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ALAN PAGE RELAXES during a news conference Friday in the Welpton Courtroom at the College of Law. Page,an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court and former Vikings football standout, addressed the Health & Lifestyle, Sports and Recreation symposium sponsored by the Center for Great Plains Studies. (Photo: Richard Wright) |
From the Office of the Chancellor |
Dear Colleagues:
Many of you are probably aware that several units of the university have made the transition from their former e-mail system to Lotus Notes - approximately 680 administrators, faculty and staff. This migration will continue with the expectation that around 1,500 individuals will have moved to Lotus Notes by the end of the calendar year. You may also know that the other University of Nebraska campuses are going through a similar transition. President (L. Dennis) Smith and the Board of Regents have requested that all university employees and students be Lotus Notes users by the end of fiscal 2001.
Lotus Notes has the world's largest installed base of e-mail users and is intended for large enterprises such as the ones found at UNL and the University of Nebraska system. It is geared for more uniform access management, support, and functionality across e-mail and calendaring and also common business practices, including budget, personnel, materials management, student information, etc. It is also anticipated that long-term vendor support for the product is assured because of its large customer base and accompanying growth in customer expectations for the product. These are a few of the reasons why the Lotus Notes decision was made.
Since I am aware a number of you do not favor Lotus Notes as an e-mail provider, I ask that each of you take a broader view of the issue. Obviously, competitive products will always exist. I feel Lotus Notes represents a decision that strikes a route through the maze of choices that are currently available. There are and will be products that equal Lotus Notes in quality and function and may, in fact, leapfrog Lotus Notes periodically. However, with each new release, Lotus Notes will return to its competitive position. For example, Information Services personnel report that this fall's release of version 5.0 will assist UNL as it moves toward an integrated Web environment for administrative and academic use. It will permit the open use of a variety of clients that will interface with Lotus Notes whether the user is located at the office, home or in a hotel. In addition, Lotus Note's Domino Server, already among the very best available, will again be upgraded.
Finally, it is important to remember that a single e-mail system, while seemingly restrictive to individual choice, has the advantage of allowing UNL to focus more resources on mission, not process. Someone has to maintain and support each of the 25 systems currently running on campus. There are also licensing costs and even hardware costs that have to be paid in some instances. We need to minimize these areas of duplication and put the resulting cost savings to better use.
Because the university system has adopted the policy that we will be in a Lotus Notes environment by 2001, I believe it is imperative that all changes in e-mail systems on the UNL campus be in the direction of Lotus Notes. Ultimately, that is the only platform that will receive service and support.
James Moeser
Chancellor
The redesigned version of the university homepage and top level structure debuted April 3. The new design incorporates many features based on email to the previous site, comments from university web designers and users, and an evaluation of the site's structure conducted this past winter by the cataloging staff at the Libraries. It is hoped that the new look will give the university a stronger visual presence without slowing down load times for off-campus browsers. Early feedback to the site has been positive; Scarlet readers are encouraged to visit the site at http://www.unl.edu/.
The third annual conference focusing on issues facing people of color in predominantly white educational institutions will be April 23-24 at the University of Nebraska Clifford Hardin Nebraska Center for Continuing Education.
The conference, "People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions," recently won the Conferences and Professional Programs Exemplary Award, a national award from the University Continuing Education Association. The association is the principal professional organization for continuing higher education in the United States.
This year's conference features Blandina Cardenas-Ramirez, a longtime activist for education reform; Ella Edmondson Bell, a researcher and educator in organizational behavior; and Quintard Taylor, a historian of African Americans in the United States.
More than 60 presenters with a variety of ethnic backgrounds from 33 U.S. institutions will explore issues and represent the perspectives of students, faculty and staff members in several educational settings.
Bell, an associate professor at Belk College of Business Administration, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, will open the conference at 9 a.m. April 23. She is an expert in organizational change in the management of race, gender and culture. Along with her colleague, Stella Nkomo, Bell is writing a book, "Our Separate Ways: Black and White Women's Paths to Success in Corporate America," to be published this year.
Taylor, the preeminent scholar of African American Western history, will speak at noon April 23. He is a professor and head of the department of history at the University of Oregon. Taylor wrote "The Forging of a Black Community: A History of Seattle's Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era" (1994) and "In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1529-1990" (1998). Taylor has a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
Cardenas-Ramirez, a longtime activist for education reform and equity who has served two terms on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, will speak at 9 a.m. April 24 . She is chair of the board of trustees of the Education Testing Services in Princeton, N.J., and associate professor of education leadership and administration at the University of Texas-San Antonio. Cardenas-Ramirez is a former head of the Office of Minorities in Higher Education at the American Council on Education. Cardenas-Ramirez holds a doctorate in education administration from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Concurrent session topics include racial identity and academic achievement, networking strategies, mentoring programs, popular and traditional culture, affirmative action, creating community through diversity, recruitment and retention, and dealing with racism, classism and sexism.
The conference is cosponsored by the University of Nebraska African American and African Studies program, athletic department, chancellor's office, management department, Institute for Ethnic Studies, Latino and Latin American Studies, multicultural affairs, Teachers College and the Division of Continuing Studies' academic conferences and professional programs department.
Registration is required. Discounts are available for University of Nebraska students. For more information, call academic conferences and professional programs at (402) 472-2844. For conference updates, check the World Wide Web page at http://www.unl.edu/conted/acpp/.
-Tom Simons, Public Relations
The second annual Howard Rowlee Lecture at the University of Nebraska presents Avner Friedman, professor of mathematics at the University of Minnesota and director of the Minnesota Center for Industrial Mathematics. Friedman will deliver a free public talk titled "What is Industrial Mathematics?" at 4 p.m. April 15 in 115 Burnett Hall.
Friedman is well known for his contributions to applied mathematics, particularly to partial differential equations and industrial modeling. His talk will explore the concept of industrial mathematics and describe a range of industrial mathematical problems - ranging from photography to electro-photography, painting automobiles, semiconductor processing and the coating of tapes - that face today's industries.
He will give an additional talk on free boundary problems in cell biology April 16 at 3:30 p.m. in 209 Oldfather Hall. Both talks are free and open to the public.
The Howard Rowlee lecture series in mathematics is made possible through a donation by Howard E. Rowlee Jr., who has established a fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation to support research in mathematics.
David Chandler, an expert in Southeast Asian studies, will give a free public lecture at 3:30 p.m. April 17 at the Nebraska Union.
Chandler has taught Southeast Asian history at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, since 1972 and is a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
From 1958 to 1966, Chandler was a U.S. foreign service officer and worked for two years in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He recently was a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense Office of POW/MIA Affairs, making three research trips to Cambodia. He also was an investigator on missions to Cambodia for Amnesty International. Chandler has published extensively on the history and people of Cambodia.
This talk is part of a series sponsored by the international human rights and human diversity studies, which has been designated an area of strength in the College of Arts and Sciences.
A bipartisan examination of the problem of entitlement reform will be the subject of the 19th annual E.J. Faulkner Lecture April 17.
Nebraska's U.S. senators, Democrat Bob Kerrey and Republican Chuck Hagel, will speak on the subject at 10 a.m. in Kimball Hall. Following their separate addresses, Kerrey and Hagel will accept questions from the audience.
The best-known examples of entitlements are the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Overflow seating is available in the Centennial Room at the Nebraska Union, 14th and R streets. The lecture also will be available via closed circuit television anywhere on campus.
George Landow, an authority on hypertext and the humanities, will present a free public lecture, "Hypertext and the Humanities: Theory and Practice," at 3 p.m. April 17 in 115 Burnett Hall.
Landow, professor of English and art history at Brown University, has written and lectured internationally on 19th century literature, art and religion. He is widely known for his work in literary theory and educational computing.
His projects in humanities computing include the development of hypermedia documents to support English courses. His selection, "The Dickens Web," won the 1990 EDUCOM/NCRIPTAL award for the most innovative courseware in the humanities.
The author of "Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology" and "Hyper/Text/Theory," Landow has taught at Columbia University, the University of Chicago and Brasenose College in Oxford, England.
His talk is part of the spring series on creating a humanities center, given in conjuction with the planning of a new humanities center by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska.
-Evelyn Audi, College of Arts & Sciences
Using surveys to give minorities and at-risk populations a voice in public decisions will be the focus of a Gallup Research Center symposium April 16-18.
"Hearing the Unheard: Surveying Minority and At-Risk Populations" will feature expert researchers and pollsters from around the country who will explore the pros, cons and methods of polling minority populations. Critics argue that surveys are tools of the wealthy and powerful. Others claim that public opinion research gives such populations a chance to affect policy making.
The conference will examine a variety of issues, including whether surveys help or hinder minority and at-risk populations; whether these polls capture the attention of policy makers; how to identify and poll such populations; and special problems of surveying these demographics.
Registration is $45 before March 27 and $60 after. For more information or to register, call Allan McCutcheon, director of the Gallup Research Center, at (402) 486-6571.
The Gallup Research Center at the University of Nebraska was created in 1994 with support from the Nebraska Research Initiative and the Gallup Organization. The center explores all areas of quantitative research, including public opinion, consumer and employee satisfaction and using such data in the workplace.
-Amy Cyphers, Public Relations
A reader who recognizes the words doesn't necessarily understand the message. In fact, nearly half of all American adults are unable to read well and may not even know it, according to a National Adult Literacy Survey.
"Communicating With Our Clients: Write It Easy to Read" is an upcoming University of Nebraska workshop designed to help writers develop informational materials for very basic readers.
Just because you have a high school degree doesn't mean you can read and comprehend, said Judy Weber, NU Cooperative Extension educator for Fillmore County. Weber and Marilyn Fox, Hall County extension educator, are coordinating four workshops to help writers more effectively develop informational materials that audiences can read and want to read.
The NALS also notes the average adult reads three to five grade levels below the highest grade of school completed, and that health materials are generally written at 10th-grade level, while many readers function at an eighth-grade level or below.
NU's workshops will help participants:
Participants should bring along one brochure or informational piece they have written or plan to use. Participants will analyze their materials for design and content readability.
The workshops are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 30 at College Park in Grand Island; May 1 at the Nebraska Union in Lincoln; May 4, Lifelong Learning Center at Norfolk; and May 8, 4-H building, Ogallala.
The $5 registration includes lunch and is due April 27 to Hall County Cooperative Extension, College Park, 3180 West Highway 34, Grand Island, Neb., 68801, or phone (308)385-5088.
Those who should consider attending include health care educators, nurses, dietitians and nutritionists; agency personnel; literacy groups; and multicultural representatives.
The workshop is sponsored by Cooperative Extension in NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
- Cheryl Alberts, IANR news writer
The location, dynamics, functions and ecology of Nebraska wetlands are subjects of an April 15 public seminar presented by Ted LaGrange, wetland program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
LaGrange's NU Water Resources Seminar series appearance will focus on the various types of Nebraska wetlands, where these wetlands are located and what functions they serve.
The public lecture begins at 3 p.m. in Room 116 L.W. Chase Hall on UNL's East Campus. A videotape of the lecture is available by phoning (402)472-7909 or 1-800-755-7765.
LaGrange's lecture is the 12th in the 14-part NU Water Resources Seminar series that is exploring the "Interrelationship of Water, Native Grasslands and Wetlands." The series concludes April 29. It is sponsored by NU's Center for Grasslands Studies, School of Natural Resource Sciences, Water Center/Environmental Programs, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and UNL.
- Steve Ress, communications specialist, Water Center
Behlen Observatory near Mead will have a free public viewing night April 17 from 8:30-11 p.m..
The observatory's 30-inch telescope will be trained on the magnificent globular cluster M3 in the constellation of the hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. Viewing will begin at about 9 p.m.
The cluster includes thousands of stars that appear to be swarming together like a celestial hive of bees in a tightly knit ball. It is located 40,000 light-years above the plane of the Milky Way, almost perpendicular to the sun.
The globular clusters in the Milky Way are left over remnants from when our galaxy was young. M3 is a relic of the formation of our galaxy about 13 billion years ago.
The Behlen Observatory staff will give illustrated talks on astronomy, which will be presented even if skies are too cloudy for star-gazing.
At recent Behlen public nights, members of the Prairie Astronomy Club in Lincoln and the Omaha Astronomical Society have set up their telescopes outside the observatory to share additional astronomical views.
The observatory is located on the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research and Development Center, about 35 miles from Lincoln. To get there, take U.S. Highway 77 north to Nebraska Route 63 (about one-half mile north of Swedeburg); turn east on Route 63 for about seven miles to 10th Street (Nebraska Spur 78F) where there is a sign for Mead; turn left and go one mile north to Avenue H; turn right on Avenue H and continue east for two miles to Eighth Street; turn left on Eight Street for 0.7 miles to the observatory, which will be on the left side of the street.
The telescope dome is unheated so visitors should dress appropriately.
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.
A retirement reception for Bill Sesow, associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Teachers College, will be held from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. May 1 at Misty's Restaurant, Havelock. Call Sharon Rorie, 472-2231, for reservations.
Nominations for the Chancellor's Commission on the Status of Women are needed. The Chancellor's Commission has openings for representatives in these areas:
The CCSW seeks members who are committed to equity and to strengthening the university.
Send nominations or self-nominations consisting of a letter of interest and a resume to: Nancy Mitchell, Chair, CCSW, 47 Avery (0130).
Nominations are due April 17. For more information, call 472-5647 or by email nmitchel@unlinfo.unl.edu.
University of Nebraska Habitat for Humanity Presents the 2nd Annual Hand and Heart Project, a campuswide day of service benefitting local families in need. The day will be spent making repairs that can be finished in one day for 13 local homeowners from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. April 18. Lunch will be provided, and there will be an after-project barbecue/dinner. Repairs will be made on homes throughout Lincoln. Volunteers will be assigned to one of these homes. Construction will be coordinated by a qualified site supervisor.
To get involved, contact habitat@unlinfo.unl.edu if you have questions about the project. If you want to volunteer, call Lori at 436-0025 or Nelle at 436-6075.
Human Resources Policies and Procedures for office/service and managerial/professional employees are in the process of being revised. The proposed revisions appear on the Human Resources homepage. Members of the UNL campus community are invited to read the proposed revisions and give comments and suggestions to Bruce Currin or Faye Moulton by April 17. The Human Resources homepage is at http://www.unl.edu/hrhomepage.h tml.
Per the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services, effective immediately the documentation requirement regarding reimbursement for meal expenses incurred in the recruiting of prospective faculty and staff has changed. Now, only a paid detailed restaurant receipt (which lists meal items, beverages, etc) and a list of attendees will be accepted as sufficient documentation.
Expense vouchers already in process will be accepted with previous documentation until April 15; after then, vouchers without the new documentation will be rejected.
Campus Recreation sells Nebraska hunting, fishing, and harvest fur licenses during office hours in Room 55 of the Campus Recreation Center. Habitat and aquatic stamps are available as well. Daily and annual state park permits are sold, too.
Campus Recreation also sells Worlds/Oceans of Fun and Silver Dollar City tickets in both Room 55 of the Campus Recreation Center and Room 32 of the East Campus Activities Building. Ticket prices are as follows:
Worlds of Fun is open weekends beginning April 18 through May 17; opened daily May 23-August 30; opened weekends Sept. 5 to Oct. 18. Oceans of Fun opens May 23 and is open through Aug. 30 and Sept. 5-7.
Silver Dollar City prices are as follows:
Silver Dollar City opens April 10 and remains open through Oct. 25.
Campus Recreation also makes discount coupons to Adventureland in Des Moines available (save $2-3). Inquiries: 472-3467 (Campus Recreation Center), 472-2479 (East Campus Activities Building).
This spring UNL Video Services is sponsoring a series of programs on computers and the Internet produced by the PBS Adult Learning Satellite Service.
The program titles are: "Life on the Internet II" and "The Year 2000 Problem: It's Not Just a Technical Issue" (May 1); "Understanding the Internet and Using the Internet" and "Net Effect: Business in the Connected World" (May 4).
These programs will be aired on campus Channel 5 and in the housing units on Cablevision Channel 20. Viewing will be available on any television on campus wired for closed circuit use. All programs will be added to the UNL Video Services Library. A fifth program, "Internet for Baby Boomers and Beyond," was broadcast earlier in April, but has also been added to the UNL Video Services Library and is available for re-broadcast.
For specific program information and times, please contact UNL Video Services: 472-9333, x257 or x381 or e-mail <vidserv@unlinfo.unl.edu>.
The Nebraska Chapter of the Fulbright Alumni Association will hold its inaugural meeting from 10 a.m. to noon April 18 in Varner Hall, 3835 Holdrege. All former Fulbrighters are invited to attend.
To confirm your participation, or for more information contact Dennis Muchisky at the International Affairs Office, phone 472-5358, FAX 472-4636, e-mail muchisky@unlinfo.unl.edu.
"Living Before Dead Week" is a University Program Council event schedule for 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 24 in the East Stadium Loop.
There will be free music by blues band Indigenous, and rap group Full Clip. Sign up for the Twister championship, Pepsi Ball, Volleyball tournament, and "Singled Out" (with ASUN's Viet Hoang and Sara Russell).
So come eat lunch on the East Stadium grassy knoll and have a Happy Dead Week! from UPC, 472-8146
The following videoconferences are available for viewing in April:
To register, contact the Teaching and Learning Center by email at teaching@unlinfo.unl.edu or by phone at 472-3079.
The deadline for the Teaching Council and TLT Roundtable grant proposals is 5 p.m. April 17. Proposals received after the deadline will be returned to the proposer.
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.
Proposals are limited to two typed pages plus a one-page detailed budget and the cover sheet. Submit 17 copies of the proposal to the TC/TLTR, c/o the Teaching and Learning Center, 121 Benton Hall, City Campus (0623).
Phi Beta Kappa Spring Initiation Dinner will be at the Lincoln University Club in University Towers, 128 N. 13th St. on April 17. The social time begins at 5:30 p.m., the initiation ceremony will be at 6:15 p.m., followed by a buffet dinner at 7 p.m. honoring the newly initiated members.
After the dinner will be an address by Anne Fadiman, the new editor of the American Scholar, on "Procrustes and the Culture Wars." Her book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, has just won the National Book Critics Circle award for general non-fiction.
The initiation, dinner, and talk are open to any interested persons. Reservations for dinner ($18.50) can be made by calling Cheri Grieser (472-2891) or Don Jensen (472-3144) before April 14.
The International Eyeopener Breakfast will be at 7:30 a.m. April 23 in the East Union. Featured speakers will be Ken Bolen, Cooperative Extension; Dale Vanderholm, Agricultural Research, and Darrell Watts, Biological Systems Engineering. They will present "Checking Out the Competition: Research, Extension and Production Agriculture in Argentina, Brazil and Chile."
All faculty, staff, administrators, students and the public are invited. For reservations, call 472-2758.
The videoconference, "Using the Web to Enhance the Classroom," will be presented at 1 p.m. April 16 in 209C ACB on East Campus and 203-4 Benton Hall.
Explore the use of Web technology to enhance classroom teaching in a live, interactive videoconference. Based on feedback from participants in last year's popular "World Wide Web: Gateway to Effective Learning," this year's program will provide more information on what faculty want to know: how to use the Web in course development.
To register, call 472-3079 or e-mail teaching@unlinfo.unl.edu.
The workshop, "Education and Identity: Revisions and Their Basis," will be held at 9 a.m. April 14 in the Callen Conference Room, basement of Smith-Curtis Administration Building on the Nebraska Wesleyan Campus. The presenter is Arthur Chickering, Vermont College/Norwich University.
Chickering will highlight the major revisions in Education and Identity resulting from higher education research from 1969 to 1993. This research supported changes concerning the "vectors" of student development. He will discuss key influences on student development for student-faculty relationships, curriculum, teaching, friendships and student communities, student development programs and services, and the characteristics of educationally powerful environments.
To register, call the Teaching and Learning Center at 472-3079 or e-mail teaching@unlinfo.unl.edu.
The workshop is co-sponsored by University Housing-Residential Education, the Teaching and Learning Center and Nebraska Wesleyan University.
The University of Nebraska Federal Credit Union celebrates its 60th anniversary at the annual meeting April 23 in the Nebraska East Union. The evening begins with a sandwich buffet at 6:30 p.m. followed by entertainment, a look at the credit union through the decades and a business meeting.
Before the meeting, members will elect four to the board of the directors. These volunteers set the policies and services of the credit union. Nominees are Agnes Adams, Arthur Bryant, LaRita Lang, Pamela Peters and Joseph Svoboda.
Everyone is welcome. Call the Credit Union at 472-2087 for more information.
IANR Communications and Information Technology is offering the Spring quarter of hands on computer training classes beginning April 23. Topics covered include Windows 95, WordPerfect 8, PowerPoint 7, Netscape Navigator, Eudora, and HTML. These classes are held in the computer lab in the Animal Science Complex. The classes vary in length from 3 to 5 hours.
A seminar on Advanced Web Publishing will also be offered.
Information on registration cost, class topics, and schedule of classes is available on the Web at: http://www.ianr.unl.ed u/compute/classes.htm. You may also register for the classes at this site.
Information on self-study opportunities is available at: http://www.ianr.unl.edu/compute/
.
-Pamela K. Peters, education coordinator, IANR CIT
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