Six Newly Elected Members

Wehrbein Ag Hall of Achievement Honoree

By Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer

Roger Wehrbein of Plattsmouth, a farmer, feeder, dairy and livestock producer and chairman of the Nebraska Legislature's Appropriations Committee, has been named the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement's 104th honoree.

Martin Massengale, University of Nebraska president emeritus, will present Wehrbein's tribute April 16 at NU's Clifford Hardin Center for Continuing Education.

The NHAA, formed in 1916, has about 180 members statewide dedicated to preserving and improving Nebraska agriculture. Each year, the group recognizes at least one honoree.

Wehrbein was elected to the Legislature in 1986 and has been re-elected three times. He is credited with leading efforts last session to allocate $250,000 more for NU research on E. coli in beef, in addition to supporting other legislation over the years benefitting agriculture.

Wehrbein graduated from the NU College of Agriculture. He is a member of the Agriculture Builders of Nebraska and is a regional director of Farm Credit Services. In 1998, he received an award from the Nebraska Association of County Extension Boards for Distinguished Service. In 1984, Wehrbein, his wife Jeanene and their two sons were named the Omaha Area Kiwanis Club's Farm Family of the Year.

The six newly elected members of the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement are:

o Robert C. Andersen of Lincoln, president of the Nebraska Cooperative Council for the past 25 years.

o John B. Campbell of North Platte, University of Nebraska West Central Research and Extension Center professor and extension specialist in entomology.

o Charles H. (Chuck) Hassebrook, program leader, Center for Rural Affairs, Walthill, and member of the NU Board of Regents.

o Jim Lundgren of Lexington, a farmer and co-founder of Nebraska Water Users Inc.

o J. Rowland McClymont of Holdrege, cattle feeder and farmer.

o Steven L. Taylor of Lincoln, professor and head, NU Department of Food Science and Technology and director of IANR's Food Processing Center.

Dedication to State's Water Resources

Several Honored at Nebraska Water Conference

Former Nebraska Department of Water Resources Director J. Michael Jess, University of Nebraska-Lincoln law professor Richard S. Harnsberger and the "Nebraska Plan" team were honored for their commitment to the state's water resources at the 28th annual Nebraska Water Conference in Kearney.

The Nebraska Water Conference Council and University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources presented the Pioneer Award to Jess and the Progress Award to the 24 members of the Nebraska Plan team who worked on renewal of federal power licenses involving Kingsley Dam and Lake McConaughy.

The annual Pioneer and Progress awards, in their 27th year, are presented, respectively, to an individual and an organization with outstanding accomplishments in water resources.

The Lincoln-based Groundwater Foundation presented its 14th annual Maurice Kremer Groundwater Achievement Award to Harnsberger for his many years of commitment to water education and scholarship.

"Nebraska Plan" team members received the Progress award for their innovative proposals to renew federal power licenses held by the Nebraska Public Power District and Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District involving Kingsley Dam and Lake McConaughy.

Team members were: Steve Anschutz, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; William J. Bailey Jr., Nebraska Game and Parks Commission; Brian Barels, Nebraska Public Power District; Ann Bleed, Nebraska Department of Water Resources; Gerald Chaffin, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission; Jim Cook, Nebraska Natural Resources Commission; Paul Currier, Platte River Whooping Crane Trust; John Detuerk Jr., Big Mac Sportsmen's Council; Tom Emerton, Platte River Whooping Crane Trust; Don Kraus, Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District; Frank Kwapnioski, Nebraska Public Power District; Jim Lundgren, Nebraska Water Users Inc.; Dave Mazour, Tri-State G&T; Bob McCue, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; former Gov. Nelson; Ed Pembleton, National Audubon Society; Paul Prentiss, Nebraska Wildlife Federation; Dave Sands, National Audubon Society; Tom Schwarz, Nebraska Water Users Association; Wes Sheets, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission; Leroy Sievers, Nebraska Department of Water Resources; Gayle R. Verbeck, Big Mac Sportsmen's Council; Dale L. Wahlgren, Platte River Flood Control Association; and Shuhai Zheng, Nebraska Natural Resources Commission.

DECA Honors Doughty

Dixie Doughty, coordinator of the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business Administration, was honored in March by DECA with its Nebraska State Marketing Education Award of Merit.

DECA, an organization of high school marketing students, honored Doughty for her strong support and commitment to the field of marketing, management and entrepreneurship education at the secondary, post-secondary and adult levels. She served as acting director of marketing education for the state of Nebraska in 1998 and her achievements included new sponsored programs, publications, financial support, program improvement, promotion, development and overall progress for marketing education.

Competition Underway at Eindhoven University in the Netherlands

Students Prepping for World Programming Contest

A team of three University of Nebraska-Lincoln computer science and engineering students are competing in the world finals of the 23rd Annual Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest. The competition is April 8-12 at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The contestants are undergraduates Yixin (Peter) Guo, Josh Brown and Lucas Sabalka, all from Lincoln. Their coach is Charles Riedesel, faculty supervisor and chief undergraduate adviser for the computer science and engineering department. Also assisting in their training is Professor Spyros Magliveras, the coach of Nebraska's 1983 team that won the finals.

This year's team earned the trip to finals by defeating more than 50 other teams in the North Central Regionals. The group is one of 62 teams advancing to the world finals out of the original 1,456 competing teams.

"I knew they were good, but it took me time to really believe we are going to the Netherlands," Riedesel said. "The team members were jumping and shouting in the halls when the unofficial results were posted shortly after the November regional contest."

The team met late Friday afternoons and on Saturdays in 17 Ferguson Hall, to practice mock competitions, hone their techniques, study algorithms, and develop familiarity with the IBM Visual Age programming language tools that will be used.

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Schickley Teacher Wins Battey Award

Doug Straight, vocational agriculture teacher and FFA adviser at Shickley High School, is the winner of the 1999 Freda Drath Battey Distinguished Educator Award.

Presented by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Teachers College, the award is based on excellence in teaching along with recognition of other educational activities, such as counseling of students or initiation of student-oriented programs. Candidates are nominated by Teachers College undergraduates.

Straight, who is originally from Wayne, will receive a $4,000 stipend and a school bell. Shickley High School will receive $2,000.

The Freda Drath Battey Distinguished Educator Award was established in 1987 by Harold and Marian Andersen and Charles and Joan Battey in memory of their mother.

NU Range Plant Team Ranks Fourth at International Contest

The University of Nebraska Range Plant Identification team placed fourth out of 21 teams at the recent annual meeting of the Society for Range Management and the American Forage and Grassland Council in Omaha.

Range Plant Identification Team members were Ingrid Jordon and Lori Landholt of Omaha, Anna Bodie of Burchard, Jen Fleer of Hoskins and Kristin Nollette of Nenzel. Jordon was NU's top individual competitor, placing second among 76 contestants. Contestants identified 100 randomly chosen plants out of 200 of the most important North American rangeland plants designated by the SRM. The team coach is Chuck Butterfield, agronomy research technologist in NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Bodie, Jordon, Fleer and Eric Mousel of Ayr also competed in the Undergraduate Range Management Exam. This contest, coached by Walter Schacht, NU associate professor of agronomy, covers the main areas of rangeland management such as range ecology, multiple use, rangeland regions, grazing management and rangeland improvement.

Bodie and Fleer were among 24 undergraduate public speaking contestants, with Fleer placing third. Students had three hours to prepare a five- to seven-minute extemporaneous speech on rangeland management.

All students also participated in the Tapping the Top program, which pairs students to help with students' professional development.

This was the first time the SRM and AFGC met jointly, and is only the second time the Nebraska Section of the SRM hosted an annual meeting. The Feb. 21-24 meeting attracted more than 1,500 people from North America and several foreign countries.