As a new school year kicks off and students return to campus, a frequent question asked of them is, “What did you do this summer?” For 450 students, they had the adventure of a lifetime traveling overseas and experiencing new worlds. While their summers were unique, they couldn’t wait to return to the University of
Listen with your eyes and before long you’ll be surveying the world from a fresh vantage point. That’s the transformative power of art. Take the time. Be moved at the Sheldon.
A picture is worth a thousand words only if you let it speak to you.
Students are consistently placed in classrooms to learn. But what happens when you take the student out of that physical space? Professor Chris Graves (’87) took students to Vietnam as part of the Global Eyewitness program, read about the 10 things she learned. P36 Other professors take their students to places closer to home. The Sheldon Museum of Art frequently hosts classes from different disciplines as students deepen their understanding of topics as varied as public relations, engineering and sociology. P41 Hundreds of Husker students spent their summers studying in locations from Singapore to South Africa. P50 And our alumni reminisce about memorable trips they took during their college days at Nebraska. P64
5 Contributors
10 Campus News
31 Voices
68 Itemized
70 Obituaries
72 Love Story
23 Devour A new rooftop bar — dubbed The Rooftop — opens up in the Haymarket serving up skyline views.
58
Defying Gravity Kevin Gibbs (’00) has defined his performing arts career by taking on a multitude of roles in the dance world.
63
Mystery Photo Do you know any of these students gathered outside the original cultural center in the mid-1970s?
MOVING DAY
Joy ride
WHERE ARE THEY FROM?
The two arrived from St. Louis. Gallion is an alumna having graduated in 2008 with a broadcasting degree.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT SMITH Smith opened in 1967 as an allfemale hall. A double room, like the one here, cost a mere $800/year! Smith has access to Harper Dining via tunnels, making it convenient when weather is chilly.
Freshman Isaiah Vasser and his mom, Shardea Gallion, make his bed in Smith Hall as students moved back to campus in August.
CELEBRATING 150 YEARS OF THE NEBRASKA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
On June 24, 1874, the first five graduates of the University of Nebraska “duly organized themselves into an alumni association for purposes of mutual social improvement and the advancement of the interests of the university, whose memories and benefits they wish to perpetuate.”
A lot has changed in the 150 years since our founding, but the one constant that remains is the passion that our alumni have for Dear Old Nebraska U.
No university can reach its fullest potential without passionate and engaged alumni, supporters and friends.
We’ve got big plans to move our university forward and connect Huskers everywhere. You can be a part of it.
Join your Nebraska Alumni Association today and save up to $45 on a standard 3-year annual membership or 3-year senior joint membership for exclusive benefits and to support the university you love.
Husker Belong Here. For the last 150 years… and the next 150 years!
Shelley Zaborowski, ’96, ’00, Life Member Nebraska Alumni Association Executive Director
To celebrate 150 years of the Nebraska Alumni Association take the next step and become an official part of the NAA family with a special $150 3-year membership offer!
Join today at huskeralum.org/NAA150 or scan this QR code.
Heather Rempe, ’03 DIRECTOR, DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
Ethan Rowley, ’03, ’13 DIRECTOR, MEMBERSHIP
Kaitlyn Ryan, ’22
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, VENUES
Viann Schroeder ALUMNI CAMPUS TOURS
Jeff Sheldon, ’04, ’07
ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MARKETING & BUSINESS RELATIONS
Michael Stephens, ’91
ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS
Nicole Josephson Sweigard
ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT
Aidia Vajgrt, ’22
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, VENUES
Sharon Walling DIRECTOR OF DESIGN
CONTRIBUTORS
Nebraska Quarterly 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 $65 annually. Requests for permission to reprint materials and reader comments are welcome.
JACKIE OSTROWICKI
Jackie Ostrowicki (’98, ’22) is the assistant vice president for marketing, brand & digital media at the University of Nebraska system. Storytelling for her alma mater has been a point of professional pride. She married fellow alum Monte Olson (’91, ’22) in Sheldon Museum of Art in 2010.
MIA AZIZAH
Currently based in Washington D.C., Mia Azizah (’20) is a communications project manager at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. She is passionate about telling other D.C. transplants and natives what makes Lincoln a great city. She previously utilized her journalism degree as an intern at the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha World-Herald. She enjoys taking care of her house plants and museum hopping.
HALEY COLLINS
Haley Collins (’18) is a digital artist specializing in 2D illustration, character design and animation living in Clearwater, Florida. She studied fine arts at the University of NebraskaLincoln and has since worked independently and for several creative studios in the Omaha area for clients such as Angel Studios, Creighton University and Compassion International. You can see more of her work at haleycollins.com or follow her on Instagram @haleycollins_art.
BOB AL-GREENE
Bob Al-Greene (’11) is a writer and illustrator based in San Francisco. A graduate of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, he currently works as a director of branded content design at Ziff Media Group. He recently adapted and illustrated the official graphic novel edition of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. You can find his work at bobalgreene.com or follow his Threads or Instagram @bobalgreene.
SEND MAIL TO: Nebraska Quarterly Wick Alumni Center / 1520 R Street Lincoln, NE 68508-1651
Phone: 402-472-2841
Toll-free: 888-353-1874
E-mail: alumni @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.
ADVERTISING QUERIES: Jeff Sheldon (jeff.sheldon@huskeralum.org)
BRING IT.
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LISTENING TO PROFESSOR BARNES
Q:What was it like to play inside a campus sculpture?
A: When I was first asked to perform the music of my friend and world-renowned composer Philip Glass inside Richard Serra’s iconic Greenpoint, I knew I was up to the challenge. I immediately walked over to the sculpture, just a few minutes from my campus studio and determined that yes indeed, a beautiful grand piano would definitely fit! A gorgeous Petrof grand piano was donated and the only remaining issue was
what in the world would it sound like?
This question was answered on May 1 when the piano was delivered and installed inside Greenpoint. I sat down to the piano and wanted to begin with the largest volume of sound possible, so I blasted out the opening of Tchaikovsky’s beloved piano concerto with its fortissimo chords spanning the entire range of the keyboard. And the sound was glorious! It completely filled the sacred space inside the Serra, and at that moment I realized that my 30-minute recital was going to be a very expressive encounter of art and music.
And then the crowds began to show up. And then the kids began
to show up. Several classrooms of middle school students on a sculpture tour came into the Serra while I was practicing so they could hear everything up close. I remember having these inspiring encounters with artists as a kid and I’m hoping these beautiful young people were similarly inspired.
After a brief and dramatic rain delay, my recital began, and it was one of the most moving experiences of my career. So many people laid hands and heads on the Serra to receive the healing vibrations of my performance. It was the epitome of the therapeutic power of art and music combined! I can’t wait to do it again next year!
—Professor Paul Barnes
Paul Barnes’ performance launched the Lincoln Calling music and arts festival. Greenpoint, part of Sheldon Museum of Art’s sculpture collection, was made by Richard Serra, who died in March. Barnes’ performance paid tribute to the creative relationship between composer Philip Glass and Serra. Glass worked as an assistant for Serra after the two befriended each other in Paris in the early 1960s.
MAKING TREMENDOUS STRIDES FOR FACULTY SUPPORT. LIKE ONLY NEBRASKA CAN.
Enhancing faculty and academic excellence is a top priority for Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future. Strengthening the University of Nebraska–Lincoln hinges on increased funding for endowed chairs and professorships. Faculty play a critical role in the success of our students, our research efforts and our community outreach. Our future depends on their ideas and dedication.
Donors have already created deanships, such as those for Lance Pérez in the College of Engineering and Shari Veil in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, and endowed chairs, such as for Tim Hodges in the College of Business and Ashley Poust who holds an endowed curatorship at the State Museum.
Contribute to faculty and academic excellence to support ambitious leaders like these and others across the university. Like only a Husker can. Learn more at OnlyinNebraska.org/UNL
LANCE PÉREZ
SHARI VEIL
TIM HODGES ASHLEY POUST
OVERHEARD
Cheers to 150 Years
The Nebraska Alumni Association was publicly recognized by Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen (’79) in June in the Warner Legislative Chamber of the State Capitol. The organization received a Governor’s Proclamation (pictured below) recognizing the Nebraska Alumni Association’s 150th anniversary.
On June 24, 1874, the first five graduates of the University of Nebraska “duly organized themselves into an alumni association for purposes of mutual social improvement and the advancement of the interests of the university, whose memories and benefits they wish to perpetuate.” A lot has changed in the 150 years since its founding, but the one constant that remains is the passion that alumni have for Dear Old Nebraska U.
Find Archie!
Morrill Hall’s Archie is hiding somewhere in the magazine, like only a 20,000-year-old mammoth can. Find him, email us with his location at alumni@huskeralum.org and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a fabulous Husker prize. Congratulations to Shanna (Madden) Hunter (’98), who embarked on the search with her 10-year-old and found Archie attending Cornstock at East Campus Mall on page 57 of the summer magazine.
“For 150 years, the Nebraska Alumni Association has built meaningful connections between Huskers past, present and future, celebrated our university’s achievements and aspirations, championed alumni interests and strengthened the Nebraska tradition.”
—SHELLEY (MOSES) ZABOROWSKI (’96, ’00), alumni association executive director
Nebraska Alumni Assocation staff celebrated the organization’s anniversary in June.
SCOOTERS
College connects with Scooters Coffee.
SQUIRRELS
Flying squirrels get their own homes.
FALL
23
SANDHILLS
Western Nebraska’s topography showcased.
SMALLISH
The beloved collection of miniatures returns.
FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS
On the Edge
CARSON CENTER OFFERS GAME-CHANGING RESEARCH
BY LESLIE (BOELLSTORFF) REED (’83)
BIG BRAG
The 2024 Athletics Hall of Fame class includes: Jordan Hooper (women’s basketball, 2011-14); Carl Myerscough (men’s track and field, 2000-04); Virginia Stahr (volleyball, 1986-89); Ndamukong Suh (football, 2005-09); Mary Weatherholt (women’s tennis, 2009-13); and Emily Wong (women’s gymnastics, 2011-14).
Edgeworks, a new research and service facility launched by the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, is collaborating with scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs to transform cutting-edge concepts into game-changing reality.
Edgeworks is redefining the core research facility model long used in the hard sciences to provide access to talent, technology and expert consultation. Edgeworks provides industry partners and University of Nebraska faculty, researchers and scientists with sophisticated consulting, research and technology development services.
Techniques such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, game development, augmented reality, data visualization, physical immersive installations and robotics are used to elevate outreach for scientific research, to produce out-of-the-ordinary content with emerging forms of storytelling and to contribute to industry-sponsored research and development.
“We are building an ecosystem at the intersection of media arts and science that will enable new pathways to fuel economic growth in Nebraska,” said Ryan Schmaltz, Edgeworks director. “Edgeworks is attracting projects with opportunities that prepare, attract and retain talent within the state.”
Created with $625,000 from the university’s Nebraska Research Initiative, Edgeworks is the only arts-based core research facility in
Students work in the motion capture lab in the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts.
FALL
Ash Eliza Smith, in black, Edgeworks co-principal investigator, leads students through a multi-disciplinary curriculum at the intersection of medicine and emerging media arts.
the state and is among the first of its kind worldwide. Co-principal investigators are Assistant Professors of Emerging Media Arts Ash Eliza Smith and Jesse Fleming, and Robert Twomey of the University of California, San Diego.
Several partnerships with university faculty are already underway, including Tomas Helikar, a professor of biochemistry, who created the Digital Twin Innovation Hub to assemble a digital twin of the human immune system.
Carson Center Director Megan Elliott said Edgeworks will leverage emerging media arts and technologies to strengthen and broaden the university’s already high educational standards, cultivate interdisciplinary research opportunities and engage with Nebraska’s startup communities. The program is part of a growing international network of technological innovation occurring outside coastal metropolitan areas.
Edgeworks Director Ryan Schmaltz
“Our faculty are already engaged in national and international research, and this core research facility only amplifies, diversifies and expands our research and innovation abilities and impact,” she said. “This is a very big deal for the state and for our industry.”
Edgeworks is actively recruiting more partners, including candidates from the private sector. “Bespoke” projects for industry will create opportunities for students and faculty alike.
“We’re pushing the boundaries of what is possible because of our unique multi-disciplinary approach to creativity, innovation and collaboration,” Schmaltz said. “We are quickly getting a reputation as the place to come for companies, scientific researchers and nonprofits who are tackling hard problems and who want to help shape the future.”
Even though his team’s work to build a computer model of the human immune system is inherently technological, Helikar said Edgeworks’ contribution is critical to its commercialization and its accessibility by clinicians.
“The computer models we’re building are a bunch of equations — they spit out numbers from simulations that nobody but the technical modeling team is going to be able to use,” he said. “How do you present this information to doctors, patients and other end users, so they can use it to make treatment decisions?”
Helikar, who has been working since 2016 to establish the Digital Twin Innovation Hub, was awarded a $5 million, five-year grant through the university’s Grand Challenges initiative in 2022. A multi-disciplinary approach is one of the criteria for
the Grand Challenges program.
A draft concept has been developed for how the digital twin interface will appear, and information-gathering focus groups and interviews are being planned. Eventually, there will be a full-time media arts designer to assist with software user experience.
“There are obviously people out there who do this, but for us to hire somebody, we wouldn’t be able to solve the problems they’re solving without the infrastructure through the Johnny Carson Center and Edgeworks,” Helikar said. “I didn’t know what to expect at first. Now we’re headed in a really awesome direction that we wouldn’t have been able to without Edgeworks.”
OVERHEARD
“I want parents to leave orientation feeling confident and excited about their child’s decision to attend UNL.”
—MICHELLE GARCIA-BARILLAS,
a new student orientation leader, about the importance of leading her groups while speaking Spanish.
Perking Up Profits
SCOOTERS COFFEE PARTNERS TO CREATE INNOVATIVE FRANCHISE COURSE BUSINESS
Scooters Coffee, one of the nation’s fastest growing drive-thru coffee franchise companies, and the Center for Entrepreneurship are partnering to offer students a new hands-on advanced franchise course. Aimed at those interested in diving deeper into the relationships, values and problem-solving skills of franchising, the innovative course will launch in spring 2025.
“There is something special about where students are now in their lives. It’s important to support and guide them. Many don’t know there is a huge opportunity in entrepreneurship and franchising,” said Don Eckles, who co-founded Scooter’s Coffee in 1998 with his wife, Linda.
Nebraska relaunched the franchising program in the spring of 2022, with the help of Lindsay Thomsen, assistant professor of practice in management and director of business development for the Center for Entrepreneurship. She designed the introductory course and rebooted the Nebraska Franchise Club with help from an impressive lineup of speakers including current Scooter’s Coffee CEO Joe Thornton and former CEO Todd Graeve (’92), an accounting alumnus.
“The number of students in the introductory class has doubled. With this growing interest across the university campus from students in any major, we want to offer more opportunities so students can continue exploring either a future investment or career in franchising.
Thanks to the generosity and support from Scooter’s Coffee, we can create and offer a second class to delve deeper into franchising with an experiential, hands-on approach,” said Thomsen.
Students in the advanced course will work directly with Scooter’s Coffee franchisees to explore entrepreneurial problem-solving as business owners.
“The most important thing I see when I interact with students is passion. I love the level of commitment that people have at this stage in their young careers. It’s inspiring,” Thornton said.
Headquartered in Omaha, Scooters Coffee
employs many college graduates and students. Helping through mentorship and giving back is a part of the company’s culture.
“It’s important for them to give back by speaking in classes or judging competitions. It’s fun for us,” said Eckles.
Malorie Maddox, chief marketing officer at Scooters Coffee, shared how there are more than 775 locations in 30 states, and the growth is a tremendous testament to the Eckles’ drive and commitment.
“Don and Linda never gave up for 25 years, despite failures. They just kept saying, ‘We can build this brand,’ ” she said. “It truly takes a special person to be able to tap into that and power through it. We want to empower students and have them love franchising or want to own their own businesses.”
—Sheri Irwin-Gish
May graduates Dylan Anderson, left, and Shelby Baker, toast to the new partnership with Scooters Coffee and the Center for Entrepreneurship.
Students and faculty in the Community and Regional Planning Program held a public meeting in April to discuss flood risks and mitigation measures for Fremont, Nebraska.
The group included Matt Bolander, left, a master’s student in community and regional planning.
ARCHITECTURE
Helping Hands
TEAM ASSISTING HARD-HIT COMMUNITIES
PREPARE FOR FUTURE FLOODS
Supported with $1 million in federal funds awarded via Nebraska’s Department of Economic Development, Husker community and regional planning experts are developing long-term recovery and resilience strategies for communities hardest-hit by historic 2019 flooding.
The multifaceted effort was launched at the start of 2024 by a team of two postdoctoral researchers
and three graduate students, led by faculty members Zhenghong Tang and Yunwoo Nam.
Focused on 31 communities in Douglas, Sarpy and Dodge counties, primary goals are to thoroughly evaluate flood risk; provide risk mitigation education and outreach to residents; and propose new planning, zoning and land-use approaches to government leaders. The anticipated outcome is better risk awareness and housing resiliency plans at both local and regional levels.
“The project is designed to address flood vulnerabilities in counties affected by the 2019 historic floods,” said Tang, director of the Community and Regional Planning program. “It will promote comprehensive community resilience, resulting in buildings that are more resilient to the impact of natural disasters.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development supplied the funds for the project, reflecting the agency’s stated commitment to help
underserved communities in hard-hit areas to recover from disasters. The UNL team also received an additional $93,750 grant of HUD funds awarded through North Carolina A&T University for additional work with disadvantaged and tribal communities.
Severe winter weather, winds and historic flooding in 2019 left an indelible mark on many communities. Although the most serious damage was concentrated in the eastern part of Nebraska, 84 of the state’s 93 counties, plus four tribal areas, were presidentially declared disaster areas at the request of former Gov. Pete Ricketts. The declaration activated the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist in response and recovery.
Because of the historic amount of damage, the state received a $108.9 million allocation of Community Development Block Grant Funds for Disaster Recovery to support the long-term recovery process. The Nebraska Department of Economic Development designated a portion of the block grant funds for the UNL team to help communities understand their risk and use community planning mechanisms to facilitate resiliency.
“There are serious needs, particularly among low-income, disadvantaged and under-resourced communities,” Tang said. “Those communities are still at risk for future flooding. That’s why we need to undertake a lot of public awareness, stakeholder education and policy actions to mitigate the risk for the future. That’s why the university is out there providing professional services, particularly for small rural communities that don’t have the resources.”
Five years on, some communities have been unable to fully implement strategies to prevent or mitigate future disasters, such as relocating residents, discouraging development in flood-vulnerable areas and improving structures to resist or divert flooding.
Leaders in Winslow, for example, have met with many difficulties in implementing a plan to relocate their community to higher ground.
Jenny B. Mason, director of community development and disaster recovery for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, touted the collaborative approach being taken by the UNL team. Nam said the team is using the Geographical Information System to review how private levees factored into the 2019 damage and their potential impact in future disasters.
“The community-level flood risk maps we’re preparing will enhance community risk awareness of extreme disasters and guide community decision-making on land-use planning and development in risky areas,” he said.
Last spring, a few weeks after the flood’s fifth anniversary, the team staged its first floodplain awareness open house, for Fremont residents. The event offered strategies to reduce flooding risks and to increase public awareness. More events will be scheduled.
Fremont City Planning Director Jennifer Dam, who attended the event, said improved risk mitigation and increased awareness will help her city earn credits on the Community Rating System, a voluntary FEMA program that encourages better community floodplain management practices and qualifies communities for lower flood insurance rates.
At the Fremont open house, UNL graduate research assistant Grayson Clark emphasized the project’s impact on communities and the people who live in them.
“You are having a direct impact on people’s lives, not just for today, but for decades and years to come,” he said.
Tang said the goal is not to push residents to relocate out of flood-prone areas, nor is it to build levees or rebuild damaged structures. Instead, the project will focus on non-construction, non-engineering mitigation strategies, such as risk identification, public education and land-use policies, including land acquisition and improved zoning regulations to deter future development in flood-prone areas. —Leslie Reed
“The healthier our soils are, the more resilient our ecosystems and agricultural systems are.”
—JUDITH TURK, associate professor and soil scientist, who will use an $845,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program to dig into the degradation of topsoil.
BIG BRAG
A permanent exhibition at Morrill Hall now features photographer and Nebraska native Joel Sartore’s (’85) work to document every species living in the world’s zoos, aquariums and wildlife sanctuaries.
FALL
ROADSIDE ATTRACTION
Summer School
Students who enrolled in the summer class, Street Art II: Mural Masters, painted this mural at Premier Chevrolet Buick GMC in Beatrice, Nebraska.
WHO TAUGHT THE CLASS?
Associate Professor of Art Sandra Williams, pictured in gray T-shirt, who said the project offers students a creative experience that cannot be replicated in a classroom.
WHOSE DESIGN IS IT?
Senior graphic design major Maddie Vanderbur, pictured at far right, created the modern truck and an antique truck sitting next to each other in green rolling hills with wildflowers.
WHO IS PAINTING BELOW?
That’s student Michelle Reese, a senior painting major, who works on her section of the mural.
In celebration of 15 years of legal education and highlighting its globally recognized expertise in national security, the Nebraska Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law Program is changing its name to the Nebraska Space, Cyber and National Security Law Program.
BIG BRAG
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Squirrel Scouts
UNEXPECTED FLYING SQUIRRELS INSPIRE EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
DBIG BRAG
The Rural Drug Addiction Research Center, founded at UNL in 2019, received an $11.6 million Phase 2 renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence Program to continue its work through 2029.
usk was just settling across their backyard in southeast Lincoln a couple years ago when Kate Martens and her husband were relaxing on the patio, chatting and enjoying the first signs of summer weather.
But this ordinary night quickly turned into something more — only for a moment.
As they were looking out at their yard through the darkening light, the Martenses saw a phenomenon they never expected to see in their own yard, in their own trees.
A southern flying squirrel had left its hiding spot and leaped from one tree to the next. It was small like a tennis ball and as quick as a mouse, Kate Martens said. If they had even so much as blinked at that moment, they likely would have missed it entirely.
“We were so excited,” she said.
Ever since then, she’s kept one eye on the trees, looking and hoping for another flying squirrel to appear, even if it’s just for a split second.
The threatened species was first discovered in Lincoln three years ago, and since then university researchers have been working to gather data on Lincoln’s small community of flying squirrels by tracking local sightings of the creatures.
But now, a senior fisheries and wildlife major is taking her knowledge of the animals to a new audience: Elementary students.
Through the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources’ Change Makers program, Isabella Villanueva started an after-school club, the Flying Squirrel Squad, at Calvert Elementary and has been installing nesting boxes with cameras in yards near reported sightings and elementary schools throughout the city.
“Our mission is just to get more people excited about what’s in their backyard,” she said.
Isabella Villanueva, a fisheries and wildlife major, with a flying squirrel nesting box.
So far — with the help of a $6,000 Nebraska Game and Parks watchable wildlife grant — Villanueva has set up around 10 free nesting boxes with cameras by request across Lincoln neighborhoods, including at Martenses’ house, to help families learn more about flying squirrels. She plans to continue to install more boxes next school year as community members request them, too.
Lincoln’s small population of flying squirrels was uncovered on East Campus in 2021 when landscaping services went to cut down a dying oak tree and several small faces with big eyes poked out of a hollow limb.
From there, nearly 40 local sightings have been reported at homes, parks and neighborhoods throughout Lincoln, mostly in south Lincoln.
Southern flying squirrels only weigh about 2 ounces, and have large eyes and wing-like membranes that help them glide through the air, not actually fly. They like to live in quiet, wooded areas with plenty of hollow, old trees with cavities to hide in, which is why most sightings occur in older areas of town.
They’re typically pretty hard to spot, too. Flying squirrels are strictly nocturnal animals and are extremely fast, which makes it fairly difficult for human eyes to catch glimpses of them. Most often, people are able to distinguish southern flying squirrels from other animals by the distinct noises they make.
But Villanueva hopes her nesting boxes and cameras will make it easier for local researchers to spot flying squirrels as they continue efforts to track Lincoln’s flying squirrel population.
Each box is about 14 inches tall and 6 inches wide, and has a metal 50 amp circuit faceplate with a 1.5 inch hole covering the opening, which is big enough for the flying squirrels to enter, but small enough to keep other squirrels out. The boxes are also equipped with cameras that point toward the small opening to, in theory, capture footage of flying squirrels using the nests, but none have been caught on camera yet.
However, Villanueva’s intent with her project goes beyond just studying southern flying squirrels and gathering data on their whereabouts in Lincoln. She wants to use her knowledge to teach the community’s youth about the rare animals and help them connect their lives to nature.
“It’s about flying squirrels, but really, it’s not about flying squirrels,” she said. “It’s more about connecting the university with the community, with schools around Lincoln, with students.”
Villanueva was also able to reach students through the Flying Squirrel Squad at Calvert Elementary last semester by teaching students about their habitats, predators, diet behaviors and their history in Nebraska. Students also learned about data collection by looking at trees at Henry Park beside Calvert to assess the potential for flying squirrel habitats.
Together with Lindsey Chizinski, a lecturer of ecology at the university, Villanueva created an outdoor education curriculum for the Calvert afterschool program with the goal of getting kids outside and in nature.
“There’s so much research that indicates it’s very healthy for individuals, for humans, to be connected with the outdoors and to spend time outdoors,” Chizinski said. “So for that purpose, it’s really important to just give students that connection so that later in life, they’re making decisions that are supporting the environment that they live in, so they’re thinking about nature and how they’re connected to nature.”
Villanueva has also worked alongside Doug Golick, a professor of entomology who is her mentor for the program, and John Carroll, a professor of wildlife ecology and management, who is the flying squirrel expert of the group.
“It’s lots of different people helping with different things,” Villanueva said.
—Jenna Ebbers/Lincoln Journal Star
OVERHEARD
“It’s like a dream come true, both professionally and personally.”
—CHUN-HSING
(JUN) HOD, associate professor in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, upon being selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for the 2024-25 academic year. He will conduct his research project in Finland evaluating the impact of freeze-thaw cycles and moisture damage on pavement perfor mance in that country.
BIG BRAG
Three economics faculty members were cited in the 2024 White House Economic Report. The report cited Daniel Tannenbaum’s research on eviction and Yifan Gong and Yuzi Yao’s research on the housing market.
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STUDY TO ENHANCE COMMUNICATION FOR KIDS WITH SPEECH, PHYSICAL CHALLENGES
Imagine being locked inside your own body, isolated and struggling to meaningfully connect and communicate with those around you. Now imagine trying to cope with such isolation as a child.
For children with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI), the lack of a reliable communication method has devastating impacts on their quality of life, well-being, medical care and social interactions.
As advanced computer technology becomes more routine in daily life, researchers and engineers are exploring new ways to link it with the human brain. This involves creating a direct connection between the brain and control of an external device.
Brain-computer interface, known as BCI, is an emerging field of study that aims to enhance quality of life with increased communication and personal autonomy.
Kevin Pitt, assistant professor of special education and communication disorders, is leading a threeyear project that uses this cutting-edge technology to facilitate communication for children. The project holds great potential to support children who find spoken forms of communication unavailable or inefficient, and face challenges with computer access.
With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Pitt and his team are refining clinical evaluation tools and assessments to enable technology, with the goal to make them more accessible to children.
Approximately 97 million individuals worldwide have disabilities that require alternative communication techniques for communication support. While adult-based research has laid a crucial foundation, studies have primarily focused on providing literate adults access to spelling-based systems.
Unfortunately, this has left children with minimal or emerging language and literacy skills marginalized and unable to communicate using the tools.
Using data from a 2022 pilot study of adults with SSPI — those living with spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other severe physical impairments — Pitt tailored this project to focus on children.
“Children have been underserved in the BCI world, and only recently has research started ramping up to include them,” said Pitt, a research affiliate of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools. “This project will help us better understand how to translate findings from adults to children, and how to implement devices in the clinical setting.” —Chuck Green
Ashley Votruba, assistant professor of psychology, has earned a $660,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development program to conduct national surveys to shed light on how people across a wide demographic range perceive the legal system and how they manage emerging civil justice problems.
BIG BRAG
Kevin Pitt, assistant professor of special education and communication disorders, is enhancing communication for those with severe speech and physical impairments through brain-computer interface technology.
Two faculty members (Rick Bevins and Thomas Powers) have been selected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society. Fellows are selected by their peers for scientifically or socially distinguished achievements that advance science or its application.
$9.2 MILLION NATIONAL DEFENSE PROJECT ENGINEERING
The Heat Is On
TEAM’S HEAT TRANSFER EXPERTISE AIDS
The United States military is turning up the heat in its search for new scalable technologies that will meet its needs for electronics devices that are smaller, scalable and keep cool.
Even with the added pressures of a compressed time frame and working in microscale, Nebraska Engineering researchers are poised to build on their track records as innovators and leaders in heat transfer and thermal management.
The first, 18-month phase of a four-year Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant, with Northrop Grumman as the lead, is underway with the agency funding totaling $9.2 million, of which Nebraska will receive about $1.6 million. Nebraska’s total could increase to more than $2.6 million over four years.
The grant supports development of scalable technologies to control “hot spots” in future electronics architectures for the U.S. Department of Defense.
“What’s unique is that to make them smaller, we’re looking at stacking chips in three dimensions instead of traditional two-dimensional layouts,” said Craig Zuhlke, co-director of the Center for Electro-Optics and Functionalized Surfaces and lead investigator for the Nebraska team. “This creates different thermal modes throughout the microsystem that require enhanced thermal management. Our focus is on the high-power-density regions.”
The project, dubbed Minitherms3D, brings together researchers from several corporate partners and universities, including Nebraska.
The team also includes George Gogos, center co-director and chair of mechanical engineering, and Jeffrey Shield, professor of engineering and department chair of mechanical and materials engineering.
Gogos said the Nebraska-based center is “uniquely positioned” to make this research a success, with decades of experience as a leader in functionalized surfaces and heat transfer, and state-of-the-art equipment and resources.
“They aren’t looking to make just a small, incremen-
tal step in manufacturing and design; the idea is to make a big leap,” said Gogos. “To get there, they will be using the technology and expertise we’ve developed.”
Shield said unlike most projects, this grant requires researchers to “hit the ground running.”
“We don’t have the luxury of an incubation period,” Shield said. “Northrop knew that we could step in and make progress right away with everything we have in place — including our laser technologies and techniques in heat transfer, thermal management and functionalized surfaces that are known throughout the world and a fully functioning team of more than 30 researchers from many disciplines across our college and university.”
Additionally, Zuhlke said, the foundation for this project was built on continuous base funding from the Office of Naval Research and DoD since 2015. That funding has allowed the center to acquire state-ofthe-art lasers and equipment to conduct pioneering research into femtosecond laser surface processing and its applications, which Zuhlke said built the foundation for this DARPA project.
By utilizing a state-of-the-art femtosecond laser to alter — or “functionalize” the surfaces — Nebraska researchers also aim to make the new chip stacks more durable and versatile.
“One of the important aspects is being able to have fine control of where it is applied. There are certain regions that need to be processed and certain regions that can’t be processed,” said Zuhlke, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. “There’s an ease of application with FLSP compared to other techniques. We can make this tunable to a specific application.”
The initial phase is set to end in May 2025, when DARPA will evaluate the project and determine whether to fund a second, 18-month phase focused on thermal management capabilities. —Karl Vogel
From left, George Gogos, Craig Zuhlke and Jeffrey Shield are part of a $9.2 million grant awarded by the Department of Defense to a team headed by Northrop Grumman Corp.
BIG BRAG
DEVOUR
IN HUSKER COUNTRY
READ
The Nebraska Sandhills
The science and spectacle of our great state grasslands is revealed through photos, illustrations, maps and essays in a new publication edited by current and former fac ulty and staff members.
HANG
The Rooftop
Enjoy your next game day under the shelter of a 9,500-pound shipping container on a fourth-story rooftop. This Haymarket bar on top of Old World pub Bierhaus Maisschäler is now serving skyline views.
Slim Chickens
Students will experience a taste of Southern hospitality and 17 house-made dipping sauces on campus when Slim Chickens opens its new location as a university dining option this fall.
LISTEN
Saving Fiona
The “sad girl rock” band of alumni who formed during the summer of 2020 released their first album — featuring Annie Wang, Ellie Woody, Haley Gagne,
BRUNCH
Early Bird
Snack Shack
Have you ever tried a flight of bacon or a churro waffle? The popular brunch spot with a new downtown Lincoln location inside Antelope Tower throws a modern spin on classic diner favorites.
Nebraska-native director and writer Adam Rehmeier returned home to shoot a coming-of-age film inspired by his ’90s childhood running the Steinhart Park Pool concession stand in Nebraska City, with help from a $200,000 state filmmaking grant and locals playing bit parts.
LAW
Reviving Representation
BLACK LAW STUDENT ASSOCIATION CHAMPIONS DIVERSITY IN LEGAL PROFESSION
When Lionel D’Almeida started law school in 2021, he and his classmates saw a need for more open discussions on the impact of race and ethnicity in the context of the cases they were studying. They set about to reactivate the Black Law Student Association to try to address this issue and improve the experience of Black law students overall. The organization looks to support these students and give them a space to connect while also creating educational opportunities for the entire student body.
“It was important to give Black law students an organization that they know will champion them, especially given the low percentage of Black lawyers,” D’Almeida said.
The American Bar Association reports that Black lawyers made up 5% of the legal profession in 2023, while Black Americans made up 13.6% of the population. This number shows little growth from the 4.8% of Black lawyers in 2013. In this same time span, the percentage of lawyers in other racial and ethnic groups has continued to grow.
These statistics can have an immense impact in the court of law, D’Almeida said. “If we look at criminal law, Black people and Black men, specifically, are defendants a lot of the time,” he said. “So having an attorney who looks like you is crucial.”
The effort to make the legal field more representative should start long before law school, D’Almeida said. Reaching high school or middle school students and informing them about the path to law school is one possible route for improvement.
“It’s important to start early in order to make people understand that it’s possible and that they would be supported here,” he said. “We can show them that Black law students are doing this, and you can too.”
The association’s efforts have also focused on connecting law students to Black professionals in the legal field and community leaders. Last academic year they hosted Shakur Abdullah, a restorative justice coordinator who was sentenced to life in prison when he was 17. Abdullah, who was released on parole, shared his story and his expertise on the
issues of juvenile justice and mass incarceration.
Members also met with Damon Barry (’00), managing partner of Ballard Spahr’s Denver and Boulder offices, and City Attorney Yohance Christie.
“Being able to make connections with current lawyers and other law students around the state has been one of the best parts of this,” D’Almeida said. Postgraduation, D’Almeida is looking to secure a position in corporate law and possibly start his own firm one day. He said he hopes BLSA will continue to adapt to the needs of Black students at the College of Law.
—Ramey Vachal
The Women’s and Gender Studies Program was recently awarded $100,000 from the Mellon Foundation as part of the foundation’s new Affirming Multivocal Humanities Initiative, which addresses the continuing need for nuanced scholarship on the breadth of the human experience.
Lionel D’Almeida
BIG BRAG
True Crime Impact
True crime podcasts can be either healing or retraumatizing for crime victims or their loved ones.
A Nebraska researcher is exploring the popular genre with an eye toward developing best practices for the industry, journalists and perhaps even the justice system.
True crime podcasts have exploded in popularity in recent years, but people’s embrace of crime as entertainment is nothing new. Agatha Christie is the No. 1-selling novelist of all time, noted Kelli Boling, assistant professor of advertising and public relations.
About 73% of true crime podcast listeners are women, and Boling’s research has focused on listeners who have experienced domestic violence themselves. For many, the listening experience can be healing.
“They’re putting themselves in the same situation, but this time they have complete control, and it becomes healing instead of traumatizing,” Boling said.
But true crime podcasts also can be exploitative, sensationalistic and turn killers into celebrities. This
can make victims and co-victims — friends and loved ones of victims — feel revictimized, Boling said.
“There is good in the genre. I think the good outweighs the bad,” she said.
The genre helps educate women on how to avoid being victims. Some in law enforcement have begun welcoming podcasts that focus on cold cases as a potential jump start to an investigation.
Boling’s research involves interviewing co-victims of crimes covered by popular true crime media to better understand how their lives are affected and to create best practices for the true crime media industry and potentially the criminal justice system.
She also plans to survey 5,000 people. Among the issues she wants to explore: listeners’ perceptions of ethics in the business, and their perceptions of the differences between podcasts produced by journalists and those from non-journalists.
For her part, the only true-crime podcasts Boling listens to nowadays are hosted by journalists.
She hopes her research can build on the genre’s benefits. “We’re at a really critical place where the genre can become the lowest of the low or it can take a stronger step in the direction of justice.”
BIG BRAG
From spring semester 2022 through January 2024, the Libraries Course Materials program provided an estimated savings of $1.7 million to students.
From left, Kelli Boling, Kaitlin Van Loon and Haley Hamel in the podcast lab.
Tiny Treasures Triumph
KRUGER COLLECTION OF MINIATURES BACK ON VIEW IN NEW GALLERY ARTS AND SCIENCES
After several years in storage for safekeeping, the Eloise Kruger Collection of Miniature Furnishings and Decorative Arts is back on view in a new gallery now located on the eighth floor of Oldfather Hall. Kruger, a Lincoln native who attended the university from 1932 to 1934, was a passionate reader, especially on the subjects of interior design and miniature collecting. The Kruger Collection was gifted to the university in 1997, following her death in 1995.
First under the care of the College of Architecture, the collection is now housed in the College of Arts and Sciences’ School of Global Integrative Studies.
About 2,500 pieces from the approximately 20,000-piece Kruger Collection are on view in
the gallery. The collection is 1:12 scale furniture and accessories of historically accurate American designs, along with select English, French and Asian pieces. The handmade miniatures contain remarkable attention to detail and were made by renowned model artists, including Eric Pearson, Eugene Kupjack and Betty Valentine.
Kruger was an avid collector of miniature furniture and accessories, creating a collection so prolific and well-known that she was able to publish essays in Miniature Magazine, and commissioned the best miniature artists to create pieces for her.
Sophia Perdikaris, director of the school, oversaw the development of the gallery, and beyond researching and building themed room boxes, designed the space layout to have a dual function of display and storage, along with incorporating full-
The C. Lauer and Clara Ward kitchen, as depicted in miniature, includes broken glass with cabinets and countertops in disarray.
size antiques that match many of the miniatures in the collection for aesthetic effect.
Having the collection in the School of Global Integrative Studies is a boon for the program, according to Perdikaris, as the pieces are artifacts themselves that span many centuries of life on different continents, and provide hands-on, interdisciplinary experiential learning opportunities for Husker students.
“Having students work with the miniatures allows them to see the whole process that objects undergo in a museum setting,” Perdikaris said. “With miniatures students can research, design and build digital and physical room boxes of focused tiny galleries. This is especially critical for the development of skills and portfolios for our students in the certificate in museum studies programs.”
Kruger Collection manager Linda Kohlstaedt is inventorying the collection, cataloguing, photographing and appropriately storing each object. Another team advised by Heather RichardsRissetto, digital archaeology expert in global and integrative studies, has begun a digitizing process to open the collection to online viewing. During the spring semester, Perdikaris led a Museum Exhibit and Design course in which students prepared exhibits and corresponding research posters. The students also learned the digital cataloging and archiving process, working with 3D scanners and artificial intelligence software.
The gallery dioramas display a wide gamut of themes and highlight some of the unique research opportunities the use of miniatures offers.
One exhibit created through the class depicts a kitchen as it was found following the 1958 murders of Clara and C. Lauer Ward and their housekeeper, Lillian Fencl, by spree killer Charles Starkweather. The exhibit calls back a terrifying time of Nebraska history, honors the victims and highlights the methods of Frances Glessner Lee, the “mother of forensic science.” Lee developed dioramas utilizing min iatures to recreate crime scenes for the purpose of training investigators. The format is still used for training today. For info visit: krugercollec tion.unl.edu.
—Leslie Reed
OVERHEARD
“The Nebraska Space, Cyber and National Security Law program offers students a unique opportunity to study legal issues in critical areas of technology in a truly engaging and innovative learning environment.”
—PROGRAM DIRECTOR JACK BEARD previously served as the associate deputy general counsel (international affairs) in the Department of Defense and is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army JAG Corps (retired).
Eloise Kruger
Eric Pearson produced this 3-1/4 inch tall 1700s Louis XV Inlaid Chiffonnier in 1963.
FROM YOUR UNIVERSITY PRESS
WINNER OF THE 2024 BANCROFT PRIZE IN AMERICAN HISTORY AND A FINALIST FOR THE 2024 PULITZER PRIZE
FOR HISTORY
CONTINENTAL RECKONING
The American West in the Age of Expansion
Elliott West
$39.95 Hardcover
History of the American West
OTHER NOTABLE HISTORY BOOKS FROM UNP
COMPLIMENTS OF HAMILTON AND SARGENT
A Story of Mystery and Tragedy on the Gilded Age Frontier
Maura Jane Farrelly
$29.95 Paperback
MY GRANDFATHER’S ALTAR
Five Generations of Lakota Holy Men
Richard Moves Camp
Edited by Simon J. Joseph
$24.95 Paperback
American Indian Lives
JOURNEY TO FREEDOM
Uncovering the Grayson Sisters’
Escape from Nebraska Territory
Gail Shaffer Blankenau
$34.95 Hardcover
BLACK GUN, SILVER STAR
The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves
Art T. Burton
With a new afterword by the author
$22.95 Paperback
Race and Ethnicity in the American West
This quilt-inspired portrait of Abraham Lincoln, which hangs on campus, was reproduced into a 15 feet wide by 20 feet high mural which now adorns the west exterior wall of the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
THE
SHARING
VIEWPOINTS OF OUR ALUMNI, FACULTY AND STUDENTS
KIM SOPER (BASED ON ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY IHSAN EKAPUTRA) LINCOLN 2021 Gift of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation, International Quilt Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2021.039.0001, www.internationalquiltmuseum.org
Screenplay
PART THREE OF FOUR
OUT OF NOWHERE
by MARK ALBRACHT (’99)
EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY
Doug pulls a metal WAGON along a dirt road near his farm. In the wagon is a crate with an emerald green PEACOCK inside.
Doug comes to a bridge over an irrigation ditch. He pulls the wagon across the bridge and arrives at a wood fence. He kicks a lever and a gate in the fence opens. He pulls the wagon through.
EXT. DOUG AND CASSIE’S FARM - DAY
Paige and Cassie are on the front porch of the farmhouse. Adam stands in the driveway with his cellphone to his ear, his expression dour.
ADAM
(into phone)
I know you’ve given him so many chances, but is there any way you can keep him on while he looks for another job?
Adam gets an earful from a voice on the other end. He clenches his jaw as he listens and nods.
ADAM
(into phone)
No, I get it. You’ve got a business to run. I appreciate what you’ve done. All right. Take care...
Adam ends the call, throwing his hands up as he looks at Paige and Cassie.
ADAM
He got canned! Cassie scowls.
CASSIE
Well, it probably wasn’t even his fault! They don’t recognize his unique work style. Paige sees Doug exit a barn.
PAIGE
I suppose you can get his side of it. There he is.
VOICES
Adam turns as Doug walks toward him.
ADAM: You got fired, Doug! Over an argument about boxes?
DOUG: Brian was taking my boxes.
ADAM: They’re not your boxes. They’re the company’s!
Doug looks past Adam to Cassie.
DOUG: I got you a surprise birthday present, Cassie! Cassie looks delighted.
CASSIE: But my birthday isn’t until Saturday!
DOUG: I know. But if it stays wrapped until Saturday, it might die.
INT. BARN - DAY
Doug, Adam, Cassie and Paige stand before a large, giftwrapped box. The train of the peacock sticks out one end. And we can hear the incessant calling of the frightened bird. Cassie claps her hands.
CASSIE: I know what it is! Can I open it?
Adam gives her a look.
ADAM: The quicker, the better. Cassie approaches the present. She tears off the wrapping to reveal the peacock still in the crate.
CASSIE: Let him out! Let him out!
Doug opens the crate. The peacock jumps out and immediately flutters about the barn, looking for an exit. The giant bird is frantic. Doug, Cassie, Paige and Adam duck to avoid getting clipped by its wings.
INT. FARM HOUSE - DAY IN THE KITCHEN.
Adam pops the cap off a beer bottle and takes a long swig. He looks at Doug who warms a bowl of leftover mac-n-cheese in a microwave.
ADAM: How much did the bird cost?
DOUG: One-hundred-and-forty dollars. That’s a decent price on a peacock, Adam. Especially emerald peacocks.
ADAM: Yeah, I’m sure it’s reasonable. But you have no income. You get fired and the first thing you do is spend a hundred and forty dollars!
Doug takes his mac-n-cheese, sits at the kitchen table and starts eating.
ADAM: Get used to macaroni because that’s all you and Cassie will be able to afford.
DOUG: Mike Wembly has a peahen. We can breed more peacocks and sell them. But I have to build an enclosure with the right disposition for erotic interest.
Cassie comes bounding in carrying a gift she has bundled in homemade gift wrap.
CASSIE: I have your present, Dougie!
Doug eagerly accepts the gift and unwraps it. Adam
stares, confounded.
ADAM: You bought a gift for Doug?
CASSIE: We give each other presents on our birthdays so we don’t feel jealous.
Doug pulls a GoPro camera box out of the wrapping.
DOUG: It’s a camera!
ADAM: You bought Doug a GoPro? For how much?
CASSIE: It was on sale at Nebraska Furniture Mart. Only three hundred dollars!
Adam is aghast.
ADAM: You spent more than twice as much on Doug as he spent on you and it’s not even his birthday?
EXT. DOUG AND CASSIE’S FARM - DAY
Doug rides his bike in circles in the driveway, his GoPro strapped to his head. Paige and Cassie stand near the farm house, watching him. Adam walks toward Doug.
ADAM: If you’re done playing, we need to head into town to do some job hunting. I called Bob Stoke at the lumber yard. He’d like you to stop by for an interview.
Doug zips past his brother.
DOUG: I’ll go right now, Adam.
Doug heads off the farm on the bike, still wearing the camera.
ADAM: Doug, wait! We need to prep for your interview!
Doug continues to pedal away, breezing down a dirt road. Adam heads to his truck. Paige jogs over to him, waving her arms. Adam opens his truck door but waits for her.
PAIGE: Let him do this on his own. I know it’s not your usual M.O., but at least give him a shot of handling it himself.
Adam pauses. Every fiber in him says to get in the truck, but Paige’s gaze is persuasive. He nods reluctantly.
EXT. ALBION, NEBRASKA - DAY
Doug rides the shoulder of the main highway into the small farming community of Albion. The GoPro films from its perch on Doug’s forehead. Doug comes to a stop sign. He surveys the town a moment and sees a lumber yard at the end of a frontage road.
EXT. LUMBER YARD - DAY OUTSIDE A FRONT OFFICE.
Doug walks his bike to the office, still wearing the camera. BOB STOKE (55), the lumber yard manager, comes out of the building.
BOB: You must be Doug!
Doug nods.
BOB: I’m Bob. Your brother told you we have a job that just opened up? Picking up scraps, sweeping out the receiving area. Helping load customer trucks.
DOUG: Do you have a computer job?
BOB: Computer job? You mean working in the office? Doug nods.
BOB: No. I’ve already discussed it with Adam. The job pays ten dollars an hour. If you want, you can start today.
DOUG: I made eighteen dollars an hour on my last job. I used the computer.
BOB: Right. We’re not hiring for that. Are you interested in what I told you? Around the receiving area?
DOUG: I will do it for seventeen dollars an hour, Bob.
BOB: I’m not hiring a yard cleaner for seventeen dollars an hour. It pays ten. If you’re still doing a good job in six months, you’ll get ten-fifty.
DOUG: That’s not a whole lot of money, Bob.
BOB: Well, as they say, you can take it or leave it. Doug gets on his bicycle and pedals away. Bob watches him go, mystified.
EXT. ALBION, NEBRASKA - DAY
Doug pushes his bicycle along a row of boutiques in the little downtown area. The camera is still on his head. He comes to a flower shop with a “help wanted” sign. THE SHOP OWNER (45) spritzes a display of flowers outside the storefront. She looks at Doug who gazes back at her.
DOUG: You have a help-wanted sign.
SHOP OWNER: Yes. I need somebody behind the cash register. You ever been a cashier?
DOUG: I work with computers. How much does this job pay?
SHOP OWNER: Eleven dollars an hour. It’s part-time, though. I only need twenty hours a week.
DOUG: I’ll do it for eighteen dollars an hour. Take it or leave it.
The shop owner looks at him a moment.
SHOP OWNER: Sir, are you... on the spectrum?
EXT. ALBION, NEBRASKA - DAY
Doug rides his bicycle down another street in the business district. Half a block away, a traffic light turns red. Doug stops exactly where he is and waits. A CAR full of TEENAGE BOYS creeps up behind him and blares its horn. Doug is startled, causing him to fall off his bike and hit the ground. The boys howl with laughter.
TEENAGE BOY: Look! He filmed it with a GoPro!
A TRUCK coming in the other direction pulls to the curb. A sign on the truck door reads: “Nebraska Wind
Energy.” Tom, the wind energy agent, gets out of the truck and makes a beeline for the car of teens.
AGENT TOM: You boys leave this man alone!
The car of teenagers drives off, screeching its tires as it turns a corner. Tom helps Doug back to his feet.
AGENT TOM: Are you all right?
Doug nods.
DOUG: Yes, I am all right. Thank you Nebraska Wind Energy man.
Tom pats Doug’s shoulder, but then pauses.
AGENT TOM: You’re Doug Valasek!
Doug’s face falls. He suddenly realizes he has met Tom before. He shakes his head and lifts his bike off the ground.
DOUG: No. I have to go.
Tom touches Doug’s shoulder, but Doug yanks it out of his grip.
AGENT TOM: Your brother told me about Cassie’s phobia. She thinks turbines are alien technology? Something like that. Right?
DOUG: She thinks they’re Martian tripods.
Tom chuckles, but tries to remain polite.
AGENT TOM: If they were brought here to zap humans, don’t you think the Martians would’ve initiated their attack by now? We’ve had wind farms since the 1980s.
Doug stares at him.
DOUG : I know they’re not tripods. And there’s no such thing as Martians.
AGENT TOM: Right! We’re on the same page.
Tom notices the GoPro on Doug’s head.
AGENT TOM: You should take some pictures of the turbines with that camera. Maybe then Cassie will get on the same page, too.
EXT. RURAL HIGHWAY - DAY
Doug rides his bike on the shoulder of a two-lane highway, cresting a hill. A row of wind turbines is visible along a nearby ridge. Doug sees an access road. He steers his bike on to it, heading directly toward the nearest turbine.
POV from Doug’s GoPro: The turbine’s giant blades glisten against a clear, blue sky.
BACK TO DOUG. He climbs off his bike, ditching it in a patch of tall grass. He continues toward the turbine on foot.
DOUG: I’m approaching the turbine, Cassie. So far, no sign of tentacles or green smoke emitting from the joints...
Doug climbs a ladder up to the maintenance door in the base of the turbine. He grabs the handle and, to his surprise, the door opens.
DOUG: Look at this, Cassie! It’s unlocked!
Out of Nowhere concludes in the winter edition of Nebraska Quarterly.
Study abroad
Busted luggage, vomit and an earthquake
I learned while traveling abroad with students
BY CHRIS GRAVES (’87)
Assistant Professor of Practice and Deepe Family Chair in Depth Reporting
ark Twain wrote: “One must travel to learn.”
Little did I know that when I boarded a plane bound for Vietnam last January with nine wide-eyed College of Journalism and Mass Communications students that I would learn as much — and maybe more — than the students. It was the first time either I or photojournalism Professor Shoun Hill had traveled with college students. The trip came post COVID-19 and after a
group of alumni raised concerns about the program, which led the college to spend nearly three years reshaping it.
The students were an elite crew. They applied for the endowed program, which paid for all travel and accommodations. In Nebraska, just 1,102 college-aged students — 600 from the University of NebraskaLincoln — traveled abroad to study in academic year 2021-22. In the U.S., less than 6% of all college students, or 188,753, traveled abroad for college credit, according to the U.S. State Department.
Hill and I spent more than a year researching the trip and traveled to Vietnam the previous spring, where we discovered story after story for the students to delve into in order to produce long-form written articles and short-form documentary films. We carefully chose textbooks and films for the students to read and watch to prepare for the journey 1,800 miles away. We set up sessions with translators and we required students to create detailed in-country reporting plans. We repeatedly met with the university risk and global travel
Marjanna Pilling (’24) takes photographs along Ke Creek, at the Mekong Silt Ecolodge in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.
experts before embarking to the country’s Mekong Delta. No one mentioned earthquakes.
Here are 10 lessons I learned on my maiden student-travel journey:
Unexpected things will happen or …. back to that earthquake. We watched the state department’s travel site and signed up for travel advisories in order to keep students safe. Never once did I anticipate an earthquake, and resulting tsunami, would face us just after we landed in Tokyo. Like 15 minutes after we landed and as students fanned out for food after the 13+-hour flight from Chicago. Sure, the earthquake was on the other coast of Japan; but, when you don’t speak the language and all the news reports are in Japanese, you are pretty much on your own. I’ve never felt more safe back in the air than on the ground.
Know where you are going. It seemed like a wonderful idea to travel to Vietnam, which welcomed 2.6 million international travelers in 2023, according to the government’s General Statistics Office. But traveling as working student journalists to a socialist republic governed by the Communist Party with state-run and controlled media was a lesson I hadn’t intended to teach. Suffice it to say: The First Amendment’s 45 words are no longer obtuse words in a textbook.
Students get sick. I joked that Professor Hill and I would score an A+ if we kept students out of the hospital and the U.S. Embassy. We did. But sickness happens. About half of our students got sick during the trip, most likely from the change in diet. Maybe, too, from travel and heat. Thank goodness they listened and packed first-aid kits complete with antidiarrheal medicine, antacids and pain relievers. They sometimes need a hug, too. Plan a lot. Like all travel, you can never start too early communicating details with students. Students want details. Our itinerary came a bit late as we shored up details with our Vietnamese partners, who required very specific plans and governmental permissions to allow our students to report. (see #2)
Limit luggage. Our trip was a working one and students were required to handle their assigned photography/video equipment and all their luggage. A couple of students did not heed this — including one who had one piece of luggage break during the first leg of our trip — and it slowed them down.
Duplicate everything. Require students to travel with two different kinds of identification and two kinds of payment, in addition to cash. I kept copies of all student passports and visas. No one lost or misplaced them. But knowing I had a copy was my secret security blanket.
Alcohol, drugs and weapons. Know and articulate the rules and consequences. Weapons are never a good idea. Be sure students know what prescriptions are allowed and what are not. The legal drinking age in Vietnam is 18. One of our students had her 21st birthday while we were traveling. We clearly articulated no alcohol in rooms. This, which surprised me, was never a problem. Keep your cool. Custom agents stopped several of our students in Vietnam as we headed back home. They escorted students to another part of the airport, as we helplessly watched. They had packed lithium batteries in their luggage and had to remove them and repack. All was well. But I was sweating for those 20 minutes.
Students miss their family. So much so that when winter weather back home canceled our flight from Denver to Omaha, several students rebooked themselves in flight from Tokyo to make it home sooner.
Trust your children. Parents: You have done a great job. Your children are problem solvers. (see #9) There isn’t really a need to call or check in multiple times a day. Doing so, sometimes gets in the way of their learning. And imagine just how much they will have to tell you when they get back home!
Global Eyewitness participant Lauren Pennington (’24) made this photo during the class trip to Vietnam. This father and son are rowing the river on the family’s property to collect algae and kill invasive snails.
The Big Question
Reimagining libraries and the future of information access
BY LIZ LORANG (’10) Dean, University Libraries
Our alumni have strong memories of the campus’ libraries, whether of the iconic Love Library, the transformed C.Y. Thompson Library (now the Dinsdale Family Learning Commons) on East Campus, or other of our smaller, discipline-specific locations, both past and present. Among my own memories are those of the literally hundreds of hours I spent tucked away in the current periodicals room of Love Library in the summer of 2009 researching and writing for my dissertation on newspaper poetry.
Often when I am at events that bring graduates back to campus or I meet with alumni in the community, people ask me, “What’s it like in the library these days?” This question, as I hear it, is as much about the physical environments of our libraries as it is about the work we do in them now. It’s as much “Where are the books?” as it is “What do librarians do at a time when there are entire information universes at everyone’s fingertips?” Excited and thinking
about where to begin in response, I find myself offering some version of the sentiment, “That’s a big question!” It’s a big question because academic research libraries, such as UNL’s University Libraries, have the responsibility to create and enable transformational encounters with information so that we can thrive as individuals, communities, and worlds.
As part of its pursuit of this responsibility, the University Libraries has been undertaking a pivotal space project in the heart of Love Library this summer. The code name for the effort? Project Metamorphosis. The allusion here is not purposely literary, not intentionally calling up the ancient Roman poet Ovid or 19th-century German writer Franz Kafka. Instead, the reference is to the metamorphoses of larvae into butterflies and moths.
Stunning perennial garden beds frame the sidewalks and lawn on Love Library’s south side, leading into the building’s original entrances. There could not be, for me, a more perfect greeting to my workday year-round, or a more pleasant send-off each evening.
How fitting for me that the current iteration of the Love Garden began the year I was born, replacing the more formal rose and juniper beds. I am undeniably more Nebraska wildflower than cultivated rose.
The UNL Botanical Garden and Arboretum, a division of Landscape Services, designed the gardens so that visitors stroll “through varying patterns of sun and shade cast by the garden’s trees,” with plants “chosen to fit the different growing environments created by the trees.” I am entranced by the daily rhythm and cycle of the gardens and of their transformations over the seasons. And even within such dependable cycles, surprises emerge as the gardens become again every day, every season, every year.
Pollinating insects descend in the gardens in large numbers during the summer, most noticeably honeybees and bumblebees, butterflies and moths. There is a period late in summer when the afternoons’ blooms abound with so many butterflies that I feel wholly, if briefly, transported to their world. I have yet to settle on words to describe the feeling.
The larvae that become moths and butterflies contain gatherings of cells called “imaginal discs,” which are the pre-imagined body parts of adult moths and butterflies. Through the process of metamorphosis, these imaginal discs transform into the recognizable features of Nebraska’s red admiral butterflies, of twin-spotted sphinx months, and of all their fellow species Earth over.
Project Metamorphosis is about the University Libraries that we are becoming. It is about the academic research library that the university’s students, researchers, learners, teachers and the state need us to be in an age of increasing information speed, scale and complexity — complexity often masked as simplicity. Indeed, it is precisely because so many people have entire information universes available at their fingertips that the University Libraries’ work has never been more vital than it is today.
Thriving as individuals, communities, and worlds requires veracious information and data whose provenance is unambiguous and verifiable. Thriving as individuals, communities, and worlds requires information ecosystems that prioritize information access as a fundamental human right; that steward human, financial, and environmental resources in sustaining ways; and that welcome information seekers of all backgrounds and identities. Thriving as individuals, communities, and worlds requires renewing generations of sophisticated creators of information, in whom we can trust to help us see from new angles and perspectives.
A major motivation of Project Metamorphosis is bringing the library’s research and teaching librarians out of the margins of our main building and into the center of Love Library. Doing so foregrounds vis-
ibility of information experts, and it both physically and symbolically places information expertise as one of three central components of academic research libraries, alongside information resources and our physical and virtual environments. For sure, students, faculty and community members reach our experts in a variety of ways, with many encounters via chat, email and web-conferencing. In 2023, however, people still entered Love Library nearly one million times, and we are on pace to best pre-2020 levels for visits, even amid reductions in hours, enrollments, campus personnel and budgets. Each of these one million visits is an opportunity for a transformational encounter with information, with the potential to positively change not only individual lives, but also families, communities and beyond.
In homage to Love Garden and with donor support, we also are prototyping a “technology garden” as part of Project Metamorphosis. The beds of the technology garden — a variety of learning spaces with a range of hardware and software, as well as areas for delivering technology-inflected information and data literacy programming at many scales — will sit just outside the doors of librarian offices. The garden will be a space for researchers, learners, and creators to grow in their facility with, and critical understanding of, technologies for information creation, analysis, distortion and more. They will nurture seeds of ideas and consider what it means to tend the earth in an era of e-waste that supports our information habits and of massive power consumption for artificial intelligences that are transforming all aspects of information. I wonder: What might be the equivalent of a “master horticulturist” program for a technology garden?
The metaphor is imperfect, but as we undertake Project Metamorphosis, I picture the library’s imaginal discs reconstituting into a new stage of our becoming, and this cycle recurring as information environments evolve. Instead of transforming into legs, wings, antennae, our imaginal discs reassemble into our changed physical and virtual spaces, worldclass information sources, and many dozens of expert personnel.
In just about a year from now, in the fall of 2025, Love Library will celebrate its 80th anniversary of serving the UNL community and as the setting for so many student memories. Fall of 2025 also marks the 50-year anniversary of the completion of the Love North addition, first necessary to expand space for the library’s physical collections and now home to the Adele Coryell Hall Learning Commons, as the University Libraries has continually transformed to meet the evolving information needs of UNL’s researchers and learners. What will be next in our process of becoming?
Students enter the Great Hall of the Sheldon Museum of Art which was designed by architect Philip Johnson and dedicated in 1963.
ART OF LEARNING
Story by JACKIE OSTROWICKI (’98, ’22)
Light spills in through the Great Hall’s soaring glass windows as a dozen students clamber up the twin staircases to Sheldon Museum of Art’s second floor galleries. Their professor, Courtney Hillebrecht, trails behind them. They are about to see, firsthand, how work on peace and reconciliation is expressed in a different context.
“We just finished studying hard power versus soft power,” Hillebrecht says. “And art is a form of soft power.”
Unprecedented: Art in Times of Crisis is the exhibition the class will be learning from. It features 80 works of art that explore issues including war, climate change and global health challenges — art such as Woman of the Crucifixion, a painting by Rico LeBrun dated 1948–1950.
Sloan Lammers, one of Sheldon’s student ambassadors, leads a discussion around the painting. “What word would you use to describe what you see?” she asks. The responses she receives range from “bleak” and “she looks sad” to “strong” and “empowered.”
Diverse Disciplines
Engage with Sheldon to Deepen Understanding and Spark Dialogue
Photos by CRAIG CHANDLER
Lammers talks about how violence, such as crucifixions, has been used throughout history as both a form of communication and a form of control. Heads nod as she speaks. Lammers is articulate — speaking passionately about the painting, facilitating discussion with the students, inviting them to engage. Sporting jet-black hair and flared purple corduroys, she looks like a painter herself.
“We are all survivors of unprecedented times,” she says.
You might think you’re observing a group of art history students. But Sheldon isn’t just for artists — it’s for everyone. The group of students exploring the museum are from a political science class on international relations. And Hillebrecht is the chair of the political science department.
“Sheldon does a nice job of facilitating deeper conversations about the art of interpretation,” Hillebrecht says. “It engages them at a higher level of critical thinking, and knocks down this idea that we have one authority that knows everything about any particular piece of art.”
Hillebrecht is not the only faculty who has discovered the museum as an alternative classroom. Faculty from across a spectrum of disciplines are bringing classes to access artwork and apply what they’re learning in the lecture hall.
• Valerie Jones (’19), an associate advertising and public relations professor, brings students in to learn about how visuals can deepen a message beyond what words can convey.
• Lisa Kort-Butler, a professor and vice-chair of the sociology department, brings students in to discuss how art makes meaning about crime, justice and related issues.
• And Xu Li, a civil and environmental engineering professor, brings students in to
In the lecture hall, Courtney Hillebrecht discussed war and peace with her international relations class. When they visited Sheldon, they saw Ai Weiwei’s 2019 lithograph, Bombs, which denotes the tendency to solve problems through armed conflict.
create connections between engineering theories they learn in class and real life.
“I visited an art museum for the first time as a university freshman, and it changed my life,” says Susan Longhenry, Sheldon’s director. “From that first encounter, engaging with original works of great art has transported me in a way that nothing else has.”
Longhenry wants the museum to create connection and dialogue. She is interested in inspiring discovery and creating a welcoming learning experience. And most importantly, she wants more people to step inside.
“When I look at the University of Nebraska student body, I see tens of thousands of students primed for the same experience I had,” Longhenry says. “We’re not just teaching about art; we’re engaging faculty and students through art.”
And Sheldon — in partnership with faculty across campus — is doing just that.
Erin Hanas, Sheldon’s curator for academic and campus engagement, has been at the museum since 2020. She is responsible for getting the campus community through the museum’s doors. Each semester, she combs through the course catalog, looking at classes offered and seeing if there might be any overlap with exhibitions that are currently at Sheldon.
The museum houses a comprehensive collection of American art, including modern and contemporary works. The collections include nearly 13,000 objects — works of art that can move students’ hearts and stir their minds.
“I think about engagement in a couple of different ways,” Hanas says. “One way is figuring out how we can connect to curriculum.”
“IT ENGAGES THEM AT A HIGHER LEVEL OF CRITICAL THINKING, AND KNOCKS DOWN THIS IDEA THAT WE HAVE ONE AUTHORITY THAT KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT ANY PARTICULAR PIECE OF ART.”
—Courtney Hillebrecht
“I also think more broadly about the skills students develop by spending time engaging with art, like visual literacy and critical thinking. In that sense, it doesn’t really matter what the exhibition is — it doesn’t have to connect to something that’s being taught.”
As an example, Hanas may reach out to a science professor about how their students could benefit from understanding how to read images or convey data in a visual format. She also invites faculty members who have brought classes to Sheldon to speak to their peers about their experiences.
“It’s helpful for faculty from different disciplines to hear from each other about how to incorporate art into teaching and learning — and how that can benefit students,” Hanas says.
What she’s doing is working. Last academic year, 6,000 University of NebraskaLincoln students visited Sheldon, whether through classes or other student-related programming. That means 25% of UNL’s students have had first-hand experience with works of art.
“We’re really proud that we continue to expand the breadth of disciplines that come to Sheldon,” Hanas says. “They range from art history to
foreign languages, sociology to political science. We’re continuing to expand existing relationships and build new relationships.”
That includes a relationship with Dr. Katie Anania, assistant professor of art history. Each of her classes visits Sheldon about three times a semester. Last spring she took students from her Visualizing Crisis class to visit two exhibitions that relate directly to course material.
One of the exhibitions, Unprecedented: Art in Times of Crisis, is the same one Hillebrecht’s class viewed. It explores art produced in response to times of uncertainty and upheaval. The other, (In)credible: Exploring Trust and Misperceptions, addresses how people sort through the vast amount of available information to deter-
mine what is — or is not — trustworthy.
“In art and design history classes, it’s a huge advantage to look at artworks in person. There are things about a work of art that even the highest quality photograph or video can miss,” Anania says.
“My courses focus on questions about why and how art is displayed the way it is, and how artworks generate certain kinds of reactions in observers. Studying how other people interact with objects at Sheldon — from the wall text to the pedestals — becomes part of the conversation.”
She believes Sheldon is an ideal laboratory to observe storytelling methods and human behavior.
“I’ve been astounded by the ways that professors across the university have anchored their teaching and learning in Sheldon’s collections,” Anania says.
Anna Dirrim, one of Anania’s students, has benefited from taking coursework out of the classroom and into the Sheldon. A senior pursuing a bachelor of fine arts degree with an emphasis in painting, Dirrim took Anania’s Visualizing Crisis course. She believes there is tremendous value in learning through experience.
“Not only can the museum be an alternative classroom, but a piece of art itself can be a classroom,” Dirrim says. “Artwork invites students into a situation where there is no right or wrong answer. It familiarizes them with that tension.”
“Accepting that multiple truths about an artwork can exist at the same time leads to a deeper understanding of art — and a deeper understanding of other students as fellow viewers.”
Sheldon is a tremendous resource both to art students like Dirrim and to students from other disciplines. When classes come to Sheldon, it opens
Assistant Professor Katie Anania talks with students as they learn in the Unprecedented: Art in Times of Crisis exhibit space.
TODAY’S GENEROSITY INSPIRES
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a door to a world of new thinking and new conversations.
For many students, this is their first experience with art.
“A lot of my students said they had never been to a museum — not just an art museum, but any museum,” says Hillebrecht. “They felt like it was not available to them because it was fancy. Or, you had to know about art to even walk through the doors. One of my goals was to make Sheldon more accessible.”
Hillebrecht believes that a sense of belonging is key to accessing more campus resources like Sheldon.
“It is important for students to understand that they belong in those spaces,” she says. “Regardless of how many museums they’ve been to before they stepped on campus, these are spaces for the public. These are spaces for them.”
Avery Lambert, a senior political science major in Hillebrecht’s class, says that going to Sheldon once creates a path to go back again and again. “Being there made me feel like I need to go see more art,” Lambert
says. “It reminded me that there’s a story to everything. There’s a meaning behind everything.”
For some students, art speaks to them in a way that no journal article could. It also breaks down the notion that what they’re learning in the classroom is only applicable to the classroom.
“The classroom offers a very formal, very prescribed relationship. I stand at the front of the classroom. I put on my microphone. I deliver my lectures,” Hillebrecht says. “I try to be open and engaging and accessible to students. But that relationship is very much dictated by the structure of the class.”
“When we move to new spaces, it breaks down that hierarchy and encourages more collaboration with students. Coming to Sheldon is very informal in the sense that everyone is on the same page. They’re all learning together, and so am I.”
Lambert feels that being in a different environment changed her mindset.
“It’s a change of scenery. Instead of sitting, you get to walk around and
Sheldon student ambassador Sloan Lammers talks about the Unprecedented: Art in Times of Crisis exhibit to an international relations class.
talk and point. I paid more attention because I was somewhere new,” she says.
“In school, they taught us about three different ways of learning: seeing, hearing, and doing. In Sheldon, we’re actually doing the work. We’re using all three of those modes: we’re seeing and we’re talking about it and we’re thinking. We’re engaging.”
Tyler White (’03, ’06, ’10), associate professor of practice and director of the national security program, is another faculty member who has used Sheldon. He has visited the museum with students for multiple courses, including his class, Threats and Solutions to Global Security in the 21st Century.
White is fascinated with the intersection of creativity and political science. “With politics, so much of it is subjective. So is art. In that sense, I think art can be very instructive,” he says.
“It can teach us a lot about how other people are looking at the world. In art, in life, in politics — two people can look at the same thing and get something totally different out of it.”
White also believes that art opens you up to empathy.
“Art and nature should humble us in a way that allows us to think about what it’s like to be somebody else, to be sitting in a different place,” he says. “Art invites us to do that.”
“What have you not seen? What are you not thinking about? What are you not considering? How could you be wrong? Art invites us in to have those discussions. If you’re trying to solve a real-world problem that’s difficult, there’s always a place for you to take a step back, and to use things like art to reconsider what you think and you know.”
There are many benefits to the type of field-based and experiential learning that students engage in at Sheldon. Outside of the confines of the classroom walls, they can put
“ART AND NATURE SHOULD HUMBLE US IN A WAY THAT ALLOWS US TO THINK ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE SOMEBODY ELSE, TO BE SITTING IN A DIFFERENT PLACE. ART INVITES US TO DO THAT.”
—Tyler White
into practice what they’ve theorized about behind a desk. Students who engage in active learning experiences report having higher levels of motivation and recall the course material more vividly. Some even have improved academic performance in class.
Lambert, the political science student, talks about the outcome of her visit to Sheldon. “Art gives me an understanding of past history that can affect things I do in the future,” she says. “I’ve gained a lot of new information. I feel like I have so much power now.”
Museum staff make it easy for faculty to incorporate art into their curriculum. Hanas works with faculty to tailor a tour, come up with activities and suggest assignments that help students make connections between Sheldon works of art and whatever they are reading or discussing in the classroom.
“Sheldon is one of the most amazing spaces on campus,” muses White, the political science professor. “The building itself is a work of art. We’re lucky to have a place where we can learn more about who we are by seeing and experiencing art.”
By bringing more faculty and students through its doors, Sheldon is fulfilling its mission — to be deeply connected with the community around it, to be civic-minded and to be inclusive. Longhenry, the museum director, believes that museums should be a place where all community members can mingle and meet, discuss and engage.
“We know we need disciplinary boundaries on campuses. But we don’t need them inside this museum, because art is a part of life. Here, those boundaries can really dissolve,” she says.
When boundaries dissolve, you see things more broadly. Like the windows on either side of the Great Hall that open out to campus, Sheldon creates a window to the world.
AT I DIDTHIS
By MIA AZIZAH (’20)
When school lets out for summer, college students take off for hometowns, mission trips and far-off lands — from South Africa and Spain to Singapore and Australia. The Office of Global Experiences reports 450 students traveled overseas last summer to experience different parts of the world.
And for some Huskers, it’s their first time going across the border.
“There is a different joy when boarding a plane with a student who has never even been on a plane, let alone been outside the U.S.A. To see the look of excitement and wonder in their eyes as they stand in line to go through customs, hearing a language they don’t understand, but they are beaming with excitement,” says Cody Hollist, director of the Global Experiences Office.
The potential cost of studying abroad to see the world, however, may hinder some students from exploring the world, but Hollist says that’s why the Office of Global Experiences of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln aims to provide more scholarship and funding opportunities for students to go abroad.
“The aim of our scholarships is to provide financial support to students who otherwise could not afford to study abroad. To achieve this, we prioritize planning scholarships to help students with financial needs prepare well in advance, giving them ample time to find additional funding to help pay for their programs.”
Whether it’s three weeks or three months of summer, students of all majors fan out around the globe. Here is what they have to say about their adventures.
“Experiencing and immersing yourself in other cultures and different backgrounds and the overall difference is key to living a full life and vital to experiencing and becoming your true self.”
Alberto Rodriguez Senior Mechanical Engineering
Singapore
South Africa
“This experience helped me gain a lot of independence. I have never been to a foreign country, or even anywhere besides college, without my family. I learned to live and work on my own without being so reliant.”
Kennedy Whiting Senior Fisheries and Wildlife
Ashley Wilwerding Junior Accounting and Biochemistry
“Studying abroad gave me the best experiences and memories. Paragliding off Monte Grappa in Italy with my friends is something I never thought I would do, but one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had.”
“My interest was driven by my desire to learn about my Japanese ancestry. My father’s family emigrated to the United States in 1890, and our connection to Japan was lost over the past 134 years. The study abroad program not only provides an opportunity to rediscover my heritage but allows me to broaden my worldview. Being half-Japanese, I hope to grow as a person so I can be a more effective doctor for patients from different cultural backgrounds.”
Taylor Sakaguchi Senior Microbiology
“It’s been really interesting to learn about a country that I had known about. I had kind of a generalized idea about Australia. But then to learn the history, learn the way that it functions, and then also participate in the day-to-day life, that has been something really eye-opening. It gives you a wider global context.”
Jaelyn Gross Junior Broadcasting, Advertising and Public Relations
“I decided to study abroad because I think it will help me better understand the world. I want to see how other people live their lives and better understand the diverse lived experiences of people around the world. I want to broaden my horizons and perspectives, as I believe it will help me be a better citizen of the world. I really enjoy Korean culture and history, and I want to improve my Korean language skills. Also, I wanted an experience that was vastly different from mine.”
Rowen Satterfield
Junior Global Studies
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“I decided to study abroad because of my dad’s time spent in the military and hearing stories about his time spent abroad. I decided as a freshman to major in international business because it is a requirement to go abroad. I knew I would need a small nudge to go through with moving to a different country, and my major was perfect for that.”
“Studying abroad in Ireland, particularly in the context of the horse industry, presented an invaluable chance to immerse myself in a culture deeply intertwined with equine heritage. Ireland boasts a rich history of horsemanship, from its esteemed equestrian traditions to its renowned breeds.”
Mollie Fee Senior International Business
Chloe Ott Junior Animal Science
Ireland
Spain
MYSTERY PHOTO
CLASS QUOTES
Do you recognize any of these students from 1974? 70
OBITUARIES
Professor Colleen Jones had a passion for leadership. 64
LOVE STORY
Couple cultivates crops and dreams.
Alumni from all eras recall cool trips they took during college. 72
BULLETIN
Kevin Gibbs (’00) entered the university as a dance major and has made a lifelong career in the performance arts. While a ballet dancer by trade, he has also performed as a contortionist, aerial acrobat and a dance extra in movies and commercials. This image of Gibbs with aerial silks was created at the Hotel Regina Louvre in Paris in 2021.
EVENTS
SEPT. 30OCT. 5
LINCOLN
Cornchella
Don’t miss all your favorite Homecoming week staples — Cornstock, parade and lawn displays. Try the limitededition flavor at the Dairy Store: Caramel Cornchella.
A magician, a ventriloquist, comedians and jugglers are slated to perform for the one-night birthday party variety show at the Lied Center, accompanied by the UNL Jazz Orchestra playing original charts of The Tonight Show orchestra.
NOV. 14-17
LOS ANGELES Husker Huddle at USC
Turn the LA Memorial Coliseum away football game into a weekend vacation with a welcome event and official alumni pregame party.
Alumni Profile
Gravity-Defying Dance Journey
Kevin Gibbs shines throughout his performing arts career
BY KEVIN WARNEKE (’85, ’12)
The magician needed a contortionist for his act — and Kevin Gibbs didn’t hesitate.
The call to contort came from a member of the contemporary dance company Gibbs (’00) danced and directed in Las Vegas at the time, and the pair found themselves scrunched in the magician’s box. The swords came next.
“People always thought there was a trapdoor,” he said. “Nope, there wasn’t. We just squeezed ourselves in.” Gibbs explained that the two squeezed in head to bottom, the box looked smaller than it actually was, he could see tiny slits in the box so they could anticipate where the swords would enter, and the blades had some bend to them. “We just had to guide them past us and out the other side.”
Never mind that he didn’t get paid for the gig. The magician’s assistant taught voice lessons and offered a trade. “I came to do something. I thought, ‘Why not?’ ”
Gibbs, a native Coloradan and UNL-trained in performance arts, is a ballet dancer by trade, and a contortionist, aerial acrobat and a dance extra in movies and commercials by choice. “I’ve done all my dream jobs,” he said. “Now, I can pick and choose jobs because I love them. I can also say ‘no.’ ”
One of those dream jobs was dancing the Two Men for Cirque Du Soleil’s Zumanity in Las Vegas. His partner, Bernard Gaddis, was a former principal dancer for Alvin Ailey who had also performed in The Lion King. Another dream job was dancing and touring with Pilobolus. A third was performing with the Paris Opera.
“I would have liked to dance for the New York City Ballet, still would, but I haven’t. I did, however, dance for the New York City Opera, which was great.”
Instead of using a series of adjectives to describe Gibbs’ abilities, Sara Joel is more direct when
describing her reaction when she first saw him dance. “I lusted for him as a dance partner,” said Joel, who performed in Zumanity with Gibbs but with a different partner. “I knew I had to dance with him.” And they have — 50 times and counting.
Gibbs’ introduction to dance came at age 15 in Fort Morgan, Colorado. He watched the high school drill team perform at a pep rally. “I thought ‘I can do that. I really want to do that.’ ”
He tried out for the team and made it. “I could tumble and I could mimic the dance.”
The drill team sponsor recruited him to dance as a soloist in a local performance of The Nutcracker. Gibbs downplays the significance of his dance debut: “There was a lack of boys in dance. This was a small town in the Midwest. And I had an advantage: I was flexible and I had good feet. I could just copy.”
A guest choreographer, who had his own dance company, was the lead in The Nutcracker and recruited Gibbs to join his troupe in Denver. Gibbs performed as the Snow King and an Arabian dancer. College came next and Gibbs spent a year at Union College in Lincoln studying journalism. He wanted to study dance and transferred to UNL. He quickly realized he was a step behind. When his first-semester instructor asked him to assume the first position in ballet, he could simply guess. Same for the second position. “I was clueless to the names of the steps. I needed to learn the base technique.”
But Gibbs quickly caught on, said Lisa Fusillo, who led UNL’s Department of Dance at the time. Gibbs took various dance-related classes with Fusillo, including ballet technique, pedagogy and dance history. “It was immediately clear that he was naturally talented but needed training and guidance. He wanted to learn and get better. He wanted to dance.”
Fusillo, now a professor of dance at the University of Georgia, said she followed Gibbs’ career for several years after he left Nebraska, and later would hear about the interesting things he was doing. “It’s so wonderful to see that he has excelled. He’s worked hard and done so many different things in dance, which reflects his talent and his gifts.”
During his time in Nebraska, Gibbs decided to make dance his career and knew he would have to leave the Midwest. He needed more education and training, and he headed to New York where he earned a master’s degree in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. “That’s where the center of the dance world is. That’s where I needed to be.”
Until Cirque Du Soleil brought him to Las Vegas. During his seven years there, Gibbs trained on the
side to be an aerial acrobat. After some initial trepidation, he realized he wasn’t afraid of heights and enjoyed hanging by his legs and arms. Standing at heights, he explained, his knees buckled. “But hanging with one hand, I feel safe and strong.”
While performing for Les Farfadais, a construction crane would lift him to a height of 40 meters and lower him to eight meters for his aerial performance. “The first time I did this, I was horrified. I had to look to the horizon and not at the traffic going by underneath me. After discovering that, I enjoyed it.”
Over the past two decades, Gibbs performed in the United States and Europe for MOMIX, a company of dancer-illusionists. He served as Rudolph Valentino’s dance alter ego in Valentino the Musical and portrayed Tarzan at Disneyland Paris.
Some performances, he said, helped build his resume. Others were just plain fun. He portrayed a spider at a haunted amusement park and used a zipline to navigate a giant web above the audience. He also danced the frug on a stairway in an Ebay commercial directed by Sam Mendes.
Gibbs said he suspects people think he’s younger than his 47 years — and credits the movie Home Alone, which starred Macauley Culkin as Kevin, for giving him some cover. For the two years following the movie’s release, Gibbs said, Kevin was the most popular name for boys born in France. “Most Kevins in France are probably 33ish or at minimum 10 years younger than me. My face isn’t too old looking yet. I think I get away with it.”
He watches what he eats — to some degree. “I don’t eat McDonald’s every day. Just once in a while.” He exercises several hours a day when he isn’t performing. Gibbs credits his versatility for extending his career. “I’m lucky. When my knees and ankles start feeling sore, I do more aerial acrobatics. When my shoulders feel sore, I do more dance.”
Paris has been home for the past 13 years, where he lives with his husband and their teenage daughter. He knows that calls to perform away from home come at all times — and when they do, he’ll be off again. Later this year, he’ll spend time directing on a Celebrity Cruises ship training a new cast of dancers and acrobats for Euphoria by Les Farfadais and also head to Barcelona to dance at the Liceu Opera House. Gibbs shouldn’t worry about retiring from dance anytime soon, said Sara Joel, the former partner who just earned first place in her age category (50+ elite) at the Pole Art Italy dance competition. He’s too good, she said, and too much in demand. “Kevin has a lot of dance left in him. I’d like to dance with him again.”
Kevin Gibbs was a founding dancer and the associate artistic director for the Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theater. This publicity shot was taken in 2008.
Alumni Profiles
Recycling His Degree
Dale Gubbels once wrote news stories, now he recycles newsprint
BY DR. RANDALL BRETZ (’82)
This is a story of how Dale Gubbels took his news-editorial degree from the College of Journalism, along with his experience through campus involvement and applied them to early jobs in the news and information world. Ultimately he created one of Nebraska’s largest recycling enterprises.
Think of it like a plastic bottle that found its way from the grocery shelf to your backyard party and ending up as a deck chair. Gubbels has taken his degree in journalism and recycled it several times. It’s an example of the value of a quality, wellrounded educational experience.
Gubbels, who graduated in 1975, started out as a journalist with The Crete News and today is the president of Firstar Recycling.
After The Crete News came an opportunity to be a public information officer with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Control. In this job he published a regular newsletter and he applied what might be called an out-of-class experience. Using his journalism education as a tool, he began observing how the organization worked and what it stood for. “I did learn a lot about wastewater treatment and agricultural pollution; we were just barely getting into environmental consciousness,” he said. “Then in 1979, the Unicameral passed a law focused on litter reduction and recycling which began to turn my focus in that direction.”
Gubbels helped Nebraska get involved in the courtesy
National Recycling Board and ultimately formed the Nebraska State Recycling Organization. His communication skills as well as the capability developed through involvement in campus organizations helped him promote and grow recycling in Nebraska. That experience plus the national connections he made led him to yet another way to recycle his college education, this time as a national consultant with a group in Connecticut. “My wife Mary and I put the kids in the car and headed east. We learned a great deal about housing costs and other challenges.” Mary (Ryder), a 1977 graduate, has focused her career on artistic endeavors.
Eventually, after consulting in the recycling industry for many years, Gubbels was recruited to return to Nebraska to study how to create in-state markets for recyclables. That initiative led to the development Firstar Fiber in the late 1990s. “Our first customer was the little town of Dodge where we collected recyclable paper. We’ve grown and now our recycling operation here in Omaha occu-
pies 365,000 square feet,” he said. Today, First Star Recycling processes close to 100,000 tons annually including paper, glass, metals and plastics.
It’s their work in plastics that recently resulted in First Star Recycling establishing Project School Board. Plastic waste collected from the Midwest ends up in the First Star facility in Omaha where it’s ultimately ground into flakes and then processed through a machine that makes plastic boards. Through Project School Board, schools are provided with kits that can be used to build items like park benches, outdoor furniture, planters and more. Ultimately, on an annual basis First Star generates 700,000 feet of plastic lumber of a variety of sizes.
So, much like that plastic bottle that eventually ends up as a comfortable deck chair made of plastic lumber, Dale Gubbels’ news-editorial degree has been recycled into operating and promoting a company that not only provides him and more than 100 employees with a livelihood, it’s helping save the environment as well.
FUTURE of TRADITION
Home to the world’s largest publicly held quilt collection, representing more than 60 countries from the 1600s to modern day.
Susan (Fifer) Canby (’70) wrote in to reveal this 1966 Halloween skit was meant to represent the Pound Hall girls’ college experiences thus far during their freshman year. Susan herself is sitting on the floor, dressed in the baseball uniform to signify athleticism, even though before Title IX there were limited women’s sports and she majored in English. Freshman Susan Dickerson from Omaha is holding a tray. Sophomore journalism major Ann Chittenden, originally from Lexington, is reporting near the wall in the vest and glasses.
University Libraries Archives & Special Collections has stacks of photos that could be enhanced with more information about who, what, when, where or why the photograph was taken. We’re hoping you will help us play detective. Do you recognize any of these college students outside of the original cultural center? If so, help us fill in the details of this mystery photograph. We’ll publish our findings in the winter edition of Nebraska Quarterly
LET US KNOW
Email your educated guesses or concrete identifications to kwilder@huskeralum.org.
Class Quotes BULLETIN
Tell us about a memorable trip you took during college.
1964
“I was a trumpetplaying junior in 1962 and our beloved football team had posted a winning record. The team was heading to Norman to play the U of Oklahoma, and the pep band was placed on a chartered train along with railway cars sponsored by the local Elks chapter. We marched through the whole train playing Nebraska fight songs. Many Elks shared liquid refreshments. Our marching band director, the great Jack Snider, charged into the musical melee to get us all back to our own railway car.”
Steve Halter (’64) went on many more band trips during his time at Nebraska, including a flight to the Orange Bowl the following year.
1960s
“In March of my senior year, TV news extensively covered the efforts of Black residents of Alabama to march from Selma to Montgomery to protest denial of voting rights. On March 21, 3,000 people led by Martin Luther King Jr., crossed the bridge under federal protection. By then, people across the country were joining the final stages of the march. On March 25, my friend, George Kimball, and I joined 25,000 other people, many of whom had, like us, come from all over the country, and we marched the final leg to the state capitol, where there was a mass rally.”
Robert Cherny (’65) is a profes-
sor emeritus of history at San Francisco State University.
1970s
“In the fall of 1971, Nebraska won the right to play Alabama for the national title on Jan. 1, 1972, in the Orange Bowl in Miami. Mike Olmstead (’75), Sam Sharpe (’75), Jerry Lutz (’75), Marc Ward (’75), Steve Buethe (’75) and I drove to Miami. We hit all the usual tourist stops, the dog races at Flagler, the Jai Alai matches at Dania, the harness races at Boca Raton and the horse races at Calder. Every day was a different buffet, from the Swed-
ish smorgasbord to Chateau Madrid’s all you could eat lobster and shrimp dinner for the ridiculously expensive price of $6.75 — four hours at minimum wage.”
George Howard (’75, ’76) lives in Hastings and still gets together with his friends once a year to reminisce about their first long road trip.
“In early 1976 I drove to Chicago to attend
the National Association of Broadcasters convention with Rick Alloway (’77). Through a connection with NBC newsman Floyd Kalber, Rick and I watched the WMAQ-TV newscast from the back of the studio and saw their new, young, female news anchor: Jane Pauley.”
Bob Cullinan (’77) lives in San Rafael, Calif.
1989
“I left on my 21st birthday for a trip to Europe with a group of college students from across the United States. Landing in Amsterdam, meeting up with some of my tour group and heading to a local bar for my first legal drink was quite a 21st birthday party. Our group then headed south through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and back north to France, taking the ferry across the English Channel, viewing the white cliffs of Dover, to England. I was the only one from the Midwest and had many of them convinced we had just recently gotten indoor plumbing.”
Debra Stuchlik (’89) lives in Lexington and relived these memories from her European trip with her brother, Randy Hoskins (’86), who traveled to Italy this year with his wife and granddaughter.
“The Cornhusker Marching Band’s 1974 European Tour took me to Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and England, with nearly 200 fellow band members and staff. We flew to Geneva and returned from London, after giving 10 concerts, marching in a couple parades and sightseeing — worked in around the busy schedule.”
Dave Deyloff (’78, ’85) celebrated the 50th anniversary of his European tour at the Band Alumni Reunion this September.
1990s
“My college girlfriend, and now wife of 32 years, jumped in my car with some fraternity and sorority friends and drove to Norman for the Nebraska vs. Oklahoma football game in 1988. The Huskers won 7-3, making the drive back a
lot more fun.”
Michael Stephens (’91) is the new associate executive director for the Nebraska Alumni Association. He’s back on campus after 10 years in Athens, Ohio, working with Coach Frank Solich and the athletic department at Ohio University.
2010s
“Going to the 2010 Big 12 Football Championship game was the quintessential college road trip. A group of friends leaving with zero planning, except to cheer on the Huskers. The game didn’t go our way, but we continue to tell stories of that trip.”
Christian Reynolds (’14, ’17) is the director of compliance, risk and contracts at Coviance and a member of the First-Gen Alumni Network Advisory Council, back in Lincoln after bouncing around the country post-graduation.
2020s
“The Big Ten Men’s Basketball tournament took place in Indianapolis right before the pandemic started in March 2020. It was already a peculiar season within the basketball team, because they lost a few too many players and Coach Fred Hoiberg had to take a few players from the football team to fill the roster. On our return from Indiana, we heard the news that classes were cancelled and so were the last few months of my senior year.”
Lexi Quarles (’20) is the new office coordinator for the Nebraska Alumni Association.
“I went to the University of Alabama to compete at the American Forensic Association’s National Individual Events Tournament. We stayed at a really nice house by the
lake. My friend swam in the frigid waters at sunrise. We stopped for a traditional southern dinner in Tennessee. We ran around Alabama’s campus in the pouring rain. It was so awesome the whole time, I didn’t even care that I did poorly in the tournament.”
M Imig (’22) is an administrative assistant and still fond of rain-running.
“During the summer after my freshman year I went to Poland for five weeks. I visited Auschwitz and studied the Holocaust through the perspective of contemporary and historical Jewish population centers in Krakow; I hiked to a beautiful lake in the Tatra Mountains and visited Zakopane, a gorgeous nearby mountain town; and I learned about the social and geopolitical history
2023
“My senior year I flew to Maine to visit my family, and we drove across the border to Quebec. That was the first time I’d been able to use my French outside of the classroom, and I’d improved a lot after nearly four years of study at UNL. I fell in love with Quebec and had the best time visiting my cousins. We went sledding in front of the Frontenac.”
Madison Sides (’23) is a graduate student in the UNL French department. She teaches French and is sometimes lucky enough to watch her students fall in love with the language too.
of the region in modern politics which has helped me better understand European politics.”
Megan Willburn (’22) is studying law at the University of Virginia.
Abbi Leu (’23) is the new alumni relations and programs coordinator for the Nebraska Alumni Association.
“I visited Kansas City to work the NFL draft. My focus was fan experience and I was stationed in various areas, one being a picture area with NFL jerseys and the real Super Bowl trophies, past and present.”
SHARE YOUR MEMORIES
What’s one fun activity you were involved with outside of the classroom?
To be featured in the winter issue, email your answer to this question to kwilder@huskeralum.org.
FEATURED BOOKS BY NEBRASKA ALUMNI, FACULTY AND STAFF
NEBRASKAAuthors
Shakespeare’s Conspirator
The Woman, The Writer, The Clues
Steve Weitzenkorn (’73, ’77)
Did a shunned, exotic woman write many of Shakespeare’s plays? Meet Emilia Bassano Lanyer. Discover the embedded clues, experience her dilemmas and live her peril. This historical, easy-to-read novel reveals a cloaked Shakespearean world in which little is as it seems. Learn more at ShakespearesConspirator.com. Available at Amazon.com
The Edict
Steve Weitzenkorn (’73, ’77)
The Spanish Inquisition shoots shock waves through the Jewish community. The Edict of Expulsion demands they convert or ee the country. Mazal and Jaco are desperate to escape – but face con icting dilemmas. Their daunting quest to survive tests whether their love, faith, and hope for a future together will endure or perish in a country teeming with danger. Available at Amazon.com
Now, Near, Next
Kimberly Rath (’83)
A practical guide for mid-career women to move from professional serendipity to intentional advancement. A must-read for any woman trying to nd or ght their way to what is possible. Available at NowNearNext.net
The Man in the Steel Drum
Daniel T. Daley (’71)
The real-life story of when the skeleton of a man was found during maintenance in the steam drum of a boiler, followed by an examination of how it might actually have happened. Set in an actual re nery, it leaves the reader wondering, “Could this happen to me?”
Available at Amazon.com via Kindle
Somebody Knows
Pamela (George) Ungashick (‘80)
A battle of wills between a conniving mother, Edith, and her innocent daughter, Audrey, set in the 1940s. Though outwardly obedient, Audrey refuses to give up on her dreams and de es her mother by writing a diary. When Edith discovers it, her reaction forces Audrey to begin a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Kobo.com
World Citizen
Journeys of a Humanitarian
Jane Olson (’64)
A poignant and insightful memoir that chronicles the author’s extraordinary experiences in war-torn regions across the globe as a humanitarian and advocate. A thoughtful meditation on humanity’s capacity for destruction and incredible resilience. Available at WorldCitizenTheBook.com
Side Effects Are Minimal
Laura Essay (’86)
Attorney Claire Hewitt nds herself at the center of a harrowing legal battle when representing one of Philadelphia’s most in uential families in a lawsuit over the tragic death of their daughter. Her journey thrusts her into the heart of an opioid nightmare that exposes questions about responsibility and accountability in the face of tragedy. Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com
Sins Revealed
A Joe
Erickson
Mystery
Lynn-Steven Johanson (’83)
Chicago detective Joe Erickson is called to investigate a burned-out pickup truck containing the charred bodies of two individuals. Who would kill and burn the two victims beyond recognition? And could the skeletal remains found buried in the victims’ backyard have anything to do with it?
Available at Amazon.com
ITEMIZED: A look at a treasured college relic
BOB HILSKE’S CAFETERIA CARD
When I entered the university as a freshman in 1976 my first home was third floor of Abel Hall where I lived for two and a half years. During that time, I made many friends on the floor, some who became like brothers and sisters. Several of us formed lifelong friendships and we still communicate and get together. We shared the good and bad as college is a time where your stress and emotions were always up and down. No matter how my day went, when I got back to the dorm, I could always count on a friendly face to take my mind off school. We spent time joking around, watching TV, plotting a practical joke on an unsuspecting floor-mate or even playing a round of dorm hall golf. Those years living in the dorm serve as some of my best memories of college. Eating meals in the cafeteria was a major part of the daily ritual of living in the dorm. The Vali-Dine (validation of dining) card was the pass you needed to gain entrance to the cafeteria.
In the mid-1970s UNL’s dormitory food service took a step toward the digital age with installation of the ValiDine system. Vali-Dine was a trademarked product by a New York company that became popular with colleges in the 1970s usually replacing paper punch cards. An increase in the fraudulent use of the punch cards, particularly falsely claiming punch cards given to others as “lost,” was a major reason why many schools opted to invest in the new system. Some schools reported that over 30% of their punch cards had been reported “lost” during the year. ValiDine cards included the student’s photo, an ID number, social security number and had a magnetic strip in the back. Cards were inserted into a card reader by an attendant at the entrance to the cafeteria. The photo prevented students from letting others use their cards and the Vali-Dine system could easily deactivate lost cards. Another benefit of the system
was that it documented meals eaten by students providing data that could be used for future meal planning. The 1970s dormitory meal plan included 20 meals a week which you paid for whether you ate them or not. It was a point of contention with some students who often only ate one or two meals a day. There was no Sunday evening meal which meant you could expect a long line at Valentino’s.
Dormitory food in the 1970s was still pretty institutional. You knew if sloppy Joes were on the lunch menu today, the next day the leftovers would magically be turned into spaghetti sauce. There were lots of calories, but no true junk food or soda options. The one treat was a soft serve ice cream machine. Stacking as much ice cream on a cone that the law of physics would allow was a skill only a few talented students could master. The Vali-Dine system allowed you to eat at any dormitory cafeteria on campus. I ate most meals in the Abel-Sandoz cafeteria, but occasionally I would venture out to Selleck Quad which usually had some unique menu items including always having burgers at lunch and a wider variety of breakfast cereal.
A major campuswide cafeteria crises occurred in the spring of 1977. The new East Campus Union had just opened and in it included a cafeteria that in addition to providing dining for guests at union events, served students living in Burr and Fedde Halls. Just like other cafeterias any student with a Vali-Dine card could eat there and word quickly spread around City Campus that the food at the East Campus Union was far superior. The cafeteria was quickly overwhelmed, particularly at dinner, as droves of students from City Campus headed there to eat; the food service equivalent of Woodstock. Thanks to the versatility of the Vali-Dine system, UNL took charge and discontinued allowing students living on City Campus to eat there unless you had classes on East Campus. As a natural resources major I had many classes
on East Campus, so I still was allowed to eat there and often did so at lunch.
Breakfast and lunch you often ate alone or with a couple of friends, but dinner was a social event. Most students ate in groups with their friends and it was an opportunity to have fun and joke around while you ate. It also gave you an opportunity to see and visit with students that lived on other floors or even other dormitories. Dinner started at 4:30 p.m., and for some reason we still don’t fully understand, my friends and I felt the need to be there when the cafeteria opened. They usually offered two or three entree options and if you showed up late only the least desirable might be left. My friends and I shared many laughs over a hearty plate of turkey tetrazzini or tuna a la king. Unfortunately, most students, including me, never appreciated the time and effort the cafeteria staff put in preparing and serving meals seven days a week. They worked hard to assure that we were fed three meals a day. In a few years my Vali-Dine card will be 50 years old. It only takes up a small space in my scrapbook, but it serves to remind me of those wonderful days when I was a young college student and it will always serve as a reminder of those wonderful days enjoying life with my college friends. Still some of the best times of my life.
Bob Hilske
SHARE YOUR TREASURE
Do you still have a cherished object from your college days? Tell us about it and we may feature you on this page. Email: kwilder@huskeralum.org
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?
DONALD SCHEWE
“Idon’t know,” Donald Schewe replied to former President Jimmy Carter during a face-to-face interview in 1981. That honest, quick reply morphed into a 20-minute banter about farming and ultimately a job offer as director of the Carter Presidential Materials Project in Atlanta.
“It was pretty much a thankless job,” Schewe, originally from Lincoln, said, “with most people not surviving more than two years.” The job involved processing 27 million papers amassed during Carter’s time in the White House along with three-dimensional objects, such as gifts from other dignitaries. Then Schewe was involved with the design and building of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, a five-year endeavor.
“I got it in writing that when the building was built, they would give me another job,” he said.
Schewe got the prestigious job as director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in 1985 and retired in 1999 with accolades from Carter and his late wife, Rosalynn.
Having met every United States president from Harry Truman through Barack Obama, Schewe, 80, gives significant credit to his alma mater. At UNL, Schewe says he learned how to learn, work with people different than himself, be inquisitive, dig deeper and find answers. He was particularly fond of a history survey class he took as a sophomore from Professor David Trask. “I wouldn’t miss that class,” he said. “Dr. Trask was one of those people who made history come alive.”
A 1961 graduate of Lincoln High School, Schewe started college as a math major until he hit calculus, then switched to history, earning a bachelor’s in 1964 and a master’s in 1968.
With his sights on becoming a college history professor, Schewe earned a Ph.D. in history in 1971 from Ohio State only to be faced with job shortages caused by a restriction in military deferments for draftees going to college. Colleges panicked with an expectation of fewer students in the pipeline.
His wife, whom he met in college even though they grew up six blocks apart in Lincoln, was blunt. He recalled her saying, “I’ve been putting you through school for five years. It’s time to get a job.”
After landing work in 1971 as a trainee with the National Archives and Records Service in Washington, D.C., his career as an archivist launched with jobs at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, N.Y., before transitioning to the Carter library in Georgia.
While at UNL Schewe was a member of Theta Chi fraternity, worked as a radio announcer for KFMQ-FM, competed in the General Electric College Quiz Bowl and was in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. He served in the U.S. Army from 1964 to 1966 achieving first lieutenant rank, then in the U.S. Army Reserve until 1992, honorably discharged as a lieutenant colonel.
Schewe travels back to Nebraska from Atlanta once a year to see friends and family, and cherishes his job as grandpa. He also travels routinely with the Nebraska Alumni Association, most recently to Egypt, Jordan and Normandy. —Jane Menninga Schuchardt
Schewe
1940s
Phyllis Lyness Cook (’44) Denton, Texas, March 5; Mildred Pogue Gardner (’47) Lincoln, May 6; Dorothy Burrows Young (’47) Billings, Mont., March 20; Ramon Hansen (’49) Gardner, Kan., Feb. 11; Shirley Laflin Larson (’49) Lincoln, April 25; Embree Rains Learned (’49) Grand Island, March 24; William Splichal (’49) N. Richland Hills, Texas, May 18
1950s
Mary Sommer Hanson (’50) Lincoln, April 17; Elliott Recht (’50) Palo Alto, Calif., March 20; Paul Engler (’51) Amarillo, Texas, May 3; Shirley Evans Gilmore (’51) Centennial, Colo., May 31; Wilhelmina Bubb Kritner (’51) Seward, April 23; Ralph Hansen (’52) Seward, March 15; Donald Houser (’52) Glenwood, Iowa, March 21; William Irby (’52) Columbus,
Dec. 18; Marily Holmquist Keebler (’52) Tacoma, Wash., April 15; Dolores Gade (’53) Ashland, March 14; Lyle Nilson (’53) Omaha, May 25; Roberta Nielsen Saalfeld (’53) Billings, Mont., Feb. 28; Gerald Adcock (’54) Ames, Iowa, May 26; Patricia Ball Dannehl (’54) Bertrand, April 9; Don Gerlach (’54) Sutton, Jan. 15; Barbara Tooley Justice (’54) Central City, May 8; Virginia Hein Nissen (’54) Lincoln, March 23; Judith Flansburg Burton (’55) Miami, March 28; Robert Ostdiek (’55) Gretna, April 19; Allen Petersen (’55) Kearney, June 5; Maynard Harr (’56) Ainsworth, April 6; Jack Hawkins (’56) Gering, March 13; Boyd Stuhr (’56) Bradshaw, March 12; William Tomek (’56) Ithaca, N.Y., March 3; Dana Bond (’57) Omaha, Jan. 6; Douglas Horrocks (’57) Lincoln, April
Obituaries
16; Paul Johnston (’57) Lincoln, March 30; Royal Nichols (’57) Dallas, Dec. 25; Bradley Bigelow (’58) Kearney, May 29; Orville Coady (’58) Hebron, March 25; Robert Halvorsen (’58) Lincoln, March 17; James Rotter (’58) Lincoln, March 28; Dorothy Noble Conger (’59) Lincoln, April 19; Harry Dingman (’59) Lincoln, April 16; Kenneth Evans (’59) Schenectady, N.Y., June 24
1960s
John Condon (’60) Creighton, May 20; John Holt (’60) Oklahoma City, Feb. 12; James Batie (’61) Doniphan, Jan. 7; David Peterson (’61) Lincoln, March 8; Clarence Pfeiffer (’61) Mill Valley, Calif., Feb. 24; Myrna Theimer Puls (’61) Elkhorn, April 22; Suzanne Sickel Taylor (’61) Lincoln, May 17; Richard Bringelson (’62) Grand Island, May
4; Fred Grasso (’62) La Vista, April 26; Dwight Heng (’62) York, March 16; Kathleen Alma Kennedy (’62) Lincoln, April 17; Allan Macklem (’62) Elkhorn, March 27; Connie Wiechert Pisani (’62) Loveland, Colo., May 29; Leon Wiese (’62) Estes Park, Colo., Dec. 24; Dwight Adams (’63) Helena, Mont., March 24; Ronald Moyer (’63) Huntington Beach, Calif., April 3; Steven Seglin (’63) Lincoln, March 28; Karen Kenney Stanley (’63) Lincoln, Feb. 29; Donald Blecha (’64) Osmond, Feb. 11; Bruce DeVore (’64) Mount Pleasant, S.C., Jan. 24; Susan Davenport Johnson (’64) Scottsdale, Ariz., May 29; John Lambert (’64) Fort Collins, Colo., July 3; James Simmons (’64) Franklin, Tenn., Feb. 24; James Sophir (’64) Omaha, May 24; Duane Strandberg (’64) Arvada, Colo.,
May 14; Robert Brightfelt (’65) Chicago, April 10; Frank Davey (’65) Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 21; Douglas Delair (’65) Lincoln, April 18; Jon Feistner (’65) Omaha, April 21; Allen Hohensee (’65) Lincoln, May 24; James Kahrl (’65) San Antonio, May 12; Terry Savage (’65) Lincoln, Jan. 13; Stephen Smith (’65) Sun City West, Ariz., Feb. 4; Benjamin Vrana (’65) Columbus, Feb. 19; Clifford Webb (’65) Surprise, Ariz., March 19; Jerry Case (’66) Grand Island, April 15; Dale Gruntorad (’66) Lincoln, April 30; Dale Linsenmeyer (’66) Akron, Pa., March 8; Jerald Wessling (’66) David City, April 14; Stanley Borcher (’67) Sterling, June 2; Rodger Felix (’67) Lincoln, April 3; Cathie Ekwall Masters (’67) Lincoln, May 28; John Rasmussen (’67) Park Rapids, Minn., April 1; Mary
Francisco Bede (’68) Lincoln, March 31; Mary Jane Booth Bell (’68) Lyons, March 22; Mores Bergman (’68) Omaha, April 24; Carol Potter Duis (’68) Haines, Alaska, Feb. 6; Carolyn Halloran Rants (’68) Sioux City, Iowa, March 8; Ronald Schafer (’68) Columbus, April 14; Hermann Zillgens (’68) Del Mar, Calif., Dec. 21; Julie Walter Donnelly (’69) Columbia, Mo., March 12; Douglas Duchek (’69) Birmingham, Mich., May 23; Stephen England (’69) Lincoln, March 20; Deborah Wightman Ensz (’69) Wayne, March 9; Robert Hanson (’69) Sioux Falls, S.D., May 17; Marlee Bentjen Holmes (’69) Fort Collins, Colo., March 9; Lynn Saunders (’69) Omaha, May 25; Jerome Weihs (’69) Shrewsbury, Mass., March 10; Edward Weiner (’69) Punta Gorda, Fla., March 7
1970s
Stanley Boehr (’70) Henderson, April 9; Micheal Cornelius (’70) Bellbrook, Ohio, April 30; Frank D’Angelo (’70) Bastrop, Texas, March 23; Marie Gatos Hellerich (’70) Lincoln, May 11; Brian Houston (’70) Lincoln, April 5; Melvin Lerwick (’70) Denver, March 30; Marjorie Kersey Maney (’70) Lincoln, May 5; Andrew Rasmussen (’70) Omaha, Jan. 12; Jean Reinke (’70) Elmwood, April 28; Daniel Ross (’70) Lincoln, April 26; Esther Conard Rossignol (’70) Lincoln, April 30; Gregory Bammerlin (’71) Mills, Feb. 18; Jerald Buss (’71) Lincoln, April 8; Deane Cox (’71) Union, Ky., May 17; Alan Gless (’71) Seward, April 21; Charles Graham (’71) Omaha, April 10; Don Gunderson (’71) Cedar Falls, Iowa, March 13; Linda Heibel (’71) Omaha, April 26; Mary
Lindgren (’71) Lincoln, May 30; Winfield Scott (’71) Ava, Mo., May 6; Mary Grube Wahl (’71) Omaha, May 31; Steven Anderson (’72) Olathe, Kan., Dec. 22; Jack Beal (’72) Bothell, Wash., March 16; Donald Bokowski (’72) Lincoln, May 22; Shirley Jorgenson Krejci (’72) Springfield, April 4; Cheryl Pollard Mayfield (’72) Nehawka, March 27; Michael McCarthy (’72) North Platte, May 10; Joyce Rhodes Schriner (’72) Utica, April 26; Kevin Soukup (’72) David City, March 20; Mark Albanese (’73) Madison, Wis., Dec. 31; Gregory Barnason (’73) Lincoln, May 18; Dee Dilley (’73) Lincoln, March 11; Fredrick Evans (’73) St. Peters, Mo., Dec. 3; John Napue (’73) Lincoln, March 16; David Rasmussen (’73) York, March 15; Larry Willemsen (’73) Deridder, La., March 3;
Patricia Stillmock Cowher (’74) Lincoln, May 22; Bruce Cudly (’74) Lincoln, June 2; Jerome Fritz (’74) Hildreth, May 20; Gary Hubbard (’74) Lincoln, April 25; Sherry Dana Lackovic (’74) Omaha, May 9; James White (’74) Lincoln, March 25; Gene Gangwish (’75) Harrisburg, Pa., May 1; Steven Grunberg (’75) Bennington, May 20; Marynola Novotny Halgard (’75) Omaha, May 20; Larry Kaspar (’75) Dorchester, March 28; Richard Keller (’75) Grand Island, Feb. 13; Duane Schroeder (’75) Wayne, April 16; Terry Sindelar (’75) Lincoln, March 26; Clifford Thomas (’75) Lincoln, May 2; Murray Johnson (’76) Davenport, April 13; Krista Bradley Kester (’76) Douglas, April 15; Mary Rockefeller Nelson (’76) Sheridan, Wyo., June 9; Catherine Matjasko Parsons (’76)
1950-2024
Colleen Jones
Dr. M. Colleen Jones, emeritus associate professor of practice in management, died June 18. From the dawn of her university teaching career in 1996, Jones had a passion for leadership, organizational behavior and development, and management communications. That manifested through Strive to Thrive Lincoln, a hands-on learning experience developed for students in her Leading People and Projects course, in which students awarded $10,000 in grants to Lincoln and Lancaster County nonprofits. It continued after her retirement in 2015, recently hitting $150,000 in total allocation. Jones was awarded the JoAnn Martin Civic Leadership Award in 2023, the 1999 and 2004 College of Business Distinguished Teaching Award, recognized by the Lincoln YWCA, and served as president of the Melvin W. Jones Foundation after her late husband’s death in 1999.
Stillwater, Minn., Jan. 16; Jody Flamme Riemann (’76) Jackson, Wyo., May 30; Christine ThiesfeldCarranza (’76) Lincoln, June 2; Douglas Hand (’77) Lincoln, April 1; Richard Holland (’77) Lincoln, April 28; Kristine Adams Kapp (’77) Las Vegas, Feb. 9; Dianna Kieborz-Wilson (’77) Lincoln, May 5; Patricia Magwire (’77) Tilden, April 17; Connie Staehr Plessman (’77)
Mystic, Conn., Jan. 26; Richard Thoman (’77) Lincoln, May 15; Curtis Banister (’78) Omaha, May 30; Joseph Grant (’78) Omaha, May 16; Nona Hansen Helsing (’78) Lincoln, March 16; Jeffrey Schultz (’78) Lincoln, March 15; Roger Spiehs (’78) Lincoln, May 25; Cynthia Baden Humann (’79) Lincoln, April 5; Steven Todd (’79) Omaha, May 9; Paul Tranisi (’79) Omaha, May 21; Eugene
Veburg (’79) Lincoln, May 1; David Wythers (’79) Fairmont, June 4
1980s
Loretta McDonald (’80) Denver, April 22; Thomas Narak (’80) West Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 18; Vicki Gosch Scholting (’81) Gretna, May 21; Kim Kitt Svatora (’81) Schuyler, March 14; John Anderson (’82) Arapahoe, March 12; Ardean Hagemeister (’82) Tucson, Ariz., April 5; William Hayes (’82) Omaha, May 12; Daniel Pensick (’82) Columbus, April 11; Robert Brown (’83) Omaha, March 15; Margaret Corkle (’83) Littleton, Colo., May 11; Jerome Holbrook (’83) Tucson, Ariz., May 11; Ila Grey Horn (’83) Omaha, May 18; Dennis Pool (’83) Omaha, March 27; Jonas Pultinevicius (’83) Omaha, April 26; Gary Ross (’83)
Otisville, Mich., April 19; Robert Athan (’85) Lincoln, Feb. 26; Melvin Bohn (’86) Omaha, March 14; Barbara Schaal (’87) Green Bay, Wis., May 23; Paul Barnes (’88) Brookings, S.D., April 14; Gregory Keffeler (’88) Omaha, April 1; Paul Hecht (’89) Tilden, March 20; Jane Pickel (’89) Lincoln, April 15; Elizabeth Mundorf Rhine (’89) De Witt, May 18 1990s DeAnn Stover (’90) Lincoln, March 27; Angela Seitz (’91) Moraga, Calif., June 9; Sarah Johnson Carter (’92) Lincoln, Jan. 20; Abigail Young Zaladonis (’92) Idaho Falls, Idaho, May 5; Allen Wachter (’93) Lincoln, June 2; Bryan Phillips (’94) Lincoln, May 31; Julie Weyand Kreizel (’97) Lincoln, May 31; Jason Prebyl (’98) Omaha, March 4; Gay Correll (’99) Kearney, May 10
Love Story
Farm-to-Heart
Couple cultivates both crops and dreams
BY TRAVIS CLASSEN (’15)
As small family farmers, we wear many hats:
My wife Jordan (’19) is a webmaster, marketer, grant writer, animal nutritionist and book keeper. I’m part cowboy, truck driver, veter inarian, scientist and logistics expert. Most importantly, we’re a mom and dad to threeyear-old Hattie.
But our story begins way before that. I first noticed Jordan Bothern walking into the Nebraska Tractor Test Lab on East Campus. I couldn’t look away, and luckily, we’ve never looked back.
We need to have a lot of love to do what we do — both for farming and for each other. The trials and tribulations of the modern American farmer aren’t easy to see in the grocery story aisle. A lot of hard work, ingenuity and heart goes into the ribeyes and ground beef we help your family put on the dinner table.
I’m told that we’re unique in Nebraska agriculture because neither my wife nor I inherited an operation from our parents. I grew up on a small row crop and feedyard operation and Jordan grew up in a military family that took her many places.
But, I always knew I wanted to work with animals. In seventh grade, I bought bottle calves from our local sale barn with chore money I’d saved up. That was the start of what’s now Classen Land and Cattle, our 100-head cow-calf operation near St. Edward in northeast Nebraska.
Jordan found produce farming in high school and grew a produce operation into a career in agriculture. At UNL, we both studied mechanized systems and learned from some of the best in the field in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. What started with our first meeting at the Tractor Test Lab has grown into a true partnership, balancing chores, business decisions, parenthood and second jobs. Jordan not only is self-taught at managing the website for our meat distribution
on a school lunch program, she also runs a book keeping and consulting business for farms, ranches and small businesses. We support each other taking care of our daughter when the other is working late or daycare is closed. We aren’t just making a living together. We are making a life.
Like all ag entrepreneurs, we’ve gone through ups and downs. Bad deals, bad contracts, and always, the threat of bad weather. But, we’ve kept our optimism about Nebraska agriculture. Every struggle has given us more wisdom about both the kind of operation we want to run and people we want to be. We want to run a successful business, but one that also is rooted in good stewardship of natural resources and with an eye toward the ultimate legacy we want to build for our family.
Much of the confidence and lessons key to running our business came from experts we learned from at UNL and a strong network of alumni. We’re growing our lives and business in the place and with a purpose that brings us joy. Our choices are part of a bigger cycle of nature and the work of producing enough food to feed the world. That’s something we feel like we could do only in Nebraska.
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In Nebraska Athletics, we see aviation as more than just a mode of transportation. The Lincoln Airport connects our athletes and coaches to fans and recruits worldwide, while staying rooted in the heart of Nebraska. Our partnership with the Lincoln Airport is powerful. We both bring economic empowerment and Midwestern pride to our community and together we elevate Husker Nation to new heights.
