Nebraska Quarterly - Fall 2018

The school year has started again, and with it, an influx of the most students ever enrolled at UNL. That includes more than 3,750 scholars within the College of Engineering, which is embarking on major building renovations. With its new dean in place, the time is now for the college to elevate its profile and keep its stellar graduates in

Q U A R T E R LY

a l so: PARTY TIME The university’s 150th celebration arrives next year. page 10 GLOBE BIG RED Husker fans around the world gather on Football Saturdays, regardless of the hour. page 48

You could be a savings champion.

University of Nebraska Alumni Association members could save even more on auto insurance with a special discount from GEICO. Get a fast, free quote today at geico.com/alum/naa or call 800-368-2734.

Don’t forget: We’re more than just car insurance. With the right coverage for your home or apartment, boat and more, you could be saving money before you know it.

Go Cornhuskers!

Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states, in all GEICO companies, or in all situations. Boat and PWC coverages are underwritten by GEICO Marine Insurance Company. Homeowners, renters and condo coverages are written through non-affiliated insurance companies and are secured through the GEICO Insurance Agency, Inc. GEICO contracts with various membership entities and other organizations, but these entities do not underwrite the offered insurance products. Discount amount varies in some states. One group discount applicable per policy. Coverage is individual. In New York a premium reduction may be available. GEICO may not be involved in a formal relationship with each organization; however, you still may qualify for a special discount based on your membership, employment or affiliation with those organizations. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2018. © 2018 GEICO

GOOD FOR U, GOOD FOR THE U. Nebraska Nebraska Alumni Alumni Association Association membership membership hashas its its benefits—for benefits—for both you both andyou theand university. the university.

As a member, Members yousupport supportcritical criticalrecruitment recruitment and and retention retention efforts, effortsand andyou receive receive discounts discounts onon toptop brands, brands, early early access to football tickets, on-campus perks and more.

Membership packages start at just $15.

The NAA appreciates your continued support and dedication to thehuskeralum.org/join next generation of Huskers.

huskeralum.org/membership-benefits

2

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

BIG B UCKS $92 million contract

FALL

Contents

The University of Nebraska’s National Strategic Research Institute has been renewed with a five-year, $92 million contract with the U.S. Air Force. The renewal paves the way for a second phase of growth following an initial $84 million contract that launched the institute in 2012. A partnership between the NU system and United States Strategic Command, the institute researches methods to combat weapons of mass destruction and maintain the safety of the United States and its allies.

2018

These days our society is clamoring with many voices. Take a look inside to hear what thought leaders on campus think. As budget cutbacks continue to affect our university, listen to what a senior administrator tells us about how she grappled with the cuts that were taken. P28 And then listen to a senior from Nevada talk about how rising tuition has affected her. P30 Renowned Willa Cather scholar, Andrew Jewell, explains why My Ántonia resonates 100 years after it was published. P32 In the cool calm of the campus art museum, a dialogue is being encouraged about the freedoms we strive to maintain. P42 For some passionate voices, learn what lengths Cornhuskers overseas go to in order to get their game day fix. P48

WHO’S INVOLVED? Since its founding, the NSRI has engaged more than 241 Nebraska faculty, researchers and students from a range of disciplines on 84 research projects.

WHAT’S GOING ON HERE? Researchers conduct tests with the Diocles Laser, which is part of UNL’s Extreme Light Laboratory. The laser is being used to further national defense research aimed at detecting bombs hidden in cargo containers.

craig chandler

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

4 Contributors 6 Trip to China 8 Community 10 Campus News 27 Voices 53 Bulletin 54 Alum Profiles

36

58

64

Engineering

Class Quotes

Love Story

The College of Engineering is a priority for the chancellor, and the new dean is ready to take it to the next level.

Alumni from all decades share words of wisdom for incoming freshmen: go to class, try everything, travel and have fun.

Mike and Jan met in college, dated for one year and went their separate ways. Now, 50 years later, they are together again.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

3

NEBRASKA

CONTRIBUTORS

QUARTERLY

Fall 2018 VOLUME 114 NO. 3

CHARLYNE BERENS

Charlyne Berens (’05, ’10) was a professor and associate dean at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications until retiring in 2014. She taught courses in reporting, editing and freedom of expression. She has published two books about the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature and two political biographies.

Shelley Zaborowski, ’96, ’00 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Kirstin Swanson Wilder, ’89 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SENIOR DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS

Charley Morris ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR

Kevin Wright, ’78

WENDY DONAHUE

While in college Wendy (Navratil) Donahue (’92) converted her major from English to journalism after joining the staff of the Daily Nebraskan. She is a veteran of the Chicago Tribune, where she was a style reporter and features editor, and Florida Today, where another Nebraska alumna, Lori Demo, hired her out of college. Wendy now works in marketing at Zurich North America in suburban Chicago.

CRAIG CHANDLER

Craig Chandler is the director of photography for the university and insists he has “the best job on campus, photographing the incredible people, places, events and discoveries that make up UNL.” A Husker convert, he’s been on campus since 2008 after a career in photojournalism which started during his undergraduate days at Kansas State University.

SOPHIE NEWELL

Sophie Newell is a mixed media artist and illustrator living in Omaha. Originally from Manchester, England, she moved to Nebraska four years ago. She has exhibited work across the U.S. and U.K. and has produced illustrations for clients such as Marriott Hotels and The Washington Post. She is currently the education programs assistant for Joslyn Art Museum and Kent Bellows Mentoring Program.

Nebraska Quarterly (USPS 10970) is published quarterly by the Nebraska Alumni Association, the known office of publication is 1520 R St., Lincoln NE 68508-1651. Alumni association dues are $50 annually of which $10 is for a subscription to Nebraska Quarterly. Periodicals postage is paid at Lincoln Nebraska 68501 and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. Requests for permission to reprint

4

FA L L 2 0 1 8

materials and reader comments are welcome.

SE ND MAI L T O:

Nebraska Quarterly Wick Alumni Center / 1520 R Street Lincoln, NE 68508-1651 Phone: 402-472-2841 Toll-free: 888-353-1874 E-mail: nebmag@huskeralum.org Website: huskeralum.org Views expressed in Nebraska Quarterly

do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Nebraska Alumni Association. The alumni association does not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, veteran’s status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.

EDITORIAL QUERIES:

Kirstin Wilder (kwilder@huskeralum.org)

ADVERTISING QUERIES:

Jenny Chapin (jchapin@huskeralum.org)

DIRECTOR, DESIGN

Jenny Chapin ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR, BUSINESS/ALUMNI RELATIONS

EmDash MAGAZINE DESIGN

Aleksandar Savic’ COVER ILLUSTRATION

NEBRASKA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION STAFF Stephen Boggs, ’12 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, VENUES

Michael Mahnken, ’13 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, VENUES

Katie Brock, ’16

Jessica Marshall, ’11

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, ALUMNI AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS AND MEMBERSHIP

Justy Bullington

Tracy Moore

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, VENUES

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Conrad Casillas

’03, ’11 SENIOR DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, VENUES

Carrie Myers,

CUSTODIAN

Heather Rempe, ’03 ASSISTANT

Derek Engelbart

DIRECTOR, DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

Charles Dorse

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI RELATIONS

Julie Gehring ’91 MEMBERSHIP AND PROGRAMS ASSISTANT

Larry Routh ALUMNI CAREER SPECIALIST

Viann Schroeder ALUMNI CAMPUS TOURS

Jordan Gonzales ’17

Deb Schwab

DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, VENUES

Hanna Hoffman, ’16

Andy Washburn,

ALUMNI RELATIONS AND PROGRAM COORDINATOR

’00, ’07 ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS

Wendy Kempcke

Katie Williams, ’03

ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Hilary Winter, ’11 DIRECTOR, DIGITAL STRATEGY/PR

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Sheldon Treasures An ongoing, rotating gallery installation of some of the museum’s most important and best known objects.

TRAVELING WITH THE CHANCELLOR

“I feel that Nebraska, being an agricultural export state, puts greater emphasis on us to know who our partners are and to establish one-on-one relationships.

PARTNERS Chancellor Green discusses trade and key UNL research strengths with Han Jun, vice minister of China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

—STATE SEN. JOHN STINNER

Q:

What are the tangible benefits to Nebraska from

international partnerships, such as your recent trip to China?

6

FA L L 2 0 1 8

which is critical in the globally interconnected world in which our university must operate to be successful. Each of us who traveled to China now has an enhanced perspective on Chinese culture and people, and we can share that with colleagues on campus and around the state.

Our university benefits from strong relationships in China in very specific and tangible ways.

Last year, students from more than 115 countries outside the U.S. enrolled at UNL, and China was the home country best represented by a large margin. So maintaining and building relationships and understanding between our

—Ronnie Green CHANCELLOR

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

michael zeleny

A : I n Ju n e, I , a l o n g w i t h Nebraska state senators Adam Morfeld and John Stinner who a r e a l s o Ne b r a s k a a l u m n i , led a delegation of university officials and members of our state government to China.

It was a special opportunity for us to promote Nebraska agriculture and have face-toface conversations with Chinese officials, including the vice minister of ag riculture and rural affairs, about increasing partnerships and trade between Nebraska and China.

It was also a chance to engage in cultural understanding about important international partners,

campus and China plays an important part of our international student recruitment efforts.

This trip also represented an opportunity to meet with friends and strategic partners at Xi’an Jiaotong University. Our relationship with this university is a valuable component of NU’s overall global engagement strategy to build relationships with key nations that will benefit Nebraska and the world.

Sen. Morfeld, a 2009 and 2012 graduate, expressed, “As a young Nebraskan it is clear that our ability to be competitive with jobs, technology and trade will depend on strong state partnerships with other countries. These partnerships will not only strengthen our economy but enrich the cultural vibrancy of our state and help attract and retain a talented workforce necessary to grow our state.”

I am grateful for the opportunity to represent our university and state everywhere I go, and I especially appreciate the chance to have shared this experience with state senators Morfeld and Stinner.

Make ‘The Good Life’ better.

Donate to the N Fund to make a positive impact on students, faculty and programs.

The N Fund allows you to make contributions to priority funds that support specific Nebraska colleges, as well as broader areas of need like student scholarships, faculty development and campus libraries. You may also support the Nebraska Alumni Association or Nebraska Athletics through the N Fund.

To make a donation, simply go to nufoundation.org/NFUND or call Kristi Pease at 800-432-3216.

COMMUNITY

Find Archie!

Morrill Hall’s famed Archie is hiding somewhere in the magazine, like only a 20,000-yearold mammoth can. Find him on a subsequent page, email us at alumni@huskeralum.org and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a fabulous Husker prize!

Congratulations to 94-year-old Californian Charles Apgar (’46) who found Archie riding on the handlebars of the bicycle on page 25 of the summer edition.

BIG BRAG

8

FA L L 2 0 1 8

Go Big Blue

Husker fans showed up en masse July 7 for “Huskers Night at the K.” Toby Cook, vice president of PR for the Kansas City Royals, told KLIN radio that Husker night is consistently the best-attended of all the university nights Kauffman Stadium holds.

“Nebraska fans travel,” Cook said, “when we throw up Husker night as opposed to Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, they really come out in droves.” Having former Husker baseball star, Alex Gordon (’06), playing helps too. Nebraska football assistant and Kansas City native Ryan Held (’98) threw out the first pitch.

Future Husker University

jason hanna /kansas city royals; craig chandler

Nebraska Quarterly nabbed a Circle of Excellence Gold Award in the Magazine Publishing Improvement category from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Out of 35 entries, Nebraska was the only school to receive the top honor. The judges noted: “Not only did they transform their storytelling approach and visual identity, they also shifted their content and distribution strategy in an effort to engage with more alumni.”

Royal Treatment

Engineering Kids’ Dreams

The inaugural Future Husker University rolled out in July with 75 youth and grandparents descending on UNL for a day filled with campus tours, activities with various colleges and lunch in the Cather Dining Hall.

Here Nancy Cooksey builds a tower with her grandson, Dayton Engelbart, and his cousin Adrian Weaver. “I loved spending the day with my grandkids,” she said.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

P U O R G T N RA U A T S E R R PILLA

BUSINESS LUNCHEONS

DATE NIGHTS

WEDDINGS

WE’RE HERE FOR YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

See the full menu at yourvenue.net

Follow on instagram @piedmontbistro

For informaaon about hosang weddings and events contact our coordinator, lisa@yourvenue.net

13 15 21 22 DEVOUR

FIRST LOOK

NEW RIDES

BUSINESS

Student Union gets two new eating spots.

Gymnasts will be getting new facilities.

Autonomous shuttles tested in Lincoln.

Teen entrepreneurs sell a lot of T-shirts.

FALL

“This is a once-inevery-150-year opportunity to look at who we can be —who we must be— as a university.

—CHANCELLOR RONNIE GREEN

PARTY ON

Celebrating the Big 1-5-0 ANNIVERSARY WILL LOOK TOWARD THE FUTURE WITH AN APPRECIATION OF THE PAST

Ina Gittings graduated in 1906 and became director of women’s physical training at a time when women practiced behind closed doors.

10

FA L L 2 0 1 8

archives & special collections, unl libraries

N

ext year we’re gonna party like it’s 1869 … so get ready to celebrate the university’s 150th birthday in style. The state of Nebraska officially chartered the University of Nebraska on Feb. 15, 1869, and with a century and a half has come a lot of history and a lot of impact. It’s the kind of story that could fill up a book. And, in fact, it will.

Dear Old Nebraska U: Celebrating 150 Years will be published by, and available from, Nebraska Press in February as part of a yearlong celebration of 150 years of teaching, research and extension by Nebraska’s flagship, land-grant university.

“Our university creates opportunity and improves lives across Nebraska and around the world,” said Meg Lauerman (’73, ’00), co-chair of the 150 celebration steering committee. “That’s a big, ongoing story, but 2019 will be special.”

University events next year will take on a decidedly 150 flavor, starting with Chancellor Ronnie Green’s State of the University address set for Jan. 15, which will lead up to special Charter Day observations in February.

Actually, Charter Day will be more like Charter Week, with events

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

FA L L 2 0 1 8

11

FALL In 1926, the university seal is prepped to be hoisted into place on Morrill Hall.

BIG BRAG

12

FA L L 2 0 1 8

planned for Feb. 11-15, including a monumental performance at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. This ticketed event will feature students, faculty and distinguished alumni celebrating the most beloved music of the past century and a half, combined with highlights of the university and world history milestones.

“It’s an honor and privilege to mark a 150-year anniversary,” said Michael Zeleny (’94, ’96), associate to the chancellor and chief of staff as well as co-chair of the 150 celebration steering committee. “We’re excited to celebrate our pride in the university and the state in which we serve.”

Next year the three commencement ceremonies, the university’s presence at the Nebraska State Fair and homecoming will all reflect a 150 vibe.

In addition to remembering the past, Chancellor Green has established a 150-member commission to develop a vision for the future of UNL as it approaches its 150th anniversary. Composed mostly

of faculty, students, staff and stakeholders, the Nebraska Commission of 150 includes a visioning process for the next 25 years.

“Many leaders from across campus and beyond are coming together to work as part of the commission because they recognize how critically important it is for us to define a bold vision and then live out that vision going forward,” Green said.

While the commission’s work will incorporate a strategic plan for the university, Green said the commission’s task will go beyond plotting the future.

“This is a once-in-every-150-year opportunity to look at who we can be — who we must be — as a university to best deliver on our promise to Nebraska and the world in the future,” Green said.

The commission is expected to finalize its work by mid-November, with the plan to be unveiled as part of the university’s 150th anniversary celebration in February.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

archives & special collections, unl libraries

The Ruth Staples Child Development Lab School has earned a new five-year term of accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

The Accreditation of Early Learning Programs recognized the UNL facility for its outstanding efforts in maintaining and renewing accreditation. The report stated that the lab school was to be commended for its efforts to go the extra mile and showing remarkable dedication and commitment to excellence.

DEVOUR IN HUSKER COUNTRY

Eat

Steak ’n Shake/Chick-fil-A Two new restaurants are moving in to the Nebraska Union. Chick-fil-A and the state’s first Steak ’n Shake have replaced Runza, which opened on campus in 2004. For you oldsters, Burger King once inhabited that same space.

clockwise from top left: troy fedderson; courtesy fanatics.com; courtesy steak ’n shake; omaha world-herald; alamy; courtesy university bookstore

Buy

Listen

Nebraska Steel Drums The Caribbean may be 1,700 miles away, but UNL’s new drum ensemble, Nebraska Steel, is bringing the upbeat calypso rhythms of paradise right to campus.

Spirit Gloves What’s better than waving one pompom to cheer the Huskers on to victory? Why 10 finger pompoms, of course. Slip on these Spirit Fingerz gloves and get both hands involved in cheering on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in all of their sports.

You can find these festive gloves at fanatics.com where they retail for $21.

Read

Frost: A Husker’s Journey Home Scott Frost’s rise to Husker head coach was decades in the making.

And Omaha WorldHerald sports writers, five of whom worked at the Daily Nebraskan, have written a book about it. Order at omaha. com/ScottFrost.

Savor

Adorn

Husker Pillow Students can dress up their dorm room with Husker spirit with this embroidered pillow from the newlyrenovated University Bookstore in the Nebraska Union.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Thai Rolled Ice Cream A new ice cream joint at 14th and P streets, dubbed Freezing, is bringing a big-city trend to Lincoln.

This sweet treat is rolled rather than scooped.

The flavors are made-to-order so watching the process of your ice cream being made is just as fun as eating it.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

13

FALL Huskers with a Pulitzer 1920

JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATIONS

1923

The Horrors of Heroin

Harvey E. Newbranch (1896) Willa Cather (1895)

1932

John J. Pershing (1893)

1944

Howard Hanson (1935)

1966

Robert Lasch (1928)

1976 & 1979

James Risser Jr. (1959)

1986

Charles Mohr (1951)

1989

Karen Blessen (1973)

1991

Marjie Lundstrom (1978)

2005

Ted Kooser (1968)

2009

Matthew Waite (1997)

2017

Dan Stiertiz was the last person sent to Hamilton County Justice Center in Cincinnati on opiate-related charges in July 2017.

This story was part of the Pulitzer-winning entry from the Enquirer.

14

FA L L 2 0 1 8

with the heroin epidemic in their community, Graves said. “(The project’s) beauty, I have always thought, was in the starkness of the writing, making sure every word mattered and that, despite the heft of the topic, it was told with humanity and empathy,” Graves said. “We hoped that folks would see that this was a community issue that impacted nearly all of us.”

Upon graduating in 1987, Graves promised former journalism professor Bud Pagel that she would win a Pulitzer award. While she never thought she would deliver on that promise, she said she was grateful to have the opportunity to work on this story.

“The joy to me, honestly, is in the pursuit of the work and in the telling of the story,” Graves said.

Graves is currently the digital managing editor at Minnesota Public Radio News.

Kelly worked with 30 other journalists in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, all part of the USA Today Network, to explore Trump’s proposed border wall. The project used virtual reality, mini-documentaries, a feature-length documentary, podcasts and laser imaging radar to examine what the wall would look like, who it would affect and what it would cost.

As the video content strategist for The Republic, Kelly was in charge of dispatching photojournalists across the border.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

sam greene/the enquirer

Christine Graves (1987) Nathan Kelly (2010)

Two journalism alumni were part of Pulitzer prize winning teams announced this spring. Chris Graves (’87) was part of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s “Seven Days of Heroin” team, which examined the impact of heroin on the community through immersive storytelling. Nate Kelly (’10) was part of The Arizona Republic’s “The Wall: Unknown stories, Unintended consequences” team, which was a special report from 2017 looking at President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.

Graves worked with 60 other journalists to show what heroin in the Cincinnati community looks like. Her role as a reporter on the project required her to spend time in various locations and connect with individuals affected by heroin.

“I spent a day with a longtime heroin-addicted mother who was celebrating her son’s birthday in a sterile office environment on a supervised visit,” Graves said. “Her children had been taken away from her and placed in foster care. I also spent about 3-4 hours outside a local hospital emergency room waiting to see if anyone would bring an overdose victim to be dropped off.”

During the last 6 hours of the project, Graves was inside the Hamilton County jail waiting for the intake of those booked on drug charges.

The project showed many facets of the issue and brings people front and center

OVERHEARD

“I focused on building out their audio/video equipment and making sure they had everything they needed to do their best work,” Kelly said. “I also oversaw logistics and quality control for the podcast series.”

When looking at the impact, potential cost and promises made by Trump, it could be argued that this is the biggest story in the country, Kelly said. The team took great efforts to tell a complete story of the border wall.

“We spoke to human smugglers, families who had lost loved ones trying to cross, vigilantes who patrol the border, ranchers who live on the border, wildlife preservationists, Customs and Border Protection and more,” Kelly said. “It is the most comprehensive reporting ever done on the border between the United States and Mexico.”

The USA Today Network has been seeking a Pulitzer for 35 years and winning this award is validation for their hard work, Kelly said.

“This project was possible because our nationwide leadership was able to get together and plan strategically to dispatch journalistic resources from all over the country,” Kelly said. “We leaned on each other and worked together as a network to accomplish a monumental task.

— Alli Inglebright

Here’s the big secret, which isn’t so secret.

You will get farther in life and get there quicker because you’re from Nebraska.

I kid you not. We Nebraskans come armed with tools for success, and other Nebraskans know it. (A Nebraskan is) someone who’s honest, a straight shooter, on time, has a good work ethic, a sense of humor, knows what a Runza is and is generally pleasant to be around.”

—ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER ALEXANDER PAYNE in his May commencement address

from top: scott chambers; the clark enersen partners & hntb

BIG BRAG

FIRST LOOK In January 2020, UNL gymnasts will kick off the season in their brand new, state-of-the-art gymnastics facility being built to the northwest of the Devaney Sports Center. In August 2017, the Board of Regents approved the $14 million project after determining that renovating the current facilities would be too costly. The 35,400-square-foot building will double the women’s current 11,585-square-feet of space currently located inside Mabel Lee Hall and the men’s 6,871-square-foot room inside Devaney. The building will be paid for through private donations and athletic funds and is expected to compete with the top training facilities in the nation, like Louisiana State, Michigan and Oklahoma. This new space, which broke ground in August, will provide both a recruiting boost and a safer, more spacious environment for the Husker gymnasts to practice.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

UNL has joined 15 other public and private universities in FedByScience, an effort to boost federal investment in agricultural research.

The initiative, timed with the release of the 2018 House Farm Bill, focuses on demonstrating to the public and policymakers the many ways that USDA-funded universities and researchers are creating a safer, healthier and more productive food system.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

15

FALL BIG BRAG Sunseo Omega 3, a South Korean agricultural company, has located its U.S. headquarters at Nebraska Innovation Campus.

The company, which manufactures and distributes animal feed, chose to locate in Nebraska because Nebraska beef is the preferred choice in the Korean market.

16

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

PE R SH ING R I FL ES Making a comeback The historic Pershing Rifles are flying again. The military drill team performed during the national convention this spring, marking the first time in 12 years that the team stepped onto the field to compete.

SOME HISTORY, PLEASE? Nebraska’s drill team was formed by Gen. John J. Pershing, who served as professor of military and naval science from 1891 to 1895.

WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE? The society is a coed military fraternal organization that follows Pershing’s goals of instilling leadership, integrity, discipline and military rigor.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

FA L L 2 0 1 8

17

FALL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Test Run HUSKER RESEARCH TO ADVANCE TRACTOR TESTING TECHNIQUES

N

ew research is bringing tractor testing into the modern era.

Though tractor technology has changed rapidly, the testing techniques used on the machines have not changed in several decades, said Santosh Pitla, project lead and assistant professor in biological systems engineering.

“Research in precision agriculture often focuses on agronomy, but there has not been as much focus on the power houses or tractors,” Pitla said. “Tractors are a primary power source for operations, and they rely heavily on fuel and energy efficiency.”

Tractors play an important role in precision agriculture, which is seen as one of the primary ways to provide food, fiber and fuel for a growing population. This project will assess three different types of power — power takeoff, hydraulic and drawbar —

used by tractors to pull implements such as planters, field cultivators or ammonia applicators.

Older implements would use only one type of power at a time, but today’s modern implements use a combination of PTO, hydraulic and drawbar power simultaneously. Because current tractor testing looks only at the drawbar, the research project will focus on implementing mixed mode testing, so all three powers can be evaluated at the same time.

“The biggest opportunity for improved tractor-testing techniques in this area is in fuel efficiency,” Pitla said. “It’s about matching the right tractor to the right implement. Right now, tractors are oversized for some of the implements they are pulling, so they are wasting a lot of energy.”

The research will occur at the university’s Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center near Mead and at the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory. The

Students evaluate machinery at the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory on East Campus.

previous spread and this page: craig chandler

18

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

tractor test lab is the officially designated testing station for the United States and gages tractors according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development codes. The long, oval track on East Campus has completed more than 2,000 tractor tests since 1920.

“The university is uniquely positioned to conduct this research because of our Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory,” Pitla said. “We’re the only facility of our kind capable of testing the largest tractors, and the only facility in the Western Hemisphere.”

For this project, instrumentation such as sensors

and data-logging devices will be placed on the tractors pulling an implement. The instrumentation will help the researchers gather fuel-rate, engine-load and hydraulic-power data. Using this data, the researchers will assess what kind of power is needed for different implements.

The data collected from the mixed-mode testing could support manufacturers in their efforts to design more efficient engines. According to Pitla, the research will not be specific to one company and could easily be adopted across the tractor industry.

—Haley Apel

EDUCATION AND HUMAN SCIENCES

Beyond Lincoln

BIG BRAG A new $43.9 million, 107,000-square foot University Health Center and University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing — Lincoln Division complex opened for business July 16. The previous student health center at 1500 U St. opened in 1958.

courtesy melanie kellogg

CONNECTING ACROSS NEBRASKA MAKES FOR STRONGER COMMUNITIES Outreach. It’s core to Nebraska’s mission as a land grant university. Beth Doll, interim dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences, has made outreach an important priority as she guides the continued advancement of the college.

A busload of faculty and staff from the college rolled into Columbus, Nebraska, recently to learn more about the community’s assets and challenges and explore how the college might collaborate with Columbus to further advance a rural community.

“One of our strategic goals is to engage Nebraska,” said Doll. “Our teaching needs to prepare graduates to be effective professionals in Nebraska communities, and our research needs to be practice-based so that results can be used by community professionals to improve their practice.”

Doll says thriving partnerships across the state keep the college’s work meaningful and energizes faculty and staff to better serve Nebraskans. Bus tours, like the one to Columbus, help make connections and allow faculty and staff to better understand community needs. In turn, community leaders learn more about how the university can offer practical supports.

“We have much to learn from building partnerships with the communities we serve,” said professor Ali Moeller with the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, a participant on the Columbus trip. “Through schools and a variety of programs that integrate kids and adults in educa-

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

tion, we can provide more college access to students who are diverse, are first generation students, and especially those who want to go into teaching. That opportunity became very clear to me.”

In a few short months, connections with Central Community College in Columbus have resulted in educators at CCC pursuing the community college leadership certificate offered through CEHS’s Department of Educational Administration.

Strengthening enrollment is vital for the success of CEHS and the university, but perhaps more beneficial is the impact these leaders will have as they apply the principles they learn to strengthen the programs they manage and the delivery of services to community college students.

“There’s so many opportunities to get together and do good work on behalf of Nebraska,” said Nick Pace, department chair of Educational Administration.

“Through collaboration, we can help strengthen leadership at the community college, improve the transition of community college students to the University of Nebraska, and create opportunities for research on the CCC campus that will inform educators across the country.”

—Brad Stauffer

Faculty who traveled to Columbus included, from left, Soo-Young Hong, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Julie Tippens, Tori Molfese, Paul Springer and Jeong-Kyun “Evan” Choi.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

19

FALL OVERHEARD

“I look forward to creating more community-based opportunities for our students. Our future honors program will be interdisciplinary, interactive and more globally minded. It will root students’ experiences in local and national institutions to ensure that they are ready for the world.”

— PAT RIC E MC MA H O N on being named director of the University Honors Program

FA L L 2 0 1 8

Brain Game BINGE DRINKERS’ BRAINS REACT DIFFERENTLY TO RISKY CHILD’S PLAY New Husker research suggests the same people who get a stronger jolt playing Crocodile Dentist may chase a more dangerous buzz when drinking, thanks to an anticipatory spike in their brains.

Doctoral student John Kiat combined a simple child’s game with high-tech brain measurements in a novel experiment examining how the brain’s risk reactivity is connected to risky behaviors like binge drinking.

The results showed the brains of self-reported binge drinkers react to perceived risk much more prominently than nonbinge drinkers.

“What we found was that non-binge drinkers exhibited significantly reduced reactivity during risk anticipation,” Kiat, a doctoral candidate in psychology, said.

“Binge drinkers showed a much stronger ‘spike’ in activity while they were playing the game that non-binge drinkers didn’t demonstrate. It seems likely that binge drinkers get a similar stronger response while drinking,” Kiat continued.

Twenty-six people were tested for the study, which included playing a version of the game and answering questions about alcohol usage over the past 30 days.

Binge drinking was defined as five or more drinks within a few hours. While undergoing EEG testing, they were instructed to press each crocodile tooth in a sequential

order. The game provides a healthy dose of risk through pressing teeth down until pressing the wrong tooth makes the croc’s jaw snap shut on a player’s finger.

Th e E E G i m a g i n g fo u n d ev i d e n ce of elevated neural reactivity among binge drinkers as the likelihood of getting chomped on increased, while the response of non-binge drinkers remained largely unchanged. The findings are one of the first examples to show an association between risk reactivity and binge drinking frequency.

Kiat noted the study is also novel in that the risk-taking activity did not include a decision-making component, since participants were told to press the Crocodile Dentist teeth down in a certain order, instead of randomly.

“Prior research hasn’t looked at raw reactivity without a decision-making process,” Kiat said. “We know that high-risktaking populations exhibit elevated risk reactivity during decision-making, but would that elevation still be there even if no decision is involved?

“Our study suggests that the story might actually be quite simple, that even if you take away the decision element, you still get that escalation of reactivity in binge drinkers, and possibly in others who choose high-risk activities.”

—Deann Gayman

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

from left: scott chambers; courtesy photo; thinkstock

20

ARTS AND SCIENCES

BIG BRAG

ARCHITECTURE

Navya Takes the Wheel UNL RESEARCHES AUTONOMOUS SHUTTLES FOR DOWNTOWN LINCOLN

craig chandler

T

he university’s epicenter of forward-thinking initiatives temporarily housed the state’s first self-driving shuttle this summer while community and regional planning students and professors helped gather data.

The city of Lincoln won a $100,000 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to test the autonomous system, which carries up to 15 passengers.

Nebraska becomes one of the first Big Ten institutions to feature an autonomous shuttle system.

“Nebraska Innovation Campus is proud to be part of Lincoln’s autonomous shuttle project,” said Dan Duncan, executive director of the campus. “NIC is designed to facilitate and grow partnerships between the public and private sector. Housing the shuttle at Nebraska Innovation Studio and hosting the initial test rides are great examples of public-private partnerships in action.”

Input from riders will inform the city’s application for a $1 million or even $5 million Bloomberg grant later this year. Those larger grants, given to four of the 35 cities awarded the initial $100,000, would fund the production of up to six autonomous shuttles

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Warren Buffett (’51) donated 524 shares of class B common stock in Berkshire Hathaway (valued at $100,000) to the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Support Fund. Buffett didn’t work for the student newspaper, but his parents, Howard and Leila, did, which is where they met. Howard was editor in 1924.

that would traverse fixed routes through downtown Lincoln as early as next year.

Like many of its self-driving counterparts, the Navya shuttle features a series of cameras, global positioning systems and laser-based sensors designed to orient the vehicle and detect obstacles.

The 15-foot-long vehicle continuously plugs that data into algorithms that help direct its acceleration, braking and trajectory.

The university’s Public Policy Center and College of Architecture gathered opinions on the self-driving shuttle from various demographic groups, including

The autonomous shuttle was previewed at Nebraska Innovation Campus.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

21

BUSINESS

T-shirt Triumph HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BUILD BUSINESS, BREAK SALES RECORD

BIG BRAG Husker Athletics has named two new head coaches in men’s sports. A rising star in collegiate coaching with strong connections to the Big Ten, Florida and California, Sean Maymi has been named the new men’s tennis coach.

A proven coach with a record of success in the Big Ten Conference, Mark Hankins is the new head men’s golf coach.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

T

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

craig chandler

22

senior citizens and riders of the city’s bus service.

Samantha Brannagan, a graduate student in community and regional planning, is among several students who designed surveys, conducted focus groups and synthesized the data they collected.

“How many people get to work on a project like this? It’s so cool, especially for a (community and regional) planning student,” Brannagan said. “You want to work with urban design and the city. The fact that it’s with the mayor’s office — the involvement of people who work with the city and really want to try new and innovative things — is really exciting.”

One of Brannagan’s professors, Daniel Piatkowski, contacted a member of the city’s public works department to offer his services after learning about the project.

“The next day, I was in a meeting to help design a survey,” said Piatkowski, assistant professor of community and regional planning. “It dovetails with some of my research into how we’re going to be transporting ourselves around in the future and what that means for aging populations — people who may not be able to drive in the foreseeable future.”

The university also helped advocate for the legislative approval needed to make the project possible, said Laurence Rilett, a professor of civil engineering who directs the Mid-America Transportation Center.

The self-driving shuttle represents an especially novel learning opportunity for students, he said.

“The reality is that we’re going to have more change in our transportation system during the next 10 years than we’ve had in the past 60 years,” Rilett said. “Being on the ground floor of this is great for our students.”

—Scott Schrage

wenty-two teen entrepreneurs participating in Nebraska’s Future Builders Challenge completed an intensive, monthlong internship with the Clifton Strengths Institute to gain the skills fundamental to becoming their own future business owners and industry leaders. They launched their Lincoln Builders T-shirt business on June 27 and after one week of sales, they sold nearly $8,150 in shirts, shattering sales of previous Future Builders cohorts in Washington, D.C., Mexico City and Omaha.

“This experience has been life changing for us. It has helped provide the builders of the future with the knowledge, practice and guidance needed to become future entrepreneurs, inventors and CEOs,” said future builder Ashley Clegg, a recent graduate of Lincoln East High School and a freshman marketing major at Nebraska.

The internship is a four-part program through which the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools collaborates with the Lincoln community to help students find their full entrepreneurial potential and develop leadership skills. The cadre of 22 students was selected from more than 3,200 local students assessed through Gallup’s Builder Profile 10, which identifies people’s dominant talents showing aptitude to become an entrepreneur, innovator and builder.

“The Future Builders have been challenged to learn about their strengths through practice.

Whether they were coordinating events in the classroom or selling T-shirts, students were able to see how they naturally excel,” said Taylor Lofdahl, program coordinator of the Clifton Strengths Institute.

Students first considered T-shirt designs that work to address the three goals outlined by Prosper Lincoln: What the community should

FALL

garrett stolz

Teen entrepreneurs hawk their T-shirts on campus during Jazz in June.

do to ensure youth are successful, maintain economic growth and keep a strong and vibrant community. Their four T-shirt designs explored themes of positivity, equality, the environment and “power the future.”

“They had to work with The Strengths Lab (the nonprofit which leads builders programs internationally) in Washington, D.C., to take out a $5,000 loan,” said Samantha Kennelly, assistant director of the Clifton Strengths Institute and co-teacher of the program. “They worked with Pixel Bakery and Ink Alley to create the shirts and then started selling.

T-shirt buyers were told about the positive meanings to impact social change behind the T-shirt designs, and knew that by wearing any of the T-shirts, they were showing their support of not only these students but for building a better community.”

After solidifying their designs, the students’ attention turned to marketing and sales. Popup sales at The Foundry, formerly known as the Nonprofit Hub, and Jazz in June were complemented by online sales.

Success came rapidly.

“Within less than 48 hours of having our shirts, we sold 150 of them. Then we sold $5,000 in shirts in four business days and repaid our loan,” said Sam Hurt, a sophomore at Lincoln Southwest High School.

The first shirt to sell out, the “Bee Happy” shirt, raised awareness about saving pollinators and is a nod to builder Ryan Jensen’s family beekeeping business, Jensen Brothers Bees.

“For our shirt to be the first to sell out is kind of crazy because we had to change the shirt’s design

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

after feedback in our loan approval process. Selling out gave me goosebumps because it meant people realize that bees help everything. They are so important,” said Jensen, who is a sophomore at Lincoln North Star High School.

The students officially launched their business at an event hosted at the College of Business that included a runway show of their T-shirt designs. As part of the runway show, the builders gave a powerful presentation explaining the meaning behind the equality shirt. Derek Branch, a sophomore at Lincoln Southeast High School, and five students shared values they aspire Lincolnites to embrace.

“The next time you witness or experience a moment of inequality, we want to challenge you to have the courage to say, ‘I value you,’ ‘I embrace you,’ ‘I celebrate you,’ and ‘I love you.’ This is the Lincoln we want to build,” he said.

With support from corporate sponsors to mentorship leaders from the university, Gallup, and the local business community, the students completed the program after having developed their strengths, entrepreneurial skills and leadership potential.

“The collaborative partnership between the university, local high schools, Prosper Lincoln and the many sponsors made for such a rich experience for the students. They were exposed to what makes Lincoln special: the cooperation among stakeholders to invest in the community and create opportunities for young people,” said Laura McLeod, assistant professor of practice in marketing and co-teacher of the Future Builders in Lincoln.

—Kimberly Smith

BIG BRAG A story by Marcella Mercer (’18) was named “Best Article of the Year” from among 605 entries at the Hearst National Championships in San Francisco.

Mercer’s winning entry, published in the Feb. 10 Lincoln Journal Star, chronicled the poignant relationship between a Ugandan father and his dying son.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

23

FALL FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS

OVERHEARD

A

new course in the Glenn Korff School of Music titled Arts Alive at Nebraska began this fall to introduce students to live performances and works of art across campus, in the community and in Nebraska.

Jacqueline Mattingly, Glenn Korff School of Music assistant professor of practice, spent more than a year developing the course in conjunction with the college. The course is designed to cover the nature and function of music and the arts through live performances, lectures, critiques, discussion sessions and reading materials. Students will also examine the creative process and the role and impact of the arts in society.

“The course is a non-music major course at the 171 level, so my hope is to catch them as they’re coming in the door and teach them what they have for a world of learning within the arts,” Mattingly said. “We will be giving students almost a dictionary or vocabulary of words to approach the art, to make it a little bit more familiar and less intimidating.”

The curriculum will be built around the performances and events taking place on campus and in the community.

This fall, that will include performances such as Ballet Folklórico de Mexico, Chinese Warriors of Peking and pianist Gabriela Montero at the Lied Center for Performing Arts; Mother Courage at the Nebraska Repertory Theatre; and films at

— KE L LY H E AT H , D IR EC TOR AND AT T E ND IN G V E T E R IN A R IA N FOR N E BR A SK A’ S IN S T IT U TIO NAL ANIM AL C A R E P R O G R A M, on the successful reaccreditation of its animal care program by Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International

Ballet Folklórico de Mexico, one of the most celebrated folk ensembles in the world, will be coming to the Lied Center in October.

24

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

from left: scott chambers; courtesy photo; scott chambers

“(This) accreditation is the ‘Good Housekeeping’ seal of approval for the university. It’s great for recruiting and opens the door for collaboration between institutions.”

Making Art Come Alive

the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.

“Part of the class will be attending events and being able to have a conversation about it in class,” Mattingly said. “They will write critiques of different events, and there will be traditional quizzing and grading. But part of the class is also that participation component you experience. You can show things in a classroom and you can project things, but it’s very different being part of that live performance. Seeing a work of art projected on the wall is very different than looking at it, seeing the texture or the color.”

Mattingly also hopes to have arts philanthropists come and speak to the class about how they contribute to the arts community.

Mattingly said the arts have an important role in our society.

“The creative process exists in everything,” she said. “It has such dramatic impact on our everyday lives, but sometimes we walk blindly past it. It’s important to pull that to the forefront. They’re being exposed to it in film, in music, in everything. I also think it’s important that as different issues arise in our world, artists tend to be right there on that playing field reacting and bringing those issues to us in a different way. We react to the arts in so many different ways, emotionally and creatively.”

Mattingly hopes the course can bring the various arts disciplines together.

“I love to teach across the disciplines, and I think that’s really important,” she said.

“This course will hopefully become a link between all of the arts. Sometimes we get so busy and operate within our own vessel, and one group isn’t talking to the other, yet we’re doing similar things. So how can we find that common thread to share? How do we make our students aware of all the wonderful opportunities there are? It’s hard to know what you like and what you don’t like unless you’re exposed to them. That’s the purpose of this class—to expose and to educate and to share.”

Mattingly said everyone has a role to play in the arts community.

“I hope their eyes are opened to something they’ve never experienced before, and I hope they see art in a new way and find comfort in it in some way,” she said.

—Kathe C. Andersen

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

LAW

Power of Women When more than 250 women signed up for the conference “Women Leading in Law, Business, and Philanthropy,” it sparked an idea with Molly Brummond, the college’s assistant dean for external relations and strategic initiatives.

She decided to capitalize on the energy and momentum generated by developing New! Now. Next? — cohort-based professional skills training designed to create spaces in which women lawyers come together to engage in sophisticated programming and peer-to-peer discussions specific to life/career stage. The program launched during the 2017-18 academic year.

The New! Associate Acceleration Academy is designed for women in their first three years of practice.

The initial class was comprised of 14 women lawyers who practice in a variety of settings. Alyssa Stokes (’17) was an initial member. “As a first-year associate, it helped me to transition from the role of a law student into one of a lawyer. Being part of the academy helped me to develop the mindset necessary to achieve success and taught me how to utilize my strengths in the practice of law.”

The second group, Now. Leadership Cohort, is geared for the woman who is seven to 15 years into her career and is poised to take on a more significant leadership role within her organization, community or volunteer life. The first cohort was comprised of 13 members from across Nebraska who practiced law, served as in-house counsel, or in other management roles in business.

The final piece, Next? Lunch Series, provides programming for individuals interested in the next challenge, once their career is established.

OVERHEARD

“If we can understand how older adults naturally progress toward positivity, then it could give us ideas of how we can help people suffering from chronic negativity.”

— P SYC H OL OG I S T MAITAL N ETA, who has earned funding from the National Science Foundation to study how the brain’s wiring changes to view uncertainty more positively as people age.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

25

LONGING FOR LINCOLN? No matter where you are in the country, you can head to a designated venue and take part in the game day excitement with fellow Husker fans. For a list of official watch sites, visit huskeralum.org/watch-sites.

And, when it’s not game day, you can still connect with alumni in your state by joining one of our 70 chapters across the country.

huskeralum.org/chapters

larry gawel

SHARING THE VIEWPOINTS OF OUR ALUMNI, FACULTY AND STUDENTS

Since opening in spring 2008, the International Quilt Study Center & Museum has welcomed more than 165,000 visitors and has grown to become the world’s largest publicly owned quilt collection with more than 5,000 objects. Dating from the 17th century through today, the collection comes from more than 50 countries.

COLOR AND CONTOUR: PROVENÇAL QUILTS AND DOMESTIC OBJECTS Provençal needlewomen imbued their solid-color, wholecloth quilts with the light and abundance of their landscape. This exhibit is on display at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum through Oct. 28 as a part of the East Campus museum’s 10th anniversary.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

FA L L 2 0 1 8

27

Budget

The Art of Balancing A $46 million budget shortfall meant rethinking how the entire system operates B Y M ARJORIE KOST ELNI K Senior Associate to NU President Hank Bounds

A

s alumni of the University of Nebraska each of you possess an invaluable asset — your Nebraska diploma. Whether you graduated in 1958, 1998 or 2018, one thing you can count on is the high quality of your academic degree.

Striving to maintain that quality is an everyday priority on all of our campuses. This emphasis doesn’t wane even in difficult financial times.

Having served the university as a college dean for the past 17 years, I can attest that the University of Nebraska has a deep commitment to keeping a Nebraska education affordable, while also preserving the excellence you and future alumni expect and deserve. In my new role as senior associate to President Hank Bounds, I have had a first-hand opportunity to observe this commitment daily as the University of Nebraska grapples with serious cuts to its budget. Over the past year, my work has focused on interacting with staff, faculty and administrators on all of our campuses, helping to drive cost savings while protecting the university’s mission in teaching, research and service.

THE CHALLENGE

Last year the university learned it would have to manage a $46 million budget shortfall — the result of budget cuts enacted by the state (three cuts within 14 months) combined with rising costs in addressing our mission (e.g., utilities, replacing outdated technology, supporting cutting edge teaching methods).

28

FA L L 2 0 1 8

Keeping affordability and quality top-of-mind, NU leaders sought to address this large sum without raising tuition astronomically or reducing excellence in teaching, research and community engagement programs. That was a formidable goal given how spare we were already. However, your university rose to the challenge with hard work and imagination.

THE STRATEGY

Early in their deliberations about NU’s reduced funding, President Bounds, along with Chancellors Doug Kristensen (UNK), Jeffrey Gold (UNO/UNMC) and Ronnie Green (UNL) made a crucial decision — to start the budget cutting process by seeking ways to maximize efficiency and minimize operational costs on all four campuses. They asked more than 100 operations experts from across the system and outside the university to serve on Budget Response Teams (BRTs). Teams were charged with seeking meaningful savings in the following areas: communications, facilities and energy, finance, human resources, information technology services, printing, procurement and travel. The initial goal was to extract at least $22 million in permanent cuts from the 2016-18 budgets, thereby sparing campuses that amount in academic program reductions while also keeping tuition affordable. This work began in January 2017 and is continuing. Here are some highlights so far.

THE PROCESS

Individuals who served on the BRTs spent six months developing potential cost-saving strategies while striving to protect our highest priorities of affordability and academic excellence. More than 100 team recommendations were submitted to a university-wide steering committee (including faculty, staff, students, campus administrators and community representatives) before moving to the president and chancellors for final vetting.

Eventually, 70 strategies were approved for implementation. You can find these at nebraska.edu/brt.

Some of the proposals were straightforward, such as dramatically reducing printing costs. Others required major organizational change, most notably consolidating our facilities, procurement, HR and IT units into more unified university-wide functions. Easy to say — challenging to do. The need to capture savings within a short timespan while still doing the work in these vital areas required teams to balance speed with caution. For example, we experience approximately one billion attacks on our IT network every day. So, we had to move with a sense of urgency to reduce technology spending, but we couldn’t act so quickly that we became vulnerable to cybercriminals.

Next, BRT members submitted their cost-reduc-

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

VOICES

tion proposals for campus feedback. The teams received hundreds of responses from every corner of the institution. Revisions were proposed and adopted. Developing the final strategies was not easy. It required willingness to compromise, to weigh benefits versus potentially detrimental impacts, and most importantly to recognize that we couldn’t come up with this much money and not feel it, sometimes quite painfully. As a result, we all became more cognizant of how important university operations are especially those related to travel, facilities or purchasing and how much they impact our work, regardless of what that work is.

pete ryan

THE RESULTS

Recently, the BRT groups announced $22 million in savings. To get that far, the university had to give up approximately 118 staff jobs either through layoffs or by eliminating vacated positions. Other efficiencies required cutting back on operational program supports and services. Ironically, as the workforce was shrinking, the university experienced a recordhigh enrollment of 53,000 students overall, thereby increasing the workloads of those who remain. As a result, there is no employee in the NU community who has not been affected by the cuts and changes we have had to make.

Most positively, thanks to the BRT work, our academic programs were impacted far less than might

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

otherwise have been true, and tuition was kept as low as possible. Some BRT strategies also heralded new ways of doing things — greater consolidation and systemization of work across campuses led to lower costs, and in some instances, improved operational practices. We will continue to chart progress on the BRT website referenced earlier if you want to check in and see how we are managing this fall.

The groups achieved a remarkable outcome and in doing so served the university and state of Nebraska well. It is hard work cutting, when you’d rather focus on growing. And, although the BRTs have been successful, the fact is that the operations well is running dry. We can’t count on getting much more savings through these means. Thus, any additional budget reductions could affect our academic programs much more adversely than has been the case so far.

Having said this, my biggest take away has been how much NU employees care about students, research and scholarship, as well as community engagement in Nebraska and beyond. In spite of tough times, the university community remains dedicated to providing a great academic experience — one that you can be proud to claim as part of your heritage, as well as a foundation for future alums. From my vantage point, the BRT effort has been a clear demonstration of the University of Nebraska’s grit, pride of place and dedication to education. The high quality of your degree remains our top priority.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

29

VOICES

Student Perspective

At All Costs A senior from Las Vegas laments the financial burden put on herself and her peers as tuition continues rising B Y JESSICA CHAMBERLAI N Senior, majoring in broadcast journalism & advertising/public relations Vice President of Marketing, Student Alumni Association

I

am proud to be a Husker.

Four years ago I made the best decision of my life thus far. I packed my bags and West Coast attitude and headed to Lincoln for four years of anticipated Cornhusker bliss. I imagined what football Saturdays with 90,000 other people would feel like and was nervous about finding my classes on the first day of school. College was unknown territory, but I thought, “What better place to experience the craziness than in the heart of the Midwest?” And I was right. Lincoln has given me countless memories, lessons and friendships.

But in the midst of all the happiness, I realized there was a larger issue at hand: budget cuts. Cuts are not uncommon, in fact they are healthy and expected, especially in the growing industry of higher education.

However, the University of Nebraska system has seen more than its fair share of cuts the past two years. We have endured three budget cuts in the last 16 months and unfortunately more are coming. The base budget for the university system has seen substantial cuts and now tuition costs are next to be hit. Students are looking at a 3.2 percent increase to their tuition bills this school year after seeing a 5.5 percent increase last year and a 2.5 percent hike the year before that. Over a four-year span, I have seen a 13 percent total increase

30

FA L L 2 0 1 8

to my costs since I first enrolled. Add that percentage increase to my out-of-state student costs and it looks to me like my Las Vegas odds didn’t follow me to The Good Life.

When I decided to move to Nebraska from the bustling city of Las Vegas that I called home, excitement filled my days. I was a 16-year-old high school sophomore when the Nebraska Nice mantra called my name. I applied for scholarships and pushed myself in school to make sure my dream of becoming a Cornhusker came true. I had the support of my family emotionally and financially. I made sacrifices and gave up other offers for colleges that were closer to home and more financially feasible, but I had my sights set on one place only. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing, but I cannot say with truthful words that I did not consider other options when costs continued to rise. The thought of losing my dream school terrified me, but was a reality. The University of Nebraska system has always prided itself on the affordability and accessibility of their campuses.

Compared to other Big Ten schools, Nebraska is still the cheapest, but that margin is closing every year.

I’ve talked with many professors and leaders on campus about these cuts and most seem to think it’s reasonable to increase costs since the other Big Ten schools are more expensive. This is true, but Nebraska has always been proud of the fact that many generations of Midwest students have been able to obtain a degree at a price that even low-income families could afford.

I have learned during my three years in Lincoln that many Nebraskans dream of one day walking across a stage to receive a diploma from the University of Nebraska. That holds a lot of weight across the state and even the country. Continued cuts to our system’s programs and increases to tuition costs could result in losing a population that Nebraska has given hope to. The university has a responsibility to these families and to its community to remain accessible. Last fall, 19 percent of UNL’s students and 44 percent of UNO’s students were the first in their families to attend college. This is a number that the Nebraska system is proud to tout, but one that has the potential to decrease if the system’s administrators aren’t careful.

Next May I will be a graduate of UNL. The university has provided me the opportunity to work in one of the nation’s highest-quality athletic offices with state-of-the-art technology, meet my all-time favorite sports reporter, Shelley Smith, and impact my classmates’ lives through the Student Alumni Association.

This school has brought so much light into my life, and I hope, even with the uncertain future of its tuition costs, that others can feel that same spark at the University of Nebraska. I am proud to be a Husker.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Today is the day I write my story.

RYAN METCALF, MBA University of Nebraska–Lincoln In my current role within the rail industry I’m advocating for what is possible using technology, e-learning and data analytics.

It became apparent that I needed more training in business analytics, so that’s when I decided to pursue the MBA program from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. I travel extensively and being able to take classes anywhere made pursuing my education easier for me. Earning a degree from a highly recognized program will help me get where I want to go with my career.

125+ online programs. online.nebraska.edu

Poetry by Marianne Kunkel

Powder to Hillary They don’t call me compact for nothing.

When snapped shut, I’m an airless sandwich,

Is your ceiling also claustrophobically close?

With the right pressure

my flat, pink puff the baloney between mirror and talcum cake.

you’d think they’d crack, but it’s more likely I’ll be trashed when my cake runs out,

I’d trade my cramped quarters for your hurried legs and swinging arms

not for a splintered lid.

Landfills are full of my kind,

though I don’t envy your tongue which, like my puff, only flies

basins hollowed and puffs dingy yet lids unscratched. Here’s my advice:

with others’ guidance. During this campaign, beside a stylist patting my dust

treat your ceiling as if it’s made of steel so your whacks are twice as hard.

on your face are always advisers buzzing about likeability, authenticity

Woo every male voter you can, but don’t forget to charm

but never anger, and a glass ceiling that sounds like my clear, plastic lid.

the other gender. After all, it’s women who throw me out without a second thought.

Tweezers to Hillary I’m like an expert chef who knows when to walk away and let a stew sit: I didn’t go near your brows in the ’60s, so perfect were the arches

your thick, chocolate brows stamped your face with cheerful vigor.

By ’92, your coif was champagne and eyes blueberries

like plump, dark dolphins leaping out of the water, almost nuzzling, save for the foamwhite bridge of your nose.

on the verge of bursting, cramped inside ovals of oily eyeliner, pricked by mascara-petrified stray lashes, and still I abstained.

I held back in the ’70s, too, when your wire aviator glasses slouched down your cheeks, and unlike others harmed by this style

But few see the wisdom of restraint.

Before your move to the White House a crew cornered you with a bloated bag: age serum, seaweed peel, tweezers.

Did you hear me scream? How could you when all they left were skinny brows with tapered ends like bony fingers angled out to plug your ears?

32

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

VOICES

Hillary Clinton gets her hair and makeup done for a photo shoot in the White House in May 1993.

robert mcneely

THE MORNING AFTER THE 2016

presidential election I was scheduled to meet with students at the university where I teach, and something about putting on my makeup felt eerie. For me, I connected the loss of a woman candidate seeking the highest office in American politics with the tightrope of femininity and masculinity she had to walk — I saw in my own application of makeup an intent to hide flaws and to look more approachable and pleasing to the eye.

I felt sad for myself and for Hillary Clinton that our professional duties are tied up in this particular artifice.

Now, that’s not everyone’s experience with makeup — I celebrate that some find it an empowering, artistic expression. But it was mine, and in her recent book Clinton expresses her own frustration about the many hours she spent in a makeup chair before meeting voters. This upwelling of emotion about makeup led me to write these poems, which are part of a manuscript I wrote that consists entirely of poems told from the perspectives of makeup and hair products to Clinton.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

One question I heard posed during the election aftermath was whether or not Clinton had stopped wearing makeup or, if she still wore it, how little or how much.

This is, of course, none of our business. What did feel appropriate for me to wonder about is the tension of makeup as something with intimate access to people who sometimes begrudgingly wear it. —MK ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marianne Kunkel is the author of Hillary, Made Up (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) and The Laughing Game (Finishing Line Press). She is an assistant professor of creative writing and publishing at Missouri Western State University, where she directs the creative writing program. She earned her Ph.D. in English from UNL in 2014. While earning that degree she was the managing editor of Prairie Schooner and the African Poetry Book Fund. She currently is the editor-in-chief of Missouri Western State University’s national literary journal, The Mochila Review. On Oct. 17 she will be reading from her new book on the UNL campus.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

33

VOICES

Willa Cather

Resonating for a Century B Y ANDREW JEWEL L ( ’ 04) Professor of Digital Projects, UNL Libraries Editor of the Willa Cather Archive

I

f there’s another classic of American literature beloved by readers around the world and translated into over 30 languages that is set, in part, on the campus of the University of Nebraska, I don’t know about it. Only Willa Cather’s My Ántonia fits that description. The university is there, in the heart of the story: “I shall always look back on that time of mental awakening as one of the happiest in my life,” Jim Burden remembers, noting that there was “an atmosphere of endeavor, of expectancy and bright hopefulness about the young college that had lifted its head from the prairie only a few years before.”

An 1895 graduate of the university, Willa Cather created a profound work of art drawing on her experiences and the people she knew in both Webster County and Lincoln. The novel tells the story of a community in rural Nebraska, one that is populated by people from around the country and world: Bohemians, Russians, Virginians, Danes, Swedes, Austrians and more. Central to the story is Ántonia Shimerda, a young Bohemian who arrives in Nebraska with her family on the same train as narrator Jim Burden. She is a remarkable woman, not because she achieves high social stature or wealth, but because she lives in the fullness of herself, with authenticity and integrity. “She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples,” the narrator observes, “to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last.”

We are marking the 100th anniversary of My Ántonia this year. A new edition of the novel has been released by Vintage Books; readings, performances and discussions have been held around the country; and the National Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud, Nebraska, has hosted a celebratory conference.

34

FA L L 2 0 1 8

The Willa Cather Archive at UNL is honoring the anniversary by exploring how the themes of the book resonate in today’s world. Novels like this one are not artifacts from an earlier time, but continue to have meaning to new generations of readers.

My colleague Emily Rau and I identified a series of themes important both to the novel and to contemporary life: immigration, local food, women in the workplace, the environment, religious difference and life in a small town. For each of these themes, we found a partner within the state, an organization whose mission overlaps with the themes of the book, and we dreamt up a series of five events across the state that would honor the anniversary.

With the help of Humanities Nebraska, we created the series “Willa Cather’s My Ántonia at 100: The Ongoing Story.” Drawing on a quote from the book as the title for each event, the series began in winter: •The prayers of all good people are good: Human Connection Across Religious Difference in Omaha with Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Omaha •Legends and stories nestled like birds in its branches: The Changing Ecology of the Great Plains with the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon and the National Willa Cather Center •Black Hawk, the new world in which we had come to live: Stories from the Red Cloud community, during the 63rd Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference •She was nearly as strong as I: Being Woman in the Workplace with Panhandle Business and Professional Women in Scottsbluff •What a tableful we were at supper: My Ántonia Birthday Feast with Community Crops in Lincoln The events demonstrated to the audience the power of literature, and the humanities broadly, to connect us in deep and helpful ways to the issues of our communities. At the panel discussion at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, an episode in the novel was a springboard for a rich discussion between various religious leaders about connecting across their differences in contemporary Omaha. Cather’s descriptions of the prairie landscape — words that inspire people from around the world to take pilgrimages to south central Nebraska — were the backdrop for exploration of that landscape along the Platte River during the sandhill crane migration.

The Willa Cather Archive is devoted to research that expands our understanding of Cather and her works. We are dedicated to the ongoing power of Cather’s work in the lives of readers. And we are committed to personally getting out in Nebraska communities, sharing our enthusiasm for Nebraska’s greatest writer, and showing the way her work continues to enrich us a century after its creation.

For information about the My Ántonia centennial events, visit myantonia100.org.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Calling all J-School Alums The College of Journalism & Mass Communications invites you and a guest to an

ALUMNI HOMECOMING RECEPTION Friday, Sept. 28, 2018 | 5-7 p.m.

Andersen Hall, 16th & P Street Lincoln, NE 68588 RSVP by Sept. 17 at go.unl.edu/cojmchomecoming.

Parking garages are available at 1317 Q St., 1300 P St., and 101 N. 14 St. Metered parking is also available. The lot on the east side of Andersen Hall is not available for public parking.

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based upon any protected status. Please see go.unl.edu/nondiscrimination. Š2018, The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved. 1807.027

36

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Illustration by Aleksandar Savić

Full

College of Engineering appoints its new dean and is primed to make Nebraska a big name in the Big Ten

STEM

By Charlyne Berens (’05, ’10)

W

Ahead

e all know engineers build roads and bridges. And buildings. Infrastructure.

They’re good at physics and math, and their work requires that they be exacting, meticulous. Admirable, for sure, but a little remote? Sort of off in their own world?

Hardly. At the College of Engineering Senior Design Showcase prior to May graduation, you would have seen 49 presentations including a miniature car designed by biosystems engineering majors for 3- to 5-year-olds with disabilities.

A chemical engineering student from Malaysia talked about how her team tweaked

the process for making a material used in the plastics industry to make it friendlier to the environment.

An electrical and computer engineering major explained how his team invented a monitor that helps mechanize the work of Big Red Worms, a vermicomposting firm in Lincoln that develops environmentally friendly fertilizer.

Faculty research is just as diverse: gene therapy; road and bridge safety; cybersecurity protocols and technology; advances in natural resources practices; additive manufacturing; the nation’s only tractor test lab.

Engineering is not just infrastructure. In fact, says Lance C. Pérez, newly named dean of the College of Engineering, engineers are in every corner of people’s lives. “Engineering is fundamentally about improving the human condition,” Pérez said.

Greg Hyslop, a 1980 grad now the chief technology officer at Boeing, put it this way: “Engineers are the creatives, always creating something new that will help people.”

Nancy Melby, a 2005 graduate who is now vice president and director of operations at Leo A Daly in

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Omaha, agreed: “Engineering is geared toward solving problems; any sort of problems.”

From medical devices to cell phones and computers, to bridges and highways and buildings and all the way to outer space, “everything people touch is engineered,” said Pam Dingman, a 1991 civil engineering grad who has held the elected office of County Engineer for Lancaster County since 2013.

UNIVERSITY PRIORITY

Engineering was a part of the land grant mission, and engineering classes — mostly what would be called civil engineering today — were part of the Nebraska curriculum from the start. In 1884, engineering became part of the Industrial College along with agriculture and other sciences, according to UNL archives. By the 1890s, as cities rushed to adopt electric lighting, electrical engineering was one of the most popular programs on campus.

And by 1909, engineering became a college unto itself.

Now, Nebraska Engineering — the only engineering college in the state — is one of the university’s priority programs, with a plan for growth, even as the budget tightens.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

37

Shane Farritor, professor of mechanical and materials engineering, operates the Virtual Incision surgical robot.

The device is designed for colon resection, a procedure to treat patients with lower gastrointestinal diseases that are too large to be removed endoscopically.

38

FA L L 2 0 1 8

Approved by the Board of Regents in August, the $75 million project will create and update spaces in the Scott Engineering Center and the Link.

Even closer to home, the Big Ten has “without question the best collection of colleges of engineering” along with Stanford, MIT and a few other renowned programs. While Nebraska’s ranking is currently at the bottom of the group, “We’re at the table with the best,” Pérez said. “That means we’re going to be a different college.”

The college has added more than 60 faculty since 2014, some new and some to fill slots opened by retirements. And enrollment is at an all-time high with more than 3,100 undergraduates in 12 majors and 650 graduate students. The college offers academic programs on City Campus and East Campus in Lincoln and on Scott Campus in Omaha where students are “dual citizens.” A unique partnership with the University of Nebraska Omaha means

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

craig chandler

“We’re doing it because the demand is there for more engineering graduates” who contribute in myriad ways to the state’s economy, said Chancellor Ronnie Green. “There’s a demand for well-trained engineers in all these fields,” both in the state and elsewhere in the nation.

Besides preparing tomorrow’s engineers, Pérez said, the research the college faculty and students do creates new technologies, new jobs — even new industries. The college, he said, is critical to the economic development of the state.

Pérez, who joined the electrical and computer engineering faculty in 1996, also spent some time in the university’s administration, serving as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and head of graduate studies between 2010 and 2016. For the past two years he was interim dean of engineering and was appointed permanent dean last spring. “It’s like coming home,” he said with a smile.

Green is glad he’s there and said he is excited about Pérez’ leadership. “I’m very optimistic about the college’s future,” the chancellor said.

Helping the university transition to the Big Ten was part of Pérez’ duties in the vice chancellor’s office. It’s been a good move, he said: Becoming part of the prestigious conference “is a concrete statement about our aspirations. We wanted to be a better, stronger university.”

those students are enrolled in the College of Engineering’s courses offered in Omaha and also take their general courses at UNO.

SPACE

All that growth raises the need to add space and to renovate the college’s existing venues. Othmer Hall, the face of the City Campus engineering complex, was built in 2002, but it connects to much older buildings: Nebraska Hall — which many remember as the old Elgin watch factory — acquired by the university in 1958; Scott Engineering Center, built in 1972; and the Scott Engineering link, added in 1986.

“We need world-class facilities,” Pérez said, and the facilities the college has now are not it.

It’s not just his opinion; a formal study by the NU system made that determination. A legislative bill in 2015 allotted $200 million for capital improvements to the university, and administrators designated $70 million of that for the College of Engineering, Green said. It will go toward renovations of the existing buildings, a project that should be completed by 2022 and will be focused on improving the college’s research mission.

Expansion is the next step. “We will be raising $85 million for a new building,” to center on the undergraduate experience, Pérez said. The new structure will attach to Othmer Hall on the east and will occupy part of what is now 17th Street as well as the surface parking lot on 17th and Vine, former home of a gas station and convenience store.

Construction on the new building will begin as soon as sufficient funds have been raised. The new and improved spaces will provide more and better faculty and student labs and equipment, more spaces for collaboration and interaction and more room for student services.

Collaboration has long been an important part of the engineering curriculum. Dingman, the Lancaster County engineer, said she clearly remembers how her courses in the late 1980s emphasized working in teams, which is exactly what engineers do in their careers. Furthermore, “many of those relationships last a lifetime,” she said.

Teamwork is still a major focus of an engineering degree, but the college has expanded on that fundamental to create the Complete Engineer Initiative.

The engineering courses equip graduates with a solid technical skill set, Pérez said, “but they need more than that to be successful.”

The complete engineer also needs nontechnical skills, he said, and the initiative is built on six competencies: teamwork, intercultural appreciation, leadership, self-management, service and civic responsibility, and engineering ethics.

The college has been developing the co-curricular initiative for about six years and is now ready to ensure it becomes fully institutionalized. “We’re emerging as a national leader” in this regard, Pérez said. “And we’ve had tremendous support from Nebraska industry.”

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Calculated Risk The boy’s journey to the top of the engineering world began on a mountain in Lincoln: Mount Everest.

It was on a poster he’d taped to the wall of his small bedroom. It soared high in his life, decades ago, as he grew up in the blue-collar neighborhood of Havelock, in a home just 800 square feet.

Maybe that mountain inspired his young dreams at night.

Maybe it inspired him to grow tall himself — to 6-foot-5 — and to work hard in sports and in class at Northeast High, and then as a chemical engineering major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Class of 1968.

Maybe that mountain inspired all the risks he’d take and the innovations he’d make as an engineer and entrepreneur: • By age 23, during Vietnam, he’d risen to commander of the USS Flagstaff (PGH-1), a Navy Hydrofoil and the fastest combatant ship in the world at the time.

• By 29, he’d risen to chief financial officer of Hills Bros.

Coffee.

• He founded Automated Call Processing Corp. in 1983, a company whose cutting-edge interactive phone message technology helped blaze the trail for United Airlines’ first automated reservation service. He sold the company to MCI. • He founded Ditech Communications in 1988 which eliminated echo on long-distance phone calls.

• In 1993, he founded Globe Wireless, a maritime data network, from scratch. It eventually served 20 percent of the world’s commercial ships at sea.

And maybe that mountain reminded him, after reaching the top of the world, to turn around and help other people on their journeys, too.

Especially young people.

“Hi. I’m Ken Jones,” he said, extending his hand. “It’s so great to see you again.”

He returned to UNL this past spring, as he does almost every spring, to talk to the recipients of his scholarship and some of their parents over ice cream and pop. He named the scholarship after his own hard-working parents. It’s officially the Lester V. and Helen R. Jones Scholarship. The four-year, full-ride scholarship goes to at least four students each year.

More than 50 students have received it so far, all graduates of Lincoln’s Northeast High.

He shares a few stories from his life to show them how studying engineering — how learning to solve problems, to think — will give them the tools they need to succeed.

One student asked Jones how he developed the confidence to take so many risks. “I don’t know how you develop confidence,” he said. “But if you try something, and it works, then you try again. And if it works again, pretty soon you’ll be there.”

Jones and his wife, Kim, live on an oceanfront ranch in Half Moon Bay, Calif., (in a home they built with their own hands). His main goal each time he returns is to encourage students to keep going forward in engineering.

He once walked in their shoes. He remembers how hard it was, especially during those first two years when there’s so much calculus.

But try to hold on, he told them, because the clouds will clear. “It’s going to be fun.”

And it’s going to be worth it, he told them, because engineers can make a difference in the world. —Colleen Fleischer

FA L L 2 0 1 8

39

INDUSTRY/ ECONOMIC IMPACT

Meeting the demands of engineering-related industries in Nebraska and across the nation is a major driver behind the college’s push to grow and improve. The university recognizes the far-reaching economic impact the college and its graduates have.

Lots of businesses in the state and nation recruit at Nebraska, Pérez said, looking for civil engineers, construction engineers, designers and more. About 40 percent of those who take jobs after their undergrad degrees stay in the state.

The demand for new engineering and architecture grads in Nebraska is expected to grow by 9.2 percent by 2020 and more than 10 percent nationally, according to a study by the Nebraska Department of Labor.

Those grads won’t all be building bridges and roads or even the next generation of computers.

“An engineering major is increasingly becoming the foundation for more than an engineering career,” Pérez said. For example, engineering and medicine are becoming more integrated, and a fair number of grads go on to med school. Others go on to earn MBAs or law degrees. “Engineering is the pathway to many careers,” the dean said.

And that increases the college’s reach. Hyslop

Fielding His Dream

40

FA L L 2 0 1 8

STILL TO COME

The work isn’t finished, of course. As is the rest of the university, the engineering college is work-

“Playing sports is just part of who I am.

He was on the 2016 team that won the inaugural title and was selected to the all-tournament team.

“Playing sports is just part of who I am. More importantly, my teammates are some of my very best friends,” Pérez said. “We’ve spent hundreds of hours driving around the country playing in tournaments.”

Those relationships have also deepened his

Nebraska roots. In his 50s now, Pérez looks forward to many more years as the dean of engineering, and at third base.

“When I was hired 22 years ago, I didn’t factor this in, but there’s no question that the community around wheelchair athletics in Nebraska has helped keep me here,” he added. “It will be a sad day when I have to stop playing.” —Karl Vogel

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

courtesy lance c. pérez

It’s Tuesday, and Lance C. Pérez, the newly installed dean of the College of Engineering, is on his way to one of his favorite activities: the Nebraska Barons’ wheelchair softball practice in Omaha.

“It comes down to priorities, and wheelchair sports is one of my highest,” said Pérez, who before becoming interim engineering dean in 2016 was Nebraska’s dean of graduate studies and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. “It helps me have work-life balance and it’s important for my health, and it’s fun.”

Pérez has always been an athlete. He brought this passion for wheelchair athletics when he joined the engineering faculty in 1996.

Soon after, he connected

with the Madonna Magic basketball team. He still loves it, even though it takes quite a physical toll. Pérez said he has “broken every finger on both hands and had shoulder surgery.”

About a decade ago, he joined the Barons. They are the most successful team in the United States, with 11 national championships and three second-place finishes in 15 years.

Wheelchair softball is also demanding. Players don’t wear gloves in the field and must have speed and agility to make defensive plays.

That’s especially so for Pérez, who plays third base, dubbed the “hot corner.”

“We have the best outfielders in the world, and they know when they throw the ball, I’ll catch it,” Pérez said.

This ability is one reason Pérez will be on Team USA at the 2018 Japan Wheelchair Softball Championships in October.

said, “Every branch of engineering will influence the economy one way or another.” Scientists, he said, are answering the “why” questions; engineers in every field are answering the “how.”

Melby agreed: “Engineering is geared toward solving problems, any sort of problems. It could relate to the design of a product or the process of making it.”

In Nebraska, Hyslop said, where agriculture is a major economic force, engineers are offering innovative help in areas like artificial intelligence, data science and data analytics. “Those kinds of skills in the digital world are going to play a big role,” he said, spinning off numerous technologies for and from agriculture that could create an exciting future for the state.

In fact, the agricultural engineering program, situated on East Campus, is ranked in the top 10 in the nation, Green said. The architectural engineering program, situated at the Durham School in Omaha, is also highly regarded. And material science within the mechanical and materials engineering program is nationally recognized, the chancellor added.

“There’s a lot of really amazing work that’s done in the engineering college,” he said.

craig chandler

Civil Engineering students in the Surface Water Hydrology course received hands-on learning about stream flow in Oak Creek with members of the U.S. Geological Survey.

ing to add more women and people of color to its student body. The number of women is not many more than when Dingman and Melby were students: about 17 percent.

Though both women remember being treated as well as their male counterparts, “We’d like that percentage to be much higher,” Pérez said. “If we want to be excellent, we need more diversity.”

For one thing, the college is talking about some curricular revisions that could make the degree more attractive to a broader set of students.

In addition, the college has added a multicultural engineering program this fall. “Students can opt into it,” Pérez said, and take advantage of some programming throughout the school year that will enhance their chance for success. The college will add a similar program for women in engineering in 2019.

Then there’s the fact that this is the only engineering college in Nebraska. Pérez said he believes that arrangement is in the best interest of the state, but it means his college has to serve various constituencies however it can best do that.

While the academic center of the university is in Lincoln, “we have a strong presence in Omaha because of the industry there,” the dean said.

The college also has a “two-plus-two” program with the University of Nebraska Kearney, allowing students to take their first two years of coursework at UNK and then transfer seamlessly into the engineering college. A similar arrangement with Wayne State College is just getting underway.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

“We’re at the table with the best. That means we’re going to be a different college.

—LANCE PÉREZ

The college will celebrate its 110th birthday in 2019, but it’s still focused on building an even stronger future. The university administration supports it: “Lots of amazing work is already done there,” Green said. “We want to grow it.”

The dean and faculty continue to focus on their primary goals: to provide tomorrow’s workforce for existing companies and to create new technologies that create new jobs.

As Pérez points out, engineering in general has some substantial laurels on which it could rest: Engineers invented the automobile — and built the roads to drive it on.

They figured out how to give Americans a clean water supply.

They developed the computer, the cell phone, digital photography.

They have made life-saving advances in health care.

They have increased the worldwide food supply.

But here, the engineers aren’t resting. They’re still working on their fundamental premise: improving the human condition.

“That’s what we’re about,” Pérez said.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

41

ART AS Campuses across the country

Christian Boltanski’s Gymnasium Chases is on loan to Sheldon from the collection of alumni Kathryn and Marc LeBaron and is on view in the “For Freedoms” exhibition.

42

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Demonstrators rally for free speech near the University of California, Berkeley campus in April 2017, in response to Ann Coulter’s speech being canceled.

MODERATOR unite for 50 State Initiative

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

BY WENDY (NAVRATIL) DONAHUE (’92)

FA L L 2 0 1 8

43

One powerful new contribution to the searing debates over free speech on college campuses can be contemplated in the cool calm of Sheldon Museum of Art this fall.

There, a recent Andy Warhol acquisition and other selected works touch on four essential human freedoms articulated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his State of the Union address in 1941. Viewing those artworks in Sheldon’s “For Freedoms” exhibition — a local iteration of a national civic activation effort — might stimulate civil conversations that spill from Sheldon’s travertine halls onto Lincoln sidewalks, ultimately propelling voters to polling places for the midterm elections.

That’s the vision behind the For Freedoms 50 State Initiative, conceived by conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow, and artist/writer/educator Eric Gottesman. The two longtime collaborators founded the art-driven super PAC called “For Freedoms” in 2016, inspired

by Norman Rockwell’s paintings of FDR’s four free-

doms — freedom of speech and worship, as well as freedom from want and fear.

Their latest project, the 50 State Initiative, encompasses concurrent art exhibitions and public events across the country from September through December, all meant to convert political vitriol into productive engagement in the democratic process, with art as a moderator of sorts.

“Our idea is if we insert artists’ voices into overly simplified discourse, we can add nuance into the conversation that’s really missing right now,” Gottesman said. “One thing I should say is we are vigorously anti-partisan with For Freedoms. We don’t necessarily believe in right or left; we don’t believe in facile political labels. The message is to participate.”

Participation has proved polarizing on campuses across the country over the past year. Last August, a UNL sophomore who set up a table near the student

Hank Willis Thomas’s Priceless #1 and Corita Kent’s From Words of Ugo Betti: Innocence and the Process of Justification in the Late Plays of Ugo Betti, opposite page, are two works featured in Sheldon’s “For Freedoms” exhibition.

previous spread: from left, craig chandler; ap photo/marcio jose sanchez

44

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

©sheldon museum of art (2)

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

FA L L 2 0 1 8

45

Julian Schnabel donated his silkscreenVote to groups working to elect women to the Senate in 1992.

46

FA L L 2 0 1 8

“Our vision of a relevant academic art museum is one that reflects the world today and explores life from diverse perspectives.”

“We like to embrace projects that have some tooth to them,” said Wally Mason, Sheldon director and chief curator. “Our vision of a relevant academic art museum is one that reflects the world today and explores life from diverse perspectives.”

Sheldon was a natural locus for other reasons. In 2015, for its exhibition Black Fire: A Constant State of Revolution, Sheldon borrowed a work of Thomas’ and hosted him for a lecture on race and art. The piece, Priceless #1, an ironic twist on a well-known credit card campaign, was inspired by the slaying of Thomas’ cousin in a 2000 robbery. The piece resonated so deeply with UNL students that Sheldon decided to acquire it for its permanent collection, Mason said. The museum has since acquired another of Thomas’ works.

Sheldon’s contribution to the 50 State Initiative,

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

©sheldon museum of art (2)

union to recruit for a conservative organization drew a vocal protest from a graduate student who teaches in the English department; a colleague joined. The grad student picketed in front of the student’s table and raised her middle finger, while describing the student as “neo-fascist.” Ideological clashes have taken violent turns at some campuses. The same month as the UNL incident, a rally at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, featuring the leader of a white nationalist group, Richard B. Spencer, sparked a counterprotest and confrontation that resulted in injuries and three deaths. Fights broke out at Michigan State University before a scheduled speech by Spencer in East Lansing in March.

The University of California, Berkeley, has been struggling to reconcile free speech and security concerns since the cancellation of a scheduled appearance there by Milo Yiannopoulos, a former editor at Breitbart News, in March of 2017.

Amid the tension and discord, Thomas and Gottesman invited artists and art organizations across the country to join the 50 State Initiative by reflecting on the freedoms FDR enumerated through exhibitions, billboards, lawn signs or town hall meetings.

Sheldon’s curatorial team didn’t hesitate to participate.

“For Freedoms: In the future days…” will feature Priceless #1 and other works from Sheldon’s permanent collection and from alumni lenders. Curators added Warhol’s print Birmingham Race Riot, featuring a now-iconic image from a Life magazine article showing a police confrontation with protesters in 1963, after the museum acquired it in late spring for its permanent collection.

“The issues central to the For Freedoms project provide an opportunity to showcase works that pose questions rather than impose prescriptions,” Mason said. “This is a chance for the museum to serve as a fulcrum for timely engagement and discourse.”

A survey led by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation last August suggests that discourse is under threat on campuses. Last year, 61 percent of college students surveyed said that their campus climate prevents some students from expressing their views, up from 54 percent in 2016. Over 90 percent of students said liberals can freely express their views on campus; the figure was 69 percent for conservative views.

One message of For Freedoms, Gottesman said, is not to suppress a point of view — but also not to wither or rage in the face of a challenge to it.

“When it comes to free speech, it’s important for my students to feel comfortable and safe having a conversation where they express themselves — but they should expect disagreement and have to defend themselves,” said Gottesman, an assistant professor of art at the State University of New York (Purchase College). “The university is a gym, and this is where you work out your ideas. And working out means pain and figuring out what works and what doesn’t, and you get stronger through it.”

Sheldon’s approach to the 50 State Initiative is like a water break for that workout. Led by Mason and associate director Todd Tubutis, the team organized works by conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, photographer Carrie Mae Weems, the Cuban-American painter Carlos Alfonzo, serigrapher Corita Kent and other artists whose freedom references aren’t always instantly apparent to the viewer. That’s an intentional point of departure from the brash way in which perspectives are often presented and consumed today, particularly on social media.

“It’s about slowing down the conversation,” Tubutis said. “If a conversation is online, existing in a sphere where people aren’t face to face, civility seems to be lost quickly and perhaps intentionally. Because museums afford slow looking, hopefully that also affords an opportunity to have true conversations.”

The majority of participants in the 50 State Initiative are on college campuses, and not all are mounting exhibitions in the conventional sense. At Utah State University, graphic design students are designing billboards, and an outside juror is selecting a design for an interactive exhibition and town hall.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Museum of Contemporary Art has invited

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Gottesman to lead a talk and town hall that aligns with the museum’s fall exhibition, a series of outdoor sculptures between campus and downtown.

Education curator Amanda Herman said the pairing helps underscore our interconnectedness and the value of art in creating less rigid frameworks for exploring tough issues.

Thomas’ alma mater, the California College of the Arts, is hosting a town hall with Thomas as well as helping to coordinate voter drives and several 50 State events at neighboring colleges and universities. CCA’s student body includes many immigrants from countries such as Yemen and Saudi Arabia who are uneasy about evolving U.S. policies, said

Jaime Austin, director of exhibitions and public programming at CCA. She expects freedom from fear to loom large in conversations there.

Sheldon’s “For Freedoms: In the future days…” exhibition references a phrase from FDR’s speech: “In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.”

While Sheldon’s exhibition encourages conversation, it can also make an impact quietly, Mason notes.

“Art engages the eyes and the mind,” Mason said. “It cannot overcome dictators or overthrow governments, although it may be a tool in an arsenal of acts that make a difference. Art may be that place where people find a sense of self-awareness and hope.”

“For Freedoms: In the future days…” runs through Dec. 31 at Sheldon Museum of Art. For Freedoms co-founder and artist Eric Gottesman will give a public talk at Sheldon at 6 p.m. Sept. 27. He will spend the following day working with students to advance dialogue.

Jenny Holzer’s text-based works explore ways we are influenced by words.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

47

48

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

FROM SHANGHAI TO KABUL, HUSKER POWER IS GOING STRONG AROUND THE WORLD NO MATTER WHAT TIME THE GAME IS ON.

BY TIFFANY LEE (’07, ’10) I L LU S T R AT ION S BY WA R D S U T T ON N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

FA L L 2 0 1 8

49

For the local Husker fan, Lincoln offers a variety of game day traditions: tailgating at the Nebraska Champions Club, visiting old campus haunts, releasing balloons when the Big Red scores, munching on Runza or Valentino’s pizza or clapping along to Sirius as the team makes its way to the field. Fans can visit downtown staples such as Barry’s or the Embassy Suites’ Do the Dock. Whatever they do, they are sure to see a Sea of Red on every corner.

But for the hundreds of Husker fans and alumni scattered across the globe, following the Big Red isn’t quite so simple. Varying time zones, limited internet access and fewer Cornhuskers in close proximity conspire to make fandom tougher.

But Nebraska loyalists abroad still manage to stay faithful. It’s not too hard, they say, so long as you’re willing to get a little creative — and maintain stamina.

Natalie Fox (’13) isn’t short on endurance. Despite the 13-hour time difference between her new home of Shanghai, China, and Nebraska, the Holdrege native remains a diehard Husker fan. Every weekend during football season, she congregates with other college football fans at a sports bar, The Camel, for all-night viewing sessions.

“For us, it’s survival of the fittest,” said Fox, who works in international health and life insurance.

“We start watching at midnight and stay until the next day around 1 p.m.”

Another complication is China’s “great firewall,” or system of online censorship. To circumvent it, Fox said Shanghai-based fans use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to “trick” their computers into thinking they’re in America. They also use apps like BTN2Go and other streaming services to access games, then project them onto screens at The Camel.

Fox said Shanghai has a surprisingly vibrant college football scene.

The city is home to fans from every major American university, who pack The Camel each weekend for watch parties. “ Obv i o u sly, I ’d rat h e r b e i n Lincoln to watch the games,” she said. “But Shanghai is an amazing place for football.”

Attendance at watch parties in Kabul is a bit sparser, but Corey Miller makes sure they’re no less enthusiastic — even when he’s the only one there. The Grand Island native is the alumni association's international contact for Huskers liv-

50

FA L L 2 0 1 8

ing in Afghanistan, inviting fellow Nebraskans and other football fans to watch parties at the local USO, a facility supporting military service members.

“I grew up in the ’70s, when everything stopped on Saturday so everybody could listen to the football game,” said Miller, a contractor who previously served in the military. “Doing this brings me back to those days.”

When the game starts at 2 or 3 a.m. in Kabul, which is 9.5 hours ahead of Lincoln, Miller sometimes finds himself alone at the USO, always sporting his jersey signed by Tommie Frazier. But usually he can track down five or six other Husker fans who are in the area for military rotations. He also invites other football fans he stumbles across in town.

“Sometimes I’ll walk into a shop in Kabul and see another team’s flag, often Ohio State or Alabama,” he said. “So, I’ll invite those people. By including other fans, we bring the spirit of Memorial Stadium to the parties.”

School teacher Adam Hunter (’09) has taken his fandom one step further. Despite the seven-hour

“The students picked up the game fast.

They still play every year, even though they’re older.”

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

“Once I woke her up in the middle of the night screaming, and she just asked, ‘The season has started already?’”

time difference between Lincoln and Berlin, Germany, Hunter stays up or wakes up to stream every Husker game using his ESPN college pass. He then shares game highlights the following Monday with his elementary students.

Hunter, who started teaching in Berlin in 2011, even taught some of his students to play the game.

Tasked with offering his pupils an elective — a two-hour block each week when students participate in clubs — Hunter used the opportunity to bring some American football to Germany. He spent half a year teaching his pupils flag football, then divided them into teams to form a little league.

“The students picked up the game fast. They still play every year, even though they’re older,” said Hunter, who’s originally from Pleasanton, a 200-person village near Kearney.

In Istanbul, Turkey, Omer Cimen (’97, ’99) is also busy creating converts. His three sons, one-year-old twins and a four-year-old, sport Nebraska gear during the season. His wife, Samantha, a University of Minnesota grad, has been more resistant, Cimen said.

But she still shows her support with N-shaped pizzas and other Husker-themed appetizers for games.

She’s also learned to accept that because Istanbul is eight hours ahead of Lincoln, Cimen is sometimes going to be up in the middle of the night drinking beer, reacting loudly to what’s on screen and texting with college friends.

“Once I woke her up in the middle of the night screaming, and she just asked, ‘The season has started

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

already?” said Cimen, who works in walnut farming.

In addition to watching every game in real time from Turkey, Cimen reads gossip sites and message boards in the o ff s e a s o n , g l e a n i n g information about new recruits. His wedding even involved a Husker game: though they were living in Venezuela at the time, he and Samantha flew to Lincoln to marry at a courthouse on Friday, then attended Saturday’s game for what Samantha calls the “worst honeymoon ever.”

Remarkably, though, Cimen knew very little about football until he was 16 years old. A native of Turkey, he was an exchange student for a year at Omaha Northwest High School, where he performed so well that the school graduated him early. School officials in Turkey said if he returned, he’d have to repeat another year of high school. So he instead enrolled at UNL, planning to stay only a year before moving home to continue college.

His U.S. diploma landed him in Abel Hall rather than Seaton Hall, the international dorm at the time.

That’s where he met roommate Chris Danielson (’97), who introduced him to the sport that would become a lifelong passion.

“He dragged me to the ticket office one day,” Cimen said. “I sat by him for the whole first season and he taught me every single rule of the game. I loved how it was a game of both strategy and power.”

He was hooked. And he was having such a great time at the games and with friends in Abel Hall that he called his mother in Turkey, asking to stay. He remained in Lincoln throughout a master’s program in engineering, following the Big Red every step of the way. Now, he says, it’s hard to remember a time when Husker football wasn’t a part of his life.

“I just tell people I’m from Nebraska.”

FA L L 2 0 1 8

51

EMPLOYEE OWNED

d e d n a exp

YOUR

HUSKER GEAR NEW SCHEELS STORE

HEADQUARTERS

OPENING IN LINCOLN, NE SEPTEMBER 27 TH AT 5 PM

A 220,000 SQUARE FOOT RETAIL EXPERIENCE! 2960 PINE LAKE ROAD • LINCOLN, NE • 402.420.9000 | 17202 DAVENPORT ST • OMAHA, NE • 402.289.5666 Connect with us on Facebook @lincolnscheels • @omahascheels |

56 58 59 60 63 64 ALL IN This basement room is chock-full of Husker memorabilia.

QUOTES What advice do you have for incoming freshmen?

WHAT’S UP? With 2008 graduate and drum major Joe Manglitz

OBITUARIES Football standout and Lincoln dentist, Dennis Claridge.

PROFILE Brooke Mullen embraces Thailand and starts a business.

LOVE STORY Two college sweethearts reconnect 50 years later.

wyn wiley

BULLETIN Cheers to the Moms

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

The I Mom So Hard duo of Jen Smedley, left, and Kristin Hensley (’98) produce laugh-out-loud funny videos, which chronicle everything from unwanted parenting advice to post-baby swimwear. The videos and stand-up act are intended to make other mothers realize it’s perfectly normal not to be perfect.

>>

Events SEPT. 7 & 28 LINCOLN Football Friday Kickoff game weekends at a familyfriendly pep rally in the Holling Garden at the Wick Alumni Center. The event includes appearances

by Herbie Husker, the marching band, spirit squad, coaches, former players and university leaders.

SEPT. 28 LINCOLN HOMECOMING Lawn Displays Greek houses pair up to design elaborate lawn displays which best depict the homecoming theme “Bringing the Tradition Home.”

Campus Tours Explore the nostalgia and new additions to campus on a golf cart tour. Call (888) 353-1874 to reserve a time slot. Tours can accommodate up to five people.

Homecoming Parade The Holling Garden at the Wick Alumni Center provides prime seating for this homecoming tradition. Come early to grab food and drink at Football Friday, and to claim your parade viewing spot.

Jester Competition Join the Student Alumni Association to be part of the newest homecoming tradition. Watch as collegians perform for a crowd of thousands in a competition to crown the Ultimate Husker Fan.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

53

BULLETIN

Kristin Hensley, far left, and Jen Smedley flank their mothers, Terri Hensley and Barbara Sink, prior to their performance at Lincoln’s Pinewood Bowl in June.

Alumni Profile

Mother’s Day Out Two Nebraska gals meet cute in L.A. and become a viral sensation

BY JULIE NAUGHTON (’91)

54

FA L L 2 0 1 8

ect they created in 2016 from their homes in Los Angeles. “What we would like all moms, all women, to know is that it’s OK to be just OK and that having a friend to laugh/cry with makes it all manageable,” said Hensley. “So does wine.” (So much so, in fact, that Hensley and Smedley are toying with the idea of their own label.)

“Just hearing that we make someone feel normal or sane is pretty great,” added Smedley.

After its debut, I Mom So Hard instantly went viral,

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

wyn wiley

W

ith a TV comedy pilot from CBS and Warner Bros. being shopped to networks, a book due on Mother’s Day 2019, an uber-successful live comedy tour and a wildly popular Facebook page, UNL alum Kristin Hensley (’98, a native of Central City) and Nebraska Wesleyan alum Jen Smedley (who hails from Bellevue) bring their down-to-earth Nebraska sensibilities to I Mom So Hard, a web video proj-

and currently boasts more than 100 million Facebook views. (In addition to Facebook, fans can also find them on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.) Last summer, Hensley and Smedley brought their tour back to Lincoln, playing to a crowd of more than 5,000 fans at Pinewood Bowl that also included their own mothers, Terri Hensley and Barbara Sink.

When the audience started shouting, “Go Big Red” as the duo opened the June 1 show, it hit both Hensley and Smedley that they were truly home, at least for one night.

“Being back and seeing all those people who came to see us, I knew there was no way we wouldn’t both be in tears when we started the show,” said Hensley. “And the Go Big Red chant — it literally shook me to my core. Growing up in Nebraska is such a warm, grounded experience, and that’s how we try to approach our storytelling or comedy. We always try to stay grounded, point the joke at ourselves and focus on the silver lining of it all.”

While both Hensley and Smedley went to college in Lincoln — Hensley as a UNL theater major (although she admits she told her parents she was majoring in education), Smedley as a theater and communications major at Nebraska Wesleyan (’99) — they actually didn’t meet until after they’d moved to Los Angeles.

“We did not know each other in college, yet we had all the same friends and all the same interests — which included penny pitchers and a love of nachos,” said Hensley, who has also appeared in more than 100 TV commercials and had roles on Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

“And we ended up living a block apart in a small beach town (Venice) and still never met. We were both studying and performing comedy all over Los Angeles and our paths still did not cross. Then finally, one night, at a small off-shoot theater, Jen was in a comedy show and I was one of six people in the audience. We met after the show while having beers in the parking lot and very quickly realized we were both from Nebraska and needed to make up for lost time.”

Both women share a down-to-earth vibe that they attribute to their home state. “Maybe it’s because we speak the same sort of language, both being from Nebraska, but I think we genuinely find each other funny,” said Smedley. “We know where the other one’s thought comes from. We both also share that ‘be neighborly’ vibe, which is very Nebraskan, we’ve found. Both of us are quick to make a friend, invite someone over for dinner or yell at their kids.”

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Speaking of kids, the moms are also seeing their funny bones rub off on the next generation.

Between the two of them, they have four kids, two husbands and countless laughs.

“My kids explore inappropriate comedy any chance they get,” said Hensley. “If their punchline includes the word poop or toot, then they consider that a huge win. My son Finn is 7 and he loves to laugh. Eleanor is 5 and she’s a ham but a little shy at the same time.”

Both women are humbled by their comedy success. “Jen and I felt a really empty void in the space of positive, funny and light content for moms,” said Hensley. “We needed it, so we felt like other moms might need it too. We didn’t want to always see perfect Instagram pictures or read stories about how an Ikea shelf could kill your child. We wanted something lighter and honest and funny.”

With episode topics ranging from unwanted advice to swimsuits and shapewear, everyone has a favorite video — except perhaps the women who created them, who liken that to choosing a favorite child. “Personally, I really loved our I Fitness So Hard video because we just laughed constantly all day,” said Hensley.

Both fondly remember their college days in Lincoln. Favorite hangouts? “Due to an excellent fake ID, I had several,” cracked Hensley.

“But my favorite hangout was my apartment on F Street. We were all theater students and going to rehearsals and constantly creating and having fun. Plus, we could throw an awesome party, so there’s that.”

“I think I might have been at those parties, so it makes no sense that Kristin and I didn’t know each other,” said Smedley.

“The University of Nebraska’s theater department was the first place that I felt like I truly fit,” Hensley said. “It was a safe place to spread my wings and be a part of many incredible productions and creative one-acts. It’s also where I started to write and perform comedy and I also joined my first improv comedy troupe.”

Hensley’s advice for current University of Nebraska students is simple. “Here’s what I can tell you about success: it only comes with hard work and the love of an idea,” she said. “Plus you gotta like who you work with, so I’m super lucky there. My simple two cents: If you love something and believe in it, then do it for 80 hours a week for one year. My bet is you will get much further than you ever thought would be possible.”

“We didn’t want to always see perfect Instagram pictures.

We wanted something lighter and honest and funny.”

—KRISTIN HENSLEY

FA L L 2 0 1 8

55

BULLETIN

Ivette and Lyle Bender have an entire room dedicated to the Huskers. “No one loves UNL more than me,” Ivette declares.

ALL IN

HUSKER LUSTER Northeastern Nebraska natives Lyle and Ivette Bender may not have graduated from UNL, but their Husker pride runs as deep as any alumnus. These UNO and Wayne State graduates can prove it too. You need look no further than their basement, which has an entire room dedicated to Husker memorabilia. The Benders moved around the country for 37 years during Lyle’s career as a military pilot. With each move Ivette collected items that reminded her of home. Upon Lyle’s retirement, he gave his wife the choice of where to live. “In my heart, I had a longing to get back to my home state of Nebraska, and since I was such an avid Husker fan, Lincoln was easily my first choice,” Ivette said.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE? IVETTE: Oh, mercy, I have so many. Probably the autographed framed poster of “the Miracle in Mizzou” with Scott Frost and Matt Davison.

56

FA L L 2 0 1 8

WHAT ELSE OCCUPIES YOUR HUSKER ROOM? IVETTE: I have original sheet music from the author of Dear Old Nebraska U. And a neighbor who played football for Nebraska in the 1950s gave me his practice jersey.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE TEAMS? IVETTE: I am so proud of our Academic All Americans and how well our athletes in all sports do academically. I also appreciate the many ways our athletes give back through service to others.

ARE YOU ONLY A FOOTBALL FAN? IVETTE: Football is first and foremost. However, I follow all Nebraska sports. We have season tickets to football, men’s basketball and baseball. We attend volleyball and women’s basketball games.

But I follow them all: soccer, gymnastics, tennis, wrestling, softball, etc. The first section I pull from the newspaper is always the sports pages.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ON GAME DAY? IVETTE: We sit in the Skyline Club seats in north stadium. We never leave a game early. I enjoy seeing the interactions of players and coaches following the game and watching those players who take a knee following the game. The thing about Nebraska athletics is that not everyone can attend the University of Nebraska, but everyone can be a Husker fan.

—Michael Mahnken

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

craig chandler

TELL US ABOUT THE BOB DEVANEY DECANTER. IVETTE: We were in Orlando for a bowl game and someone came up to us in the parking lot of our hotel.

He told us he had something in his car to show us. I was very wary and stayed back, but my husband followed him to his car. The man opened his trunk and unwrapped a Bob Devaney decanter. His father was an attorney for an estate in Chicago and acquired a

large collection of decanters. He brought this one to the bowl game hoping to sell it to a Nebraska fan.

START SMALL WHILE THEY’RE SMALL, TO GROW A BRIGHTER FUTURE Saving for college takes an investment plan that fits your financial situation and goals. It’s important to begin to save when you can, with as much as you can. No time is too late, no matter how old your child is.

Start today at NEST529.com

The Program Disclosure Statement should be read carefully before investing. Investments are not FDIC Insured* No Bank, State or Federal Guarantee | May Lose Value | *Except the Bank Savings Investment Option

Your family’s wellness has been at the heart of our mission for more than 10 years. That commitment has grown to serve over 161,000 alumni with a vast portfolio of coverage — including Long-Term Care Insurance.

8P9

Life • Dental • Vision • Pet Health • ID Theft • Travel • Long-Term Care

BULLETIN

Class Quotes

QUESTION

What advice do you have for incoming freshmen?

college years are special and there will never be another time like it in your life.”

1974

Sandi George, Omaha

“Whether in person or online, GO TO CLASS. While skipping is tempting, with tuition around $10,000 a semester for a full load of 18 credits, that’s about $39 thrown out the window to miss one class. Worse yet, you miss the co-learning from fellow students and the wisdom of faculty there to help you achieve your goals.”

Jane Schuchardt is a writer and,

together with her husband Rick (’75), farms in northeast Nebraska.

1978

“Step out of your comfort zone ... the sooner the better. And be sure to smile and say “hi” to at least one new person a day. You’ll be surprised how many will respond in kind.”

Lee Talley retired in 2011 after 30 years in education and now can be found freelancing articles for various outlets.

In addition, as an

independent filmmaker, his current work covers the effects of gun violence on those left in its wake.

1979

“Don’t spend all your time thinking about the future.

Try to stay in the present moment and enjoy the journey.

NOW is what matters NOW.”

Teri Barowsky Hooper, of Riverside, Calif., retired after 25 years of teaching and now serves as the technology and communication director for

the California Retired Teachers Association. After the deaths of her husband and son to complications of Huntington’s Disease, Hooper has become an advocate for HD education.

1982

“My advice to a freshman would be from Steve Covey: ‘Begin with the end in mind ... put your major behind your name and ask yourself, ‘Is this who I want to be?’ ”

Bob Dudley, president of Norfolk-based Appeara textile rental company, has been appointed to the board of directors for The Platte Institute.

1990

58

FA L L 2 0 1 8

“Get involved in a campus group or club … expanding your sphere will pay dividends.

Introduce yourself to your professors … they are there to help you.”

Brad Shafer is the interim vice president for university advancement at the University of Louisville.

1997

“Get involved.

Take advantage of opportunities to learn outside the classroom, develop leadership skills and gain work experience.”

Greg Lardy of West Fargo, N.D., has been chosen interim director for North Dakota State University Extension Service.

1998

“As a student, you have to

Paula Lavigne, an investigative reporter at ESPN, won the 2017 Investigative Reporters & Editors award in the book category for “Violated: Exposing Rape at Baylor University Amid College Football’s Sexual Assault Crisis.”

you’ll know because either your grades or your sanity will suffer.”

Jennifer Overkamp is a development writer at the University of Nebraska Foundation.

2000 2004 “Step outside of your comfort zone and get to know students with perspectives and life experiences that are different from your own. This will change the way you see yourself — and the world around you.”

Shannon Sherman is the senior director for advancement communications at Creighton.

2003 “Learn to balance study, play and work. If they get out of balance,

“Explore the world. My UNL undergraduate exchange semester in Hanover, Germany, had a lasting impact and continues to shape my career today.”

Jessica Varner, Ph.D. candidate at MIT, was named a Fulbright U.S. Student Program research awardee and is studying in Karlsruhe, Germany.

2005 “Take advantage of all the experiences available to you. You

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

drue wagner (3)

“Here is the advice my dad gave me way back when I was leaving for college: Make the most of this time in your life. Your

1994

follow lots of rules. But you still have rights. Know what they are.

And speak up if you feel you’ve been wronged.”

2007

never know what you may learn.”

Jessica Kumke, assistant director of compliance for athletics at the University of Wisconsin, received the Marquette University Charles W. Mentkowski Sports Law Alumna of the Year Award.

“Nobody really knows what they’re doing.

Some people act with a greater level of confidence.

This is true in law school and in life.”

mid-america video

Christine Higgins Wilcox was promoted to director of human resources at Union Bank & Trust in Lincoln.

“Successful people tend to be those who really enjoy their jobs.

Take a variety of classes to find out what you like; the answer might surprise you.”

Ben Siminou was part of a team of attorneys honored with the 2018 Appellate Advocacy Award from the Pound Civil Justice Institute for their distinguished work resulting in a California Supreme Court landmark decision.

2017

“Step out of your comfort zone, try new

things, and take risks. You never know what hidden interest you may find.”

Kali Bohling serves as a teacher and Future Farmers of America adviser at Neligh-Oakdale High School.

“Your biggest limitation is underestimating yourself.

So take some chances, the worst that will happen is getting told, ‘no.’ ”

Jacy Spencer was recently named community liaison-agriculture specialist in the Grand Island office of Rep. Adrian Smith.

SHARE YOUR MEMORIES

What’s your best roommate story?

Do you want to be featured in the winter issue? Email your answer to this question to kwright@huskeralum.org.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?

JOE MANGLITZ

F

or Joe Manglitz (’08), college was about a whole lot more than just going to class. On top of being drum major in the Cornhusker Marching Band for an unusual three years, he was the president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and a member of ROTC, Circa 2007 ASUN and Innocents Society. Within those four years, he also managed to meet his wife, Brianne, and create multiple lifelong friendships.

But have his exceptional time-management skills and work ethic translated to success in the post-college world?

Absolutely. Manglitz, 32, is now a base commander executive officer for the U.S. Air Force, stationed at the Whiteman Air Force Base in Warrensburg, Mo. When he’s not at work, he spends time with his 4-year-old and 1-year-old, fishing and hunting. Oh — and flying fighter jets over Memorial Stadium on game day. He’s a die-hard Husker fan to this day, but it didn’t start out that way.

Straight out of high school, Manglitz received a full-ride scholarship to the Air Force Academy after a lengthy application process which included being nominated by a congressman. At the last minute, he chose Nebraska and joined ROTC to prepare for the military, instead.

“It’s by far the best decision I’ve ever made,” he said. “I was really involved in a lot of aspects, so I got to meet a lot of awesome people that are still some of my closest friends.”

After playing the tenor saxophone in the band freshman year, Manglitz decided to audition for drum major as a sophomore, since he had experience conducting in high school. This position was usually reserved for upperclassmen, so he had to secure special permission to audition, but nonetheless, he became the first sophomore drum major in UNL history.

Although Manglitz was a music education major, his post-graduation life has involved far more military than music.

When he graduated from ROTC, he commissioned into the Air Force as second lieutenant, then was assigned to pilot B-52 and B-2 (bat wing) planes.

Although the Air Force is his true passion, the flyovers over Memorial Stadium have been emotionally overwhelming for him because they perfectly mix all his past and present interests.

“It’s able to combine what I did in college with the band and ROTC and what I’m doing now,” he said. “Timing it all with the national anthem and the band, and working with my old conductor to time it, is really cool.”

His 4-year-old has already attended Husker games, memorized The Star-Spangled Banner and watches flyover videos on YouTube, so chances are good the next generation of Manglitzes will be just as passionate about UNL as their father.

—Hannah Trull

FA L L 2 0 1 8

59

BULLETIN Obituaries

1936

March 20; Amy Mitchell Tuttle, Lincoln, April 1

Gladys Schlichtman Meier, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., Oct. 19, 2017; Marian Sherwood Weston, Beatrice, May 10

1950

1937

Kathleen Hassler Reynolds, Newark, Del., May 7

1941-2018

Dennis Claridge

1939 Henrietta Sanderson Phelps, Los Altos, Calif., Feb. 18

Dennis Claridge, 76, former Husker quarterback standout, died May 1. He was born in Phoenix and grew up in Robbinsdale, Minn. In 1962, under first-year coach Bob Devaney, the rangy signal caller led Nebraska to its initial bowl victory, a 36-34 win over Miami in the Gotham Bowl. Following the 1963 season, the two-time All-Big Eight selection guided the Huskers to a triumph over Auburn in the Orange Bowl, capping a year in which he was named an academic All-American as well. A dental mission trip to Honduras in 2000 changed the life of the longtime Lincoln orthodontist, leading to subsequent trips in which he served as a faith mentor to fellow travelers and servant to the Honduran people.

1941

Eleanor Veith Steinert, San Jose, Calif., Jan. 24; Esther Connett Woodward, Los Gatos, Calif., Feb. 6

1942

Jack D. Fowler, Red Bank, N.J., April 12; Retha Edeal Wycoff, North Platte, June 2

1943

J. Henry Sather, Boise, April 14

1944

Marion E. Alberts, Clive, Iowa, June 10; Joyce Junge Ferguson, Cedar Rapids, Iowa,

60

Jan. 27; Elaine Dobes Rerucha, Laramie, Wyo., June 5; William P. Yoachim, Fairbury, April 15

1945 Blanche Reid Miller, Boerne, Texas, Oct. 1, 2017

1946

Charles I. Slagle, Lincoln, Aug. 29, 2017

FA L L 2 0 1 8

1947

Minerva Schliefert Anson, Murdock, May 12; Althea Hooper Lang, Lake Oswego, Ore., May 30; Elizabeth Kovanda Warner, Owasso, Okla., April 7; Grace Heins Wright, Lincoln, June 2

1948 Alice F. Saunders,

Central Point, Ore., March 13

1949

Lloyd G. Berquist, Holdrege, May 27; Phyllis Harris Blumer, Lincoln, May 5; Dolores Bellamy Gunnerson, Lincoln, March 15; Clyde L. Luther, Springfield, Va., March 30; Roy J. Martin, Lincoln,

Charles M. Anson, Lincoln, March 29; Roland S. Coker, North Platte, March 13; Arlene Behrens Deerson, Mead, March 1; Marilyn Bramer Downing, Mullen, Dec. 6; Mary Larson Jelks, Panama City, Fla., March 27; John C. Jenkins, Keizer, Ore., April 1; Mervin L. Klug, Austin, Texas, March 7; Dorothy Teichert Law, Wallace, March 25; Robert E. Morin, Lincoln, April 18; Joanne Quick Mueller, Anchorage, March 10; Clyde E. Penner, Littleton, Colo., Jan. 11; Edward E. Wells, Eau Claire, Wis., Feb. 25; Henry A. Willemsen, Lincoln, April 2

1951

Evelyn Crawmer Duckworth, Omaha, April 27; John W. Maher, East Greenwich, R.I., March 25; Jimmie G. Peterson, Danville, Calif., March 9; N. W.

Jerry Solomon, Lincoln, March 19; William G. Umberger, Omaha, April 29; Samuel A. Whitworth, Lincoln, April 2

1952

Thomas P. Douglas, Fort Mitchell, Ky., May 30; Darrell W. Heiss, North Platte, April 20; Patricia Achen Larsen, Bozeman, Mont., April 11; Kenneth D. Lindquist, Bensenville, Ill., Nov. 21; Donald L. Ockander, San Diego, April 6; Virginia H. Stryker, Lincoln, March 29

1953

Burton L. Carter, Lincoln, May 1; Catherine Corp Crawford, Omaha, May 24; Fern Dargeloh Eimon, Seward, Sept. 27, 2017; Darrell D. Grell, Plattsburgh, N.Y., May 5; Jacqueline Griffiths Hovendick, Beatrice, April 9; John D. Knapp, Kimball, April 6; Bill T. Meyer, Tucson, Jan. 22; Royce F. Rexilius, Lincoln, May 10

1954

Robert M. Meehan, Omaha, May 20; Kenneth E. Schroeder, Deshler, May 20; Stanley A. Sipple, Fenton, Mo., March 9

1955

Robert D. Conger, Santa Barbara, Calif., May 3; Thomas D. French, La Quinta, Calif., April 24 ; Darrel H. Grothen, Lebanon, Ohio, Sept. 3, 2017; Billie G. Hunck, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Nov. 20; Ralph J. Knobel, Fairbury, May 9; Peter J. Neidl, Spanish Fort, Ala., Feb. 11; William B. Soelberg, Mooresville, N.C., May 31; Gene C. Stevens, Phoenix, May 12

1956

S. Bruce Barton, Plano, Texas, Feb. 17; Carol Dunker Boerrigter, Fremont, April 10; Ira S. Epstein, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., April 30; Kenneth A. Putzier, Boone, Iowa, April 1

1957

Merle T. Carlson, Wharton, Texas,

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Sept. 22, 2017; John H. Chunka, Bellevue, May 14; Joseph L. French, State College, Penn., Jan. 14; Jack L. Irwin, Lincoln, May 8; Demaris Johnson Jacobson, York, April 27; Barry A. Kinsey, Tulsa, Okla., May 2; Donald E. Overton, Louisville, Oct. 7; John V. Parmelee, Wilmington, Del., April 15; Milton E. Ploghoft, Athens, Ohio, April 3; Jeanne Elliott Westervelt, Scottsbluff, March 13

1958

Mary Demars Downs, Henderson, Nev., April 12; Charles J. O’Grady, Lincoln, June 8

1959

Dwight D. Boesiger, Bartlesville, Okla., April 5; Mary Jennings Fisher, Lincoln, March 13; Richard D. Hanzel, Chicago, Feb. 17; Nan Carlson Krafka, Houston, April 24; Marvin G. Kyes, Central City, March

16; Janet L. Malone, Lincoln, April 4; Edsel N. Newman, Redmond, Wash., April 7

Jo Graham Snook, Lincoln, May 7; Charles Y. Thompson, Brimfield, Ill., April 24

1960

1963

David D. Allen, Blair, May 27; Vivian Cooley Johnson, Bybee, Tenn., April 16; James A. Kowalski, Loup City, March 21; Lois Erickson Smith, Fort Collins, Colo., March 15; Robert H. Stoddard, Lincoln, May 21

1961

John T. Adkins, Carthage, Ill., March 11; Jerry L. Jacoby, Omaha, April 4; Edwin A. Langley, Kingsport, Tenn., May 10; James E. Lightbody, Lincoln, March 10; David P. Miller, Lincoln, April 22; Jerry L. Stephens, New Orleans, May 4

1962

Judith Lawrence Dyer, Salem, Ore., March 29; Everald E. Mills, Stanwood, Wash., Feb. 20; Ronald G. Patton, Marshalltown, Iowa, April 21;

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

James P. Bonham, Omaha, May 18; Ronald R. Butler, Palm Springs, May 6; James W. Carpenter, Rochester, N.Y., March 15; Margaret Baumeister Herzog, Fort Collins, Colo., Nov. 17; Milo O. Navratil, Seward, March 18; Stanley K. Ochsner, Cedar Falls, Iowa, March 18; Karen Colleran Rooney, Lincoln, June 5

1966

Stephen S. Brockmann, Garland, Texas, Nov. 18; John L. Deming, Bethany Beach, Del., March 31; James W. Kmoch, McCook, April 6; Mary Morrow Larsen, Wahoo, April 29; David A. Schreiner, Scottsdale, April 6; James D. Shuey, Kearney, May 19; C. Howard Vest, Lincoln, Dec. 27

1967

Mary Grady Berry, Winterset,

Iowa, June 2; Susan M. Bray, Omaha, April 29; Dale A. Carlson, Central City, March 18; Donald R. Field, Plattsmouth, April 21; Judith Jones Moomey, Lexington, March 28; Byron K. Moore, Grand Island, May 13; Jim D. Patten, Prescott, Ariz., June 7; John F. Wright, Lincoln, March 18

1968

Jean M. Adams Leiboff, Bellevue, April 26; Marsha

A. Glover, Richmond, Lincoln, June 1; Dolores Cook Mather, Lincoln, May 11; Mary Nichols Palmer, Celebration, Fla., Oct. 3; Charles M. Pohlman, Norfolk, May 14

1969

Peter F. Clark, Lindenhurst, N.Y., May 19; Diane Severeide Cox, Sioux City, Iowa, Sept.

8, 2017; Lyle R. Huffman, Litchfield Park, Ariz., May 3; Keith

J. Schmidt, Omaha, May 8

1970

Marian Bohlen Bender, Santa Rosa, Calif., March 28; Leroy H. Bergmann, Nevada, Iowa, March 17; Joseph L. Hart, Columbus, Ind., May 31; Richard M. Kiernan, San Antonio, April 13; Thomas W. Menck, Omaha, May 28; Lois Carter Ough, Hampton, June 2; Newel K. Sanderson, Lincoln, May

1964

Louise Wolbach Bahr, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., May 16; Dick D. Pelham, Horseshoe Bay, Texas, April 24; William C. Plautz, Denton, June 1

1965

David G. Hirschfeld, Lincoln, April 23; Carolyn Perkins Riddell, Tekamah, March 25

1931-2018

Barbara German Barbara Noble German, 86, died May 19 in Colorado Springs after a short illness. German’s passions were music, the University of Nebraska (where she graduated in 1954), her family and her Christian faith, each of which she indulged during her life. A talented piano player and vocalist, she enthusiastically lent her musical skills to schools, churches and choirs. Active in the Nebraska Alumni Association, German served on the board of directors for many years, including a term as president.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

61

Obituaries Roger A. Ogren, Exeter, May 2

1975

1931-2018

Ruth Thone Ruth Raymond Thone, 86, writer, teacher, community activist and former first lady of Nebraska died May 3 in Lincoln after a brief illness. The Scottsbluff native authored three books, was a regular contributor to several publications and the recipient of the Nebraska Press Women’s Communicator of Achievement in 2014. A co-founder of both The Gathering Place, a house of hospitality and soup kitchen, and Friends of Loren Eiseley, Thone’s social justice commitment was longstanding and extensive. While serving as editor of the Daily Nebraskan, the 1953 graduate met rising young state deputy attorney general Charles Thone, whom she later wed and became an important partner in his political career.

28; Royce T. Willerton, Tucson, May 20

1971

Eugene J. Kocmich, Hampton, Va., March 27; Ellen Miller Kohtz, Albion, May 15; James M. Plate, Ogallala, June 11

1972

Harlan G. Furry, Kearney, June 2; Paul F. Heller, Clatonia, June

62

7; Kathryn A. Kerst, Rochester, Minn., May 27; Steven A. Ludi, Wahoo, March 11; Neil J. Parisot, Helena, Mont., March 22; Norma Mogstad Skorupa, Lincoln, May 1; Joyce Metzgar Sutherland, St. Joseph, Mo., May

1973

Michelle Kothe Buresh, Lincoln,

FA L L 2 0 1 8

March 20; Garth A. Hanson, Provo, Utah, April 6; Jennifer Scott Hoagland, Ayr, May 13

1974

Richard S. Deems, Scottsdale, April 17; Carl J. Guenzel, Lincoln, March 15; Bonnie Stute Hansen, Cozad, May 8; William R. Morgan, Lincoln, May 16;

Amy Barr Cronk, Carbondale, Colo., March 22; Glenn J. Hild, Charleston, Ill., April 8; Rolland B. Pickel, Lincoln, April 28; Sharon Beecham Tegtmeier, Odell, May 3

1976

Daniel K. Powers, Lincoln, May 20; Randall L. Vavricek, Omaha, March 28

1977

Lorrette Kubicek Hedges, Lees Summit, Mo., June 11; Derrol W. Nitz, North Platte, April 3; Elvin A. Shew, Underwood, Iowa, June 2; Suzanne Fankhauser Swahn, Humboldt, April 24

1978

Joseph W. Keaschall, Lincoln, May 15; Roger W. Maronde, York, April 30

1979

Marjorie Sheahan Hartnett, Bellevue, June 2

1980

Jon D. Carlson, Omaha, April 19; Marion Clyma Johnson, Omaha, March 30; Allan D. Wilsey, Papillion, May 11

1981

Douglas R. Beals, Lincoln, May 25

1982

Deborah Farrall Haskins, Denver, Oct. 7; Susan Macchietto Hughes, Eagle, April 7

1983

Todd W. Otto, Phillips, April 19; Kimberly Kutilek Tinley, Omaha, May 20

1984

Katherine Baker Cashatt, Papillion, March 16; Jane A. Ferguson, Omaha, March 22

1985

Bradley Gianakos, Lincoln, April 27; Mark D. Kliewer, Henderson, June 6; Jane Ginn Mellen, Omaha, May 15; Joan Hahn Widman, Surprise, Ariz., April 29

1986 David S. Heidemann,

Appleton, Wis., March 23

1987

Patricia Remmers Hedglin, Lincoln, May 1; Roger E. Semaan, Omaha, May 6; Shawn L. Wiemer, Fort Worth, March 27

1988

Denise Kaltenbach Riesen, Beatrice, May 28; Michael L. Vinkavich, Papillion, March 27

1989

Karen Kleman Henricksen, Lincoln, April 8; Robert F. Lonn, Lincoln, May 31; Eric B. Salem, Omaha, March 28

1992

Travis L. Hill, Pearland, Texas, March 29; Eileen J. Kimble, Addison, N.Y., May 9

1993

Carolyn Johnson Eastman, Lincoln, April 24; Jeffrey S. Kingston, Lincoln, April 15; Jay W. Segrist, Rapid City, S.D., March 29

1994

Jeannie Peterson Moore, Omaha, May 23

1995

Elisabeth A. Doyle, Cary, N.C., March 12

1996 Stephen K. Hostetler, Boelus, March 25

1997

Bradley A. Shaw, Campbell, April 24; Tania J. Stewart, Lincoln, May 22

1998

Philip F. Webb, Lincoln, March 24

1999

Ronald R. Koch, Bend, Ore., April 11; James H. Richter, Lincoln, April 5; Kraig A. Young, Kearney, April 28

2004 Julie Baker Engelhardt, Kearney, Feb. 15; Billie L. Meyer, Lincoln, May 22

2007

Jillian S. Savage, Lincoln, May

2014

Andrew M. Fordham, Lincoln, April 12

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

BULLETIN Alumni Profile

Bridging the Cultural Gap

BY MEKITA RIVAS (’12)

W

hen Brooke Mullen (’07) launched her business, she was all in. “There wasn’t much hesitation because there wasn’t much to lose by testing an idea,” said Mullen, a Lincoln native currently living in Salaya, Thailand.

The idea? A sustainable market for artisans to sell their goods that uses a human rights-based approach to business.

Mullen was influenced by her education and experiences: She studied at the Mahidol Institute for Human Rights and Peace in Thailand and interned at the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking.

She wanted to create opportunities for artisans to work from their villages, preserve their traditional craft and wisdom and earn a wage that they determine.

“Our solution was Sapahn, which means ‘bridge’ in Thai,” Mullen said. “I personally know each artisan community and they are like a family.”

Sapahn currently partners with nine artisan communities throughout Thailand, empowering nearly 500 artisans whose products include handbags, jewelry, scarves and blankets.

“We were able to grow organically, which also allowed me to grow along with my business,” Mullen said. “One of the most rewarding parts is the relationships I get to build with my customers and artisans.”

Mullen and her husband have called Thailand home since 2008, but they regularly return to Lincoln, where Sapahn is headquartered.

“I love coming back to Nebraska,” Mullen said.

“You can find me hitting up all the startup events that the community has to offer — these gatherings feed my thirst to learn more.”

Some of her other favorite Lincoln spots include The Mill, The Press Box, Piedmont Bistro and La Paz, where she worked for six months after leaving her corporate job and before moving to Thailand.

The response to Sapahn has reinforced

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Mullen’s motivations for creating the company in the first place. She said that people are drawn to Sapahn because they truly believe in its mission.

They’re aware and socially conscious, and they care about whether their purchase makes a tangible difference.

“It’s a movement,” Mullen said. “People want to know who made their stuff and how it was made.

We can no longer deny that our actions don’t impact people across the globe.”

And that movement has shaped Mullen’s own definition of success.

“I can’t seem to accept success if it is without a positive impact and contribution, or if it is harmful,” she said. “Integrity lies at the root of success — without it, it’s failure.”

Brooke Mullen, right, has created a sustainable market for local Thai artisans.

FA L L 2 0 1 8

63

Love Story

At Long Last It took five decades for these college kids from small towns in Nebraska to reunite and fall in love all over again B Y M IKE F URROW ( ’ 69)

64

FA L L 2 0 1 8

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

sophie newell

T

his is a love story many years in the making. Fifty to be exact. It was the fall of 1966 and I was beginning my junior year at UNL, getting settled in on the seventh floor of Cather Hall. My buddy and fellow engineering student, Paul Fager, mentioned that his little sister, Janis, was a freshman and was moving in to Sandoz Hall. She needed to go shopping for items to decorate her room, and he invited me

to go along. I later tried to convince him that he had “hand-picked” me to be the first guy to meet his sister, but he has since denied that.

Jan and I were instantly smitten with each other, and we dated the entire 1966-67 school year. This was during the days of strict curfews and no dorm room visits. Additionally, PDA (public display of affection) was strongly discouraged in the Sandoz lobby. Neither Jan nor I owned cars, so we would double date with someone who owned a car, borrow a car, or walk on our dates. I can remember sitting in the hallway at Cather using a dorm phone to talk to Jan until I finally splurged on a phone for my room.

Jan went home with me to Maywood, Neb., several times during the year, and my family, especially little brother Scott, fell in love with her. We road tripped to the Husker football game in Boulder, where we beat Colorado 21-19 in a thriller, and we took our first ski trip, traveling to Estes Park with Dan Smith and Jeannie Bogner. I convinced her brother, Paul, to help me buy my first suit at Ben Simon’s so I could make a good showing at the Sandoz formal.

In the summer of 1967, I accepted a job with Shell Oil Company in Houston. Jan spent the summer at her parent’s house in Crofton, Neb. What happened at the end of the summer is a little blurry, and both of us have our own versions. In any case, the relationship ended and we went our separate ways. I graduated in January 1969 and went to work for Shell in Houston. We both eventually married others and had children and grandchildren.

Fast forward to 2013. I had been retired for several years after 35 years in the oil industry. Jan was in her 42nd year of teaching in the Lincoln Public School system. I found myself back in Lincoln for a meeting of an alumni committee for the CatherPound 50-year reunion. We thought the demolition of the dorm complex was imminent, and we wanted to have one last get-together. A group of us was staying at the Holiday Inn on 9th Street, and we had gathered in the bar for happy hour.

As luck would have it, Jan walked in with her friend Pat Dudley. We had not seen each other in more than 30 years, but we immediately recognized each other.

We enjoyed catching up, and I returned to Texas at weekend’s end. However, Jan remained on my mind. It wasn’t until 2015 that I relocated to Lincoln in order to spend more time with my elderly parents. The added bonus was I could begin spending time with Jan as well. We quickly became a couple and celebrated my parents’ 70th wedding anniversary in February 2016.

Jan and I were married at the Embassy Suites on Sept.

24, 2016, 50 years to the month after we first met. We had jokingly said over the years that we thought we might end up together, even if it was in “the old folks home.” Looks like we beat that by just a few years.

GAME DAY DONE RIGHT. For Nebraska Champions Club members, Husker game day means convenient parking, top-of-the-line catering and bar service and multiple high-definition TVs all inside a breathtaking venue just 50 feet away from the stadium’s west entrance.

Call 888-353-1874 to join our waiting list.

huskeralum.org/NCC-membership

Nebraska Alumni Association WICK ALUMNI CENTER 1520 R STREET LINCOLN, NE 68508-1651

HISTORY WAS MADE IN 1869.

In 2019, the future unfolds. Join us. n150.unl.edu

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based upon any protected status. Please see go.unl.edu/nondiscrimination. ©2018, The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved.