Lincoln (Neb.) - Oct. 31, 1997 - Five distinguished University of Nebraska alumni will return to campus Nov. 12-14 for Masters Week, an annual event that honors successful NU graduates.
This year's Masters are: John David DeHaan, associate professor of voice at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.; Norman Krivosha, executive vice president, secretary and corporate general counsel at Ameritas Life Insurance Corporation in Lincoln; Harriet G. McCombs, public health adviser for the Mental Health Services Administration in Rockville, Md.; Lee McIntire, president of Bechtel National Inc. in San Francisco; and Calvin O. Qualset, director of the Genetic Resources Conservation Program at the University of California-Davis.
Masters Week was founded in 1964 by then-Chancellor Clifford Hardin. Sponsored by the Chancellor's Office, the Student Alumni Association, Innocents Society and the Black Masque Chapter of Mortar Board, the program brings successful alumni in contact with students through class visitations, campus tours and meetings with clubs and organizations. More than 170 alumni have returned to campus as masters since the program's inception.
Faculty nominate alumni each winter for the next year's program. Masters are then selected by a committee appointed by the chancellor.
DeHaan is an internationally acclaimed tenor who has performed with opera companies all over the world, including l'Opera de Montreal, Opera Carolina, Deutsch Oper Berlin, the San Francisco Opera, the Netherlands Opera, the Greater Miami Opera, the Scottish Opera and the Santa Fe Opera. In addition to managing his performance schedule, he also teaches voice at the University of the Pacific. A Kansas native, he earned his bachelor's degree at Union College and his master's degree at UNL. He is a winner of the Eleanor Steber Music Foundation Mozart Award and a former Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera.
Krivosha is one of Nebraska's outstanding public servants. Before joining Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., he was chief justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court. He is a leader in many organizations such as the Nebraska Wesleyan University Board of Governors, the American Bar Association Commission on Opportunity for Minorities in the Profession, and the St. Elizabeth Community Health Center Board of Directors. He has received many awards for his activism, including the "Torch of Liberty" award from the Anti-Defamation League and the Humanitarian Award from the Order of the Sons of Italy. Lincoln's former city attorney, Krivosha also has been general counsel for Lincoln General Hospital and Lincoln Electric System. He earned his bachelor of science in law and his juris doctorate at the University of Nebraska (1956, 1958).
McCombs is an expert on public health and policy concerning the homeless and mentally ill, ethnic minorities, people living in rural areas and faith communities. She is a researcher, teacher and program evaluator. In her varied roles in government, she has worked with representatives from every federal agency to develop and coordinate homeless policies. A leader in rural health issues, she has integrated policies regarding primary and behavioral health care and used telecommunications technology to deliver health services. She is also an assistant pastor at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, D.C. McCombs was raised in Columbia, S.C., and earned her bachelor of science degree in psychology at the University of South Carolina (1974). She earned her master's and doctoral degrees at UNL (1976, 1978).
McIntire is president of Bechtel National Inc., an engineering, construction and environmental subsidiary of the Bechtel Group of Companies. The company specializes in project management, design and environmental services for the U.S. government, foreign governments and commercial industry. Typical projects include missile silo dismantlement in the Ukraine, U.S. Air Force space launch complexes and cleanup of the nation's nuclear weapons complexes. Bechtel National Inc. also operates the nation's largest outdoor laboratory at the Nevada Test Site. Before joining the company, McIntire spent 15 years in project management and business development in the Middle East and Europe for Arabian American Oil Co. and Ashland Oil. McIntire is the son of Leonard and Millie McIntire of Kearney. He earned his bachelor of science degree at UNL (1975).
Qualset is a world-renowned geneticist and plant breeder
who has released more than 12 varieties of wheat, triticale
and oats that are widely grown in California and Mexico. He is
a pioneer in global efforts to conserve the biological
diversity of major crops, and he conducts research on the use
of biodiversity for crop improvement. He has been on
scientific panels that address issues of crop genetic
diversity, germplasm collections, release of genetically
modified organisms into the environment and alternative
agriculture. He has supervised 60 graduate students and
written more than 190 scientific papers. During Masters Week
he will discuss issues related to genetic diversity,
intellectual property rights and career opportunities in the
agricultural sciences. Qualset was raised in Newman Grove, and
his mother lives in Wayne. He earned his bachelor of science
degree in agriculture at the University of Nebraska (1958),
then earned his master of science in agronomy and his
doctorate in genetics at the University of California-Davis
(1960, 1964).
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