selected for the award will be announced June 1.
Four-H is part of Cooperative Extension in NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
- Christy Aegerter, IANR news assistant
The founders of the leading infant-toddler care and education centers in Italy will share their expertise at the first American conference of its kind at the university.
"The Experience of Infant-Toddler Centers in Italy: Reggio Emilia and Pistoia" runs April 20-21 at the Clifford Hardin Center for Continuing Education.
In Italy, a great deal of effort and public commitment has been invested in high-quality, family centered care and education for children younger than 3 years, including children with disabilities. In particular, Reggio Emilia, a city of 130,000 in northern Italy, has been long acclaimed as a center of innovation in early childhood education. Likewise, Pistoia, a city of 100,000 in central Italy, has outstanding programs.
The need for infant-toddler care and education is growing in the United States. Welfare parents joining the workforce, preferences of middle-class and professional parents, and the need to provide supportive services to children at-risk for developmental differences are driving growth in this industry. At the same time, concerns exits about quality, accessibility and cost as well as care-giver training and compensation.
Participants in this two-day conference will meet the founders of the Reggio Emilia and Pistoia approaches. In addition, participants will learn about the physical environments, curriculum strategies, organization, philosophies and policies underlying these unique approaches. A panel discussion will complete the conference April 21.
Speakers are Annalia Galardini, a founding leader of Pistoia's early childhood services; Carlina Rinaldi, director of early childhood education for Reggio Emilia; Donatella Giovannini, pedagogical coordinator for the infant-toddler services of Pistoia; Lella Gandini, official liaison of the Reggio Emilia approach in the United States; and Carolyn Pope Edwards, professor of psychology and family and consumer sciences at the University of Nebraska.
Preschool educators, child care educators, Head Start educators, public school educators, early intervention experts, college teachers, students and others interested in quality toddler-infant care should attend.
Conference sponsors are the NU departments of Family and Consumer Sciences, Psychology, Curriculum and Instruction and the Division of Continuing Studies Department of Conferences and Professional Programs; Emporia State University Teachers College; Early Childhood Training Center, Iowa Department of Education; Iowa State University Department of Human Development and Family Studies; Lincoln Association for the Education of Young Children; Omaha Association for the Education of Young Children; Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department Child Care Program; Lincoln Public Schools; and Nebraska Department of Education Office of Early Childhood Care and Education.
For more information or to register, contact Academic Conferences and Professional Programs at 472-2844 or check this website: http://www.unl.edu/conted/acpp/.
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