Great Plains Fellows

Fellows constitute the core of the intellectual community that is the Center. They publish research and book reviews in the Center’s journals, give talks as Olson lecturers, serve on the program committee for and speak at our annual Great Plains conference, advise the Great Plains Art Museum, and take part in Center projects. They sit on the Board of Governors and choose the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize winner. Their work helps the Center meet its mission of increasing understanding of and appreciation for the people, cultures, and natural environment of the Great Plains. Fellows are experts within the University of Nebraska system and Affiliate Fellows are outside the system.

Fellow nomination procedure

Next nomination period: October 2024

Fellows of the Center shall include scholars presently holding regular appointments at the University of Nebraska who are concerned with the past, the present, and the future of the Great Plains. Candidates for this status must be nominated by a Fellow and must present evidence of a research, teaching, or public service commitment to the Plains region. Fellows are elected upon recommendation of the Nominating Committee and by a majority of the Board of Governors.

NOMINATION AND APPLICATION FORM

Membership (Governance Document, Article IV, Section 1)

Procedure

Upon receipt of the nomination at the Center, it will be sent to the Nominations Committee for their consideration. Following approval, they forward the nomination in the form of a seconded motion to the twelve-person Board of Governors. The Board of Governors votes on acceptance of the nominee. The Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies will notify the nominee and the nominator of the results of the Board action.

Other

No fee is required for designation as a Fellow. Fellows are kept apprised of all Center activities via email, especially the seminars and annual interdisciplinary conferences. Fellows have the opportunity to work with the Center on projects, journals, lectures, and conferences.


Affiliate Fellow nomination procedure

Affiliate Fellows of the Center shall include persons who have a professional interest in the Great Plains and the purposes and program of the Center and are not presently holding regular appointments at the University of Nebraska. Candidates for election must be nominated by a Fellow. The nominator must present evidence of a research, teaching or public service commitment to the Plains region. Affiliate Fellows shall also include any Fellow who no longer has an appointment at the University of Nebraska and who has not provided the Director with a signed letter resigning his or her Center affiliation. Affiliate Fellows shall be elected in the same manner as Fellows, but they shall not have voting privileges.

NOMINATION AND APPLICATION FORM

Membership (Governance Document, Article IV, Section 2)

Procedure

Upon receipt of the nomination at the Center, it will be sent to the Nominations Committee for their consideration. Following approval, they forward the nomination in the form of a seconded motion to the twelve-person Board of Governors. The Board of Governors votes on acceptance of the nominee. The Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies will notify the nominee and the nominator of the results of the Board action.

Other

No fee is required for designation as an Affiliate Fellow. Affiliate Fellows are kept apprised of all Center activities via email, especially the seminars and annual interdisciplinary symposia. Affiliate Fellows have the opportunity to work with the Center on projects, lectures, and symposia.


New Fellows for 2024

Samantha Ammons, Associate Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, UNO
Specialties: Work-family-leisure boundaries and well-being; occupations; community and "little free libraries"; mixed methodology

Timi Barone, Associate Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, UNO
Specialties: Medical anthropology, ethnomedicine, human adaptation

Joy Castro, Willa Cather Professor of English and Ethnic Studies, Director of Institute for Ethnic Studies, UNL
Specialties: Memoir, fiction, film, U.S. ethnic literatures, women's literatures, modernism

Alison Cloet, Education & Outreach Associate, Center for Great Plains Studies, UNL
Specialties: Art and environmental education, afterschool programming, design research

Lauren Gatti, Associate Professor, Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education, UNL
Specialties: English education, teacher education, democratic education

Kate Heelen, Department Chair, Professor, Exercise Science, UNK
Specialties: Physical activity, community wellness and pediatric obesity prevention and treatment program

Angel Hinzo, Assistant Professor, History and Ethnic Studies, UNL
Specialties: history and federal Indian policy from mid-19th century to the present

Beth Lewis, Professor, Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education, UNL
Specialties: Secondary science education; teacher learning, professional development, and leadership; geoscience education issues

Salvador Lindquist, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, UNL
Specialties: environmental and climate justice, community engaged design, mapping and visualization

Shannon Mulhearn, Assistant Professor, Physical Education, UNK
Specialties: Stress and coping, and teacher education preparation

Eric Reed, Professor, Director of Transfer Programs at Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis
Specialties: Literature of U.S. West, Great Plains historical violence

Allison Schlosser, Assistant Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, UNO
Specialties: Sociocultural medical anthropology, ethnographic methods, anthropology of drug use, and health disparities. 

Kelly Smith, Drought Impacts Researcher, Assistant Director and Communications Coordinator, National Drought Mitigation Center, UNL
Specialties: drought impacts, climate impacts, crowdsourcing, big data, drought signal

Suzanne Maughan Spencer, Sociology Department Chair, UNK
Specialties: Rural youth as they transition to adulthood, and the impact that they will have in their home communities

Liahnna Stanley, Assistant Professor, Communications and Ethnic Studies, UNL
Specialties: Rhetoric and cultural studies, literary criticism, speculative fiction, Indigenous sovereignty and critical theory 

Sarah Zuckerman, Associate Professor, Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education, UNL
Specialties: state-level educational policy implementation and school-community partnerships, particularly in the context of rural communities

Affiliate Fellows

Mark Brohman, Executive Director, Wachiska Audubon
Specialties: Working with tall-grass prairies, wildlife conservation, environmental issues, and Indigenous peoples

Brandon Cobb, Indigenous Conservation Specialist, The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska
Specialties: Land stewardship, cultural fire, climate change, grazing management

Cory DeRoin, Incoming coordinator for the Walking in the Footsteps of Our Ancestors project
Specialties: Environmental knowledge, food sovereignty, Otoe-Missouria relations

Christina Faw Faw Goodson, Incoming co-director of the Walking in the Footsteps of Our Ancestors project
Specialties: Cultural linguistics, language revitalization, history

Jason Heppler, Historian, Senior Developer at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, History and Art History, George Mason University
Specialties: American West and Northern Plains history, environmental & agricultural history, political history, digital history

Christian Janousek, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Creighton University
Specialties: Political culture and institutions, governance, state and local government, public policy

Kurt Kinbacher, Professor, History/Social Sciences, Chadron State College
Specialties: World History, Ancient and Modern East Asia, and topics that involve the Great Plains and the people who live here

Ryan Klataske, Founder & Principal; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Applied Ethnographic Services; University of Nebraska Medical Center
Specialties: Anthropology, ethnography, agriculture, work, environment, health, and rural life

Autumn Langemeier, Historical Marker Equity Program Coordinator, History Nebraska
Specialties: Local and state commemorative efforts, rural women’s history, material culture, and historically underrepresented communities

Jason St. Sauver, Sr. Manager, Education, Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center
Specialties: Environmental education for all ages and abilities focusing on birds, habitat, and connections to communities and equity and inclusion