Nebraska Quarterly December 2017 by Nebraska Alumni Association

Chancellor Ronnie Green has set forth lofty enrollment goals and the numbers for the past fall semester have broken records again. Simultaneously, the campus footprint continues to evolve with new buildings going up as a few of our beloved favorites are coming down. The universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s continued growth substantiates why there really is no place like

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also: OPEN FOR BUSINESS It took thinking big and $84 million to construct a new College of Business. page 34 ALL HAIL HERBIE Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flirty, fun and the coolest guy on campus. He is Herbie Husker. page 42

ALUMNI SAVINGS FOR THE WIN University of Nebraska alumni could save on auto insurance with a special discount from GEICO!

geico.com/alum/naa Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies. GEICO contracts with various membership entities and other organizations, but these entities do not underwrite the offered insurance products. Discount amount varies in some states. One group discount applicable per policy. Coverage is individual. In New York a premium reduction may be available. GEICO may not be involved in a formal relationship with each organization; however, you still may qualify for a special discount based on your membership, employment or affiliation with those organizations. GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, D.C. 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary. GEICO Gecko image ÂŠ 1999-2017. ÂŠ 2017 GEICO

PROMOTE YOUR

PRIDE.

Advocate for the university through Huskers for Higher Education. As a volunteer, you will be provided information and resources to be active during the state’s legislative and election cycles. We need passionate volunteers who are willing to contact state senators to share vital information like the university’s $3.9 billion annual economic impact to the state. Nebraska and its flagship university have unlimited opportunities to work together on initiatives to grow our economy, create good-paying jobs and keep our best and brightest in Nebraska.

If you feel strongly about the importance of higher education to our state’s future, sign up or learn more at huskeralum.org/hhe

M ASTERFULLY DONE Alumni Masters Week The Alumni Masters returned to campus in November to give back to their alma mater and to be honored by their colleges. They are, from left, Michael Dunlap ’86, ’88 (Business); Garth Glissman ’05, ’09 (Athletics); Cindy McCaffrey ’80 (Journalism and Mass Communications); Brian Vaske ’95 (Arts and Sciences); Kristine Dorn ’05 (Architecture); Norman Newhouse ’73, ’75, ’84 (Engineering); Christy Banks ’96,’05 (Fine and Performing Arts); Ben Steffen ’84 (Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources); Jaime Gonzalez ’10 (Education and Human Sciences). See story, page 55.

MA S T ERS WEEK Picture Goes Here The 2018 Nebraska Alumni Association calendar will feature Herbie Husker as he showcases each of the nine colleges through photographs. WHICH COLLEGE IS THIS PHOTO SHOOT FROM? The College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, which we lovingly refer to as CASNR. HOW DO I GET ONE? Members of the alumni association will receive a calendar with the winter issue of Nebraska Quarterly. Nonmembers need to join the association to reap this reward.

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Contents 2017

The College of Business moved into its fancy new digs on the corner of 14th and Vine streets this semester. It is the result of heroic efforts from the college’s alumni who raised $84 million in order to make Nebraska Business competitive with other institutions. P34 It was 1963 when the campus opened its first highrise dormitories dubbed Cather and Pound. Now they are coming down in dramatic fashion as UNL continues to evolve. P14 All nine of the college deans as well as Chancellor Ronnie Green and many of the athletic head coaches came together for a chance to visit Herbie Santa and give him their wish lists. Now it’s up to you, our generous alumni, to make all those wishes come true. P58

geoff johnson

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4 Contributors 6 Donde Plowman 8 Community 10 Winter 25 Voices 53 Bulletin 64 Love Story

Morrill Hall

Call of the Corn

History of Herbie

It has been 50 years since the 4th floor of Morrill Hall has been used. Its makeover has now begun.

Novelist Ad Hudler (’86) brings our four-part novella to a satisfying close as strained relationships are mended.

Before Herbie Husker was the university’s mascot, there were others who toiled on the sidelines cheering on the fans.

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NEBRASKA

CONTRIBUTORS

QUARTERLY

Winter 2017 VOLUME 113 NO. 4

KIM HACHIYA

Kim Hachiya is a 1977 graduate with a degree in journalism. After a newspaper career, she joined the university in 1988, working in University Communication. She retired in 2014, and now is a freelance writer and editor. She and her husband, Tom White, enjoy the company of their two pugs and one cat.

Shelley Zaborowski, ’96, ’00 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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

Kevin Wright, ’78 DIRECTOR, DESIGN

Charley Morris

MATTHEW HANSEN

Matthew Hansen is a metro columnist at the Omaha World-Herald. A Red Cloud native and 2003 College of Journalism graduate, Hansen was named the 2015 Great Plains Writer of the Year. He and his wife, Sarah BakerHansen (’01) the World-Herald food critic, co-wrote The Better Half, a recently-released book on Nebraska food and people.

KRISTEN SOLECKI

Kristen Solecki is an artist and illustrator living in Charleston, S.C. Her work ranges from paintings and drawings to editorial and book illustrations. She graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, however she had the good sense to marry a Nebraska alum which makes her a Husker fan. Lincoln holds a special place in her heart as it is home to her in-laws.

ANDREW STEWART

Andrew Stewart began his career as a journalist writing for Variety, where he spent more than six years covering the entertainment industry. Stewart transitioned into corporate communications in 2014, working for IMAX, before joining Participant Media as director of communications this year. Stewart is a Nebraska native and a 2008 UNL alum, with bachelor degrees in both news-editorial journalism and film studies. He lives in Los Angeles.

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

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materials and reader comments are welcome. SE ND MAI L T O:

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

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

GRAPHIC DESIGN SPECIALIST

Jenny Chapin ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR, BUSINESS/ALUMNI RELATIONS

EmDash MAGAZINE DESIGN

John Ritter COVER ILLUSTRATION

NEBRASKA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION STAFF Stephen Boggs, ’12

Jessica Marshall, ’11

GAME DAY AND FACILITY OPERATIONS MANAGER

DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS AND MEMBERSHIP

Justy Bullington

Tracy Moore

VENUES MANAGEMENT AND EVENT SPECIALIST

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Conrad Casillas

’03, ’11 SENIOR DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

VENUES MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS SPECIALIST

Charles Dorse CUSTODIAN

Derek Engelbart

Carrie Myers,

Heather Rempe, ’03 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

Larry Routh

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI RELATIONS

ALUMNI CAREER SPECIALIST

Julie Gehring ’91

Viann Schroeder

MEMBERSHIP AND PROGRAMS ASSISTANT

ALUMNI CAMPUS TOURS

Jordan Gonzales ’17

Deb Schwab

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, YOUNG ALUMNI AND STUDENT PROGRAMS

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, VENUES

Hanna Hoffman, ’16 ALUMNI RELATIONS AND PROGRAMS COORDINATOR

Wendy Kempcke ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR

Michael Mahnken, ’13 VENUES

Andy Washburn, ’00, ’07 ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS

Katie Williams, ’03 SENIOR DIRECTOR, MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Hilary Winter, ’11 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL STRATEGY/PR

COORDINATOR

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AD Sheldon Treasures An ongoing, rotating gallery installation of some of the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most important and best-known objects, including Edward Hopperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Room In New York (1932).

GOLFING WITH DONDE

ON LOCATION Donde Plowman tries to play golf a couple of times each week at the Lincoln Country Club. She strives to play nine holes in an evening, but has been known to stop after four.

How did you rally alumni to give $84 million for a new building?

to raising our standards for everything — teaching, research, programs, outreach. Energetic new faculty arrived who wanted to be highly engaged. We began targeting research for highimpact journals, started an Honors Academy to attract the best and the brightest, expanded advising, added career services, tripled down on our commitment to global education and study abroad. The list goes on. We i nv i t e d t h e b u s i n e s s community and alums to be part of the college — by adding advisory

—Donde Plowman EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR & CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER, DEAN OF COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, 2010-16

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craig chandler

A : I t wa s n e v e r a b o u t a building, it was about building a college. The most challenging and rewarding undertaking of my entire career was the initiative to build a new College of Business building. Seven years ago, the College of Business — then known as CBA — embarked on a journey to become a world-class college of business. With the help of a courageous team of college leaders, this meant an honest assessment of where we were as a college, a commitment

boards, now up to 17 with nearly 2 5 0 a l u m s d e e p ly e n ga g e d in the college. Their advice and support has changed the college. Our alums and business community could see we were, in fact, building a college, but we needed a building to deliver on the promise of being a worldclass college. My colleagues at the University of Nebraska Foundation, led by Matt Boyd, were excited for this project and helped me learn how to talk to people about giving. I focused my time in the last six years on developing individual relationships with alumni and potential donors. This paid off because 98 percent of the $84 million came from 90 families or individuals. Second, we focused on building a brand and rallying the entire alumni base about the college. Our Start Something mantra helped and we closed out the campaign with an additional 1,400 gifts to reach our goal. Early lead gifts from Howard Hawks, Union Bank, Nelnet and others gave alums confidence in the project. Tonn and Holly Ostergard, our Capital Campaign chairs, made an amazing gift and encouraged their friends and associates to support the initiative. And then it happened. The building is finished but the work of building a world-class college continues. I am excited for the future of the College of Business and honored that I was the leader at such an historic time. It was the greatest joy of my professional life.

Today is the day I write my story. Leneé Lassiter Special Education, Specialization in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education, MA University of Nebraska–Lincoln “My today started when I decided I wanted to make a bigger impact on my students than I already was. Although I had a master’s degree in education, I realized I didn’t have the skills necessary to really be an impactful teacher, and local professional development and webinars were not proving enough to make my teaching more effective. I found a program at the University of Nebraska– Lincoln that pushed me to be the best teacher I could be. Through this program, I gained the knowledge and support I needed to make a positive impact on my own students.”

100+ online programs. online.nebraska.edu

COMMUNITY

Find Archie! Morrill Hall’s famed Archie is hiding somewhere in the magazine, like only a 20,000-year-old mammoth can. Find him and email us at alumni@huskeralum.org, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a fabulous Husker prize! Congratulations to April Kalinski (’14) who found Archie hitchhiking atop the train on page 49 of the fall edition of Nebraska Quarterly.

The Skimm Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin were keynote speakers Oct. 6 at the Nebraska Women’s Leadership Network fall conference. The New York-based media mavens launched their daily email newsletter, theSkimm, in 2012 and now boast 5 million subscribers. They spoke with the standingroom only crowd at the Wick Center about maxing out their credit cards and working from the couch of their shared apartment in their early days. Their persistence in pursuing investors and hitting a sweet spot with millennial women ultimately paid off.

Tom Osborne

Football Friday at the Wick Center Former head football coach, Tom Osborne, shared his memories from the 1997 National Championship game during an Oct. 6 pep rally in advance of the Wisconsin football game. Members of the 1997 National Championship Football Team returned to Lincoln in October to be honored on the 20th anniversary of winning the Sears Trophy.

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Mea culpa: The September issue cover art was illustrated by Jonathan Bartlett.

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AD Why are you here?

This question is posed to rows of new faces in campus classrooms each year — freshman classes of the Nebraska College Preparatory Academy (NCPA). At one time, Alyssia Casillas was one of those faces. Now, she’s a Nebraska graduate and a dental hygienist who also earned a degree from UNMC. NCPA provides first-generation and low-income students from select Nebraska high schools with support to help them achieve personal and academic excellence. Alyssia says it was a big reason for her success. “It helped me defy the odds.” NCPA is also a fundraising priority through Our Students, Our Future, a university initiative to raise $200 million in support of NU’s most important resource: its students. Through this effort, the university is helping Nebraska and the nation by creating a smart, educated workforce of the future. Join us in transforming young lives by supporting students and the programs that greatly benefit their learning. Your generous gift will positively impact students now and long into the future. Give today by going to nufoundation.org/ourstudentsourfuture or calling 1-800-432-3216. Our Students, Our Future ends Dec. 31, 2017.

17 19 20

DORM DOWN

GOING UP

Cather-Pound Halls set for destruction.

Student enrollment hits an all-time high.

DEVOUR

BIG PLAY

Paint-your-own cookie in a corny T-shirt.

Homecoming king pops the question.

WINTER EDUCATION AND HUMAN SCIENCES

Help Is On the Way

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david plunkert

hen a rural Nebraska teenager attempted suicide many years ago, the teen’s school superintendent reached out to Nebraska Extension for leads on mental health services. That plea for help found its way to Richard Bischoff, chairperson of the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies (CYAF). The outcome was an innovative and effective tele-mental health program that now serves patients in four communities and is helping overcome mental health disparity in rural Nebraska. “After being released from the hospital, that young person had a three-month wait to get mental health services,” says Bischoff. “That Sandhills community had trouble attracting even a school counselor, and we found other rural communities were also having a hard time finding mental health services.” So, in 2008, Bischoff and CYAF colleague Paul Springer successfully applied for a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and were able to build a mental health therapy model using NET Television’s distance learning network connected to rural schools. Master’s degree students in the Marriage and Family Therapy program provided the therapy, meeting weekly with their patients. Today, patients go to their county medical center and connect over a secure Internet video conferencing system. The program currently serves Albion, Red Cloud, Spring Creek and Superior. Once a month, the student therapists also meet their clients in person and engage with area medical providers to coordinate care. This year, 61 patients have been served and three graduate students have gained valuable experience as mental health therapists. —Brad Stauffer

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Michael Hoff, far right center, with Turkish students who found a Medusa’s head at the Antiochia and Cragum archaelogical site in Turkey during the 2015 dig season. Hoff recently completed his 12th season leading the excavation at the site.

FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS

BIG BRAG

n ongoing, Nebraska-led archaeological dig has continued to define the history of an ancient city on the southern coast of Turkey. Led by Michael Hoff, professor of art history, the summer 2017 dig season at the Antiochia at Cragum excavated three kilns, doubling the number of kilns found at the site. The discovery along with a previously uncovered glass manufacturing workshop — all found in the bath house area of the city — indicate the area served light industrial needs during the late Roman Empire. Hoff, who has directed the excavation since 2005, said it’s not surprising to find that the area had been

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repurposed — from a bath house to a light industrial center — over time. “The bath, we now know, dates to the second half of the first century A.D., so it was among one of the earliest public buildings constructed after the site was founded,” Hoff said. “Like anything, no building lasts forever. So even these buildings can’t serve the same function permanently.” Through historical research, the dig team has learned that the city was invaded by Persians in the year 260, which would have given the bath house about 200 years of life. “We don’t know for sure the Persians destroyed the building, but it’s possible,” Hoff said. “It was probably damaged and repaired.”

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from left: photos courtesy of michael hoff (3)

Nebraska Athletics will contribute $5 million annually for scholarships for UNL students who do not participate in intercollegiate athletics. It will provide the first scholarships for incoming freshman in the 2018-19 school year.

The Big Dig

OVERHEARD “Being closed on Mondays meant the museum was closed for 20 percent of the time classes are in session at the university. That just doesn’t make sense. We are a part of the university and we want to be open and accessible when the students are here. This means we’re open more hours than any other museum in the Big Ten. I like being able to say that to people.”

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND NATURAL RESOURCES

from top right: scott chambers; thinkstock

Textile Style

One excavation goal has been to find the heating system for the Roman baths. “We found a few fragments of the original suspension system that raised the floor to allow the hot gases to circulate underneath,” Hoff said. “But what happened was that the floor itself was destroyed, and these kilns were constructed about halfway down so, to us, that sounds like the building was already out of commission. And if they’re building a kiln inside of it, which needs a lot of space to allow the smoke to escape, we think that the ceiling was probably partly gone.” Hoff said the light industrial use probably dates to late Roman or early Byzantine period, which is between the 5th and 7th centuries. The team has excavated about 40 percent of the bath building. “We have already found six kilns and one glass workshop, so who knows what else we are going to find,” Hoff said. “But this is a pretty massive light industrial center.” —Kathe Andersen

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Yiqi Yang may be a Cornhusker, but if his latest research is any indication, he’s also becoming a dyed-in-the-wool sorghum husker. Yang and Chinese colleagues recently showed that sorghum plant husks could serve as a fade-resistant, UV-shielding dye for wool fabrics. Though sorghum is a cereal grain used for food in some countries, the United States commonly uses it for livestock feed and some biofuel production. “If one could use it as a colorant for textiles, we’re talking about a huge demand,” said Yang, Charles Bessey Professor of biological systems engineering and of textiles, merchandising and fashion design. “This research is helping more than just the textile industry. By finding additional uses for co-products and byproducts, we’re adding value for farmers.” Sorghum-based dyes would also produce less environmental pollution than their synthetic counterparts, the authors said. The researchers initially investigated wool because the fabric contains negative charges that naturally attract and retain the positively charged sorghum-based dye. The dye has also shown promise for other applications, he said, from food additives to cosmetics. —Gina Incontro

—WALLY MASON, Director, Sheldon Museum of Art

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WINTER It was 1963 when students first moved into the new Cather and Pound residence halls. The chancellor at the time was Clifford Hardin who had just hired Bob Devaney as the football coach the previous year.

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DEMOLITION EXHIBITION

Cather-Pound Days Razed

archives and special collections, unl libraries

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The Cather-Pound Residence Hall Complex will come crashing down on Dec. 22 and with it 54 years of college memories. The 13-story towers, which opened in 1963, were Nebraska’s first high-rise student housing facility. Each hall offered 20 rooms per floor with two beds in each room. Capacity for the complex was 960 residents. Construction cost for the Cather-Pound complex was $4 million with financing provided through revenue bonds and not tax monies. The halls were built to help the university handle enrollment gains in the 1960s. When it first opened, Pound was used to house women, Cather was for men. As enrollment increased, the towers were converted to coed living environments. Thomas Broad (’72) moved into Cather 919 in 1966. “It was brand new, and the place to live,” Broad recalls. “There was one television in Willa Cather Hall and fights would break out over whether to watch ‘Star Trek’ or ‘The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.’ I was squarely on the side of the Smothers Brothers because they were against the Vietnam War,” Broad says. Students helped finalize room design plans for Cather and Pound halls. After the project was approved by the University of Nebraska Regents, three full-sized mockups of Cather-Pound rooms were built in Nebraska Hall. Chancellor Clifford Hardin offered students an open invitation to tour the rooms and record their preference between the three designs. A study in 2010 concluded that the cost of renovating the halls was too high when compared to new construction. University Suites and Eastside Suites, which opened in 2013 and 2014, respectively, were built as replacement housing for Cather and Pound halls. Last summer, Nebraska opened the Willa Cather Dining Complex to replace the Cather-Pound Dining Center. Cather Hall closed in 2014, while Pound Hall remained in service through the 2016-17 academic year. The dining facility closed in May. The Cather-Pound site has been designated as a building space on the university’s master plan. However, no immediate plans for a new building have been made and the site will be converted into a temporary green space.

BIG BRAG Michael Forsberg, a wildlife and conservation photographer and assistant professor of practice in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication, received the Ansel Adams Award from the Sierra Club at a September awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

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WINTER OVERHEARD

“While we have experienced a tremendous amount of momentum in the past several years, we do have some significant challenges in maintaining that momentum and accelerating ahead into the future.”

A prototype of the team’s design.

ENGINEERING

Smart Bandage SMARTPHONE-CONTROLLED DESIGN PRECISELY DELIVERS MEDICATION

—CHANCELLOR RONNIE GREEN, at his State of the University address in September

— AMELIA MONTES, associate professor of English and ethnic studies, who earned a Fulbright Scholar Program award to teach in Serbia.

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with different release profiles. That’s a big advantage in comparison with other systems. What we did here was come up with a strategy for building a bandage from the bottom up. The team envisions its smart bandage being used initially to treat chronic skin wounds that stem from diabetes. More than 25 million Americans — and more than 25 percent of U.S. adults 65 and older — could suffer from such wounds. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated that diabetes cases will double or triple by the year 2050. “The medical cost associated with these types of wounds is tremendous,” Tamayol said. “So there is a big need to find solutions for that.” Those wounded in combat might also benefit from the bandage’s versatility and customizability, Tamayol said, whether to stimulate faster healing of bullet and shrapnel wounds or prevent the onset of infection in remote environments. Though the researchers have patented their design, it will need to undergo further animal and then human testing before going to market. That could take several years. —Scott Schrage

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from bottom left: scott chambers (2) ; thinkstock; courtesy of advanced functional materials

“The many ethnic groups in the Balkans have experienced much strife. I want to listen and understand the stories and perspectives from (the native) individuals as well as the immigrants and refugees who have found a home in these countries.”

R e s e a r c h e r s f r o m U N L , H a rva r d Medical School and MIT have designed a smart bandage that could eventually heal chronic wounds or battlefield injuries with every fiber of its being. The bandage consists of electrically conductive fibers coated in a gel that can be individually loaded with infection-fighting antibiotics, tissue-regenerating growth factors, painkillers or other medications. A microcontroller no larger than a postage stamp, which can be triggered by a smartphone or other wireless device, sends small amounts of voltage through a chosen fiber. That voltage heats the fiber and its hydrogel, releasing whatever cargo it contains. A single bandage could accommodate multiple medications tailored to a specific type of wound, the researchers said, while offering the ability to precisely control the dose and delivery schedule of those medications. That combination of customization and control could substantially improve or accelerate the healing process, said Ali Tamayol, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering at Nebraska. “This is the first bandage that is capable of dose-dependent drug release,” Tamayol said. “You can release multiple drugs

RECORD GROWTH

FALL ENROLLMENT:

Going Up

26,079

ENROLLMENT HITS A NEW ALL-TIME HIGH

IN CLU DING A RECO RD 4, 90 5 FI RS T-TIM E FRES HM EN

For the third consecutive year, enrollment at the state’s flagship university has reached a new all-time high. Fall enrollment reached 26,079 students, exceeding the previous enrollment record of 25,897 that was set last year. The one percent increase from 2016 is the fifth straight year of enrollment growth at Nebraska. The university also has the most diverse student body in its history this autumn. “Our superior programs, exceptional faculty and proven ability to prepare our graduates for success continues to power our unprecedented growth,” Chancellor Ronnie Green said. “I have often said that our university is the DNA of the state and an increasingly essential gateway to a more successful, more prosperous Nebraska. When there is positive enrollment news for the university, it is also positive news for our state.” Colleges leading in enrollment growth included the College of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering. In the past decade, the university’s overall enrollment has increased by 11 percent. In-state enrollment remains strong. Nebraska-resident students at all levels number 17,597. —Steve Smith

BIG BRAG Nebraska volleyball head coach John Cook has been selected to the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame class of 2017. The induction ceremony will be held in Kansas City in December.

5th Straight Year Of Enrollment Growth!

ARCHITECTURE

peter hoey

Give Me Shelter Under the direction of associate professor Nathan Bicak, student teams were asked to design and prototype portable homeless shelters. “Taking a design proposal through the prototype process is a powerful way to make ideas real and test them through actual applications. Plus, the participatory design process helps students empathize with users who offer unique perspectives and experiences,” Bicak says. Bicak was published in the September issue of Journal of Interior Design. The article titled, “The

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Design and Testing of a Student Prototyped Homeless Shelter” was written in collaboration with Dr. Joan Dickinson of Radford University. Dickinson invited Bicak to assist with the project as a design build adviser and consultant because of his interest in improving the human condition and his experience with project construction and prototype development. The article presents an exploratory study detailing the students’ experiences and challenges designing, building and testing a portable shelter on a sample of homeless

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WINTER Nathan Bicak shares his homeless shelter prototype research.

men to address the growing needs of the unsheltered. Building the prototype wasn’t without hurdles. In order to meet the needs of the shelter dwellers, much consideration was needed for the selection and manipulation of appropriate materials. The design had to be portable, lightweight, low-cost and weatherproof. Several common structural and cladding materials were far too heavy and rigid to be transformed into a collapsible prototype. In addition to material restrictions, other project outcomes surprised the researchers as well. For example, feedback from the homeless participants who tested the shelter, thought that mobility shouldn’t be a key factor in the shelter design; rather, they all agreed that being able to collapse and hide it somewhere was more important. Interviews with the participants suggested that concepts of adaptability, control, privacy, security and dignity were important features to consider. This list of criteria varied some-

what from the students’ original research. Bicak said research design exercises like this are great learning tools not only for students, but for all designers. In the end, Bicak hopes projects like this will empower students and other designers to use the skills and design knowledge they have to respond to social problems and make a positive impact. —Kerry McCullough-Vondrak

FIRST LOOK

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associates

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gallagher

After being closed to the public for more than 50 years, the fourth level of the 1920s-era Morrill Hall is being transformed into state-of-the-art exhibits using modern technology. The pricetag for the project sits at $11.4 million — all privately funded. A state-of-the-art digital exhibit, the Sustainable Earth gallery will feature a 6-foot-diameter projection globe. Visitors will learn about Earth’s interrelated processes and the cause-and-effect relationships of natural and human impacts. The globe will be used for K-12 education programs and by university faculty in undergraduate and graduate level courses. Construction began in September with plans to open to the public in February 2019.

DEVOUR IN HUSKER COUNTRY

Listen

Student-Curated Spotify Playlist: Ice Cream Bro In 2015, students from the Jeffery S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management launched a unique business. Every Thursday, Ice Cream Bro employees take orders for pints of ice cream and deliver them to students on campus. Team members of Ice Cream Bro curated a delicious Spotify playlist of their favorite songs to listen to while making deliveries. Learn more at icecreambro.com.

Wear

Corny Shirt With this ultimate Cornhusker shirt, you can have your corn and wear it too! This shirt is available exclusively at the Husker Shop which has just opened its newest location within the College of Business. The store is, not only run by students, but also was designed by interior design students. Retail: $39.99

Eat

charley morris

Buy

UNL Dairy Store Varsity Basket The UNL Dairy Store produces an array of cheeses along with its famous ice cream. Made in-house, the Varsity Basket includes eight delectable cheeses, two sausage varieties, crackers and local Lincoln honey. Retail: $59.99

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Paint Your Own Cookie The paint-it-yourself line of cookies by Sugar Sunflower Bakery makes it possible to tap into your creativity.Painting is easy with the dots surrounding the design serving as your color palette and a water droplet activating them, plus the paintbrush is included. To see where these sweet goodies will be sold next, visit facebook.com/thesugarsunflowerbakery.

Read

What is Gone by Amy Knox Brown Lincoln, Nebraska, and the UNL campus are characters in their own right in Amy Knox Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new memoir. Brown grew up in the capital city in the 1960s and tells her tale of the safety she felt in her Midwestern cocoon, but she is thrust into adulthood in 1985 when she is raped in midtown Omaha. Later, while teaching at UNL in the fall of 1992, freshman Candice Harms disappears one night. Brown juxtaposes the two stories while grappling with her own internal narrative of her hometown.

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BIG BRAG

craig chandler

The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska has gained a strong ally in its mission to ensure water and food security, welcoming Howard W. Buffett to its board of directors.

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HOMECOMI NG She Said ‘Yes’ It was a win-win-win for seniors Shayne Arriola and Laura Springer on Sept. 23 when they were named homecoming king and queen. After being crowned on the field at Memorial Stadium during halftime, Arriola surprised his girlfriend of three and a half years by dropping to a knee to propose in front of the sell-out crowd. “She said it was her dream to be proposed to on Tom Osborne Field because we’re both big Huskers fans,” Arriola told the Daily Nebraskan. “And I wanted to make her dreams come true.”

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WINTER LAW

Making Ideas Happen

BIG BRAG For the first time in three years, UNL has at least one student from all 93 counties in Nebraska.

Law students have two new ways to practice intellectual property law, while providing area entrepreneurs and inventors the help they need with applications and issues through a partnership with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Brett Stohs, the Cline Williams Director of the Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic, said students will gain experience drafting and filing trademark applications for their clinic’s clients. Authorized to practice before the federal patent and trademark office under faculty supervision, they also will gain expe-

rience answering “office actions” — when USPTO raises an issue with a client’s application — and communicating with trademark examining attorneys for applications that they have filed. Clients will also benefit, receiving priority service from dedicated program examiners at the trademark office. The college has also become a complete resource for inventors looking for help with trademark filings and preliminary patentability searches. The Schmid Law Library has become the state’s Patent and Trademark Resource Center.

JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATONS “We are thankful that Mutual of Omaha has chosen Nebraska Innovation Campus to help drive their innovation and talentacquisition efforts. We are especially grateful that they are helping to sponsor a space for students and faculty to interact at NIC.”

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The Nonprofit Hub has partn e r e d w i t h Ja c h t A d L a b t o help bring nonprofits to Jacht. Randy Hawthorne (’92), executive director of Nonprofit Hub, planted the seed with Amy Struthers three years ago. Struthers is the founder of Jacht Ad Lab and a professor at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. “I’ve always enjoyed creating partnerships with students,” Hawthorne said. “Jacht is a great program and vision to be a part of. I’m impressed with the level of innovation I see at Jacht because that is something we are interested in at the Nonprofit Hub. I reached out to Amy about a potential partnership because she is a strong advocate for the community and her students.” Struthers is trying to meet her students’ needs through the partnership with the Nonprofit Hub.

“Our curriculum is constantly moving forward, racing forward to keep pace with the changes in our industries,” Struthers said. The Nonprofit Hub was started as an online resource for nonprofits. It focuses on changing the “nonprofit mentality” that organizations should focus on diverse ways to fund and promote their mission. Hawthorne is also hoping students will be able to use what they are learning through the partnership as they move forward in their careers. “A d v e r t i s i n g s t u d e n t s w i l l probably work with nonprofits at some point in their careers, either on boards or as employees,” Hawthorne said. “I’m hoping that this partnership will teach students how to run a nonprofit. Overhead isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it gets the mission done.” —Alli Inglebright

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scott chambers

—DAN DUNCAN, Nebraska Innovation Campus Executive Director

Ad Lab Meets Nonprofit Hub

BIG BRAG

ARTS AND SCIENCES

I Will Survive!

thinkstock (2)

EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS RESEARCHERS LAND $4M GRANT TO STUDY ADAPTATION Deer mice that survive in low-oxygen conditions at high altitude. Monkey flowers that bloom in the searing soils of Yellowstone National Park. Snowshoe hares whose coats whiten to provide protective camouflage in winter. These and other species that make themselves at home in difficult environments will guide a new fouryear, $4 million National Science Foundation study from researchers at UNL and the University of Montana. The researchers will aim to better understand how certain genetically based adaptations among animals and plants have evolved in response to environmental challenges. “For a species that’s broadly distributed, different populations may be adapted to different local conditions,” said Jay Storz, Susan J. Rosowski Professor of biological sciences. “We’re looking at ways to figure out the casual connections between information encoded in the genome and the traits involved in those adaptations.” Gaining clearer insights into the genetic basis of physiological traits could eventually help fine-tune efforts to rehabilitate threatened or endangered species, the researchers said. “To protect a habitat that a given species needs,

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you need to have some understanding of how that species is adapted to its environments,” Storz said. “That’s a component of biodiversity that maybe a lot of people don’t think about. This research is relevant to that issue.” The team will analyze the complete genetic instructions, or genomes, of organisms that have proven themselves especially adaptable to difficult conditions. Comparing an organism’s patterns of gene expression with those from other members of its species — or different species with well-mapped genomes — should help the researchers establish more precise links between genetic changes and environment-specific traits. “It might help you narrow down your search of the whole genome to a more targeted set of candidate genes,” said Kristi Montooth, associate professor of biological sciences at Nebraska. “If you can kind of backtrack from the physiology and try to match (those) physiological changes to changes in gene expression, then you may be able to better localize in the genome what changes might be responsible for that (trait). “By doing that, we should learn a lot about basic biology, too.”

UNL has earned a five-year, $3 million National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award to launch an interdisciplinary graduate training program focused on understanding resilience and vulnerability in agricultural landscapes. The goal of the program is to help students and professionals make informed decisions about how to best use limited natural resources as global demands for food, energy and water increase.

—Scott Schrage

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THE PERFECT VENUE FOR

YOU.

Nebraska Innovation Campus Conference Center Wick Alumni Center

Book your event today! The Nebraska Alumni Association has three beautiful venues available to the public for events of any size. • Located on campus • Perfect for wedding receptions, holiday parties, conferences, meetings and special occasions • Accommodation for groups from 10 to 400 • Wide variety of food and beverage options with first-class preferred caterers For more information and pricing, call 402-472-6435 or email venues@huskeralum.org.

Nebraska Champions Club

What happens to UNL students when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is phased out? Does ‘Call of the Corn’ heroine, Laura, reunite with her estranged husband? How will the much-needed mental health benefits be cut when the Affordable Care Act is dismantled?

photo ©sheldon museum of art

SHARING THE VIEWPOINTS OF OUR ALUMNI, FACULTY AND STUDENTS

ODILI DONALD ODITA PASSAGE (DETAIL) Acrylic on canvas, 2010, 84 x 109 inches SHELDON MUSEUM OF ART, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN, ROBERT E. SCHWESER AND FERN BEARDSLEY SCHWESER ACQUISITION FUND, U–5638.2011

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Politics

Immigration Complication The phasing out of the DACA program affects approximately 3,700 children in Nebraska and more than 50 UNL students. What’s next? B Y KEV IN RUSER ( ’75, ’79) Richard and Margaret Larson Professor of Law and M.S. Hevelone Professor of Law and Director of Clinical Programs

n September, the Trump Administration announced that it intends to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The President’s announcement, although not unexpected, leaves DACA recipients in a state of legal limbo. So, what’s the big deal? Why don’t these youth just “get in line” and immigrate legally? The short answer is that there is no line to “get into.” Let me explain. Those with DACA status that expires before March 5, 2018, had until Oct. 5, 2017, to renew their status for an additional two years. Those whose status expires March 6, 2018, or later will lose their status as of the date it expires. Under the DACA program, the details of which are discussed below, approximately 800,000 undocumented youth who were brought into the United States without documentation as children were permitted to remain in the United States and receive employment authorization. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that the number of children in Nebraska who were DACA-eligible is approximately 3,700. According to a statement from non-profit media and culture orga-

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nization, Define American, “(more than) 50 UNL students have qualified for DACA and that number is significantly higher when all University of Nebraska campuses are included.” This is an issue that my students in the Immigration Clinic at the College of Law and I have been monitoring closely since Jan. 20, because it affects some of the clients we represent in the Immigration Clinic. Law students in the clinical law programs at the College of Law have been representing clients in immigration cases under my supervision since the late 1980s, when the clinic received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help clients apply for legalization under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, signed by President Reagan. That Act granted legalization to certain non-citizens who had no legal status and no way to gain such status. As with most issues that relate to immigration, the DACA program has generated its share of controversy. It was adopted as the result of an immigration policy set forth in a memorandum issued by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on June 15, 2012. The effect of DACA was to standardize criteria for granting deferred action to certain undocumented young people. “Deferred action” is a formal decision by the Department of Homeland Security to refrain from trying to remove an individual from the country. It is a form of prosecutorial discretion, a longstanding practice by which immigration authorities decide how to prioritize their limited resources related to deportation. Historically, deferred action was

Why don’t these youth just ‘get in line’ and immigrate legally? The short answer is that there is no line to ‘get into.’ granted to individuals on a case-by-case basis, and was typically based on humanitarian factors presented by each case. Under federal regulations, any individual approved for deferred action is entitled to request employment authorization. One historical example involves individuals married to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents who are abused by their spouses. Such individuals can apply for permanent resident status unilaterally, without the assistance of their abusers. If they are unable to get permanent resident status immediately because of visa backlogs, such applicants are granted deferred action and are entitled to apply for employment authorization until they are eligible to adjust their status. DACA granted deferred action to individuals who

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ERIC GREGORY/Lincoln Journal Star

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met the following criteria: (1) they were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012; (2) they continuously resided in the U.S. since June 15, 2007; (3) they were physically present in the U.S. on June 15, 2012; (4) they had no lawful status on June 15, 2012; (5) they are currently in school, have graduated high school, have a GED, or were honorably discharged from the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the U.S.; and (6) have not been convicted of a felony or a significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety. The impetus for DACA was born out of frustration by Congressâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lack of action regarding the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act, which was first introduced in August 2001 by Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Orrin Hatch of Utah. The DREAM Act would grant permanent resident status to individuals who, roughly speaking, meet the qualifications of those eligible for DACA. Although there was, at least in 2001, a general bi-partisan sense that these youth should be granted some form of relief, that goal has fallen victim to the paralysis that has gripped our political system during the past several years.

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Under current U.S. immigration law, there are essentially two ways in which individuals can become permanent residents (i.e., get their green cards). The first is by way of a qualifying family relationship. Categories of eligible relatives include the spouse, parent, son or daughter of a U.S. citizen, the spouse, son or daughter of a lawful permanent resident, or the brother or sister of a U.S. citizen. Family visa categories other than those related to spouses, minor children, or parents of U.S. citizens are backlogged, with some categories requiring a wait of over 23 years. The second method by which someone can seek to become a permanent resident is by way of an employment-related visa. However, these visas are mostly reserved for individuals with advanced degrees or money to invest in a business. There are some recent indications that President Trump and Congress may be able to agree on legislation that will permanently legalize the status of DACA-eligible youth. But legislative solutions in this area are historically elusive. Until and unless Congress acts, these young peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desires to become a full part of American society will remain a dream deferred.

DACA recipients and supporters rally at the state capitol building in Lincoln on Sept. 5 in the wake of an announcement that the Trump administration is ending the program that protected children brought to the U.S. by their parents from being deported.

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VOICES

Fiction A NOVELLA: PART 4 OF 4

The Call of the Corn Laura reflects on her life with estranged husband, Ty, as she takes the grammar show on the road BY AD HUDLER ( ’ 86) ILLUST RATION B Y BRI AN STAUFFER

n the long, solitary car rides across the country, Laura found herself talking to the six Chihuahuas, who were scattered around the minivan, sleeping in whatever cozy spots they could find. Richard had always insisted they ride in their crates, but Laura couldn’t bear to keep them penned up for hours at a time. It comforted her to see them in vulnerable repose, like sleeping babies. Richard had decided to leave the act after their performance in Kearney. The fire in the hotel room and the overall, celebrity pace of their lives had burned him out. He ceded all control of The Comma Cowboy Show to Laura, even giving her the dogs and their punctuation-mark costumes — all but Lucius, the original cast member and oldest Chihuahua, whom he couldn’t part with. “Does this mean you’re coming home?” asked Ty, her husband, one evening on the phone. “No can do,” Laura said. “The demise of the English language is nigh.” “Come on, Laura — you’ve been gone half a year.

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When’s your little adventure going to end?” “My ... little adventure has become my calling, Ty. This is the new normal.” “And where do I fit into this?” “That’s for you to decide.” “Quit being cryptic, Laura.” “Why don’t you come out and join me? … Join the act?” “Be serious.” “I am. Come join me. You’re retired, for God’s sake. You can only play so much golf.” A month had passed since this conversation, and they had not spoken since. And though Laura was busy trying to salvage what was left of the show — bookings had been dropping since Richard had left the act; evidently his good looks had been more of a draw with the teachers than she’d realized — she did begin to think more and more of her previous life, in Rochester. She’d always found long, solitary drives to be meditative. Thoughts would bubble upward, into her consciousness, and she’d consider them for awhile before they floated away, like helium balloons, into what she thought was the universal mind, the cosmos, the collective ball of energy created by every living being on the planet. She’d read long ago that Thomas Edison recognized that every thought was an electrical occurrence in the brain and that something had to happen to this electrical energy, it had to go somewhere. Laura believed that all these thoughts floated up into the universal mind, and those earthlings who were prescient enough could tap into that invisible body of information and pick up morsels of what others had said or thought. How else could people intuit that someone was about to call them on the phone? (“Oh! I was just thinking about you!”) It had been far too long since she’d had uninterrupted reflection time to herself. Even with the boys now grown and in college, Ty still wanted her attention — he despised being alone. All moms, all wives suffered from it: Reflection Famine. As Laura drove down I-75, toward Knoxville, she freed her mind, letting her eyes catch a detail on the landscape that jostled loose a memory of something done, something said … … a blown, shredded tire from an 18-wheeler, lying on the shoulder of the road … like road kill … dead animals … dead pets … the time Ty had their pug, Max, put to sleep when she and the boys were in Albany at a soccer match. … She was livid that he’d done it without them, but in hindsight she realized he was trying to protect his family from the pain of euthanizing their sick, 17-year-old dog … He and Max had been inseparable; Max’s bed sat beside Ty’s desk in the den. Twice, shortly after his death, Laura walked into the study and found Ty wearing

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Fiction A NOVELLA: PART 4 OF 4

his Ray Ban sunglasses. “Two kinds of people wear thrilled to be far enough south that she could find sunglasses inside,” she told him. “Blind people and a Chick-fil-A. She ate lunch, watered the dogs, A-holes.” … Harsh, she now realized, way too harsh. dressed them in their costumes, then drove to the “Do-over,” she said out loud, to the Chihuahuas school for her performance. amongst her. “I want a do-over on that one.” … “Where’s the Comma Cowboy?” asked the prinHer dad had once told her, before he died, that she cipal, a woman in her 40s. was hard on Ty, that she was hard on everyone. “I “I thought you knew — he’s on a leave of absence.” don’t accept mediocrity,” she’d told him. “Well,” he “Can you … can you do everything he can do?” answered, “maybe you’d be happier if you did.” the principal asked. “The lasso and all that?” … a billboard for Risque Adult Superstore … her A few weeks earlier she would have had to lie, sex life with Ty … not great for many years … but was but Laura, who’d always relied on Richard to proanyone’s sex life great with children? How often was vide the lively roping, had gotten an immersion it possible to hook up when you had three boys runlesson one afternoon from a cowboy she met at the ning in and out of the house all day Hoof ’n’ Horn restaurant, adjaand night? And then … when they cent to a livestock sale barn outfinally had some energy and time side Goodland, Kansas. They followed Ty’s for intimacy and she no longer had The show was harder to pull to worry about cooking and cleanoff with one person. Laura had to career. Now it was ing for four men, and they both rely on someone from the school her turn to live had reached middle-age, when to release the dogs on cue, and people finally accept their physical it had been difficult propping up where she wanted, shortcomings and let their vanity the energy level created by two wane … they had time to re-dispeople working together. But and maybe there cover each other in that way — without Richard, she was able would never be a sinand yet they hadn’t … to drop the whole dreary poetry … a cow, who’d gotten loose portion of the show and replace gle place where she from the pasture, eating grass on it with more songs, which the the side of the interstate … How’d audience loved. felt the need to put she get out? Her guitar strap around her down roots. … Free spirit … All animals want neck, Laura was in the middle of to break free — it’s their nature singing “Don’t Let Your Words — or was it? What about Maddie, Flow” (a tune about the perils of their cat? She’d been brought home from the shelter run-on sentences, sung to the tune of the Bellamy without front claws, which meant she had to stay Brothers’ “Let Your Love Flow”) when she looked inside … Only once did she dart out the front door, up and saw, leaning with arms folded, on the back and even then she looked left, looked right, hesitated wall … her husband. for a moment then ran back inside, where she was How long had he been there? Where did he content to stay the rest of her life. come from? … Not me, Laura thought. She never wanted to He stood, watching the rest of the show, and at live in New York. They followed Ty’s career. Now it the very end, two of the Chihuahuas, Flora in the was her turn to live where she wanted, and maybe exclamation mark costume and Rodney in the em there would never be a single place where she felt dash, rushed over to Ty and began sniffing and the need to put down roots … Or was she kidding licking at his shoes. He bent down to pet the dogs herself ? What normal upper-middle-class woman as the auditorium emptied of children. refuses to engage with a community? … Maybe she “It’s too weird that they singled you out like never could be happy living in one place. They’d that,” Laura said, coiling her rope as she walked been a corporate family all her life as a child, living toward him. “And what, pray tell, are you doing in in six different states before returning to settle in Knoxville, Tennessee?” Blair. And then she was stuck in upstate New York “Came to see your show,” he said. for two decades, never really feeling at home. … No. She sensed that he was moving in to hug her; she She could not go back. Rochester had been all right, squatted down and picked up one of the dogs and but she found the people there to be smug to the held him at her chest. point of incuriousness. Yes, Nebraskans could be Laura stood there, silent and petting the dog, as unworldly, but they were curious about the world she scrutinized her husband’s face. Somewhere about them. You had to be curious when you lived deep inside this person was the man she fell in love in a land of overwhelming, breathtaking sparseness. with long ago. It was impossible to change comThree hours later, she arrived in Knoxville, pletely as you aged — wasn’t it? Wouldn’t the child,

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VOICES the teenager, the frat boy inside always be there, around a corner, beneath a rock, stashed deep in a basement? Could she mine those parts of her husband once again — or was it too late? Could she forgive him his indiscretions and give him a chance to start something with her, anew? They stood there, saying nothing, staring into each others’ eyes for longer than they ever had, beaming silent questions: Will she? … Can I? … Would he? There was something … softer in his gaze, she realized, a look she’d never seen before; the coursing river had tapered down into a meandering brook. Was this the look of retirement? Of resignation? Of … compromise? “I’m not going back with you — you know that, right?” she said. “Not expecting you to,” he answered. “I had some time. Saw you were heading south on your tour. Augusta, too. Always wanted to see where they play the Masters.” “I don’t trust your motives, Ty,” she said. “I miss you, Laura. That’s all. I miss you. … Don’t you miss me?” She sighed and looked downward. “I miss … us,” she finally said. “And I suppose you are part of that equation.” Ty smiled. “I’ll take that,” he said.

“But I’m the boss,” she said. “You have to do what I say.” “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” he said. “Smarter,” she corrected him. After crating the dogs and breaking down the props, Ty helped her load everything into the van. “Where’s your car?” she asked him. “I Ubered from the airport,” he answered. “Suitcase?” “I can buy whatever I need.” Laura smiled. “What?” he asked. “That’s so unlike you,” she said. “To come unprepared.” Ty opened the van door for his wife. “So … can I come along?” he asked. Laura pulled Safety Man’s aviator sunglasses from her purse and put them on. “Where is he?” Ty asked. “Hmmm?” “The glasses are his, right? Safety Man’s? … Is he still around?” Laura looked at herself in the rear-view mirror, her husband resting on his elbows on the van door, looking in. “He had a meltdown in Kearney,” Laura answered. “I had to let him go.”

Through The Alumni Insurance Program®, Huskers can take advantage of insurance plans that stay with you when you need them most, unlike many employer plans. Call 1-800-922-1245 today or visit www.TheAIP.com/nebraska for a full list of products including Life, Dental, Vision, ID Theft, and Travel.

7PB

Health Care

Protecting Our Head Space The dismantling of the Affordable Care Act may have dire consequences for those seeking mental health benefits B Y DANIEL E. DAW ES ( J . D. ’ 06) Attorney and author of the book 150 Years of Obamacare

he day after the 2016 presidential election, I fought off the urge to cancel a scheduled speech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln because I was so preoccupied with the reality that President-elect Donald Trump might fulfill his promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). From a health equity perspective, the implications of this election were clear — advocates would now be consumed with fighting to preserve the gains they had made in health policy and law. The big question was whether opponents of the Affordable Care Act would be able to follow through and successfully repeal the longest surviving health reform law in America, which provided the greatest expansion of mental health reforms. The protections in the ACA stretch across all geographic, socioeconomic, racial, gender and age groups, all of which have benefitted from passage of the law. Indeed, there are several improvements needed that will help solve the primary complaints about the law, including rising costs and premiums. However, this does not constitute a full repeal, rather a bipartisan repair plan. The ACA provides protections not only for a family’s primary care and preventive care, it goes

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deeper into tackling some of the country’s most pressing issues: namely, the opioid epidemic and mental health services. In Chancellor Ronnie’s Green’s State of the University address in September he noted the increased mental health needs of the university community, particularly students, as one of the significant challenges facing UNL. Mental health issues are not new nor is the attempt to include them as an essential benefit in health insurance — actually, it’s about 150 years old. My book, 150 Years of Obamacare, chronicles the tireless efforts of mental health champions like schoolteacher Dorothea Dix who assiduously labored to increase access to and improve mental health services in the United States. In 1854, after much work from Dix and other advocates, Congress passed The Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane, which was promptly vetoed by President Franklin Pierce. Afterward, the federal government managed to only address mental health policy issues in piecemeal fashion until President Jimmy Carter signed a mental health act into law in 1979. Unfortunately, he lost the election and President Reagan set about dismantling many of the achievements of the Carter administration, including the comprehensive mental health reforms. In the decades that followed, the federal government passed and implemented additional piecemeal legislation aimed at increasing parity between mental health/substance use disorders and physical health. However, it was not until the passage of the ACA that, for the first time in American history, mental health and substance use disorder benefits were mandated as an essential health benefit along with rehabilitative, habilitative, and prevention and wellness coverage. Each year an estimated 44 million Americans experience mental health conditions. For the first and longest time in history, many with mental health and substance use issues now have access to behavioral health services, support and treatments. This is especially critical in light of the fact that behavioral health has a 40 percent impact on one’s overall health status and is a growing area of interest in public health, particularly for many communities challenged by the opioid epidemic. Today, opioid addiction is the leading cause of death for individuals under the age of 50 and one in five individuals struggling with this issue are unable to obtain care. Additionally, major depressive disorder is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in the United States that is associated with considerable impairment in functioning, and it affects approximately 16.1 million adults annually. In the next 20 years,

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jon krause

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depression will be the leading cause of disability worldwide, including the United States. The Affordable Care Act is the longest surviving health reform law in America, providing the greatest expansion of mental health reforms. It extended parity protections and expanded civil rights protections, required that behavioral health be a priority in comparative effectiveness research, promoted the integration of behavioral health and primary care, included depression and substance use screenings as preventive services at no cost to the consumer, expanded school-based health centers

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offering mental health and substance use services, and provided other opportunities for behavioral health outreach and education campaigns. In the face of strong evidence showing that repealing the ACA would jeopardize health care access and protections for millions of Americans, Democrats and Republicans should continue their efforts to repair the ACA to help stabilize the markets, ease the financial burden on Americans, and advance health equity nationally. Being able to access and afford mental healthcare is a right, not a privilege.

Views expressed do not necessarily reflect the official position of the University of Nebraska.

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Seven years and $84 million later all 240,000-square-feet of HOWARD L. HAWKS HALL is a reality â&#x20AC;&#x201D; funded entirely by private donations from 1,500 donors to the building campaign.

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Come in

WE’RE

OPEN BY SHERI IRWIN-GISH (’03)

Photos by Craig Chandler

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IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME.

The College of Business Back to School Bash held on Aug. 18, was the first event held in the new building.

When Donde Plowman, a professor of business and head of the Department of Management at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, accepted the appointment as the ninth dean for the College of Business at Nebraska, she knew there was much work to be done. It was summer of 2010 and before she could even book a moving truck, former Chancellor Harvey Perlman announced the University of Nebraska-Lincoln would become part of the Big Ten Conference the following July. “Joining the Big Ten meant we joined the most distinguished group of public business schools in the world. At that time, the Nebraska College of Business was ranked No. 72 while our peers in the Big Ten ranged from No. 2 to 36. We were small and unknown in many academic circles. We did not know our alumni well and the college had no track record with fundraising,” Plowman says. She knew immediately that she had to figure out a way to get a new building — one that would attract new students and provide them with the modern tools needed to succeed. Instead of sitting around discussing what seemed like disadvantages, Plowman hit the ground running and met with faculty, staff, students and alumni. She worked to increase the college’s resource base while also leading vision and strategy sessions. Soon after, she and her leadership team began hiring new faculty and staff to strengthen offerings for students. Interim Nebraska Business Dean Kathy Farrell tells of those first days, “We started an Honors Academy for high-ability business students with leadership potential and a business minor for non-business majors. We opened a new business-focused Career Services housed at the college to assist with developing resumes and mock interviews, and finding internships and full-time employment after graduation.” New programs in entrepreneurship, supply chain management and business analytics started. Expanded study abroad programs were offered by several different faculty to places in Spain, Uganda and more. “Donde asked us to start a summer program which would encourage first-generation high school juniors to come to the business college and learn about the aspects of business. She wanted them to meet faculty, students, alumni and business partners in our community and stay in residence halls so they had a college experience,” says Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs D’vee Buss. During this time, Plowman also met with leaders at

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the University of Nebraska Foundation, the Capital Campaign Committee and members of the business community. She shared why a new building was needed for Nebraska Business to be competitive in the Big Ten and beyond.

standing students, faculty and staff deserved better,” Hawks says. Soon after, Hawks took a leadership role in supporting the privately funded building.

A FRIEND IN NEBRASKA

Back in 2008, before Plowman entered the scene, former Business Dean Cynthia Milligan had asked alumni Tonn Ostergard (’81), CEO and Chairman of Crete Carrier Corp., and his wife, Holly (’80), to serve as chairs of the Capital Campaign for the College of Business. This was one part of the overall Campaign for Nebraska. “At the start of our business campaign, the lofty goal of $28 million was primarily for scholarships and professorships. Frankly, I was worried about raising even that much. A new building was not even on the drawing board at that point,” Tonn Ostergard says. He thought success was improbable until two years later, when Plowman arrived. Her mantra, “Start Something,” and her compelling story began to gain traction with University leadership. Former President of the University of Nebraska J.B. Milliken and Perlman were supportive of the project; however, public funds were not available. “It was abundantly clear the project would require 100 percent private support. A team worked on the building design and visited other business schools while Donde and the foundation team worked tirelessly to raise $84 million for the largest privately-funded project in the history of the University. Truly amazing,” Ostergard explains. “At lunch with two of my closest friends, Mike Dunlap (’86 and ’88), and Jim Abel, we decided we had to make sure this dream became a reality. We recognized the importance of this project for Lincoln and the state. That day, we agreed to collectively make the largest gift to the project to show the commitment of the Lincoln business community to the University,” Ostergard said. The news of having a building built by so many supportive alumni for future alumni spread. Interest grew as the Communications, Marketing and External Relations team at the college shared news about the building through stories and videos. A camera was placed on the Pershing Military and Naval Science Building located northwest of the new building site and live footage of the construction process was shared on the website. Two photos were taken daily, which also allowed for a timelapse video to be shared. “We selected Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture of Omaha to design the building, and later, Hausmann Construction was selected to construct the building,” Plowman says. “The excitement was palpable.” At the official groundbreaking in March 2015, Ellen Weissinger, emeritus senior vice chancel-

While still in Tennessee, Plowman received a call about going to lunch with a man named Howard Hawks who wanted to introduce her to some friends. She didn’t know him, but soon learned he was a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and a 1957 alumnus of the College of Business.

“The need for a new building to educate the next generation of Nebraska’s business leaders was obvious. The former building was built in 1917. I was there in the 1950s „ and I have to tell you, it felt old then.

—HOWARD HAWKS

Howard Hawks and Donde Plowman, above, celebrate their accomplishments at the Building Grand Opening Gala held Oct. 6.

“I accepted having lunch with Howard and he became my first friend in Nebraska before I ever moved here. I didn’t know him, but it was a free lunch,” Plowman explains. A Nebraska native and recipient of the College of Business Lifetime Achievement Award, Hawks is the founder of The Hawks Foundation, a key vehicle for charitable giving. His wife, Rhonda, leads the foundation as president. “The need for a new building to educate the next generation of Nebraska’s business leaders was obvious. The former building was built in 1917. I was there in the 1950s and I have to tell you, it felt old then. There was little opportunity for the kind of interactive learning we know produces the best outcomes. The technology was outdated. Our out-

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CAPITAL PLAYERS

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

The Stats 240,000 square feet of space more than doubling the collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s old building

48,000

cubic yards of soil removed

11,302

cubic yards of castin-place concrete

2,056 tons of steel

651 doors

restrooms

classrooms

breakout rooms

conference rooms

seminar rooms

auditoriums

showers

trading room with Bloomberg terminals

computer lab Â

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

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lor of academic affairs, said, “I’ve taken to saying that the most interesting place in Nebraska is the straight line between Donde Plowman and wherever she is headed.” As if to prove her right, Plowman herself was seen on an excavator at the new building site at 14th and Vine streets in a hard hat and boots a few weeks later. Staff said she was willing to do whatever it took to get the project done. A Topping Off Beam Ceremony was held in April 2016 in conjunction with the college’s advisory board meeting. Approximately 400 people attended and signed the last beam of the project before it was raised. Then in December 2016, a special press conference was held at the college and Chancellor Ronnie Green announced that Plowman would become executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer for the University starting Jan. 1, 2017. Dr. Kathy Farrell, who had served as the chair of the Department of Finance, was named interim dean. She served as associate dean of the college for four years and came to Nebraska in 1993. Though a time of transition, construction continued and in early August, more than 250 faculty and staff moved to 730 N. 14 th St. 11 days before classes began. In the end, more than 1,500 gifts were received for the building. The names of all who donated can be seen when entering the northwest side of the building under the blue cube. All are listed on a digital screen in an ongoing loop. Among many new features in Hawks Hall is a 1,700-square-foot, student-run Huskers Shop, which is a partnership with Nebraska Athletics and

A Family Legacy On the first floor of the new College of Business, in room 115, there is a

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2,165-square-foot, eightroom space labeled Clifton Strengths Institute. The institute provides enhanced training, education, workshops and coaching on strengths-based leadership; early identification of high-achieving students with leadership and entrepreneurial abilities in the Nebraska

Builders Program and research support for faculty and students. The late Don Clifton was a three-time alumnus and for two decades a popular instructor and researcther at the university where he began studying people’s strengths. Clifton’s work at UNL is the origin of the now world-famous science and practice of strengths-based leadership. “My dad was born on a humble sheep farm in Butte, Nebraska. A regent scholar born with a little higher IQ than everyone else, he was a master teacher. He loved teaching kids. What he noticed was that weaknesses don’t turn into strengths. For

40 years, nobody listened to him, but he never gave up,” shared Don’s son, Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO of Gallup. Don served as chair of Selection Research Inc. and then chair of Gallup. His research led to the CliftonStrengths assessment (formerly known as Clifton StrengthsFinder), released online in 1999, which helps millions of people worldwide discover, understand and maximize their innate talents. Used by most Fortune 500 companies, Clifton StrengthsFinder also can be found in hundreds of schools and universities throughout the world.

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“For the fall of 2017, the College of Business leads all colleges at Nebraska in new freshmen students among those who have declared a major. It’s a good place to be and we’re really driving „ enrollment at the University.

—INTERIM DEAN KATHY FARRELL

The student-run Huskers Shop uses sales data in a variety of business courses.

merchandiser Fanatics. The sales data from the shop will be used in a variety of business courses. The building also houses the largest auditorium on campus with 385 seats and Yes Chef Café, which is owned and operated by alumni who met in college and wrote the plan in a business entrepreneurship course (see story, page 56). This fall, enrollment increased by 35 percent over fall 2010. As in past years, much of the increase is due to first-time freshmen. This year a 14.9 percent increase was recorded from 2016-17 with 839 firsttime freshmen joining the college as of September. – 3,918 undergraduate students and 544 graduate students. Additionally, more than 1,000 business minors who are non-business students take courses at the college. Their majors range from engineering to nutrition to athletic training. “Our enrollment has grown significantly over the past five years at the undergraduate and graduate levels,” says Farrell. “We’ve supported growth at the University as a whole and that’s without having students see our fabulous new building that’s now in place. For the fall of 2017, the College of Business

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

leads all colleges at Nebraska in new freshmen students among those who have declared a major. It’s a good place to be and we’re really driving enrollment at the University.” A few weeks later, on Sept. 12, the College of Business climbed to No. 45 in the U.S News & World Report rankings for undergraduate business programs. Up three spots from last year’s ranking, the increase continues the upward trend for the college and provides context for how other schools view the college, as they are compiled in part based on peer assessment surveys. Among public business colleges, Nebraska was No. 27. Plowman, who now watches the progress of the college from another office on campus, says, “The transformation of the College of Business and the completion of this building was no miracle. It happened because of the courage of our faculty and staff to set audacious goals, to start something bigger than they had ever imagined or probably felt comfortable with. It happened because our alumni and friends put their faith in the college and shared their resources to make this happen.”

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ALL HAIL

HER BY ANDREW STEWART (â&#x20AC;&#x2122;08)

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RBIE Some would argue he is as synonymous with the university as the letter

PHOTOS BY CRAIG CHANDLER N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

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In the pantheon of one-name stars, the music world has Madonna, Sting, Cher and Bono. But for those who sing a Husker tune, the name Herbie is all you need.

Described as someone with the personality of an 8-year-old boy, Lil’ Red is far more precocious than Herbie and appeals to the little kids. Herbie, who is more of the suave charmer, connects with the college crowd.

For generations, he has become the personification of pride and nostalgia. He is also a symbol of humility and good sportsmanship. He is Herbie Husker. Debuting in 1974, Herbie Husker comes with a storied past that includes many different incarnations and redesigns, as well as a slew of predecessors dating back to the late 19th century. “He’s not just a farm boy,” says UNL’s Spirit Squad Manager Marlon Lozano, who spent three years performing as Herbie in the early 1990s. “He’s in touch with the world, but he’s still a proud Husker fan — probably the No. 1 fan.” During Nebraka’s inaugural football season in 1890, the team was known as the Old Gold Knights, which would continue to carry the banner for Nebraska football until 1899 when the University decided it needed to distinguish itself from the similarly gold-clad University of Iowa. The following year, Nebraska changed its colors to scarlet and cream, followed by an official rebranding as the Cornhuskers — a term devised by sports editor Charles (Cy) Sherman, who is commonly referred to by historians as the Father of the Cornhuskers, according to Deb Klebe White, a 1980 alumna and former Yell Squad member who is writing a book on the history of Herbie Husker. “Back then, a football team already identified itself with a name and a color,” White explains. “Since the Old Gold Knights, they had been using Bug Eaters, Tree Planters, all of these strange names, but nothing gelled.” It wasn’t until fall 1955 when Nebraska debuted its first official mascot, a half-ear of corn with tassels worn as a headpiece, complete with green overalls dubbed Corncob Man. In the early 1960s, it was decided that a truer representation of a Nebraskan

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was born making Nebraska one of the few universities to feature two official mascots. Measuring in at 8-feet, 4-inches-tall, Lil’ Red marked the first inflatable mascot to be used in either college or professional sports. Described as someone with the personality of an 8-year-old boy, Lil’ Red is far more precocious than Herbie Husker, designed to appeal to younger fans. “His primary goal is to make you laugh,” says Erynn Nicholson Butzke, head coach of the Spirit Squad. Butzke, a 2003 graduate, says that while the two mascots are not meant to be related, they are considered best friends. For anyone at UNL who works with the mascots directly, it is that kind of honest treatment of these characters — as if they were living, breathing entities — that has grounded them in a real sense of time and place, enriching the overall experience for fans throughout the years. “I call it superhero syndrome,” Butzke says. “That little bit of magic hasn’t ever changed.”

BREATHING LIFE INTO HERBIE

For fans, watching Herbie and Lil’ Red in action is often a thrilling experience — and one that stays consistent from week to week, year to year. For those behind the mask, that’s purposeful. So much so that the identities of the players inside the costumes remain a secret for as long as possible. A

The Evolution of Herbie

1955

CORNCOB MAN

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1960s

HUSKIE THE HUSKER

Early 1970s

MR. BIG RED (AKA HARRY HUSKER)

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from left: archives and special collections, unl libraries (5); craig chandler

was needed. Insert Huskie the Husker — a 10-foottall costumed person dressed in a plaid shirt, with jean-bib overalls and a straw bucket for a hat. Huskie walked the sidelines until 1970 when ticket manager, Jim Pittenger, and sports information director, Don Bryant, acquired rights to an illustration of a cartoon by artist Bill Goggin depicting a Husker fan called Mr. Big Red (aka Harry Husker). That design, too, was short-lived as the costume’s massive fiber glass head was too large to fit on the team bus, according to White, measuring 5-feet, 8-inches-tall and weighing 70 pounds. Nebraska officially retired Mr. Big Red in 1988, though not before introducing the world to Herbie Husker in 1974, resulting in a 14-year span during which both mascots co-existed. Herbie underwent many different looks throughout the 1970s and 1980s — which included one redesign by a former Disney artist named Bob Johnson in the late 1970s. The current, brown-haired Herbie Husker, introduced in 2003, was spearheaded by former athletic director Steve Pederson. His red cowboy hat, red work shirt, blue jeans and work boots aimed to update the overall appearance of the state’s agricultural workers and general public, according to Lozano. During that time, however, the need for a second mascot emerged as the three athletic teams that traditionally requested a mascot appearance — football, basketball and volleyball — increasingly played games simultaneously. Thus in 1993, Lil’ Red

2017 graduate who spent his senior year as Herbie Husker and who has asked to stay anonymous for this article (here, we’ll simply call him Herbie17), describes his time on the squad “as one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I remember the first time I saw my reflection as Herbie,” Herbie17 says, “and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I’m really representing the whole state right now. This is amazing.’” Herbie17 describes his group of fellow mascot players as “a pretty close-knit group,” often needing to work together choreographing similar moves in order to maintain consistency, regardless of who is in the costume. Lozano agrees that consistency is one of the most important aspects of the job. In fact, Lozano says that when he was a performer, he had become so astute at mimicking one of his counterparts that during one game, Lozano unintentionally created trouble for his partner with his partner’s girlfriend. “Herbie was flirting with the girl next to him,” Lozano recalls. “She thought it was her boyfriend (inside the suit), but really it was me.” It’s that attention to detail — shoulders back, chin up — and an adherence to the character’s unique personality traits that helps color the overall experience, says Butzke. Along with being a bit of a ladies’ man, Lozano adds that Herbie is “cool, calm and collected” — characteristics that have been part of the mascot’s DNA from the very beginning.

“You have to remember that you are the center of attention so everything you do has to be big. Whether you’re laughing, sad or upset — everything is exaggerated.”

—MARLON LOZANO, former Herbie Husker

Lil’ Red, on the other hand, allowed for much more freedom in developing his persona. Lozano, who was one of the first two players ever to wear the inflatable suit, remembers his first encounter as Lil’ Red and describes the mascot as a true pioneer in the field: “We took it as a challenge,” he says. “We just started playing with it. I think we were ready for something new — to give him a personality of his own.” Lozano says that in the beginning it took him and his partner six months to perfect Lil’ Red’s now famous headstand trick. “Now it can be done in less than 10 seconds,” he says.

1974

1987

2003

HERBIE HUSKER INTRODUCED

A MORE SCULPTURED HEAD

BROWN HAIR AND A NEW WARDROBE

BLONDE-HAIRED, OVERALL-CLAD

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HERBIE’S LOOK CHANGES WITH

HERBIE GETS A MAKEOVER INCLUDING

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FINER POINTS

4lbs. BIG HEAD

including the hat

TEAM HERBIE

Currently there are five full-time students who perform as Herbie, students can be male or female

THE CHARMER

Herbie was named the 2005 National Mascot of the Year

TALL DRINK OF WATER

The costume is designed for the performer to be from 5’10” to 6’2” tall

CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

Athletics owns three full Herbie costumes (two currently in use) and multiple shirts, jeans and gloves

12lbs. THE OUTFIT

(including pads, muscle shirt, boots, jeans, shirt, gloves)

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

Most of Herbie’s athletic appearances are at football, volleyball and basketball games.

Over the years, Lozano says he has met with a number of professional mascot performers — borrowing and trading tricks of the trade. “The best ones exaggerate everything,” says Lozano. “You have to remember that you are the center of attention so everything you do has to be big. Whether you’re laughing, sad or upset — everything is exaggerated.”

A HERBIE FOR EVERYONE

As memorable as witnessing Herbie and Lil’ Red in action can be, the view from inside the suit is just as impactful. That’s because the function of the mascots has evolved over the years and mascots are no longer relegated to the sidelines on Husker game days – they have taken on a bigger role off the field. “A lot of the most memorable times weren’t at games, but at appearances,” says Lozano. “We’ve had requests from people in their final days — and when you get a smile from them, you just can’t prepare for that.” Lozano describes the time when Lil’ Red was asked to attend at a funeral. “We had done so many unique appearances. Yet surprisingly, knowing the Nebraska fans, the only thing we hadn’t done was a funeral,” Lozano says. “Then about three years ago, we got the request for Lil’ Red to be a pallbearer.” Because of the bulk of the costume, Lozano says Lil’ Red was physically unable to hold the casket, “but he marched behind the whole procession.” Lozano often compares Herbie to a character like Mickey Mouse with the ability to inspire and entertain at the same time. There is also a celebrity element that comes

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into play, adds Butzke, who remembers the exact moment when Herbie appeared at her own wedding reception. (It’s tradition for Spirit Squad members to send Herbie a wedding invitation.) “I remember being on the dance floor and wondering what was going on. Then in walks Herbie,” Butzke recalls. “It was so exciting. I mean, I see this character every day. I see the costumes hanging up. I see the backstage part of it all the time, but it didn’t matter. I was a fan again.” On Husker game day, that same kind of excitement that Herbie brings is magnified tenfold, often feeding off the high-voltage electricity in the air. “Honestly, probably the coolest part is the tunnel walk when Herbie goes out in the middle of the field and it’s just him and Lil’ Red standing side-byside,” Herbie17 says. “That is one of the most surreal moments just because you’re right there in the middle of it all.” “The stadium’s rocking and you get goosebumps,” he adds. For Lozano, that surreal feeling was never so tangible than during the ’94 national championship football game. He recalls the historic event as an indescribable moment in time. “As soon as the game ended, I just wanted to go get changed so I could celebrate as a fan,” he says. It’s that pride for the university and the state as a whole that is so important for members of the Spirit Squad. It transcends the mere mechanics of the job, making Herbie a fully realized character — one that celebrates alongside the most diehard fans. He has become more than a symbol; he’s become one of us. “It’s amazing that a mascot or character can make people so excited,” Butzke says. “It’s that little bit of magic that transforms Herbie into Herbie.”

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From Family Farmer to Company COO: UNL Grad Recruits a New Generation of Nebraskans in Agriculture

ike many native Nebraskans, Steve Gangwish attributes the Cornhusker State’s success in agriculture to its abundance of land and talent. But you have to dig deeper to learn that Gangwish, a 5th generation farmer and entrepreneur, is helping build CSS Farms to become one of the largest potato producers in the country. South Dakota-based CSS Farms built its 13-state footprint over the past 30 years by growing seed, chip and specialty potatoes. The company established Nebraska as an ideal farming location near Kearney in 1993. At the same time, Gangwish was a junior high student and growing his own passion for agriculture on his family farm, just 25 miles down the road near Shelton. Decades later, his path crossed with CSS founders who were looking to develop the

company’s future leadership. Gangwish joined the company in 2009 and became a partner in 2013. In his first project for the company, he launched CSS’s business model for its red, yellow and purple baby potato business. “Tasteful Selections,” in Bakersfield, California, is now the country’s largest supplier of baby potatoes. Valuable experiences on both coasts, including earning an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, drew Gangwish closer to home. “While working outside of the state, I had work to do in class or in the office almost every weekend, but all I wanted to do was drive to Nebraska and be around crops in the tractor. During that time, I learned a lot. One, I wanted to be an entrepreneur, two, I wanted to work in agriculture, and three, I wanted to be in Nebraska. I then had to ask myself: ‘Shouldn’t I be living in Nebraska?’” Once Gangwish committed to a long-term career near the company’s Kearney farm, his employers saw a unique opportunity to expand their presence in Nebraska. During that time, Gangwish and CSS hired nine full-time professionals at the Kearney office and to support the company’s farming operations across the country. Currently, CSS grows 700 acres and 220 million pounds of chip and seed potatoes in Nebraska. Nationwide, the company farms 23,000 acres of potatoes and 13,000 acres of onions, carrots and rotational crops annually. As the country’s ag producers continue to grow older, Gangwish has infused new excitement about the industry’s opportunities in Nebraska. His efforts to recruit top talent to the company first began by reaching out to a few of his college classmates. UNL Alumni Nathan Bender and Harvard Business School

5th

8th

7 th

Best State to Raise a Family

Happiest State in America 2016

Best Quality of Life State

ADVERTISEMENT Since his permanent move back to Nebraska in 2010, Gangwish and his team have grown to nearly 80 employees at the company’s farm locations in Cody, Columbus, Kearney and North Platte. He “Right now, the majority of our corporate and provides leadership across the company and oversees farm leadership team members are in their 20’s and administrative, finance, human resources and IT 30’s. We’ve seen a desire for more young people to functions, as well as the chip and seed operations in the want to participate in agriculture, for the same reason Kearney office. It’s all part of CSS’s plan to build a strong that I wanted to – to farm and to be around great leadership team in Nebraska to support the company’s people. By recruiting young talent, it’s our mission plans for strategic growth to build a succession “We’ve seen a desire for young people across the county. plan for CSS Farms and continue the legacy of to want to participate in agriculture, and Steve and his wife the company’s three for the same reason I wanted to – to farm Meggan, who is also founders.” a Nebraska native, and to be around great people. We have a appreciate the opportunity Gangwish relies on his rural roots and nucleus of young, smart people who are to raise their two daughters in Nebraska. In their home passion for Nebraska’s number one industry to growing this industry, who’ve also turned state, strong values and family relationships play an recruit young people to out to be some of the greatest recruiting important role in shaping work for the company. young lives. tools for our company and state.” His own experiences have shaped the way “We have a huge amount of love and loyalty for our he attracts talent to his home state. In Nebraska, one state. This came from the strong values our parents in four jobs are related to agriculture. Between 2007 instilled in us through agriculture. We have a great and 2012, the number of new farmers in Nebraska appreciation for our upbringing in Nebraska, and it is also increased by 10 percent. what we wanted for our children. Raising a family here, for us, is a dream come true.” “I grew up spending the summers rogueing soybean fields and laying irrigation pipe, irrigating Nebraska’s Department of Economic Development (DED) is in the mornings and evenings. It was a different committed to retaining and bringing talented Nebraskans into the time in agriculture, before many of the modern state’s workforce. Visit www.TheGoodLifeIsCalling.com to learn technologies we now take for granted. Taking care of more about crops, morning and night, definitely taught me about living and dedication and a work ethic that is so important in the working in farming lifestyle.” Nebraska. Grad Reagan Grabner teamed with Gangwish to build a future for the company.

“I didn’t have an ag degree, and like many young people, I didn’t have a clear vision for my career. When I was thinking about a long-term career, I had to ask myself, ‘what sounds fun?’ Being back in Nebraska has showed me that the network you build and choosing a path with each fork in the road will lead to the experiences you have in life. This helped me ﬁnd an exciting career in my home state.”

1 in 4

10%

jobs in Nebraska is related to agriculture

increase in number of new farmers during the 5-year period between 2007 and 2012

AD VERTISEMEN T

NEBRASKAAUTHORS Featured books by Nebraska alumni, faculty and staff

A WARRIOR OF THE PEOPLE

A HISTORY OF NEBRASKA AGRICULTURE

BAREFOOT TO BOARDROOM

This is the compelling story of an Omaha Indian girl born in a buffalo hide tipi who graduated No. 1 in her medical school class, becoming the first Indian doctor in U.S. history — 31 years before women could vote, 35 years before Natives were considered citizens in their own country.

Native Nebraskan, Jody L. Lamp, and Montanan, Melody Dobson, team up to form the American Doorstop Project, a joint-venture agriculture advocacy project to preserve and promote America’s agriculture history beginning with Nebraska’s forgotten and untold stories. Info: AmericanDoorstopProject.com

Dr. Leon Higgs’ (’79) autobiography is the story of a boy too poor for shoes who, not only made it to college, but became a college president and government official. Higgs overcame challenges beyond his control and learned that obstacles to success can be in your own hearts and minds. Info: leonhiggs.com

SUCCESSFUL SUPERVISION

CHICKEN POT TURTLE DRIVES TO NEBRASKA

Drawing on their collective 70 years of supervisory experience, the Boatmans have produced a collection of essays written for beginning supervisors providing practical suggestions and hands-on advice on the basics, motivating employees, getting things done, communicating supportively, building a team, developing credibility and facilitating success.

Chicken Pot Turtle loves adventures! Join Chicken Pot Turtle as he takes a road trip through Nebraska and visits his longtime friend Pig Pan Armadillo. Together, the two pals explore Omaha, have fun on the farm, and cheer on the college football team in a sea of red. Info: ChickenPotTurtle.com

Joe Starita

Tom and Sara Boatman

Jody L. Lamp & Melody Dobson

Angela Scheideler Illustrated by Lisa Scheideler

Dr. Leon Higgs

NOW OR NEVER!

Ray Anthony Shepard Here is a young adult biography of two little-known but extraordinary men in Civil War history — George E. Stephens and James Henry Gooding. They served in the famed Massachusetts 54th Infantry and were war correspondents whose dispatches told the dangers and tragedies of being a black Union soldier. Info: rayanthonyshepard.com

To advertise your book in the next edition of Nebraska Quarterly, contact jchapin@huskeralum.org or (402) 472-8915.

56 57 58 61 62 64 YES, CHEF!

ALL IN

WISH LISTS

WHAT’S UP?

OBITUARIES

LOVE STORY

Alumni craft business

Steve Harley has been

Campus leaders

With Ann Henry, the

Juan Franco, 68,

They met in class

plan in college and

scrapbooking the foot-

line up for a chance

first female

was vice chancellor

and returned on

BULLETIN

make it a reality.

ball team since 1969.

to vist Santa Herbie.

president of ASUN.

of student affairs.

their wedding day.

Events DEC. 14-16 KANSAS CITY Volleyball Final Four Trip Package includes tickets, hotel and exclusive access. Info: huskeralum.org DEC. 15-16 LINCOLN Doctoral hooding and graduate degrees will be bestowed on Friday at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Undergraduates will have to wait until Saturday to call themselves “alumni.” DEC. 22 LINCOLN Cather-Pound Demolition The two high-rise dormitories, built in 1963, will be imploded at 9 a.m. FEB. 17 ARIZONA Husker Classic Baseball Tailgate Details are still being worked out, but February is a great time to travel to Tempe to catch Husker baseball and some warm weather. Info: huskeralum.org

al drago

MARCH 10

Trumped Up Assignment N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Omaha-native Jenna Johnson (’07) honed her journalism skills as editor of the Daily Nebraskan. Today she is a political reporter for The Washington Post covering the White House and has an up close and personal view of the 45th president and his administration. You can follow her coverage on twitter and instagram at @wpjenna.

CUBA Join fellow alumni on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to Cuba, designed to reveal the authentic spirit and culture of a nation undergoing change.

>> WINTER 2017

BULLETIN

Alumni Profile

An Unlikely Opportunity BY MATTHEW HANSEN (’03)

J AT A GLANCE

JENNA JOHNSON DEGREE BACHELOR OF JOURNALISM 2007

“There’s a frustration out there, recognition that as much as they love him, this isn’t what they expected.”

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marcus dipaola

enna Johnson could sense the energy. She character. It was this movement that he sparked. could also feel the ugliness. There is so much frustration out there, so much The UNL grad and Washington Post anger out there, that he was able to harness.” political reporter had just been moved off And what of the vitriol she personally experithe faltering presidential primary camenced during the two years she has covered candipaign of Scott Walker. Her editors had date and now-President Donald Trump? talked and decided to switch her — maybe “It is interesting,” she says. “A lot of Trump supfor only a couple days — to a new candiporters feel like no one has empathy for them. But date, a political novice, many of them don’t appear someone the Post editors to have much empathy and many others assumed for reporters, or people would quickly fade from who have a different relithe presidential race. gion than they do, or other Johnson flew to Oklahoma groups of people.” for a rally in September Johnson has had a front 2015. She assumed she row seat to one of the most would see something simshocking periods in recent ilar to a normal day on the American political history. Walker campaign: Maybe She has reported on a scattered, listless crowd; nearly 200 Trump rallies. maybe another candidate She has written stories going through the motions that caught fire nationally, in the dog days of the using narrative skills she Republican primary. first exhibited at the Daily Instead, she entered a Nebraskan to show what band shell at the Oklahoma a Trump campaign event State Fair as thousands of looks, sounds and feels Jenna Johnson attended her first Trump rally in September 2015. fans filed in. The audience like. Her newspaper has was frenzied, cheering and chanting the candibeen banned from covering Trump events, then date’s name as he mocked Mitt Romney, promre-instated. She has been applauded and vilified. ised to make the country rich again, vowed to Now she covers the White House, alternately bully U.S. companies moving jobs elsewhere and questioning the press secretary inside the West said that Russia could handle the Islamic State Wing and flying out to the far reaches of the counterrorist group. try to interview hundreds of Trump supporters. The excitement was impossible to miss. So was From her unique vantage point, Johnson this: During the speech, Donald Trump alleged watches as political pundits and alleged insiders that the media refused to show the size of his continually underestimate Trump’s political reach crowds on TV. Standing in the press pen, Johnson and staying power. And she watches as Trump watched as a woman turned and screamed vitriol supporters, and the president himself, grow restat her and her colleagues, calling them liars. less and annoyed as it becomes clear that govern“There was a movement going there,” Johnson ing will not be as easy or as fun as campaigning. says of her first night covering the Trump cam“There’s a frustration out there, recognition paign. “That was always the most important thing that as much as they love him, this isn’t what they about Trump to me. It wasn’t just him, this unusual expected,” Johnson says of diehard Trump sup-

porters. “There’s a wide feeling that things aren’t as great as they would like things to be.” All of this seems a long way from Lincoln, where she served as editor of the Daily Nebraskan and graduated from UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2007. It’s also quite a distance from Johnson’s early assignments at the Post, where she started as an intern, got a job at the paper’s Maryland bureau, then moved to the main DC office to cover higher education before getting her political feet wet in Maryland’s and Virginia’s gubernatorial races. Nothing — not even covering the Syrian refugee crisis in Turkey, as Johnson has — can prepare you for what happens when thousands of people, at a

presidential candidate’s direction, turn around to scream at you. “When it’s your reality, every day of the week … you develop an odd tolerance for it,” Johnson says. As the campaign wore on, “it got more and more and more nasty. They were so angry at us. It was visceral.” There is little you can do, Johnson says, except keep talking to people, keep reporting what you see, keep writing, keep doing your job. Johnson has now interviewed supporters of the president in almost every state in the union. “I have had very few instances where people say, ‘You work for The Washington Post, I don’t want to talk to you.’ People want to share their point of view. They are excited to be heard.”

ON CAMPUS

david wilder jr./eedee imaging (3); dave kotinsky/getty images (1)

MASTER CLASS Nostalgia, pride and confidence in the future were the common emotions expressed by the nine Alumni Masters who returned to campus in November. Eight of the nine colleges, plus athletics, selected a graduate who has shown great promise, success and leadership. The Masters spent four days on campus speaking with classes, networking with students, being honored by Chancellor Ronnie Green and attending the football game. Garth Glissman, a walk-on backup quarterback in 2003 and 2004, participated. Of his time at Nebraska he said, “being quarterback instilled in me the confidence at the highest level of sports.” Today he is an executive with the National Basketball Association in New York City. Cindy McCaffrey (’80) was the 26th employee hired by Google. She served as the company’s first marketing executive, pioneering the wordof-mouth campaign that put Google on the map. But long before then, she toiled in the basement of the Student Union as a copy editor at the Daily Nebraskan. “Working at the DN gave me a great sense of what life would be like in the real world,” she said. Upon receiving her masters medallion she spoke of her time in the classroom with students summing up her experience, “the future of journalism is in great hands.”

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Clockwise from top left: Shelley Zaborowski, NAA executive director with Brian Vaske. Engineering Dean Lance Perez with Norman Newhouse. Interim Business Dean Kathy Farrell and Michael Dunlap flank Chancellor Ronnie Green. Below from left: Jaime Gonzalez, Cindy McCaffrey, Garth Glissman, Kristine Dorn, Ben Steffen and Christy Banks.

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BULLETIN

Yes Please! Alumni hone business plan in college and now it’s a reality BY CHUCK GREEN (’93)

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craig chandler

Brandon Akert and Claire Cuddy in their first brickand-mortar restaurant located inside Hawks Hall, home to the College of Business.

isit any busy restaurant kitchen, and you’re likely to hear the phrase “Yes, Chef!” called out a few times. It’s a common, wellknown acknowledgement in the industry, letting the chef know his requests have been heard and are being met. To Brandon Akert (’12), those two words became a catchphrase a few years ago. “We would be out on the golf course, and someone would make a good shot, and we’d yell, ‘Yes, Chef!’ ” he said. “It was just such a common, crucial

phrase in our lives that it became kind of an inside joke outside the kitchen.” Now, Akert hopes “Yes, Chef ” becomes a catchphrase with a whole new crowd — and certainly not as an inside joke. The Yes Chef Café began serving the university community Aug. 21 in Howard L. Hawks Hall, the new home of the College of Business at 14th and Vine streets. Nestled in the bustling southeast corner of the building, business is booming. Students pass through on their way to and from class, stopping to order a quick bite. The café is the newest addition to Yes Chef Catering Company, a venture Akert founded with longtime friends Claire Cuddy (’12) and Jake Thiesen. The café features a variety of food for hungry, hurried students and faculty, ranging from grilled sandwiches, soups and salads to bagels, muffins and beverages. The team’s recipe for success is simple. Akert is the risk-taker, willing to step out of the comfort zone

darin epperly

to bring the big picture into focus. Cuddy, as director of events and operations, is more systematic and practical — “How would this work, and how do we make it work?” Thiesen is the culinary genius whose edible creations keep people coming back for more. Mix in delicious, high-quality food, prepared with care and creativity, and served quickly and courteously, and you have a tasty final product. While some ventures suffer from “too many cooks in the kitchen,” that’s never been a concern — metaphorically or otherwise — for Yes Chef. “I just don’t think we can fail with the three of us and our personalities on the team,” Akert said. “Jake is the most talented culinary person I’ve ever met. It doesn’t matter if he’s making macaroni and cheese or filet oscar — his heart and soul are in every product. Claire plans every event to a T and makes everything great, taking care of every conceivable detail. And I try to mold it all. It all comes together well.” Of the three partners, only Thiesen originally had his sights set on a culinary career. His background includes work at Omaha coffee houses, The Venue restaurant in Kearney, and as a chef at the Lincoln Country Club, Firethorn Golf Club and Sand Hills Golf Club near Mullen, Neb. He attended college at Nebraska and studied culinary arts at The Art Institute of Colorado in Denver. Cuddy had planned on a social work career. But after a visit to the Hospitality, Restaurant and Tourism Management booth at a UNL career fair, she soon decided to change course. When he started at Nebraska, Akert was a biochemistry major who practically lived in Hamilton Hall. Although he loved science, he eventually decided he didn’t want his face buried in a chemistry book eight hours a day. “I realized I wanted to do some restaurant and hospitality-related things, so I figured out the degree I needed to make that happen,” he said. In one class, Cuddy and Akert worked together on a project, crafting a business plan that became the foundation of Yes Chef. Their professor liked it, and Akert subsequently floated ideas to other professors whose feedback helped hone his blueprint. Akert and Cuddy earned bachelor of science degrees in hospitality, restaurant and tourism management, where they were among the fledgling major’s first students. The program has since evolved to include internships, international trips and class speakers — including, occasionally, Akert and Cuddy. “We have really come full circle, going through the program and now opening a café on the same campus six years later,” Akert said.

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ALL IN

ALL BOOKED UP Tending to his crops means something entirely different for Steve Harley (’72). This Winnetoon, Neb., resident has been cutting, cropping and creating Cornhusker football scrapbooks since 1969. TAKE ME THROUGH YOUR PROCESS. STEVE: This is a year-round second job. I have three different newspaper subscriptions, I get about five Sunday papers a week, and I always get papers from our opponents for another viewpoint. Around January, I start piecing everything together beginning with the Spring Game. I record each game, the bowl game, the opponent’s viewpoint, stats, and circle back to recruiting. Each book takes about 400 hours to complete and weighs 17-20 pounds. Last year’s weighed 19 pounds. It was a little heavier because it included a memorial to Sam Foltz. DO YOU HAVE ANY HIGHLIGHTS? STEVE: The first season I was assembling a scrapbook (in 1968), I took the work-in-progress with me to a game with my sister. It was raining, so I wrapped it in a garbage bag. Hubert Humphrey was at that game. He was running for president and I wanted his autograph. As I walked up to him, the Secret Service saw my garbage bag and grabbed me. I did get my scrapbook signed after they realized what it was. —Michael Mahnken

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1. “Our very own indoor/ outdoor practice facility” — ROBIN KRAPFL Head Coach, Women’s Golf

3. “An on-campus golf practice facility” — BILL SPANGLER Head Coach, Men’s Golf

4. “A new ball machine for our tennis teams; a large cold tub at the Dillon Tennis Center”

more students who want to become the next generation of problem-solvers and engineer-

JOH N COOK

Head Coach, Volleyball “That our team has an attitude of gratitude for everything they receive; our student section continues to dare to be great; Pearl Jam invites me to go on tour with them; we build two sand courts over at Devaney”

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ing leaders” — LANCE PEREZ

Interim Dean, College of Engineering 13. “Student support” — RICHARD MOBERLY

Dean, College of Law 17. “Top 15 in attendance for fifth straight year; a mighty alumni presence on the road; wins, wins, wins, baby” — TIM MILES

Head Coach, Men’s Basketball

18. “New broadcasting equipment; endowed chairs, a ritzy façade and an extension to Andersen Hall; an endowment to send students abroad; internship support” — MARIA MARRON

Dean, College of Journalism and Mass Communications 19. “A generous benefactor to name the college;

professorships to recruit and retain outstanding faculty; a network for partnership opportunities”

Huskers Shop to create more data for our students to analyze in their courses”

— JOSEPH FRANCISCO

Interim Dean, College of Business

Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 20. “Strengthen relationships with business partners and alumni through our executive education and graduate programs; increased sales in the

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— KATHY FARRELL

21. “Job offers to every CASNR graduate before graduation; a strong student retention rate and an invite to S’more Night around the fire pit at the Massengale

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craig chandler

— SCOTT JACOBSON Head Coach, Women’s Tennis

12. “A new building to enhance the college’s teaching and learning environment;

MAKING A LIST AND CHECKIN’ IT TWICE You’re never too old to visit Santa, enjoy a candy cane or have a wish list. We gathered college deans, head coaches and even the chancellor, himself, for a visit with Santa Herbie. While the campus leaders all expressed sincere gratitude for the alumni support and opportunities they have already received at UNL, when pressed for what else they wished for, they offered up the following:

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Residential Center” — TIFFANY HENG-MOSS

Interim Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources 22. “More rehearsal rooms for our music, dance and theater students; additional scholarships for graduate students in the School of Art, Art History & Design; a motion capture system for

RON NIE GR E E N Chancellor

“More recognition of the incredible support we enjoy from alums, fans, and our state; for Herbie Husker to not give up his day job; peace, compassion, happiness and health across our state and around the world; for all alums near and far to continue to keep “dear old Nebraska U” close to their hearts”

the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts” — CHARLES O’CONNOR

Dean, HixsonLied College of Fine and Performing Arts

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23. “Additional experiential learning spaces; curious and eager students; scholarships to support our students;

travel grants; coffee shop” — KATHERINE ANKERSON

Dean, College of Architecture 24. “Twice as many students

recruited into our teacher education programs (Nebraska needs more great teachers); 21st century laboratory space where our faculty can conduct their research; a few dozen more fellowships and assistantships for our graduate students” — BETH DOLL

Interim Dean, College of Education and Human Sciences