UNO Magazine - UNO Alumni Association

Global
Impact
UNO’s
m ag a z i n e
summer 2010
vol., no. 1,
UNO Magazine
4
Letters to/ from the Editor
summer 2010
www.unoalumni.org/unomag
Managing Editor
Anthony Flott
M E T H O D I S T W O M E N ’ S H O S P I TA L
Letter from the Chancellor
Alumni Association
6
CREDITS
Growing families at 192nd & Dodge.
5
9
10
associate Editors
Jennifer Arnold, Tim Kaldahl
Soon, there’ll be a special place that cares for them all—
art direction
cover illustration
ground in women’s health services from the people who’ve
Greg Paprocki
cared for you for more than a century and who are leading
Contributors
the way in women’s health today. The best environment
Dave Ahlers, Mike Bell, Becky Bohan
Brown, Jeff Cutting Photographic
Image Resource, John Fey, Tim
Fitzgerald, Eric Francis Photography,
Christine Kasel, Mary Kenny, Tom
Kerr, Glen McCurtayne /Fairfaxphotos,
Tom McMahon, Beverly Newsam, Eric
Olson, Sean Owens, Jodi Penn, Lori
Rice, Kalani Simpson, Scott Stewart,
Terry Stickels, Wendy Townley, Kevin
Warneke, Jenna Zeorian
for expectant moms and their families. A full range of
gynecological services. Specialized care for sexual assault survivors. All these and more at our
new hospital and medical campus. methodistforwomen.org
Growing services at 84th & Dodge.
UNO Magazine is published three times
a year by the University of Nebraska at
Omaha, the UNO Alumni Association
and the NU Foundation.
M E T H O D I S T H O S P I TA L
As our footprint is growing, so is our commitment to the
Direct editorial inquiries to
Managing Editor
UNO Alumni Association
6705 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68182-0010
Phone: (402) 554-2444
toll-free: UNO-MAV-ALUM
Fax: (402) 554-3787
Email: aflott@unoalumni.org
community. We’re enhancing our 84th Street campus with
expanded cardiac, vascular, cancer and surgical services, as well
as all-private patient rooms and our new pathology center. We’re
excited about all our changes and what it will mean for our
growing community. bestcare.org
Send all changes of address to
attention of Records or visit
www.unoalumni.org/records
Birth and women’s services move to Methodist Women’s Hospital and medical campus starting June 21.
Proud to be a member of
©2010 Methodist Hospital, an affiliate of Methodist Health System
Athletics
Emspace Group
Methodist Women’s Hospital. A place that’s breaking new
devoted to helping women
lead healthier lives.
19 Sun Rises on
Little Italy
One student goes to great
lengths to explore Omaha’s
ties to Carlentini, Italy.
Philanthropy
Matters
12
The Colleges
Get to Know
Professor Benjamin Alvarado
tells us why we should care about
rapproachment
with Cuba –
and about
dinner
with
Fidel.
22
25
Dinner with Fidel
26
30
Six Continents and
the Top of the World
Islamic Studies
34
Shoudler to Shoulder
Faculty Fusion
Faculty from
around the world
provide their
favorite recipes
Q&A
with Australia’s
Chief Scientist
38
Danish Delight
50 Bookmarks
52 Just For You
18
20
Ronald Roskens
CLASS
Views expressed within this magazine do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the University of Nebraska at
Omaha, the UNO Alumni Association or the NU Foundation.
16
NOTES
Our mothers. Our daughters. Our sisters. Our babies.
Partners
On Top Down Under
Dollars & Sense
46 Point/
42
53
44
Counter Point
48 Sights & Sounds
57
Retrospect
58
For Fun
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59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 FROM THE EDITOR
17 15 13 11 9 7 5
FROM THE CHANCELLOR
Dear Alum:
The first response to the inaugural issue of UNO
Magazine left me a bit deflated.
One of our sharper-eyed alumni picked out (to date) the
only error in the magazine and called us on it — we misspelled the name of “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, who
so graciously had himself photographed for our debut.
Sorry, Mr. Trebek (and apologies to grad Gary Johnson,
who works for “Jeopardy!” and who coordinated the photo).
After that initial call, however, came numerous notes
of congratulations via mail, email, phone and word-ofmouth (a sampling provided here).
Reader feedback is key to making UNO
Magazine among the best university
publications in the country. Choose
among these options for interacting
with the magazine or university.
Letter to the Editor
Write us about the magazine
or university:
www.unoalumni.org/unomag-led
Suggest a story
Tell us what you’d like to see in
a future issue:
www.unoalumni.org/unomag-storyidea
Partner with UNO
Want to join forces with the university?
Tell us how:
tkaldahl@unomaha.edu
Drop us a Class Note
Give us an update on life, work and fun:
www.unoalumni.org/classnote
Make a difference
Tell us your idea for how to support UNO:
lbyrne@nufoundation.org
Tell us the Future
Have a child recently? Give us a name,
we’ll give them a Future Alum t-shirt:
www.unoalumni.org/futurealums
By the Book
Recently publish a book? Tell us about it
for consideration in Bookmarks:
www.unoalumni.org/bookmarkssubmit
Alumni from the 1940s through the past decade sent
kudos, an encouraging sign that we’re meeting a difficult
challenge — engaging a diverse readership.
Most magazines provide stories related to some shared reader interest.
Subscribers are after specific content when signing up for I Love Cats,
Harmonica World or Culture: The Word on Cheese (yes, actual publications).
That makes it easier for an editor to fill pages.
We have to work much harder at UNO Magazine to capture reader interest and
hold it with compelling content that is useful, informs, educates and entertains.
That’s because our nearly 80,000 readers are demographically scattershot.
They range in age from 20 to nearly 100. They are men and women; liberal and
conservative; single, married, widowed and divorced; religious and atheistic;
employed, out-of-work, retired and idle; rich, middle class and poor. And so on.
So how do we fill our pages?
We begin by identifying issues common to many if not all of us. UNO Magazine
will present those issues thematically, devoting each issue to a specific topic
that is reported on with university scholarship and alumni expertise.
Our debut focused on the economy. Future issues will address health, age,
gender, energy/environment, faith, etc. (send your ideas my way).
In this issue we address global concerns — the strength of the dollar, relations
with Cuba, the war in Afghanistan, global climate change, etc. — and show you
how faculty and alumni are making an impact around the world.
Not much about cats, harmonicas or cheese, but plenty more to keep your
interest, I hope.
Enjoy the read,
Anthony Flott
Managing Editor
On Winter 2010
Excerpts from letters received regarding our last issue.
“First edition of UNO Magazine was awesome. Great content,
aesthetically appealing. Good luck on the next issue … you
may have set the bar too high!”
Chuck Monico (’93)
Owner of CM’s Custom Lawn & Landscape, Omaha
“Congratulations on your new magazine format with its artful
mixture of color, pictures and text.”
Robert S. Runyon
Dean emeritus of UNO Library
“Received your magazine in the mail today. Very nice. I like the
new look and feel.”
Andrea Cranford
Editor, Nebraska Magazine
“Looks great, and we will make every effort to see that it
gets distributed.”
Donald A. Leu (’75)
CEO of CCCS of Nebraska
“WOW, great work! I … am pleased and proud to be a
UNO alum. Thank you for your tireless pursuit to keep us
all informed and involved in the ongoing changes of our
university.”
Gregory A. Eversoll (’90)
Principal of Chandler View Elementary, Bellevue, Neb.
“Great variety — I learned a lot of things I didn’t know. Like an
equestrian club — who knew?”
Mollie Anderson (’66)
Director of UNO Human Resources
“Congratulations on the new magazine, especially the timely
cover. The contents were enjoyed by us ‘Depression kids,’
coming into the brand-new, PWA-built university building,
with $65 grants, working them off at 30-cents pay per-hour
(when minimum wage was 25 cents) and tuition was $4 per
credit hour.”
Helen F. Jasa (’43), Fremont, Neb.
“UNO Magazine is a real hit! I have placed my copy in the lobby
of the County Board offices in the Civic Center.”
Mike Boyle
Douglas County Commissioner, Omaha
“I love the cover.”
Shelly Fling
Editor, Minnesota Magazine
This issue of UNO Magazine focuses on
our impact around the world, spotlighting
the efforts and achievements of students,
faculty and alumni across the globe.
From UNO alum Penny Sackett’s service
as Australia’s chief scientist to Dr. Alan
Kolok’s research on the harmful effects of
gold mining in Colombia, our metropolitan
university reaches overseas in unexpected,
unusual, but always-innovative ways.
Spurred by a commitment to provide
“news you can use,” this edition strives
to communicate the relevancy of these
initiatives to our service area, and to the
lives of UNO alumni throughout the world.
The founding of UNO’s international initiatives began nearly four decades
ago with the creation of the Center for Afghanistan Studies, with the support
and encouragement of then-Chancellor Ronald Roskens. Today, the center is
a valuable source of information regarding the social and political fabric of
that key Middle East nation. Back then, UNO had a total of 24 international
students enrolled, had never received any federal or grant monies related to
international education, and had just one study-abroad program.
Today’s international outreach has grown exponentially. More than $90 million in federal grants has been received and 1,300-plus students are enrolled
each year from more than 115 countries. We also have established numerous
study abroad opportunities and sister institutional relationships throughout
the world. Each year, international students infuse more than $30 million
into the local economy, while collaborative research projects continue to
benefit the global community.
As our globe shrinks, due to advances in technology, communications and
international business opportunities, it is more important than ever for
our students to understand their role as citizens of the world. Metropolitan
universities, located in cities with strong international ties, are particularly
fortunate to be able to expand their students’ horizons beyond city, state, or
even national boundaries. Likewise, they provide a context of the intellectual, cultural and social lives of American education, business and citizens
for a growing cadre of international students.
During my tenure I have been fortunate to meet our international students
and those studying abroad, and to visit a few of our sister institutions
throughout the world. Each experience leaves me in awe of the vastness
of humanity, its differences, and also its overwhelming similarities with
respect to higher education. Throughout the globe, colleges and universities
are working hard to promote understanding, bridge gaps, and create opportunities for the next generation of world leaders.
I’m proud of UNO’s many contributions to the process and, after reading this
edition, I think you will be, too.
Until next time,
Chancellor John E. Christensen
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59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
welcome home!
The UNO Alumni Association will bestow
its Citation for Alumni Achievement upon
UNO graduate J. Terrence Haney during
the university’s summer commencement
Aug. 13 at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
An Omaha native, Haney retired in 1999 after a successful
business career that culminated as chief executive officer and
principal owner of Insurance Consultants and PayFlex Systems
USA. He enrolled at UNO at age 49, earning a BGS in 1991 and a
master’s degree in gerontology in 1998.
“Terry’s lifelong pursuit of education is inspirational and testimony to the power of learning to enrich lives,” Denker said.
“Combined with his business success, his dedication to education
has made him a patron to numerous others who follow his path,
particularly students and faculty at UNO.
“He is among the university’s greatest supporters and dearest friends.”
Business success, UNO devotion
Insurance Consultants, founded in 1964, processed employee
benefits, student insurance and a variety of other products for
credit card-issuing entities in the United States, United Kingdom
and Canada. It was sold to J.C. Penney in 1999. PayFlex, an ICI
subsidiary, was sold to employees in 1999. Today it is one of
the country’s Top 10 third party administrators working with
employers to administer benefit spending accounts, COBRA and
Transit programs.
Haney has served UNO in numerous capacities. In 2001 he and
his wife, Judy, established an endowed faculty position and three
funds supporting faculty members in the gerontology department, whose board of advisors he chairs. He later funded student
scholarships. Haney also served on the National Advisory Board
for the College of Business, with UNO Library Friends, and on the
Origination Committee for the UNO hockey team.
UNO in 2003 presented him with its highest non-academic
award, the Order of the Tower, issued to individuals whose
exemplary service and/or financial support have advanced
the university’s mission. UNO’s College of Public Affairs and
Community Service in 2005 conferred upon Haney that college’s
highest honor, the Hubert Locke Distinguished Service Award.
The UNO Alumni Association in 1998 honored him with an
Outstanding Service Award for continuous, outstanding service
to the association and university.
See a full profile at www.unoalumni.org/awards-citation
29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Education proponent
to receive Citation
The Citation, inaugurated in 1949, is
presented at each UNO commencement.
The association’s highest honor, it
encompasses career achievement,
community service, involvement in business and professional
associations, and fidelity to the university. UNO Alumni
Association President Lee Denker will present the award to
Haney, the 152nd Citation recipient.
31 UNO Young Alumni, a social/networking
group open to all alumni but focused on
graduates under the age of 40, is hosting
a wine tasting at Slattery Vintage Estates
Vineyard (8925 Adams St., Nehawka, Neb.)
on Thursday, June 24, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The per person fee of $12 includes food and
five kinds of wine. Door prizes also will be
awarded. UNO Young Alumni also will host
a wine tasting and tour of Soaring Wings
Vineyard Sept. 16. For more information, or
to register for either event, visit
www.unoalumni.org/unoyoungalumni.
Or, contact Elizabeth Kraemer at
ekraemer@unoalumni.org
2010 Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award recipients Pete Simi, John Erickson, Kerry
Ward, Timi Barone, Hugh Reilly and Carol Mitchell. Not pictured, Melanie Bloom,
Bruce Chase and Won Mee Jang.
Nine faculty issued
2010 teaching awards
The UNO Alumni Association celebrated the 14th year of its Alumni
Outstanding Teaching Awards program when it presented the
honor to nine faculty members during the UNO Faculty Honors
Convocation Breakfast April 8.
Association President Lee Denker presented the awards, established in 1997 to honor distinguished teaching in the classroom.
Recipients:
Timi Barone, sociology and anthropology, College of Arts &
Sciences; Melanie Bloom, Spanish, College of Arts & Sciences;
Bruce Chase, biology, College of Arts & Sciences; John Erickson,
management, College of Business Administration; Won Mee Jang,
computer and electronics engineering, College of Engineering;
Carol Mitchell, teacher education, College of Education; Hugh
Reilly, School of Communication, College of Communication, Fine
Arts and Media; Pete Simi, School of Criminology and Criminal
Justice, College of Public Affairs and Community Service; Kerry
Ward, information systems & quantitative analysis, College of
Information Science and Technology.
Peer committees in each college chose recipients, each of whom
received a $1,000 award. Denker presented recipients with commemorative tablets during the convocation breakfast in the Milo
Bail Student Center. With the 2010 awards the association has issued $122,000 in AOTAs since the program’s start.
Brief descriptions of recipient research interests and educational
backgrounds are online at www.unoalumni.org/aota2010.
We’ve got you covered Looking to get covered? Visit the
Alumni Association Web site at www.unoalumni.org/insurance to see
the discounted options available to UNO graduates for health, life,
auto, and long-term care insurance.
Young Alumni
to host
wine tastings
79th annual
UNO Homecoming
Saturday, Oct. 2
UNO alumni and their families are invited to attend. The event begins at 10 a.m. with
a Homecoming Parade. It will be followed by the Homecoming Tailgate Party in the
Sapp Fieldhouse from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Alumni, students and fans prepare for the
football game with games, food, entertainment and tons of Mav spirit.
The UNO football team will host Emporia State University at the adjoining Al Caniglia
Stadium beginning with a 1 p.m. kickoff. The Mavericks have won 13 of their last 14
homecoming games and are 51-23-4 since the tradition began in 1928.
Additional information is available at www.unoalumni.org/homecoming.
The UNO Alumni Association also is taking part in or hosting several other
Homecoming Week activities, including:
• Sept. 28 — Homecoming Party for UNO employees who also are alumni;
• Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 — Homecoming Office/Area Decorating Contest; and
• Oct. 1 — Golden Circle Luncheon honoring the 50th anniversary of the
Class of 1960. Followed by campus tour. Class of 1960 graduates and other
alumni can find additional Golden Circle Reunion information at
www.unoalumni.org/goldencircle
Chancellor’s Scholarship
Swing tees off Sept. 13
The UNO Alumni Association will tee off for scholarships on Monday, Sept. 13,
with the 30th annual Chancellor’s Scholarship Swing at Tiburon Golf Club.
The UNO Alumni Association’s biggest single fundraiser each year, the
Swing last year raised more than $40,000, pushing the total to nearly
$550,000 raised since the association began hosting the tournament 15
years ago.
The money raised supports various Association-sponsored student
scholarships. That includes UNO Alumni Association Scholarships, four
$2,500/year scholarships awarded to graduating high school seniors who
have demonstrated leadership and involvement during high school. The
scholarships may be renewed for up to four years total.
The Association continues to recruit business and individual sponsors for
the tournament. To participate, or for more information, e-mail Elizabeth
Kraemer at ekramer@unoalumni.org, or call (402) 554-4802.
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19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
PARTNERS
Two Gentlemen to rock 24th annual Shakespeare on the Green
A rock musical version of Shakespeare’s “Two Gentlemen of
Verona” will take center stage for the annual Shakespeare
on the Green Alumni Picnic Thursday, July 8.
All alumni and friends are invited to the picnic, hosted
in the Thompson Alumni Center beginning at 6:15 p.m.
The dinner features chicken, BBQ pork, potato salad,
baked beans, coleslaw, cookie and beverages. Nebraska
Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Alan Klem will
provide a performance preview of “Two Gentlemen” at
the dinner.
Afterward, alumni will be seated at a reserved “down
front” space at the 8 p.m. performance. Alumni also
receive reserved parking near The Green.
travelin’
mavs
The UNO Alumni Association is offering
graduates travel opportunities through
two partners.
Travel this fall includes three cruises:
Romantic Rhine
Sept. 18-26
Paris to Normandy’s
Landing Beaches
Sept. 27-Oct. 5
Grand Tour of Egypt
Oct. 11-22
Also available is an eight-day tour:
New England’s
Shea Carpenter Islands
Oct. 1-8
Details available at
www.unoalumni.org/travel
The Tony Award-winning musical comedy was adapted
by John Guare and Mel Shapiro with lyrics by John
Guare and music by Galt MacDermot. It centers on
Proteus and Valentine, best friends until they both fall
for the same woman, Silvia.
The Shakespeare on the Green Alumni Picnic costs
$12 per person. For more information e-mail Events
Coordinator Elizabeth Kraemer ekraemer@unoalumni.
org or call (402) 554-4802, toll free at UNO-MAV-ALUM
(866-628-2586). Online reservations can be made at
www.unoalumni.org/eventregistration.
More information about the play and Nebraska
Shakespeare is online at www.nebraskashakespeare.com
Giving and Getting
As another academic year ends, another class of impressive
graduates leaves campus, facing a future filled with possibilities for
growth, new opportunities and new connections.
But graduation shouldn’t signal an end to the connections new grads
and alumni already have made on campus. The primary goal of the
UNO Alumni Association and the driving purpose behind the UNO
Annual Fund is to maintain connections with UNO alumni, including our most recent new alums.
In 2007, the Alumni Association formed UNO Young Alumni, a
group for graduates who are looking to better themselves and the
community while attending regular on- and off-campus events. The
group has established an online presence on Facebook.
Since last fall, UNO Young Alumni has hosted and planned events
that include: a private wine tasting, networking event and tour at
Soaring Wings winery; a family holiday party at Omaha’s Henry
Doorly Zoo, a pre-game tailgate party in Omaha’s Old Market
followed by a UNO Maverick hockey game; a party for 2010 May
graduates; and a Young Alumni Business Seminar with speaker
Steve Kontz of Renaissance Financial.
Your gift to the UNO Annual Fund fosters the growth of such new,
innovative programs like UNO Young Alumni. It also supports students and faculty on campus and sustains traditional alumni programming and communications.
Please help us keep UNO alumni connections strong by making a
gift today using the business reply envelope enclosed in this magazine, or by donating online at www.unoalumni.org/give.
For more information about getting involved in UNO Young Alumni
activities, contact Elizabeth Kraemer at ekraemer@unoalumni.org
or visit www.unoalumni.org/unoyoungalumni.
Clients of UNO Center quickly realize that the
science of collaboration “just makes sense.”
DR. GERT-JAN De Vreede is managing director for UNO’s
Center for Collaboration Science (CCS), which in just four years
has become internationally recognized for its work, based on the
idea that successful organizations need to excel at teamwork
and collaboration.
Many organizations agree, as illustrated by the varied CCS client
base. That includes businesses, non-profit organizations, the military, academia and government agencies.
Understanding that collaboration requires the input of a variety of
disciplines — technology, education, psychology, communication,
etc. — the university has included faculty from all six of UNO’s colleges in the center.
“We are a coalition of the willing,” de Vreede says. He recently received UNO’s annual award for excellence in research or creative
activity. His work focuses on “thinkLets” — essential rules as a
pattern language for small-group collaboration. De Vreede also
conducts research in areas like collaboration engineering, virtual
world environments (i.e., Second Life), convergence, facilitation,
and group storytelling techniques for Agile Software Engineering.
His background is technical (he is a member of the faculty in
the School of Interdisciplinary Informatics). Yet his approach is
grounded in seemingly simple, yet extremely practical and peopleoriented techniques — showing people an easy way to provide
input, measure the facts, and let solutions follow.
Collaborative work practices involve leadership, people, processes,
information and technology. Collaboration science studies the way
these factors affect the outcomes for people who work together to
achieve a goal or goals.
Speaking of the readiness of organizations to apply collaboration
methods, de Vreede says that, “some organizations are ahead of the
curve while others are still trying to figure it out.”
Woodmen of the World has contracted with the CCS on several
occasions during the last few years. The results have been useful
and important, says Colleen Maciejewski, vice president for
Woodmen’s Enterprise Project Management Office. She participated
in a reorganization process in late 2007 that involved 200
employees and a reconfiguration of three divisions into one.
“A lot of people recognized there were issues,” Maciejewski says.
“You could go in 20,000 different directions with those issues.”
Collaboration sessions facilitated by CCS at Woodmen allowed employees to voice concerns and thoughts anonymously. More than
100 issues were brought forward. Those concerns were grouped
into about a dozen categories. Maciejewski believes that the sessions — and the resulting solutions — helped create consensus and
buy-in from the majority of people involved.
“You could do exactly what he (de Vreede) does without technology,” she says. But she agrees that computer technology speeds
up the process of input and feedback and helps prevent any one
person or group from dominating the conversation. Much of what
A tall order: de Vreede and UNO’s Center for Collaboration Science helped
Maciejewski and Woodmen of the World through a difficult reorganization.
was accomplished through working with CCS seemed like common
sense, she adds.
De Vreede understands that there are no magic bullets in what he
and others do when working with people, but he firmly believes
that collaboration can help with strategic planning, goal-setting,
conflict resolution, communication and a host of other issues important to organizations.
“No matter who or where you are, addressing problems in a workplace often means some sort of new approach . . . and the center can
help with that,” de Vreede says.
Even when change is difficult.
“The only person that wants a change is a wet baby,” he jokes.
Partner with CCS Want to partner with UNO’s Center for
Collaboration Science? Contact Managing Director Gert-Jan de
Vreede at 554-2026, email gdevreede@unomaha.edu or visit
http://ics.ist.unomaha.edu.
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59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 PHILANTHROPY MATTERS
International Initiatives
Positioning University
of Nebraska campuses
as leaders in global
engagement
When the University of Nebraska and the University of Nebraska
Foundation announced a $1.2 billion fundraising campaign last year,
NU President James B. Milliken acknowledged that the goals set for the
Campaign for Nebraska were ambitious.
But the priorities, he said, are vitally important to Nebraska and
to Nebraskans.
Following are excerpts from a speech Milliken gave last October at the
University of Nebraska at Kearney. He discusses the University of
Nebraska as a global university and the significance of its role internationally and locally — for students, those educating them and the state
of Nebraska.
The University of Nebraska has a long and rich history of international engagement. Our faculty and administrators have always recognized the ways in which
experiences with diverse cultures, countries and languages enrich the lives of students, faculty and citizens.
As we celebrate International Education Week, we all recognize that today’s world is
different — increasingly interconnected, interdependent and insecure. But we have
unprecedented opportunities to collaborate to find solutions to global problems, including hunger, disease and poverty, and we have growing global markets for our ideas,
goods and services. There are serious, violent conflicts in many parts of the world, but
we may be in a better position than ever to work together and build new partnerships to
address inequities and help reduce the risk of war and international terrorism.
The United States will continue to play a leading role in the world, and whether we
do that wisely will depend in significant part on the education of our citizens — an
education that more than any time in history requires an understanding of the rest of
our small planet and respect for the peoples of the world.
No one understands this imperative better than our faculty, who play a critical role
in educating the rising generation of global citizens. With their leadership and encouragement, we are making a renewed commitment to global engagement at the
University of Nebraska.
New international initiatives exist on each of our campuses, and international
engagement is one of the major goals of the University of Nebraska Foundation’s
“Unlimited Possibilities” capital campaign. Our success in these ambitious efforts
will require a significant investment of private funds, and we believe donors increasingly recognize and support the importance of this success.
We have identified four University-wide objectives to position the University of Nebraska
as a leader in global engagement, and to offer our students, faculty and the people of
Nebraska the opportunities we believe are important to achieving this position:
For more information about
supporting these objectives, visit
www.campaignfornebraska.org
or contact Lori Byrne at the
University of Nebraska Foundation,
(402) 502-4920 or
lbyrne@nufoundation.org
29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
PHILANTHROPY MATTERS
Fundraising priorities have been identified for key areas in which the
University has proven strength and where leadership positions worldwide
can be achieved. Among them is global engagement.
NU President James B. Milliken in August 2009 was
among eight university presidents who accompanied
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
(pictured) and other government officials on a sevenday trip to Brazil and Chile.
31 1) We plan to provide the opportunity for every undergraduate to have a meaningful
academic experience abroad. We must encourage students from more disciplines to
pursue international study, promote longer and more meaningful international experiences, and encourage faculty to raise the bar for international engagement — in
the classroom, in developing study abroad programs, and in their own research and
in scholarly activity. The University should offer our students the same kinds of opportunities that would be available to them in leading institutions anywhere in the
country. This should not be considered a luxury or be available only to those whose
families can afford it.
2) We plan to double international student enrollment.
International students add millions to the state’s economy, but of
course the real value is in the richness of the experience gained by
having students from around the world on our campuses and in our
communities. This year, 128 countries are represented in the 2,800
international students enrolled on our campuses. I hope we can
double the number of international students on our campuses by
2019, the University’s 150th birthday.
3) We plan to significantly increase opportunities for faculty to
collaborate with colleagues around the world. As important as
it is for students to pursue international study and be exposed to
international students on our campuses, it is equally important that
faculty have the opportunity to pursue their scholarly work in the
world of knowledge, which certainly doesn’t end at our borders. We
will support a new emphasis on mutually beneficial collaborations,
exchanges and partnerships.
4) We plan to renew our commitment to work with countries
and institutions around the world. To serve the interests of the
University and our state, but also our nation, we will continue to
develop strategic partnerships abroad in fields critical to mutual well
being. The University has a rich history in working with developing
nations to help address challenges in education, agriculture, medicine and many other fields. We can serve both state and national
interests through involvement in sponsored work in the developing
world where we have much to offer, as well increase our mutually
beneficial partnerships in developed countries.
These strategies support the University’s goals of providing a highquality 21st century education, building leading academic programs, contributing to the innovation economy in Nebraska, and
contributing to health, stability and well-being in the world. This
is an exciting time for the University of Nebraska, and efforts to
significantly increase the level of engagement in the world will offer
tremendous benefits to our students, faculty and citizens.
Understanding Immigration
Calling London
Freeman Scholarship helps
UNO students experience
UK criminal justice system
For more than 30 years, UNO students have
been experiencing the United Kingdom criminal
justice system firsthand.
Rest easy, though — it’s for a class.
For 16 weeks, students enrolled in the Comparative Criminal Justice Systems class
compare the U.K.’s criminal justice system with that of the United States. After
that comes a 15-day London Criminal Justice Trip with visits to prisons, police
agencies and training academies, and tours of historic sites like Scotland Yard.
It’s an experience of a lifetime for those pursuing a career in the field. But for
students living on a college budget, funding such a trip can prove difficult at best.
Ellen Freeman-Wakefield sympathizes with their plight. Which
is why in 2008 she established the Len and Ann Freeman
Scholarship through the University of Nebraska Foundation
in memory of her parents. Each year she funds a $3,000
scholarship to a student in the class — the money coming
directly out of her pocket.
The scholarship, based on need and academic performance, defrays the cost of
tuition and travel fees.
“I understand the importance of students having the opportunity to study abroad,”
Freeman-Wakefield says. “These students get to talk and learn in class, and
then actually go and experience it in real life. Programs such as these make the
educational process much richer.”
And, as Freeman-Wakefield knows, the trip can be life-changing.
Freeman-Wakefield’s father was a City of London police officer who helped make
possible UNO’s first criminal justice trip in 1978. She moved to the United States
30 years ago and today is married to Dr. William Wakefield, a UNO professor who
led more than 2,000 criminal justice students and faculty to London while serving
as course director from 1978 to 2007.
– Jenna Zeorian
Ford Foundation
supports OLLAS efforts
From 2000 to 2006, Nebraska’s immigrant
population rose from 74,600 to 99,500.
To help better understand immigrant communities
and increase engagement with these populations
throughout Nebraska, UNO’s Office of Latino/Latin
American Studies (OLLAS) has developed programs
and research endeavors. That’s been accomplished
in large measure with financial support from the
Ford Foundation, which to date has provided OLLAS $200,000.
One such project resulted in a pioneering report, says OLLAS Director Lourdes
Gouveia. It was a “perfect example of research that was born out of requests from
legislators, advocates and community organizations.”
The project focused on the economic impact of the immigrant population on the
state’s economy. With this knowledge OLLAS created bilingual presentations about
the immigrant population to help educate companies employing immigrants, health
professionals, community organizations and others.
The Foundation funding also supported workshops that educated community
organization workers about the Nebraska legislative process so that they could take
that information into the community to educate the larger population.
“These workshops led to historic participation of new immigrants in the legislative
process,” Gouveia says. “They packed capital hearing rooms to learn about bills,
wrote letters to congressmen and learned about registration and voting.”
A culmination of the Ford Foundation support, Gouveia says, is Cumbre, a summit
hosted by OLLAS (see article page 14).
“At OLLAS, we take seriously our responsibility to look at the issues that our
communities are grappling with and are working to provide more information,
research and dialogue,” Gouveia says. “A greater level of understanding will lead to
better public policies and influence social change.”
– Jennifer Arnold
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Making
Connections
21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
the colleges
Back to
Bethsaida
From a small, comfortable office in UNO’s College of
Information Science and Technology, Dr. Yong Shi carries out
world-class research.
Studies cover things like data mining and
data warehousing, information overload,
optimal system designs, multiple criteria
decision making, decision support systems
and telecommunication management. A
bit arcane-sounding, perhaps, but areas
for which businesses, governments and the
military all have a use.
In general, Shi focuses on how to better
use, search through and store information
— often in huge amounts.
Now his work is receiving international
acclaim.
First came the Georg Cantor award from
the International Society of Multiple
Criteria Decision Making (MCDM.) The society’s highest recognition, the award honors
“a researcher who, over his distinguished
career, has personified the spirit of independent inquiry … .”
Dr. Yong Shi
23 An even more prestigious award followed
in November — the Fudan Prize, often considered China’s version of the Nobel Prize.
Shi shared the award with two other professors in China for their contributions
to management science. He traveled to
Beijing last November for the ceremony
at the Graduate University of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences. The three shared a
monetary prize of 1 million Chinese yuan
(about $147,000).
“The most important thing to me is the recognition of my work,” says Shi, who came
to UNO in 1991 and joined the IS&T faculty
in 1996.
Shi is not just a man of science and technology. He’s also a networker who understands the importance of staying connected
to people. His office includes a class photo
from China’s Dalian University of Science
and Technology. In 1983, Shi was part of a
first wave of Chinese students receiving a
new kind of degree in the People’s Republic
— an MBA.
He keeps in touch with many of his classmates and the faculty members who taught
them nearly 30 years ago. Four of those
former MBA students went on to become
governors of Chinese provinces.
He’s also stayed connected to the people
he’s learned with, taught with and researched with here and abroad. Shi earned
his doctorate in management science from
the University of Kansas in 1991.
Those connections benefit UNO.
“This guy is dynamic in the pursuit of exchanges between UNO and China,” says
Tom Gouttierre, dean of UNO International
Studies. “He’s just great with suggestions
and relationships to share.”
Shi has been instrumental in getting
Chinese students interested in UNO, particularly from his hometown of Chengdu.
He describes that kind of higher education
ambassadorial work as “just my side job.”
Connections he once made with phone calls
and faxes are quicker and easier now thanks
to the Internet and e-mail. Computing power, which makes his research work possible,
also has shrunk the world.
Five years ago and earlier, it was easier to
recruit international faculty and students to
the United States, where they often would
stay permanently. Just like Shi.
If he were a 30-year-old now, he says, he
likely would take his degrees and return
to China. The research, the relationships
between scholars, and the funding for work
all have been internationalized. Major
corporations — Intel, Citigroup, AMD, etc.
—have a presence in China’s major cities.
From Shi’s point of view, international exchanges — a strength at UNO — are more
important than ever.
“It’s a much better route that makes the
most sense for us today,” Shi says.
– Tim Kaldahl
Ten UNO students this
summer are digging
into the New Testament
without even having to
open a Bible.
A model of the city gate made by Duane Pieper. An 8th century BCE storage jar.
uno students, along with more than 100 other students
and numerous faculty from around the world, are in Israel with the
Consortium of the Bethsaida Excavations Project (CBEP), headquartered at UNO and composed of 20 universities worldwide.
Bethsaida, situated on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, was
founded in the 10th century BCE as the capital city of the Biblical
kingdom of Geshur. It is one of the most frequently mentioned
towns in the New Testament.
Bethsaida was identified in 1838 but wasn’t excavated until beginning in 1987. UNO faculty and students have participated in digs
for more than 20 years.
The Bethsaida excavation is an interactive education project in
which students learn the skills of biblical archaeology.
“The work is divided into stations,” says Rami Arav, director of
CBEP at UNO. “Students rotate positions within the stations and
learn skills such as land surveying, mapping, log keeping, elevation, technical drawing, stratigraphical excavation and analysis of
finds and pottery.”
Recently, an extremely rare piece of artwork was discovered at the
site. According to Arav, this style was first discovered on the western slope of the Acropolis at Athens (now called the Western West
Slope). It is a unique white and red decoration on a glazed pottery
bowl. The decoration depicts white lilies and red ivy leaves on a
black background.
This year, CBEP for the first time is offering a course called
“Photography and Archaeology” with the UNO School of
Communication.
“The course will train students in photographing archaeological
sites and objects,” Arav says. “This course is good also for training photographers working for CSI who take photographs for
documentation.”
CBEP this summer expands to include universities from Australia
and New Zealand. Two faculty members — Greg Jenks from Charles
Strut University in Australia and Jacqui Lloyd from Laidlaw College
in New Zealand — will accompany students to the dig. Student and
faculty representatives from several other U.S. and international
colleges and universities also are attending the three dig sessions,
which began in May and continue through June.
“Each and every expedition to Bethsaida is extremely costly,” Arav says.
“We appreciate any donation to CBEP. This makes this work possible.”
Donations are accepted and dig updates provided at
www.unomaha.edu/bethsaida
– Becky Bohan Brown
IS&T grant helps students go global
fourth partner in the GlobITpro program. Select faculty will join in the collaboration
with shorter visits to host lectures and workshops.
UNO students participating in Global IT Project Management (GlobITpro), a unique
study abroad experience, are gaining a new world perspective with support from a
$194,000 ATLANTIS Mobility Grant.
UNO will have four program participants this summer, UW-Eau Claire two. The
students will split their time between Austria and Germany, though future exchanges
will allow participants to choose which campus they attend for the duration.
The College of Information Science and Technology (IS&T) is one of only 25
U.S. schools to garner such funding, which comes from the U.S. Department of
Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) program.
In addition to their studies, students will visit several foreign corporations,
including major world players like Volkswagen and SAP AG, a multinational software
development and consulting firm.
The four-year grant provides students with an opportunity to pay local tuition and
receive a stipend for living expenses while studying abroad at two UNO sibling
universities — the Management Center Innsbruck (Austria) and the Braunschweig
University of Technology (Germany).
“We hope the program positively influences the way students look at the world,” says
Deepak Khazanchi, principal grant investigator and associate dean for academic
affairs in IS&T. “It is an excellent opportunity to receive a better understanding of
other cultures and technology, as well as enhance the reputation of UNO.”
During the course of the grant, 48 students are expected to take part in the
exchange, including representatives from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the
Additional grant details are available at www.GlobITPro.org.
– Beverly A. Newsam
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19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
the colleges
Reaching the Summit with Cumbre
UNO’s Office of Latino and Latin
American Studies staged its fourth
edition of Cumbre (“summit” in Spanish)
this past May, focusing once more on
significant international issues with worldclass presenters.
“By now, so many people know us,” says
OLLAS Director Lourdes Gouveia. “They
aren’t surprised by what we put together,
but they are continually impressed.”
Ollas’ logo is based on a “coati,” a mammal in
the raccoon family. “There are a few at our zoo,”
says Lourdes Gouveia.
21 OLLAS faculty and staff who sponsored
and created “Cumbre 2010: The Fourth
Latino/Latin American Summit of the Great
Plains” see what they do as providing a
unique space for academics, community
organizations, elected officials, students
and the public at large to meet and discuss
ideas at the forefront of world and local issues. The major theme for this Cumbre centered on human mobility and the promise
of development and political engagement.
An estimated 200 million people now live
outside their country of origin, pushed
from their homes by politics, economics
and a variety of other issues.
Previous Cumbres addressed immigration
policy and transnationalism, and integration. Hundreds of participants attend each
Cumbre. Presenters this year included a
director of immigration policy for the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce and the former director of the Pew Hispanic Center.
Though the conferences are based in an
office with a Latin American focus, Cumbre
presenters understand the necessity
of looking at comparative realities. An
immigration issue in South Asia can be
seen and understood by someone facing
similar issues in Europe or Africa or the
Americas, Gouviea says. Presenters this
year came from and addressed issues
concerning South Africa, the Philippines,
India and elsewhere.
“We’ve been especially good at capitalizing
on our network of colleagues and friends,”
Gouveia says. UNO’s faculty have a deep
and diverse international experience to
drawn on. How OLLAS operates and puts
together Cumbre makes it unique not only
in the University of Nebraska system, but
also the nation.
UNO Economics Blogger
Gains National Recognition
As a graduate student, Art Diamond learned an easy and
relatively effective way of taking notes and tackling cumbersome
research — documenting his findings on four-by-six-inch note cards.
Diamond would jot down important information and their accompanying sources to use on his thesis and other projects.
When the time came to return to his notes, it was as easy as flipping through the healthy stack of detailed, color-coded note cards.
Diamond still uses this method today, now as a UNO economics professor. His media, however, replaces note cards with the
World Wide Web.
Since 2005 Diamond has maintained a blog focused on economics. It’s part-classroom tool, part-public bulletin board for
stories, facts and other content Diamond finds while conducting
research and staying atop current events.
“The blog provides the same benefits of those notecards, with
quotes and examples, but in a high-tech way,” Diamond says.
“It’s definitely an aid to my research and teaching.”
And his students aren’t the only ones visiting the Web site. The
Kauffman Foundation recently recognized Diamond as one of
“the country’s most prolific and influential economics bloggers.”
“I always like to say we address issues
‘from the grassroots to the grass tops,’”
Gouveia says. “So many of our colleagues
look forward to Cumbre. We know it makes
a difference.”
Diamond is a self-taught blogger who uses an open-source
platform for his blog, available at www.artdiamondblog.com.
He enrolled in a few courses on Web page creation through the
Nebraska Business Development Center, a branch of UNO’s
College of Business Administration.
– Tim Kaldahl
News articles constitute many of Diamond’s frequent blog postings, but he also keeps his eyes open for relevant videos on the
Web that supplement his undergraduate and graduate teaching.
Big blogger: Diamond’s economic postings are among the country’s “most prolific
and influential.”
Many entries also feature brief or lengthy commentary from
Diamond about the topic at hand.
“Blogging helps me find and highlight recorded evidence (on
today’s economic issues) that are made accessible to everyone,”
Diamond says.
Although Diamond hails from a background deep in academics, he
admits that traditional forms of sharing information — specifically,
vetted and peer-reviewed journal articles — have their issues.
“There are times when articles can be made worse when reviewed
by pre-certified experts,” he says. “And then there’s the delay of
publishing these articles. Blogs most certainly have a role in today’s
communication age.”
– Wendy Townley
Omahan presents CBA with another major gift
What Dean Louis Pol calls “The Carl
and Joyce Mammel Halo Effect” has
yielded further support for UNO’s
College of Business Administration.
Omaha resident and UNO supporter
Virginia Schmid made a $1 million
gift to the University of Nebraska
Foundation for the college’s new home,
Mammel Hall, opening this fall near
the University of Nebraska Peter Kiewit
Institute at 67th and Pine Streets. The
dedication ceremony will be held Oct. 15.
Schmid, who is close friends with the
Mammels, learned of their support for
the new facility and also wanted to
help. Schmid’s donation will
support Mammel Hall’s state-of-theart auditorium.
The auditorium will comfortably seat
nearly 200 students. Professors will
utilize the space’s technology features
when teaching courses.
The auditorium also will allow CBA
to expand its guest lecture series,
including panelists whose research
and expertise is focused on innovation,
entrepreneurship and investment
management.
Pol envisions that the space also will
be used for outreach events focused on
UNO alumni and faculty research, as
well as by local organizations
such as the Greater Omaha Chamber
of Commerce.
UNO colleges and departments also
could jointly host events at the new
auditorium, Pol says.
“We greatly appreciate Virginia
Schmid’s generosity and support of
our building project,” Pol says. “The
auditorium will be an important gathering place in our new home, bringing
together students, faculty and the community in a beautiful, modern setting.”
– Wendy Townley
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athletics
VIDEO BOARDS
Andrew Bridger
Ellen Thommes
Athletes celebrated at
‘A Night at the OSCARS’
UNO Athletics in late April at Qwest Center Omaha inaugurated “A Night at the OSCARS,” a celebration of the 2009-2010 season. OSCARS is an acronym for Outstanding Students Celebrating Achievement and
Recognition Showcase.
More than 700 athletes, family, coaches, staff and community members attended the event.
UNO presented Senior Career Athlete Awards to a male and female athlete. Andrew Bridger of the basketball
team won the men’s award and Ellen Thommes of the volleyball team won the women’s award.
The department recognized Mike Higgins of the football team for his community service with the
Humanitarian Award. For three years he participated in UNO’s Seven Days of Service, volunteering his time
with Habitat for Humanity, the Open Door Mission and Quality Living. He also helped at the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes Football Camp
Ashley Nelson of the women’s basketball team won the Phoenix Award, given to the athlete who has overcome
adversity during his or her UNO career. Nelson played the first three years at UNO while her mother battled cancer.
After her mother’s death in the summer of 2009, Nelson captained the Mavericks during her senior season and had
a career year on the court and in the classroom.
opportunity to put their mark on the program through recruiting
and player development.”
Blais led the Mavericks to a 20-16-6 record in 2009-10 including a
record of 13-12-3-2 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association,
good for sixth place. It was the fourth 20-win season in UNO history, the first since 2005-06. Eleven UNO players had career years
in 2009-10.
“The university is clearly committed to the success of the hockey
program, and I am committed to the job we began here last season,” Blais said. “My wife and I have come to enjoy Omaha, and
with this extension I anticipate being able to finish my head coaching career here at UNO.”
Blais, Alberts Contracts Extended
The UNO athletic department took another step to solidifying the direction of its hockey program when it signed head coach
Dean Blais to a two-year contract extension in April. Blais, who
took over the UNO hockey program in the summer of 2009, will
guide the Mavericks through the 2014-2015 season.
“We are thrilled by the progress the team made under Dean’s leadership in his first season as head coach,” said Trev Alberts, UNO’s
director of athletics. “By extending his contract, we hope to bring
further stability to the position and give Dean and his staff a better
At the same news conference, UNO Chancellor John Christensen
announced that Alberts will have his contract extended through
the 2014-2015 academic year. Alberts was named to the position
in April 2009, succeeding David Miller. In addition to hiring Blais,
Alberts is responsible for the hockey team’s move this fall from the
CCHA to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
“Trev has done an outstanding job in his relatively short time leading the athletic department,” Christensen said. “He has defined
a clear vision for UNO athletics and has worked proactively to
achieve that goal.
Pinar Saka
Turkey
Anja Puc
Slovenia
Nkeiruka Domike
Nigeria
Maja Mihalinec
Slovenia
International talent sparkles for
Maverick track and field team
More than 1,300 international students attend UNO,
but not all of them come just for the great academics.
Many also come for the great athletics.
was a good decision for me because I knew that the
program was competitive and that Coach [Stephen]
Smith was a good leader.
Nowhere is that more apparent than on the UNO
women’s track and field team, which features seven
athletes from outside the United States.
“Academically, I felt comfortable with UNO, and I am
happy to be here.”
Leading the way are sprinters Pinar Saka, Anja Puc
and Maja Mihalinec and triple jumper Nkeiruka Domike,
all of whom have earned All-American honors while
at UNO. The four were major contributors to UNO’s
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association Indoor
Championships in 2009 and 2010, and to back-to-back
top-five finishes at indoor nationals.
Saka, a senior sprinter from Istanbul, Turkey, came to
UNO in 2007 as a sophomore transfer from Nebraska.
She since has become one of UNO’s most decorated
athletes. The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country
Coaches Association named her Division II’s 2009
Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. She also was named
UNO’s Female Athlete of the Year for 2008-2009.
Saka was a two-time indoor national champion last
season, winning the 400 meters and anchoring the
winning 4 x 400 meter relay. A multiple All-American,
she is UNO’s indoor record holder at 200 (23.93
seconds) and 400 (53.04) meters. Her 400 time also
set a new standard for Turkey, eclipsing the country’s
national record previously held by her Turkish Club
Coach, Oznur Dursun.
“By extending his contract to run concurrently with Dean’s, we
have brought stability to the department and put both men in position to continue to build our hockey program.”
Puc, a native of Medvode, Slovenia, also arrived in
2007 and is a two-time All-American. She holds the
university’s 800-meter indoor (2:09.44) and outdoor
(2:05.91) records.
The UNO hockey team plays its first-ever game as a member of the
WCHA on Oct. 15 at perennial power Minnesota.
“I had different chances to go to some bigger schools
— Akron, Clemson, Harvard,” Puc says. “I think UNO
Mihalinec, a native of Mozirje, Slovenia, is a sophomore
who finished the 2010 indoor season as one of UNO’s
six All-Americans. In March she broke the school’s
60-meter record with a time of 7.49 seconds at the
NCAA Indoor National Championship meet. She later
finished sixth in the event. UNO finished fourth in the
team standings.
At the outdoor Drake relays in April, Saka, Puc and
Mihalinec joined teammate Shannon Moore to set a
meet college record in the sprint medley. The quartet
finished in 3:49:11, 10 seconds better than secondplace Oklahoma Baptist and more than a second better
than the previous meet record.
Domike, of Nigeria, came to UNO this season. In her
first-ever indoor campaign she won the national
championship in the triple jump, also setting a UNO
standard in that event at 42-21/4. Her personal best
is 45-91/4, set while winning the Nigerian national
championship in July 2009.
The Mavericks this year also featured Kenya native
Zenah Chepkwony, a freshman distance runner, and
two sophomores from Jamaica: Jody-Ann Coore (60
meters) and Lianne McNaughton (400, 100 hurdles,
shot put).
“We have a great combination of girls here,” Puc says,
“and we have all put in a lot of practice to get to where
we are. Everybody on the team deserves recognition for
our success.”
– Sean Owens
The new video boards in UNO’s Sapp Fieldhouse
debuted to rave reviews as the Mavericks hosted the
2010 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships March
12 and 13. The video boards, dubbed “D.J. Sokol
Vision” in honor of the late son of donor and alum
David Sokol (‘78), displayed all the action of the twoday event, which culminated in a second consecutive
national championship for the Mavs and the fifth in
the last seven years.
The two boards, hung at either end of the fieldhouse,
will get quite a workout when the 2010 UNO volleyball
season begins in September, followed by men’s and
women’s basketball in late November. Plans currently
are in process to bring a larger video board to Al F.
Caniglia Field for the beginning of the 2010 football
season, which kicks off Sept. 4 when the Mavericks
host Nebraska-Kearney in the annual battle for the
Victory Bell.
gator & indians
Former UNO baseball coach Bob
Gates (“Gator”) was inducted
into the Omaha Sports Hall of
Fame on April 29.
Gates has more wins than any
baseball coach in UNO history
(464). He led the Mavericks
from 1977 to 1999 and won two
conference championships.
The Omaha Sports Hall of Fame
also recognized UNO’s 1954
football team. Then known
as the Indians, the team won
the 1955 Tangerine Bowl and
finished the season 10-0 under
coach Lloyd Cardwell.
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get to know
she answered
we asked
Gail Baker
Dean, College of Communication,
Fine Arts & Media
FAVORITE CHILDHOOD TV PROGRAM:
Jonny Quest. He traveled the world and faced
all kinds of different adventures!
A DIFFERENT FIRST NAME I’D CHOOSE FOR MYSELF:
Felicia. It’s my middle name and it’s what I was called growing up.
I would switch my name from Gail Felicia to Felicia Gail.
MY FIRST JOB:
My first job was at Montgomery Ward in Chicago. I was a sales clerk in
the housewares department. I fell in love with the number and variety
of dishes and plates and still am today.
THE BEST ADVICE I EVER RECEIVED:
Leave it better than you found it.
we asked
WHICH COUNTRY WOULD I LIKE TO LIVE IN AND WHY?
Text, photos by Jenna Zeorian
Ronald Roskens is a man
who rarely finds himself shocked
Sun rises on Roskens
The former University of Nebraska
president and UNO chancellor has always
had a commanding presence, and he
has traveled the world in a wide range of
higher education, government and business circles. Still, when he was informed
earlier this spring that he would receive
one of Japan’s most prestigious awards —
the Order of the Rising Sun — he was certainly surprised. More like stunned.
Emperor Meiji of Japan created the award,
that nation’s first decoration, in 1875. It
remains one of the most prestigious honors that can be conferred by Japan. The
awarding of the Order is administered by
the nation’s Decoration Bureau through
the Office of the Prime Minister in the
name of the Emperor.
Roskens met Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama and Emperor Akihito when he
and his wife, Lois, went to Tokyo for the
May 8 award ceremony.
I would like to live in Durban,
South Africa, because of the
ongoing reconciliation efforts
between minority and majority
groups due to that country’s past
history of racial apartheid. The
South African people have begun
working together to heal racial
divides that once separated them
from each other. I observed the
togetherness of different racial
groups during my research trip
to that country in the summer of
2008. This made me extremely
optimistic about the future
progress of South Africa and
its people.
answered
Robert Franklin
General Manager,
KVNO
I would love to live in New Zealand!
I have never been there but it
seems to be a beautiful place
with great weather for outdoor
activities. I think I would take up
paddle boarding if I lived there and
I would do LOTS of hiking.
answered
Jennifer Huberty
HPER Professor
I think I would like to live in
Canada. It has a little bit of some
of my favorite places here in the
states: snowy mountain tops of
Estes Park, sunny waterfronts of
San Diego and rare, exotic animals
from Omaha’s Zoo, to name a few.
And, it’s located north of the U.S.,
so I could always come back home
and visit at anytime.
answered
Andrea Ciurej
Editor, Gateway
I would live in Fiji because of the
spring-like weather all year and water
so clear that you can see to the bottom
of the ocean.
England. Since I work for the
Nebraska Shakespeare Festival
and have spent the last six
years immersing myself in
Shakespeare’s plays, it would be
great to live in the country where
William Shakespeare lived and
worked and where his plays were
first performed.
answered
Thomas Lowe
Director of
Production & Education, UNO Dept.
of Theatre
answered
Elijah Madison
UNO Heavyweight
National Champion
Roskens’ relationship with Japan dates
to the early 1980s while he served as
president of the NU system. He did
important work that enhanced and
expanded Omaha’s sister city relationship
with Shizouka.
Roskens has made, by his count, “eight,
nine or 10” trips to Japan over the years.
During his latest visit to accept the Rising
Sun award he took a day to visit Shizouka
(which now has more than 700,000 residents) and reconnect with friends and
business acquaintances.
“The most important facet of relationships
with other countries is face-to-face discussion,” Roskens says.
He can speak with authority about how
important the personal touch is in a business and government dealings. He served
as administrator for the U.S. Agency for
International Development for nearly
three years starting in 1990.
Omaha’s Takechi family (Takechi Jewelry)
helped him make important first contacts
in Shizouka and beyond. He says he
often advocates about the importance of
international student exchange programs,
especially to Asia, which has established
business powers like Japan and two of the
world’s great rising powers — China
and India.
Exchanges, of course, go both ways.
For more than 25 years, Japanese
ambassadors and their staff members
have regularly made visits to Omaha and
the rest of Nebraska.
“Not in every case, but several of them
were, I think, astounded to find that this
wasn’t cowboy and Indian territory,”
Roskens says. “Rather, what they found
was a civilized and rather markedly
growing city. Cosmopolitan.”
Kenji Shinoda now serves as deputy chief
of mission for the Japanese embassy
in Washington, D.C. For many years
he worked as Japan’s consul general in
Chicago and became well acquainted with
Roskens, who served as Japan’s honorary
consul general in Nebraska from 1999
through last year.
Shinoda says that he’s excited and delighted for his friend. Roskens, he says,
was key in showing Nebraska could be an
inviting and attractive place for foreign
investment. The conversations Japanese
business officials had with people from
Omaha and Lincoln were important in
getting Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing
to come to the state.
Roskens says he hopes the Rising Sun
award will help him open up even more
doors in Japan and lead to more education, business and civic connections. Even
after decades of work, he says, there are
certainly more people to meet and more
to get done.
– Tim Kaldahl
Photo: Tim Fitzgerald, University Relations
FIVE FOREIGN LOCATIONS I’D LIKE TO VISIT:
Beijing, China; Sidney, Australia; Vancouver,
Canada; Lisbon, Portugal; Ethiopia
Former UNO Chancellor and NU President Ron Roskens displays
the Order of the Rising Sun he received in Japan in May.
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I’m one of the last Americans to see him before he took ill.
The meeting was March 2006, and by July he was laid up in
the hospital and hands over power.
Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado
UNO associate professor of political science
Dinner with Fidel
“We were there from 7 in the evening to 3 in
the morning with him,” Benjamin-Alvarado
says. “He’s long-winded as everybody has
made him out to be. I was thinking, ‘This
guy’s taking forever, but it’s Fidel Castro.’
“He did say, ‘So you’re the energy guy.’
They had files on us. They had done their
homework. I was not surprised at all that
he knew exactly of my work. I remember
thinking to myself, ‘This is so unreal. You
are so fortunate.’”
Illustration by Tom Kerr
4 Benjamin-Alvarado’s wife didn’t believe it
until he showed the gifts Castro gave him —
Cuban rum and cigars.
Just a few months later, the communist
dictator would be hospitalized and hand
the reins of Cuba’s government over to kid
brother Raul.
Thinking about Cuba
By John Fey
Looking back, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado realizes
the bland food was a telltale sign that the old man
wasn’t quite feeling himself.
Benjamin-Alvarado’s first and only meeting with Fidel
Castro came in 2006 during an evening that he had
expected to spend listening to jazz. Instead, a trip
coordinator delivered surprising news as the UNO
political science professor lounged hotel poolside:
“Be in the lobby in one hour with a suit on; you’re
going to meet the president.”
Benjamin-Alvarado’s knowledge of the
small island country extends well beyond
breaking bread with Castro. During the
past two decades he has gained an up-close
perspective of Cuba and its inner workings,
becoming an expert on the country’s nuclear energy ambitions and capabilities. That’s
resulted in appearances on NBC Nightly
News, ABC World News Tonight, PBS, etc.
His interests began in 1990 when his boss
at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, a
think tank in Monterrey, Calif., asked him
to write a report on Cuba.
“I began to look at how this poor country
was attempting to build a nuclear reactor
for energy,” he says. “Obviously, the Cuban
missile crisis colored that because of the
kind of assistance they were receiving from
Russia throughout the cold war period.”
The more research he did, the more fascinated Benjamin-Alvarado became. He
visited Cuba for the first time in 1992, and
what he saw amazed him.
“It was very eerie, because they were in
the midst of a severe economic crisis,” he
recalls. “There was very little of any type
of activity on the streets. There was no
gasoline, no oil. There were blackouts
every night.”
That first visit whetted his appetite to know
more about the country. He began working
toward a doctorate degree in political science from the University of Georgia, fueling
his passion for more fact-finding trips to
Cuba. There were no travel opportunities
between 1993 and 1996. But because of his
research and published articles while
working for the Center for International
Trade and Security, he began garnering
attention in Washington, D.C. A number of
grants from various national foundations
and private individuals followed.
By the time he earned his Ph.D. (becoming
the first Hispanic awarded a doctorate in
political science at Georgia), he was giving
lectures throughout the United States.
“I essentially was able to kind of write my
own ticket to continue to do my work in
Cuba,” he says.
Change coming?
Through his Washington connections
Benjamin-Alvarado began traveling as part
of government delegations and got a better
feel for the inner workings and philosophies
of the Cuban government. He was granted
access for interviews and to examine facilities and documents related to his research.
He came to UNO in 2003. Three years later,
power shifted from Fidel to Raul — without
a hitch.
“There hasn’t been the kind of social upheaval that we see in a lot of other countries,” he says. “There’s no civil war, there’s
no mass exodus from the island occurring.”
Fidel’s status is something of a mystery. The
BBC this March reported Raul saying that
his 84-year-old brother “exercises every day
and he is more disciplined than ever. And
I could tell you that for his age, he is really
doing very well.”
Doctor and Dictator: Benjamin-Alvarado and Castro at
their marathon dinner in Cuba.
The U.S. relationship with Cuba, meanwhile, remains regulated by the HelmsBurton Act, an embargo Congress passed
in 1996.
Benjamin-Alvarado, also assistant director
for research and outreach in UNO’s Office
of Latino and Latin and American Studies,
says U.S. relations with Cuba could and
should change. There are signs that’s beginning to happen despite the embargo.
“The state of Nebraska since 2005 has sold almost $100 million of agricultural products to
Cuba,” he says, adding that Congress is considering a bill that would allow even more.
Cuba also could play a larger worldwide
role in energy, says Benjamin-Alvarado,
primarily through the transfer of technology and through training and education in
engineering, especially to other countries
in the region in the development of alternative technologies.
“Cuba is much more integrated in the
global economy compared to 20 years ago,”
he says. “Twenty years ago, Cuba was in a
precarious situation.”
Perhaps much like Fidel today.
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HIGH HONORS
Courtesy Patricia Coate.
6 The homeland: a panoramic view of Carlentini, Italy.
Italy
LITTLE
A UNO student studies the small Sicilian town
that shaped Omaha and its Italian community
By Lori Rice
Growing up Italian in an Italian family in an Italian
neighborhood meant the same thing for Brad Costanzo
every Sunday at about 2 in the afternoon — pasta with
the family-specialty meatballs and sauce.
The secret recipes have been passed to Costanzo, a
generational bond to and reminder of his heritage.
The food is great. But it’s the story of his grandparents
and their journey from Italy to Omaha that best reminds
Costanzo of the importance of his Italian roots.
“I recognize how hard they worked and the struggles they
had to endure to get ahead,” says Costanzo, who graduated
from UNO with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1995.
“Just taking a leap of faith coming across the ocean to a
brand-new country.”
His grandfather Saverio arrived in 1918 from northern Italy. Three years later came his grandmother
Vincenza, who emigrated from a small town outside Carlentini, Italy.
Vincenza was not alone — nearly two-thirds of Omaha’s Italian-Americans trace their roots to this
quiet town of around 20,000 people in eastern Sicily.
So says UNO graduate student Patricia Coate, who has no family ties to the boot-shaped country
but who has studied the Omaha-Carlentini connection as the basis of her thesis. Coate, who graduates in August with a master’s degree in history, says the first immigrants from Carlentini made
the 5,500-mile trek to Omaha in the late 19th century. They peaked in numbers right before World
War I but continued to arrive as late as the 1970s. Hopeful for a life with more opportunities, many
came to work for Union Pacific Railroad or to start a business in their trade.
Same name
Coate stumbled upon the Omaha-Carlentini connection three years ago while interning at Catholic
Cemeteries, for whom she transcribed names from
original burial logbooks into an online database.
Over and over she typed the same last names of individuals with the
same Italian birthplace — Carlentini.
Same place
She had found her thesis topic — searching for the trends and traditions that came with the Carlentini immigrants to Omaha.
“In history they study immigration a lot,” Coate says, “especially the
major waves of immigrants who came over at the turn of the century.
But a lot of these studies don’t necessarily go back to the old country.”
Coate did — literally. To aid her research Coate enrolled in an intensive
six-month Italian language course in Italy during the summer of 2008.
“I don’t know if that’s insanity or a brilliant idea,” Coate says with a
laugh. “But then I figured out that this is the best thesis of all because I’m
forced to have to go to one of the most beautiful countries on earth and
study this language, which is a beautiful language, and eat the food.”
Eric Francis Photography
4 Armed with a pocket-sized Italian phrase book, she enrolled at the
University for Foreigners in Perugia. By that Christmas, Coate was
fluent enough to conduct the difficult research required to fulfill her thesis requirements. She dug through archives and hard-to-read Italian manuscripts,
spending hours at a time deciphering written records. She took digital photos of
paperwork and interviewed local Italians about their connection to Omaha.
Coate at Omaha’s Holy Sepulchre Cemetery next to
a gravestone with one of the many names to hail
from Carlentini: Caniglia.
Her work began to reveal their influence on Omaha. There’s the obvious, like the city’s annual
Santa Lucia festival held in June and the many Italian restaurants that are such a staple to Omaha
palates. Several Italian restaurants and eateries in Omaha trace their founding to families who
emigrated from Carlentini — Caniglias, Orsi’s Bakery, Mister C’s, Piccolo Pete’s, Venice Inn and the
Sons of Italy hall.
“It still lasts to this day. The food was very influential,” Coate says. “Most of the mom-and-pop places you
can eat around Omaha are Italian. It’s almost become Omaha’s food.”
The Carlentini influence went beyond food and festivals.
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
Roots
Genealogy, Coate says, is a way to personalize history.
A way to see how families were involved in the past
and to learn about the practices and beliefs that have
passed through generations.
She also points to several resources available
throughout the city.
• The main branch of the Omaha Public Library.
There, Archdekin says, the library provides a room
dedicated to genealogy with records for the local
area and several surrounding states. Microfilms of
early newspapers also are available.
• Local family history centers sponsored by the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You
can find them in Omaha (11027 Martha St.) and
Papillion (12009 S. 84th St).
• The Nebraska State Historical Society in Lincoln,
where immigration records are maintained.
The Internet is one reason for the surge in family searches.
“The big news of the last decade is that so many
sources are now available online,” says Sharon Wood,
professor of history at UNO and chair of the history
department. Wood, who uses genealogy in her research
at UNO, recommends several online sites to use as tools.
That includes free sites, such as www.familysearch.org
and www.usgenweb.org, and fee-based sites, such as
www.ancestry.com.
“Once I have a clue I can follow it to other sources,”
Wood says. “That’s sort of the main task you have to
figure out with genealogy of any sort. You have only a
few clues and you have to figure out how to make them
tell you as much as possible.”
– Lori Rice
55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
UNO’s Islamic
Studies Program
educates on faith,
culture, history
For more than 30 years, UNO student Nancy Archdekin
has been involved in genealogy as a hobby and a profession. She’s tried to track down heirs for lawyers and
family ties for a health-related university study. Her
research for individuals has led some to publish
family books.
It’s become a popular pastime. Archdekin advises that
budding genealogists start with themselves then move
backward. “One of the first things a new person should
do is talk to parents and grandparents,” Archdekin says.
57 Unveiling
Islam
Tracing
“I love it,” Archdekin says. “It helps you to realize
who you are, why you are the way you are. I find it’s
fulfilling to learn about your ancestry and where people
came from.”
59 Top left: Gagliolo Rosa e figli, 1930. Top right: Costantino Rosario.
Bottom: Banda Musicale di Pietro Cosentino, Omaha
By Jenna Zeorian
family &
“They worked very hard,” Coate says. “A lot of them went for professional degrees right away and within one generation they were
the doctors, dentists, police officers. They were already very present all over the city in a short amount of time, and I think it speaks
volumes about them.”
Faith
Former Omaha City Councilman and one-time acting Mayor Subby Anzaldo
is among those with Carlentini roots, his father and mother having emigrated
from there in 1927. Their son most remembers the work ethic his parents passed
onto him.
“Everything they had, they had to work hard for,” Anzaldo says. “They taught
me the same heritage, and all my life I’ve tried to profess the same thing and
pass it on to my children. Work hard and you’ll be successful.”
Another emphasis in Coate’s thesis focuses on the religious practices and faith
traditions brought from Carlentini. Their Catholic faith, says Coate, played a
strong role in their lives and provided a support system for the early immigrants. Omaha churches such as St. Frances Cabrini, St. Ann’s and Holy Family
often provided places to stay, jobs assistance, and a social gathering point.
Coated witnessed some of those faith roots firsthand when she returned to
Carlentini in August 2009 during the two-week long Santa Lucia festival, which
includes an elaborate procession honoring the town’s patron saint.
“They take this huge statue of Santa Lucia on a cart and these men, who are chosen for their leadership in the church, have to push it up and down the streets,”
Coate says. “It’s a real labor.”
The tradition is replicated in Omaha every spring, beginning at St. Frances
Cabrini and processing this year to the festival site at Lewis & Clark Landing.
Today, Coate says, Omaha’s concentration of Italians has dispersed throughout
the city. They, like everyone else, made money, received a good education and
tended to move to the suburbs. Their impact, however, continues to influence
Omaha today.
“If you live in this city long enough, you know these people, they are everywhere. They really left a mark in the community.”
Blomfield, center, surrounded by students from UNO’s Islamic Studies Program.
Mysterious is hardly the word
Dr. Bridget Blomfield would use to describe the Islamic religion and culture.
But it often describes the impression others have of them, she says.
That’s one of the reasons why the UNO
professor is passionate about the sucA calligraphic meaning, “Our cess of the university’s Islamic Studies
best ornaments are our Program, which she directs. UNO is one
good manners.” In Islam,
says Blomfield, “this is the of the only universities in the Midwest to
concept of loving kindness.” offer an Islamic Studies program, offering
students a minor through instruction on
Islamic faith, culture and history.
The multidisciplinary program was developed in 2007 and formally implemented in the fall of 2009. It involves the university’s
history, religious studies and political science departments.
That gives UNO students a unique advantage, Blomfield says.
“Universities have a responsibility to not only present clear information but to present it from multiple viewpoints and voices,” she
says. “We are able to do that by involving different departments.”
Courses offered this spring included “Middle East Politics,” “Soul of
Islam” and “Islamic Art and Architecture.”
Blomfield says critical thinking and dialogue, in addition to the
presentation of clear information, are key to understanding and
relating to different cultures.
“Muslim people and Islam as a religion are misunderstood,” she
says. “When students are educated, though, and learn how to
communicate their knowledge both globally and locally, they can
disseminate information to others to challenge stereotypes.
“One of the great things about our country is the diversity.
And the more bridges we build, the safer and more functional our
world becomes.”
The Islamic Studies program was established through private
support from anonymous donors who felt it was imperative to make
more education about Islam available at UNO. Additional gifts to
the University of Nebraska Foundation by anonymous community
partners have funded guest speakers, presentations and discussion
panels, enhancing the program’s curriculum.
That includes lectures by Dr. M. Ibrahim Farajajé, professor of
Islamic studies and cultural studies at the Starr King School for the
Ministry, a member school of the Graduate Theological Union in
Berkeley, Calif. Farajajé in April spoke on Malcolm X and on Rumi,
a 13th century Persian poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic.
In 2009, Elinor Aishah Holland spoke on Islamic calligraphy.
A calligrapher in the traditional method of the Ottoman Hattat
(calligraphers), Holland’s clients include the U.S. State Department,
Clinton Global Initiative and Museum of the City of New York.
Other gifts have supported scholarships for students who study
abroad. In 2009, 12 students studied in Turkey for one month. This
June, 16 students traveled to Morocco for a two-week stay during
the Sacred Music Festival in Fez. Students attended daily concerts,
colloquiums and religious events and visited historic Marrakech
and Morocco’s Essaouria beaches on the Atlantic coast.
“These gifts have been essential to our ability to promote more
programs, student opportunities and community outreach, which
is what makes our university outstanding,” Blomfield says.
“Students that are a part of our Islamic Studies Program have a
better understanding of our world and the people in it.”
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IMPROVING
LITERACY in the
Afghan Army
It could be any spring semester International Studies class at
UNO. Sixteen students, 20-something to middle age, occupy
the cramped Arts and Sciences Hall room.
Small conversations pop up on the merits of global phone service carriers; the ineptitude of specific golfers; and why the lone window in the room refuses to budge open.
But this is no ordinary UNO class. And when Tom Gouttierre (above), director of the
Center for Afghanistan Studies (CAS), enters to deliver the morning lecture, the students
snap to extraordinary attention.
These are candidates for Human Terrain Teams, groups of four to nine civilian advisers
who will embed with military units. They include former military personnel and social
scientists. After they complete the CAS immersion program and additional training at
Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the graduates will guide U.S. military troops through the very
human, socio-cultural terrain of war-worn Afghanistan.
Since April 2008, CAS has presented the Army’s HTT candidates with a series of
seminars focusing on Afghanistan studies, issues and current affairs, combined with
language training in conversational Dari. Some 300 HTT candidates have been trained
in 20 seminars presented by CAS, says U.S. Army Reserve Major Bob Holbert, Human
Terrain System regional training coordinator, Afghanistan and Iraq. Funding for the
program comes through the U.S. Department of Defense budget.
S h oul d e r
to
UNO’s Center for Afghanistan Studies is the only U.S. institution that focuses on
Afghanistan, and the sole provider of Afghan immersion seminars for the U.S. Army,
says Holbert. The University of Kansas provides a similar program for HTT candidates
bound for Iraq.
S h oul d e r
By Christine Kasel
In addition to Gouttierre, instructors include Dr. Jack Shroder, geology; Shoaib
Yosoufzal, Afghan Army; Shaista Wahab, history and culture; Abdul Raheem Yaseer
and Abdullah Yaseer, religion; and Sher Jan Ahmadzai, ruling structures. The candidates also spend a good portion of each day working on their command of Dari with
Esmael Burhan or Jamil Nuristani.
Each Human Terrain Team consists of a leader and at least one social scientist, research
manager and human terrain analyst. They are not soldiers. They neither take part in
lethal military action, nor do they engage in intelligence gathering. Human Terrain
U.S. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel, U.S. Army.
At left: U.S. Army Maj. Robert Holbert takes notes as he talks and drinks tea with a local school
administrator during a cordon and search of Nani, Afghanistan, in June 2007. Holbert was attached to
the Human Terrain Team, 4th Brigade Combat Team.
Furthering relations between Americans and
Afghans is part of the Center for Afghanistan
Studies’ core mission. And the U.S. Army isn’t
the only military that benefits from ties to the
UNO campus.
Another CAS program now is working to
improve literacy rates within the Afghan Army,
120,000 strong but 85-percent illiterate, says
UNO’s Abdul Raheem Yaseer. In addition to his
contribution to the HTT seminars, the assistant
CAS director also heads the Afghan Army
Literacy Program.
That program, funded through the U.S.
Department of Education and Cultural Affairs,
initially was met with resentment from some
officials in the Afghan administration who
wanted to fill the teaching ranks with friends,
“old generals and majors, and retired buddies.”
“We pressed and pushed” to hire only the most
qualified, Yaseer says.
The Center for Afghan Studies recruited, tested,
and trained the 460 teachers now in place with
brigades from Kabul to the provinces, he says.
Many of the teachers are former refugees who
fled the country in the face of danger and now
have returned.
The program has other benefits, too. Previously,
expensive expatriate instructors often were
the norm; hazard pay, insurance and other
costs could add up to $500,000 per year per
instructor. By employing qualified Afghan
teachers, the program saves money and
provides the country with much-needed jobs.
Yaseer says the soldiers are very happy with the
program, and that the teachers, all of whom are
evaluated in the field, have received good reviews.
Now in its second year, the literacy program is
“working very well and getting better.”
– Christine Kasel
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Afghanistan at UNO
The Center for Afghanistan Studies was formed
at UNO in 1973. Since then CAS (http://world.
unomaha.edu/cas) has provided training, coordination, development and management for
almost all sectors of education in Afghanistan:
adult literacy, manpower development, gender
equity, teacher training and curriculum development. Other facts about CAS and Afghanrelated ties at UNO:
Team members support their unit by guiding them through the complexities of
Afghan culture and social life, and developing relationships with members of the
local community.
• Since its formation the center has obtained
nearly $60 million in grants and contracts to
support technical assistance programs, training and educational exchanges.
“The first thing is to try to understand who you are with,” Gouttierre stresses to
students in the HTT class.
• In the six months following September 11,
2001, CAS Director Tom Gouttierre and
Assistant Director Abdul Raheem Yaseer provided more than 2,500 interviews to local,
national and international media sources.
• The center publishes self-study and classroom language materials for Dari, and a
Dari-English Dictionary. Research associates
of the center are engaged in an ongoing Atlas
of Afghanistan Project.
• The center maintains a field office in Kabul
and cooperates with the current Afghan government and its Ministry of Education.
• UNO and UNMC collaborate to revitalize
health care in Afghanistan and improve educational opportunities for Afghan health care
professionals.
• More than 500 Afghans have come to
UNO as participants in exchange programs
and other projects. More than 100 faculty
and staff from the University of Nebraska
have participated in projects related
to Afghanistan.
• In 1974, the Arthur and Daisy Paul Afghanistan Collection was donated to CAS.
It houses one of the largest collections of
Afghanistan research materials in the world.
Sept 9 Northern Alliance commander
Ahmad Shah Massoud is assassinated.
on the search for osama
That perspective of the world through the eyes of an Afghan is something for which
Holbert has a deep appreciation. The former social studies teacher served as research
manager for Afghanistan’s first HTT, deployed in 2007. The training for that first
group took place entirely at Fort Leavenworth and included “a five-day ‘round the
globe’ introduction” to Afghanistan by Gouttierre.
Dean of International Studies and Center for Afghanistan
Studies Director Tom Gouttierre can’t say exactly why it’s
been so difficult to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
But he is sure about one thing.
“It wasn’t nearly the scope or breadth of the current three-week class,” Holbert says,
but the small investment provided substantial returns.
“We had a chance” to catch him back in 2001, Gouttierre says,
“but we dropped the ball. We let him get away.”
After training, Holbert’s team embedded with a unit stationed at Forward Operating
Base Salerno in Khwost Province, about 15 miles from the Pakistan border. He and
fellow team members quickly discovered an opportunity that would benefit both
their unit and the local Afghan community.
Following the attacks of Sept. 11 by al-Qaeda operatives,
none of whom were Afghan nationals, U.S. and Afghan forces
pursued Osama into the rugged, remote and mountainous
Tora Bora region.
Salerno had been a frequent target of rocket attack. “The mosque on the FOB was
in bad shape,” Holbert says, and that had a profound, negative effect on the native
Afghans. HTT members proposed a joint work project to the local leadership —
Afghan nationals working side by side with American soldiers to repair the community’s mosque.
Instead of focusing on Osama’s capture, however, resources
were re-directed towards Iraq and Saddam Hussein. “We
out-sourced development activities and under-sourced the
military” efforts in Afghanistan, Gouttierre says.
The terrorist leader then reportedly left the haven of Tora Bora
and escaped by horseback through the mountains to find
sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan.
The combined crews quickly repaired the mosque, which raised the spirits within
the local community. “It was a gem at our feet,” says Holbert, “and helped bridge
the cultural gap between the soldiers and the local civilians. It also showed the
insurgents that the Army respected the Afghans and their culture.”
If Osama is still alive — and most people assume that he
is, says Gouttierre — his capture would be a great public
relief. It would act as a symbol to Afghanistan and the rest
of the world that the U.S. is serious about ridding the world
of terrorism.
No one expects the candidates to become experts on all things Afghanistan
after just three weeks. But by incorporating the lessons learned with their social
science background and training, the candidates should become invaluable
cultural interpreters.
But as important as Osama’s capture may be, Gouttierre
warns, “It won’t be the end of al-Qaeda.”
Holbert says HTT members must know at least enough language to hold a
conversation, something not just practical, but a show of respect for the culture.
“You also need to understand the role of Islam in Afghanistan,” he says. It is manyfaceted, and is affected by, and in turns affects, everyday life. Candidates need to
“recognize the diversity of the population, and understand tribal relationships and
dynamics.” They must also “be aware of the difference between the central and
local governments; understand gender roles; and know how the human geography
is related to the physical geography.”
Sept 11 Al Qaeda operatives, none
of whom are Afghan nationals, attack
targets within the United States.
But more than anything else, says Holbert, “Building relationships is No. 1.”
oct 7 U.S. launches Operation
Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
march The Pentagon begins drawing
military and intelligence resources
away from Afghanistan and toward Iraq.
dec Osama bin Laden flees to Tora Bora
southeast of Kabul. He is then thought to
have escaped by horseback into Pakistan.
june Hamid Karzai is chosen to lead
the country’s transitional government.
2001
Photo: PD-USGOV
In one morning presentation, “Afghanistan’s Past and Present,” Gouttierre parses the
country’s history and discuss its effects on present-day Afghanistan. It is familiar
ground for students in UNO’s International Studies program. For HTT candidates,
this is applied social science. They take what they learn into the field and apply it in
building cultural and social bridges between the Afghans and Americans who live
and work together.
2002
Something that starts thousands of miles away in an Arts and
Sciences Hall classroom.
may The U.S. administration declares
an end to major combat operations in
Afghanistan.
2003
oct 9 Karzai becomes the first
democratically elected head of
Afghanistan.
2004
U.S. Department of Defense photo by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel, U.S. Army.
U.S. Army Sgt. Britt Damon points
out features in a book as he interacts
with local children during a cordon
and search conducted with the Afghan
National Police in Nani, Afghanistan, in
June 2007. Damon was with the Army’s
Human Terrain Team, 4th Brigade
Combat Team.
february President Obama announces plans to increase troop numbers in
Afghanistan.
march President Obama connects
success in Afghanistan with stability
in Pakistan.
The reality today, as Gouttierre imparts to the scholar-students
in the Afghan Immersion program, is that al-Qaeda is not the
same organization we knew a decade ago. Its structure has
morphed: It is something different, but familiar.
Bin Laden has franchised al-Qaeda around the world, says
Gouttierre, “and the franchises are plentiful.”
“The war in Afghanistan is not an end unto itself,” he adds.
“It’s a larger war against an al-Qaeda franchise. Afghanistan is
just a chapter in that war.”
– Christine Kasel
november President Hamid Karzai is
re-elected to another term.
february The first Human Terrain
Team is deployed to Afghanistan.
2007
dec 2 President Obama commits an addi- february NATO-led forces launch
tional 30,000 forces to Afghanistan, and says Operation Moshtarak to secure
a troop drawdown will begin in July 2011.
government control of Helmand province.
2009
2010
Photos: Osama bin Laden as he appeared
in an Al Qaeda propaganda poster found
by U.S. Special Operations Forces; Osama
as he might appear today, according to
a digital representation created by the
FBI using an image of Spanish politician
Gaspar Llamazares.
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
Eric F ra
ncis Ph
otograp
hy
4 The man was dying of AIDS. His physician said so.
Aundrea Hansen, who last year spent five months studying and working
in Stellenbosch, South Africa, noticed the man as both waited in an
emergency room waiting area. The man was so weak he wasn’t able to
hold his drink.
si x ti
C on
Herding Cats
Attempting to gather seven faculty to stand on top
of the world on the same day is, you might say, a
Herculean task. That’s especially so with active
professors whose research takes them to far-flung
sites around the globe. So it was something of a small
miracle when six of the seven showed up on campus
for a UNO Magazine photo shoot on a sunny spring
day (and a Sunday, to boot). The seventh was out of
state conducting — you guessed it — research. So
how did seven smiling faces end up in the photo?
We photographed No. 7 on another sunny day and
“Photoshopped” them onto our giant map.
Guess No. 7, win a stadium blanket
So who’s No. 7? Tell Managing Editor Anthony Flott
which professor you think was added to the photo
(include your name, address and phone). Those who
guess correctly will be included in a random drawing for
a UNO Alumni Association fleece stadium blanket. Send
submissions to 6705 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68182, or
email aflott@unoalumni.org – Deadline July 5
e
n
Hansen, an international studies major from Lincoln, later learned
that the man forfeited his right to additional medical assistance by not
following the guidelines set for his care.
s
t
n
and the
Top of the World
Hansen spent her time in South Africa taking classes at Stellenbosch
University and working at an AIDS clinic. At the clinic, she took
urine samples and blood pressure readings, and sat in on counseling
sessions.
Hansen, who plans to attend medical school and someday work
for Doctors Beyond Borders, has returned to classes at UNO and is
helping coordinate World AIDS Day 2010.
From left: Timi Barone, Alan Kolok, Harmon Maher, Jukka
Savolainen, Aundrea Hansen, Peter Szto, Tom Bragg.
By Kevin Warneke
But the memories of time spent in the ER with a friend who had
cut her foot remain most vivid. She came away with a better understanding of how health-care systems differ among countries.
She also came to realize that South Africa’s approach to AIDS
care is not that different from the approach in the United States.
“Our government could do so much more,” she says.
Dr. Harmon Maher doesn’t need much prodding to talk about UNO’s reach
throughout the world.
Maher first mentions the Center for Afghanistan Studies, then quickly talks about
agreements the university has with peers in Norway, Germany and Austria.
“We truly do have a broard spectrum of faculty who are involved in international
endeavors,” says Maher, who is serving as interim associate vice chancellor for
research and creativity activity. “I could go on.”
So he does: joint research projects with a university in Russia; service-learning
in South Africa; longstanding relationships between the College of Business and
a university in Moldova; the College of Information Science & Technology’s relationships with peer institutions in India.
“Linking Omaha as a community and UNO as a university to the rest of the world
is our mission,” he says.
Research and service-learning projects have taken UNO faculty and students to
six of the seven continents — and to an Arctic island near the top of the world.
UNO’s presence is absent only in Antarctica. Any takers?
Dr. Timi Barone’s fascination with sleep began during a conversation about the connection between stress and how long people think it takes for them to nod off.
The intrigue continued as she explored why siestas are practiced in some countries, but not
in others. She discovered that the popularity of siestas is not tied to climate, hard work or
eating habits, but with health. Countries with more serious health issues were more likely to
have its citizens take siestas.
Now, the associate professor of anthropology’s focus is on the sleeping habits of college
students, particularly those at UNO.
She knows that a temporary lack of sleep can lead to health problems, including the
possibility of Type 2 diabetes. What happens to students who routinely receive less
sleep? She aims to discover.
So she’s asking UNO students to wear actigraphs while they sleep. The oversized wristwatches measure sleep patterns. “Everyone wakes up very briefly during the phases of
their sleep. Most people don’t remember.”
Preliminary results indicate UNO students sleep less than U.S. adults. She understands
that students face the pressures of work, class and study. Something must give, she says.
“They may be trading part of their health to get an education,” Barone says. “I don’t
know that for sure, but it is my concern.”
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 There’s something in the water in Medellin, Colombia. Dr. Alan Kolok
hopes to find out if it’s dangerous.
The professor of biology recently received a grant from the National
Science Foundation to study the water that is carried in the runoff from
banana plantations and gold mines in Colombia. The waters near the
banana plants might contain fungicides, he says, while the waters near the
gold mines could contain mercury, used in the extraction process to
separate gold from other minerals.
The assumption, says Savolainen, is that
the more teens drink, the more likely they
are to become violent. Not necessarily so,
the associate professor of criminology says.
Rather, violence is more influenced by the
“drinking culture” of a country.
For every ounce of gold that is extracted in the mines, Kolok says, three
ounces of mercury is used. “Very likely, it’s getting into the fish,” he says.
Which means that mercury in fish may be going to market, headed for
human consumption.
In countries such as Spain and France,
which Savolainen describes as “wine
cultures,” youths drink, but do so with adult
supervision and in a controlled manner.
“I don’t see a strong effect between drinking
and violence.”
Through a process called biomonitoring and focusing on guppies, Kolok
and two students will determine the amount of mercury that is entering
into the water near the mines. Their task: “Is this a serious, significant
route of contamination of mercury into the food supply? If so, what can we
do about it?”
Dr. Peter Szto witnessed the largest
mass migration in human history.
China converted from a state-controlled economy to free enterprise.
The movement started in the early
1980s in rural China and accelerated
more than a decade later as the country experienced economic reforms.
Economic zones sprouted, especially
in the south — and the Chinese went
seeking jobs and a better life.
Forty of the 1,200 photographs he
took are on display in the College of
Public Affairs Building at UNO. His
exhibit previously was on display in
UNO’s Weber Art Gallery.
Szto, who came to UNO in 2004, photographed these migrant populations
in the streets of Ghangzhou, known
in the West as Canton. Through his
work, he documented the social
effects of major economic policy as
39 Dr. Jukka Savolainen figures there are
lessons to be learned from how European
countries have responded to violence and
teenage drinking.
Kolok, who holds a joint appointment with the College of Public Health at
the University of Nebraska Medical Center, first learned about the potential health hazard during a meeting with a contingency of officials from
Colombia several years ago. They invited Kolok to visit their country.
Szto, an associate professor of social
work, documented the survival strategies used by hundreds of millions
of Chinese as they migrated from
rural to urban China. “Some people
got into factories and got good jobs.
Some didn’t. Some are beggars, some
are entrepreneurs.”
41 For an example of a mass migration
in the United States, Szto cites the
movement from farms to factories in
the early 20th century. But that was
a trickle compared to the 150 to 200
million people who comprised the
floating populations in China.
Szto likes two photographs from the
exhibit best for illustrating contrasts
— joy and despair — that he encountered during his study. One shows
two men dancing. The other shows
a man begging for money to pay for
medical treatment for his sick son.
“I tried to capture their human
dignity,” he says.
Not so in northern and eastern European
countries, which he describes as beer or
vodka cultures. Because of this, dictating
one type of policy regarding alcohol
23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
consumption among all teens in European
countries isn’t practical, Savolainen says.
And that might have implications closer to
home. U.S. university presidents — as they
try to create safe environments on their
campuses — might want to take notice. But
Savolainen cautions: “Culture doesn’t happen overnight. We can’t just pretend we’re
Mediterranean because we change the rules.”
Savolainen also is studying how Finland
and the United State respond to crime
and criminals. Finland is one of the few
European countries that have embraced
shorter prison terms for criminals, he says.
The obvious question, he says: Do those
who receive shorter prison terms return to
crime after their release?
“Do they take advantage of that coddling?”
he asks. “I tend to find no cost in terms of
public safety.”
It’s not the flames and heat that sparked Dr. Tom Bragg’s interest in fire. He’s more intrigued
with what happens after fires have been extinguished.
For years, Bragg has traveled to western Australia to study the aftermath of fires in the
country’s desolate regions. His task is to study how quickly vegetation returns. “After fires
burn, what kinds of plants come back and how long does it take,” Braggs asks.
Bragg is especially interested in the mulga tree and its regeneration after fire.
Back in the day, Australia’s aborigines started fires in these areas. Now, fires in the region
are started by lightning and burn wildly.
“The culture of burning changed,” Bragg says.
The professor of biology’s work coincides with another movement in Australia: to reintroduce
mid-size mammals — including the northern bettong and the bilby — which have been nearly
eliminated from their natural habitat by domestic cats and foxes that roam the area.
As these marsupials are reintroduced, they need vegetation for food and a place to hide.
And they need the right kind of vegetation, Bragg says.
“Every thing needs a place to live.”
For Dr. Harmon Maher, Spitsbergen is a special place.
Nearly 20 times during the past 30 years he’s traveled
to Spitsbergen, the largest of the Svalbard islands and a
place he fondly refers to as near the “top of the world.”
There, Maher studies the architecture of mountains or,
basically, how they grow.
He’s especially interested in how sentiments accumulate. The professor of geology said he’s finishing a
project that is examining a place where the earth
pulled apart. Sentiment accumulates and caves form.
The point is to study how fluids — water, oils and gases
— move through these formations. This work has implications for the petroleum industry, he says.
Spitsbergen also is special because a corner of the
Barents Shelf is exposed there. “If you want to understand what’s underneath the water above the exposed
area of the Barents Shelf,” he says, “Spitsbergen is
a good place to start. To get a better understanding,
you want to see and touch rock. You can do that
in Spitsbergen.”
Whenever Maher visits Spitsbergen, which is about 600
miles from the North Pole, he sees some familiar faces
— researchers from Russia, Poland, Iran, England, Italy
and the Netherlands.
“It’s truly a place where scientists from around the
world meet.”
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 Dr. Jonathan Bruce Santo is a professor in the psychology department. He is a native of Canada who came
to UNO in 2009. He researches adolescent identity development, moderators of the depressive effects of
peer victimization, and cross-cultural differences in peer relations. His teaching interests include adolescent development, statistics and cross-cultural psychology. Contact him at jonathan.santo@gmail.com
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My mother’s side of the family is French-Canadian, and this recipe, in one form or another, has
been passed down for at least three generations. It’s a hearty soup that’s perfect after time outside
on a chilly day.
Canadian Yellow Split-Pea Soup
1
Yield:
4 servings 4 1/2 ounces yellow split peas (uncooked)
1 cup onions, finely chopped
1 quart water
1 cup carrots, sliced
accompanying
beverage:
White burgundy or
Alsace Pinot Gris
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sage leaves, crumbled
2 teaspoons oil (olive, vegetable or canola)
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 ounces diced bacon (preferably Canadian)
Fresh parsley
Rinse peas. In large pot combine peas, water and salt. Bring to a boil; remove
from heat and let soak for 1 hour. In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over
medium-high heat; add bacon and cook, stirring frequently until browned. Add
onions and carrots, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent; add to
peas in saucepan and stir to combine. Add sage and allspice and bring to a boil.
2
Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally to
prevent mixture from sticking to bottom of pan. Cook until peas
are softened and mixture thickens, about 45 minutes. If soup
becomes too thick, add up to an additional cup of water. Garnish
portions with fresh parsley.
Dr. Gerardus-Jan “GJ” de Vreede is a native of the Netherlands. He came to UNO in 2002 and is the Frederic
W. Kayser Chaired Professor in the department of information systems and quantitative analysis, College of
Information Science & Technology. He also is director of UNO’s Center for Collaboration Science (see article
on Page 9). His research and teaching interests include: collaboration science, facilitation, group support
systems, virtual worlds, virtual collaboration, thinkLets, collaboration engineering, software requirements
engineering, systems development approaches and more. Contact him at gdevreede@unomaha.educom
A traditional dish served in many, if not all, Dutch homes, especially in the colder months of the
year. Recipes vary slightly, handed down through the generations. A filling side dish, it is a perfect
accompaniment to steak or pot roast with gravy.
Rode Kool Stampot (Red Cabbage mashed with potatoes)
Yield:
6 to 8 servings
accompanying
beverage:
Shiraz or Merlot
red wine
1
10 medium potatoes, peeled & quartered
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 onion, finely chopped
Juice from half a lemon
1 teaspoon thyme
1 red cabbage, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
2 apples, peeled and chopped
4 ground cloves
3 teaspoons cornstarch
Red Cabbage: Melt the butter and sauté the onions in a large pan. Add
cabbage; cover the pan and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Add all other
ingredients, except for cornstarch. Add water to the level of the cabbage and
cook until cabbage is soft. Mix cornstarch with a bit of the cooking sauce;
add to pan and cook until cabbage thickens.
2
POTATOES: Put potatoes in a pan and submerge in water; add salt.
Boil potatoes until tender enough for a fork to easily pierce. Drain
water. Mash potatoes with a fork and mix with cooked cabbage.
5
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 Halla
32 Kim
34 is from
36 Seoul,
38 40 42 He44 48 in50 1999
52 and54 Dr.
Korea.
came46 to UNO
is an56 as- 58
sociate professor of philosophy. He typically teaches Kant, 19th century
philosophy and East Asian philosophy. He recently completed a book-length
manuscript on Kant’s ethics and will soon begin writing monographs on
universals in modern philosophy, Spinoza, and a history of Korean philosophy. “When I am not too busy,” he says, “I read or learn foreign languages,
lift weights or play golf.” Contact him at hallakim@unomaha.edu
59 57 55 53 51 49 1 pound beef (rib eye), sliced into finger-length strips*
1
Marinade:
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed Asian pear juice
3 tablespoons chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 tablespoon rice wine (or dry wine)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons sugar
3 green onions , finely chopped (including green part)
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon pepper
Marinade can be prepared as follows or purchased at Asian
grocery store. Combine marinade ingredients and mix until sugar
and honey are dissolved/distributed. Mix marinade into meat with
hands or chopsticks, making sure all meat is covered. Refrigerate
for at least 3 hours or overnight. For tougher cuts, the longer it
marinates, the better (Uncooked marinated beef can be frozen in
small amounts for later use). Grill, broil or stir-fry beef until well
done and caramelized on the outside.
2
Koreans usually eat Bulgogi with steamed
rice and vegetables (e.g., Kimchee, a
spicy, fermented cabbage). It also can be
accompanied with lettuce wraps and spicy
red pepper paste (Kochujang), eaten with
bread or, as now is popular in Korea, on pizza.
Yield:
4 servings accompanying
beverage:
Soju, a clear, distilled wine
made from rice with about
20% alcohol content.
Somewhat like Vodka but
not as strong and slightly
sweeter. Often available at
Asian grocery stores.
41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 Bobotie
Yield:
6 to 8 servings
2 pounds cooked or uncooked ground mutton or beef (or leftover roast, minced)
accompanying
beverage:
Cape wine,
dry or sweet
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons vinegar or juice of 1 lemon
Oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
6 almonds quartered
1 slice white bread
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup milk (separated)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons chutney
2 eggs
1/2 tablespoon turmeric
4 bay leaves
1
Vegetable Pulao*
This is a North Indian rice-based dish and most likely derived from something
that originated in the Middle East. I cannot prepare it well, but can definitely
appreciate a well made one! It is my favorite because it is delicious and is
a complete dish in itself — usually you require bread or rice to accompany
cooked vegetables in Indian cooking.
43 A South African dish of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping. In 1954 it was declared
the national dish of South Africa. According to “Kontrei Recipes: Bobotie,” written by Cass Abrahams of
Kontreihuis Restaurant (http://www.kontrei.co.za), Bobotie dates to the 17th century and probably was
introduced to the Cape by Malay slaves from modern-day Indonesia, which was Dutch-ruled at the time.
Often employed in the Cape as cooks, the slaves introduced Asian recipes into the local cuisine.
* Top sirloin, tenderloin or almost any other steak cut also will suffice; Korean/Asian grocery
stores often have meat for Bulgogi pre-sliced for sale.
Birud Sindhav came to UNO 10 years ago and is an associate professor of marketing in the College of
Business Administration. He teaches marketing research in the undergraduate program, marketing strategy
and marketing in a high technology environment in the MBA program, and leadership and managerial
toolkit in the Executive MBA program. His other teaching interests include marketing on the Internet. He
has taught classes at the Management Institute, Innsbruck, Austria, and visited the UK and Australia markets with Executive MBA students for market feasibility studies for clients. He received the Distinguished
Professor award by the department of marketing and management in
2008. His research interests focus on areas of business-to-business
commercial relationships, including communication and coordination issues among firms in marketing channels. He also
is researching issues related to marketing on the Internet,
including E-tailing and social networking. Contact him at
bsindhav@mail.unomaha.edu
45 5
Owen Mordaunt was born in Swaziland. He came to UNO in 1986 and is a professor of English. He teaches
linguistics and black short fiction and is director of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages) certificates. From 1995 to 2000 he and UNO Professor Yvone Tixier Y Vigil (TED) prepared in-service teachers to teach English as a second language using a $300,000-plus grant from the U.S. Department of
Education. Mordaunt has published numerous articles. Contact him at omordaunt@mail.unomaha.edu
Bulgogi is one of the most popular Korean dishes. It tastes best cooked
on a grill but also can be cooked in a frying pan or broiled in an oven.
During the Chosun dynasty (1392-1910) Bulgogi was popular during
festivals, especially as appetizer dishes for alcohol drinks. Its sweetness,
though, wasn’t added until around the turn of the 20th century.
Bulgogi (Fire Beef)
47 Place sliced onions in a saucepan filled with a little boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes, or until they
appear swollen and glassy. Remove and drain. Chop onions finely and brown slightly in hot oil. Soak bread in
some milk, then squeeze bread dry. Combine onions, bread and remaining ingredients, except for 1 egg, 1/2
cup milk and bay leaves. Place the mixture in a greased baking dish (9X13). Insert bay leaves into meat in an
upright position. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours if uncooked meat is used, 45 minutes if cooked meat is
used. Beat remaining egg with 1/2 cup milk and pour over meat for final 1/2 hour of cooking time. Serve with
cooked rice and chutney, custard or vanilla pudding for dessert.
* Recipe used with permission, www.indianfoodforever.com
Yield:
4 servings
accompanying
beverage:
Riesling, Sauvignon
Blanc, Chardonnay
2 cups Basmati rice
1 cup mixed vegetables (cauliflower, potato, carrot, French beans)
3 tablespoons dried fruits, cashews, raisins
2 green chilies, finely sliced
4 cloves
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
5 1/2 ounces green peas
2 teaspoons caraway seed powder
3 onions, finely sliced
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon red chili powder
4 tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 cup yogurt (curd)
salt to taste
1
2
Wash basmati rice well before cooking.
Cook rice with 3 3/4 cups water, a
little salt and 2 tablespoons of dried
fruit in pressure cooker, in a pan or in
microwave. Cut vegetables into small
thin pieces and fry each separately in
oil (including peas).
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, green chilies,
cinnamon, caraway seed powder, cloves, and black pepper powder and stir
for about a 1/2 minute. Add onions and sauté for 1 minute, or until they
turn pink. Add salt and red chili powder and stir. Add tomatoes and fry until
properly cooked. Put yogurt in blender and make fine, about two rotations.
Add yogurt to onion-tomatoes mix and stir well. Heat for about 10 seconds.
Add all the fried vegetables, cooked rice and mix well with very light hands
so that the rice grain doesn’t break. Cook for about 3 minutes. Place on
serving dish, garnished with remaining dried fruits and green coriander
leaves. Serve vegetable pulao hot with yogurt and pickles.
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
She next earned a master’s degree and doctorate in theoretical physics from the
University of Pittsburgh. She taught at Pittsburgh from 1978 through 1993 and
served a year with the National Science Foundation as program director with the
astronomical sciences division. She also was a research member and fellow at the
University of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Studies. There she studied and
became a world expert on dark matter, the mysterious substance scientists believe
accounts for most of the mass in the universe, but which to date has been identified only by astronomical observation.
Too bad that the planet she
helped discover doesn’t
have such a catchy moniker.
“Penny” is hard to forget;
OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb doesn’t
exactly roll off the tongue.
ON TOP
DOWN UNDER
By Managing Editor
Anthony Flott
OGLE, we’ll call it for short, was discovered in 2005 by a global network of 73 astronomers from 12 countries that Sackett began assembling in the
1990s. That team, dubbed PLANET (Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork),
found OGLE using an innovative approach known as “microlensing”— something first predicted by Einstein and dealing with the way gravity bends light.
It is the smallest planet detected outside our own solar system, an Earth-like orb
circling a star 20,000 light years away in the inner Milky Way.
Three years after OGLE’s discovery, Sackett became something of a star herself,
being appointed chief scientist for Australia in September 2008. She provides
high-level independent advice to Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and to
other government ministers on matters relating to science, technology
and innovation.
A NASA artist’s depiction
of what OGLE-2005-BLG390Lb might look like.
Photo: NASA
It’s a post she couldn’t have imagined while taking classes at UNO in the midto-late 1970s. But her horizons expanded, she says, thanks to physics professors
who helped her realize “that it was not only possible for me to undertake doctoral study in physics, but that this could lead to a world of future careers.”
She left UNO in 1978, graduating summa cum laude and being named outstanding mathematics student and outstanding physics student.
Just six months later, wildfires destroyed the world-famous, 78-year-old observatory and its five telescopes, causing more than $10 million in damage. Sackett led
the rebuilding, which included a new instrument and technology centre that will
help manufacture parts for the proposed Giant Magellan Telescope in northern
Chile — set to be the biggest telescope on earth.
Glen McCurtayne /Fairfaxphotos
Penny Sackett has made a
name for herself not just on
three continents, but in the
cosmos, too.
In 1995, Sackett moved to the Netherlands and became an assistant professor
at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen. In 2002
she moved to Canberra, Australia, becoming director of the Australia National
University (ANU) School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and of the Mount
Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories.
She remained at ANU until becoming Australia’s chief scientist. She holds dual
citizenship and lives in New South Wales, just outside the nation’s capital. “Quite
different to the Nebraska of my youth but similarly as beautiful,” she says.
UNO Magazine Managing Editor Anthony Flott conducted a Q&A with Sackett in
2009. Excerpts follow.
In 1997, when interviewed for our “Profiles” magazine, you said the
biggest challenge for students entering the “real world” was, “Forming
your own personal definition of success in the face of a world shouting
another.” What was the world shouting to you when you were at Omaha
North High School?
In secondary school, particularly in the junior and senior years, the world, the status quo, if you like, seemed to be saying “Get a job, have a family and buy a house”
— all in one package. For me, these were separate considerations, though no doubt
the last two were dependent on the first.
Before attending UNO I was not
intending on going to graduate school.
In fact, I was not even aware of what
graduate study meant or what doors it
could open.
You were inspired to study physics by a teacher. Who was that teacher and
how did they inspire you?
Before being able to take a second year of any science course in my high school,
one had to take a first year in all the science courses. This is how I got introduced
to physics. Physics was much more than I expected it would be. It involved everything from understanding how the joints work in your body, to understanding why
the stars and the planets appear to move across the sky in the way they do. And
more fun, practical things such as how could you package a raw egg so it doesn’t
break when you drop it. It seemed to me that physics could really help you understand any question about the world that you wanted to ask. Even then, though,
I had no idea what a physicist did for a living; only that I wanted to know more
about physics. Mr. Slocum was the physics teacher at North High that opened my
eyes in this way, supported my continued interest and consequently altered my subsequent
life enormously.
What prompted the career shift into astronomy?
Following my post-doc year, in which I focussed on biophysics, I was exposed to astronomy
through my involvement in a project that was investigating the atmosphere of Saturn. To understand this, I had to do a heap of reading and learning about atmospheric chemistry, and as a
result I was able to build my own computer model of Saturn’s atmosphere and test it against the
Penny Sackett
UNO graduate
1978
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 data. This was extraordinarily satisfying. It was also a turning
point for me because it taught me to think about different ways to
do science. Following this project, I pursued further research in
astronomy, specifically using polar ring galaxies to study the distribution of dark matter. My research took me first to the Netherlands
then back to the United States, where I was a research fellow at the
Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, which is where Albert
Einstein spent the latter half of his career. Almost everyone there
was an early career researcher, which made it a very unique place
to be. It was here that I moved into an area of research called microlensing, which is an idea that Einstein articulated in 1936. This
phenomenon enabled us to look for planets around stars that were
too dim themselves to be seen.
32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 climate change science effort, and how to communicate science
with the younger generations. I also advise on the distribution of
resources through individual programs and on investment in sustainable, productive agriculture.
The new post will take you away from research. What will you
most miss?
I will certainly miss my research at Mount Stromlo, and I’m
pleased that I was given the opportunity to remain as an adjunct
professor. This allows me to continue to work with the students that
I have been supervising and live some of my research life vicariously through them.
What was the primary reason for your move to Australian
National University?
53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 What are the most pressing issues facing Australia where
science can make the greatest impact?
Australia faces a number of issues that are faced by the rest of the
global community, including global warming, dwindling water
supplies, securing energy resources for our future, national security and new innovations in the commercial sector.
Photo: Jeff Cutting Photographic Image Resource
27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 What research will SKA allow that currently is unaviable?
The SKA will help answer questions about the universe and probe
previously unexplored parts of the universe. Using the SKA, scientists will focus on five key projects:
• Probing the Dark Ages — explore the first black holes and stars,
and help to answer the question of what happened after the big
bang and before the first stars and galaxies formed;
What goals have you established for your term?
• Strong field tests of gravity using pulsars and black holes —
thereby testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity; and
Why would Western Australia be a good spot for the Square
Kilometre Array?*
Western Australia (WA) has high quality observing conditions for
radio astronomy, in particular, the extreme radio quietness of the
vast open space. WA also has the landmass that can accommodate
the concentration of radio antennae in the core “radio-quiet zone”
as well as the peripheral antennae spread out over an area up to
3,000 kilometers from the core site.
*SKA, the largest and most sensitive radio telescope ever to be built.
What are the country’s odds of landing the ska contract?
Australia is well placed to land the contract. The earliest the final
decision will be made will be 2012. The country has a long history in radio astronomy, including playing a part in the Apollo 11
mission, providing television images of the moonwalk. It has the
scientific, technological and infrastructural capabilities. Wherever
5
the SKA is sited, however, Australia will play a role alongside its
international partners.
The first that comes to mind is climate change science of the past
20 years. Climate change will have a particularly adverse affect on
Australia, and until recently we haven’t listened to the bulk of the
scientific evidence.
The biggest surprise I have found is how willing key people are
to engage on the issue of science and research. However, the most
intriguing was after my address to Australia’s National Youth
Science Forum. A young gentleman mentioned to me that I was the
“Angelina Jolie of science”. That was certainly the most interesting
and surprising description of my current post.
Sackett at Canberra, Australia’s, Mount Stromlo Observatory on Jan. 19, 2003, one
day after fires destroyed the historic observatory.
29 • Cradle of life – the search for Earth-like planets, and whether
they host intelligent life;
What’s been your biggest surprise about the post thus far?
The day we made contact with all staff to ensure their safety. All of
Canberra was affected in one way or another. The second best day
was the day the Commonwealth Government committed $7.3 million to the Mount Stromlo budget to rebuild our technology centre.
31 Can you provide examples of scientific advice ignored —
to the detriment of Australia?
• Strengthening existing scientific linkages and forging new linkages across borders and sectors to ensure we take a unified and
coordinated approach to the global challenges.
What was the best day after the fire?
Some of my advice to the Australian government has been around
international relations in the global science world, Australia’s
55 • Ensuring science plays its part in providing innovative solutions
to the daunting challenges we face as a nation and collectively
as inhabitants of our planet under increasing duress. These challenges include:
• Understanding, mitigating and adapting to climate change;
• Managing water resources on our dry continent;
• Exploring and implementing sustainable energy generation;
and
• Improving health care for all Australians; and
My first visit to the site, seeing the destruction to the facilities and
the surrounding nature.
The Chief Scientist for Australia is to provide independent
advice to the government on scientific and technological
issues? What advice have you been able to provide thus far?
57 • Increasing the role science plays in shaping national and international policy and program directions;
What was the hardest day after the day that fire destroyed
the Mount Stromlo facility?
The Mount Stromlo facility rebounded remarkably well. This is
due to the strength of its people and the community that is there.
People that visit now see huge changes; they also see remnants of
the fire that passed through. What they may not see is the work
being done behind the doors of the administration and academic
offices where almost non-stop the astronomers have been making
interesting discoveries and building exciting instruments even
since the day of the fires.
59 I have established a number of goals, including:
The opportunity to work in Australia at Mount Stromlo, one of
the world’s best observatories with some of the world’s leading
researchers was my primary reason. ANU’s Research School of
Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) is Australia’s leading space
research institution and consistently ranks in the global top 20 institutions in space sciences. In the latest Thomson Reuters Essential
Science Indicators report, published by Campus Review, which
lists the global top 20 institutions in space sciences, the ANU
ranked 10th, topping Harvard University, Cambridge University
and the University of California, Berkley. The quality of its earth
sciences program is of equally high calibre, so it presented a
unique opportunity to pursue planetary science.
What did you learn in the aftermath of the fire?
58
• The origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism;
• Galaxy evolution, cosmology, and dark matter — this will explore how galaxies are born and how they evolve, and seek a
better understanding of “dark energy” that fills the majority of
the universe.
The world is shouting many things to the
younger generations, and I am hoping to
learn more about what motivates young
women, and in fact all young people, in
terms of their career choices. If I can do
some of the shouting, I like to say, ‘Choose
your own path, learn from your mistakes,
and believe in yourself.’
Of what are you most proud, career-wise?
Certainly being Chief Scientist for Australia is a remarkable honour and responsibility. One doesn’t chart their life expecting that
opportunity might be given to you. From a scientific management
point of view, I found it rewarding to serve as director during the
reconstruction and rebirth of the Research School of Astronomy
and Astrophysics and Mount Stromlo Observatories after the devastating Canberra bushfires of 2003. Scientifically, there are little
projects that I worked on that produced results that I still take great
delight in, even though most people wouldn’t first associate them
with my finest work. As a team effort, putting together the PLANET
(Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork) collaboration with the determination, talent and expertise to make a new technique work,
and to see it deliver a new planet that is one of the most earth-like
planets we know — that was really a big moment.
Read this story online at www.unoalumni.org/unomag-sackett for
links to mentioned projects and to other interviews with Sackett.
Further information can be found on the Chief Scientist’s website
at http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au. She also can be connected at
www.facebook.com/chiefscientist.
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Laurie Fulton’s
new gig as U.S.
Ambassador
to Denmark
took her out
of the Beltway
last year, but
for a while it
seemed that all
of the Beltway
followed.
24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 54 56 58
59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 Fulton comes to the post with roots as deep
in Denmark as they are in Washington.
Her great-grandfather served in the Danish
parliament, and it was 100 years ago this
year that her grandfather immigrated to the
United States.
Danish
Delight
By Kalani Simpson
In September, just two months after her arrival in
Copenhagen as ambassador, Fulton helped welcome
a U.S. delegation that included first lady Michelle
Obama and Oprah to lobby the International Olympic
Committee. In December came more U.S. dignitaries,
including President Barack Obama, cabinet-level officials and congressmen, as Denmark hosted the United
Nations Climate Change Conference.
Above: Ambassador Fulton
introducing The First Lady to
Embassy staff
52 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 Inside-Outside
Photo: Omar Ingerslev
6 Photo: Pamela Juhl
4 Fulton was involved with meetings between President
Obama and Denmark Queen Margrethe II, and between
the president and Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke
Rasmussen.
Turns out ambassadorships aren’t the merely ceremonial posts they’re often stereotyped to be. Fulton, in fact,
frequently puts in 12- to 14-hour days — a heavier workload than when she practiced with the high-powered
Washington law firm Williams & Connolly.
Fulton doesn’t seem to mind.
“It is a delight to work for President Obama,” says
the 1971 UNO graduate. “He is extremely popular in
Denmark. I am so proud to be his representative.”
Fulton was born in Sioux Falls, S.D., but
attended UNO while her husband, Tom
Daschle, was stationed at Offutt Air Force
Base — before a Congressional career made
him a household name.
At UNO she had a double major in a foreign
language (Spanish) and psychology — a
good mix for a diplomat. She fondly remembers having her eyes opened by the
adult nontraditional students, foreign exchange students and professors. She graduated magna cum laude (later duplicating
that feat when graduating from Georgetown
University Law Center in 1989).
Her political involvement began with
Daschle, whom Fulton later divorced but
remained close to (she later married Philip
Fulton; they divorced in 1999). It was
Daschle’s recommendation to President
George Bush, in fact, that secured Fulton a
spot on the board of directors of the United
States Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent, nonpartisan, national institution
established and funded by Congress.
The USIP aims to “prevent and resolve violent international conflicts, promote postconflict stability and development, and
increase conflict management capacity,
tools and intellectual capital worldwide.”
Fulton served on the USIP board from 2004
to 2008.
It’s the people, not the power she most
misses about Washington — especially her
family (which includes three daughters
and grandchildren).
“My children are grown and they have jobs
and families of their own. That makes it
lonely,” she says. “I miss them very much.”
The Dependent Danes
Fortunately, she’s on friendly soil and loves
getting out and meeting the people — even
if she can’t quite master the Danish accent
(though most Danes speak English well).
“My heart is always warmed by their reactions,” she says.
The feeling appears to be reciprocal.
“They’re a country we can count on,” Fulton
says of the Danes.
And it’s her job to make sure we can keep
counting on them. Denmark has quietly
long been one of America’s best friends,
Fulton says. The Danes contribute NATO
forces to the security and stabilization effort
in Afghanistan. They are reliable partners
in health research and in fighting terrorism.
Danish frogmen have completed rescue
missions in the fight against pirates.
And, the country is unique among
Scandinavian countries in that it is in both
NATO and the European Union, making
it a key ally. Also, the current NATO
secretary general is the former Danish
prime minister.
They are always there for us, Fulton says,
but they always tell it to us straight.
At Williams & Connolly she had a national
trial practice specializing in complex civil
litigation, including antitrust, mass tort,
white-collar criminal defense and product
liability litigation. In 2004, she was named
one of “Washington’s Top Lawyers” by the
Washingtonian magazine.
The country also is a world leader in energy
self-sufficiency. After the 1970s oil crisis,
“Denmark set their path that they could not
and would not rely on energy sources from
countries that were unpredictable,” Fulton
says. The things that the United States is
just starting to consider and argue about,
the Danes have done for 30 years.
President Obama nominated her to the
Denmark ambassadorship in May 2009.
The senate confirmed her July 10. Nineteen
days later she was in Copenhagen.
“Frankly they’re ahead of us,” Fulton
says. “In the last 20 years their GNP
(Gross National Product) has gone up
steadily and dramatically, and their energy
Fulton and Friends: The ambassador with President
Barack Obama in the Bella Center during Cop15.
(White House Photo) ; signing a treaty with Denmark
Minister of Justice Brian Mikkelsen; Ambassador
Fulton’s arrival in Copenhagen in 2009; with Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi (Photo Pamela Juhl) ; with Al
Gore at the ambassador’s residence, Rydhave during
COP15. (Photo Pamela Juhl).
consumption has stayed the same. It’s a
different culture.”
In May, the U.S. Embassy and the
Confederation of Danish Industries hosted
a major “green partnership meeting”
between major U.S. companies and Danish
entrepreneurial companies. Fulton was
there, as she seems to be everywhere:
studying Denmark’s national hospital;
touring a pilot biofuel refinery and
production facility; signing a bilateral
agreement on research cooperation.
Every day just another day on the job,
learning all she can in the land of her
forefathers.
5
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 Illustration by Tom Kerr
Wohar in 2001 received
(with co-authors) the Vernon
Zimmerman Best Paper Award
at the 13th Asian-Pacific
Conference on International
Accounting Issues.
Dollars & Sense:
what can
you buy
for a
By Tom McMahon
UNO students get a real bang for their buck in the
classrooms of UNO Professors Mark Wohar and
Donald Baum.
Including an education in the value of a dollar.
Perhaps better than anyone else on campus, Wohar
and Baum can provide a global perspective on
what it means to have a strong dollar, how it is
weakened, and what that means to pocketbooks.
It’s an education that shouldn’t be limited to students — especially given recent news of rising trade
deficits, $12 trillion in national debt, and fears of a
coming hyperinflationary crisis.
“The question is, how long can this go on?” asks
Wohar, a College of Business Administration (CBA)
distinguished economics professor. “Huge trade
deficits accumulate foreign debt. If we don’t turn it
around, countries will say the debt is too high and
that they lack confidence in the dollar’s value.”
And that just might affect how many Big Macs you
can buy. Or, if you happen to be dining in a Paris
café, how many croissants you order.
Big Macs
One way Baum illustrates the value of a dollar compared to other currencies is to apply the Big Mac
Theory of Exchange Rate — aka, “Burgernomics.”
Baum, assistant professor and chair of CBA’s department of economics, says burgernomics gets
at purchasing power parity, the idea that a dollar
should buy the same amount of goods and services
in all countries.
“The Big Mac Index looks at prices all over the
world,” says Baum, who notes that Big Macs sell in
about 120 countries. “It gives a sense of what the
dollar is worth at any given time. You are comparing apples to apples — or burgers to burgers.”
In July 2008, for example, a Big Mac went for $3.57
in the United States, 280 yen in Japan. Based on
those prices, $1 would equal 78 yen if the currencies had parity. In actuality, $1 equaled 107 yen
at that time, indicating the yen was undervalued
against the dollar by 27 percent.
That was good news for Big Mac fans and others
with U.S. green in their pockets because a strong
U.S. dollar in relation to other currencies increases
purchasing power.
Ins and Outs
But that’s not good news for all Americans.
Whether a strong U.S. currency is desirable depends on who you are, Wohar says.
39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 Baum’s global initiatives
include service as
a reviewer for the
International Review of
Economics and Finance.
23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
dollar domination
The dollar hasn’t always been top dog. For nearly 100
years it was the British pound that led the pack.
“If you are an importer, you like a strong
dollar. Not so if you are an exporter,” Wohar
says. “When the dollar’s value appreciates
against a foreign currency, imports from
that country are cheaper and exports more
expensive. It is just the opposite if the dollar
is depreciating.”
“That is why a weak dollar, not a stronger
one, is better for U.S. exporters,” says Wohar.
“American companies could charge less than
the local competition in foreign markets, and
imports to the United Sates would be more
expensive.” That would make Americanmade goods more competitive at home.”
In early 2002, a U.S. tourist in Paris could
have dined along the Seine for 50 euro and
paid the equivalent of $44. Six years later,
that 50-euro meal would cost the American
in Paris $79.
What the dollar can buy also is impacted by
the country’s debt, which Wohar says leads
to high interest rates and causes the dollar to
appreciate. “Our domestic debt is higher than
ever and projected to continue,” he says.
The dollar’s power, though, has waned since the early
1970s, when some countries demanded gold for their
dollars to help curb inflation. Rather than deplete
all gold reserves, President Richard Nixon ended the
gold backing.
The government needs to either cut spending
or raise taxes to deal with the debt, Wohar
says. “There is no costless solution.” Just look
at Greece. “They are cutting spending and
raising taxes so much that people are rioting
in the streets.”
The dollar declined again in the early 1980s, then
rather dramatically during the past few years.
Freddy Frenchman, on the other hand, has
to spend more to purchase U.S. goods whenever the dollar strengthens against the euro.
For example, a U.S. automaker who wants
to sell a $20,000 car abroad would charge
14,598 euros at today’s rates compared with
13,245 euros in November.
The impact of trade, debt and inflation
A strong dollar, then, grows the country’s
trade deficit, which came to $40 billion in
March and overall totals about 6 percent of
the country’s gross domestic product.
President Barack Obama in his January
State of the Union address set a goal of
doubling exports within five years. The goal
was to create 2 million jobs.
According to Wohar, a strong dollar would
wreck that plan.
Every 1 percent increase in the dollar,
averaged against other major currencies,
reduces U.S. exports by about $20 billion
annually and eliminates some 150,000
jobs, according to the Peterson Institute for
International Economics, a Washingtonbased nonpartisan research group.
Tuition
over Time
Inflation also impacts the dollar. Baum says
one condition for a strong currency is a low
inflation rate relative to other countries.
Currently, he says, worldwide inflation is low.
But, he adds, there is concern among foreign
investors that the United States will raise
interest rates to fight inflation.
Despite these stresses on the dollar, Wohar
does not see any immediate danger of it losing its prominence in the world. Factors such
as inertia in currency use, the large size and
relative stability of the U.S economy, and the
dollar pricing of oil and other commodities
help perpetuate the dollar’s role as the dominant medium for international transactions
— at least for a while.
“Dollars continue to be a strong currency to
hold,” he says.
What’s your dollar buy today … and yesterday? Here’s an
historical look at tuition for 15 hours of undergraduate
classes at UNO — actual and adjusted for inflation.
1913
Actual $30
Today’s price $659
1938
$54
$833
1963
$135
$960
1988
$675
$1,242
2013
$2,550
–
Note: 1913 tuition based on a semester, not credit hours; 1938 tuition based on $58 per 16 hours
As the U.S. economy grew, though, so did the dollar’s
domination, says CBA Professor Mark Wohar. Its
status as a global currency was solidified following
World War II when the world’s developed countries
created the Bretton Woods Agreement, which fixed
the exchange rate of all foreign currencies to the
dollar. All dollars were backed by gold.
But it hasn’t collapsed. Wohar says it is in the
interest of most countries to prevent a collapse,
since that would decrease the value of their
own dollar holdings. The UNO professor says an
estimated $580 million in physical U.S. currency
was circulating overseas as of March 2009 and that
about two-thirds of foreign reserves in developing
countries are U.S. dollar assets.
“The stability of the dollar makes it an attractive
currency in countries that are experiencing volatile
economic and political conditions or that have
histories of such risks,” Wohar says.
According to the Reinhart and Rogoff (well-known
U.S. economics professors) categorization, seven
countries use the dollar as their currency or have
currency boards using it. China and 88 other
countries set their exchange rate against the dollar.
Euros, though, are playing a greater role as
international cash, Wohar says, mainly in countries
bordering the euro nations. Former Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan argued in 2007 that the
euro could replace the dollar as a global currency.
Change can come quickly, though.
From 2002 to 2008, Wohar says, the dollar lost 40
percent of its value against the euro, while U.S. debt
increased 60 percent. But during the credit crisis of
April 2008 to March 2009, the dollar strengthened 22
percent as businesses hoarded dollars during a time
of credit scarcity.
Putting a bit of bite back in the dollar.
– Tom McMahon
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
point
59 57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 3
4
5
10
3
Global temperature changes are cyclical. Studies of ice cores from Antarctica and
Greenland and sediment cores from the mid-Atlantic show a roughly 1,500-year temperature cycle during the past 2.5 million years. For example, there was a cold period known
as the Little Ice Age with a low-temperature point about the year 1700. Before that, the
Medieval Warm Period had temperatures that peaked about the year 1100.
4
The current warming rate is the same before as after the Industrial Revolution. Global
temperatures are increasing at about 1.4 degrees per century. This rate has been pretty
constant for 300 years, meaning it has been unaffected by the increase in atmospheric
carbon dioxide.
Temperature cycles are probably driven by solar cycles. The Little Ice Age, for example,
corresponded to a time of extended solar inactivity known as the Maunder Minimum. It is
reasonable to suppose that regular solar cycles account for regular terrestrial cycles.
9
2
The concentration of gases and their absorption of radiation are related by a logarithmic
function. In simple terms, this means that concentration would have to increase by a factor
of 10 to double absorption.
7
8
1
Carbon dioxide is a minor contributor to the greenhouse effect. Water vapor in the air
and water droplets in clouds account for 90 percent to 95 percent of the greenhouse effect. Water vapor constitutes roughly 1 percent to 4 percent by volume (depending on the
temperature and relative humidity) of the lower atmosphere, compared to 0.039 percent for
carbon dioxide.
6
5
6
Climate modelers do not accurately account for all climate factors. Alarmist modelers all
make the same assumption: increasing carbon dioxide levels increase temperatures, which
increase water vapor (humidity), which increase temperatures even more. In other words,
they assume a positive feedback loop. They do not account accurately, however, for sunspots, solar wind, cosmic radiation, cloud formation, and the earth’s reflectivity (or albedo).
For example, climate modelers cannot explain the decrease in temperatures from 1940 to
1980. Carbon dioxide during this period steadily increased, but global surface temperatures decreased! If modelers cannot accurately account for the past, why should we believe
their predictions for the future?
7
8
9
Polar bears are doing well. In the late 1970s, there were an estimated 5,000 polar bears
worldwide. In 2005, their population was 22,000 to 28,000. That is a five-fold increase in
just 30 years!
A new ice age is coming. There have been more than a dozen ice ages in the last 2.5 million
years, each of which lasted about 100,000 years. Between ice ages are warm interglacial
periods, which last 6,000 to 10,000 years. The current interglacial period (known as the
Holocene Epoch) has already lasted 10,000 years. When massive glaciers are grinding the
northern cities of our descendents, I doubt they will be worried about global warming.
33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 Dr. Bruce E. Johansen Kayser Professor, School of Communication
The greenhouse effect is a good thing. Greenhouse gases “trap” infrared radiation near the
earth’s surface and thereby make the surface warmer than it would be otherwise. Without
the greenhouse effect, the earth’s surface would be, on average, 59 degrees Fahrenheit
colder than it actually is. Imagine a summer in Omaha where the average high temperature is 30 degrees!
Temperatures were higher during previous warm periods than today. The Medieval Warm
Period, for example, was 1 to 2 degrees warmer than today and the Roman Warm Period
(which peaked about the year 500 B.C.) was warmer still.
35 Top 10 reasons we need
to worry about global climate change
Robert W. Smith, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry
2
37 counter point
Top 10 reasons we don’t need
to worry about global climate change
1
39 what’s your take?
What’s your position on global climate
change? Send us a Letter to the Editor at
www.unoalumni.org/unomag-lettertotheeditor
10
Thermal inertia: Today’s fossil fuel consumption does not turn to heat tomorrow;
through thermal inertia, it takes about 50 years in the atmosphere and 150 to 200
years in the oceans. Thus, we, today, are facing the results of fossil fuel emissions
from roughly 1960. The amount of fossil fuel burned per year has risen 300 per cent
since then.
Climate change is cumulative. Many of the feedbacks that provoke rising temperatures tend to accelerate over time, compounding each other. For example, rising
emissions from human sources provokes melting permafrost, which adds even more
carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere. Melting ice makes surfaces darker,
which absorbs more heat.
Global warming is most intense where most people don’t see it, such as in the Arctic,
and on the rims of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which also house much
of the world’s frozen water. Warmer winters in the Arctic provide less cold weather
at lower latitudes. As much as we may rue cold snaps in winter, they serve a natural purpose. In the U.S. West, Alaska, and British Columbia, warmer winters have
played a role in insect infestations that are killing large areas of evergreen trees.
Some skeptics argue that rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
gases don’t matter. At 180 parts per million (ppm) CO2, the earth has had an ice age
for the last 800,000 years; at 280 ppm, it has had an interglacial, such as today. The
carbon-dioxide level is now above 380, and rising. Appreciating the effects of thermal inertia (see No. 1), one can see why average temperatures probably will be much
higher 50 to 100 years.
Rising carbon-dioxide levels cause problems other than warmth, most of them out
of human sight. For example, rising CO2 makes the oceans more acidic, imperiling
anything in the ocean with a shell. Rising acidity in the oceans also plays a role in
declining fertility of plankton, the base of the aquatic food chain.
Beware “clean coal,” which is an oxymoron, at least in our time. All schemes to
capture or sequester greenhouse gases from coal are very expensive in energy and
money, so much so that they make alternative fuels look like a bargain.
Human shortsightedness. Snow today, ice age tomorrow, sing some of the skeptics,
ignoring the difference between weather and climate. Weather is the story; climate
is the plot. While weather varies, there is an underlying trend in temperature, and it
is rising.
Mountain glaciers are the “water towers” of many cities: in South America (Peru,
Bolivia, Chile), Asia (parts of India and China) and, yes, even our own Missouri River.
When mountain glaciers melt, drought intensifies.
Polar bears feed from the ice, so no ice means no bears, at least not as we have
known them. While some skeptics (such as Bjorn Lomborg) have written that polar
bears will adapt to climate change and get with the program, do we really want them
raiding garbage dumps and mugging tourists because they can’t get ringed seals?
The hydrological cycle speeds up as temperatures warm, causing droughts and
deluges to intensify, both of which pose problems for agriculture, Nebraska’s largest
industry.
5
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
59 57 55 53 51 49 SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Scenes on and off campus
February 5
Selling Out
47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
SIGHTS & SOUNDS
April 17
sights
Walkabout
More than 1,000 walkers turned out for the
25th UNO Women’s Walk presented by Diet
Pepsi, helping raise more than $267,000 for
student-athletes on the eight women’s teams.
That pushed the event to more than $4 million
raised since its start in 1986.
The promotion worked — UNO hyped the hockey
game as “Sell Out Ohio State,” and 13,417 fans, the
largest crowd in UNO hockey history, saw the Mavs
tie the Buckeyes 5-5 at Qwest Center Omaha. UNO
finished its season 20-16-6.
Pictures by Tim Fitzgerald, University Relations, unless otherwise credited
March 13 –20
Service in Spring
UNO students were out in force again during the
eighth annual Seven Days of Service that took
place during spring break. Volunteers donated
time and talent to Habitat for Humanity in Omaha
and Council Bluffs, the Salvation Army, Lauritzen
Gardens (left), Catholic Charities, Turning Point
and the Bellevue Little Theater.
March 12–13
A Campus of Champions
UNO served up some home cookin’ in March while
hosting 160 wrestlers from 39 schools at the 2010
NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships. The
Mavs won the school’s second straight national
championship and fifth in the past seven years.
The run was led by heavyweight Elija Madison,
the second freshman in school history to win an
individual title.
Photos: Mike Bell, Gateway
6 Photo: Jodi Penn, Gateway
4 Heard on and off campus
sounds
On homelessness
About Mark Twain
In a community, how are they going to organize
themselves to solve these larger problems, the poverty
problems that are impacting these folks and then all
the inequalities in our society? It gets very large, very
messy and very complicated quickly, so hopefully if I
can help you today it will be to try and sort out some of
these things.
Dennis Culhane,
professor of social policy, psychology and
policy research and evaluation at the
University of Pennsylvania.
He spoke on The Dynamics of Homelessness during
the UNO School of Social Work’s annual Gandhi
Symposium and Award Luncheon. Reported in
April 20 UNO Gateway
His literature has lasted so long
because there is still something of the
child in you that was first attracted
to Mark Twain, and that hold doesn’t
loosen its grip. But he is a different
writer when you meet him as an adult.
Michael Shelden,
UNO alum (’73) and
Mark Twain biographer
He spoke as part of the College
of Arts and Sciences Centennial
Speaker Series. Reported in
March 30 UNO Gateway
April
Pies, Prison, Pancakes
and Plants
UNO’s Theta Chi fraternity members were served
whipped cream on a plate during a fundraiser for
suicide prevention. For the sisters of Alpha Xi Delta
sorority members, a fundraiser for Child Autism
meant waiting on $25 bail each. There were happier faces later in the month during the student
government-sponsored “Pancake Palooza,” the first
500 students receiving flapjacks from the Pancake
Man. UNO’s Maverick Productions had more freebies in April — 400 plants passed out as part of
Earth Day celebrations.
Fecklessness at the CIA
Blais among the best
I think Dean [Blais] is one of the best coaches in
the game. I put him in the same category with a
Herb Brooks or a Jack Parker at Boston University.
There are certain coaches that are born to coach.
They have a passion to coach and teach, and
clearly Dean has that.
Mike Eruzione,
captain of the 1980 U.S.
Olympic hockey team
that won the gold medal
Keynote speaker of A Night with
the Mavs on March 31. Reported
in April 9 UNO Gateway.
Two new elements joined the accountability process
overseeing the CIA after Sept. 11, 2001: a spate of
books from former agency officers criticizing the CIA for
fecklessness, not recklessness; and media campaigns by
former directors to defend their and the agency’s record.
Clayton D. Laurie,
UNO grad (‘82) and senior
historian with the history
staff, Center for the Study
of Intelligence, CIA
He spoke April 5 at the College of Arts and
Sciences Centennial Speaker Series on The
CIA and Accountability. Reported by UNO
History Professor Oliver Pollak.
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
59 57 55 53 51 49 BOOKMARKS
THE OCTOBER 1938 FOREST FIRES AND THE LAST FRONTIER
IN THE RAINY RIVER - LAKE OF THE WOODS BORDERLAND
October 10, 1938
was Canada’s Thanksgiving Day, but that warm and windy Monday brought the
horror of forest fire to the Ontario-Minnesota Rainy border. Seventeen people
in Dance Township, Ontario, lost their lives as did one man in International
Falls, Minnesota. In addition to telling a story of disaster and near disaster, the
authors examine what life was like for settlers on one of North America’s last
frontiers.
HARL A. DALSTROM is rofessor Emeritus of History at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha. (UNO) He has written two
books and has authored or co-authored articles about the Great
Plains region. He is also co-author with Lawrence H. Larsen,
Barbara J. Cottrell and Kay Dalstrom of Upstream Metropolis: An
Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. Harl has spent
summers at Longbow Lake, near Kenora, Ontario since 1966.
KAY CALAME DALSTROM is retired from the Foreign
Language department at UNO. She has co-authored articles with
Harl about dance bands and dancing in Nebraska and the Dakotas
and on the 1948-1949 blizzards that wrought havoc over a large
area of the plains.
Photo of present-day Dance Township
One is an executive director in the
legal and compliance division at Morgan
Stanley’s offices in Tokyo. The other is a
stay-at-home mother in the small fishing
town of Yaizu, Japan.
capital city and the death of
President Mohammed Daoud
and many of his followers.
Both are Nebraskan expatriates, UNO
alumnae and recently published authors.
Vicki Beyer, 51, is the Tokyo professional
recently named to the board of governors
of the American Chamber of Commerce in
Japan. She wrote: 10 Temples on 2 Wheels,
a guidebook of day tours of Kamakura,
Japan. The city is home to the second tallest
bronze Buddha statue in the country, one
of Amida Buddha.
Beyer’s first experience overseas was participating in Project Afghanistan Nebraska,
a program that exchanged six Afghan
students and six UNO students. They
traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan, shortly after
the 1978 coup that saw a bloodbath in the
Vicki Beyer
UNO graduate, 1980
“We had worked out a circle course you
could do to see what we — after our many
explorations of Kamakura — had decided
were the best temples to see in a course. It
worked out in a day and was actually 10
temples,” Beyer says. “After a while, people
would say, ‘Gosh, you should really write
this down into a book.’”
Following a different path, Matsuura was
interested in Asian cultures during her
studies at UNO, which included courses
Theresa Matsuura
UNO graduate, 1996
39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 Kay Dalstrom, class of 1964
Book We Were Not Worried At Dinner Time: The October 1938 Forest Fires and the
Last Frontier in the Rainy River – Lake of the Woods Borderland,” Rainy River District
Women’s Institute Museum.
Synopsis Two of the authors of Upstream Metropolis examine the history of the
October 1938 forest fires at Minnesota-Ontario borderland near Rainy River and
Lake of the Woods, in which 18 people lost their lives – including 12 from one
family.
Author Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, professor of geography and women’s studies
and director of women’s studies (with Pamela Moss)
Book Feminisms in Geography: Rethinking Space, Place, and Knowledge, Rowman
and Littlefield, 286 pages.
Synopsis A textbook that discusses what feminist geography is and who
feminist geographers are through a mix of original content and collected
selections in a one-of-a-kind anthology.
in martial arts, Eastern philosophy and
Chinese language.
After a summer trip to China, Matsuura
was accepted into a study-abroad program
to study Japanese language and culture at
one of UNO’s sister institutions, Shizuoka
University. She met her future husband
while studying there.
Know of a recently published book you’d like
to see featured in Bookmarks? Tell us about it at
www.unoalumni.org/bookmarkssubmit.
After getting married, Matsuura and her
husband went to live with her parents-inlaw, who lived in a fishing village and were
extremely superstitious. Her mother-in-law
told her a lot of folk stories and myths,
which she later used as the basis for her
stories.
Matsuura recently has been working on
editing a children’s book and branching out
to writing a young adult novel. Beyer has
developed three new tours for 10 Temples on
2 Wheels, which she hopes to include in an
expanded bilingual version.
– Scott Stewart, University Relations
alumni authors
Hard-to-Teach
Biology
Concepts
A Framework to Deepen
Student Understanding
This well-researched book provides a valuable instructional
framework for high school biology teachers as they tackle
particularly challenging concepts in their classrooms. The author
counsels educators first to identify students’ prior conceptions,
especially misconceptions, related to the concept being
taught, then to select teaching strategies that best dispel the
misunderstandings and promote the greatest student learning.
The book is not a prescribed set of lessons plans. Rather it
presents a framework for lesson planning, shares appropriate
approaches for developing student understanding, and provides
opportunities to reflect on and apply those approaches to
specific hard-to-teach topics. The five hard-to-teach concepts
are meiosis, photosynthesis, natural selection, proteins and
genes, and environmental systems and human impact. More
than 300 teacher resources are listed.
One of the stories from A Robe of Feathers —
My Devil’s Gate — is based on the superstitions Matsuura encountered after building
a new house.
“There’s actually a direction called a devil’s
gate and you’re not allowed to put a door
there or a stove or a bathroom, because
it’s where the devils could come into your
home,” Matsuura says. “I ended up having
to go to a Shinto priestess to get consulted
and get special amulets to ward off the evil
because we had built the house wrong. This
sort of stuff goes on all the time.”
campus copies
Hard-to-Teach
Biology
Concepts
A Framework to Deepen
Student Understanding
Koba
Tweed
Both graduated from UNO with degrees in
international studies — Beyer in 1980 and
Matsuura in 1996. Both also found their way
to Japan through UNO, studied language
and met their future husbands abroad.
All that traveling made Beyer a
connoisseur of travel books. She decided
to write her own, 10 Temples on 2
Wheels, to share a bicycle tour of the
former Japanese capital of Kamakura she
developed while teaching law.
41 Hard-to-Teach Biology Concepts: A Framework to Deepen Student Understanding
Thersa Matsuura, 42, lives with her husband
and 13-year-old son about two-and-a-half
hours outside Tokyo in Shizouka Prefecture.
She wrote A Robe of Feathers and Other
Stories, an English-language collection of
17 stories based on traditional Japanese folk
stories and mythology.
Bar Code
“When we arrived in Kabul,
there were burned-out tanks in
the street and soldiers carrying
AK-74s — probably not unlike
it is today in that regard,”
Beyer says.
Beyer has been to 40 other
countries since Afghanistan, including
every Asian country except Bhutan. She
traveled to Japan after graduation to teach
English for two years at a Japanese girl’s
high school, after six-months of intensive
language instruction.
43 Author Harl Dalstrom, professor emeritus of history and class of 1958, and
WE WERE NOT WORRIED AT DINNERTIME
HARL A. DALSTROM AND KAY CALAME DALSTROM
Alumnae perspectives on Japanese life
45 BOOKMARKS
WE WERE NOT WORRIED AT DINNERTIME
Bicycle tours and devil’s gates
47 PB238X
ISBN: 978-1-93353-141-0
Grades 9–12
By Susan Koba with Anne Tweed
Author Stacy Danielle
Stephens
class of 1996
Book The Bohemian Girl
and Other Stories, lulu.com,
238 pages; The Nothing That
Is and Other Stories, lulu.com,
228 pages.
Synopsis Two new collections
of previously unpublished short
stories written during the last
six years. Stephen’s work is a fusion of traditional prose coupled
with untraditional characters
and situations.
Author Don Clifford
Class of 1996
Book Ben Solomon: A
Bastard Prince Denied His
Throne, Outskirts Press,
340 pages.
Synopsis: An historical
novel about an accident of
birth preventing Abel, the
first son of King Solomon,
from inheriting the throne
of David. Abel must fight to
reclaim his birthright while
exploring ancient Bedouin
and Phoenician cultures.
Author Leslie Schenkman
Kaplan
Class of 1974 (with Bill Owings)
author Susan B.
Jinings Koba
Class of 1977 (with Anne Tweed)
Book American Education:
Building a Common Foundation,
Wadsworth Publishing, 592 pages
Book Hard-to-Teach Biology
Concepts: A Framework to
Deepen Student Understanding,
National Science Teachers
Association Press, 350 pages.
Synopsis A textbook for people
planning to enter the teaching
profession aimed at connecting
foundations topics with relevant
contemporary educational
issues. The text explains the
teaching profession, as well as its
historical, philosophical, political,
legal, economic, curricular and
instructional foundations.
Synopsis An instructional
framework to help highschool biology teachers with
five challenging concepts:
meiosis, proteins and genes,
photosynthesis, natural
selection and environmental
systems and human impact.
5
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
just for you
By Tim Fitzgerald
If you’ve done any kind of photography over the years
— travel, sports or just family pictures — chances
are you’ve used Kodachrome slide film to record your
memories.
But technology can’t do it all.
I’ve been taking photographs professionally for four
decades, and I’m frequently learning something new.
The lessons began in 1970 when I started working at
UNO for what now is University Relations. I’ve also
picked up handy practices during annual summer
vacations, including seven trips overseas. The latter
began in 1973 with a university-sponsored trip to
the USSR (I guess photography isn’t the only thing
to change).
Perhaps you’re planning your own summer vacation,
home or abroad. If so, here are a few photography tips
— Just For You.
53 51 49 47 DALE WOLF (BA) lives in
Omaha. He and his wife,
Clara, recently celebrated
their 73rd wedding
anniversary. “It has been a glorious
road, some of it uphill and some of it
downhill, some sharp curves, but mostly
on straight and level.”
38
Last year, Kodak announced it was discontinuing the
film, introduced in 1936. When I travel this summer to
Denmark, Germany and Sweden, I’ll shoot the last rolls
of Kodachrome I’ve had zip-locked away in my freezer
for the past few years.
The quality and new camera models seem to improve
daily. For the most part, they’ve made it easier to
take photographs.
55 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 Send your classnotes to www.unoalumni.org/classnotes
Those days are over.
Kodachrome’s end is just one of the numerous changes
digital technology has brought to photography. I went
digital about eight years ago and today shoot with a
Canon EOS 50D.
57 CLASS NOTES
Picture-perfect advice
for your next vacation
I enjoy shooting with slides. There’s a joy that comes
from holding those transparencies to a light or
projecting them onto a screen. (You remember slide
projectors, don’t you?)
CLASS
59 NOTES
4 Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
• RESEARCH
I often plan my vacations — in the
United States and overseas — based on sights and
scenes that are great to photograph. That means
researching my destinations in advance by using
travel guides, photo magazines and the Internet. Once
on site, I look at local postcards and souvenir books to
help select other shots.
• PACKING
Make a packing list before you leave.
However, pack unexposed or exposed film in your
carry-on luggage to avoid the heavier x-rays used on
checked baggage.
• TESTING 1-2-3
Test your camera before you leave.
• CHARGING
If your camera uses rechargeable
batteries and you’re traveling overseas, chances are
you’ll need an electrical converter or plug converter to
match the proper voltage (see www.voltagevalet.com
for a country guide).
• STORING MEMORIES
Lugging around a laptop
computer to store your digital images gets
cumbersome. Consider investing in portable storage
devices or memory cards — their prices have dropped
dramatically. Make sure, though, that the card works
in your particular camera.
• LENSES AND LEGS
To avoid carrying multiple lenses,
I’ve invested in an 18-200 mm “travel” lens that gives
me wide-angle and telephoto capabilities. I’ve also
added a lightweight travel tripod.
• RISING EARLY
The early morning hours and the two
to three hours before sunset give your photographs the
best color. But artificially lighted sites at night also
can produce dramatic images — just consider using
a tripod to help avoid blurring. If you’re using a digital
camera and are away from artificial lights, try some
long-exposure shots of the stars.
• MUSEUM MANNERS
Ask museums if they permit
photography or flash photography. You might have to
purchase a special photo pass. Also, some countries
since 9/11 have put restrictions on photographing
public buildings. Check beforehand.
• SETTING THE STAGE
Your digital camera may give
you options for image capture. I adjust my camera
settings to take regular, portrait, black-and-white
and landscape photos (the last offers more color
saturation).
• LOOK DEEPER
Study your travel scenes for bright
colors, reflections and interesting patterns of shadow
and light.
• MOVE AROUND
Move around your site and shoot it
from a variety of angles. Look for small details that
can make a big difference.
• END-OF-DAY EDITING
At the end of a day of
shooting, edit the images in your camera — keep
what you want and get rid of the rest.
• MAKE GOOD PHOTOS GREAT
If you have a computer
program such as Photoshop, use it to crop, sharpen
or adjust the color, brightness and contrast of your
images.
• EXPERTS
A number of websites offer great examples
and ideas for photography. There are great monthly
tutorials, for instance, at Daveblackphotography.com.
Other favorites Nikonworld.com, NationalGeographic.com,
Arthurmeyerson.com, Jimrichardsonphotography.com and
Jimbrandenburg.com.
Tim Fitzgerald has been photographing the people and places of UNO since 1970. In 1990 he received the
Chancellor’s Medal in honor of significant contributions to the university.
Online: Photos by Fitz. To see a slideshow of Fitzgerald’s favorite international pictures he’s taken, visit
www.unoalumni.org/unomag-photosbyfitz
Morgine Lake, Banff National Park, Canada
53
LARRY ALLAN
BOERSMA (BA; MS, 1955)
lives in Sarasota, Fla., and is
a widely published wildlife
photographer. Defenders of Wildlife
used several of his photographs of gray
wolves for a fundraising appeal, one for
a poster. That same image will be used
as the package face of “Save the
Wolves” coffee, marketed nationally by
an artisan roaster in California. Also,
two of his DVDs, “Keep Animals in our
Lives!” and “Little Lost Mountain Lion,”
will be used by the Center for Biological
Diversity in Tucson, Ariz., for
educational outreach. He recently was
elected to the Southwest Florida Council
of the Boy Scouts zreservewildlife@
goprimecast.com
54
JOSEPH J. VANCE (BA)
lives in Ralston, Neb., and
has just retired. He was
admitted to the Nebraska
Bar Association in 1960.
61
DAVID L. BELDEN (BGS)
last November received an
honorary membership in
ASME (American
Society of
Mechanical
Engineers). Belden
is executive director
of the United
Engineering
Foundation (Mount
Vernon, Va.). He was recognized for
outstanding accomplishments as a
major leader in the worldwide
engineering association community.
Belden in 2002 became executive
director of the United Engineering
Foundation, an organization founded in
1904 with a grant from Andrew
Carnegie. Prior to that Belden for 15
years was executive director at ASME, a
400-person operation with 10 offices
throughout the United States. From
1976 to 1987 Belden was executive
director and a member of the board of
trustees of the Institute of Industrial
Engineers (IIE), then a 43,000-member
technical society headquartered in
Atlanta. Belden retired from the U.S. Air
Force as a colonel in 1976 after a
22-year career with numerous
decorations. He earned a master’s
degree in industrial engineering (1963)
and a Ph.D. (1969) from Stanford
University.
70
CAROLYN WEBER (BA)
in January began a
three-year stint as a
Presbyterian USA missionary
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. There she
teaches English and serves as a library
advisor and a curriculum specialist at
Mekane Yesus Theological Seminary for
the Ethiopian Evangelical Church. Weber
had spent 20 years in parish ministry in
Illinois and Nebraska. In 2008 she spent
a month as a missionary in Liberia,
leading a Sacred Journey of Healing
retreat for 150 Liberians suffering as a
result of the country’s 14 years of civil
war. She provides updates on her
missionary work at www.pcusa.org/
missionconnections/profiles/weberc.
carolyn.weber.joyfl66@gmail.com
72
KENNETH KOEHLER
(BGS) was featured in the
Feb. 21 Council Bluffs Daily
Nonpareil when the Council
Bluffs Chapter of the National Society
Daughters of the American Revolution
honored him with its Community Service
Award. Koehler, an American Red Cross
disaster response volunteer, since 1991
has served at 42 disaster scenes in 23
states and Puerto Rico. That’s taken
31 29 27 25 23 21 19 Bringing smiles
to Rwanda
74
17 15 13 11 9 7 5
On a 2006 safari to find the
gorillas of Rwanda, Dr.
Richard T. Reckmeyer
instead found a new mission —
caring for the people of that impoverished
and genocide-ravished country.
A retired Phoenix dentist and UNO MBA
graduate, Reckmeyer this June is making his
fifth trip to Rwanda, where he is conducting
a three-week program to teach nurses and
community health workers how to deliver
basic dental services.
“Because the entire health infrastructure
was destroyed during the 1994 genocide,
when 1 million people were killed in 100
days, the supply is scarce and the demand is astronomical for rural oral health
care,” Reckmeyer says.
He plans to work with public schools and Home Based Management Care, provided
by the government. The first training was to be offered at the Ruhengeri Hospital
in the Musanze District of the Northern Province. It will cover health histories,
oral examinations, dental anatomy of baby and permanent teeth, sterilization,
prevention, cleaning techniques with oral hygiene instruction, injections, and
simple extractions.
Reckmeyer’s five-year goal is to have all 750 nurses trained in 375 districts. But
the Phoenix dentist, who retired in 2001 because of disability after three rotator
cuff surgeries in one year, can’t do it alone.
He is seeking help from volunteer dentists, hygienists and students, and donations of
money, instruments and supplies (especially scalers, curettes, elevators and forceps).
To help, contact Reckmeyer at (623) 979-7555 or richard.reckmeyer@cox.net.
Learn more at Rural Rwanda Dental, www.rrdental.org
Story modified from article originally published in
Cornhusker Impressions, UNMC College of Dentistry.
him away from his family in Treynor,
Iowa, for a total of 88 weeks. He has
helped after the devastation wrought by
Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina,
tornados in Parkersburg, Iowa, and
Oklahoma City, earthquakes in southern
California, floods in North Dakota,
Hawaii, Texas and Louisiana, and
terrorists on Sept. 11. An accountant
who retired from Union Pacific Railroad
in 1990, Koehler has tracked Red Cross
funds at the disasters where he has
helped. He also served as acting mayor
of Treynor. His daughter, SHEILA
(KOEHLER) LEWIS, is a 1992 UNO
graduate.
ALBERT HODAPP (MA) retired in
June 2009 after working as a school
psychologist since 1973. He will
continue to teach social psychology at
Buena Vista University. He and his wife,
fellow UNO grad JOAN HODAPP (MS,
1974) celebrate their 40th wedding
anniversary this August. In September
2009 he presented a paper, “Books,
Television, and Homework” at the
Kentucky Association of Psychology in
the Schools conference in Louisville, Ky.
73
JOHN E. BIRCHER III
(BGS) is national director of
public relations for the
Military Order of the Purple
Heart. He has held a number of elected
positions for the organization, formed in
1932. Composed exclusively of Purple
Heart recipients, it is the only veterans
service organization comprised strictly
of combat veterans. Bircher had a
30-year military career. He enlisted in
the U.S. Army in 1959 and retired in
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
59 57 CLASS NOTES
1988 as a colonel. He was a military
intelligence officer and Middle East
foreign area specialist for most of his
career and served in Vietnam with
special forces in 1969-1970, when he
was awarded the Purple Heart. He has
served as a military attaché in Iran,
Lebanon and Morocco and speaks
both Arabic and French fluently. He
is a graduate of the National War
College and holds a master’s degree in
international relations. He has received
numerous U.S. and foreign awards
and decorations. Bircher also worked
in Washington, D.C., as president of
Neill and Company, Inc., a lobbying and
public affairs company that specialized
in Middle East business and politics. He
and his wife, Carol, reside in Lady Lake,
Fla. john@bircher.us
FRED GALATA
(BA) in April
finished third
among competitors
age 55-59 at
USA Triathlon’s
Duathlon Nationals
in Richmond, Va.
He was 141st overall, competing in a
10k run, 40k bike and 5k run. He won
the same event in 2009. Last year he
also: won gold in cycling the National
Senior Olympic Games in San Francisco;
placed eighth in the World Duathlon
Championships in North Carolina; and
won the gold medal in 40k cycling and
the overall championship jersey at the
World Senior Games in Utah. Galata
lives in Omaha.
marathontel2@qwestoffice.net
76
REBECCA
FAHRLANDER (MA) is an
adjunct professor at UNO.
She also writes a column on
travel, “Safari Journal,” for the Bellevue
Leader newspaper. She lives in Bellevue.
77
TIMOTHY RASINSKI
(BS; MS, 1979) recently was
elected into the International
Reading Hall of Fame for his
career achievements and contributions
to literacy and literacy education
worldwide. He is a professor of literacy
education at Kent State University.
Through his research into reading
fluency and the role of singing in
learning he has developed a program
called Sing Read Learn (www.
singreadlearn.com). Each song, taken
from American history and culture, is
presented to students with
accompanying music. Students practice
each song by reading/ singing it several
times. This is followed by specific
activities, from each song, for teaching
word recognition, vocabulary, and
comprehension.
trasinsk@kent.edu
80
ANDREA CLAUSON
KING (BM) has returned to
Omaha and now teaches in
Woodbine, Iowa. She is
pursuing a master’s degree at UNO.
a_king81@yahoo.com
Helping
in Haiti
49 47 83
PATRICK STIBBS (BA)
received four 2009 Nebraska
Broadcasters Association
awards for
outstanding
achievement.
Stibbs swept the
radio commercial
category, taking
home Gold Awards
for service to
children (Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis),
public service (Arthritis Foundation),
best 30-second commercial (Fatburger),
and best 60-second commercial (Burger
King). Hear the award winning
commercials at www.onthespotradio.
com. Stibbs owns On the SPOT
Productions. He and his wife, fellow
UNO graduate MONICA
MEISENBACH (1984) have been
married 23 years and have three
children: Chris, 16; Kathleen, 14; and
Nora, 11. Patrick@onthespotradio.com
GAIL DEBOER (BSBA)
received the 2009 Woman of
the Year Award from the
Bellevue Chamber of
Commerce. DeBoer is president of SAC
Federal Credit Union, responsible for all
areas of a $401 million financial
institution, including a staff of 200
people with 15 locations in the Omaha
metro area.
88
Temme described some of the challenges facing the team, established at the Port
au Prince airport 100 yards from the runway.
“The noise from the incoming supply planes, helicopters and generators was loud
and constant,” he says. “The team slept on army cots in tents with mosquito
nets and lots of repellent. The temperature was in the 90s each day. We drank at
least 15 bottles (16 oz) of water daily. Military rations called Meals Ready to Eat
(MRE’s) were the only food the team ate.
“The hardships for the Haitian people are endless: there is extreme poverty
everywhere, lack of food and safe water, no sewer system and the need of more
medical help. I am glad to be a citizen of the USA.”
45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
CLASS NOTES
87
Massive aid poured into Haiti from many countries, including the United
States. For UNO graduate James Temme (’84), that took the grim
form of helping recover and identify the remains of U.S. citizens during
two weeks in April.
Temme worked as a radiographer (x-ray technologist) alongside an
interdisciplinary team of anthropologists, forensic pathologists,
fingerprint experts and medical legal investigators. His specific
responsibilities included radiographing victim remains and looking for
joint replacement prostheses and other surgical implants. Such devices
typically have a serial number that can be used to identify a victim.
51 appointed to the board of directors with
Pioneer Behavioral Health, a leading
provider of inpatient and outpatient
behavioral health services. He retired
as assistant vice president of labor
relations for Union Pacific Railroad.
On Jan. 12, a magnitude
7.0 earthquake devastated the city of Port au
Prince, Haiti, leaving at
least 230,000 dead, 200,000 injured
and 1 million homeless. The aftermath overwhelmed the third-world
country’s government.
DMORT usually is assigned to disaster events in the United States. This
was its first assignment in a foreign country.
53 DOUGLAS J. SMITH (MBE) was
84
A current member of the UNO Alumni Association Board of Directors,
Temme is an associate director and professor with the University of
Nebraska Medical Center’s Division of Radiation Science Technology
Education. He was in Haiti as part of the Disaster Mortuary Operational
Response Team (DMORT), a unit of the National Disaster Medical
System (NDMS).
55 NAGARAJ V. MYLANDLA
(MBA) is founder and
managing director of
Financial Software and
Systems (FSS), headquartered in
Chennai, India. FSS is a global provider
of electronic payment and transaction
processing solutions and services for
the banking and financial services
industry. It was established in 1991. It
has $55 million in revenue and 1,200
employees with offices in Mumbai,
India, New Jersey, London, Dubai,
Singapore and Melbourne. Mylandla
previously worked closely with the
Indian banking industry, for Omaha’s
First Data Corporation and for ACI
Worldwide. He moved back to India in
July 1989. nagarajm@fss.co.in
TUGBA
KALAFATOGLU
(BA) owns Tugba
Kalafatoglu &
Associates, a
global management
and public
affairs consulting
firm based in Istanbul, Turkey, and
providing strategic public relations,
government relations, communication,
marketing and lobbying services
(tugbakalafatoglu.com). The firm’s
campaign, “Vote Women in Politics,”
won a gold 2010 Pollie for public affairs.
Pollies are promoted as the “Oscars of
political advertising” and are sponsored
by the American Association of Political
Consultants based in Washington, D.C.
Kalafatoglu founded “Vote Women in
Politics” (votewomeninpolitics.com),
a non-partisan organization dedicated
to helping women build the skills and
infrastructure they need to become
more effective leaders in the political
world. tugba@tugbakalafatoglu.com
94
WILL RASGORSHEK
(BGS, BSBA) is a major with
the U.S. Marines and
assistant commander of the
Marine Corps Aviation Association
McCutcheon Squadron in Jacksonville,
N.C. He returned home in March for the
Omaha premier of a new documentary,
“America’s Marine Aviators,” produced
by Omaha film director Dana Altman
and former KFAB talk show host Jeff
Bolton. The pair traveled around the
world during a six-year period, following
Marine pilots, aircrews and their
families while they served their country
in peacetime and in combat. The MCAA
McCutcheon Squadron is using the film
to help raise funds for its efforts to
build the first Marine Aviation Memorial
Tower. The tower will honor all of those
who have served in Marine Aviation for
the past 98 years. “Our goal is to honor
the men and women of Marine Aviation
who have paid the ultimate sacrifice
while serving their country,” Rasgorshek
says. “I served in Iraq for 18 months
and met many great Marines that never
made it home.” Photos and information
about the documentary can be seen at
www.americasmarineaviators.com.
Information about the McCutcheon
Squadron can be seen at http://web.
me.com/rasgorshekwa/McCutcheon_
Squadron. Rasgorshek has been in the
Marines since he was 18, first as a
member of the Commandant’s Own, the
U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps.
mccutcheonsquadron@gmail.com
DAN MORRIS (BA) lives in
Nashville, Tenn., and writes:
“I’ve been an Internet
marketer for some time but
have switched from Web site and
affiliate marketing to local business
marketing. Our sole focus now is
teaching small businesses how to better
use the Internet as a tool. Our goal is to
not only dominate the search results for
relevant keywords, but to do so with
vehicles that build credibility and trust
and ultimately lead the customer to the
company’s Web site or front door. We
are based in Nashville, but work with
small companies nationwide.”
96
dan@danmorrismarketing.com
98
SUZANNE L. SCHMIDT
(BSW) lives in Fremont,
Neb., and married Dave
Jensen in 2009. She has
eight grandchildren and one greatgranddaughter.
00
NICHOLAS MINER
(BSBA) writes that he and
his wife, Tiffany, had their
first child, Jacob Lee Miner,
on Feb. 20. “Mother & son are doing
great!” nminer@ccim.net
CHRIS MILLER (BA) lives
in Tampa, Fla., and writes: “I
am now pursuing my MBA
with a concentration in
entrepreneurship at the University of
Tampa. My real estate business
(deltarep.com) is still ticking along in
Omaha. This year we had our first
private equity offering and raised
$250,000 to purchase seven to eight
residential properties to provide housing
to UNO, UNMC and Creighton students,
07
as well as to young professionals
looking for a nicer, more affordable
place to live in midtown/downtown
Omaha.” chris.miller@deltarep.com
CASSY LOSEKE (BS) lives
in Washington, D.C., and is
marketing support manager
for the Atlas Economic
Research Foundation (http://
atlasnetwork.org), a nonprofit think
tank. “In addition to creating marketing
materials, I work with the fundraising/
development team.”
08
cassy.loseke@gmail.com
AARON LUNEKE (BSBA) writes:
“Hey there! Life is definitely very
good! I am with Werner Enterprises (in
Omaha) with their finance department.
Outside of work, I serve on the board of
the Omaha Jaycees and as of December
’09 I became a ‘Big’ with Big Brothers
Big Sisters of the Midlands. Incredibly
rewarding experiences and memories
serving as a volunteer. I strongly
encourage anyone with a few extra
hours per week to consider it!”
aaronluneke2002@msn.com
SHEENA KENNEDY (BA) this
May completed her Master of Arts in
educational administration with a
specialization in student affairs from
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
sheenamariek@gmail.com
09
KILEY CLEMENS (BA)
lives in Omaha and is an
account representative with
Union Pacific Railroad’s
Agricultural Products.
kileymcgovern@gmail.com
JENNIFER TOEPFER (BGS) lives
in Bakersfield, Calif., and writes that
she is “Toepfer Household CEO. Proud
parent of 2-year-old Lizzy and 7-monthold Alex.” loverlyflower@hotmail.com
LAURA KOONCE (BS) lives in
Yap, Micronesia, a small island in the
Pacific (near Guam). She writes, “I
will be living here until late 2011 as
I am working as a volunteer with the
Peace Corps. I am currently working
as an elementary school teacher and a
community developer. Kam Magar and
all the best.” lakoonce@gmail.com
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
CLASS NOTES
KRISTEN PATTERSON (BSBA) , is
a financial representative with Mutual
of Omaha.
kristen.patterson@mutualofomaha.com
FACULTY NOTES
JAMES A. THORSON is completing
his work at UNO on June 30 and will
move back to his hometown, Chicago,
so he and his wife can be near their
children and grandchildren. He had
served UNO’s department of gerontology
since 1977, 27 years as chair until
beginning a three-year partial
retirement in 2007. He is the author
or coauthor of 85 refereed journal
articles, eight books and 22 chapters in
other books. “Professoring has been a
wonderful, satisfying career,” he says,
“but nothing matches grandfathering.”
in memoriam
1937 Voimir Belda
1940 Kathryn Margaret Medlock
1944 Frank L. Mansell
1947Mary Ingrid Paulson Carey
1948 John Erickson
1950Marjorie M Bierly-Ellithorpe
1956 Jean M. Bednar Skinner
1958 John L. Carper
Wayne Higley
1959Richard A. Campbell
1961Richard I. Hanson
1963 Joseph Robert
“Bob” Tunnicliff
1964 Col. (retired)
Harry H. Riddle
William Vidal
Harvey Guy Lisenby
Richard G. Gay
Jack L. Bradshaw
1965 Beverly Jean Wood Hurstad
John F. Maher
1968 Junius Barrilleaux
Alfred F. Trafford Jr.
1970 George D. de Haas
Fred L. Friedman
James D. Lester
Donald R. Nugent
William A. Stanfill
1972 Frank Robert Vavrek Sr.
1974 Clara M. Drew
1975Sedell Bailey
1984 Dusty Jordan
2009Yusef B. Mustafa
FACULTY
Sumner Edward
“Scott” Copple III
Wayne M. Higley
future
ALUM
Submit a birth announcement
(within 1 year of birth) and
we’ll send you a certificate
and an Ador-A-Bull T-shirt.
Include baby’s name,
date of birth, parents’ or
grandparents’ names and
graduation year(s).
Mail to UNO Magazine, 67th
& Dodge Streets, Omaha, NE
68182-0010 or online at
www.unoalumni/futurealums
CLASS
NOTES
Jacob Lee Miner , son of Tiffany
of Jon and Krissy (Olson, ’01) Anzaldo
of Omaha and grandson of Marcia (’93)
and Dean (’85) Olson of Papillion, Neb.
and Nicholas (’00) Miner of Tempe, Ariz.
Dominik Rowan Applegate,
son of Shawna (Lucas, ’06) and Bruce
(’05) Applegate of Goodyear, Ariz.
Mason William O’ConnorCox , grandson of Jeanne (’08) and
Sophia Kohana Bohn, daughter
James (’76) O’Connor of Omaha.
of Rie (Eguchi, ’01) and Eric (’00) Bohn
of Astoria, N.Y.
Elizabeth Leigh Toepfer ,
Karley Jo Chesnut, daughter of
daughter of Jennifer (Mayfield, ’09) and
Joseph Toepfer of Bakersfield, Calif.
Mandy and Nic (’03) Chesnut of Omaha.
Addison Marie Scott, daughter
Maxwell John Henry
Goebel , son of Pamela and Douglas
of Sarah (Young, ’07) and William (’06)
Scott of Omaha.
(’99) Goebel of Omaha.
William Kirgan Pugliese,
Caleigh Abigail Landreth,
son of Tara (Buzzell, ’99, ’01) and Billy
(’01) Pugliese of Omaha.
Courtney (Nichols, ’05) and Jon Lee of
Moorhead, Iowa.
Henry James Libis, son of Angela
(Palmesano, ’00) and Cory (’00) Libis of
Omaha.
City/State/Zip:
E-mail:
News:
Alyssa Lourdes Van Pelt,
daughter of Aileen and Brian (’99) Van
Pelt of Maize, KS.
May we post your
email address in the
next UNO Magazine?
Last name while a student:
Address:
Cooper James Schroeder ,
son of Catherine (Kepler, ’08) and
Mitchell Schroeder of Plattsmouth, Neb.,
and grandson of Charles Kepler (’88)
of Omaha.
What have you been doing since graduating from UNO? Your fellow alumni would like
to know! We welcome personal and professional updates and photographs for Class Notes.
Send your news to Class Notes Editor, UNO Magazine, 67th & Dodge Streets, Omaha, NE
68182-0010; fax to (402) 554-3787; submit online at www.unoalumni.org/classnote
Name:
Class Year:
Jennifer Amarise Nixon,
daughter of Maribel and John (’09)
Nixon of Greensboro, N.C.
Alivia Marie Lee, daughter of
Degree:
Phone:
Yes
57 55 53 51 49 47 45 43 41 39 37 35 33 31 29 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5
RETROSPECT
Brenden Cash Anzaldo, son
daughter of Brant and Laura (’09)
Landreth of Bellevue, Neb.
59 No
An historical look at the people
and events shaping the university’s life
UNO’s current campus is a beehive of construction.
But that’s been commonplace since the university’s first days on
its original campus at 24th and Pratt Streets. Less than a year
after the first-ever classes were held in September 1909, thenOmaha University began erecting the John G. Jacobs Memorial
Gymnasium. The building was named in honor of the deceased
son of benefactor Lillian Maul, who had donated land near UNO’s
present West Dodge site. That tract was sold for $14,000, funding
the gymnasium’s construction. The gym was built partially from
marble removed from the second Douglas County Courthouse,
discarded rails from the streetcar company, and bricks from a
nearby church that had recently been demolished. Faculty carried the bricks in wheelbarrows to the construction site. Jacobs
Gymnasium was demolished in 1964 to make way for the Omaha
Housing Authority’s senior facility, Evans Tower.
snapshot
See more than 2,200 university archive photos on UNO Criss
Library’s photostream, www.flickr.com/photos/unocrisslibrary
Research UNO history for yourself
Visit the Gateway Collection, an online database of all
Gateway student newspapers from 1922 to the present.
Connect at http://library.unomaha.edu/research
they were here
A look at notable individuals
who have visited campus —
and what they had to say
Alexander Archipenko
October 9, 1950
Indira Gandhi
April 13, 1962
One of the world’s great cubists made two appearances
on the Omaha University campus — sort of. For 13 days
in 1939 the campus hosted the works of Ukrainianborn Alexander Archipenko, world-renown sculptor
and avant-garde artist. Gateway reporter Art Cohn
said some called it, “the largest and most important
sculpture and painting exhibit ever brought to Omaha.”
In 1950 Archipenko himself came, lecturing at a
convocation and displaying his art. “He demonstrated
with slides his credo that artists do not create, they
rediscover,” reported the Omaha World-Herald. “Nature
has provided the research for modern art principles, he
said, pointing to spiral stairways based on the design of
seashells; a few home building techniques based on the
structure inside a wasp’s nest; some filigree is a direct
steal from seaweed construction.”
She was the first First Lady to visit UNO. Indira
Gandhi, daughter of India Prime Minister
Jawaharal Nehru, spoke on “Security through
Peace” at the University Nights Lecture Series.
The Omaha World-Herald reported on her country’s
neutrality, specifically relating to China. “I
wouldn’t say we have a fear, but we don’t like
them taking our land,” she said. “I think we can
face them on our borders … and keep them
from coming in.” She also told the paper that if it
were not for Nehru and his party India would be
Communist, and that her father was “winning an
ideological war for the West.” Rajiv Gandhi, 17,
accompanied his mother. Indira and Rajiv both
later became prime ministers of India —
and both were assassinated.
Photo Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Photo courtesy Criss Library Archives
Hamid Karzai
Afghanistan President
May 25, 2005
Tom Gouttierre brought a well-known doost to
UNO in May 2005 — Afghanistan President Hamid
Karzai. The two became doosts (friends in Farsi) in
Afghanistan in the 1980s through Gouttierre’s post as
director of its Center for Afghanistan Studies. Karzai
first visited rural Nebraska before touring campus,
meeting with a variety of university and government
officials. Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey presented him
with a key to the city and UNO conferred upon him an
honorary doctorate of humane letters. “Nebraska has
done for Afghanistan what no other state has done,”
Karzai was quoted in the Gateway. “Tom Gouttierre is
the man who has done that. Sometimes we call him
the son of America. Most often we call him a son of
Afghanistan.” And a friend.
Photo Tim Fitzgerald, University Relations
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
Get down to business at
FOR FUN
StickElers
Test your brainpower with these puzzles (answers below) created by
UNO graduate Terry Stickels (’76). An author, speaker and puzzle
maker, Stickels’ FRAME GAMES is published by USA Weekend magazine and in 600 newspapers.
The Thompson Center at UNO
Why have hundreds of Omaha businesses and organizations selected the
Thompson Center to host their meeting, workshop, seminar, conference,
retreat or other business-related event? See for yourself!
Visual
How many “sticks” go in the box with the question mark?
• Elegant Décor & Design to impress clients
• Convenient, Midtown Location minutes from anywhere
• Versatile Room Spaces to suit any function
• Affordable Rates with multiple booking discounts
• State-of-the-Art A/V Capabilities and free high-speed Wi-Fi
• Exceptional Catering options for all meals and events
• Free & Available Parking on site
For more information on Stickels, or to order any of his books, visit
www.terrystickels.com
Mathematics
A group of journalism graduate students were asked to write down
what newspapers they read from a large city — 69 percent were reading the Sun-Times, 21 percent were reading the Tribune, and 12
percent were reading both. What percentage of the students were not
reading any newspaper?
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our comprehensive Web site!
Logic
For security reasons, a new hotel is trying different number codes on
their room keys. They change these codes often so people won’t have
time to crack the codes. Below is a list of room numbers with the accompanying codes for this week. Can you decipher the code and determine the room number for the first question mark and then reverse
it and find the code number for a room for the second question mark?
Room Number
www.thethompsoncenter.org
?
Code Number
326
784
512
598
148
962
?
364
278
?
submissions
Room Selection
The Thompson Center boasts a
variety of spaces that can be configured for any business or business-social event.
Multimedia
Ceiling-mounted LCD projectors,
electronically controlled screens,
and free Wi-Fi on a high-speed
network.
Catering & Service
Offering the exceptional fare and
services of Brandeis Catering,
voted Omaha's best caterer four
consecutive years.
The Thompson Center
67th & Dodge
Omaha, NE 68182
(402) 554-3368
www.thethompsoncenter.org
554-3368
Puzzles taken from “The Big Brain Puzzle Book,” created by
Terry Stickels for the Alzheimer’s Association
Visual: 4 sticks. 156 is doubled to 312, which is doubled to 624.
1
5
6
3
1
2
6
2
4
Logic: For the first question mark the room number is 746. For the second question mark the code
number is 832. Subtract each individual digit in the room numbers form 10 to crack the code.
Likewise for the code numbers.
Mathematics: 22 percent. Here’s one way to view this: 69 + 21 - 12 (who were reading both) = 78. 100
- 78 = 22 students who were not reading any newspaper.
Answers
Trees • Shrubs • Perennials
Garden Center • Bulk Materials
Design/Consultation • Landscaping • Lawn Care
www.RobertsLLN.com
4 Blocks North of 156th & Fort
402-551-3654
look who’s reading uno magazine
What person of note can you photograph
reading UNO Magazine? A famous actor
or singer? An athlete? The president or
Pope? Send your photos to Managing Editor
Anthony Flott at aflott@unoalumni.org.
Include your name, contact information and
year of graduation, plus text explaining your
relationship with the person photographed.
We’ll select the best of the bunch and publish
them in the next issue of UNO Magazine.
Photo courtesy David Irete, associate director of Jeopardy!
Two who received jusT wanT To give back.
As a UNO junior majoring in English,
Colleen Connor’s college money was
just about to run out and she was
investigating student loans. Then she
received the Helen Basler Anderson
scholarship and was able to continue
her education without loans.
Jim Audas’ family helped him with
tuition so, like Colleen, he was able to
graduate without any college debt.
After they were married, both Colleen
and Jim knew they wanted to support
students at UNO someday. And now
they have.
It’s never too early to support your UNO.
They contacted the University of
Nebraska Foundation to find out how
they could give back and today, the
Colleen (Connor) and Jim Audas
Scholarship is available to any UNO
student in any course of study.
To contribute, go to unoalumni.org/give. Or contact Mary Kenny, mkenny@nufoundation.org, 402-502-4924.
6001 Dodge Street
Omaha, NE 68182-0510
inside
26
30
38
Shahna ba Shahna
How UNO is helping U.S. and
Afghanistan armies in the fight
for freedom.
Six Continents
A look at UNO research being
done around the globe.
On Top Down Under
Catching up with Australia’s
Chief Scientist.
www.unoalumni .org / unomag
vol . 1, no. 2
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