NATALIE HAHN lends an ear to long-time friend Frank Marsh after her presentation at an NN21 symposium.

Alumna Encourages NU to Become Big Player on International Scene

Nebraska Urged to Develop Global Action Items

By Kim Hachiya, Public Relations

Landlocked Nebraska can and does have plenty of impact on the international scene, according to a UNICEF official.

Natalie Hahn, a 1967 University of Nebraska graduate, was a keynote speaker Nov. 11 at an NN21 symposium, "Insuring Opportunity in Food Systems: The Role of the Land Grant University." She has spent nearly 30 years working with the United Nations, primarily in Africa and Europe. She was transferred to New York last year and now is deputy director of the Programme Funding Office for the United Nations Children's Fund.

Hahn's address, titled "Fruit of the Spirit," listed a number of action items that the University of Nebraska should consider to be a bigger player internationally.

• Establish an international center for groundwater research. She noted that the Nov. 10 New York Times had an article on how millions of Bangladeshi are at risk because wells there are contaminated with arsenic. A study center could find ways to avoid and ameliorate pollution.
• Contribute to biodiversity and intensification of agricultural products. Currently, corn, rice and wheat provide 60 percent of all calories consumed on the earth, yet some 20,000 species of plants have been identified as edible. But the indigenous knowledge, the folkways of foodstuffs held in oral tradition by indigenous peoples, is being lost as Third-world farmers reject native species in favor of growing export items like coffee and bananas. Widening the food base would give more people access to food, she said.
• Develop an Entrepreneurs Task Force. Help innovators exploit the potential for new or unusual food products. She pointed to the success of the kiwi fruit as a product grown in New Zealand and heavily promoted by its government. In Africa, the most exciting ideas are community based. A task force helps fan the spark of an idea. She noted that her family members, who lived near Polk and Hordville, faced derision and lack of support in the 1960s when they expressed interest in developing a company to distribute seeds for prairie grasses and wildflowers and raise bison for meat. Innovators should be encouraged, she said, not chided.
• Establish listening points. Listening to clients is important, she said. In Africa, horticultural researchers developed a new, bigger cassava root but did not talk to the women farmers who grow the roots. The women rejected the root because it was too heavy for them to carry, was watery and mushy when cooked and had an unpalatable flavor. Research cannot be done in a vacuum, she noted.
• Develop an international land legislation/agricultural policy center. Issues regarding property ownership and inheritance are world-wide problems that require international expertise, she said.
• Keep up with technology. Using computers and networks to connect to developing countries gives U.S. citizens new knowledge about world geography.
• Encourage pride in being a Nebraskan. Understanding one's own cultural heritage helps you to understand why another is so proud of his or her heritage, Hahn said. An unabashedly proud Nebraskan, Hahn said she never misses an opportunity to tell others about her home state.
• Reinvigorate home economics research and outreach. Hahn said that traditional home economics work was widely supported in Africa in the 1960s, but a change of focus in the 1970s meant this type of advice was not spread worldwide. "Home economics - family life research, nutrition data - this still has much relevance in Africa and elsewhere," she said.
• Promote the joys of Nebraska. Clean air, nice people and strong families are Nebraska characteristics that should be cherish and preserved, she said.

Hahn has a degree from the College of Home Economics, now called the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences.

SCOTT FUESS, an economist in the University of Nebraska's College of Business Administration.

Economist Says Japan Needs 'Jump Start'

By Tom Simons, Public Relations

Likening Japan to "a car without oil in its engine," a CBA economist said the world's second largest economy will need a major jolt if it is to pull out of recession and become the major regional and world power it aspires to be.

Japan's banking and financial system has virtually ceased to operate, said Scott Fuess, who spent late April through July as the first visiting foreign scholar in the School of Economics at Tokyo's Senshu University.

"If we think of banking as the oil that lubricates the economy by shifting funds and making them available where they're needed, then Japan's economy reminds me of an engine without oil," Fuess said. "Japan is trying to operate a sophisticated economy without banking, and we all know that when you run a car without oil, eventually major damage occurs."

As a result, the Japanese economy is in recession, having experienced three consecutive quarters of economic shrinkage. Unemployment is at a record 4.5 percent as measured by the Japanese government (but Fuess said U.S. measurements would put it at almost twice that) and there is a great deal of underemployment among older male office workers, making it extremely difficult for young people, especially women, to find jobs.

The nation's real estate market has collapsed, leading to a huge number of defaults on loans and a major recession in the construction industry. Meanwhile, the stock market has dropped by almost two-thirds. All this, Fuess said, has created an "appalling pessimism" among the public, causing them to save even more and spend even less than normal, creating a slump in the retail sector. At the same time, the government of the Liberal Democratic Party appears incapable or unwilling to do anything.

"It's just one nasty, contagious effect that arises because the financial sector in the 1990s has collapsed," Fuess said. "It's an economy, to use a phrase from the late '70s in the U.S., that is in 'economic malaise.'"

And it's probably going to have to get worse before it gets better.

"A major, high-profile bank is probably going to have to go insolvent," he said. "It would probably have to be a shock of that magnitude before the government becomes serious about trying to tackle the banking problem, which is likely to happen."

Japanese opinion leaders, however, seem to be content to direct their ire at the United States for offering advice on how to clean up the economic mess.

"I was surprised how much hostility was expressed in the press at the U.S." Fuess said. "There is a feeling that the U.S. is gloating about Japan's misfortune - much as we resented the Japanese lecturing us about being 'lazy' in the early 1980s - and I was amazed at the extent to which (U.S. Treasury Secretary) Robert Rubin was considered a villain. They don't like him because he has the audacity to mention unpleasant truths in public.

"Japan wants a greater role in world affairs, but when the time comes and there are some difficulties in Japan's neighborhood, Japan's not there. Its efforts have been token, at best, and one of the reasons Japan isn't there is it isn't in any financial condition to do so. The U.S. has pointed this out and Japan resents it."

Fuess said he is disappointed by the crisis, because it shouldn't have to happen. A cause for hope is that it is possible to turn the situation around.

"A country like Indonesia really doesn't have the ingredients to resurrect its economy. Japan does - but Japan's in denial. It's an economy in slow motion that's winding itself down. That's disheartening because it doesn't have to be that way. But as long as it is, Japan can't take any kind of leadership position in Asia or in the world. It can't be relied on to be a partner."

SVCAA to Support Diversity Pilot Projects

The Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs has identified one-time funds for 1998-99 to support pilot projects and activities on campus aimed at enhancing diversity. In association with the office, the Faculty Liaison Task Force on Diversity invites proposals from members of the NU community for support of projects during the 1998-99 Fiscal Year. Proposed projects should contribute one or more of the following three goals found in the September 1998 draft of the Nebraska University Diversity Plan:

o Creating a campus climate where all groups feel welcomed and valued;

o Creating a community that reflects both our multi-cultural society and individual differences among citizens;

o Increasing efforts toward recruitment and retention of a diverse community of faculty, staff and students who are representative of the society we serve.

Priority will be given to projects addressing the campus climate and projects designed and jointly submitted by teams of faculty, staff and students.

Funding for proposals is competitive and mostly likely will be awarded in increments ranging from $500 to $5,000 although larger projects are encouraged and will be considered.

Proposed projects may include, but are not limited to study groups, special events, publications/tools, research projects, a speaker's series, workshops, program planning and community outreach. They may also include enhancements to existing programs and seed money for pilot projects.

Submit proposals to the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs by Dec. 1. For more information, contact Rita Kean, Chair of the Faculty Liaison Task Force on Diversity (472-2911 or rkean1@unl.edu). Proposals are limited to four pages: a cover page, two pages describing the project and one budget page. For information on proposal specifics, contact Kean.

National Award to be Conferred Nov. 19

Steinman Lauded for Work in Preventing Child Maltreatment

By Kevin Dugan, College of Arts and Sciences

Michael Steinman, professor of political science and an associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, is being recognized nationally for outstanding contributions to efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect in Nebraska.

Steinman will receive the 1998 Commissioner's Award from the U.S. Administration on Children, Youth and Families during the 12th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect in Cincinnati Nov. 19.

The award is presented to an individual from each state and territory who has made a significant contribution to the prevention of child abuse and neglect and has inspired others.

Steinman was nominated for the award by Mary Jo Pankoke, administrator of Child Protective Services in the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Steinman has chaired the Governor's Commission for the Protection of Children since 1993. He also chaired the interim Nebraska Children and Family Council. He is board president of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, a private nonprofit organization.

Steinman's involvement with family issues began years ago when he served on the Lincoln-Lancaster County Domestic Violence Coalition. As part of that group he focused mostly on the issue of woman battering. He also worked on the issue of child abuse.

In 1993, Gov. Nelson appointed Steinman to chair the commission charged with writing Nebraska's family preservation and support plan. Steinman and a group of about three dozen people organized into the Children and Family Council, which administered the federally funded program on an interim basis.

Task force members implemented a five-year agenda to develop goals, pinpoint desired outcomes of the plan, and establish benchmarks of success or failure. They acquired information from many different sources throughout Nebraska.

About 18 months ago the council created the private, nonprofit Nebraska Children and Families Foundation. The foundation administers program funding and makes available resources and technical assistance to communities throughout the state.

Foundation leaders believe prevention is the best way to address the problems of child abuse and neglect, and resources are applied accordingly. Nebraska's family preservation and support program facilitates activities such as reaching pregnant women with information about proper nutrition and lifestyle, training in parenting skills, mentoring, training in job skills, and after-school programs for children.

"The way to prevention is to help provide quality of life. One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to understand what makes quality of life. It's just a matter to ensure that people in need of that, get it," Steinman said.

"You have to stop domestic violence to stop the child abuse pattern. A community has to have this as a high priority."