Great Plains Fellows

Welcome new Fellow and Affiliate Fellow

The Center welcomes eleven new Fellows / Affiliate Fellows for spring 2019:

Andrew Little, Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resources, UNL

Specialties: Wildlife ecology and management, precision agriculture, landscape ecology, habitat management

Dr. Little is an Assistant Professor of Landscape and Habitat Management and Extension Specialist at UNL. He received his B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from The Pennsylvania State University, M.S. in Wildlife Ecology from Mississippi State University, and Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Georgia. His research and extension program focuses on developing innovative solutions to the growing wildlife conservation and management needs in a multi-functional Nebraska landscape where there are competing interests for agricultural production, wildlife conservation, and ecosystem services.

Bridget Barry, Senior Acquisitions Editor, University of Nebraska Press

Specialties: Cultural, military, health and environmental history

Barry is a senior acquisitions editor at the University of Nebraska Press. With ore than a decade of experience in scholarly publishing, she acquires manuscripts in the history of the American West, Great Plains history and culture, environmental history, geography, and other fields. She received her M.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2012 for her research on industrial heritage tourism in Butte, Montana.

Judith Turk, Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resources, UNL

Specialties: Soil morphology and genesis

Dr. Turk holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Maryland and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Soil and Water Science from the University of California at Riverside. Her research focuses on fundamental questions related to soil morphology and genesis on the Great Plains. She teaches Soil Evaluation, Great Plains Field Pedology, Soil and Society, and coaches the UNL Soil Judging Team.

Matthew Bice, Associate Professor in Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Specialties: Public health education, health interventionist

Dr. Bice is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences and interim associate dean for Graduate Studies at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. His research agenda focuses on the following main areas: 1.) School health obesity prevention treatment interventions 2.) Evaluation of health education programs, and 3.) Behavior change determinants of physical activity and nutrition including psychological, physiological, and social influences.

Phil Geib, Professor of Practice, Anthropology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Specialties: Archaeology, hunter-gatherers, transition to agriculture

Dr. Geib's Masters in anthropology is from Northern Arizona University and his PhD is from the University of New Mexico. His regions of research include the North American Southwest, Great Plains, and Great Basin.

Rezaul Mahmood, Director, High Plains Regional Climate Center, Professor, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Specialties: Weather and Climate Sciences

Dr. Rezaul Mahmood specializes in weather and climate sciences. He has received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. Rezaul is a professor in the School of Natural Resources and directs the High Plains Regional Climate Center. He has published nearly 75 peer-reviewed papers.

Theresa Catalano, Associate Professor, Teaching Learning, and Teacher Education, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Specialties: Education, migration

Dr. Catalano's research focuses on the nexus between education and migration, with particular focus on preparing Nebraska’s teachers to work with children with immigrant backgrounds. She also advocates for dual language education and arts-based education.

AFFILIATE FELLOWS

Bradley Rundquist, Interim Dean and Professor, Department of Geography & GISc, University of North Dakota

Specialties: Remote sensing, GIS, prairie ecosystems

Dr. Rundquist earned his Masters and Doctorate from Kansas State University. His work has focused on prairie plants and ecosystems, environmental remote sensing, and physical geography.

Brian Gribben, Coordinator, Government Information, Archives, & Special Collections – Forsyth Library, Fort Hays State University

Specialties: German immigration, Populism, freethought

Gribben has served as Forsyth Library’s Coordinator of Government Information, Special Collections, & Archives since 2016. In this role, Gribben works to collect, preserve, and contextualize materials documenting Kansas heritage with an emphasis on the immigration history of Ellis County and the surrounding area, Populism, and the publishing history of the freethought movement. Gribben completed his undergraduate work at Fort Hays State University where he completed his Masters in History in 2010 and completed his doctoral coursework at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a concentration of Holocaust & Genocide Studies.

Cody Havard, Associate Professor, Sport Commerce, University of Memphis

Specialties: Rivalry, in-group bias, fan and consumer behavior

Dr. Havard is an associate professor of Sport Commerce, Coordinator of Research, and Director of the Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce in the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management at The University of Memphis. He researches rivalry using the sport setting, and developed the first scale to measure fan views of a rival team, the Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale (SRFPS). He also founded and manages www.SportRivalry.com, and produced the Adventures with Sport Rivalry Man stories to teach about rivalry and appropriate group member behavior.

Kyle Conway, Associate Professor, University of Ottowa

Specialties: Communication, border studies, Social effects of oil exploration

Dr. Conway is an associate professor of communication at the University of Ottawa. He studies the ways people cross literal and figurative borders, and his current research focuses on the social effects of the oil boom in western North Dakota, where his extended family lives. He occasionally updates his blog at https://bakkenbook.org/.

FELLOW NOMINATION PROCEDURE

Next nomination period: Oct. 1 - 26, 2018

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.

Membership (Governance Document, Article IV, Section 1)

Documentation

Three documents are required for the nomination

1. A letter from the nominee indicating interest in becoming a Fellow
2. Nominee's current short vita (around two pages)
3. Letter of nomination from a current Fellow of the Center for Great Plains Studies Documentation should be sent by the nominator to:

Richard Edwards, Director Center for Great Plains Studies
University of Nebraska
1155 Q Street,
PO Box 880214
Lincoln, NE 68588-0214

or emailed to cgps@unl.edu

Procedure

Upon receipt of the nomination at the Center, it will be sent to the five-member 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 apprized of all Center activities via email, especially the seminars and annual interdisciplinary symposia.

AFFILIATE FELLOW NOMINATION PROCEDURE

Accepting nominations: Oct. 1 - 26, 2018

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.

Membership (Governance Document, Article IV, Section 2)

Documentation

Three documents are required for the nomination

1. A letter from the nominee indicating interest in becoming a Affiliate Fellow 
2. Nominee's current short vita (around two pages)
3. Letter of nomination from a current Fellow of the Center for Great Plains Studies Documentation should be sent by the nominator to: 

Richard Edwards, Director Center for Great Plains Studies 
University of Nebraska
1155 Q Street,
PO Box 880214
Lincoln, NE 68588-0214

Procedure

Upon receipt of the nomination at the Center, it will be sent to the five-member 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 apprized of all Center activities via email, especially the seminars and annual interdisciplinary symposia.