Michelle Waite of Hickman has been named assistant to the chancellor for community relations.
Waite, who has 10 years of experience as a legislative aide in the Nebraska Legislature, most recently was an aide for Sen. Ron Raikes of Lincoln. She previously served in a similar position for former Sen. Ron Withem of Papillion. She earned a bachelor of arts from Doane College in 1992.
Waite will begin her new duties Aug. 1.
The assistant to the chancellor for community relations is the principal assistant to Chancellor James Moeser in relations between the university and many of its external constituencies, including the state legislature and other governmental agencies.
"I am delighted that Michelle Waite has accepted the position of assistant to the chancellor for community relations," Moeser said. "With her experience as staff to two key members of the Nebraska Legislature, in sensitive negotiations and in arranging special events, I believe that she will be an ideal person to represent this office and to advise me on the many areas related to off-campus issues."
Waite succeeds Kim Todd, who left earlier this year to work at Finke Gardens and Nursery in Lincoln.
Priscilla C. Grew, vice chancellor for research since 1993, has resigned that post to pursue research and teaching in an emerging area of study concerning the effects of past climate change on human societies.
Richard Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, praised Grew, noting, "She has provided important leadership for the campus's research activities during a critical time. I am delighted that she will be continuing at Nebraska, as a faculty member in our new geosciences department."
Grew's resignation as vice chancellor for research was announced June 22 and becomes effective Dec. 31. She will take administrative development leave from Jan. 1 through June 30, 1999. On July 1, 1999, she will assume her tenured appointment as professor in the department of geosciences and non-tenured appointment as professor in the Conservation and Survey Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Known as "paleoclimate and civilization," her chosen research theme explores climate change as a possible factor for changes in past civilizations previously thought to have been caused by political strife and social unrest.
"I'm choosing to enter this field because I want to work with the people around the country who are doing research in this controversial and largely unexplored area," Grew said. "It's a chance to work on something that has always fascinated me."
Grew is a co-organizer with leading national academics of a session about paleoclimate and civilization at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science next January. She is a fellow of the association and past chair of the national section on geology and geography.
Grew said she plans to propose a new course in paleoclimate and civilization and a multi-disciplinary campus seminar series of national speakers. She hopes to invite collaborations between the College of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Brian Foster, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said, "We have had a major restructuring in geosciences and she will bring more resources to that program as a highly connected, new and highly valued faculty member. We are very excited about it. She will bring a lot to the department."
As vice chancellor, Grew oversaw research administration at the university, interdisciplinary research centers, the University of Nebraska State Museum, the University of Nebraska Press and other research support programs. Edwards said the university would begin an immediate national search and expects to have a permanent replacement for Grew named by January 1999, so no interim appointment is needed.
Economist Craig MacPhee will spend the next 12 months studying and advising governments on international economic policy.
MacPhee, the Paul C. Burmeister college professor of economics in the College of Business Administration, will spend the first half of his faculty development leave for the 1998-99 academic year at the University of Maryland Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector at Tbilisi in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The second half of the leave will be spent at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.
MacPhee said his focus at OECD will be on analysis of nontariff barriers to trade. To take the leave, MacPhee resigned as economics department chair after 12 nonconsecutive years in the post, but will return to the economics teaching faculty in the 1999-2000 academic year. Roger Riefler, professor of economics, was appointed to a one-year term as department chair.
Charles O'Connor, associate professor of theater, has been named the interim chairman of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance.
He replaces Kevin Paul Hofeditz, who left Nebraska after 15 years to become professor and chair of theater at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
O'Connor runs the scenic design and computer-aided design program at the university, where he is director of film and new media production. He has been at the university since 1993. Before that, he headed the design program at the University of Arizona.
The leader of the soils program at the Conservation and Survey Division has been named the division's new director. Mark Kuzila, head soil scientist for the past 15 years and a member of the division for 23 years, replaces Perry Wigley, director since 1987, who will remain on the faculty.
Conservation and Survey is the state geological, water and soil survey and supports a center for geographic information systems and remote sensing with the School of Natural Resource Sciences.
Kuzila assumed the job July 1. "I look forward to leading the Conservation and Survey Division into the 21st century," he said. "We want the people of the state and our many cooperating organizations on the local, state and federal levels to know that they can expect from us the same thorough, unbiased research and service that we have delivered in the past."
In 23 years of service, Kuzila has visited nearly every county in Nebraska and has conducted research in many of them, becoming familiar with the state's people and its natural resources.
A native of Kansas City, Kan., Kuzila earned his Ph.D. from Nebraska in 1988 and received his master's in 1976 and bachelor's in 1973, both from Kansas State University. He joined the division shortly before completing his master's in July of 1975 and was named head soil scientist in 1983.
Terrence "Terry" Sebora, associate professor of management in the College of Business Administration, has been named director of the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship effective Aug. 17.
Sebora replaces Robin Anderson, who has been the center's director since its founding in 1987. Anderson, a Fullerton native and former York businessman, will leave at the end of July to accept an endowed chair in entrepreneurship and new venture creation at the University of Portland in Oregon.
Sebora earned his doctorate in strategic management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to obtaining his Ph.D., he was a co-owner/manager of a family supermarket business for 13 years.
He has taught business policy and strategy, business history, research methods, entrepreneurship and business ethics at Nebraska and has offered planning and decision making seminars to managers from several corporations.
Bill Bode, materiel services administrator and assistant director of university services has been awarded the National Association of Purchasing Management's Charles J. McDonald National Minority Supplier Advocate Award.
The award is given by the Minority Business Development Group, one of the national groups with the association that promotes minority and women business development as a sound business function. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the advancement of women and business.
Several people connected to the university were elected to the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement. Awards presented April 25.
They include:
The organization, formed in 1916, has about 180 members statewide dedicated to preserving and improving Nebraska's agricultural welfare.
- Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer
Educators from the Division of Continuing Studies have won five national programming and development awards.
The awards were presented April 6 at the University Continuing Education Association annual conference in Chicago. UCEA, the principal professional association for continuing higher education in the United States, assists institutions of higher learning in expanding access to higher education and provides national leadership in support of policies that advance workforce and professional development.
The Division of Continuing Studies departments honored are:
Twenty-six University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension educators received recognition from the Nebraska Restaurant Association for conducting statewide ServSafe programs.
NU Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resourses educators receiving certificates of appreciation April 14 were:
Carol Plate, Ainsworth; Mary K. Warner, Beaver City; Jessye Goetz, Bridgeport; Sandy Hatter, Center; Carol Larvick, Dakota City; Susan Hansen, David City; Marilyn Fox, Grand Island; Sue Brown, Hastings; Linda Dannehl, Holdrege; Carol Schwarz, Kearney; Andrea Nisley, Lexington; Alice Henneman, Julie A. Albrecht, NU food specialist, and John Rupnow, NU food scientist, all Lincoln; Sharry Nielsen, Minden, Carolyn Straub, Ogallala; Cindy Brison, Omaha; LaDonna Schultz, O'Neill; Amy Peterson, Osceola; Nancy Urbanec, Papillion; Ann Fenton, Pierce; Sheryl Carson, Rushville; Cheryl Tickner, St. Paul; Linda Buethe, Tecumseh; Joyce Harvey, Trenton; and Eileen Krumbach, York.
The Nebraska Restaurant Association and Valentino's sponsored the recognition luncheon.
- Faye Colburn, IANR news assistant
Three University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension teams were honored as models April 16 during the organization's staff development conference.
The New Tools for Pasture Production, Ag Awareness Coalition and Water Jamboree programs received Excellence in Team Programming awards from Extension Dean Ken Bolen.
"I was pleased to recognize these teams which exemplify interdisciplinary team programming encouraged by University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension," Bolen said.
In 1992, one-day New Tools for Pasture Production workshops began introducing Management Intensive Grazing (MIG) techniques to eastern Nebraska cattle feeders. After five years, a survey estimates the 1,600 attendees saved a total of about $3 million annually by extending the grazing season, increasing the number of animals grazing per acre, reducing feed costs and increasing yields.
In 1996, the Ag Awareness Coalition began offering the Agricultural Awareness Festival to teach urban youngsters about agriculture. Over two years, about 950 urban sixth-graders have attended the festival at NU's Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead. The coalition also has developed an Agricultural Awareness Kit for schools, 4-H school enrichment programs and a teacher inservice program.
Over 20 agri-businesses, commodity groups, food industry companies and NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources have supported the program.
The Water Jamboree will celebrate its sixth anniversary this year. Through hands-on activities, fourth- and fifth-grade pupils from schools in Kearney, Franklin, Phelps, Gosper, Harlan and Furnas counties learn about aquatic life and water quality.
In 1997, 503 students attended. More than 195 adult volunteers and staff help support the program each year.
Cooperative Extension is a division of NU's Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
- Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer
A water quality project, a University of Nebraska student recruitment program and a distance education master's degree program won team awards from NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The Management Systems Evaluation Area (MSEA) Water Quality Project received IANR's 1998 Team Effort Award. The team will receive $10,000 to continue their work in improving groundwater quality, said Glen Vollmar, IANR interim associate vice chancellor.
NU's College of Human Resources and Family Sciences won the 1998 Extended Education Team Award for offering a master's degree without stepping foot on a college campus. This team will receive $5,000 for support of extended education programs.
The South Central Six Extension Programming Unit Student Recruitment Team won the IANR Initiative Team Award for introducing rural students to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. The team will receive $2,500 to support further recruiting efforts.
The awards honor IANR faculty and staff teams who produce results in research, teaching, extension, service or international programs, Vollmar said.
Irv Omtvedt, NU's vice chancellor for agriculture and natural resources, presented the awards during the IANR Conference April 16.
In 1990, NU and U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists launched the MSEA program to research and demonstrate agricultural systems that protect and improve groundwater quality. Nitrate-nitrogen levels in the groundwater at the 320-acre MSEA area near Shelton have decreased annually since research-based best management ractices have been adopted.
Darrell Watts, professor of biological systems engineering and irrigation engineer; James Schepers, professor of agronomy and soil scientist for the USDA's Agricultural Research Service; and Roy Spalding, professor of agronomy, hydrochemist and associate director of the Water Center/Environmental Programs at IANR, make up the lead team for the project.
Cooperating agencies include IANR's Agricultural Research Division and Cooperative Extension Division; UNL; the USDA's Agricultural Research Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service; the Nebraska Research Institute; the Central Platte Natural Resources District; and the U.S. Geological Survey. During 1991-1997, the project has involved 28 researchers and extension personnel.
The 27 students who graduated from the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences program in 1997 were among the first land-grant university students to earn family and consumer sciences master's degrees using extended education technology such as Internet and satellite presentations. The program began in 1994.
Team members accepting the award included Karen Craig, dean of the college; Joan Laughlin, associate dean; Kathleen Rees, assistant professor of textiles, clothing and design; Julie Johnson, professor of family and consumer sciences; and Julie Albrecht, associate professor of nutritional science and dietetics and extension food specialist. A total of 15 faculty have contributed to the program.
In 1996, the South Central Six Extension Programming Unit Student Recruitment Team began offering UNL campus tours to students from Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Nuckolls, Thayer and Webster counties. Extension Educator Judy Weber estimates that about one-fourth of the 79 students who toured the Lincoln campus have either applied to attend or are considering attending UNL. Extension Educator Steve Melvin, Extension Assistant Gary Tordrup, Extension Aides Crystal Fangmeier and Donna Rose and former Extension Assistant Dawn Caldwell also served on the team.
- Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer
The associate director of the center for geographic information systems and remote sensing has been honored by the Association of American Geographers, the nation's most prestigious professional society for geographers.
Jim Merchant, research geographer with the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies of the UNL Conservation and Survey Division and School of Natural Resource Sciences, received the Outstanding Contributions Award presented by the association's Remote Sensing Specialty Group. The award is given annually to one or two geographers.
The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources researcher has been a principle investigator on a global land-cover characterization project that has received considerable professional acclaim. The digital data base groups similar land-cover and land-use areas and characterizes them by various seasonal attributes. NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey have been important collaborators on the project.
Irvin Shestak and Stephanie Hammer received a Kudos Award during the April 3 regents' meeting.
Shestak is a utility maintenance mechanic III in the Facilities Management Utilities Division. Along with his broad mechanical knowledge, Shestak provides leadership with co-workers. His nominator writes, "Irv has been very supportive in training and working with new maintenance people at the utility plant." In his 13 years with the university he has been a leader in implementing the team concept of addressing plant maintenance problems. The utility division has implemented many of Shestak's ideas effectively meeting maintenance challenges at the utility plant and significantly reducing costs.
Hammer is a clinic clerk at the University Health Center. Always open and receptive to new ideas and suggestions while treating students with kindness and respect, Hammer creates a positive and pleasant place to work. Her nominator writes, "I have worked in the medical profession for many years and know that it can get very stressful at the 'Front Lines'. . . but Stephanie always makes the best of any situation. I look forward to working with her everyday."
- Allison DeLunger, Public Relations
Audun Ravnan, George Holmes distinguished professor emeritus of piano, received an honorary doctor of music degree from Doane College at Doane's May 17 commencement exercises in Crete.
Ravnan, a native of Bergen, Norway, a musician and professor at Nebraska from 1957 until his retirement in 1993, was honored for his distinguished service to the arts in Nebraska.
Doane's citation said Ravnan has been called "the premier pianist in the state of Nebraska" and that he "significantly contributed to the arts in Nebraska and inspired (his) students to continue (his) legacy of great teaching and profound musical achievements."
Albania's University of Tirana recognized faculty member Sang Lee for his work in helping the Balkan nation's post-communist economic transition.
Lee, professor and chairman of management in the College of Business Administration, was presented with an honorary doctorate by the University of Tirana, recognizing seven years of effort by NU faculty members to help the impoverished country make the transition from communism to a market economy.
As director of the U.S. Agency for International Development-sponsored project "Management Training and Market Economics Education," Lee has led a Nebraska faculty team in training more than 5,000 government officials, university faculty and entrepreneurs throughout Albania, despite an interruption caused by a civil war in the country in the spring of 1997.
The project established the first and only master of business administration program in Albania and the program's first graduates received their diplomas at the same April 24 ceremony where Lee was presented with a Doctor Honoris Causa degree.
Through the project, Lee and his colleagues also established five business assistance centers, five computer systems and Students in Free Enterprise chapters throughout the country, and sent more than 170,000 books to the nation's universities.
Lee, who has the title of University Eminent Scholar and Regents Professor at Nebraska, is the second person to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Tirana since the end of communism in Albania in 1991. The University of Tirana is the flagship university of the Albanian national university system and has awarded only four honorary degrees in its history.
-Tom Simons, Public Relations
Chancellor James Moeser was re-elected June 17 to a second one-year term as secretary of the Big 12 Conference.
The election came at the conference board of directors meeting in Dallas. Moeser is also one of three on the board's executive committee that will select a new Big 12 commissioner to succeed Steve Hatchell, who resigned this spring.
Quentin Faulkner, Steinhart professor of organ and music history, has won a Fulbright grant to teach at the School of Church Music in Halle, Germany, in the 1998-99 academic year.
A member of the NU faculty since 1974, Faulkner earned a bachelor of music degree at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., master of music and master of theology degrees at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a doctor of sacred music degree at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
He is one of approximately 2,000 U.S. grant recipients who will travel abroad next year through the Fulbright Program. Established in 1946 under Congressional legislation introduced by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program is designed "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." The program is America's flagship educational exchange program and is sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency.
The master of business administration program at the College of Business Administration was one of 13 nationwide to receive an "outstanding" rating in a study published in a recent edition of the Journal of Business and Management.
The study's author, Professor Patrick R. McMullen of the University of Maine, rated 188 accredited MBA programs for statistical efficiency based on tuition, average class size, graduates' starting salaries and admission standards.
Some of the other MBA programs listed as outstanding include Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of Florida and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
"The benefits reaped from attending and graduating from these programs generally justify the sacrifices necessary to attend them," McMullen concluded.
"It is good to know that the MBA students in the College of Business Administration are receiving excellent value for their investment," said Cynthia Milligan, dean of the college. "Tuition, class size, average entrance examination scores of the students, the exclusivity of the program and the hiring salaries of our MBA graduates were all evaluated. Nebraskans can be proud that our MBA program measured as one of the best in the nation in this objective study."
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