Hay Donations and Moral Support

NU Employees Good Neighbors in Fire's Aftermath

By Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer

When a vicious prairie fire swept through Nebraska's Sandhills March 16 and 17, University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension staff rushed to help their ranch neighbors. In the fire's aftermath, extension staff are continuing to organize help.

Brent Plugge, agricultural extension educator at the Central Sandhills Area branch of NU Cooperative Extension in Thedford, said the quick reaction of rural Nebraskans when flames surrounded his community, forcing its evacuation, was no surprise.

"It goes way back to the old threshing bees. When you're in need, rural Nebraskans drop everything and help out," said Plugge, whose home was among those threatened by the fire before it was turned back.

Andy Applegarth, operations manager of the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory near Whitman in Grant County, said four of his five employees voluntarily headed east in the lab's grassfire pumper truck, refilling it nearly a dozen times. Another stayed behind only because she had already been assigned to help with calving, he said.

The 600-head ranch focuses on range cattle nutrition, meadow and range use, insect pests in cattle and water hydrology.

Applegarth said he's proud of his employees, but not surprised.

"It was the only thing to do," he said. "We're by no means heroes. The heroes are the people who lost their grass because they're going to stay and make a livelihood."

Dick Clark, interim associate director of the West Central Research and Extension Center at North Platte, said the university is lucky the fire wasn't near the Gudmundsen ranch. But its location in the middle of the Sandhills puts it at risk for a prairie fire, he added.

"Next time it could be us," Clark said. "You never know."

Applegarth said he had no doubt neighbors of the Gudmundsen ranch would reciprocate if a fire threatened the NU Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources laboratory.

"We're neighbors," Applegarth said. "It's one great community up here."

The laboratory ranch has provided about 30 to 40 tons of hay to area ranchers in the fire's aftermath, said Gary W. Hergert, interim director of WCREC.

In other follow-up efforts, extension is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service and Nebraska Natural Resource Districts. Extension staff are assembling packets on how to handle farm and ranch stress, Plugge said.

Jerry Volesky, a range and forage specialist at North Platte, has been monitoring earlier burns and will advise producers on how soon they can begin grazing their land again, Clark said.

Don Adams, a beef range systems specialist at North Platte, is offering to consult with ranchers about their herds' dietary needs, Clark said.

Plugge estimates it will take at least a month for Sandhills residents to pick up the pieces to meet their immediate needs, and longer to recover from costs associated with the fire.

An independent committee is being established to assess what individual ranch families need and how to distribute donations to producers, Plugge said.

The Central Sandhills Area extension office at Thedford has set up a toll-free hotline for people to call to donate supplies such as feed and fencing or services such as trucking or tree planting. The number is: (800)657-2113.

Plake's Distinguished Professor Lecture April 8

By Annie Mumgaard, Public Relations

Remember those SAT/GRE test experiences? On the big day, the crowd of test takers was herded into a room, armed with No. 2 pencils. The test was strictly proctored and you were to answer exactly the same questions in exactly the same order as everyone else.

That experience can be quite different today. Due to the development of high speed, cost effective computers and landmark theoretical developments, those No. 2 pencils and proctors can be put to rest. Now, examinees can go to special test centers at their convenience. Tests are administered on computers with questions selected from a large item bank appropriate to the test takers ability level.

Barbara Plake will address this new phenomenon when she delivers a lecture, "A New Breed of CATS: Innovations in Computerized Adaptive Testing," beginning at 4 p.m. April 8 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium.

Plake is the W.C. Meierhenry Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology. Her lecture is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln spring Distinguished Professor Lecture on Scholarship and Creativity. It is free and open to the public.

Plake has been involved in the field of testing for more than 25 years. She began looking into testing issues, she said, because she was "interested in identifying better, more appropriate and useful ways to test - ways that are fair, give better information and higher quality information from the testing experience."

Much of the research on testing has focused on the paper and pencil process. "It's only with the last decade," Plake said, "that the computer industry has come along sufficiently to deal with the testing needs." High-speed computers are needed for the delivery of a testing system that requires speed and assessment abilities. Plake said it was a combination of high-speed computers and the theory called "Item Response Theory" that brought together years of research to improve testing.

Plake will also discuss the future of CATs including some variants that are in experimental development at the University of Nebraska. "This is what's going to become common place in large scale," she said. "Students preparing to take licensure testing, certification testing, GMACs, GREs, and SATs are likely to face this kind of testing method."

The Distinguished Professor Lecture Series on Scholarship and Creative Activity was initiated in the fall of 1997 to recognize professors who have been promoted to named distinguished professorships. These professors are selected by a campuswide committee and are based on an individual's research portfolio.

Plake, who is also director of the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, was named a distinguished professor in March 1996.

First-ever Conference Demonstrates Importance of Math for HS Scholars

By Mary Jane Bruce, Public Relations

Ever wonder why in the world you needed to learn mathematics? High school students ask that question all the time. A conference convened March 16 on campus answered that question in a real-world way.

The Math in Business conference was sponsored by Ameritas, Lincoln Public Schools, the J.D. Edwards Honors Program and the UNL Center for Science, Mathematics & Computer Education.

The students who attended the conference are taking advanced precalculus classes at their high schools. The students learned about career options that require a strong mathematics background and the kind of mathematical understanding that courses like precalculus offer.

"The purpose is to allow kids to answer the question, 'Where are we ever going to use this?'," said Sue Graupner, assistant math curriculum consultant with LPS and conference organizer.

During the daylong event, students attended sessions where representatives from local companies demonstrated the importance of mathematics in their businesses.

For example, students in a session led by Geotechnical Services worked through calculations needed to design a drainage system for a high school football field. A presentation by the National Weather Service demonstrated how mathematics is used in weather forecasting.

"There's just too much stuff out there that sounds good," said Scott Wilson, a junior at Southeast High School.

Wilson and a classmate, Sarah Swisher, attended a session on engineering. The presentation by Olsson & Associates caught Swisher's interest.

"I was really interested in finding out what kinds of options we have as far as fields to go into and what to study in college," she said. "I think engineering would be great and I'm looking forward to doing that at UNL."

The need to connect math with promising careers is important, said Sandy Scofield, director of the UNL Center for Science, Mathematics & Computer Education. She said students who are in the midst of a challenging class like precalculus need to see it's worth the struggle.

"This shows the students what kind of opportunities are out there in math that relate to a wide variety of fields. The conference should have some impact on career decisions and choice of major," said Scofield.

The conference also provided businesses a chance to showcase opportunities in their fields and increase the potential pool of educated employees. Scofield said the conference is an ideal partnership between the university, businesses and students.

The conference attracted about 180 students and it may become an annual event.

Chancellor Urges All to Thank Student Workers for Their Efforts

TO: The University Community

FROM: James Moeser, Chancellor

April 5 marks the beginning of Student Worker Week, an opportunity to recognize and thank the approximately 3,000 students who work on the University campus. They conduct tours of campus for prospective students, serve as peer advisers and health aides. Our catering services in the Nebraska and East Unions are absolutely reliant upon them. Others assist in our teaching and research missions, ranging from maintaining our beetle collections to working on the Polar Ice Core Operation.

While the university would be hard pressed to function without our student workers, their service provides important learning opportunities to those who serve in these important roles. Whether it be heightening basic interpersonal skills, strengthening self-discipline, or acquiring specific scientific techniques, these job opportunities are an important educational experience as well.

Finally, of course, these employment opportunities provide critical financial support to enable these students to continue their education.

Please take the occasion of Student Worker Week to thank these students and congratulate them on their commitment to completing their education.

Next Retreat Oct. 14 ­ 16

Faculty Retreat Builds NU Community

By Tom Simons, Public Relations

There is common ground between applied scientists and liberal arts scholars, and exercises like the first NU faculty retreat last fall show just how easy it can be to find it. Just ask Steve Baenziger, professor of plant breeding and a participant and presenter at the 1998 event.

"It was designed to build a sense of community within the university and that was done extremely well," Baenziger said. "It gave us an opportunity to learn about and value what others are doing. I learned a lot about engineering, but as an applied scientist, that's pretty close to what I do. I really learned a lot from the faculty in the liberal arts. They are doing some really fabulous things."

Richard Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, said Baenziger's response was typical of the reaction of the 75 or so faculty members who participated last year. Because of that positive response, a second annual retreat has been scheduled for Oct. 14-16 at College Park in Grand Island.

The retreats, he said, give faculty from across campus an opportunity to interact with each other intellectually in a climate that's designed to break down barriers that sometimes exist because academic life is organized around individual disciplines.

"Too often we don't take advantage of the faculty riches we have here at home," Edwards said. "The main thing about the faculty retreat is that it is an intellectual and academic conference - it's not a planning or an administrative meeting."

"The featured event is a series of presentations by faculty members about their areas of research. They're done in a general way, but in a way that appeals to a highly intellectual audience. Last year, for example, Greg Snow gave a wonderful presentation on his research in elementary particle physics and I think some attendees may have been intimidated in the beginning by the subject matter. But they came away saying, 'What a wonderful talk. I know more about physics now than I have at any time since high school.'"

Edwards said faculty are invited to attend the retreat by a random selection that rotates over a period of years. Eventually, all faculty members will be invited and the retreat's size will be kept manageable.