Turnwall Remembered for Dedication, Attention to Detail

By Rachelle Setsodi, Facilities Management

Ernest Turnwall, 61, director of business operations for Facilities Management and Planning, died Dec. 11 in Branson, Mo. He had worked at the university since 1969.

Turnwall was graduated from the University of Nebraska at the age of 19. He was a bookkeeper and office manager for the Aurora Coop Creamery for nine years. He was an assistant administrator at Eastmont Towers when it first opened.

According to his wife, Beverly, "He would work as long as it took to complete a report . . . even if it was midnight. Then he would get back on the bus at 7 a.m. in order to return to work. He was very loyal and dedicated to UNL."

Beyond loyalty and dedication, Turnwall will be remembered for his red football attire, sense of humor and attention to detail.

Turnwall's funeral was Dec. 15. Memorials are suggeted to the University of Nebraska Foundation, the Diabetic Foundation or First Church of the Nazarene.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by Kay and Jeff Jensen (daughter and son-in-law); Norma Searles and Sue Booth (aunts); and several nephews and nieces.

Sympathies Extended to Family of Rogers Druhet III

Rogers Druhet III, a faculty member in the College of Public Affairs and Community Service at UNO and a doctoral candidate in vocational and adult education at UNL, died Dec. 6 in Lincoln, apparently from a heart attack. He was 51. Druhet's wife, Venetria Patton, is an assistant professor of English African American and African studies at UNL.

Druhet joined UNO on a minority faculty development program in 1997. While working on his doctoral degree at UNL, he taught criminal justice courses on the UNL campus and most recently worked with the Center for Children, Families and the Law.

He served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. Druhet earned his B.S. in criminal justice from the University of Southern Mississippi and his J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Druhet had his own private law practice in Mississippi with clients including the Mississippi Association of State Employees and several school districts. Rogers also was an administrative law judge for the Mississippi State Employee Appeals Board.

In addition to his wife, Druhet is survived by three sons and a daughter; his parents, two brothers and two sisters. Memorials can be sent to the Malone Community Center, 2032 U St., Lincoln, NE 68503.

Massengale Appointed to USDA National Advisory Board

Martin Massengale, president emeritus of the University of Nebraska, has been appointed to an advisory board that will help U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman set federal agriculture and natural resources policies and priorities.

Massengale was appointed to a three-year term on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board.

Massengale, director of the Center for Grassland Studies at NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said the appointment "gives me a chance to have greater input at a higher level" on future federal policies essential to Nebraska and the nation.

In the short term, board members will have input on critical issues directly affecting Nebraska farmers, resource conservationists and environmental organizations. These include items such as production and conservation practices, biodiversity and research and extension priorities.

In the long run, "this group will have a significant impact on American agriculture and the world economy because the United States produces so much of the world's food supply," Massengale said.

Advisory board members will set priorities for agricultural research, education and teaching, including Cooperative Extension, he said. Research priorities important to Nebraska include animal waste disposal, water quality, conservation programs, food safety, nutrition, non-food and transgenic crops and biotechnology.

Massengale said he also hopes the board can help convey agriculture's significance to Americans who don't recognize their connection to agriculture and the role it plays in our ecosystem.

"Agriculture doesn't receive the visibility and importance it deserves," he said.

The 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act authorized the advisory board, which has more than 20 members from the public and private sectors, including commodity, retail and consumer groups.

Massengale, who was trained as an agronomist, is a former chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and former vice chancellor of NU's IANR.

Lingle Receives Extension Wildlife Award

Gary Lingle of Kearney received the 1998 Extension Wildlife Award during the annual meeting of the Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association Nov. 17-19.Lingle is the Platte Watershed Program coordinator stationed at the Buffalo County Extension office in Kearney. He also is an NU extension educator.

The Detroit native moved to Nebraska in 1978 to study Platte River ecology with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Lingle has published more than 55 scientific and popular articles, including two books. He was a founding member of the Wings Over the Platte task force and was honored as Crane Conservationist of the Year in 1997 by Wings Over the Platte.

Since 1989, he has organized and/or participated in youth camps, including Summer Orientation About Rivers, Crane Meadows Nature Center campus and Nature Discovery Classroom.

As an extension educator, Lingle coached a Wildlife Habitat Evaluation team and serves on a number of committees of the tri-state Cooperative Agreement signed by the governors of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska and the federal Department of Interior in July 1997. He also organized and published the proceedings of the Platte River Basin Ecosystem Symposium in 1997. He is organizing the 10th symposium scheduled for February 1999 in Kearney.

The award is sponsored by the Nebraska Division, Izaak Walton League of America. Selection is based on initiation and promotion of wildlife and related activities or programs, emphasizing wildlife and conservation in interdisciplinary efforts, involvement with programs established by wildlife agencies, and cooperation/teamwork with other extension staff in establishing and promoting state or county wildlife-related programs.

Gamma Sigma Delta Honors Five NU Faculty

Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society of agriculture, recognized five University of Nebraska faculty members Nov. 22.

The society's Nebraska chapter recognized two faculty members with awards of merit.

Keith Gregory of Hastings, retired research geneticist and administrator of the Roman Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, was honored for developing an internationally recognized research program on beef cattle, sheep and swine production. Gregory joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service in 1955, following service at Auburn University. He holds a bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University, a master's degree from NU and a doctorate from the University of Missouri.

Gregory's honors include a USDA Unit Award for Distinguished Service, the National Cattlemen's Association Research Award, the Morrison Award from the American Society of Animal Science and membership in the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement.

James E. Kinder of Lincoln, professor of animal science, has been credited with significant contributions to the reproductive biology of cattle. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, his master's from the University of Nebraska and doctorate from Washington State University.

Kinder's honors include the Nebraska Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta Distinguished Teaching and Research Awards. In 1988, he won the American Society of Animal Science's Animal Physiology and Endocrinology Award.

The society recognized David Baltensperger of Gering, professor of agronomy at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff, for excellence in researching alternative crops in Nebraska's dryland areas; David Keith of Lincoln, professor of entomology, for excellence in demonstrating leadership in NU Cooperative Extension programming; and Steven J. Jones of Lincoln, associate professor of animal science, for excellence in teaching. Jones was cited for adopting innovative teaching strategies, especially using the Internet.

Gamma Sigma Delta's Nebraska chapter honors outstanding individuals in agricultural sciences, natural resources and family and consumer sciences, areas of expertise in NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Martin Massengale, former IANR vice chancellor, UNL chancellor and NU president, spoke on "Leadership in the 21st Century."

Darrell Nelson, dean and director of IANR's Agricultural Research Division, Don Edwards, dean of NU's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Elbert Dickey, associate dean of NU Cooperative Extension, and Anne Vidaver, head and professor of plant pathology, presented the awards.

Soukup Elected to IEEE Post

Rod Soukup, Henson Professor and chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering, was elected treasurer of the Education Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) at the 1998 annual Frontiers in Education meeting in Tempe, Ariz., Nov. 6

The IEEE is the largest professional organization in the world with more than 320,000 members. The Education Society consists of electrical engineering faculty members and interested professionals in industry. The society deals with the educational aspects of electrical engineering and is one of the sponsors of the Frontiers in Education meeting and publishes the archival journal, IEEE Transactions on Education of which Soukup is an associate editor.

He will serve as treasurer beginning on Jan. 1 and was elected to a one-year term. The IEEE Education Society has about 5000 members in a large number of countries. The purpose of the society is to advance electrical engineering education. Soukup has been a member of IEEE since 1972 and was elected to the grade of Fellow in 1994. He has been a member of the Education Society since 1989.

TCD Faculty and Student Win National Design Competition

Melinda Barton, undergraduate student, and Vince Quevedo, faculty member in the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design, College of Human Resources and Family Sciences, received Best of Show awards at the International Textile and Apparel Association International Design Competition in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 19.

Quevedo, received Best of Show in the Wearable Art Category - Faculty Division for Vex - microscopic views of organic matter were used for spacing, coloration and design of a dress of heavyveight fabric, metallic netting, rhinestones, vinyl and acetate. Quevedo also had two other designs accepted in the exhibition. Liturgy - a celebration of the traditional art of quilting inspired by liturgical clothing and stained glass window translated into a kimono style coat and Remorse - the study of Charles Kleibacker and Robert Hillestad provided the inspiration for "Remorse" creating a rayon knit bias dress with strands and lettuce edging from a rolled hem technique.

Barton received Best of Show in the Wearable Art Category - Student Division for Haiku Kimono - admiration of the Japanese culture, art and the Kimono inspired the creation of a kimono of primarily gray tone geometric with a flash of shocking pink in the lining.

Other TCD students who had designs accepted into the competition were: Kaoly Xiong, undergraduate student, Oriental Costume; Michelle A. Boicourt, undergraduate student, Phone Home and the Domino Effect; Nga Vu, undergraduate student, Emma Peel Revisited and Sheer Inerlude; and Sally Holman Hebert, Holy Orders.

Eulanda Sanders of Colorado State University, College of Human Resources and Family Sciences Ph.D. graduate with a specialization in Textiles, Clothing and Design, received the ITAA Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation. Joan Laughlin was her adviser.

Wiese Candidate for Physics Thesis Award

Lisa Wiese, who received her doctorate in physics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May, has been named one of five finalists for the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award given by the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society.

Wiese, a 1984 graduate of Minatare High School who is doing postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin, received the nomination for her study of the Coulomb interactions of hydrogen ions. Studying with Professor Duane Jaecks at Nebraska, she was the first to experimentally measure how three hydrogen ions share their energy and how they position themselves with respect to each other.

The winner will be selected based on the nomination documents and a presentation at the 1999 American Physical Society centennial meeting March 17-21 in Atlanta. The other finalists are from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, JILA (formerly the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics) at the University of Colorado, Yale University and the University of Virginia. The faculty adviser for the Colorado candidate, Brett Esry, is Nebraska alumnus Chris Greene (B.S. physics, 1968).

Law Student Wins Regional Service Award

James Reintsma, a third-year law student at the University of Nebraska, is the winner of the 1998 Delta Theta Phi Region VII Outstanding Student Award, which honors exceptional service to the local community and leadership in the legal profession.

Reintsma, of Livingston, Mont., coordinated the 1997 Project W.I.S.H.L.I.S.T. program, a holiday fund-raiser that provided new clothing to 30 underprivileged children from the Malone Community Center in Lincoln. Also in 1997, he participated in the Community Legal Education Project, giving seventh- and eighth-grade students at St. Mary's School exposure to the judicial process in the American legal system. He has been a project leader for Work-A-Day, an American Bar Association/Law Student Division that sends law students out into the community to help those in need.

Nancy Rapoport, dean of the NU College of Law, said the award demonstrates Reintsma's commitment to fostering a healthy relationship between the college and the Lincoln community. "It's the personal connections that he makes," she said. "He truly shows the community that lawyers can - and do - care."

He was dean of the Nebraska chapter of Delta Theta Phi during the 1997-98 academic year and as the eighth circuit executive lt. governor of the American Bar Association's Law Student Division. He also was president of his law school class and is a member of the Robert Van Pelt Inn of Court, a Nebraska Bar Association program that mentors young attorneys and strives to improve the practice of law in Nebraska.

The father of four is a research assistant for Professor John Gradwohl and Judge Jan Gradwohl, visiting adjunct professor, at the NU College of Law. He also works as a circulation assistant at Schmid Law Library. He received a CALI Excellence for the Future Award in civil clinic last summer as is scheduled to graduate in May with a juris doctor degree. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Alaska at Anchorage while serving eight years in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Cecil Steward Awarded AIA Medallion

W. Cecil Steward, dean of the College of Architecture, is the recipient of the 1999 Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. The award is bestowed by the American Institute of Architects and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

The Topaz Medallion honors and individual who has made outstanding contributions to architectural education for at least 10 years and whose teaching has influenced a broad range of students "shaping the minds of those who will shape our environment," the AIA said in a news release announcing the award.

Steward will collect the award at the annual AIA convention in Dallas in May.

A member of the ACSA board of directors, Steward is the only educator to have served as the president of the AIA and the National Architectural Accrediting Board. He was instrumental in developing the AIA's continuing education program, the AIA diversity task force and the first collaborative study of architectural education in the United States with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

His 37-year career in education includes a 25-year term as the first and only dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska.

Law Team Wins Moot Court Regional

A three-student team from the University of Nebraska College of Law won the Regional Rounds of the 49th annual National Moot Court Competition Nov. 20-21 at Kansas City, Mo.

The Nebraska team of Wendy DeBoer of Lincoln, Shannon Doering of Wessington Springs, S.D., and Terry Meinecke of Jamestown, N.C., defeated a team from the University of Kansas in the final round to win the regional competition.

The NU team is one of 28 from law schools across the United States to advance to the National Rounds in New York City in January. The top two teams in each of the 14 regions advance to the national competition. It's the seventh time in the last 10 years that a Nebraska team has advanced to the National Rounds.

DeBoer, Doering and Meinecke also received the award for best brief in the competition and DeBoer received the American College of Trial Lawyers Award for best oral advocate in the final round.

A second Nebraska team of Troy Meyerson of Omaha, Joshua Nauman of Giltner and Shayla Reed of Bellevue advanced to the semifinals at Kansas City, but lost to DeBoer, Doering and Meinecke by less than a point. NU was the only school to advance both of its teams to the semifinals.

Judge Pasco M. Bowman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was the presiding judge of the three-judge panel that heard the final round. Sixteen teams representing nine law schools from Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska participated in the Regional Rounds.