Nebraska Magazine Winter 2016 Issue

Plus

TRAVELING MAN / MAKING HER MARK AT ESPN / 1964: A PIVOTAL YEAR

NEBRASKA Magazine EXCLUSIVELY FOR MEMBERS OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN

Living the

DREAM Tyronn Lue (’98)

Volume 111 / No. 4 /Winter 2016 huskeralum.org

Savor the flavor of savings.

University of Nebraska Alumni and Alumni Association members could save even more with a special discount from GEICO! Visit us online at geico.com/alum/naa to see how much you could save.

A Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Subsidiary

GEICO contracts with various membership entities and other organizations, but these entities do not underwrite the offered insurance products. Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies. 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. Š 2015 GEICO

INSIDEWINTER 5 Alumni Voices 6 University Update

18 Alumni Authors 42 Alumni News 44 Chapters & Affiliates

47 Class Notes 49 Alumni Profiles John Davidson Clark, 1905 Georgianne Mastera, ’65, ’76, ’96 Nancy Melby, ’04, ’05 James Pittenger, ’70 Wendy Wysong, ’81

Cover Photo Credit: NBA photo

From fanciful to functional, the Clay Club Winter Sale and Raffle featured work created by UNL ceramics students and alumni. Held Dec. 11-12, 2015, in Richards Hall on the city campus, this annual event drew another enthusiastic group of patrons.

20 27 28 30 32

Traveling Man

Jay Yost has taken a long journey from small-town Nebraska to the Citigroup Center office tower in Manhattan, where he now works as a private banker. No less challenging is the inner voyage he’s made as a gay man who joined his longtime partner and fellow-attorney in a public “commitment ceremony” at UNL in 2002.

JGW Lewis: An Overdue Tribute

Writing contest nostalgia winner Judy McDonald recalls how one professor at the University of Nebraska changed her life and still guides her learning as a political junkie.

Making Her Mark at ESPN

From Missouri to Washington to Texas and back to Nebraska, journalist Paula Lavigne is still pushing for answers, asking the right questions and doing original and important reporting, according to writing contest winner Charlyne Berens.

A Pivotal Year: 1964

El Siebert remembers a fateful spring break when he went to register voters in Greensboro, North Carolina, in this writing contest nostalgia winner on student activities.

Living the Dream

After an 11-year professional career in the NBA following a successful stint as a Husker roundballer, Tyronn Lue, associate head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers has gained a reputation as a canny strategist and manager of volatile personalities and jumbo-sized egos in pro basketball today.

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 3

alumnivoices NEBRASKA Magazine For alumni and friends of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Shelley Zaborowski, ’96, ’00 Executive Director, Nebraska Alumni Association Andrea Wood Cranford, ’71 Editor Move Creative Design Kevin Wright, ’78 Layout and Photography; Class Notes Editor Nebraska Magazine (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 $50.00 annually of which $10.00 is for a subscription to Nebraska Magazine. Periodicals postage is paid at Lincoln Nebraska 68501 and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster send address corrections to: Nebraska Magazine in care of the Nebraska Alumni Association, 1520 R St., Lincoln, NE 68508-1651.

Requests for permission to reprint materials and reader comments are welcome.

Send mail to: Nebraska Magazine 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 Magazine 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.

Alumni Association Staff Shelley Zaborowski, ’96, ’00, Executive Dir. Emily Anderson, ’10, ’15, Asst. Dir., Bus./Alum Relations Alex Cerveny, ’13, Alum/Student Relations Coord.

Jenny Chapin, Dir., Venues Andrea Cranford, ’71, Sr. Dir., Publications Charles Dorse, Custodian Derek Engelbart, Assoc. Exec. Dir., Alum Relations Jane Epley, ’77, Projects Asst.

Brooke Goedert, ’14, Venues Mgmt./Event Spec.

Paul Goedert, ’14, Gameday/Facility Operations Mgr. Jordan Gonzales, Asst. Dir., Student Programs Sarah Haskell, ’09, Dir., Alum Engagement Ryan Janousek, Venues Mgmt./Oper. Spec.

Wendy Kempcke, Admin. Asst.

Jessica Marshall, ’11, Dir., Written Comm.

Charley Morris, Graphic Design Spec.

Carrie Myers, ’03, ’11, Dir., Alumni

Engagement Heather Rempe, ’03, Asst. Dir., Digital Comm.

Larry Routh, Alum Career Spec.

Viann Schroeder, Alum Campus Tours Deb Schwab, Assoc. Dir., Venues Andy Washburn, ’00, ’07, Assoc. Exec. Dir., Oper./Mbr. Judy Weaver, Projects Asst.

Sara Werner, ’14, Exec. Asst.

Katie Williams, ’03, Sr. Dir., Marketing Comm.

Hilary Winter, ’11, Asst. Dir., Digital Strategy/PR Kevin Wright, ’78, Dir., Design

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Winter 2016 n Vol. 111, No. 4

A Note from Shelley In November, I had the opportunity to attend a student-led Black Lives Matter rally at the Nebraska Union designed to raise awareness that racism still exists at UNL, and to encourage additional dialogue about local solutions to this societal problem. The rally was powerful and timely, and was attended by hundreds of students, faculty, staff and administrators of all races. Although most of us find UNL to be a friendly and welcoming place, the fact that racism is still present on campus (as in our society) is a sad reality. It is one that we must work together to address and resolve.

In many regards, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a proud legacy of being inclusive dating back to George Flippin, (class of 1895) the first black football player at Nebraska. In 1892, the University of Missouri refused to play Nebraska with Flippin on the team. The rest of the Nebraska players stood by their teammate, and Missouri was forced to forfeit the game. In 1942, Nebraska welcomed double their quota of Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) students when other schools refused to admit them after they were dismissed from west coast universities via Executive Order 9066 (which relocated 120,000 citizens and residents of Japanese ancestry in Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona to internment camps).

In recent years, UNL has taken measures to encourage diversity in hiring practices, student programming and curriculum, and to provide opportunities for all members of the UNL community to engage in respectful dialogue about racial issues through events such as the annual Empowerment Forum and the Trust Summit. Nonetheless, there is still much work to be done to ensure all members of the UNL community have equal opportunity to study, work and play in a university setting that is safe and welcoming.

As alumni, you can be proud that our student body is addressing this issue in a positive and respectful manner, and that our administration is being both responsive and proactive. A letter to the campus from Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Senior Vice Chancellor for IANR and Academic Affairs Ronnie Green and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Juan Franco on Nov. 17 stated: “We believe this event, and discussions about race relations, are significantly important for our community.

Inclusion and diversity are deeply valued at UNL. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment where people from all backgrounds can engage, challenge and support one another.”

The same week as the rally, the alumni association had the pleasure of hosting “Life After UNL: Your Story Continues” at our Wick Alumni Center. Planned by UNL Career Services, OASIS, Students of Color Career Advisory Committee and the Multicultural Business Students Association, the event featured six alumni of color sharing stories of their professional journeys with the students who attended. The alumni, of varying ages and backgrounds, provided advice and inspiration, and spent time networking with the student attendees. While race relations were not a focal point of the event, it was a great example of people of different backgrounds working together to lift one another up, and of our alumni paying it forward to the next generation by giving a gift of their time and talent.

As an alumni association, we hope to be involved in more events like this, and to be a part of the conversation as we work together to make UNL a better place for everyone. We hope you will be, too.

P.S. In 2011, the association helped launch an Alumni of Color Affiliate Group for alumni to reconnect with the university and one another, and to develop opportunities to support students of color. The group has expressed interest in finding some additional leadership. If you would like to get involved, please contact Carrie Myers, cmyers@huskeralum.org.

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2015-2016 NAA EXECUTIVE BOARD Bill Mueller, ’77, ’80, President, Lincoln Erleen Hatfield, ’91, ’96, New York, N.Y. Bill Nunez, UNL L.G. Searcy, ’82, ’91, Lincoln Joe Selig, ’80, ’87, NU Foundation Judy Terwilliger, ’95, ’98, Lincoln Steve Toomey, ’85, ’89, Lenexa, Kan.

2015-2016 Alumni advisory council Damon Barry, ’00, Denver, Colo.

Stephanie Bolli, ’89, Omaha Jennifer Christo, ’97, ’99, Omaha

Nebraska Alumni Association – November 25 Congrats and Happy Thanksgiving to Sarge from Omaha! He’s our first CornhuskerCritter winner and will be receiving a special gift from us. Continue to submit your Cornhusker Critters, we’ll select a new winner every month! » http://huskeralum.org/ cornhuskercritters Jennifer Smith – November 25 Way to go Sarge. Keep bringing the wins. GBR!

Brianne Wolf, Logroño, Spain – October 24 GBR from on the mountain we hiked today!

John Clarke, ’74, Mitchell, S.D. Daniel Dawes, ’06, Mableton, Ga. Lynn DiDonato Canavan, ’86, McKinney, Texas Megan Dreyer, ’03, Lincoln

Emails

Kendra Eberhart, ’79, Peoria, Ariz.

Rick Grady, ’98, ’98, ’04, New Albany, Ohio

Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the 2016 calendar. As someone who

enjoys nostalgia, this calendar is going to be a lot of fun to hang up next year. Thank

you for your time, effort and excellent job.

Varro “Jack” Clarke, ’81, Edgewood, New Mexico

Betsy Hardin, Current Student, McCook Pam Hemann, ’70, Pasadena, Calif.

Troy Heuermann, ’92, Saint Paul, Minn.

Jane Hirt, ’89, Chicago, Ill. Greg Johnson, ’89, ’93, Denver, Colo.

Ka’Ron Johnson, ’00, Houston, Texas Lauren Kintner, ’92, Papillion Jeffrey Kratz, ’03, Washington, D.C. Duane Kristensen, ’76, ’78, Minden Desi Luckey-Rohling, ’81, Edgerton, Wis. Steven Miller, ’81, Lincoln Bill Mueller, ’77, ’80, Lincoln

The 2016 Alumni Calendar arrived today. Thank You! You are talking to a grateful Cornhusker. On the October calendar page – October 31, 1959, Nebraska beat Oklahoma; I was there that day! I played trumpet in the Husker Band. During those years, the band was seated at the 50-yard line, ground level, right behind the Okla- homa bench. I remember it like it was yesterday … hard to believe it’s been 56 years!

Norv Nicholls, ’60, Alsip, Illinois

Gregory Newport, ’76, Lincoln Jamie Reimer, ’03, ’08, Papillion

@NebraskaAlumni tweets and retweets

Russ Ripa, ’99, Lincoln Kevin Scheider, ’85, Raymond Robert Scott, ’94, Lincoln Christine Scudder Kemper, ’87, Kansas City, Mo. L.G. Searcey, ’82, ’91, Lincoln Dale Tutt, ’88, Wichita, Kan. Renee Wessels, ’82, Omaha

November 30 – Nebraska Alumni Retweeted Husker Volleyball A top-four national seed! Congrats, @Huskervball! More #Huskers info here » http:// go.unl.edu/svym Nebraska Alumni @NebraskaAlumni

November 29 – Today I became a @NebraskaAlumni lifetime member.

Thanks @UNLincoln @UNLSOC @unlcas for all the support #GBR

Fernando Rivera @Prof_Rivera

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twitter.com/NebraskaAlumni

facebook.com/UNLalumni vimeo

huskeralum.org/linkedin alumni@huskeralum.org

November 19 – Happy to host the @NebraskaAlumni Young Alumni Academy on East Campus tonight! #UNL @RonnieDGreen Jessie Brophy @jessie_brophy November 6 – A fantastic crowd for our final home Football Friday of the year! Thank you to everyone who has joined us all fall.

Nebraska Alumni @NebraskaAlumni

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 5

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

Chancellor Harvey Perlman (right) interviews NU Foundation President Brian Hastings (center) and University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds during the Nov. 6 gift announcement in the former Nebraska Bookstore on a stage that resembled Carson’s “Tonight Show” set.

Photo by Troy Fedderson, University Communications

JOHNNY CARSON CENTER FOR EMERGING MEDIA ARTS

$20 Million Gift to Fund Carson Center Those who want an education at the vanguard of new forms of filmmaking and emerging media – including virtual production, interactive and mobile media, film special effects, augmented and virtual reality, game design and more – will one day get the chance to study at the new Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

A $20 million gift from the Johnny Carson Foundation, the charitable arm of the late entertainment icon and 1949 NU graduate Johnny Carson, will help create an academic program and facility focused on interdisciplinary learning, creativity and research in

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emerging media. The program will be led by the university’s Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film within the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts to provide a specialized emphasis in digital virtual production and design.

UNL and the University of Nebraska Foundation announced the gift during a celebration at the former Nebraska Bookstore building at 1300 Q St., which was purchased by the university in June. About 31,400 square feet of the 55,000-square-foot building will be renovated to be the center’s headquarters.

Graduates who complete coursework

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

and expand arts symposium, master classes, in the new program will be especially the university’s internships and more. prepared with media arts skills that Temple “Through the years, Johnny Carson can be used in various professions, Building, home and his charitable foundation have including filmmaking, game design, to the theater made incredible philanthropic television production, theater, program and where Carson studied. investments that have bolstered the advertising, social media, business, After Carson’s 2005 death, the university’s education in key areas architecture, science, education and university received a $5 million of theater, film, broadcasting and agriculture, among others. gift from his estate to create an emerging media, truly increasing our The university’s plan for the Johnny endowment to support programs in strength in these areas,” said NU Carson Center includes hiring a theater, film and broadcasting. The Foundation President and CEO Brian director, offering new courses and university’s theater arts department Hastings. curriculum, and officially opening it was renamed the in 2018. Plans also Johnny Carson call for increased student enrollment.

The Johnny Carson Center will engage partners from across School of Theatre and Film.

The $20 million campus, other universities and the private and public sectors The Johnny gift is directed through an advanced development studio, emerging media Carson Foundation for renovation arts symposium, master classes, internships and more. has given $2.25 and development million since 2011 of the center’s in support of the physical space Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship In 1978, Carson established and a permanent endowment at the Fund, a permanently endowed fund the Johnny Carson Scholarship, a NU Foundation to provide annual that provides annual scholarship permanently endowed fund to provide support for the Johnny Carson Center’s assistance to students from Nebraska awards to Nebraska high school programs and future capital needs. who study in the Carson School. In graduates. He made a gift in 1988 to The center will include design and 2013, the foundation made a gift support the construction of the Lied editing labs, scoring and recording of nearly studios, video and audio editing rooms, Center for Performing Arts, and the $600,000 for black box theater adjoining the main classrooms, sound stage, faculty and CONNECTION BOX renovation of stage was named the Johnny Carson staff offices and more. go.unl.edu/harveyjohnny the Johnny Theater in his honor.

The Johnny Carson Center will Carson In 2004, Carson gave $5.3 million engage partners from across campus, Theater. to support theater and film programs other universities and the private and – Robb Crouch, University of at the Hixson-Lied College of Fine public sectors through an advanced Nebraska Foundation and Performing Arts and to renovate development studio, emerging media

Members of Johnny Carson’s family and the Carson Foundation applaud as “There is No Place Like Nebraska” is played during the gift announcement. Pictured (from right): Karlyn Carson, Dick Carson (Johnny’s brother), Jeff Sotzing (his nephew), Peggy Sotzing, Larry Witzer, Allan Alexander (president of the Carson Foundation) and Larry Heller. Photo by Troy Fedderson, University Communications

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 7

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

Students react during the Nov. 19 “Black Lives Matter” rally at UNL. The event featured student speakers talking about their experiences at UNL. Photo by Craig Chandler, University Communications

#NOT AT UNL

Hundreds Attend ‘Black Lives Matter’ Rally A Nov. 19 student-organized “Black Lives Matter” rally outside the Nebraska Union drew hundreds of students, faculty, staff and community members.

Started by Trevor Obermueller, a sophomore advertising and public relations major, the event was spurred by recent national concerns on racism, particularly at the University of Missouri and Yale University. During the rally, organizers outlined measures to help curb racism at UNL, including the creation of a cultural sensitivity course for all freshmen.

CONNECTION BOX diversity.unl.edu/diversity-home

“This is a call to action,” said Carnetta Griffin, a graduate student in educational administration who served as the emcee for the event. “This ain’t the end. This is only the beginning.”

Chancellor Harvey Perlman said the rally was an important expression of the frustrations faced by UNL’s students of color.

“They deserve to be listened to,” Perlman said. “The administration will make every effort to respond 8 WINTER 2016

appropriately to their requests. The reality, however, is that racial issues cannot be solved quickly or alone by administrative action but require that all members of the community work hard to overcome the racial legacies of our past.”

UNL administrators voiced support for the event in an email message issued Nov. 17. The message was signed by Chancellor Harvey Perlman; Ronnie Green, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs; and Juan Franco, vice chancellor for student affairs.

“Black lives do matter,” the message said. “Those lives are often lived under circumstances others don’t see.

“Collectively, we will continue to work hard to assure our university successfully supports equal opportunities and an inclusive environment for all students.”

In 2013, UNL committed to develop a framework for more open, honest dialogue to help shape how students, faculty and staff think about diversity issues on campus. The effort has launched several campus-wide initiatives, including: • providing professional development for faculty and staff

to build expertise for engaging

in and facilitating discussions on

diversity; • incorporating into new student enrollment programming

messages on how speech and

conduct can be regarded as

insensitive or disrespectful by others; • adopting a TIPS reporting system

that allows members of the

campus community to report incidents of bias; • creation of a report about best

practices for diversity and inclusion; • hiring an outside, independent consultant to conduct a diversity

analysis of the university, which is

expected to start in spring 2016; • re-establishing the Chancellor’s

Commission on the Status of

People of Color; • appointing a special assistant to student affairs to support

student diversity and inclusion;

and • committing to hire chief diversity

officers in human resources,

academic affairs and student affairs.

– Troy Fedderson, University Communications

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

NEBRASKA INNOVATION CAMPUS

NIC Announces New Partner ENHANCE Health Network will locate its corporate offices at Nebraska Innovation Campus later this year.

Formerly known as RPN LLC, ENHANCE Health Network is a forprofit partnership corporation formed by nine Nebraska-based health care systems. The alliance of health care providers delivers patient-centered, value-based health care through shared services and clinical integration.

ENHANCE Health Network is made up of Nebraska Medicine and Nebraska Methodist Health System in Omaha; Bryan Health in Lincoln; Fremont Health in Fremont; Columbus Community Hospital in Columbus; Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk; Mary Lanning Healthcare in Hastings; Great Plains Health in North Platte; and Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff.

The Network will provide learning and demonstration laboratory opportunities for students, interns, startups and other academic and industry endeavors. These will include urban and rural initiatives, especially

to underserved populations. ENHANCE Health Network is already collaborating with the university’s Rural Futures Institute to work on rural health issues.

Michael Hein, the company’s president and CEO, said ENHANCE Health Network plans to be an active participant at NIC, working to create funded research opportunities and an environment of creative collisions between community members that

result in solutions to various health care challenges such as providing services in underserved areas of Nebraska.

“NIC will accelerate our ability to deliver innovative health care solutions to our member communities and surrounding regions,” he said.

– Kate Engel, Nebraska Innovation Campus

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

UNL Recognized for Supporting Military The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been recognized as a top school for supporting military personnel.

UNL has been named a 2016 Military Friendly School, Military Times Best for Vets School and 2016 STEM Jobs Approved College.

The Military Friendly Schools designation is awarded to the top 20 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools in the country that are doing the most to embrace military

students and to dedicate resources to ensure their success in the classroom and after graduation.

With certificates, undergraduate and graduate programs on campus and online, UNL offers flexibility, convenience and affordability for members of the military and their dependents. The Military and Veteran Success Center, which opened in September, assists student veterans with the transition to academic life and

supports their successes. The Student Veteran Organization helps student veterans achieve their educational goals at UNL while providing an environment in which they have the opportunity to socialize with one another.

This year’s Military Friendly School designation follows UNL’s placement on the same list from 2011 to 2015.

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 9

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION

‘Our Students, Our Future’ to Raise $200 Million Increased access and success for current and future students is the focus of a two-year, $200 million fundraising initiative announced by the University of Nebraska and University of Nebraska Foundation.

The “Our Students, Our Future” initiative, which will conclude at the end of 2017, will provide direct support for university students through need- and merit-based scholarships that will make their college education more affordable; support for programs that improve student outcomes, particularly among traditionally underrepresented students; improvements to facilities that will enhance the learning experience; and other student-focused priorities.

Our Students, Our Future seeks to not only advance the university’s highest priority of affordable excellence, but also position the

CONNECTION BOX nufoundation.org/ourstudentsourfuture

university to attract more students in support of its goals to significantly grow enrollment and produce more graduates for Nebraska’s workforce.

“My goal is for the University of

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Nebraska to be accessible to every student who wants to change their life in the same way education changed mine,” said NU President Hank Bounds. “The university is doing great things to advance the Board of Regents’ priority of affordable excellence. Yet we know unmet need remains. With support from generous alumni and friends, Our Students, Our Future will help us become a giant in higher education, doing even more to ensure affordability and success for our students – the future leaders of Nebraska.”

Bounds noted that because of stable support from the state, the university has been able to keep tuition and fees across the campuses at least 25 percent below the peer averages. More than half of all NU undergraduates receive financial aid.

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

Still, most NU students – including 77 percent of UNK undergraduates, 72 percent of UNO undergraduates and 62 percent of UNL undergraduates – apply for need-based financial aid, demonstrating that need remains high.

Our Students, Our Future seeks gifts that will increase both immediate, expendable funds available for student scholarships, as well as permanently endowed scholarship funds that will enable the university to support many generations of students. In addition, the initiative seeks funding for university programs focused on helping students stay in school and complete their degree, as well as support for learning facilities that meet student interests and enhance the learning experience.

Objectives of the initiative include supporting programs, renovations, services and scholarships at UNL, UNO, UNK and UNMC. Any gift made to the University of Nebraska Foundation in support of a student scholarship fund or studentoriented program before the end of 2017 will count toward the $200 million goal.

– Robb Crouch, University of Nebraska Foundation

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

DEPARTMENT OF ART AND ART HISTORY

Michael Hoff (third from left), Hixson-Lied professor of art history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with Turkish students who found a Medusa’s head at the Antiochia ad Cragum archaeological site in Turkey.

UNL Teams Uncover Ancient Secrets Antiochia ad Cragum, an ancient Roman city on Turkey’s southern coast, has yielded more of its secrets to an archaeology team led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

A Medusa’s head, which once guarded a small temple or altar, was found in the rubble near a previously discovered 1,600-square-foot marble mosaic that dates to Roman times.

Nearby, on the opposite side of what once was a grand Roman bathhouse, archaeologists uncovered part of the ruins of another building. Though full excavation will take place in the future, team members found enough to identify the building as a bouleuterion, or city council house.

The team, led by Michael Hoff, Hixson-Lied professor of art history at UNL, also has found the outlines of a basilica, the fourth and largest Christian church found so far in the city center; as well as evidence that a hilltop building they have dubbed the Acropolis was used as a Christian monastery during the Byzantine Empire.

A typical city for its time, Antiochia ad Cragum is becoming more well known because of Hoff and his colleagues from Atatürk University

in Turkey, Clark University in Massachusetts and the Peter Kiewit Institute at the University of Nebraska.

UNL graduate Ben Kreimer worked with the team to get a bird’s-eye view of the ancient city and its surroundings. Kreimer, an alumnus of the drone journalism laboratory at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications as well as UNL’s summer field school in archaeology, flew a camera-equipped drone over the site, capturing images of key monuments and exploring areas that can’t be seen from the ground.

The archeologists seek to understand how the city evolved during nine or more centuries of existence. Like the discovery of an Aphrodite statue’s head in 2013, the Medusa figure is evidence of Roman culture in a city once viewed by scholars to be too much of an outpost to be much influenced by Rome. Slightly larger than life-sized, the Medusa head was found by some Turkish students among fragments near the foundation of a small building.

Hoff said the building appears to be a temple or an altar, though it is not known for certain because all that remains are its marble foundations.

The monument is next to an open-

air plaza with a swimming pool that stands outside a Roman bathhouse.

The archeological team found one of the largest mosaics in the region when it excavated the plaza in 2012.

The teams used chain saws to remove thorny brush that covered a bowl-shaped depression behind the bathhouse. After removing more than four feet of earth in a test trench, the archeologists realized they had found the city’s seat of government. They uncovered a semi-circular marble bench to seat dignitaries that faced a platform and orchestra area paved in marble. Behind the bench were two radiating sets of marble stairs, which likely led to grandstand seats.

The proletariats’ seats probably were made of wood and no longer exist. However, the team recovered about 20 pounds of ancient nails and hundreds of roof tiles scattered in the area, evidence of the building’s former structure.

They will continue excavating the bouleuterion next year.

“That was one of our best finds,” Hoff said. “This was truly the heart of the ancient city.”

– Leslie Reed, University Communications NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 11

UNIVERSITY DINING SERVICES

Campus Menus Offer International Foods University Dining Services has expanded its recipe box to offer a taste of home to UNL’s international students.

The move reflects growth in UNL’s international student population, particularly in undergraduates from other nations, which has increased from 495 enrolled in 2006 to more than 1,800 in the current academic year. University Housing offers ethnic foods primarily in the Selleck Hall, with other residence hall dining facilities providing international fare during special theme nights.

One of the more popular dishes is feijoada, a black bean and fivemeat stew developed by slaves in the Portuguese colonies that has become a Brazilian national dish. Brian Sabatka, production manager for the Selleck Hall dining facility, said feijoada is offered about once every five weeks

alongside a rice dish that is also Brazilian.

“When word gets out that we are serving it, the kids from Brazil line up before the doors open,” Sabatka said.

“We’ve had times when they take up two of our 14-seat tables.”

Pam Edwards, assistant director of university dining services, said student requests often lead to items being added to the menu. Employees research the dish requests, first seeking a recipe – students provide some while others are found on the Internet – and then checking for the availability and pricing of ingredients.

The recipes are perfected in small test batches before being added to a menu. Many times, ethnic diversity in the Selleck Hall dining staff helps speed up the process of converting a family recipe into something that can serve hundreds. For instance, when

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

making pao de queijo, a Brazilian bread cheese, student workers from Brazil showed how a simple flour adjustment could produce an authentic product.

“We have maybe 10 to 12 countries represented in our staff now,” said Gina Guernsey, Selleck dining services manager. “It really helps when student employees can show us the traditional way meals are prepared. By listening, watching and working with them, we’re able to get it as close to homestyle as possible.”

And student reactions make the extra effort worthwhile.

“I love seeing the looks on their faces when they see a dish from home,” Sabatka said. “And, when they tell you how good it is, that’s when you know you’ve hit the jackpot.”

– Troy Fedderson, University Communications

Chris Browne, a dining service associate in UNL’s Selleck Hall, stirs Andouille sausage into a kettle of Brazilian feijoada. Requested by students, the dish is a mix of black beans and six different meats and is regularly served at Selleck. Photo by Troy Fedderson.

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UNIVERSITY UPDATE

David Sellmyer

NEBRASKA CENTER FOR MATERIALS AND NANOSCIENCE

NHS Grant Funds Regional Nanoscale Facility The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has earned a nearly $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a regional center of excellence in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The Nebraska Nanoscale Facility builds on UNL’s highly regarded reputation in nanoscience research. It will be one of 16 centers created under the NSF’s National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, designed to advance the nation’s nanoscience research by expanding the equipment and service capabilities of universities and industries. UNL’s five-year grant is for $3,494,096.

“There is a need for regional facilities,” said David Sellmyer, George Holmes university professor of physics, who will direct the new facility. “Most universities do not have the resources to buy these very expensive pieces of machinery. Our regional center will operate and maintain this complex equipment to help not only UNL’s researchers, but also our neighboring universities, companies and others.”

The facility builds on and

strengthens the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, established in 1988 to support UNL’s research and education in nanoscale materials for magnetic and information technologies, electronics and sensors, energy systems and sustainable manufacturing. The center, which Sellmyer directs, provides shared laboratory facilities and specialized equipment, principally housed in UNL’s Voelte-Keegan Nanoscience Research Center. The new regional center will use these facilities.

Bolstering nanoscience through the new Nebraska Nanoscale Facility will contribute to economic development throughout the western Midwest region. Nanoscience research has contributed to technological advances, such as improving computing power and other electronics, environmental sensors, medical devices, solar and wind energy as well as national defense, Sellmeyer said.

The facility will hire additional personnel and purchase new equipment, allowing hundreds of students, postdoctoral research

associates and visiting scientists and engineers to benefit from UNL’s state-of-the-art facilities. Increasing interactions also will strengthen regional and national research collaborations.

The facility reinforces UNL’s ongoing nanoresearch programs and centers, including the NSF-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center; the Center for Nanoferroic Devices, funded by the Semiconductor Research Corporation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology; the NSF-funded Center for Nanohybrid Materials; and others.

The award also strengthens UNL’s education and outreach to the next generation of engineers and scientists. Facility faculty and staff will continue developing school programs and hosting high school students for summer research programs. In addition, they will pursue educational opportunities for Native Americans and tribal colleges within Nebraska.

– Gillian Klucas, Research and Economic Development

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 13

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

UNL Student Discovers New Mammal Species During her first fossil-hunting trip, UNL student Carissa Raymond found a specimen of a previously unknown mammal species from about 65 million years ago.

Raymond, a junior geology and geography major from Seward, was one of three students recruited by UNL paleontologist Ross Secord to assist with fieldwork in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico in 2014. Three or four days out, she spotted several strange black teeth lying exposed in the grit of an area known as Kimbeto Wash.

The teeth had cusps arranged in rows resembling kernels on an ear of corn or the teeth of a meat-tenderizing mallet. They were characteristic of multituberculate mammals, rodentlike creatures that lived with dinosaurs for more than 100 million years. They survived the dinosaur extinction only to die out about 40 million years ago.

Project leader Thomas Williamson, curator at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, said he knew almost immediately Raymond had found something special.

Along with jaws from both sides of the head containing molars and premolars, Raymond found front incisors and part of the brain case.

Although fossils of a multituberculate species called Taeniolabis are common in certain rocks in the area, this specimen was found in an older bed.

It was somewhat smaller and its teeth appeared too different to be the same species.

After comparing the new fossils with others from around the world,

14 WINTER 2016

Ross Secord, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the NU State Museum, and Carissa Raymond, UNL junior geology and geography major, stand in front of a paleontology exhibit at the museum at Morrill Hall. Raymond is holding a multituberculate mammal fossil similar to one she discovered in New Mexico in 2014. Photo by Craig Chandler, University Communications

Williamson, Secord and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh concluded Raymond had found a new species, which they named Kimbetopsalis simmonsae, after the wash where it was found and a scientist who has studied the mammals.

“I knew it was cool – but not this cool,” Raymond said of her find.

Multituberculates survived into the Cenozoic era, growing bigger in size after non-avian dinosaurs went extinct

about 66 million years ago. The specimen Raymond found was about the size of a beaver and may have been an evolutionary ancestor of the biggersized Taeniolabis. They may have been out-competed by rodents, which emerged 57 million years ago.

“It’s rare for anybody to find one of these,” Williamson said. “I wish I had found it.”

– Leslie Reed, University Communications

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Anti-bullying Program Expands

A successful program to prevent bullying in high school is being expanded to target bullying among middle school students.

Susan Swearer, UNL educational psychologist and nationally recognized expert on bullying behavior, played a leadership role in developing the program, called Helping Everyone Achieve Respect (HEAR).

“We based our development of HEAR for High Schools on a data-driven, decision-making model for responding to bullying among high school students – and it is having a positive impact,” Swearer said. “The new HEAR for

FACILITIES PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

Behlen Lab Undergoing Renovation

UNIVERSITY UPDATE

for Facilities Planning and A $7 million renovation Construction, said. “When is converting UNL’s Behlen complete, the building will Laboratory of Physics into a not be recognizable to most modern, versatile research people.” hub.

The exterior renovation will Dedicated in December also relocate HVAC and other 1965, the three-story mechanical systems from structure was originally home below and around windows, to the physics department, allowing the project to add offering office space, a The renovation of UNL’s Behlen Laboratory will include a new square footage to the interior library and research facilities. exterior to go with redesigned lab spaces inside. The project, of the building. Bowder said Renovation of the space which began in fall 2014, is scheduled for completion in fall 2016. the interior space will feature became possible after physics offices and a meeting room relocated to Jorgensen Hall in introduced after World War II. Although on the first floor and research 2010. somewhat unusual in the Midwest, it labs on the second and third floors.

The project will completely redesign is a style frequently used for college “Specific research projects have the interior and exterior of the and university buildings during the not been assigned to the space, so building, which is located on UNL’s academic boom of the 1960s. we are designing the labs to be as City Campus, 500 Stadium Drive.

The renovation will remove the flexible as possible,” Bowder said.

Laser research in UNL’s Extreme exterior skin of the building — “They will be versatile with the ability Light Laboratory, which is located primarily precast concrete pieces — to accommodate a variety of research in the basement and sub-basement and replace it with a glass and metal projects.” of Behlen, will continue during the structure.

– Troy Fedderson, University construction.

“The Brutalism exterior will be Communications Behlen is UNL’s only building replaced with a modern, contemporary designed in a style known as design,” Dale Bowder, project manager Brutalism, a form of late modernism

Middle Schools program now brings these same benefits to this vulnerable age group where experts agree bullying is an even greater problem.”

The middle school program is being rolled out nationally after Swearer and other UNL researchers tested

Susan Swearer

it in pilot programs in May at three Lincoln middle schools. A total of 585 students from Lefler, Pound and Culler middle schools participated in the pilot, giving feedback that helped refine the presentation.

HEAR is a set of research-based bullying prevention classroom presentations designed to help youth identify bullying behavior, recognize its consequences and reduce bullying in schools and in the community.

The high school program consists of an interactive classroom presentation, a student workbook, a training manual, PowerPoint slides, a commitment

banner, student survey and other research and reference resources.

National Guard members deliver the high school program at no cost. Since its inception two years ago, more than 400,000 student workbooks have been delivered to the Guard for presentations at high schools in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

The middle school program has a similar structure to the high school program, though adapted to meet the specific, age-appropriate needs of middle school students.

– Leslie Reed, University Communications NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 15

CAMPUS BRIEFS KUDOS n A campus record eight UNL faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. The new AAAS fellows are David Berkowitz, Willa Cather professor of chemistry and chemistry department chair; Scott Gardner, professor of biological sciences and curator of parasitology at the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology of the University of Nebraska State Museum; Ronnie Green, UNL Harlan Vice Chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs; Andrzej Rajca, Charles Bessey professor of chemistry; Mark Riley, professor and department head of biological systems engineering; Daniel Schachtman,

16 WINTER 2016

professor of agronomy and horticulture and director of UNL’s Center for Biotechnology; Janos Zempleni, Willa Cather professor of molecular nutrition and director of the Nebraska Center for the Prevention of Obesity Diseases through Dietary Molecules and of the Nebraska Gateway for Nutrigenomics; and Tim Zhang, professor of civil engineering. n Dan Claes, physics and astronomy, was named a 2015 Fellow of the American Physical Society. He was cited for his contributions to education initiatives focused on elementary particle physics, especially efforts to serve rural schools. n Chigozie Obioma, English, was one of six finalists for the 2015 Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. Obioma, 28, was the youngest finalist for his debut novel, “The Fisherman.” n Sharon Kuska, professor of architecture, was listed as one of DesignIntelligence’s 25 Most Admired Educators for 2016. The honor was part of an annual school ranking guide, “America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools 2016.” n Four UNL students have joined the ranks of Nobel Prize winners and a Google co-founder by earning the longest-running

fellowship available to U.S. graduate students. Tasneem Bouzid, Tyler Corey, Abbey Riemer and William Jamieson are UNL’s most recent recipients of the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship, which was awarded to just 12 percent of this year’s applicants. Each will receive NSF support totaling $46,000 annually for three years. n Jocelyn Bosley, education and outreach coordinator for the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, earned the 2015 Raytheon Math Hero award.

Bosley was nominated for her past work as a mentor at Irving Middle School in Lincoln. n Three UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications students, as part of the CarnegieKnight News21 national investigation team, have won the Online News Association award in the student projects pro-am category. They are Robby Korth of Fayetteville, Arkansas; Jacy Marmaduke of Carrollton, Texas; and Morgan Spiehs of Wood River. The 2014 investigation featured dozens of multimedia stories, videos, databases and photo galleries examining the polarizing issues of gun rights and regulation in the United States.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship recipients: (from left) Tasneem Bouzid, Abbey Riemer, William Jamieson, Tyler Corey.

Research on

Daniel Schachtman

GRANTS AND GIFTS n UNL has won a $13.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to lead a comprehensive multi-institutional research project to improve sorghum as a sustainable biofuel source. Daniel Schachtman, professor of agronomy and horticulture and director of UNL’s Center for Biotechnology, will lead the project that also involves scientists at Danforth Plant Science Center, Washington State University, University of North CarolinaChapel Hill, Boyce Thompson Institute, Clemson University, Iowa State University, Colorado State University and the DOE-Joint Genome Institute. n A three-year, $799,890 National Science Foundation grant awarded to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will be used to help meet the growing need for high school and middle school science teachers. The Phase II Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship grant will provide scholarships for qualifying graduate students to participate in UNL’s Master of Arts with emphasis in science teaching (MAst) program. n Led by UNL’s Greg Welch, a research associate professor, a multi-campus University of Nebraska team has received funding to evaluate and inform childcare quality. The project, housed in the UNL-based Nebraska Center for

Children, Youth, Families and Schools, will pinpoint the minimum thresholds of childcare quality needed to promote positive development and prevent negative outcomes for children, birth to age five. The funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. n Primarily Math, a program of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with objectives to transform K-3 mathematics education in Nebraska, has received a $53,700 grant award from Women Investing in Nebraska.

some of the mosaic pictures of fossils on the floor of the Nebraska State Capitol Rotunda. Missing for decades, several of Barbour’s drawings were discovered in 1982 and donated to the Capitol archives. Seeing the resurfaced drawings inspired Diffendal to write two books about the fossils and mosaics on the Rotunda floor for students, parents and teachers. “Fossils on the Floor in the Nebraska State Capitol” is an activities and coloring book geared toward children of all ages. Black-and-white pictures of the mosaics are paired with scientific drawings. Readers can choose their own colors for images and complete questions and activities.

“Fossils on the Floor: Mosaics in the Rotunda of the Nebraska State Capitol” is

BOOKS n A field trip to the Nebraska State Capitol led Bob Diffendal, professor emeritus of the Conservation and Survey Division, on an unexpected journey nearly 90 years in the making.

With the help of the Capitol archivist, Diffendal viewed large color drawings done in the 1920s on tissue by the famous Nebraska paleontologist Erwin H. Barbour, then a professor of geology and zoology at the University of Nebraska and director of the NU State Museum. The pictures of fossil plants and animals were done for artist Hildreth Meiere to use in making

a companion to the activities and coloring book that provides teens and adults with additional information about the creators of the mosaics, the materials used and the project overall. The publications are available at the Nebraska Maps and More Store in Hardin Hall at 33rd and Holdrege streets, online at nebraskamaps.unl. edu and by phone at 402-472-3471.

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 17

Controlled Recklessness

NONFICTION

Historical Dictionary of the American Frontier Jay H. Buckley,

Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, (cloth), $100 www.rowan.com

’01, and

Brenden W. This historical dictionary Rensink, covers early Euro’06, ’10

American Exploration and development of frontiers in North America for lands that would eventually be incorporated into the United States as well as frontiers explored

by Spain, France, Russia, England and others. The focus is on Euro-American activities in frontier exploration and development but the roles of indigenous peoples in these processes is highlighted throughout. The book contains a chronology, introduction, extensive bibliography and dictionary section with more than 300 cross-referenced entries on explorers, adventurers, traders, religious orders, developers and indigenous people.

ALUMNI AUTHORS 18 WINTER 2016

Discoveries from the Fortepiano

Ed Lemmon and the Open Range

Oxford University Press, 2015, (paper), $29.95

South Dakota Historical Society

www.oup.com

Press, 2015, (cloth) $29.95

Nathan Sanderson

www.sdshspress.com

As a cowboy, Ed Lemmon saddle-handled more cattle than any man in history. As a cattleman, he oversaw the largest fenced pasture in the world. Equally at home in both roles, Lemmon balanced reckless risk-taking and controlled management to shape the development of the cattle industry and become a central figure on the northern plains. Author Nathan Sanderson explores the motivations that led one of the greatest cowmen on the plains to saddle up time and time again.

Using Lemmon’s own vibrant accounts, historical records and corporate and government documents, Sanderson describes Lemmon’s colorful life and his perspective as both a cowboy and a cattleman at the end of the open range era. ’11

Donna Using a variety of Louise Gunn primary sources and ’81, ’85

scholarly interpretations, noted keyboard pedagogue Donna Gunn offers a guide on Classical Era piano performance practice that is at once accurate to the scholarship and accessible to the performer. Gunn surveys and explains 18th-century music notational language, and from this develops tools that get at the heart of the otherwise enigmatic sound aesthetic of the era. Through more than 100 music examples, Gunn provides specific answers to performance questions regarding period influences on the modern piano, including technique, dynamics, articulation, rhythm, ornamentation and pedaling. A companion website houses recordings of three versions for each music example.

In Cold Storage

FICTION

Sex and Murder on the Plains

Omniscient Publishing, 2015, (paper), $18.99

University of Nebraska Press, 2015, (paper), $16.95

James W. bisonbooks.com Hewitt In 1973 the small ’54, ’56, ’94, ’03

southwest Nebraska railroad town of McCook became the unlikely scene of a grisly murder. After pieces of Edwin and Wilma Hoyt’s dismembered bodies were found floating on the surface of a nearby lake, authorities charged McCook resident Harold Nokes and his wife, Ena, with murder. More than 40 years later, author James W. Hewitt returned to the scene and unearthed new details about what happened. “In Cold Storage” takes readers through the evidence, including salacious details of sex and intrigue between the Hoyts and the Nokeses, and draws new conclusions about what really happened between the two families on that fateful September night.

The Vatican Files www.the vaticanfiles.com

Written under the pen name Jerzhy Knuteman, this explosive historical thriller novel reveals the deep secrets the Vatican is hiding from the Stephen J. rest of the world. It’s the 1930s and Hitler makes a pact with evil alien Brennan entities in preparation for World War II. Illuminati thieves steal an ’73 ancient manuscript from a secret Vatican archive, intent on exposing its contents and destroying the Catholic Church at its core. To save the world and the church, the Pope dispatches a covert team of military-hardened Jesuit operatives to disrupt the Nazi war machine, recover the manuscript and prevent alien influence from reaching the highest levels of American government.

The Cowboy Detective A Matter of Terror Pro Se Press, (paper) $10 prosepress.com

From the moment a crazed doctor set foot in Chicago, he felt he was in the right place to finish the experiments he had started in a Nazi Greg death camp but never completed. As soon as he committed his first Norgaard act against an unsuspecting Chicago woman, he knew there would be ’91 a price on his head, and he didn’t care. Would a search by Detective Glenn Stroud, an efficient, dangerous and committed cop working the city’s rough underbelly, end this kidnapping and torturing psychopath’s reign of terror – or would Stroud lose everyone dear to him.

The Yacht Club Murders Create Space, 2015, (paper) $16.95 amazon.com

Patrick J. Foy

Set largely on the bucolic shores of Lake Minnetonka and charged with the excitement of amateur regattas, “The Yacht Club Murders” soon brings readers face to face with a series of dark deeds involving murder, romance, motorcycle gangs and drug deals gone bad, with the Wayzata police and the FBI never far out of sight.

’80

Show US YOUR TALENT Featured books are not sold or distributed through the Nebraska Alumni Association. Publishing information is provided to help consumers locate the title through local booksellers or online retailers unless otherwise noted. To be considered for inclusion in Alumni Authors, send a complimentary copy of a book published in the last year and a description of its contents to: Alumni Authors Editor, 1520 R Street, Lincoln, NE 68508-1651 Please include the author’s full name, class year, current mailing and email addresses and telephone number. The author must have attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 19

tra vel ing

MAN

New York City Private Banker John A Yost (“Jay”) (BA ’80) has covered a lot of ground during his remarkable odyssey from small-town Nebraska to the 59-story Citigroup Center office tower in Manhattan, where he now works as a financial adviser each day.

But in many ways, Yost’s outer journey was less challenging than the inner voyage he’s also made during the past few decades – as a gay man who at first struggled to come to terms with his identity – but years later joined his longtime male partner and fellow-attorney, Wade Leak, in a deeply moving public “commitment ceremony” that took place on the UNL campus in 2002.

20 WINTER 2016

By Tom Nugent

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 21

I

t’s a long way from Red Cloud, Nebraska, from most of the other boys in this most Midwestern to the traffic-jammed streets of Midtown of Nebraska towns.

Manhattan.

But God didn’t seem to be listening.

1,452 miles, in fact.

It took Yost 11 years to understand that he But Jay Yost wasn’t apprehensive. He took that couldn’t successfully make demands on the Infinite huge geographical leap back in the early 1980s, after ... and that coming to terms with what he now graduating from UNL, studying in Paris for a year calls his “affectional orientation” ... should be seen and then deciding to attend law school at New York as an intended manifestation of the mysteriously University. It was a challenging move, to say the complicated workings of Providence. least. But the youthful striver from famed Nebraska But he got there. novelist Willa Cather’s hometown was determined And then another 11 years later he went back to his to become a lawyer – and then to use his specialized home state to participate in a deeply emotional – and, skills to make a name for himself in the city’s at the time, a highly controversial – “commitment booming financial industry. ceremony” that was as close as he and his partner, And he did.

Wade Leak, could then get to the state of lawful Today Jay Yost inhabits a sleek 24th-floor office in matrimony in the State of Nebraska. the giant Citigroup Center skyscraper at 53rd Street That ceremony on May 25, 2002 at the St. Mark’s and Lexington Avenue. On a typical business day, on-the-Campus Episcopal Church made the Lincoln he strides into the bank’s gleaming white-marble lobby clad in an Italian business suit and a striped “I’m very grateful to be from Nebraska and I often tell people that I silk tie perched neatly atop feel particularly lucky to have come from Red Cloud. I also feel very a coordinated pinstriped connected to the world that Willa Cather described in her writings. dress shirt. The 58-yearGrowing up in Red Cloud is like growing up inside of a novel.” old financial adviser looks like the embodiment of a Jay Yost on remembering his roots in Red Cloud successful New York banker.

But appearances often deceive – and a casual observer in the Citigroup lobby might be surprised to learn that the elegantly Journal Star, along with a front-page photo of their ward-robed bank executive is actually the son of a post-ceremony kiss in front of the alter, and the small-town meat market owner and a teacher who reaction was instantaneous. plied their professions on the windy prairies of south“We were later told that the story caused more central Nebraska. subscription cancellations than any other story in the Nor would it be immediately apparent to our paper’s history,” Yost said during an interview in New observer that the well-groomed business exec York. “It certainly caused a bit of controversy but had struggled through many years of grueling we were still glad we held the ceremony in Lincoln. introspection, as he tried to figure out who he really It sparked a lot of constructive conversations in was and where his tangled destiny would eventually Nebraska, and we hope it helped in some small way lead him. in the struggle to make same-gender marriage a legal For the highly skilled Manhattan banker of 2015, right everywhere in the country [which it now is it’s been a long and winding road. Once upon a time, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in as a confused, early 1970s teenager who prayed to Obergefell v. Hodges, June 25, 2015].

God nightly to “take away this curse,” Jay Yost had “Back in 2002, we both felt it was important to fought against the waves of dread and doubt that make a public statement about the issue, mainly in so often swamped him whenever he noticed that he order to provide a self-affirming example for younger wasn’t really getting why the other boys were attracted people who might be trying to figure out their to the girls. gender affections. Both of us also wanted to celebrate An ardent Methodist and even for a while a selfour commitment to each other with our extended described “Jesus freak,” the banker-to-be had sweated families. It was stressful at times, of course – but it through long nights in which he pleaded with the was also a truly joyful experience for all of us. I was in deity to stop punishing him by making him different a rather ‘Zen moment’ throughout the ceremony

22 WINTER 2016

Red Cloud Native Has Helped Raise Millions for The National Willa Cather Center and Opera House More than a decade ago, he played a key leadership role in the $1.8 million fundraising campaign that allowed the Willa Cather Foundation to refurbish the 1885 Red Cloud Opera House – where the young Willa Cather was introduced to the world of music, opera and theater.

But Jay Yost – a New York City banker who also grew up in this quintessentially American small town of 1,020 citizens – wasn’t finished yet.

A self-described “eternal optimist,” the 58-year-old Yost later agreed to co-chair a truly jumbo-sized capital campaign The Red Cloud Bed & Breakfast at the Kaley House. ... this one aimed at nailing down the $7 million required to finance a hugely ambitious “Helping to raise the funds involved complex dedicated to the a lot of prep work, and knocking on great Nebraska novelist in her doors more than once. I think a lot hometown of Red Cloud. of our success [took place] because Dave and Dora Kaley at the He and his colleagues on Nebraskans support Nebraska!”

RC Kaley House in 1909. the Foundation’s Board of Make no mistake: when Yost says Governors met that second he loves the Cornhusker State, he isn’t challenge, as well. kidding.

The ceremonial groundbreaking for the new National Willa Way back in 1996, he and his lifetime partner, Wade Leak, Cather Center took place last June, and the elegantly repurposed bought a graceful old 19th-century, Queen Anne-style residence 1886 building is expected to open for business in the fall. at Ninth and Seward streets in Red Cloud. The battered but architecturally elegant house was located only a block from Yost’s own “I don’t believe we truly ‘own’ historic buildings – our role is childhood home near Tenth and Walnut. really just to care for them so that we can pass them on to the next “Wade and I bought the old generation. And I think it’s so important to do that ... because once Kaley home on April Fools’ Day in the buildings are gone, the memories go, too.” ’96,” Yost remembered, “and a lot Jay Yost on the importance of preserving historic buildings of people in town thought that date was prophetic.” But the two men and Jay’s sister, Suzi Schulz (BA ’75), For Jay Yost, who said he still thinks of Red Cloud as his home, went to work immediately on a massive and lengthy renovation ... the fundraising effort was an “extremely rewarding” exercise in and the beautifully restored residence is known today as “The Red singing the praises of both the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Cloud Bed & Breakfast at The Kaley House.” and the cultural values of Said Jay’s other sister, Sally Hansen (BA, ’78), who these days small-town Nebraska. manages the popular B&B which was recently named one of the Red Cloud Bed & Breakfast: “I had a great time most “Perfect Getaways” in Nebraska: “I’m very proud of Jay redcloudbb.com working on both of those for his part in helping to make all of this happen. Jay’s heart has Willa Cather Foundation: capital campaigns,” said always been in Red Cloud.” v willacather.org the Manhattan banker.

o

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 23

Willa’s Affections More than 68 years after her death, the debate over Willa Cather’s sexual orientation continues in some parts – but not among the majority of Cather scholars who think of this debate as settled, and who believe that understanding this aspect of her remarkable life provides insights into better appreciating her work.

The current resolution of the question as to Cather’s orientation has been aided in recent years by accumulating biographical data. Recent scholarship shows that Cather was much more publically demonstrative in her identity than earlier scholarship might have suggested, from her penchant while a girl for wearing men’s clothing and hairstyles ... to the fact that she spent her last 39 years living with her longtime companion, the magazine editor, advertising copywriter and fellow Nebraskan, Edith Lewis. The two women are buried side by side.

Some literary scholars insist that such external biographical facts should not be used to define this particular aspect of Cather’s identity.

It’s an interesting problem of definition, for sure.

For his part, Jay Yost – the former president of the Willa Cather Foundation and himself an openly gay New York City banker who grew up in Cather’s hometown of Red Cloud – suggests that the term “sexual orientation” is actually a case of badly flawed nomenclature.

“People focus on the sex too much,” contends Yost. “I would prefer to say ‘affectional orientation,’ rather than ‘sexual orientation’ – because it’s really about who you love.”

Guy Reynolds, director of the Cather Project at UNL, notes that how Cather’s sexual/affectional identity feeds into her written work is a complex question. His own feeling is that “her ‘queer’ identity led her to envisage a broader and more complex array of forms of ‘affection’ than would have otherwise been the case. She wrote about friendship, companionship, marriage, families and couples in a kaleidoscopic manner. I think her fiction is a testament to her wanting to imagine intimacy in a plethora of ways – hence Tom Outland and Godfrey St. Peter, or Harry Gordon and Lucy Gayheart.”

“If one thinks in terms of ‘affectional orientation’, this also seems to make the case for Cather’s lesbianism. Emotionally – affectionately – she made her life with another woman. That is – surely – a definition of ‘lesbianism’.”

Melissa Homestead, a UNL English professor who

24 WINTER 2016

Cather dressed to play a part in the Union Girls Dramatic Club production at the university in 1892.

has researched and published extensively on Cather and Lewis’s relationship, notes that some still insist that there is insufficient “evidence” for identifying Cather as a lesbian.

“I’m not sure what kind of evidence would satisfy the doubters,” Homestead explained. “Some seem to believe that heterosexuality can be assumed but homosexuality requires ‘proof’ – but if Cather had lived with a man for nearly four decades, would anyone demand ‘proof’ that she was straight?”

Neither woman, Homestead continued, sought to hide, from family and friends, the fact that the two of them lived together, and Cather did name Lewis her literary executor in her will.

“It’s remarkable that in 1908, these two women began their life together – 107 years before marriage equality became the law of the land. n

... and I kept thinking later, a meatpacking how great it was that plant. “I always say “Lloyd Ambrosius taught a history course on the 120 people had flown I’m ‘fifth-generation in from all over the meat’,” explained the Progressive Era, and he was a true inspiration. He had world to help us mark this amazing ability to explain complicated political attorney-turned-banker, the occasion. while describing his history and make you see it. He’d get up there and speak upbringing.

“I also liked the fact effortlessly for 50 minutes and it all made sense.” that the ceremony “We weren’t affluent took place on the by any means, but we Jay Yost on a professor he greatly admired at UNL campus of UNL and always had enough the dinner/dance was to get by and all of us at the Wick Alumni Yost kids worked in the Center – I think that says a great deal about my relationship family meat business after school – it was just understood that this was what you did.” with the University of Nebraska over the years.”

A sensitive and imaginative child, Yost found himself powerfully drawn to his family’s United Methodist religion.

Wrestling with Identity Issues – “I got very interested in it and was a bit of a Jesus freak for a Alone and in the Dark while,” he remembered. “But part of that was because I was As the fifth of six kids, Jay Yost grew up on the historic trying to figure out if God was going to help me get over – streets of Red Cloud, the often-celebrated hometown of famed what back then I thought was the ‘burden’ of – being gay.”

Nebraska novelist Willa Cather ... whose stories for many seem As he struggled during his adolescent years with gender to vividly capture the essence of life on the American Great affection issues, Yost tried to find various solutions. At first Plains around the beginning of the 20th Century. hoping to live up to the norms of masculine behavior in The Yost family, descended from English, German and 1970s small-town Nebraska, he went out for junior high and high school football and basketball. “I did try,” he recalled while describing his freshman year for the Red Cloud Warriors, “but the Or check out the webpages or Facebook pages: The LGBTQA+ Resource Center works truth was that I wasn’t very • involved.unl.edu/lgbtqa collaboratively to provide support, outreach, good and I didn’t enjoy it, • unl.edu/cglbtc/ advocacy, education and resources for the LGBTQA+ so I quit playing and instead • LGBTQA+ Center on Facebook: community at UNL and beyond. We unite to promote facebook.com/lgbtqaUNL?ref=aymt_ focused on the golf team. academic and social success for everyone.

“I did okay as a golfer, homepage_panel Three UNL student organizations work specifically and by sheer luck went on to • Alumni Group on Facebook: with LGBTQA+ students and topics: letter facebook.com/groups/33162675935/ all four years.”

• Spectrum UNL, a student organization geared Although his high school toward all LGBTQA+ students and allies years were complicated, You can also support the LGBTQA+ student • The Change, composed of student volunteers Yost says the real struggle to community at UNL by making a financial and supporters of the LGBTQA+ Center come to terms with being contribution to one of the following funds at • Allies & Advocates for LGBT Equality at the gay began in his last year or nufoundation.org/unl/lgbtqa-resource-center: Law School. so at UNL, where he studied • Stephen C. Griffith LGBTQA Resource Center history, political science Fund (01122290) If you are interested in becoming more involved, please and French, and for a while • Louis Crompton Scholarship (011007970) contact: dated a remarkable young • LGBTQA+ Students Emergency Fund (to be • Pat Tetreault, director of the LGBTQA+ woman – even as he was established) Resource Center at UNL (lgbtqa@unl.edu) beginning to explore his true • Jonathan Walz, chair of the UNL Committee on being.

GLBT Concerns (jfwalz@unl.edu) “That was a tough time for me,” he remembered. “I was wrestling with all of this stuff, and I often felt like I was doing it alone and in the dark.

Irish settlers whose roots in Nebraska reach back over five It was difficult at times, which is why I hope that I can help generations, has long been connected to the cattle industry in some younger people today – by letting them know about the the state’s south-central region – and Jay’s father for many years amazing sides of being gay and helping them to avoid the selfran a successful butcher shop in downtown Red Cloud and,

Nebraska Alumni and Husker Pride

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 25

punishment that can be so hurtful at times.” he can do for all of them.

In spite of his inner turmoil, however, Yost went on “He went through a lot of struggle as a teenager, and I to be Phi Beta Kappa, an Innocent and a Mortarboard think that was hurtful. But he survived and he became a at UNL. And he said he’s “very grateful” for the help much stronger person because of it.” he got from teachers who introduced him to “the life of Adds Jay’s younger brother, Jeffrey Yost (BA ’90), the mind,” and the many rewards that could flow from today the President/CEO of the Lincoln-based nonstrenuous intellectual effort. “I got some really important profit, The Nebraska Community Foundation, which help from Joan Wadlow, then the Dean of the College of helps local communities raise funds for civic and Arts and Sciences,” he recalled. “While I was at UNL, she economic development projects: “What Jay and Wade directed a program called University Studies, where you have done to help Red Cloud has really been a ray of were able to design your own major, with the freedom to light. They’ve both worked long and hard on, and helped pick different courses and put together a program that to fund numerous historic preservation and economic was suited to your professional ambitions.” development projects there, and Jay’s dedication shows What followed Yost’s UNL graduation in 1980 was a that his affection for Nebraska and Red Cloud isn’t just demanding climb to legal and financial success in New a matter of words. I think it stems from a passionate York. After a year of postgraduate study in Paris (thanks desire to make things better for everyone, and to allow to a Franklin, Nebraska, Rotary Club scholarship) and kids in Red Cloud today to have available to them the then law school at NYU, Yost spent several years at a large wonderful, supportive hometown that he was lucky Manhattan law firm (including a two-year stint in their enough to experience as a child.”

Singapore office), then signed on as an international attorney at the iconic Chase Manhattan “My mother used to read Cather to us in a hammock under the white Bank.

By 1998, Yost had become a birch tree in our backyard. So starting out at an early age is part of banker at Citibank – “My line why Cather’s writing has meant so much to me over the years.” was that it always looked like Jay Yost on his lifelong admiration for the works of Willa Cather the bankers were having a lot more fun than their lawyers” – and in a few years became a Senior Private Banker at Citi Private Bank. In his current role, he serves as an adviser For Jay Yost, the road to success has been long and to a select list of ultra-high-net-worth clients who depend difficult. But he said he truly loves what he’s doing for on him to help plan their financial futures and design a living these days ... and that his 23-year relationship their estates. with his partner, Wade Leak, just keeps getting better.

Understandably enough, the circumspect banker Describing that relationship over lunch at a 53rd Street declines to discuss any personal details about his clients, eatery in Manhattan the other day, he waxed happily and when asked if a certain well-known New York City eloquent on the true meaning of his long-past struggle to Republican native is maybe one of his current clients, accept and appreciate himself for what he is. he’ll send you a cheerful smile while somberly intoning: “Really,” he said with a quiet smile, “I have to say “If he were, I wouldn’t tell you... .” that whenever Wade and I talk about our lives and the Although he tends to downplay his Phi Beta Kappa amazing journey we’ve been on together, we always status and his reputation as an egghead financial wind up feeling like we’ve been truly blessed. We’re very counselor with a gift for working successfully with his grateful for the fact that we’ve been able to carve out the clients, there’s no doubt that Yost has the smarts it takes lives we have... .” to survive and prosper in the world of high-level Gotham He paused briefly and his eyes were suddenly glistening City banking. with tears.

“Jay’s no dummy,” said the banker’s sister, Sally Hansen “But it was only possible because of everything that was (BA ’78), who’s one year older than her brother and lives offered to us along the way,” he said. “It wasn’t without on a farm near Red Cloud. “He’s also very confident in its challenges, but I got a lot of help from teachers, youth his own skin. He didn’t fit the general mold growing up, leaders, ministers, my family and all my other friends in but he’s very well respected by the other Board Members Red Cloud and Lincoln. of the Willa Cather Foundation and of the Red Cloud “I guess that’s a big part of why I always tell people that Community Foundation, and by their donors, for all that I live in New York, but my real home is in Nebraska.” v

26 WINTER 2016

NOSTALGIA WINNER, SECOND place-Memorable Professor 2015 Writing Contest Judy McDonald earned three degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Active in creating the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society at Chadron State College, she retired from Bemidji State University as Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities. She lives in Bemidji, Minnesota, with her spouse, Kay, two daughters and two grandsons.

JGW Lewis: An Overdue Tribute

By Judy McDonald, ’65, ’68, ’80 Oh, what fun it is to open the memory chest from my days at the University of Nebraska.

I have unpacked that chest many times and each time I am reminded of how one professor in particular changed my life. He was the first teacher I had whom I could call a favorite. Now nearly 60 years later, I still have a picture of Dr. JGW Lewis in my mind.

I often wonder if he had any idea the influence he had on me.

Our history goes like this. After two years at the university, I was dismissed for failing grades. Months later I was in love and wanted to prove myself worthy of that love. I needed to get at least a B in two courses to be re-admitted to the university. The only alternative was to take correspondence courses.

Professor JGW Lewis was assigned to my case, and we met at the Extension Division. I was tentative about being there, but knew it was too late to escape when I heard someone coming toward me. An elderly man shuffled to the desk and l looked to see if he was in bedroom slippers. He was in a suit with a bow tie and highly polished brown shoes. He had a kindly expression on his face and talked softly with a raspy voice that reminded me of June Allyson. I was mesmerized by the voice and the arthritic hands that brought emphasis to each word he spoke.

Professor Lewis ignored my comment that a bureaucrat in Junior Division told me I was not college material. Instead he gave me a quizzical look. I noticed his heavy eyebrows and wanted to ask if he had to comb them, but I didn’t want to appear impudent. I had been told my remarks could make me seem incorrigible. As I watched the eyebrows, I realized he was trying to figure me out. His eyes told me he saw me as a challenge. I hope my eyes told him I was up to any challenge he gave me.

The moment passed and we began to talk about politics – after all he was a political science professor. I told him my interest in politics began when I was 9. I admitted I cried because Truman beat Dewey. He smiled and said I might discover Truman was better than Dewey. I made a note to myself that he must be a

Democrat. I liked him even better as we began to chatter enthusiastically about John F. Kennedy. Soon he gave me the first of what turned out to be 32 assignments.

Rushing home from work, I was anxious to get started on my first assignment. My mind kept going back to Professor Lewis. I wondered how old he was and if he was married. Did he always wear a suit and did he have children? But I needed to get started on this assignment. He wanted an essay about me and why I was taking this course. I remember he told me I would write an essay for each assignment. I was happy about that and later I was pleased that he read and commented on each essay.

Before long I learned he would not accept redundancies or incomplete thoughts. He pushed me to think more analytically and to give opinions where appropriate. I was not to care what he thought or what the textbook said, but I had better justify my conclusions. I was thrilled to be introduced to Aristotle, Plato and other great thinkers. I developed a distinct distaste for Machiavelli and noted his tendencies in several politicians. Professor Lewis was clearly in agreement and we enjoyed a moment of laughter.

Each session with Professor Lewis increased my confidence.

He awakened a part of me I did not know I had. He called it my intellect. He told me I might even have the capacity to be an intellectual. I was overwhelmed at the thought. I remember thinking that someone who came from a small high school with a graduation class of four could not possibly be a deep thinker.

He gave me additional reading assignments and I thoroughly enjoyed Thomas Jefferson, even Thucydides. As my last assignment, I was to write an essay about the Nebraska Unicameral as a political body of the people. He wanted me to draw upon what I had read and how those thinkers remained relevant. At our last session, he congratulated me for the superb effort. I beamed with satisfaction and so did he.

It seems like only yesterday that Professor Lewis said he had convinced the registrar that I was ready to be re-admitted to the university after taking only one course. I wanted to hug him, but did not. Instead we shook hands.

I hope he knew he was part of the reason I earned a doctorate and became an academic dean. I credit him when I talk with students who struggle as I once did. JGW Lewis was a professor who still guides my learning as a political junkie. You see our history goes on. v NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 27

PROFILE WINNER, SECOND PLACE 2015 Writing Contest Charlyne Berens retired in summer 2014 from the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications where she was a professor and associate dean. The author of several books – including “Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward,” “One House: The Unicameral’s Progressive Vision for Nebraska,” “Power to the People: Social Choice and the Populist/Progressive Ideal” and “Leaving Your Mark: The Political Career of Nebraska State Senator Jerome Warner” – Berens earned a Ph.D. in political science from UNL.

Paula Lavigne and Bob Ley report from ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” set in their Bristol, Connecticut, studios in June 2015. ESPN photo

Journalist Paula Lavigne

MAKING HER MARK AT ESPN

By Charlyne Berens, ’95, ’00

28 WINTER 2016

Jeff Zeleny remembers it as a logical decision: Send one of your best reporters into the Husker football lion’s den because “she was fearless.”

Paula Lavigne remembers it as terrifying, “but I grabbed my notebook, and I did it.”

It was fall 1995 when Zeleny, now a reporter at CNN, was editor of the Daily Nebraskan and Lavigne, a junior journalism major, was a reporter at the student paper. The DN had run two editorial cartoons critical of a couple of Husker football players, and, as a result, was banned from football practices and press conferences.

Zeleny believed the DN had as much right as any other news source to cover the Huskers. He looked around the newsroom, spotted Lavigne and told her to head on over to the stadium.

“And don’t let them kick you out.”

She went, she stayed and she got the story. And she learned The Dallas Morning News hired her in 2003 specifically to a lesson about how dogged reporting leads to good journalism. report investigative and data-driven stories. When she wanted She’s been applying that lesson ever since, in print, online and to move back to Nebraska in 2007, she joined The Des Moines on television. She has been an investigative reporter and data Register, doing similar work but based in Omaha. Now, with journalist at four newspapers. Since 2008, she’s done the same ESPN, she continues to work out of the Omaha home she shares job at ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.” with her husband and children, traveling as necessary to do inIt was at ESPN that she helped report what she called “the person interviews. perfect storm of stories,” following a tip about rampant highThe plunge into an all-sports medium hasn’t been as difficult stakes gambling on little league football in South Florida. as it may sound, Lavigne said. “I’ve always had a working No media had covered the story, and what “Outside the knowledge of sports,” and she’s learned more and learned it fast.

Lines” exposed was outrageous, Lavigne said. The ESPN team “It’s like covering any business; you just work to become an went to games to observe the betting, talked to former players, expert,” she said. to parents and coaches, and did undercover videos.

Of course, moving from print to television is a big shift, too, Two stories ran in 2011. When the sheriff’s department busted but Lavigne, editor of the Daily Nebraskan in 1997-98, said she a fake barbershop that was a front for the big-time gambling enjoys TV, both behind the scenes and when she’s on camera. operations, the ESPN team followed up with another story “There’s value in being able to condense your topic to something about the scandal. that’s visual and gets to the point,” she said. “Every journalist The stories made a difference. “From what we’ve heard, it should think that way.” really put the fear of God into people,” Lavigne said.

Dwayne Bray, who was an editor at the Dallas Morning News Then there was the story about stadium food, which Lavigne when Lavigne worked there and then hired her for ESPN, said refers to as “the gift that keeps on giving.” She analyzed data she is “an outstanding investigative reporter because she holds from every major sports venue in North America to see which power brokers accountable for their decisions. … She came to had the greatest number of food safety violations. The story, ESPN with print and digital experience but has worked hard to which aired in 2010, got a lot of attention. become a very good broadcast reporter as well.”

“Our crowning achievement,” Lavigne said, “was that the Lavigne said she brings the same skills to every story, no story about bad food at the stadiums actually made Jay Leno’s matter the medium: curiosity; questioning the status quo; being monologue on ‘The Tonight Show’.” persistent, dogged and aggressive; being willing to challenge her When a food safety whistleblower got fired, Lavigne covered own perceptions and assumptions. that, too. “People just ate that up,” she said, no pun intended.

CNN’s Zeleny may have seen all that when he threw her She still gets calls from people who look to her and “Outside the into the temporary face-off between the DN and the Huskers Lines” to dig into a side of sports that includes more than just in 1995. “Paula is now practicing her craft in a medium that scores and players and standings. combines all her skills,” he said. “She’s still pushing for answers, Zeleny may have inspired Lavigne to become a persistent, asking the smartest questions and doing original and important assertive reporter, but her classmate Matt Waite taught her the reporting. joys of data-driven journalism. Waite, now on the faculty at “I’m in awe of the journalist Paula has become, but I’m UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications, said certainly not surprised.” v he was absolutely obsessed by the developing field when he and Lavigne were reporters at the Daily Nebraskan.

“So anytime I’d come up with something, I’d be telling people, ‘You’ve got to see this’,” he said.

“Paula was victimized by that more than anyone else.”

Watching Waite produce a major data-driven piece on Lincoln’s Malone neighborhood sold Lavigne on the technique. “That was the first time I really ‘got’ the concept of data-driven journalism, what you could do with it,” she said.

She put her new digital skills to work at her first job at the St. Lavigne talked with attorney Tim Jansen in February 2015 Joseph (Missouri) News-Press and in Tallahassee, Florida, for a story on how the criminal then polished them to a shine at justice system treats athletes accused of crimes. Photo by The News-Tribune in Tacoma, Nicole Noren/ESPN Washington.

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 29

NOSTALGIA WINNER, SECOND place-Student Days 2015 Writing Contest Elvin Siebert has been a mental health therapist in Lincoln, Omaha and Iowa since 1966, and is now semi-retired in Omaha. In 2006, he was honored by Iowa colleagues as Social Worker of the Year. Highlights of his college years include working as an orderly at the campus health center and a YWCA voter registration trip to Greensboro, North Carolina, which he has written about here.

Upon receiving his master’s degree, he went to Atlanta to direct a teen-age work camp under the guidance of Martin Luther King Sr. One of his favorite teachers was Garnet Larson, his social work adviser, “who could inspire me with her knowledge and humor about human behavior.”

Students helped integrate a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the early 1960s. Google Images Photo.

1964: A Pivotal Year

By El Siebert, ’64, ’66

30 WINTER 2016

I was in my senior year as a social welfare major and studying to become a social worker/mental health professional. The Nebraska football team, under Bob Devaney’s leadership, had won the Big Eight Championship and gone on to win the Cotton Bowl. The previous year we had won the Big Eight Conference Championship and Orange Bowl. Just before these events President Kennedy had been assassinated. I was in the student union when this was announced. The Beatles were featured on the Ed Sullivan show. At the same time, an intense struggle for equal rights and voting rights was occurring in our Southern states, resulting in the Voting Rights Act.

One day as I was walking through the student union, I never reunited with, usually, their men folk. Many of these noticed a posting on the YWCA door. The posting asked for men died from untreated illnesses, poor living conditions, volunteers to take their spring break and register voters in malnourishment, beatings or being overworked.

Greensboro, North Carolina. Believing strongly in equal rights, I Reading was a requirement for voting and most blacks were inquired about it and signed up. Six other students did likewise. kept from learning to read by preventing them from attending Betty Gabehart, the YWCA employee, met with us to discuss the school. This eliminated many blacks from being able to vote. pros and cons of going. We made definite plans to go. The seven Since blacks outnumbered whites in many areas, their vote could of us, two males and five females, fit into two cars. change elections dramatically. After the Voting Rights Act, we It was a 14-hour trip and we arrived in Greensboro around 2 could read the application to them and help them full it out and a.m., tired. We didn’t know where North Carolina A&T College return it to the proper officials. Despite reassurances, some were was located and drove around looking for signs, but to no avail. apprehensive that voting might make them targets for retaliation We were deathly afraid to ask the police for assistance as we had in the community. heard they were not fond of Northerners coming to register One of the original sit-in students asked if I would be willing voters. Eventually we had no choice and flagged a policeman, to drive downtown and eat at a hamburger shop (I had a car). who politely led us to the college.

Four of us – two blacks and two whites – headed to the shop for Greensboro was the city where four black student males lunch. I remember parallel parking my car in front of the shop started the sit-ins at a Woolworth store in 1960. Upon arrival which was located on a busy street. We had discussed emergency at the college, one of these men was there to greet us. He plans if we encountered difficulties. We entered the shop and represented Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and was seated ourselves so that all angles were covered. We ignored organizing the voter registration project in Greensboro. He the stares. Fortunately, we were served and left after eating and recognized our weary condition and quickly showed us to our paying our bill and returned to the college. dorm rooms to bed down for the night.

As noted earlier, we met in a dimly lit basement each evening Morning came all too soon, but we were eager to get to discuss the day’s events. Each evening was ended by forming a started. After breakfast we began orientation to our immediate circle, holding hands and singing “we shall overcome someday.” surroundings and then to the voting procedures, rules and an This song still brings silent tears and left a vivid imprint on my overview of the black population that couldn’t vote in elections. heart. Yes we were in a tense situation, perhaps even dangerous, During the 10 days, we were educated by staff and community but it was for the right cause. people on the various aspects of the voting program by both We left Greensboro, enlightened, and returned to the black and white speakers. Early mornings and late evenings were University of Nebraska with a renewed vigor for racial equality, utilized for this purpose. We met in a dimly lit basement to limit justice and voting rights for all regardless of skin color. v exposing ourselves via windows and doors.

After orientation, we were assigned to designated areas to go house-tohouse registering people each day.

We always went in at least twos as a precaution against hecklers or worse. Upon arriving at a home, we needed to listen to their stories of planned segregation, inequality and physical and emotional abuse. We learned that after the emancipation, new requirements for voting were implemented.

Selective vagrancy laws were prosecuted by fines. Unable to pay off their fine, violators were contracted by employers for work. In addition, room and board, interest and medical expenses increased their fines. Many were never able to pay off these expenses and thus became cheap laborers who were desperately needed in the coal mines or cotton fields.

This is now known as peonage and was outlawed by President Franklin A group of African-American children gather around a sign D. Roosevelt in the 1940s. This and booth to register voters. Photo from Wikipedia. meant families were torn apart and

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 31

Living th

By Tom Nugent

Tyronn Jamar Lue struggled early.

Raised by a single mom in smalltown Missouri, he landed on the

campus of UNL in the fall of 1995. He was barely 18, and he was totally uncertain about his future.

But he also had a huge asset going for him.

He’d already taught himself (with the help of a few outstanding coaches) how to shoot a basketball with unerring accuracy.

After settling into his dorm room on the UNL campus, the wide-eyed youth from Mexico, Missouri, unpacked his bags and headed for the gym. What followed during the next 20 years was a classic American success story ... the story of an intensely single-minded young man who took advantage of a university scholarship and eventually became one of this country’s most accomplished professional athletes.

32 WINTER 2016

he Dream

Lue with Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Dave Blatt, during last year’s championship series. ESPN photo NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 33

I

t was an evening he would never forget.

The Huskers were going nose to nose with a powerful University of Virginia basketball team, and they were in deep trouble.

During a lackluster first half at the Special Events Arena in Honolulu (this was a key game in the 1997 Rainbow Classic), Tyronn Lue (pronounced as in “Loo”) and his University of Nebraska teammates had looked totally out of sync. Again and again, they had been forcing their shots and rushing through their offensive sets and fumbling away one scoring opportunity after the next.

It was just plain nasty. At the half-time break, the frustrated cagers from Lincoln trailed UVA 35-28, and the mood in the locker room was deeply somber.

Unless somebody stepped up and took command, the UNL club was headed for a stinging defeat.

And then it happened.

Less than a minute into the second frame, the Cornhusker point guard – a hard-charging six-footer with a heatseeking jump shot – suddenly caught fire. Like a beam of light racing along the surface of a shattered mirror, the darting round-ball wizard appeared to be everywhere at once.

“

36 points (24 of them in the second half ), and the Huskers had won the ballgame by 15 points, 80-65.

Amazing? Count on it. As the final stat sheet made clear, Lue had connected on 12 of 19 shots from the floor and converted 11 of 12 free throw opportunities (while also dishing out 7 assists). In the process, he’d singlehandedly dragged his team to a rousing victory. It was destined to be the highestscoring single game in Lue’s college career ... and it left very little doubt that he belonged in the NU Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was inducted in 2013 – and you’ll find his red-and-white No. 10 jersey there today ... along with the jerseys of such other UNL All-America and All-Conference luminaries as Herschell Turner (1959), Carl McPipe (1978), Dave Hoppen (1986) and Erick Strickland (1996).

A winner! Ask the soft-spoken and usually low-key Tyronn Lue – who then went on to an outstanding 11-year professional career in which he helped the Los Angeles Lakers win two NBA championships (2000, 2001) – if he remembers Honolulu, and he’ll light up brighter than Madison Square Garden for a night game.

UNL gave me everything I could have ever asked for. They gave me the fan support, the academic support, the coaching support – they had my back, 100 percent.”

Photos courtesy Nebraska Communications Office

34 WINTER 2016

Now Lue dribbles into the corner, goes left, a spin move, as he shakes-and-bakes toward the foul line ... and now he puts up a running one-hander – he scores!

Lue dishes off, give and go, now he gets the ball back – pulls up, lets fly – bingo, he hit it again!

He went on like that for nearly 20 minutes ... during a dazzling performance that left the Honolulu crowd of more than 10,000 roaring in their seats and leaping to their feet at times to salute what turned out to be one of the greatest performances in the history of the Rainbow Classic.

When the horn finally sounded, the cat-quick point guard had knocked down

“Sure, I remember it very well,” said the 38-year-old All-America Honorable Mention (1998) the other day in Cleveland, where he now serves as associate head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers. “That game was pretty special, for several reasons. That was the most points I ever scored in a game at Nebraska – and when it happened, the great [basketball legend] Jerry West was sitting at courtside.

“He was sitting with some other NBA scouts, right under the basket, and when I made a shot at one point, I looked over there and he gave me the thumbs up.

And that was one of the biggest moments of my entire life.”

It was also the start of an 11-year run (1998-2009) as a quicker-than-light ball-handler for half a dozen teams in the National Basketball Association ... followed by a six-year assistant-coaching career in which the hardwood-savvy floor leader has gained a glittering national reputation as both a canny strategist and an astute manager of the volatile personalities and jumbo-sized egos that dominate the world of pro basketball today.

Example: As a high-ranking member of the Cleveland Cavaliers brain trust (under the famously cerebral CC head coach David Blatt), Associate Coach Lue is charged with the daily task of helping to manage the legendary LeBron James – arguably the most skilled basketball player in this history of the sport ... and also a mercurial and sometimes controversial figure who’s capable of blowing his very large top at the slightest provocation.

Mention LeBron’s name, however, and the calmly laid-back Lue will send you a smile of perfect equanimity ... while readily admitting that “coaching in the NBA is all about managing personalities and egos, definitely.”

Then, with a thoughtful frown: “It’s about managing personalities more than about Xs and Os.” But then the supremely diplomatic Lue goes on to point out that LeBron James isn’t really the kind of fullcourt enfant terrible that he’s often made out to be. “A lot of people don’t realize it,” he said carefully, “but LeBron is actually very down to earth and very open-minded. He respects everyone, from the players to the janitor.

“It’s true that he’s a largerthan-life figure. But I’m used to playing with and coaching these kinds of superstars. I’ve spent a lot of time around guys like [mega-star scorer] Michael Jordan and Shaq [legendary allstar center Shaquille O’Neal] ... and they all have that same kind of presence.

“When they walk into a room, the room brightens up.

But in the end they’re just people like everybody else, and coaching them is all about maintaining respect and honesty on both sides of the relationship. And the same is true of LeBron. He does a great job of respecting my knowledge of the game and my position as the associate head coach.”

Of course, LeBron James isn’t the only NBA mover-and-shaker who greatly admires and respects Tyronn Lue for his coaching prowess.

These days, in fact, the high-flying Lue is reportedly so much in demand as a coach that he’s currently enjoying the benefits of a $6 million, multi-year contract – and seems certain to become a head coach within the next few years.

Listening to Lue discuss the social aspects of pro coaching the other day in Cleveland (the discussion took place during a morning “shoot-around” practice before that night’s game against the New York Knicks), it was easy to remember that he’d majored in sociology during his three years (1995-98) as an undergraduate at UNL.

“

A lot of people don’t realize it, but LeBron is actually very down to earth and very open-minded. He respects everyone, from the players to the janitor.”

Lue on coaching Lebron James

ESPN photo

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 35

‘No Dream Could Be Better’ Than Tyronn Lue’s Life Today Whenever Ty Lue looks back on his three years at UNL, one name in particular comes floating back to him.

Dennis Leblanc.

“Dennis was my academic adviser [supplied by the UNL Athletic Department],” said the two-time NBA champ, “and I owe him a great deal.

Playing intercollegiate basketball while studying for a degree isn’t easy, and I went through some tough stretches where I was missing class a little bit.

“But Dennis stayed on me. He would call my room, call the dorm ... and he’d even meet me at my classes sometimes to make sure I got there. He was truly dedicated and he cared a lot about all the athletes he was advising.”

Remembering Leblanc, who’s now the senior associate athletics director for academics at UNL, Lue recalled how the hawk-like adviser would even “schedule extra study hall sessions for me, things like that.”

“He was terrific. He kept telling me: ‘Just remember, Ty – everybody doesn’t make it to the NBA. You have a great shot, but any kind of injury might be enough to keep you from playing professionally. You need to get that degree – and you need to get to class.’”

Known campus-wide as a polite and courteous young man who didn’t smoke

ESPN photo

36 WINTER 2016

or drink, Lue was dedicated to perfecting his jump shot while also doing his best to keep up his GPA. And he was smart enough to listen to the endlessly insistent Dennis Leblanc.

“He helped me to see how important getting an education really is,” said the Cavs associate head coach today, “and his lessons sank in. Although I left UNL after my junior year [he was NBAdrafted by the Denver Nuggets in the first round in 1998], I later went back and finished up my sociology degree online. Getting my BA was just about the hardest thing I ever did – and I’m very glad today that I got it done.”

But the story isn’t over yet.

Only two years ago, during ceremonies in which he was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame, Lue was able to meet up once again with Dennis Leblanc and to thank him in person for his efforts back in the late 1990s. “Dennis taught me a lot about growing up,” he explained, “and about responsibility and about being a professional – and I am very grateful for that.

“Really, UNL gave me everything I could have ever asked for. They gave me the fan support, the academic support, the coaching support – they had my back, 100 percent.

“I really want to get back to Lincoln more often, so that I can keep thanking all the Husker fans and all the Husker alumni for all the love and support they’ve given me over the years.”

He paused for a moment then and took a long, hard look out at the practice floor ... where LeBron James and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers were “shooting around” in preparation for that night’s game against the Knicks.

“I was talking to LeBron just the other day,” he said. (The two are close personal friends.) “And I told him, ‘LeBron, coming from where I came from – Mexico, Missouri – well, the life I’ve had since I headed off to Nebraska is more than a dream.’

“Truly, I couldn’t dream the life I’ve had, even if I tried. Playing 11 years in the NBA, and the great players I’ve been able to play with, and the great coaches I’ve played for, and winning two different NBA championships... .

“No dream could be any better than my life is today.” v

If you want to beat the Knicks, You have to stop Carmelo Anthony Wednesday morning, 11:15.

Tyronn Lue, the Nebraska Hall of Famer, has just been asked a difficult question.

What will you have to do in order to beat the New York Knicks tonight?

Lue doesn’t hesitate.

“We’re gonna have to stop Carmelo Anthony,” said the 11-year NBA point guard, who’s now in his second year as associate head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers. “But Carmelo is a great basketball player. He’s capable of scoring 50 points on any given night – so we are going to be challenged.”

The problem with Anthony, said Lue, is that he can erupt suddenly at any point in a game ... and then take off like a runaway Roman candle. Bang, bang, bang – in the space of four or five minutes, he’s knocked down 15 points and he’s buried you.

(Example: on a January evening in 2014, Anthony drilled home 62 points against the Charlotte Bobcats – the most points ever scored in a single NBA game at Madison Square Garden.)

Okay, Ty, so how are you going to shut him down?

The former cat-quick point guard frowns for a moment, then snaps: “Five men!”

Pardon?

“Five men. One man can’t do it alone.”

Translation: the Cavaliers – led, of course, by their superstar phenomenon, the mighty LeBron James – are going to employ a “sagging” defense ... a fluid, endlessly shifting combination of zone and man-for-man coverages that will be designed to knock the great Carmelo off his stride.

Upset his rhythm.

Force him to take hurried, difficult shots.

“Our whole team will have to stop him,” said Lue. “This is gonna be a test.”

The Beginning Showtime!

It’s two minutes after eight, now, and

for the 20,562 Cavalier fans who have shoehorned themselves into Cleveland’s downtown Quicken Arena (aka “The Q”) for tonight’s game against the powerful New York Knickerbockers, the moment of truth has finally arrived.

Silence for a moment ... two moments ... and then all at once the giant loudspeakers come alive.

CAVALIER FANS, ARE YOU READY? They roar.

ARE YOU READY? They howl like a single, voracious animal just released from its iron cage.

On the monster-sized Jumbotron screens perched high atop The Q, LeBron James has just vaulted skyward, bellowing with rage and then slamming the ball through the net.

IT’S GAME TIME! At that same moment, three enormous metal horns bolted to the Jumbotrons suddenly jet raging tongues of fire – tenfoot tongues of boiling luminescence!

Unreal. A carnival of whirling lights and thunderous fire! And now the Cavs are lining up for the tip-off... .

The enormous assemblage leans forward on its padded seats. This is it – the moment of truth.

Now the referee tosses the ball into the blazing overhead lights ... and the huge crowd exhales as one.

The ball reaches its apogee, then drops toward the straining giants on the hardwood floor.

The Middle The Knicks come out of the gate first.

Looking poised and confident, they seem to be scoring at will. Six minutes into the game, they’re up 15-9, and the Cavs seem out of sync. By the end of the first quarter, that lead has grown to 15 points – and the visiting Knicks are shooting a red-hot 62 percent.

Tyronn Lue doesn’t like it.

A lean, tense-looking figure clad in an elegantly tailored, midnight-blue suit and a neatly striped tie, he sits hunched over on the bench, scowling and frown-

ing and occasionally muttering in the direction of the two coaches who flank him.

During timeouts he drifts from one player to the next, reminding them of the pregame strategy – the sagging defense, the emphasis on providing extra help whenever Carmelo touches the ball.

But things don’t look good. At the halftime break, the Knicks are up 46-38.

Anthony is scoring from time to time, but not excessively – at the break, he has only seven points – a good sign.

The End By the middle of the third quarter, the relentless sagging defense is starting to take a toll on the Knicks. Again and again, they’re being forced to take more difficult shots than they want. Again and again, those shots are bounding off the rim – near misses. Slowly, inexorably, their shooting percentage is declining.

Meanwhile, the great LeBron is beginning to hit his stride. En route to scoring 23 points tonight, he begins to dominate the Knick boards. After a key steal, he rockets down the court and jams home a slam that echoes all the way up to the 47th row.

With only 51 seconds left in the third quarter, the Cavs take their first lead, at 70-69. And then they take off in earnest, completely dominating the final frame. While Tyronn Lue pumps his fist and claps on the bench, the Cleveland basketballers swamp the Knicks in an offensive tidal wave.

The final is 96-86 – and although Carmelo Anthony leads the Knick scorers, he nails down only 17 (on 6 for 18 from the floor), which isn’t nearly enough to carry his club to victory. By the end of the game, the Knicks are shooting only 39 percent.

Tyronn Lue is grinning big, as he congratulates the victorious Cavs and then hustles along with them toward the home team’s locker room.

On this night, the strategy has worked.

Five men! n NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 37

New YAA Class Introduced The NAA’s newest Young Alumni Academy class has 39 members who are now getting a behind-the-scenes look at Nebraska’s progress over the past decade plus the exciting growth ahead.

YAA kicked off the year with an orientation session and meeting with Chancellor Harvey Perlman in October; a look at IANR, the East Campus Wellness Center and the PGA Golf Management Program in November; and student networking and a visit to athletics in December.

The schedule for the rest of the year includes: • Jan. 14:

Nebraska Museum/Planetarium

• Feb. 11:

Research and Economic Development

• March 3:

Nebraska Innovation Campus

• April 14:

Campus Recreation

• May (TBA): End of Year Celebration Event Members of the Young Alumni Academy class of 2015-16 with class year and current city of residence are: Michael Berry, ’09, Lincoln; Andrea Berry, ’07, ’10, Lincoln; Marilyn Buresh, ’13, Lincoln; Wade Burkholder, ’14, Omaha; Mark

38 WINTER 2016

Carney, ’14, Chicago; Audrey Clauson, ’13, Omaha; Brian Coburn, ’11, Omaha; Lindsey Diez, ’11, Omaha; Sarah Garbers, ’14, Lincoln; Jennifer Gjerde, ’10, Lincoln; Abigail Goranson, ’14, Omaha; Ashlie Hadden, ’09, Lincoln; Benjamin Herbers, ’09, ’14, Omaha; Alec Ibach, ’14, Norfolk; Kelly Jefferson, ’13, Omaha; April Kalinski, ’14, Lincoln; Nicholas Kintzle, ’05, Omaha; Jill Lander, ’11, Lincoln; John Lange, ’10, Lincoln; Lindsey Langemeier, ’10, Lincoln; Kathleen McAdams, ’09, Kearney; Nancy McEvoy, ’07, Bennington; Denni Mitchell, ’13, ’15, Lincoln; Kathryn Moore, ’12, ’15, Lincoln; Ashley Mueller, ’07, Fremont; Joel Orozco-Almeida, ’15, Lincoln; Michael Ostdiek, ’05, Lincoln; Kailey Parr, ’14, Omaha; Thomas Peters, ’12, Lincoln; Kimberly Pieper, ’12, Omaha; Anna Pressler, ’05, ’13, Lincoln; Jacob Schlange, ’12, Lincoln; Ty Schurr, ’13, Wood River; Ashley Stone, ’14, Lincoln; Jessica Tok, ’05, ’08, ’09, Lincoln; Christopher Trabold, ’09, Lincoln; Ian Vosburg, ’13, Lincoln; Carly Wegner, ’12, Wahoo; Jordan Wilson, ’13; Lincoln. v

NEWS

NEWS

NWLN Conference ‘Indispensable,’ Spring Event Set The Nebraska Women’s Leadership Network gathered in Lincoln Oct. 22-23 for their fall conference. “How to Make Yourself Indispensable” is this year’s theme. Students and alumnae discussed how to play their individual strengths and leverage their networks to demonstrate indispensability in their personal and professional lives.

Beth Tully, founder of Cocoa Dolce Artisan Chocolates, was the featured keynote speaker Thursday evening, and

Friday was dedicated to learning about and discussing members’ Gallup Entrepreneurial Strengths.

NWLN accepts applications for new members year-round CONNECTION BOX and hopes you’ll join them for huskeralum.org/nwln the 2016 Spring Conference shaskell@huskeralum.org in Lincoln March 10-11. v

Emily and Jane Join the Alumni Staff Emily Anderson has joined the Nebraska Alumni Association staff as assistant director of business and alumni relations. A 2015 graduate of the NU College of Law and native of Ketchikan, Alaska, she also holds a bachelor’s degree from UNL (2010) in English. Anderson formerly was Emily Anderson a law clerk at Camplin/Kirk Law Offices in Lincoln. At the alumni association, she develops and manages advertising, sponsorship and royalty relationships and oversees the NAA donor societies/programs and membership in the Nebraska Alumni Association. Anderson

replaces Andrew Greer who is now assistant director of development and ticketing relations for the Nebraska Athletic Development Department.

Jane Epley, a 1977 graduate of the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications, has joined the staff as a program assistant, Jane Epley working with various association activities. A native of Holdrege, she has worked as an independent writing and editing professional and a marketing consultant for Epic Athletic Performance. She and her husband, Boyd, have a son, a daughter, and two grandchildren. v

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 39

NEWS

Fall Event Recap

Fans crowded the Holling Garden at the Wick Alumni Center on Football Friday Sept. 26 to view the homecoming parade.

Alumni of the Husker Swimming and Diving Program returned to Lincoln Oct. 23-24 for a reunion. The event featured a “Cal-ebration” and reception at the Nebraska Union honoring former coach Cal Benz and his wife, Cara, pictured here with Husker swimming alum Mark Nieuwenhuis, ’92, who traveled from Florida for the event.

40 WINTER 2016

NEWS Scarlet Guard’s October bubble soccer event, held south of the Kauffman Center Oct. 29, drew spirited competitors.

NAA Executive Director Shelley Zaborowski (right) presented UNL class rings to the 2015 homecoming king and queen – Tommy Olson of Julesburg, Colorado, and Maggie Schneider of Aurora – at the halftime of the football game with Southern Mississippi Sept. 26.

Senior Jonathan Berger, a mechanical engineering major from Omaha, grabbed the attention of the judges and the crowd as he earned the title of UNL’s Biggest Fan at the 2015 Jester Competition held on the Union Plaza the day before the homecoming football game.

Alumni joined us on a tour to the Rutgers game with accommodations in New York City before and after the game. The Nebraska Alumni Association also offered athletic tours to the NU/Miami and NU/Minnesota football games on the road last fall.

The alumni association hosted “Life After UNL: Your Story Continues” at the Wick Alumni Center, Nov. 16. Planned

by UNL Career Services, OASIS, Students of Color Career Advisory Committee and the Multicultural Business Students Association, the event featured six inspirational alumni of color speakers, including Marcy Gilbert who discussed “First Generation Motivation” with the students in attendance.

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 41

NEWS

Sporting their medallions, 2015 Alumni Masters are (left to right): Al Kurtenbach, Bob Cullinan, Kim Austen, Erleen Hatfield, Laura Schulte, Verne Holoubek and Garth Johnson.

Alumni Masters Return to Lincoln Alumni Masters Week, a program sponsored by the Nebraska Alumni Association, Scarlet Guard and the Chancellor’s Office, brought seven outstanding alumni back to campus in November to meet with students in classrooms and at receptions and meals.

This year’s Alumni Masters included: W. Kim Austen, ’77 W. Kim Austen is president and chief operating officer (retired) at Nationwide. He led the former Allied

Group, which included responsibility for Nationwide’s Allied Insurance, Scottsdale Insurance, Harleysville Insurance, Nationwide Agribusiness, and Titan Insurance business units.

Austen serves on the board of directors of the United Way of Central Iowa and the Grand View University Board of Trustees. He received a B.S. degree in mathematics from UNL in 1977, and holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter designation. A native of Fairbury, Nebraska, he was hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Bob Cullinan, ’77 Bob Cullinan has built a 40+ year career in nearly every facet of communications. After sportscasting stints in Omaha, Denver and California, he launched a career as a media and public relations consultant in 1989. A passion for cycling led to another career change in 2006, when

42 WINTER 2016

he began working as a reporter and photographer at major bike racing events around the world. In April 2013 while biking, Cullinan was the victim of a hit-and-run crash near his home in Marin County, California. After a long recuperation, he’s back biking, and plotting his next move in the media.

The 1977 UNL broadcast journalism grad was hosted by the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

the sale of Holoubek Inc. in 2005.

Today the environmentalist and his spouse, Terri, operate a 400-acre farm, 90 percent powered by solar energy.

He is president of the Terri and Verne Holoubek Family Foundation, funding children’s health and education. A 1967 UNL graduate, he was hosted by the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Erleen Hatfield, ’91, ’96 Erleen Hatfield is a partner of Buro Happold, a global multi-disciplinary engineering consulting firm, and is based in New York. She sits on many national industry committees and co-chairs the American Institute of Architects New York City Technology Committee. Among her notable projects are the World Trade Center Memorial Museum, the Atlanta Falcons new retractable roof stadium, Yale University’s School of Management, Lincoln’s Pinnacle Bank Arena and the Abu Dhabi Media Zone. Hatfield teaches graduate architecture classes at Yale University and lectures at Pratt University. A Lincoln native and 1991 and 1996 UNL graduate, she was hosted by the College of Architecture.

Verne Holoubek, ’67 Verne Holoubek, founder of Holoubek Studios, began the business as a street artist, earning money for college.

As a college senior he created the iron-on heat-transfer and became an industry legend, with many of his T-shirts considered collectibles.

His enterprise became a full-scale garment production plant in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, with Holoubek as CEO until

Garth Johnson, ’97 Garth Johnson is curator of ceramics at the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe. He previously served as the curator of artistic programs at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and spent seven years as a professor at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California. Johnson, a 1997 UNL graduate, is a self-described craft activist who explores craft’s influence and relevance in the 21st century. He

is leading a task force for a publication that will anthologize contributions to the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Journal for their 50th Anniversary in 2016.

The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts hosted his visit.

Manufacturers.

He and his wife, Irene, live in the Sioux River Valley south of Brookings, South Dakota, where he is a conservationist and

NEWS

develops wildlife habitat. Kurtenbach received a master of science in electrical engineering from UNL in 1962 and was hosted by the College of Engineering.

Laura A. Schulte, ’81 Laura Schulte has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, leading the largest banking divisions for Wells Fargo & Company.

She currently serves as an executive management business adviser and consultant for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and also for Grubb Properties Inc., a major commercial real estate developer in the southern United States. Schulte has been named one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking and one of the Top 25 Women to Watch in Banking. A 1981 accounting graduate of UNL, she was hosted by the College of Business Administration. v

Al Kurtenbach, ’62 Al Kurtenbach is cofounder of Daktronics Inc. and recently retired after 45 years as chairman of its board of directors. Twice named South Dakota’s Small Businessman of the Year, he currently serves on the boards of the South Dakota Enterprise Institute, the Growth Partnership and the National Association of NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 43

ALUMNI

CHAPTERS & AFFILIATES

Among chapter leaders attending the CORNYs were (standing left to right): Mica Zaragoza, Chicagoans for Nebraska; Emily Fay, Nashville Huskers; Kelli Donnelly and Jason Dunn, NYC Huskers; Valerie Bosselmann and Norris Jesse, Huskers of San Antonio; (kneeling left to right): Eric and Cheryl Steele, Huskers of San Antonio.

CORNYs Winners Announced Ten chapters and one affiliate won awards at the 2015 Volunteer Leadership Conference in Lincoln in September. The Huskers of San Antonio were named Newcomer of the Year, and the Hoosiers for Huskers garnered the Chapter/Affiliate of the Year Award.

Awards of Excellence in Leadership, Membership, Programming,

Communications and Scholarship went to the following chapters and affiliate: • Leadership – Nashville Huskers (small group); NYC Huskers (large

group) • Membership – Kansas Cornhusker Club (small group); UNL ROTC &

Military Affiliate (large group)

• Programming – Upstate New

Yorkers for Nebraska (small

Join Alumni For Husker Baseball in San Diego The Nebraska Alumni Association will host an event prior to a Husker baseball game in San Diego in February.

Nebraska plays four games in the Tony Gwynn Memorial Tournament at the University of San Diego’s Fowler Park, Feb. 26-28. The Huskers play San Diego on Feb. 26 and 27. Other teams in the tournament include Arizona and Tulane. With a doubleheader scheduled for the 27th, the association will most likely hold an event at the stadium that Saturday. We encourage you to check huskeralum.org for event details as they become available. v

44 WINTER 2016

group); NYC Huskers (large group) • Communications – Las Vegas Nebraskans (small group); Gateway Huskers of St. Louis (large group) • Scholarship – South Dakotans for Nebraska (small group); Washington Cornhuskers (large

group) v

ROTC Affiliate Spring Banquet Set The ROTC and Military Affiliate will host a spring banquet on Thursday, April 14 to honor the graduating and soon-to-be-commissioned cadets and midshipmen, and to present scholarships to three undergrads.

Event registration is required and will open in February at huskeralum. org/rotc. On the afternoon of April 14, alumni also are invited to attend the Joint Service Chancellor’s Review. v

ALUMNI

CHAPTERS & AFFILIATES Hoosiers Enjoy Taste of Nebraska More than 80 Nebraska alumni and fans attended the fifth annual Hoosiers for Huskers Taste of Nebraska Aug. 29, 2015, with all attendees turning in chapter membership renewals or becoming new members.

Dick and Sue Tempero once again graciously hosted the event at their home, serving the traditional Runzas, Fairbury hot dogs and hamburgers with Misty’s seasoning salt. Dick, a 2015 Nebraska Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award recipient (Sue won it in 2003), was guest speaker and talked about the couple’s unfaltering support for the University of Nebraska.

The chapter’s first scholarship recipient, Katie Mellott, was recognized as well after graduating from UNL in May 2015. She gained full time employment in media advertising in

A record number of Nebraska fans and friends attended the Hoosiers for Huskers Taste of Nebraska in August.

Omaha. Her talents are apparent in the Hoosiers for Huskers logo and stadium banner.

While Taste of Nebraska ushers in the football season, the chapter also held eight events from January to August. Several members also attended the Big Ten Happy Hour, interacting with other Big Ten alumni associations.

Football watch parties continued at The Fox and the Hound, in a room permanently decorated with Nebraska gear and filled with 50+ Cornhusker fans on game days. The Fox and the Hound also is premier sponsor of the Annual Hoosiers for Huskers Golf

Outing, with the 2015 event netting more than $650 for the chapter scholarship.

To date, the chapter has more than 322 Facebook friends (a 50-member increase over a year ago), and a large email distribution list. The chapter continues to keep Nebraska traditions alive in part by growing both in membership and charitable contributions locally. Chapter officers are encouraging the addition of a volunteer project and/or participating on the Day of Service (April 2016), a university recognized and supported effort. v

On Oct. 24, 2015, Ed D’Ottavio, owner of Stout, the official watch party location of the South Florida Huskers, presented a $500 check to the South Florida Huskers scholarship fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation. Joining him and adding their own checks to bring the total to $2,230 are (left to right): Connie and Gary Gilbert, Rob Klostermeyer, Courtney Urbanek, D’Ottavio, Mike Zaidman, NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 45 Peggy Johannsen, Diana Centorino and Greg Bean. (Not shown: Annette Atha.)

CLASSNOTES 1940

George J. David of Fort Collins, Colorado, celebrated his 101st birthday Oct. 7, 2015.

■

1943

n Marjorie Neill discussed her

time as a member with the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, United States Navy) with the Lincoln Journal Star in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

News/Weddings/Births/Deaths

Royce F. Rexilius of Lincoln marked his 90th birthday on Oct. 31, 2015. n Don Sjogren, a retired farmer

living in Holdrege, has made a $1 million donation to the local YMCA, which will be renamed the Don Sjogren Community YMCA.

■ Arlene Kostal Cornelius of Columbus, Ohio, marked her 90th birthday Nov. 20, 2015.

Ruth White, along with her late husband, Russell, were the recipients of the 2015 Lincoln High School Special Recognition Award, which recognizes exemplary and distinguished contributions, leadership and/ or service by a member of the Lincoln High family in support of LHS athletics.

1949

1955

1948

n Duane and Irene Larson

of Lincoln celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary in September 2015. Mr. Larson noted his 90th birthday on Sept. 27 as well.

1950

Wayne Nielsen of Lincoln noted his 90th birthday Sept. 9, 2015.

Loran and Rene Schmit of Bellwood celebrated 65 years of marriage Aug. 5, 2015.

1951

■ Don and ■ Marilyn Petersen Gillen were honored at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Belleville, Illinois, with a special blessing and reception Sept. 20, 2015, on the occasion of their 65th wedding anniversary. A graduate of the NU Medical Center, Don Gillen is a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force and a retired publisher of the York (Nebraska) News-Times.

1953

Bob Kroenke shared stories of his service in the U.S. Navy with third- and fourth-graders at Washington Elementary School in Fremont on Veterans Day 2015.

Wayne Kaeding of Lincoln turned 95 on Sept. 14, 2015.

1956

CORRECTION: n Andrew C. “Skip” Hove Jr., Lincoln, was appointed chairman of the board of directors for Great Western Bank. Hove is former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

1957

n Jim O’Hanlon has retired from

the University of Nebraska-Lincoln after 50 years of service in various roles.

Jan Studnicka of Lincoln observed her 80th birthday in September 2015.

1959

John T. Harris Jr. of Lincoln was selected the 2015 McCook Heritage Days Parade Grand Marshal. Harris was a longtime businessman in McCook.

ing named in his honor at a ceremony in October 2015.

Wetzel serves as chancellor of the seminary and teaches at Milligan College on a part-time basis.

1963

Cloyd Clark, a retired judge living in McCook, was a 2015 McCook Heritage Days Parade Marshal.

1962

Lloyd and Rita Fiala of Lincoln celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary July 26.

1966

n Boyd and Betty Bydalek

Leonhardt of Kansas City, Missouri, celebrated 50 years of marriage August 28, 2015.

■

International Minute Press after 29 years. He also resigned as co-chair of BRAN (Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska), having served in that role for 25 years. Jalass and his wife, Eunice, enjoy traveling and visiting their grandson in Kansas City.

1972

Stanley and Carolyn Borcher of Sterling noted 50 years of marriage Sept. 18, 2015.

1968

■ Harvey

Schwartz of Lincoln has retired from Rixstine Recognition, a provider of awards and promotional items.

1969

Faith Colburn, a North Platte author of two memoirs, spoke at the December 2015 Brown Bag program at the North Platte Public Library. In addition to the memoirs, Colburn wrote a centennial history of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

1970

1971

■ 46Indicates WINTERAlumni 2016 Association Life Member

n Fred Jalass of Omaha, sold

1967

1962

C. Robert Wetzel, Johnson City, Tennessee, former president of Emmanuel Christian Seminary (1994-2009), had the terrace adjacent to the B.D. Phillips Memorial Build-

ha, retired from the Centris Federal Credit Union after 41 years, starting as a teller and advancing to management and senior systems analyst.

Darlene Rehm of Lincoln turned 90 on Oct. 29, 2015.

Arlington, Texas, noted their 50th wedding anniversary June 5, 2015.

■

n Eunice Gleeson Jalass, Oma-

Larry and Mary Ann Pieper Swanson of Lincoln marked their golden (50th) wedding anniversary Sept. 3, 2015.

Larry Sitzman of Lincoln has retired after serving eight years as the executive director of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association.

n Kent and Alda Walton of

Dan and Jeanne Cuda of Lincoln celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in September 2015.

Kelley Baker has been added to the Lincoln law firm Perry, Guthery, Haase & Gessford in the role of counsel to the firm.

Indicates Alumni Association Annual Member

Robert C. Ripley was the 2015 recipient of the Harry F. Cunningham Gold Medal for Architectural Excellence in the State of Nebraska. Ripley is the Nebraska Capitol administrator of the Office of the Capitol Commission.

1973

Lowell Erickson of Seward marked his 80th birthday April 25, 2015.

1974

Eric A. Evans, Lincoln, has been named chief executive officer of Disability Rights Nebraska, a statewide advocacy organization.

Alan Hansen has retired after 30 years of service at the Ceresco Post Office.

Merlyn and Donna Saathoff of Sterling noted their 60th wedding anniversary Oct. 9, 2015.

1975

Judy Hart directed two plays at the Studio Theatre at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in July 2015. The plays were part of “First Flight,” eight short works written by Nebraskans.

BY COLLEEN KENNEY FLEISCHER, ’88

Alumni Profile 1905

A Scholarship of Courage and Commitment John Davidson Clark John Davidson Clark first walked the halls of the University of Nebraska more than a hundred years ago.

He studied in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (now the UNL College of Arts and Sciences).

He played basketball on the freshman team, one so good that it reigned as all-class champs in 1902. He rose to editor of the Daily Nebraskan. He joined a frat.

One night at a sorority dance, he met a young woman named Joyce Broady. She was very pretty and smart, a bit standoff-ish. They connected right away. He told his parents he’d just met the girl of his dreams, and he wrote this limerick to go with her photo in the 1906 yearbook: This sweet little maiden named Joyce Is cut out for masculine choice; But the sound of her laugh, Cut in two by just half, Would make a man’s hard heart rejoice.

While he finished his degree, he went on to law school at Columbia University. They married in 1908 and moved to his hometown of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and started their family.

He rose to a big career in law and banking and eventually became vice president of Standard Oil. He served in the Wyoming Legislature.

He and Joyce never forgot their alma mater. In 1928, they endowed a $2,000 scholarship in memory of Joyce’s father, Jefferson H. Broady, who had been a district court judge in Nebraska.

Then at the peak of John Davidson Clark’s career – he wasn’t even 45

yet – he probably surprised a lot of people by deciding to give up his career and give back to the world in a different way.

He wanted to teach.

He enrolled in grad school at Johns Hopkins University and earned a Ph.D. in political economics in 1931 and then taught at the University of Denver and the University of Nebraska. In 1941, he became the second dean of UNL’s College of Business Administration.

He loved being dean. He was good at it, too, and brought to his students his worldly experience.

His office was beyond the tall columns of the CBA building, up the stairs on the second floor, and that was where he took a phone call one day in 1946 from the president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, who asked him to move to Washington, D.C., and serve on his newly created Council of Economic Advisers – a Cabinet-level post.

John Davidson Clark went home and asked his wife what they should do.

They decided to go, leaving the University of Nebraska – the place they loved, and where they fell in love – for good.

John Davidson Clark left the world in 1961. His black-and-white photo hangs on the wall of a hall inside the CBA building, along with photos of the other deans.

His legacy lives on in his service to his country and his home state of Wyoming and to the University of Nebraska. It lives on in what he and Joyce did for all of the students who’ve received the scholarship they created long ago.

And his legacy lives on in his family.

John Davidson Clark

He and Joyce had three sons; one of the sons had a daughter; the daughter had a daughter. Her name is Gwinneth Berexa.

One recent day, Berexa walked the halls of the University of Nebraska for the first time, searching for information about a great man – her greatgrandfather.

She opened old yearbooks. She read the poem he wrote for his sweet girl.

She followed the paths they must have walked as they talked and fell in love.

She toured her great-grandmother’s sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta.

At Love Library, she found old photos and newspaper clippings. She hadn’t known he played basketball.

She looked up at the photo of him on the wall of the hall of the CBA building and smiled.

They have the same chin.

“I have been literally walking in his footsteps,” she said, “and I didn’t even know the man. I started this adventure, this journey, to learn more about him. For me, it’s been so great because suddenly, I don’t feel like this piece of information is missing anymore. It makes perfect sense to me now.

“This gives me a frame for my life – who I am.”

She had done some research on her great-grandfather before coming to Nebraska. She’d traveled to a cousin’s house in Virginia, and she’d read his writings from the time he was on

Continued on Page 48 NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 47

CLASSNOTES COURAGE AND COMMITMENT Continued from Page 47 Truman’s board. She realized her greatgrandfather’s political views were like hers, conservative – even though the rest of her family is so very liberal.

She chuckled.

“I had thought maybe Martians had dropped me off at my house by accident. Now it makes sense, the more I get to know him.”

She realized that, like her, John Davidson Clark was extremely methodical about things.

She was born in South America, in Colombia. She went to private schools in the United States as a kid and then on to Columbia University to study sociology. She retired last fall, after a career in banking, finance and consulting that took her around the world.

Like her great-grandfather, she has reached a point in her mid-life when she’s looking for a different way to give back to the world. She plans to go to Costa Rica as a volunteer to teach math to young girls.

And, like her great-grandparents, she also is giving back to the University of Nebraska: She’s endowed a fund in his name for UNL students in his old college, Arts and Sciences.

She named her fund “The John D. Clark Courage and Commitment Fund.”

“I named the fund the ‘Courage CONNECTION BOX and Commitment’ nufoundation.org/donate? because it’s about the fundid=01134410 principle of integrity,” she said, “and doing something you know is important to do, just like it hit my great-grandfather at age 44 when he left Standard Oil to go back to school and teach.

“That takes courage and commitment.”

Someone at the university pointed out to her that the amount she gave is exactly the same amount, by today’s standards, as the scholarship fund her greatgrandparents had endowed so many years ago.

That brought tears to her eyes.

Her time in Lincoln, she said, made her see something new in herself – yet another thing she has in common with great-grandfather: A love for Nebraska and its great university.

“I can sort of imagine what it was like while he was here. I can suddenly understand what he loved about this place – and he loved this place.

“He would not have left if he had not had that call from President Truman.”

48 WINTER 2016

CORRECTION: n Tom Henning was appointed to the board of directors for Great Western Bank. Henning is president and chief executive officer of Assurity Group Inc., a diversified financial services organization headquartered in Lincoln.

1977

■ Ken Kirchhoff, Fort Collins, Colorado, owns a consulting company for safety, security, risk management and crisis management. In addition, he works as a civilian background investigator for the Fort Collins Police Department, Professional Standards/Training Unit.

After concluding a 37-year law enforcement career with that same department, he served as a substitute teacher in the Poudre School District for three years. In his spare time he enjoys being with his grandkids and riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle in the Rockies and the rolling hills of western Nebraska.

Susan Kirkpatrick has been welcomed to HOME Real Estate of Lincoln as a Realtor. n William J. Mueller and n Kim M. Robak, partners at the Lincoln lobbying firm Mueller Robak LLC, have been included in the 2016 edition of “The Best Lawyers in America,” the eighth consecutive year they have achieved that designation.

■ Gregory K. Spackman, tenured professor and pre-doctoral director of oral and maxillofacial surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, was presented the 2015 AAOMS Daniel M. Laskin Award for an Outstanding Pre-doctoral Educator at the annual meeting of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

1978

n Darlene Hoffman Frank is the

director of IT communications at the Internal Revenue Service in downtown Washington, D.C.

n Patrick Murphy received

the state of North Carolina’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine from Gov. Pat McCrory for service as dive safety officer at North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. The award is the highest honor bestowed on a civilian by the state of North Carolina. Prior to his service with the state, Murphy spent 20 years as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, retiring in 2000 as a lieutenant commander.

1979

Glenn Baumert was promoted to first vice president and head of the ag lending division at Union Bank & Trust in Lincoln.

■ Mary Jane Winquest was part of the Nebraska Educational Television team that took top honors during the 2015 National Educational Telecommunications Association conference with its entry “NEBRASKA Land & Sky.”

1981

Barb Gay has been elected president of the 2016 American Institute of Architects, Nebraska Chapter, board of directors. Gay is employed by the Nebraska Public Power District in Columbus.

Cathy Hanna, Imperial, is the elementary counselor for Chase County Schools.

1982

n Ben Barrett was selected

vice president, senior loan officer and sales manager at Pulaski Bank Home Lending in Lincoln.

n Carmen Shively, a designer

with Paul Daniels Interiors of Lincoln, was the recipient of a silver medal for her residential interior design work, awarded by the American Society of Interior Designers at their 2015 annual banquet.

Pippa White, Lincoln, performed her one act solo play, “Love in Action,” in October at the 2015 United Solo Festival in New York City.

BY KATHLEEN RUTLEDGE, ’70

Alumni Profile ’65, ’76, ’96

Keeping the Lamp Lit Georgianne Mastera

“The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting.

For some it’s a Broadway spotlight; for others, a lamplit desk.”

– Susan Cain in “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking” Georgianne Mastera is a “super introvert” living a lamplit life.

She found exactly where she belonged when she was very young – fresh off the Kozisek family farm and happily sitting at her desk in a one-room school near Bruno, Nebraska. The classroom has been her love ever since.

The child who immersed herself in books became a band kid at David City High School, then a scholarship student at the University of Nebraska, a business teacher, a Ph.D. and, for many years, a university administrator.

All along the way, people sought her out for leadership, attracted by her intelligence, her belief in hard work, and her calm focus on asking questions first and taking a little time to think before leaping into action.

Since she retired in 2008 as the interim provost at Nebraska Wesleyan University, her lamp has stayed lit: – She and her husband, retired banker Jim Mastera, are strong Friends of Lied and co-sponsors of the April 2016 production of “The Actors’ Gang: The Exon erated” at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

a board member of the Friends of the University of Nebraska State Museum.

– She recently joined the Seniors Foundation board in Lincoln.

If all that were not enough for someone who claims she “slept for a year” after her retirement, she is an integral part, nay a quietly driving force in the educational program for older adults known as OLLI. She is vice chair of the institute’s council.

It all began simply enough: She loves hearing a great lecture and she wanted to take some classes.

Classes are what OLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNL, is

Georgianne Mastera

the next theme, on the Civil War. Mastera’s experiences with OLLI follow a pattern that has shone throughout her lamplit life: She doesn’t necessarily have a grand plan, but she takes advantage of opportunities as they come along. “Everything I’ve done has laid the foundation for wanting to continue to be curious, to learn about new things,” she said.

Her life also reflects something she learned from her home economics

She [Mastera] doesn’t necessarily have a grand plan, but she takes advantage of opportunities as they come along. “Everything I’ve done has laid the foundation for wanting to continue to be curious, to learn about new things.”

all about. Soon, Mastera felt herself being drawn in by Lois Pasco, co-chair of the volunteer committee that organizes more than 120 courses per – She chairs the Bryan College of year for more than 1,170 members.

Health Sciences Board of First, Pasco asked Mastera to Trustees. organize a six-week course on human rights. She did, and enjoyed it. It – She has maintained an interest spiraled from there and eventuin Morrill Hall since the days she ally Mastera was chair of the history took her young son and daughter subcommittee and heading up the there to look at saber-toothed first “themed” year for OLLI – a focus tigers and other wonders. She is on the Gilded Age – then suggesting

teacher at David City High School, a highly focused perfectionist.

This teacher instilled in Mastera this lesson: “You can do lots of things and do justice to them all.” She became convinced she could develop herself as an individual and still hold on to her strong belief in the importance of family.

She and her husband were married in 1965, two weeks after she graduated from the University of Nebraska with a bachelor’s degree in education

Continued on Page 50 NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 49

CLASSNOTES keeping the lamp lit Continued from Page 49 and an emphasis on business education. For a time, she taught at Milford High School, but when son Greg came along in 1967, she became a stay-at-home mom. Daughter Jill was born in 1969.

What sort of a mom was she? “I was intense,” Mastera said with a laugh. She was constantly taking the kids somewhere educational – the library, the museum. “Both of the kids said it was great when I went back to work.” That was in 1973, when she began teaching part-time at the University of Nebraska and pursuing her master’s degree at UNL. She became a full-time instructor in the Business Department at Southeast Community College in 1976, when she earned her master’s. Nine years later, she began working at Nebraska Wesleyan and began work on a Ph.D. in administration, curriculum and instruction at UNL. She became Dr. Mastera in 1996.

At Wesleyan, she was known for her practicality and for being a stickler for detail. “I knew how to get things done; I knew how the system worked,” she said. She says NWU President Fred Ohles has remarked that she had more job titles than anyone he’s ever known.

“She was kind of the glue that held the provost’s office together” at a time when the senior administrative team was changing rapidly, said Alice Jaswal, who chaired the Communication and Theater Arts Department at Wesleyan and was interim dean of University College.

“Her strength was in being able to get along with most people,” Jaswal said. Mastera also excelled at envisioning the effect of proposed policy changes.

“She’s the person who would say, OK, if we do this, what about this?”

Those skills carried over into retirement. Jane Renner Hood, retired executive director of Humanities Nebraska, relishes working with Mastera on OLLI projects. “She is one of the best chairs of a committee I’ve seen,” Hood said. “She moves things along, hears from everybody, does great follow-up.”

Best of all for Hood, who’s known for liking to laugh: “In a quiet way, she has a wonderfully wicked sense of humor for a beautifully organized person.”

1983

Joe Brandl of Dubois, Wyoming, was a contestant on the Discovery Channel survival series “Naked and Afraid.” n Kris Malkoski, president,

North America and chief innovation officer of World Kitchen LLC, has been elected to the board of directors of Trustmark Insurance. Malkoski lives in Burr Ridge, Illinois.

1984

Richard and Kathryn Conradt of Lincoln marked 60 years of marriage on Sept. 17, 2015.

■ Bill Ryan has been promoted to private client group senior managing director in the main Lincoln office of US Bank.

Susan Spahn, shareholder and officer in the law firm Endacott, Peetz and Timmer, has been selected to head the Omaha office, where she specializes in estate and trust law.

1985

David Oyen is a bassoonist with Trifecta!, the woodwind trio comprised of music faculty from Morehead State University School of Music in Morehead, Kentucky.

1989

n Patricia Bloemker Sowers is the new assistant dean of advancement at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Coelette Gruber is the city planner for Kearney, a position she assumed in October 2015.

1990

Gary Ahrens was selected to be quality manager for Lincoln Industries, a metal finishing company in Lincoln.

Amy Blum has been promoted to mortgage officer-mortgage systems administrator for West Gate Bank Center in Lincoln.

n Greg Biggs was promoted

Chuck Huetter was named second vice president of information technology of Ameritas Life and Ameritas Life in New York.

1986

Michael Wehling is the executive director of the Stephen Center, which provides services for individuals and families dealing with homelessness, addiction and poverty in Omaha.

to chief executive officer of LI-COR Biosciences, a Lincolnbased instrumentation and research technology company.

n De Ann Demo, Lee’s Summit,

Missouri, is human resources manager at MarksNelson LLC, a certified public accountant agency in Kansas City.

Maling Ebrahimpour was appointed the dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown.

1987

■ Chris Gibson has worked for Oracle Corp. for 17 years in various software sales management positions. He is now a regional vice president and manages the North American Healthcare ERP business for Oracle.

1988

David Merrell of St. Edward was elected chairman of the 50 WINTER 2016

Nebraska Corn Board in August 2014.

1991

Jeff Platter has been added to the Great Plains Business Center of The Principal Financial Group in Lincoln, where he serves as a financial representative.

1992

n Jill Choate is assistant pro-

fessor in the teacher education program at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, where she teaches classes related to special education topics and issues.

Andrew Knudten was appointed to the executive management team of Avexis Inc., a gene

BY ANTHONY FLOTT

Alumni Profiles ’04, ’05

Young Architect Shoulders Big Responsibility Nancy Melby

From the start, Nancy Melby’s work at Leo A Daly was going nowhere.

And that was a good thing.

Just a year after getting her master’s degree from UNL in architectural engineering, Melby landed a job at the 100-year-old Omaha firm and was handed her first real assignment – designing a couple of bus stops.

Nothing too complicated. At Westroads Mall, she designed a small concrete building with a series of structured canopies over pedestrian waiting areas.

“It was a good project at a time when I was very early in the profession,” Melby said. “They were a manageable size for me at the time.

They allowed me to interact with architects and other disciplines across the office. It was really nice to be able to walk over to an architect’s desk and have a conversation with them.”

Her career has sped along nicely ever since. In fact, the 33-year-old Melby has gone where no Leo Daly employee has gone before, becoming the first woman and youngest person to be director of operations in the industry giant’s Omaha office.

She shrugs off the historical significance.

“To be honest I don’t really think about whether or not I’m a woman or I’m young or that type of thing,” Melby said. “I just look at it more as I worked really hard. It was whether I was qualified.”

Indeed. Chris Johnson, managing principal in the Omaha office, said Melby shined during the competitive search to fill the longtime post.

Nancy Melby

“Nancy really stood out, both with details and with great communication skills,” Johnson said, “all while having a forward-thinking approach to move not only Omaha but the whole company forward.”

That’s saying a mouthful given Daly’s gravitas as one of the largest planning, architecture, engineering, interior design and program management firms in the world. The company, celebrating its 100-year anniversary in 2015, has projects in nearly 90 countries and all 50 U.S. states, handled by more than 800 professionals in 32 offices worldwide.

But corporate headquarters remain in Omaha, where Melby was born and raised. She graduated from Omaha North High School, then in 2004 earned her UNL degree in structural engineering while studying on the UNO campus. She added a master’s in 2005.

Melby spent two years at Omaha firm Infrastructure, where she had been an intern, before joining Leo Daly in 2006. Her portfolio expanded quickly after those bus stops with projects in Omaha and elsewhere.

Her favorite such project was in

Biloxi, Mississippi, at the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, a campus-like assemblage of buildings on 100-plus acres. A tidal surge caused by Hurricane Katrina wrecked the Gulfport VA Medical Center there, forcing it to close and transfer services to the nearby Biloxi VA Medical Center. That prompted a need for more space.

Melby in 2010 led the design of a 180,000-square-foot addition that was required to withstand not just the region’s high winds and hurricanes, but also be blast resistant from possible terrorists. The project was completed in 2012.

“One of the first projects that I really designed from start to finish,” Melby said. “A complicated project but a project that I really enjoyed.”

A lot more critical than a bus stop … Johnson said Melby took on projects where “The lives of hundreds of occupants of our clients are in her hands.”

The company began giving her other responsibilities.

In 2011 she became leader of Leo Daly’s Team 3, responsible for day-today operations, management, resource

Continued on Page 52 NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 51

CLASSNOTES big responsibility Continued from Page 51 allocation and more for a team of 31 architects, engineers, planners, and interior designers.

“A little bit like herding cats,” she said. “There are all different types on the team, obviously, just with the professions and all different levels of seniority — from people who just graduated from college to people who have been with the firm over 40 years.

For everyone to come together can be a challenge at times, but overall everyone has a great amount of respect.”

Melby also was part of the second class of Leo A Daly’s internal Leadership Institute for its employees.

Just 10 are chosen each year.

Clearly, she was destined for big things with the company.

When Director of Operations Jim Hedgpeth announced he would retire after 17 years in that role, Melby threw her hat into the ring.

“She truly is extremely detailed-oriented and that really comes from years of engineering and structural engineering,” Johnson said. “Separate from that role is (that) she is really, really good with people. And it’s really hard to find people that kind of balance both of those worlds in the sense that she is all about bringing out the best in people and how to improve people and our processes all while maintaining fairness throughout the office. It’s impressive.”

She’s been in the role since Labor Day. Melby now has 130 architects, engineers, planners and interior designers within Leo A Daly’s Omaha office under her watch – and plenty of work. The company’s extensive list of Omaha projects includes the Capitol District development, KETV NewsWatch-7 Burlington Station transformation, a treatment center at Boys Town and addition of a Creighton University Medical Center building at CHI Bergan Mercy.

Melby still finds a way to devote about 20 percent of her time to structural engineering. The rest of her activity is spent monitoring projects, getting her teams needed resources, managing personnel, monitoring project technical quality, and more.

“Nancy brings a focus on quality and professionalism that makes her perfect for this role,” Johnson said. “She’s a creative problem solver with significant experience in all aspects of design and construction. Her ability to build relationships and focus on the mission of delivering design excellence to our clients will be instrumental to our success.”

In February, Melby will take a break from her post after she has her and husband, Patrick’s, second child. Hedgpeth will resume his post temporarily but Melby will be back. This is her spot now.

She’s not going anywhere.

52 WINTER 2016

therapy company located in Chicago. Knudten is the senior vice president, manufacturing and supply chain.

Todd Lorenz is a real estate broker with HOME Real Estate of Lincoln.

Jeff Monzu of Leo A. Daly Architects in Omaha has been elected secretary of the 2016 American Institute of Architects, Nebraska Chapter board of directors.

in the real estate and banking practice group.

1996

Dan Kerns is a senior project architect in the Omaha office of architecture, engineering and planning firm The Schemmer Associates Inc. Amy Miller, legal director of the Nebraska chapter of the ACLU, was named the 2015 Peacemaker of the Year by the Nebraskans for Peace.

Lori Terryberry-Spohr was named director of rehabilitation programs at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln.

1998

1994

n Noel Harewood, Lincoln,

Calvin Jones of Omaha was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame in October 2015. Jones was a standout running back at Omaha Central and went on to star for the Cornhuskers as well.

Patrick Sullivan has been named by the Midlands Community Foundation to its board of directors, representing Bellevue. Sullivan is a partner in the law firm Adams & Sullivann PC LLO.

1995

Anya Kerkman has rejoined Saint Elizabeth Sports & Physical Therapy in Lincoln where she specializes in oncology patient rehabilitation.

Liz Mazzotta was promoted to senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Mutual of Omaha.

Christian Petrick is an architect at Davis Design, a full-service architecture, engineering and design firm in Lincoln.

Doris Robertson of Union Bank & Trust in Lincoln has been promoted to vice presidentcommercial lending. n Justin V. Switzer has joined

the Houston office of law firm Thompson & Knight as counsel

Mark Feit was hired as Lincoln director of Community Health Charities of Nebraska. has joined Ameritas Life and Ameritas Life in New York as vice president and actuary of individual product management.

Amber Herrick was added to the Lincoln office of Endacott, Peetz and Timmer law firm, where she handles estate planning, probate and trust litigation, guardianships and civil litigation. n Jarod Kastl celebrated 10

years of practicing optometry at Shopko Eyecare in Norfolk.

Brent Robinson of Nebraska Home Sales in Lincoln has been included on the company’s ownership team.

1999

Heidi Robinson and Sarah Schieber of Nebraska Home Sales in Lincoln have been included on the company’s ownership team.

Tiffany Schnittker, Lincoln, was promoted to chief operating officer at Collaborative Industries Inc., which provides support to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in the central United States.

Stephanie R. Taylor heads the entertainment law group in the Nashville, Tennessee, office of legal firm Stites & Harbison PLLC.

BY DAVID DEEMER

Alumni Profile ’70 and ’14

Investor, Student Athlete Discover the Value of Service

Jim Pittenger / Kye Kurkowski James Pittenger stays busy … very busy.

When he’s not working as the chairman and CEO of his own investment company, he’s serving as a director of the University of Nebraska Foundation and as a member of its Finance Committee. When he’s not there, he finds time to fish, hunt, play golf and occasionally fly an airplane. And when there’s a moment or two to spare, he enjoys listening to the blues.

As one might expect, looking for something else to do wasn’t exactly on his mind last year when a friend invited him to go on a mission trip to Guatemala. Truthfully, Pittenger said he hadn’t given any thoughts to mission trips. “I just thought it was something that somebody else did,” he said. But Ron Sack’s question got him thinking.

Sack introduced him to a non-profit group called Constru Casa. Pittenger quickly learned how the local chapter, Friends of Constru Casa, works with the larger organization to prepare mission trips that build houses for impoverished families. In the poorer regions of Guatemala, most homes consist only of mud floors, thatched roofs and cornstalk walls. These structures are often in dire need of replacement, as most leak during the wet season and trap smoke due to bad ventilation. After Sack’s pitch, Pittenger was in.

When he arrived in Guatemala in January 2015, conditions were not as he expected. “The Third World poverty was closer and more intense than I’d ever experienced before,” Pittenger

explained. The trip opened his eyes to the realities of poverty. In spite of his busy schedule, Pittenger left Guatemala determined to stay involved.

Since the trip, he has been active in fundraising efforts for Friends of Constru Casa. He recognizes the need for monetary support, and knows the importance of charity. “My attitude is that for someone to be involved it has to be a buy-in, it can’t be a force in.

It has to come from within, and the only way you can do that is through education, conversation and continued exposure.”

One of the driving forces behind Pittenger’s fundraising efforts is to give opportunities to those who have the desire to serve, but not necessarily the means. Constru Casa’s volunteers are asked to pay for their trip plus a portion of the home they will build. It’s a great giving formula but does edge some out.

Many college students are prime examples for Pittenger’s quest. Take graduate student Kye Kurkowski, an agricultural engineering major who had played basketball for the Huskers. “I’d wanted to go on a mission trip with my church, the University Lutheran Chapel, ever since I’ve been in college but could never afford the time or the money to do so,” he said.

The Life Skills program at UNL developed the Guatemala Service Abroad Learning Program to give students a chance to join a service learning project. The fees were paid by the university, and the trip took place during the summer to avoid scheduling conflicts. Kurkowski and 17 other

Jim Pittenger

student athletes were the first ones to go, and traveled to Guatemala during the summer of 2015.

The trip not only exposed the athletes to another culture, but also changed how they viewed poverty. In Kurkowski’s case, he began to see the world around him differently.

“I think the trip gave me a new understanding of just how much of a rift there is between my quality of life and the quality of life of most of the rest of the world. This, in turn, brought me to the realization of how important it is to watch out for those that don’t have the choice or the ability to get out of the situation they’re in,” Kurkowski said.

“Working alongside Constru Casa gave me a new and unfiltered viewpoint of people and the quality of life that they may experience. It has brought me to realize everyone has a different situation and I’ve become more understanding as a person because of it. Also, it was a very humbling experience, making me more thankful for the life that I have been blessed with.”

It’s stories like Kurkowski’s that Pittenger now works to re-create. Even though the Life Skills program is planning another trip in 2016, service trips are rare on most college campuses.

This is because service trips are a risky venture. If a trip is not planned properly, volunteers can do more harm than good.

One key risk associated with service projects is their potential to take over.

In some cases, local communities do not learn critical skills because foreigners do all the work. This leaves

Continued on Page 54 NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 53

CLASSNOTES the value of service Continued from Page 53 the local population reliant upon outside help, which may not be available on a regular basis. But even the best planning doesn’t guarantee success.

Often, time and cost are the biggest barriers to student involvement.

This is where volunKye Kurkowski teers like Pittenger and Sack and organizations like Constru Casa come in. They make it easier to focus on fundraising efforts by taking care of the logistics of the trip. And they make sure the volunteering is done in a way that builds communities for the future. For example, Constru Casa teaches local construction workers how to build houses. Community members work on-site before, during and after each service trip, gaining self-sufficiency and a sense of pride while learning a trade.

At the same time, the trips equip the volunteers. For many, mission trips are invaluable and life-changing experiences, which show that excellence in leadership can only be obtained by learning the value of service.

And they remind those involved of the importance of motive.

“I think serving those around you is extremely important, but not as important as why you would want to do so,” Kurkowski said. “It goes back to what motivates you to serve others – whether it’s for your own personal gain or for theirs. For that reason, I think one’s priorities need to be arranged properly. Service should be one of them, but it needs to be wholehearted, genuine service, not an obligation.”

While Sack’s invitation to Pittenger was his introduction to volunteering with Constru Casa, one doesn’t need a personal invitation to volunteer. Information on how to get involved, as well as information on how to sponsor volunteers like Kurkowski, can be found on both the Constru Casa Facebook page and website.

But be advised – CONNECTION BOX Pittenger, Sack and Kurkowski all warn – facebook.com/construcasa getting involved may construcasa.org change your life.

EDITOR’S NOTE: David Deemer is a senior biomedical science major at Union College in Lincoln, where he is a member of the Union College Alumni Board and works as the Student Chaplain and as a General Chemistry teaching assistant.

54 WINTER 2016

2000

Gene Armstrong, a retired educator in Grand Island, is a facilitator for the young adults discussion group at First Presbyterian Church.

Diane Broderick is the Page One Editor for the Boston Herald, and is responsible for the design and coordination of the daily’s front-page presentation.

Ian Moschenross performed classical piano music at a recital sponsored by the Southern Utah University Department of Music in October 2015. Moschenross teaches applied piano, music history, theory and appreciation at Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois, where he is an associate professor of music.

Jon Paul Schieber of Nebraska Home Sales in Lincoln has been included on the company’s ownership team.

2001

n Megahn Schafer is executive

director for the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture in Lincoln.

2002

Kevin Foral was promoted to senior manager of assurance services at McGladrey LLP, an assurance, tax and consulting service in Omaha.

Barb Sittner, Lincoln, was named the first recipient of the Helen Weber Distinguished Professor of Nursing Education Award by the Bryan College of Health Sciences. Sittner is a professor in the graduate nursing program at Bryan.

2003

Adam Cook is a senior software developer at Social Assurance, a firm that connects financial institutions with digital communities throughout the United States.

Tony Sattler has been promoted to vice president in the Lincoln office of marketing communications firm Swanson Russell.

Levi Soward was selected as a customer service representative for Lincoln Industries, a metal finishing company in Lincoln.

2004

Heather Anschutz, Lincoln, has been named vice president and associate general counsel for the group division of Ameritas Life and Ameritas Life in New York.

Beth Frerichs is a sales and marketing associate at Chief Construction in Grand Island.

Michael Plessel of Janesville, Wisconsin, is the owner of Integrity Martial Arts in Milton.

2005

Scott Farmen of Lincoln was elected second vice president of corporate compliance of Ameritas Life and Ameritas Life in New York.

Stephanie Grattan is an immigration and healthcare attorney with the Omaha law firm Koley Jessen.

Catherine Meier, a visual artist in Duluth, Minnesota, had an exhibition of her work, “Site: Sage Creek,” open in October 2015 at the Minnesota Institute of Art in Minneapolis.

Jeremie Memming was promoted to associate art director in the Lincoln office of marketing communications firm Swanson Russell.

Russ Plager is the first-year principal at Wayne Elementary School in Wayne.

Grant Suhr has been promoted to associate at the Omahabased architecture firm of Holland Basham Architects.

Michelle Weber and Katie W. Zulkoski, Lincoln attorneys, have formed a lobby and government relations firm, Zulkoski Weber.

2006

Chaviva Gordon-Bennett (Amanda Edwards) of Denver,

CLASSNOTES is the community and content manager for Teforia, the creator of the first intelligent tea preparation machine.

mortgage team that was recognized by the Nebraska Mortgage Association as members of the 2015 Champions Circle.

Lee Martin has been promoted to vice president, Investment Private Placement, at Mutual of Omaha.

Cameron E. Guenzel has been promoted to partner at the Lincoln law firm Johnson Flodman Guenzel & Widger.

Jason M. Renner, an attorney with the Southfield, Michigan, law firm Collins Einhorn Farrell PC, was included among the “Rising Stars” list in the 2015 edition of Michigan Super Lawyers.

2008

2007

Heather Myers Cooper has completed her residency at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita Family Medicine Residency Program at Via Christi in Wichita. She is a doctor of osteopathic medicine.

Andrew Essay, of Cornhusker Bank in Lincoln, is on the

Lindsay Elting has been promoted to senior project manager in the Omaha office of Swanson Russell advertising and marketing communications firm.

Tyler Quiring is the IT network engineer officer for West Gate Bank in Lincoln.

Bub Windle is part of the Lincoln lobbying firm Mueller Robak LLC where he will use his legal background of whitecollar criminal defense and regulatory enforcement.

2009

Aaron Gillaspie, New York City, is the CEO of the Willis Park Corp., a venture capital firm based in Houston. Previously he had been the founder and head of school for Brilla College Prep Public Charter School in New York.

Kilee Haase is an account manager at Five Nines, a Lincolnbased firm that offers management IT services, IT projects and procurement.

2010

Emily Estes is a registered dietician in the Compassion Center at the recently opened Sage Nutrition in Lincoln. The Center provides treatment for eating disorders.

Mary Jacobson is an associate at the Bruning Law Group, located in Lincoln.

Cyndi Ann Munson, Oklahoma City, is a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives – the first Asian American elected to that body and the first Democrat to serve District 85 in more than 50 years.

Coady H. Pruett has been hired by the Lincoln office of INSPRO as an account executive.

INSPRO is an independently owned insurance agency.

2011

Lance Bachman has joined Chief Construction of Grand Island as a project manager.

Megan Bollish is senior project manager in the Lincoln office of marketing communications agency Swanson Russell.

Kyle Drummond was promoted to supervisor in assurance services for McGladrey LLP, an assurance, tax and consulting service in Omaha.

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 55

CLASSNOTES Matthew Gulsvig has been promoted to associate at Holland Basham Architects in Omaha.

Omaha, was the recipient of the 2015 AGC-Nebraska Building Chapter Groundbreaker Award.

Zachory Klebba of Leo A. Daly Architects of Omaha was elected an associate director of the 2016 American Institute of Architects, Nebraska Chapter board of directors.

Audrey R. Svane is an associate in the litigation group at Woods & Aitken LLP, a Lincoln-based law firm.

Foundation as a member of its 2015 cohort of Teaching Fellows. She is the recipient of one of 34 KSTF Teaching Fellowships awarded to earlycareer high school mathematics and science teachers last year.

2013

2015

Andrew Lacy is an on-air radio personality for 99.5 FM KUTT and 1310 AM KGMT in Fairbury.

■

Keenan Price was a participant in the summer 2015 Earth Expeditions Global Field Course sponsored by Miami University (Ohio) where he studied the ecosystems of the Bahia de los Angeles UNESCO World Heritage site in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Price is a bird keeper at the San Antonio Zoo. Corey J. Wasserburger was promoted to partner in the Lincoln law firm Johnson Flodman Guenzel & Widger.

2012

■ Josh Dack is a water systems and renewable energy engineer for Nebraska Public Power District, North Platte division.

Jennifer Dannehl has been named an associate at the law firm of Endacott Peetz and Timmer in Lincoln, where she concentrates on estate and trust planning and administration, business succession planning, real estate and agricultural law.

Kaylen K. Fleming is an associate in the transactional department in the Lincoln office of the law firm Woods & Aitken LLP. Kate Hier of The Clark Enersen Partners was elected a director on the 2016 American Institute of Architects, Nebraska Chapter board of directors.

Aaron Johnson, Omaha, is the general counsel for the commercial real estate company Tetrad Property Group.

Tom Rickert, cost manager for Kiewit Building Group in 56 WINTER 2016

Jack Christie has been promoted to designer in the Lincoln office of advertising and marketing communications firm Swanson Russell.

■

Hannah Kurth was a guest artist with the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra in September 2015. Kurth, a mezzo-soprano with the Ohio Light Opera Company in Wooster, Ohio, performed songs of George Gershwin.

Anjli Ohs is a designer with Paul Daniels Interiors of Lincoln.

Megan Rossman has joined Davis Design, a Lincoln-based architecture, engineering and design firm, as an interior designer. n Gwyneth Talley earned a

masters degree in anthropology from the University of California-Los Angeles in 2015 and is now in Morocco on a Fulbright Research Grant.

David Voorman has been added to the litigation section of Lincoln law firm O’Neill, Heinrich, Damkroger, Bergmeyer & Schult PC.

2014

Beau Jepson is project superintendent at Chief Construction in Lincoln.

Tyler Kruse of North Sioux City, South Dakota, has joined Kruse Financial Group as an adviser.

Sheyma Salem is a Realtor with HOME Real Estate of Lincoln.

Cassandra Seiboldt, a secondyear mathematics teacher at Lincoln Northeast High School, was chosen by the Knowles Science Teaching

■

James L. Baldwin, vice president for enrollment management at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, has received his doctor of philosophy degree in educational studies.

Michelle Dack is a mathematics instructor at Dawes Middle School in Lincoln.

■

Dylan Duren has joined the Omaha-based agricultural real estate agency, Mid-Continent Properties Inc., as a sales associate.

Lon Schoenholz, ’13, and Mollie Roths, Nov. 14, 2015. The couple lives in Bruning.

Christian Farrell and Katie Latta, ’14, Jan. 3, 2015. The couple lives in Brookings, South Dakota.

BIRTHS

n Jarod, ’98, and Laura Kastl, their fourth child, third son, Augustine David, Oct. 1, 2015. The family lives in Norfolk.

Eric and ■ Kristin Sneller Livingston, ’04, their first child, a daughter, Elle Morgan, Oct. 26, 2015. The family lives in Webster Groves, Missouri.

Chris Morton and n Carly Duvall, ’06, their first child, a daughter, Olive Elizabeth Morton, Sept. 25, 2015. The family lives in Leawood, Kansas.

Shay Garvin is an attorney with the Scudder Law Firm of Lincoln, where he focuses on mergers and acquisitions and other business transactions.

DEATHS

Sarah Kniep has been hired as an associate at O’Neill, Heinrich, Damkroger, Bergmeyer & Schultz PC, a Lincoln-based law firm.

Kathryn Sawyer Bickel, ’38, Dallas, Oct. 22, 2015.

Zeth Schlenker is an associate interactive developer in the Lincoln office of marketing communications agency Swanson Russell.

WEDDINGS

Lilette Jacques Angelino, ’37, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 27, 2015.

Pauline Walters Spence, ’38, Beatrice, Sept. 26, 2015.

William E. Davis, ’39, Oklahoma City, July 31, 2015.

Esthermae Helm Edison, ’40, Roseburg, Oregon, June 10, 2015.

n J. J. McDole, ’01, and Diane

Reye Petersen Goedeken, ’41, Oskaloosa, Iowa, Sept. 6, 2015.

Bobby O’Brian III and Stacy Nelson, ’05, March 21, 2015.

The couple lives in Omaha.

Warren H. Pavlat, ’41, Eugene, Oregon, Aug. 8, 2015.

Ewing, Feb. 23, 2015. The couple lives in Kearney.

Matt Schaefer, ’07, and Maggie Tunning, ’07, Aug. 14, 2015. The couple lives in Lincoln.

■

Todd Steffens and Casey Cabela, ’10, June 6, 2015. The couple lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

Clarice Worley Denis, ’42, Leawood, Kansas, Nov. 18, 2014.

Maryon Dooley Hoffman, ’42, Carlsbad, California, July 6, 2015.

Ruth Iverson Ralston, ’42, Omaha, Aug. 1, 2014.

BY CHARLYNE BERENS, ’95, ’00

Alumni Profile ’81

International Attorney and Go-getter Wendy Wysong

Wendy Wysong made the national news in the early 1990s when she was part of the Justice Department team that sent powerful Illinois Congressman Dan Rostenkowski to jail.

She walked through the African jungle in 2003 as part of a team tracking down Rwandan militia soldiers who had kidnapped and killed eight tourists, including two Americans, in Uganda.

Today, Wysong travels regularly between Hong Kong, where she leads the anti-corruption practice for Clifford Chance, and Washington, D.C., the law firm’s home base.

A 1981 UNL grad, Wysong said she didn’t set out to bring down a member of Congress, stalk terrorists in Africa or commute from one side of the globe to the other as a partner in an international law firm “It’s been a progression of things that just happened,” she said. “My parents prepared me well. They told me opportunities will arise if you work hard … and have a spirit of adventure.”

Combine those values with a good brain and a lot of drive, and the result is an award-winning international attorney.

An English and political science major at UNL, Wysong said John Gruhl, one of her poli-sci professors, encouraged her to pursue her interest in law. Gruhl remembers Wysong as “a real dynamo – a high energy person who exuded confidence and competence.”

Wysong also was deeply involved in student government and served as

Monica Sucha Vickers

Wendy Wysong

Secretary General of UNL’s Model United Nations, a booming organization at the time. That’s where she got to know Joe Nigro, now Lancaster County Public Defender.

Like Gruhl, Nigro remembers Wysong as “a real go-getter. … There’s a side of her that’s incredibly talented and driven. She’s accomplished so much,” Nigro said. “On the other side, there’s this wonderful, kind, giving person.”

Wysong appears to have kept those two sides in balance throughout her successful career. She married Tracy Rickett, a North Platte native, after they graduated from UNL. Then they “tag-teamed” through law schools.

Wysong went first, enrolling at the University of Virginia School of Law while Rickett earned an M.A. in political science from UVA. Then Rickett enrolled at Georgetown Law after Wysong completed her J.D. During her final year of law school in 1984, she decided to postpone a move back to a Midwest law firm when she learned she was pregnant. “You just didn’t have a baby when starting at a law firm in those years,” she said.

Instead, she clerked for Federal Judge Stanley Harris in D.C., which turned out to be a pivotal move. “I got to see some extraordinary trials,” she said, “and I decided I wanted to be a trial attorney.”

After a few years at a small law firm in D.C., Wysong joined the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, and for several years she prosecuted what she calls “basic street crime.”

Her next move was to the federal side of the U.S. Attorney’s office in 1989. A few years later, what became known as the House Post Office scandal broke, leading ultimately to major changes in the House of Representatives and the conviction of the high-profile Rostenkowski.

Wysong remembers that case as “the one that made me the most nervous – in the sense that we were under such scrutiny to get it right.”

It was a time when the values she learned in Lincoln served her well.

During the prosecution, she said, her boss relied on her “Midwestern moral compass.” Instead of just accepting the political ways of Washington, “I cut through some of the rationalization people came up with.” She worked with Attorney General Janet Reno and then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder.

After completing work on that major domestic corruption case, Wysong decided to move into international criminal law, which took her all over the world, including to Rwanda.

With a team of investigators, Wysong found herself “literally walk-

Continued on Page 58 NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 57

CLASSNOTES international attorney Continued from Page 57 ing through the Ugandan jungle, tracking terrorists.”

The effort was successful; three Rwandan militia soldiers were extradited to the U.S. and prosecuted for murdering the two American tourists.

“That was the most important case of my career to me personally,” Wysong said. She recalled how the largely female investigative team got the terrorists to confess: “We were kind to them. We offered them sandwiches, asked about their families, gradually built trust. We didn’t threaten them.”

Women tend to be particularly adept at those useful “soft skills,” Wysong said. But, she added, “I’ve made my share of defendants and witnesses cry, too.”

Besides terrorism cases, Wysong also prosecuted violations of export control laws and economic sanctions with their links to terrorist financing. Then Wysong was recruited by the Department of Commerce to head the Office of Export Enforcement where she worked for almost three years before becoming a partner at Clifford Chance in 2007.

She chose that firm, she said, because of its global perspective, and in 2011 Wysong and her husband moved to Hong Kong where she leads the firm’s Asia Pacific Anti-Corruption Practice.

The team helps U.S. clients expanding into Asia understand how to comply with both U.S. law and local laws – and helps Asian clients who want to do business in the U.S. to adjust to U.S. laws. Wysong also defends clients who don’t make that adjustment successfully. Now, with her three children through college, Wysong commutes between the firm’s offices in Hong Kong and D.C. “If I had one super power, it would be a teletransporter,” she said.

Nigro, who keeps in touch with Rickett and Wysong, said his ASUN friend is still the bright, energetic, dependable, big-hearted person he knew in college.

Wysong’s father, David, taught plant pathology at UNL from 1964 to 1999. He said he and his late wife, Sally, a long-time and influential member of the Lincoln School Board, taught their children to “work hard, be honest, be ethical, do the best you can.”

Some might call those Midwest values, but David Wysong doesn’t want to be that specific. “It’s just the way you live,” he said.

It seems his daughter is still practicing that way of life.

58 WINTER 2016

George K. Werner, ’44, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Oct. 21, 2015.

Louise Mares Forbes, ’45, La Crescenta, California, April 1, 2015.

Mary Beachly McPherson, ’45, Roanoke, Virginia, Oct. 18, 2015.

Irene Dunnell Peters, ’45, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Oct. 17, 2015.

R. Stanley Lowe, ’49, Casper, Wyoming, June 19, 2015.

Shirley Burton McCoy, ’49, Arapahoe, Oct. 13, 2015.

Leila Molthan Pelton, ’49, Cheyenne, Wyoming, Sept. 19, 2015.

Robert C. Rawson, ’49, Lincoln, Sept. 16, 2015.

Parker E. Tracy, ’49, Boulder, Colorado, Aug. 6, 2015.

Della Hagensick Baker, ’47, Grand Island, Oct. 3, 2015.

Sten J. Freeland, ’50, Danville, California, April 25, 2015.

Gwendolyn Christiansen Lubeck, ’47, Omaha, Oct. 12, 2015.

Ruth Schupbach Jolitz, ’50, Green Valley, Arizona, Oct. 13, 2015.

Edward B. McConnell, ’47, Williamsburg, Virginia, Aug. 10, 2015.

Lowell D. Steckelberg, ’47, Fremont, Sept. 20, 2015.

Nancy Rankin Connell, ’48, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dec. 1, 2014.

Dorothy Vestecka Kouwenberg, ’50, New York City, Sept. 20, 2015.

Ben Kuroki, ’50, Camarillo, California, Sept. 1, 2015.

Irene Wellensiek Maricle, ’50, Albion, Aug. 21, 2015.

Joan Stevens Hedlund, ’48, Omaha, Sept. 5, 2015.

Rosalie M. Tookey, ’50, Pueblo, Colorado, April 13, 2015.

Alden L. Johnson, ’48, Walnut Creek, California, Jan. 30, 2015.

Robert A. Wenke, ’50, Long Beach, California, Aug. 14, 2015.

Jack R. Knicely, ’48, Sidney, Oct. 20, 2015.

John R. Wheeler, ’50, Omaha, Oct. 24, 2015.

James R. Malowney, ’48, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Aug. 18, 2015.

Edna Kniffen Benson, ’51, Fremont, Sept. 16, 2015.

Erwin T. Scherich, ’48, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Aug. 2, 2015.

Juanita Hagarity Bjorklund, ’51, Berkeley, California, July 25, 2015.

Dale A. Billesbach, ’49, Grand Island, Sept. 15, 2015.

Virginia Littrell Dinkel, ’49, Speedway, Indiana, Sept. 19, 2015.

W. Richard Finke, ’51, Lincoln, Sept. 18, 2015.

Walter Goodbrod, ’51, Papillion, Aug. 11, 2015.

Richard R. Green, ’49, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Oct. 28, 2015.

Janette Johnson Hildebrand, ’51, Ames, Iowa, Aug. 23, 2015.

Josephine Kellenbarger Lamb, ’49, Anselmo, Sept. 5, 2015.

Paul T. Armitstead, ’52, Waco, Texas, Oct. 13, 2015.

Wilbur E. Lehnert, ’49, Berea, Ohio, April 27, 2015.

Richard W. Barnett, ’52, Lincoln, Sept. 15, 2015.

William H. Leroy, ’49, Los Angeles, Aug. 13, 2015.

Calvin L. Coulter, ’52, Bridgeport, Aug. 13, 2015.

CLASSNOTES Donald H. Decosta, ’52, Omaha, Oct. 20, 2015.

Barbara Raun Barton, ’54, Dallas, Feb. 5, 2015.

Robert E. Schemmel, ’55, Nebraska City, Sept. 24, 2015.

Frank N. Anderson, ’59, Mitchell, Nov. 4, 2015.

Ladd L. Duryea, ’52, Madison, Alabama, Oct. 9, 2015.

John A. Bordogna, ’54, Lincoln, March 4, 2015.

Lawrence L. Wilson, ’55, Arcadia, California, Aug. 21, 2015.

John W. Johnette, ’59, Omaha, Oct. 2, 2015.

Joan Hoyt Gilliam, ’52, McCook, Aug. 15, 2015.

Dale A. Capek, ’54, Lincoln, Oct. 10, 2015.

Leland D. Arnot, ’56, Boulder, Colorado, Feb. 15, 2015.

Ilmars Didrichsons, ’60, Lincoln, Sept. 30, 2015.

Eugene W. Hamilton, ’52, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Dec. 10, 2014.

Dean L. Clawson, ’54, Lincoln, Oct. 25, 2015.

Shirley M. Bishop, ’56, Hermosa Beach, California, Aug. 27, 2015.

Harlan D. Hubka, ’60, Beatrice, Sept. 4 2015.

Virginia L. Hartman, ’52, Renton, Washington, March 7, 2015.

Charles E. Johnson, ’52, Holdrege, Aug. 18, 2015.

Adrian J. Kluna, ’52, Grand Island, Aug. 20, 2015.

Charles W. Raymond, ’52, Lincoln, Sept. 8, 2015.

Lucille M. Hilger, ’53, Hamburg, Iowa, Aug. 4, 2015.

William J. Barnds, ’54, Galesburg, Illinois, Oct. 4, 2015.

Max E. Harris, ’54, Maple Grove, Minnesota, May 31, 2015.

Cloyd D. Boydston, ’56, Wahoo, Aug. 17, 2015.

Milton Maisel, ’54, Los Angeles, Sept. 21, 2015.

Robert C. Brockley, ’56, Lincoln, Nov. 8, 2015.

Merlin C. Menagh, ’54, Norton, Kansas, Sept. 25, 2015.

Oscar R. Burt, ’58, Lincoln, Oct. 30, 2015.

Joyce Johnson Olson, ’54, Oshkosh, Sept. 9, 2015.

Eleanor Estes Potach, ’58, Omaha, Aug. 18, 2015.

Harlan H. Wiederspan, ’54, Lincoln, Sept. 22, 2015.

Robert L. Ray, ’58, Bettendorf, Iowa, Nov. 29, 2014.

Lee A. Czapanskiy, ’55, Clive, Iowa, Sept. 1, 2015.

Wayne J. Thompson, ’58, Greenwood Village, Colorado, May 26, 2015.

As an alumnus of The University of Nebraska, you could receive exclusive savings on home insurance from

Buddy W. Miles, ’60, Pflugerville, Texas, Aug. 21, 2015.

Gary R. Rosenboom, ’60, Oakland, Oct. 7, 2015.

Stephen H. Wiltse, ’60, Montgomery, Ohio, Nov. 6, 2015.

Theodore E. Dewey, ’61, Denton, Oct. 14, 2015.

William D. Fish, ’61, Rapid City, South Dakota, Sept. 30, 2015.

John C. Furrow, ’61, Omaha, Sept. 23, 2015.

Along with valuable savings, you’ll enjoy access to benefits like 24-Hour Claims Assistance.

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NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 59

?

Willa Cather

Loren Eiseley

You

WORDSMITHS

WANTED!

Enter the 2016 Nebraska Magazine Writing Contest and compete for a byline!

The Categories ALUMNI PROFILES: Write about a Nebraska grad with an interesting hobby or career.

NOSTALGIA PIECES: Tell us about a memorable student activity you participated in at UNL, or write about a favorite professor.

The Prizes Three prizes will be awarded in each category, and the winning articles will be published in Nebraska Magazine.

• 1st Prize: $500 • 2nd Prize: $250 • 3rd Prize: $100

The Details Articles must be 750 to 1,000 words in length, typewritten. Entry deadline is April 15, 2016.

Submit entries, along with the author’s name, address and phone number.

BY MAIL: Magazine Writing Contest, Wick Alumni Center, 1520 R Street, Lincoln, NE 68508-1651.

BY E-MAIL: nebmag@huskeralum.org ONLINE: huskeralum.org/writing-submission

60 WINTER 2016

CLASSNOTES James T. McIlmoyle, ’61, Albuquerque, Dec. 28, 2014.

Alice Felber Schnabel, ’63, Lincoln, Sept. 20, 2015.

David E. Rosenberg, ’61, Omaha, Oct. 5, 2015.

Larry J. Maciejewski, ’65, Lincoln, Oct. 3, 2015.

Irene V. Ruzicka, ’61, Lincoln, Oct. 14, 2015.

Norman C. McIntosh, ’65, Fremont, Oct. 2, 2015.

Jerry N. Brown, ’62, Victoria, Texas, Sept. 7, 2015.

Betty Jacobson Drohman, ’66, Lincoln, Sept. 3, 2015.

Marion J. Cacek, ’62, Odell, Aug. 30, 2015.

Lee E. Grove, ’66, Lawrence, Kansas, Aug. 11, 2015.

Charlotte Baker Custer, ’62, Lincoln, Sept. 28, 2015.

Carol Farkas Logemann, ’66, Decatur, Illinois, Nov. 1, 2015.

Arthur G. Karabatsos, ’62, Lincoln, Sept. 5, 2015.

Michael E. Barber, ’63, Libertyville, Illinois, Sept. 29, 2015.

Ann Schenck Bonham, ’63, Jackson, Wyoming, Nov. 3, 2015.

Norman F. Kaup, ’63, Hoover, Alabama, July 24, 2015.

Leroy H. Ortman, ’66, Bella Vista, Arizona, Sept. 14, 2015.

David L. Theisen, ’66, Missoula, Montana, Dec. 9, 2014.

Doris Barsby Wampler, ’66, Lincoln, Aug. 28, 2015.

Ronald L. Witt, ’66, Omaha, Aug. 28, 2015.

Darrell D. Carlson, ’67, Saint Paul, Minnesota, Nov. 3, 2015.

Robert C. Chapman, ’67, Lincoln, Oct. 4, 2015.

Rebecca Muenster Gyhra, ’67, Denver, Nov. 3, 2015.

Marie Rockey McNeff, ’67, Anoka, Minnesota, Aug. 23, 2015.

Roger R. Moock, ’67, Grand Island, Nov. 10, 2015.

Donald H. Sander, ’67, Arvada, Colorado, Sept. 12, 2015.

Patrick J. Callahan, ’68, La Crosse, Wisconsin, June 13, 2015.

Norman F. Langemach, ’68, Lincoln, Aug. 6, 2015.

Ronald H. Walker, ’68, Lincoln, Sept. 17, 2015.

Wesley W. Zart, ’68, Lincoln, Aug. 14, 2015.

Nancy Jeppesen Bohaty, ’69, Bellwood, Oct. 13, 2015.

Alberta Keech Cartagena, ’69, Lincoln, Sept. 18, 2015.

Donald G. Darnell, ’69, Lincoln, Aug. 27, 2015.

Barbara Engel Johnson, ’69, Lincoln, Sept. 29, 2015.

Norma Spicka Knoche, ’69, Gautier, Mississippi, Aug. 17, 2015.

John D. Wright, ’69, Mount Holly, North Carolina, June 8, 2015.

Richard J. Raecke, ’70, Lincoln, Aug. 22, 2015.

Billy M. Wright, ’70, Uniontown, Ohio, Aug. 18, 2015.

Robert A. Bauermeister, ’71, Bennington, Aug. 24, 2015.

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 61

CLASSNOTES Barbara Gunn Eitzmann, ’71, Sidney, Iowa, Oct. 19, 2015.

Dale L. Hassebrook, ’74, Columbus, Oct. 8, 2015.

Kurt O. Oldenburg, ’76, Lincoln, Sept. 19, 2015.

Richard D. Kamm, ’71, Columbus, Oct. 14, 2015.

Kenneth W. Jenkins, ’74, Lincoln, Oct. 4, 2015.

Timothy S. Schmidt, ’76, Superior, Sept. 25, 2015.

Janet Johnson King, ’71, Lincoln, Oct. 23, 2015.

Jay B. Nylander, ’74, Aurora, Aug. 19, 2015.

William T. Robison, ’71, Springfield, Missouri, Aug. 24, 2015.

Kurt W. Peterson, ’74, Lakewood, Colorado, Sept. 24, 2015.

Robert G. Holsinger, ’77, Burlington, North Carolina, Sept. 22, 2015.

Clifford H. Bewig, ’72, Omaha, Aug. 20, 2015.

Edgar J. Lang, ’72, Omaha, Aug. 19, 2015.

Marcia Strand Spillane, ’72, Ormond Beach, Florida, Aug. 18, 2015.

Jennifer A. Kessler, ’73, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, Oct. 27, 2015.

Linda Yost Nelsen, ’73, Lexington, Sept. 6, 2015.

Joseph O. Hajicek, ’75, Chehalis, Washington, Aug. 23, 2015.

Darshan S. Kang, ’75, Missoula, Montana, Sept. 29, 2015.

Matthew M. Lenzen, ’75, Broomfield, Colorado, Nov. 6, 2015.

Ronald W. Mayle, ’79, Richmond, California, Sept. 28, 2015.

R. Michael Ayars, ’80, Raymond, March 12, 2014.

Steven E. Studt, ’80, Fort Collins, Colorado, July 5, 2015.

John W. Reichelderfer, ’77, Santa Rosa, California, April 9, 2015.

Allen H. Brumm, ’81, Foster City, California, Sept. 27, 2015.

Judith Hanneman Wendorff, ’77, Lincoln, Oct. 11, 2015.

Harold E. Byram, ’82, Cincinnati, Aug. 16, 2015.

Barbara Young Whitney, ’77, Auburn, California, Oct. 19, 2014.

Kathleen E. Gurnett, ’82, Omaha, July 10, 2015.

M. L. Devere Flynn, ’78, Mesa, Arizona, Aug. 13, 2015.

Roger D. Mullen, ’75, Omaha, Sept. 2, 2015.

Brian C. Browning, ’79, San Marcos, Texas, Aug. 15, 2015.

Muriel Anderson Lingle, ’76, Lincoln, Sept. 25, 2014.

Kari L. Larson, ’79, Denver, June 21, 2015.

Christine Salser Hoguet, ’82, San Diego, Sept. 26, 2014.

Andreas J. Illies, ’82, Waverly, Alabama, May 9, 2015.

John A. Hier, ’83, Parachute, Colorado, Aug. 13, 2015.

Jonathan M. Shepard, ’83, Ashland, Sept. 1, 2015.

CLASS NOTEPAD Tell us what’s happening! Send news about yourself or fellow Nebraska alumni to: Mail:

Class Notes Editor, Nebraska Magazine, Wick Alumni Center, 1520 R Street, Lincoln, NE 68508-1651

E-mail: kwright@huskeralum.org Online: huskeralum.org All notes received will be considered for publication according to the following schedule: Spring Issue: January 15

Summer Issue: April 15

Fall Issue:

Winter Issue:

July 15

October 15

Items submitted after these dates will be published in later issues.

62 WINTER 2016

CLASSNOTES Mark S. Finn, ’85, Modesto, California, Aug. 15, 2015.

Tommie Jackson Jackson, ’85, Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, Oct. 22, 2015.

Michael R. Cachelin, ’96, Green River, Wyoming, Aug. 18, 2015.

Kathleen M. Stephenson, ’96, Lincoln, Sept. 5, 2015.

Todd N. Ricenbaw, ’85, Beaver Crossing, Aug. 12, 2015.

Nancy Ash Vondra, ’96, Omaha, Aug. 20, 2015.

Clarice Klein Wienke, ’85, Bremen, Kansas, Sept. 3 2015.

Michael S. Reigle, ’97, San Francisco, Sept. 4, 2015.

Timothy J. Thramer, ’86, Cozad, Oct. 10, 2015.

Todd M. Uher, ’99, Olathe, Kansas, Aug. 26, 2015.

Gretchen Smith McCarthy, ’88, London/Bromley, England, July 4, 2015.

Judith D. James, ’02, Lincoln, Aug. 14, 2015.

Patrick A. Barnett, ’90, Charlottesville, Virginia, Sept. 18, 2015.

Sharon Sramek Holliday, ’90, Lincoln, Oct. 19, 2015.

Matthew T. Morris, ’94, Siloam Springs, Arizona, Sept. 13, 2015.

FACULTY DEATHS

Jayne Wade Anderson, ’52, ’66, director of Greek Affairs and Cooperatives, 1978-1997, Lincoln, Oct. 7, 2015.

Judy L. Cole, vocal performance professor at the School of Music for 28 years, Lincoln, July 20, 2015.

Herman Jacob Gorz, emeritus professor of agronomy, Lincoln, May 17, 2015.

Gene B. Hardy Jr., emeritus professor of English, retired in 1989, Boulder, Colo., Aug. 15, 2015.

Jonathon L. Nelson, ’03, Timnath, Colorado, Aug. 22, 2015.

Lindsey M. Drahota, ’05, Lakewood, Colorado, Oct. 15, 2015.

Matthew B. Tritsch, ’06, Murray, Sept. 25, 2015.

Morris H. Schneider, ’51, ’59, emeritus faculty and associate dean, College of Engineering, retired in 1993, Lincoln, Oct. 28, 2015.

Lois Opper Schwab, ’46, ’47, ’66, emeritus faculty and associate dean of home economics, Lincoln, Oct. 24, 2015.

RY

War II

owl

ose B

World

AN

’41 R

On January 1, 1941, Nebraska football coach Biff Jones led his Cornhuskers— boys with names like Eddie Schwartzkopf, Hermie “The German” Rohrig, and Forrest Behm of Lincoln, Harry “Hippity” Hopp from Hastings, “King Kong” Royal Kahler from Grand Island, Ord’s Al Zikmund, Walter “The Butcher” Luther of Cambridge, “Cowboy” Roy Petsch from Scottsbluff—out to Pasadena to play the biggest game of their lives: the 1941 Rose Bowl.

Before the end of World War II, nearly all of these Nebraskans were proudly wearing the uniform of their country’s military.

This is the bigger-than-life story of how they lived and how they died...

E R SA

Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory.

— Hartley Burr Alexander

CORNHUSKERS GO TO WAR Available at $24/copy

(Includes S&H and Nebraska sales tax) Name____________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________ City/state/zip______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

Fullback Vike Francis dives over the goal line to put the Huskers up 6-0 over Stanford in the 1941 Rose Bowl.

#______ copies of Cornhuskers Go To War

Total $______________

Send check to: Flatwater Publishing LLC, 923 W. 14th St.,

Grand Island, NE 68801

W W W. C O R N H U S K E R S G O T O WA R . C O M

75th

NIV

NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 63

N E B R A S K A

A lu m n i A s s o c i at i o n

Wick Alumni Center 1520 R Street Lincoln, NE 68508-1651

Wick Alumni Center

Nebraska Champions Club

V enues Nebraska Alumni The

Nebraska Innovation Campus

of the

association

• Host small meetings to large conferences • Perfect for parties and wedding receptions • Capacity for groups from 15 up to 400 • Offering a variety of catering options • Open to the public for rental • Contact us at 402-472-2841 or venues@huskeralum.org.