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“…I propose that the University of Nebraska–Lincoln make it a high priority

to increase its enrollment by an average of 3 percent over the next six years.”

– Chancellor Harvey Perlman

(from his Sept.1, 2011, State of the University address)

The bar has been raised and the goal set. Achieve student enrollment of 30,000 by

2017. In response, the Nebraska Alumni Association, the University of Nebraska

Foundation and the UNL Office of Admissions have partnered on the Nebraska

Legends Scholarship Campaign – so more of our best and brightest high school

students can choose Nebraska. Read more about our collaborative effort on page 3.

Nebraska LeGeNds

recruiting YoungTalent to UNL

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UNL alumni John, ’89, ’93, and Kris Dillon Bergmeyer, ’90, have agreed to chair the Nebraska Legends Scholarship Campaign because as John says: “We had such a great experience here.

“We want to make sure other people have that same opportu-nity. It’s just been such a special part of our lives, and we want to help make it a part of other folks’ lives, too,” he added.

Somewhere out there – in a small rural Nebraska classroom, a magnet school in north Omaha, or half a world away in Singapore or Malaysia – a potential UNL student is considering college options. One of the most influential factors in that decision is financial aid.

The Nebraska Legends Scholarship Campaign offers additional incentive in the form of scholarship money that is provided by friends of our university. The simple act of extending this additional scholarship can be the difference between a student attending the University of Nebraska or going elsewhere.

UNL, like most public universities, is facing a decline in state re-sources, including support for student recruitment and scholarships. We are also seeing a decreasing number of high school seniors in Nebraska. That’s why the Nebraska Legends Scholarship Campaign is crucial.

Eighty percent of the funds raised go toward student scholar-ships and 20 percent toward student recruitment. And that sets it apart from other scholarship programs – a portion of your gift will be used for recruiting, so we can proactively seek the best and brightest students. Athletics has been doing this successfully for years; it’s time to use that recruiting tactic on the academic side.

In addition, each $1,000 Nebraska Legends Scholarship will be matched with an additional $1,000 scholarship from UNL to the student.

“By giving to this fund, you can make a real difference in

whether or not a student chooses UNL. A gift of $1,000 can have

a significant impact on our ability to recruit top students.”

– Scholarship Campaign Co-Chairs, John and Kris Bergmeyer

We welcome gifts of all amounts, but those of $1,250 or more present special opportunities for the donor, including recognition with a bronze plate on the Nebraska Alumni Association’s Life En-dowment Wall in the Holling Garden.

Gifts are tax deductible.

Here are five potential gift options, although donors are not limited to these.ONe SchOLArShIp

A gift of $1,250 creates a $1,000 scholarship and $250 for admissions recruitment with a $1,000 scholarship match from UNL to the student recipient.FIve SchOLArShIpS

A gift of $6,250 creates five $1,000 scholarships and $1,250 for admissions recruitment with a $1,000 scholarship match from UNL to the student recipients.TeN SchOLArShIpS

A gift of $12,500 creates ten $1,000 scholarships and $2,500 for admissions recruitment with a $1,000 scholarship match from UNL to the student recipients.NAmed eNdOwed FUNd

A minimum gift of $31,250 creates an endowed scholarship fund of $25,000 ($1,000 scholarship annually, in perpetuity) and $6,250 for admissions recruitment with a match from UNL for each $1,000 scholarship.NAmed expeNdABLe FUNd

A minimum five-year pledge of $1,250 annually creates a $1,000 scholarship (annually) and $250 for admissions recruitment (annually) with a match from UNL for each $1,000 scholarship.

To learn more, discuss other gift options, or make a gift, contact: Ben Zitek, 402-458-1241, bzitek@nufoundation.org

John and Kris Bergmeyer

Recruiting Young Talent to UNLContinued from page 1

It’s More Than a Scholarship

In addition to the scholarship

money, each Nebraska Legends Schol-

arship recipient will receive the following

benefits:

• Oneyearoffreemembershipinthe

Nebraska Alumni Association’s

student organization, Scarlet Guard.

• Twomeetingsamonthwithprogram

coordinator Chelsea Heidbrink who

will help scholarship recipients plan

their class schedules and set

academic and personal goals.

• Invitationstomonthlyevents

designed to help students develop

academic, social and life skills, and

get connected to UNL right away.

In a survey of this year’s Nebraska

Legends freshmen, 97 percent “strongly

agree” or “agree” they are glad they are

in the scholarship program; 88 percent

“strongly like” or “like” their meetings

with Chelsea, and 70 percent “strongly

like” or “like” their membership in

Scarlet Guard.

“It has been really helpful to have another

resource to put things in perspective and give

help if I need it. I also liked being able to

create a new network of friends and that was

available through the program.”

– Nebraska Legend Sarah Reimers

“Just being with so many like-minded people

has encouraged me to do better in everything

I do.”

– Nebraska Legend Ben Adams

“It was so helpful to be able to talk to Chelsea

and know that my worries and frustrations

with class were legitimate. She helped calm

me down and focus. I might not even be going

here next semester if it weren’t for her.”

– Nebraska Legend Katie Ziegler

sCHoLarsHIPs | spring 2012 | 3

Chelsea Heidbrink

SchOLArShIp cAmpAIgN cOmmITTeeJohn (’89 ’93) and Kris (’90) Bergmeyer, Lincoln, Co-chairsLisa Boohar (’93 ’98), San FranciscoTom Burnell (’84 ’85), LincolnJerry Hoffman (’89), Englewood, Colo.Angie Klein (’01), Morristown, N.J.Jim (’90 ’93) and Rochelle (’90 ’93) Mullen, OmahaRod Penner (’87), ChicagoMike Zeleny (’94 ’96), Lincoln

Nebraska Alumni Association

Big Red Weekend Reunions and

Special Events

Make plans to attend the 2012 Big Red Weekend April 13-14. This fourth annual “spring homecoming” will feature a variety of activities including guided tours, events and athletic contests in-cluding the spring football game. Some groups planning reunions and special celebrations to coincide with the festivities include:

ALUmNI OF cOLOr

• Fourth annual pre-game tailgate party• Golf outing • Formal dinner and dance • Become involved in the Alumni of Color affiliate group and support the efforts of current students.

INNOceNTS SOcIeTy

• Celebration of the history of the Innocents Society• Kickoff of the new Innocents Affiliate Group (page 5) • Campus tour with the current 13• Networking reception• University update from Chancellor Perlman,

LIBrArIeS FOrmer STUdeNT empLOyeeS

• Reception at C.Y. Thompson Library on April 13• Networking and visiting with friends and former co-workers• Opportunity to see how the library facilities have changed

LOve memOrIAL hALL ALUmNAe ASSOcIATION

• 70th anniversary of the opening of Love Memorial Hall • Reminiscing and catching up with one another

mechANIcAL ANd mATerIALS eNgINeerINg

• Meet new Dean Timothy Wei• See common research and teaching themes of recently merged Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics.• Learn how the new department is better equipped to compete in the Big Ten

If you are interested in planning reunion activities or arranging gatherings for groups of any size, the alumni association can help. Many activities are already in the works on which you can piggy-back and then add a little something special for your group. For more information, contact Shelley Zaborowski at szaborowski@huskeralum.org, (888) 353-1874 or (402) 472-4222.

To view a schedule for the Big Red Weekend, visit www.huskeralum.org/events/alumniweekend.

Four Admirals Honored at ROTC Reunion

ROTC alumni returned to campus for a reunion in Novem-ber. A general membership business meeting for the affiliate group was followed by a Football Friday celebration and a dinner at the Nebraska Champions Club featuring Congressman Doug Bereuter.

The UNL ROTC program is the only one in the country with five active-duty admirals. Four of these five outstanding alumni were honored during the reunion. Unable to attend was rear

Adm. michael T. Franken, ’81, who assumed command of Com-bined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HoA) in May 2011 at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Africa.

The other honorees were:rear Adm. Sean r. Filipowski, ’82, currently serving as the

Deputy Director of Operations at U.S. Cyber Command. rear Adm. david h. Lewis, ’79, program executive officer

for ships, where he is responsible for Navy shipbuilding for surface combatants, amphibious ships, logistics support ships, support craft and related foreign military sales.

rear Adm. douglas J. mcAneny, ’78, who reported as the Commandant, National War College in January 2011.

rear Adm. robin m. watters, ’77, who has been chief of staff, U.S. Pacific Command since June 30, 2010.

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Vol. 9, No. 1Nebraska Alumni Association

University of Nebraska Foundation

Nebraska Alumni Association ContactsDiane Mendenhall, Executive Director, (402) 472-4218Claire Abelbeck, Digital Communications, (402) 472-4209Andrea Cranford, Publications, (402) 472-4229Jenny Green, Student Programs, (402) 472-4220Andy Greer, Alumni Relations, (402) 472-8915Sarah Haskell, Alumni Relations, (402) 472-6541Brooke Heck, Alumni Relations, (402) 472-4228Carrie Myers, Venues, (402) 472-6435Shannon Sherman, Communications, (402) 472-4219Andy Washburn, Operations, (402) 472-4239Kevin Wright, Design, (402) 472-4227Shelley Zaborowski, Assoc. Executive Director, (402) 472-4222

University of Nebraska Foundation Development OfficersDirector of Development: Matt McNair, (402) 458-1230Major and Principal Gifts: Greg Jensen, (402) 458-1181 or Bethany Throener, (402) 458-1187College of Architecture: Connie Pejsar, (402) 458-1190College of Arts and Sciences: Amber Antholz, (402) 458-1182, Sunny Bellows, (402) 458-1185, or Josh Egley, (402) 458-1202College of Business Administration: Matt Boyd, (402) 458- 1189, Sandi Hansen, (402) 458-1238, or Laine Norton, (402) 458-1201IANR: Ann Bruntz, (402) 458-1176College of Education and Human Sciences: Jane Heany, (402) 458-1177College of Engineering: Karen Moellering, (402) 458-1179 or Nick Shada, (402) 458-1203Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts: Lucy Buntain Comine, (402) 458-1184College of Journalism and Mass Communication: Joanna Nordhues, (402) 458-1178College of Law: Angela Hohensee, (402) 458-1192 or Ben Zitek, (402) 458-1241Libraries: Josh Egley, (402) 458-1202Panhandle Research and Extension: Barb Schlothauer, (308) 632-1207Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations: Eric Buchanan, (402) 458-1161Corporations: Kaye Jesske, (402) 458-1170Foundations: Liz Lange, (402) 458-1229

Published twice a year, in August and February, for University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni and friends.

Nebraska Alumni AssociationWick Alumni Center1520 R Street • Lincoln, NE 68508-1651Phone: (402) 472-2841 • Toll-free: (888) 353-1874FAX: (402) 472-4635E-mail: alumni@huskeralum.org Website: www.huskeralum.org

University of Nebraska Foundation1010 Lincoln Mall, Suite 300 • Lincoln, NE 68508Phone: (402) 458-1100 • Toll-free: (800) 432-3216FAX: (402) 458-1298 • E-mail: info@nufoundation.orgWebsite: www.nufoundation.org

Editor: Andrea Wood CranfordFoundation Editor: Colleen FleischerDesign: Kevin Wright

Four of Nebraska’s five rear admirals were in attendance at the ROTC reunion, includ-ing (left to right): RDML David H. Lewis, RDML Sean R. Filipowski, RADM Douglas J. McAneny and RADM Robin M. Watters.

assoCIaTIoN UPdaTe | spring 2012 | 5

Innocents and DN Alumni Affiliating

The Nebraska Alumni Association is proud to an-nounce the creation of our newest affiliate groups – the Innocents Society and the Daily Nebraskan.

The NAA is working with Innocents alum Ben Zitek and members of the 107th Class of the Innocents Society to connect and empower the more than 700 living Innocents scattered across the country. The Victory Bell (from the Nebraska - Missouri exchange) has a permanent home on campus at the Wick Alumni Center, alongside the new Corn Bowl, the trophy we will now exchange with the University of Iowa’s President’s Leadership Society.

A Daily Nebraskan alumni affiliate group is also in the works after a very good response from DN alumni to an online survey. Their feedback will help determine the best opportunities for this group to serve alumni. If you have questions or more feedback on this group, contact Brooke Heck, NAA senior director for alumni relations at bheck@huskeralum.org.

Alumni Chapters and Groups Fund New Scholarships

New scholarship funds have been established by the Siouxland Huskers and the UNL ROTC and Military Af-filiate.

The Siouxland Huskers raised $6,000 at their golf tournament last July to establish a Husker Legends Schol-arship. The fund will help the university recruit the best

and brightest students to attend UNL and scholarship recipients will receive a $1,000 match from the Office of the Chancellor (see article on page 3).

The ROTC and Military Affiliate Student Scholarship will go to upperclassmen in the ROTC program at UNL. The scholarship will be awarded on an annual basis each spring to one student from each of the branches in the program.

Donate to these funds by visiting http://community.huskeralum.org/scholarship. Follow the link and type in the name of the fund to which you wish to donate. The NU Foundation will provide receipts for gifts for income tax deduction purposes.

The NAA has more than $800,000 in chapter, affiliate group and program scholarship funds at the NU Foundation.

Emeriti Oral History Interviews ContinueHerb Howe, faculty emeritus and former chief of the

chancellor’s staff, shared his views of university history dur-ing a recent personal interview conducted by colleague Jack Goebel before an appreciative audience.

This special oral history event was a collaborative effort of the Emeriti Association, the Nebraska Alumni As-sociation and the University Libraries. The Howe interview will soon be available through the UNL Libraries archive.

To access other oral history interviews including Jack Goebel, Irv Omtvedt, Dale Gibbs, Delivee Wright, Howard Ottoson, Hazel Anthony, James Kendrick, Lowell Moser, Paul Olson and Rosalind Morris, click on http://contentdm.unl.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/unlemeriti.

NU’s Detroit Lions Become NAA Life Members

With 330 Husker alumni and friends in attendance at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit, the NAA co-hosted “A salute to alum Ndamukong Suh” the evening before the Husker’s football game with Michigan to thank Suh for his generous contibutions to the university and athletic department.

Guests heard from Diane Mendenhall, Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Athletic Director Tom Osborne, Ngum Suh (sister of Ndamukong and director of operations for the Ndamukong Suh Family Foundation) and Ndamu-kong Suh. Other VIPs in attendance included NU Pres- ident J.B. Milliken, Gates Foundation President Jeff Raikes and former Huskers Tommie Frazier, Jay Foreman, Cory Schlesinger, Matt Davison, Dominic Raiola and Kyle Vanden Bosch.

Mendenhall presented the four former Huskers affili-ated with the Detroit Lions – Suh, Schlesinger, Raiola and Vanden Bosch – with honorary life memberships in the NAA.

The Ndamukong Suh Family Foundation and alum-nus Matt Hickey, ’00, co-hosted the event, raising money for the foundation with silent and live auctions.

(Continued on page 6)

Jack Goebel (left) and oral history subject Herb Howe.

Diane Mendenhall presents life membership certificates to the three Huskers currently playing for the Detroit Lions: left to right – Ndamukong Suh, Dominic Raiola and Kyle Vanden Bosch.

huskeralum.org

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6 | GoodNUz | assoCIaTIoN UPdaTe

BTN Benefits NAA and UNL

Here’s another opportunity to follow the Huskers online and support the Nebraska Alumni Association. Sign up for the Big Ten Digital Network and 20 percent of your purchase will go to the Nebraska Alumni Association scholarship fund. This winter, many Nebraska events will be streamed live at BTN.com, including men’s and women’s basketball and wrestling. In the spring, Husker base-ball, softball and other Olympic sports will be featured.

BTN.com also offers exclusive behind-the-scenes video, game highlights, press conferences and more. For a complete listing of live events, please visit http://video.btn.com/allaccess and click on the LIVE EVENTS tab. To purchase, click on SUBSCRIBE. Make sure to include the Nebraska Alumni Association code (NE-BRALUM222) in the coupon text box.

In addition, the new Big Ten Network original television series, “Impact the World,” is up and running on a weekly basis throughout the winter.

“’Impact the World’ gives regular BTN viewers a window into the ground-breaking work being done on Big Ten campuses that is improving and impacting lives, both in the United States and around the world,” says BTN president Mark Silverman.

The series is hosted by actor Dennis Haysbert and will include 24 stories from all 12 Big Ten universities. Nebraska is scheduled to be featured sometime in February.

Grad Finale RecapA record 30 percent (208 of 695) of the graduating seniors

who came to the Wick Alumni Center to pick up caps and gowns for UNL’s December 2011 graduation ceremony signed up for membership in the Nebraska Alumni Association.

Before picking up their caps and gowns, students were asked to complete a survey about their student experience and future plans. Some of the key findings:

• More than 90 percent had a “good” (47.5 percent) or “excel- lent” (44.2 percent) opinion of UNL.• 62.9 percent do not have a job lined up.• Asked to identify their greatest concerns as alumni, 67.2 percent of the students said “career development,” followed by “finding a job” (66 percent), “repaying student loans” (52.5 percent), “buying or renting a home” (46.1 percent) and “graduate school” (40.7 percent).• A majority (66.9 percent) selected “career development” opportunities when asked what they would most value from the alumni association, followed by “point-of-contact when returning to campus” (34.2 percent).• 45 percent are interested in being involved in an alumni association chapter.• When asked how they “most prefer” to receive information, 32.9 percent selected web, followed by online newsletter (32.8 percent), Facebook/Linked In (20.8 percent) and print publications (12.2 percent).

The alumni association will continue to evaluate these results when planning future programming for the 175 new members, as well as existing members.

A Capital TimeNearly 320

alumni and fans participated in the official University of Nebraska Capital One Bowl tour, planned by the Nebraska Alumni Association in partnership with Huskers Athletic Fund. Travelers enjoyed accommodations at the luxurious Peabody Orlando Hotel, which was also the hotel of the Nebraska football team. NAA life members attended a private New Year’s Eve reception, mingling with UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Athletic Director Tom Osborne, University of Nebraska Foundation President and CEO Clarey Castner and NAA Execu-tive Director Diane Mendenhall.

On game day, a crowd of 1,100 alumni and fans enjoyed a spirit program at the Husker Huddle. The event featured the Husker Sports Network’s pre-game broadcast with Greg Sharpe and Matt Davison, along with Osborne, former Husker Jay Foreman, NU Volleyball Coach John Cook and more. Fans also had a front-row view of the NU Marching Band and the team as they entered the stadium.

The NAA is already working on plans for 2012 athletic travel, including trip options to UCLA, Ohio State and Northwestern. Check HuskerAlum.org for details as they become available.

The Nebraska Alumni Association hosted an event for NAA life members and invited guests from the NU Foundation and the NU Athletic Department that drew 60 attendees to the Nittany Lion Inn on Nov. 11, the evening before the Huskers football game with Penn State.

The Cornhusker Marching Band entertained fans at the Nebraska Alumni Association Husker Huddle before the Capital One Bowl Game Jan. 2.

So Long Bob, Hello Andy

After more than a decade of

handling Nebraska Champions Club

member services, Bob Stelter has left

the Nebraska Alumni Association to

answer a call to the ministry full time.

Bob and his wife, Pam, have relocated

to Little Rock, Ark., where they are part

of FamilyLife, a nationwide ministry

dedicated to strengthening marriages

and families. In recent years, Stelter also

has worked with the association’s football

ticket allocation process and with alumni

chapters and groups in the areas of

formation, scholarships and

banking.

Andy Greer, assistant director of

alumni relations, has assumed additional

responsibilities for membership services

and sales as well as taking on Stelter’s

chapter duties. A 2011 University of

Nebraska at Kearney graduate in sports

administration and broadcasting and

current UNL grad student in educational

administration, Greer joined the staff in

May 2011 as a graduate assistant for

alumni relations, working primarily with

chapters and membership and coordi-

nating the Hail Varsity Society and Big

Red Business Clubs. Contact Greer at

agreer@huskeralum.org.

Andy Washburn, senior director of

operations, is now handling ticket alloca-

tions (see pages 16-17).

Bob Stelter (left) passes his “infamous” Nebraska Champions Club hat to Andy Greer.

Grad Gives Back; Helps Debate Team Meet Goals

bIG TeN CHaMPIoNs | spring 2012 | 7

By Colleen Kenney Fleischer, ’88Jere McGaffey, once a star debater at the University of Ne-

braska–Lincoln, was pleased and impressed that the UNL forensics team won the Big Ten Championship.

“Northwestern has always been a strong power nationally in speech competitions,” he said. “This being the first Big Ten Cham-pionship for Nebraska in any field is particularly gratifying.”

McGaffey, who lives near Milwaukee now, went on to become a successful attorney and a major donor to UNL’s debate team. He wanted to give back to the program because debate changed his life.

Every successful person can point to one teacher who had a big effect on them. For McGaffey, it was Donald Olson, his old debate coach.

And while a student at UNL, he never put into words how grateful he was to Olson.

But one sad day, many years later, he did.

From a conversation with McGaffey:

He was a heavyset Scandina-vian fellow with a limp – I think he had polio as a kid – and a big heart. Everyone called him Ole. He bragged about us debaters a lot. We were in the Department of Speech and Dramatic Arts back then. He didn’t think much of those drama students. He used to say they weren’t worth the powder to blow them up.

Ole’s office on the second floor of the Temple Building was the place to hang out. He taught me how to be organized and how to outline, which is a way of orga-nizing your thoughts. He taught me about research and analysis. He got me on the right path.

My parents were teachers in Nebraska City. I figured I would become a teacher, too. I had no idea about business or law. To me, law was “Perry Mason” and it was only TV. I came to college with a great deal of energy but no focus.

Debate changed my life. I attribute my academic and professional success to debate.

Ole had all these intelligent people on the squad. They became my social group and directed me along the lines my life eventually took as

a corporate acquisitions lawyer. Some went on to Harvard Law School and persuaded me to go, too.

I even met my late wife through debate at the university. She was a graduate assistant when I was a sophomore.

I’m a supporter of debate. I’m not a philanthropist. I don’t have some overall goal with philanthropy. I do worry that we don’t give enough emphasis to people who are going to make a huge difference in society. And a number of those people who have made a huge difference came out of debate.

You’ll see it if you look in their backgrounds – an awful lot of the politicians, the lawyers, the Supreme Court justices were debaters. Ole coached the late Ted Sorensen, who became a speechwriter for JFK. He coached a lot of people who became prominent.

One of the greatest honors of my life was when Ole’s sister asked me to give the eulogy at his funeral. That was 20, 30 years ago. I don’t

think I’d told Ole what he meant to me. But I did at the church that day. I told people about all the wonderful things he did for us. It was a chance for me to give back.

I want to give back to the debate team, too. I want to make sure debate continues, so I support it through a charitable lead trust.

A charitable lead trust is a very effective way to make a gift because you establish a trust that gives a certain amount of money every year, for a certain number of years, and then it goes to your chil-dren or grandchildren. It’s a way you can see in your own lifetime what good your money has done.

And I have.I return to Lincoln sometimes

to attend the debate team’s ban-quets. It’s nice to see young people

so enthusiastic. I hope my gift helps get them on the right path.

Student support is one of the top priorities of the University of Nebraska’s Campaign for Nebraska. If you’d also like to help students, please contact the University of Nebraska Foundation at (800) 432-3216 or visit campaignfornebraska.org. If you’d like to contribute to the UNL forensics team, please contact the Univer-sity of Nebraska Foundation’s Amber Antholz, Sunny Bellows or Josh Egley at (800) 432-3216.

Speech and Debate Wins UNL’s First Big Ten Title

TheUniversityofNebraska–Lincoln

speech and debate team became the

firstNebraskateamtowinaBigTen

title with its victory at the Conference

ChallengeTournament,Oct.8-9at

Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

UNL led the field with a two-day point

total of 261 points, ahead of tournament

host and second-place finisher North-

western at 138 points. In addition to

the team championship in a conference

that has a long tradition of academic

excellence and excellence in speech

and debate, UNL students captured

sevenindividualBigTentitles.Senior

NickHerinkofOmahawonconference

championships in prose interpreta-

tion, dramatic interpretation, and duo

interpretation with partner, sophomore

Grace Kluck of Lincoln.

Otherstudentswinningconference

championships included senior Jimmy

Simpson Jr. of Lyons in persuasive

speaking, senior Eli Barts of Bellevue

in informative speaking, junior Lau-

renSchaalofOmahainafter-dinner

speaking and sophomore Josh Planos

ofOmahainprogramoralinterpretation.

“Ourstudentsworkedhardtobe

prepared for the tournament and it was

exciting to see their efforts pay off,” said

team director Aaron Duncan.

“Thisconfirmsmyviewthatin

specific academic areas we will lead in

theBigTenandarecertainlycompeti-

tive with them,” said UNL Chancellor

Harvey Perlman.

Grace Kluck, (left) and Nick Herink.

Jere McGaffey.

www.unl.edu/cs

J

Because he was considered a nontraditional student, John E. McCue understood the

challenges students face when completing their education a little later in life.

After graduating in construction engineering in 1982, he built a 22-year career with Kiewit Construction as an engineer and area manager. Born Feb. 2, 1955, he died at home in Algonquin, Ill., on March 8, 2009, at the age of 54.

In his honor, family and friends established the John E. McCue Memorial Scholarship with gifts of nearly $60,000 to the University of Nebraska Foundation. Now endowed the fund enables the College of Engineering to award annual scholarships forever to support nontradi-tional students with financial need who study construction or civil engineering.

“John loved the University of Nebraska, and by creat-ing a scholarship fund in his name, it keeps him directly

tied to the university,” said Jerri McCue, John’s wife. Dan Wiek of Omaha is the first recipient of the schol-

arship. He went back to college at age 36 and is striving to graduate with a construction management degree.

“It means a lot to me the McCue family would make an investment like this to benefit other people,” said Wiek, who is married and helps raise his stepdaughter. “Saying thank you alone does not seem sufficient. I am honored to be chosen for this scholarship, and maybe one day I can do the same for someone else.”

The McCue family said they’re especially grateful to their friends at Kiewit who supported the scholarship. “It was overwhelming the way the Kiewit community sup-ported the fund,” Jerri McCue said.

The scholarship also provides support for the Cam-paign for Nebraska: Unlimited Possibilities and its goal to increase private support for student scholarships.

University of Nebraska Foundation

Scholarship Honors Life by Supporting Nontraditional

Engineering Students

8 | GoodNUz | FoUNdaTIoN UPdaTe

campaignfornebraska.org/unl

individuals have made donations to UNL during the campaign.

51,326 of new funds to the UNL campaign support student scholarships.

45%UNL students receive some form of fi nancial aid.

16,000

CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES• Students• Faculty• Global Engagement• Agriculture and Life Sciences• Information Technology• Cancer Research• Architectural Engineering

and Construction• Water for Food• Early Childhood Education

donors to UNL are fi rst-time donors during the campaign.

1 out of 3

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKALINCOLN

Amount Raised Toward $550 Million Campaign Goal2005 2014

of UNL campaign gifts are from Nebraska households/organizations.

All statistics as of November 30, 2011. The Campaign for Nebraska began in July, 2005 and will conclude in December, 2014.

new funds have been established during the campaign to support academic programs at UNL.

771

$572,287,105

John and Jerri McCue

FoUNdaTIoN UPdaTe | spring 2012 | 9

By Colleen Kenney Fleischer, ’88

The Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science

and Management has much to celebrate a decade after its home

within the Esther L. Kauffman Academic Residential Center opened its doors.

So does alumnus Alan Grow, who returned this past fall to help the school celebrate with its biggest alumni bash yet.

He hitchhiked halfway across the country for it. Not because he’s poor. He just needed to decompress after hitting it big in Hollywood with the start-up company he co-founded, iLuminate, which is creating a buzz in the entertainment biz.

“The past two years,” he said, “have been a pretty wild ride.” Grow, 30, co-founded iLuminate, billed as the first wear-

able, wireless lighting system. Stars like Christina Aguilera and the Black Eyed Peas have used iLuminate’s technology in their performances. At the 2010 BET Awards, Chris Brown blew people away dancing in the dark to Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal.” Death Cab for Cutie used iLuminate technology for a video.

A few months ago on NBC’s “America’s Got Tal-ent,” a team of dancers called “Team iLuminate” wowed the audience. Said Piers Morgan, one of the judges: “In terms of creativity and originality, this is probably the single most excit-ing audition I have ever seen on the show.”

Grow lives in New York City, where iLuminate is based. It had been two years since he returned to Lincoln. He flew from Hollywood – straight off the set of “AGT” – to meet a friend in Portland, and together they hitchhiked to the reunion.

“It was kind of mind-blowing how many people along the way knew about iLuminate,” he said. “People talk about the ‘reach’ of television, but that’s when it finally became real for me.”

Grow graduated in 2003. He was a member of the school’s first entering class, when the curriculum was still coming together and the Kauffman Center, he said, was “just a hole in the ground.”

“Everyone who goes through that program I think comes out the other end much better for it,” Grow said. “For the first few entering classes, I think blazing that trail really had an impact on

who we are today. We all learned pretty quickly to take responsibil-ity and just make stuff happen. Now that we’re all out there doing our things, we’ll have these great conversations about business and technology whenever we get back together – sharing insights, plug-ging people in to new opportunities, etc.

“It’s exactly what the program founders hoped and envisioned would happen, and it’s really starting to build up a technology scene in Lincoln.”

Among the school’s achievements this past decade:• The curriculum and

educational experience have evolved. This year the Design Studio, which teams juniors and seniors with professionals to find solutions for real-world clients, surpassed 100 projects.

• This fall’s freshman class of 30 includes eight National Merit Scholars, 18 Regent’s Scholars and six who are the first in their families to go to college. Seven of the 30 fresh-men are women. The average ACT score was 33.2.

• There’s a growing network of successful alumni – almost 300 now. Some work for major corporations like

Microsoft and Google. Some have founded their own companies, including local ones like Hudl and Allied Strategies. More are stay-ing in Lincoln because of employers like Nebraska Global.

“I really, really love that program,” Grow said. “I am so grate-ful for that full-ride, and for the opportunities that the program gave me coming out of college, and not having to worry about that student-loan debt hanging over me.”

Information technology is a top priority of the Campaign for Nebraska, including the Raikes School in Lincoln and the Peter Kiewit Institute in Omaha. If you’d like to help, please contact the University of Nebraska Foundation at (800) 432-3216 or visit campaignfornebraska.org.

The Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management

Grow Lighting Up Hollywood

Alan Grow.

Everyone who goes through

(The Jeffrey S. Raikes

School of Computer Manage-

ment) I think comes out the

other end much better for it.

... We all learned pretty

quickly to take responsibility

and just make stuff

happen. ... It’s exactly what

the program founders hoped

and envisioned would

happen, and it’s really

started to build up a

technology scene in Lincoln.

– Alan Grow

On Sept. 30, the University of Nebraska State Museum opened its renovated Native

American gallery, “First Peoples of the Plains: Traditions Shaped by Land & Sky.”

The gallery, curated by Alan Osborn, contains nine new exhibits as well as backlit

interpretive panels and video monitors that explore the enduring traditions

of Native American cultures of the Great Plains. Contemporary Native Americans

also present an introductory narrative, artwork and poetry to visitors to the gallery.

10 | GoodNUz | MUseUM

In conjunction with the new exhibit, striking portraits of Native American children in traditional powwow regalia by award-winning photographer Don Doll, S.J. are also on display, courtesy of the Betty Strong Encounter Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

More than 200 guests including tribal, state, and uni-versity dignitaries attended a September reception celebrat-ing the exhibit at Morrill Hall on the UNL city campus. They enjoyed traditional Native American food with a modern spin and outdoor drum and dance performances by the St. Augustine Indian Mission (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska) and Blackshoulder (Omaha Tribe of Nebraska).

The exhibit and gallery renovation were made possible through generous support from the University of Nebras-ka–Lincoln Class of 1987 Fund, Dr. Anne M. Hubbard, and the Claire M. Hubbard Foundation.

Thankful for the wonderful support of these donors, the museum would particularly like to recognize the alum-ni who have made such a positive impact on the museum.

“The financial gift dedicated to the museum by the

class of 1987 was instrumental in allowing us to renovate the gallery,” said Associate Director Mark Harris. “We are thrilled to be able to use the fund they created 25 years ago to make significant improvements to the museum for future generations to enjoy.”

Dorothy Pritchard Endacott, University of Nebraska Founda-tion Director of Communications and 1987 alum, attended the opening.

“It was really a privilege to represent the class of 1987 at the

opening of this exhibit and I am grateful to all of my fellow classmates who helped make it possible through their gifts. I encourage the class of 1987 and all alumni to make time to visit the ‘First Peoples of the Plains’ gallery at Morrill Hall. You will not be disappointed.”

“First Peoples of the Plains” will be on permanent display on the third floor of Morrill Hall.

For further information on the exhibit or other museum happenings, phone the museum at (402) 472-3779 or visit www.museum.unl.edu. If you’d like to make a gift to support the museum, please contact Connie Pejsar at the University of Nebraska Foundation at (402) 458-1190 or (800) 432-3216.

University of Nebraska State Museum

Morrill Hall Opens Renovated ‘First Peoples’ Exhibit

museum.unl.edu

J

By Kelly Bartling, ’86, ’08Planners at Nebraska Innovation Campus have

unveiled a new look and usage plan for the Industrial Arts Building, a historic structure at the former Nebraska State Fair Park. A design concept approved by the Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corp. maintains the historic footprint and external facade of the 99-year-old building while enabling advanced greenhouse space to be developed on the second floor.

Consultants and planners for Nebraska Innovation Campus had recommended the brick-and-steel trapezoidal-shaped 1913 structure be razed to make way for develop-ment at the campus. In response to concerns about the planned demolition expressed by historic preservationists, the university initially issued a request for proposals for the building’s redevelopment that failed to attract propos-als with financing. In June, Nebraska Nova Development LLC was contracted to carry out the first phase of devel-opment for Innovation Campus. That plan included four new or renovated buildings representing an estimated $80 million in public and private investments.

The concept for the renovated IAB involves construc-tion of a concrete floor inside the current walls at 17 feet above the current floor. This will allow the first floor to be used for greenhouse mechanical space, high bay research space needs and other functions. The second floor will house state-of-the-art greenhouse space, greenhouse sup-port space and approximately 4,000 square feet of office space.

“This is an excellent plan that maximizes the vast openness of the interior of the IAB while maintaining the integrity of the historic building structure – giving the building a new, 21st-century use and respecting its connec-tion with Nebraska history and the importance of agricul-ture to the state,” said Dan Duncan, executive director for Nebraska Innovation Campus. “This is most definitely a win-win.”

Duncan said the renovated and repurposed IAB will be a research anchor and symbolic gateway building for the campus. It will be directly linked to a major life sciences re-search facility that will house laboratory space for univers-ity and private industry researchers and startup companies. The life sciences building links to the former 4-H building – the east half of which is being renovated into a confer-ence center – which in turn links to a 90,000-square-foot companion building. The result is an initial complex of connected buildings creating the core of Phase 1 of Innova-tion Campus. Work is ready to begin on the former 4-H building project, to be complete by April 2013.

“This entire complex of more than 300,000 square feet will provide space for multiple types of research and office needs,” Duncan said. “Work with Nebraska Nova and multiple architects on this project has been very satisfying. We are excited to merge the past with the future in the complex of buildings.”

The 93,000-square foot Industrial Arts Building was developed as exposition space and called Agricultural Hall. Following World War I, the Lincoln Standard Aircraft Co. used the building to assemble airplanes. In 1948 it was renamed Industrial Arts. It was closed in 2004 when disrepair rendered it dangerous and useless as fair exposi-tion space.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln Chancellor Harvey Perlman said the latest plans are exciting and demonstrate the university’s collaboration with the state, local leaders, private industry and historic preservationists.

“I have always indicated that no one would be happier if we could find a private developer with the financing and creativity to reposition the Industrial Arts Building for a use consistent with the goals of Innovation Campus,” Perlman said. “This concept does that and is central to the ‘food, fuel and water’ theme we have promoted for the campus. I think this concept will go a long way in allowing us to attract private-sector companies to the property.”

In 2011, the Nebraska Legislature invested $25 million in development funding for Nebraska Innova-tion Campus – $10 million of which is intended for the renovation of the original 4-H Building. Another $15 mil-lion in funding also was offered to be matched by private development, targeted by the NIC corporate board for the creation of the life science building. Funding for the IAB renovation project announced today will be part of the $80 million investment plan announced last June.

Located on 232 acres north of City Campus, the former state fairgrounds came into university possession in 2010, and demolition, planning and pre-development

have been under way since. The research campus will be a public-private collaboration that capitalizes on research growth and expertise of UNL faculty to strengthen economic development in Nebraska. University consultants in 2009 estimated Nebraska Innova-tion Campus could bring annual new payroll to the local and state economy of $267 million, including $149 mil-lion in direct annual payroll and $118 million in indirect payroll from new spin-off jobs over 25 years of phased development.

Nebraska INNoVaTIoN CaMPUs | spring 2012 | 11

Nebraska Innovation Campus

UNL, Nebraska Nova Save the Industrial Arts Building

innovate.unl.edu

J

12 | GoodNUz | WorLd eNerGY ProJeCT

By Colleen Kenney Fleischer, ’88The baby boys – twins – were born too early. Both needed

oxygen, but the hospital had just one oxygen machine. The parents had a choice: Which son would get the machine,

and live, and which would not get it and die? UNL student Ashley Schmidt witnessed this a few years ago

when she worked at a hospital in Mali, West Africa. It shocked her. It shocked her when the baby who didn’t get oxygen died a

few days later. “It was really hard to see,” she said, “and to know that there

was literally nothing that I or anyone else could do.”She saw other scenes like that during her six months in Mali,

where machines and things she took for granted as a kid in Omaha were expensive and scarce and meant the difference between life and death.

She saw that life without easy access to energy was hard. She saw the importance of energy, and how it affects healthcare in the remote areas.

Schmidt befriended the hospital’s IT guy, a Dutch engineer, who ran the hospital’s energy systems. He let her go with him on trips to village clinics, where he installed solar panels and water pumps for clean water.

After returning to Nebraska, she thought of a way she could help.

Instead of studying for a career in medicine, she decided to study biosystems engineering.

“It didn’t take me long to realize that medicine wasn’t for me,” she said, smiling. “The first time I tried to help out with a C-sec-tion, I fainted.”

A year and a half ago, she and a core group of five or six other UNL students founded the World Energy Project. The goal of the group is to bring renewable energy resources to developing coun-tries around the world.

The students raised money. They grew in numbers and in-cluded engineering professors as advisers.

This past summer, Schmidt and some others in the group returned to Africa. They installed solar-powered irrigation systems. They put together solar panels for an orphanage. They visited a university and made connections with faculty and other students.

Next summer, they have three more projects lined up: one at a hospital in Mali, one at a girl’s school in Kenya and one in Zambia.

That hospital in Mali runs off the country’s energy grid and a diesel generator. It’s expensive. It cuts into the hospital’s budget for medicine, doctors and nurses.

The World Energy Project team will install a 30-kilowatt sys-tem so the hospital can run mostly on solar energy.

The World Energy Project now has 35 to 40 students divided into three groups: the engineering and design team that actually designs the solar panels and handles the tech side of things; the marketing-advertising-public relations team that gets the word out; and the fund-raising team, which sets up events and calls donors.

Engineering professors advise them. Most of the students are from UNL, but some are from UNK, UNO and Creighton University.

“I am really excited with where it’s heading,” said Schmidt, who’s the executive director. “I think we’re gaining a lot of momen-tum. It seems to be something that students here at Nebraska really identify with and get excited about.”

Experiencing Africa made a huge impact on the way she sees herself, she said, and those around her. It gave her a career path she’s passionate about, and an understanding of how she could use her education to help others.

It opened her eyes.A typical day for a woman in that part of Africa, she said,

means waking up with the sun and walking miles for the day’s water, which often isn’t clean. It means making food from scratch and taking four or five hours just to make one meal – usually the only meal of the day.

It means, if you’re a mom, that you often won’t name your baby for the first few months until you’re sure it’ll survive.

“It’s impossible to turn my back on that and just kind of forget that I ever saw that,” Schmidt said. “So I think that’s why I do this.”

If you’d like to help the World Energy Project, please visit their website at worldenergyproject.org or contact Ashley Schmidt at ashley@worldenergyproject.org.

World Energy Project

UNL Students Engage Globally with World

Energy Project

worldenergyproject.org

J

UNL engineering student Ashley Schmidt, founder of the World Energy Project, says spending time in West Africa changed her career plans dramatically – and her life.

A Life-changing ExperienceBy Colleen Kenney Fleischer, ’88

Travelingabroadwhenyou’reyoung

is so important, said Ashley Schmidt,

founder of the World Energy Project.

It’s great, she said, that the

University of Nebraska has made global

engagement one of its top fund-raising

priorities in its Campaign for Nebraska.

“I know that students are always

really thankful when other people can

help them experience things like that,

because a lot of times students don’t

really have the income to be able to

support travel to other places in the

world,” she said.

“And so it really means a lot to

those students to be able to do that,

especially in their undergrad career

when they are really forming their career

plans and life plans and making big

decisions about what they want to

do with their career.”

Schmidt received the Global

Gateway Scholarship and the Christian

Lieding Scholarship this past summer.

Both were technically to fund her two-

week study abroad trip to Germany to

study sustainability. But, she said, they

also supported her most recent trip to

Africa.

Her time abroad showed her how

her UNL engineering education could

make a big impact in other places

around the world.

“It was a really life-changing

experience for me,” she said.

If you’d like to support the

university’s effort to promote global

engagement and help students like

Schmidt change the world, please

contact the University of Nebraska

Foundation at (800) 432-3216 or visit

campaignfornebraska.org.

Ashley Schmidt and other UNL students are using what they’ve learned in Lincoln to install renewable energy systems in West African villages.

spring 2012 | 13

TOMMIEFRAZIER15Most people remember Tommie Frazier, the All-American football quarter-back who helped lead the Nebraska football team to back-to-back National Championships in the mid 1990s. Tommie continues to be asked how he has handled the pressures of being a world-class athlete; dealing with a career-ending illness; working in the business world; and being a husband, father and friend. Let Tommie share his compelling stories that touch on teaching, teamwork, goals, leadership, adversity, peer pressure and choices with your organization.

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14 | GoodNUz | researCH

Understanding aquifer recharge key to assessing sustainability

By Gillian KlucasIn many areas worldwide, aquifer depletion is a criti-

cal challenge for agricultural production. Understanding how quickly aquifers are recharged is essential to assessing depletion risks, but it’s one of the most difficult parts of the water cycle to measure.

UNL hydrogeologist John Gates studies the world’s aquifers to understand groundwater recharge, whether he’s investigating drainage below a single irrigated field or the health of an entire groundwater system.

“Aquifers that receive no recharge are nonrenewable resources, analogous to fossil fuels,” Gates said. “By de-termining the rate of groundwater renewal, we are able to assess the long-term viability of irrigated agriculture.”

Gates primarily studies arid regions, where precipita-tion is relatively scarce. In these areas, periodic storms can recharge groundwater aquifers. He and UNL meteorologist Adam Houston are teaming to study how storms affect recharge.

“If we want to achieve predictive capability about recharge in arid areas, we have to get on top of this issue of episodic recharge,” said Gates, an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences.

In northern China, Gates works with researchers to improve the efficiency of irrigation, which relies on groundwater. Decades of heavy irrigation and increasing urbanization have strained the region’s aquifers, which recharge too slowly to sustain current use rates.

Determining groundwater age helps Gates understand recharge rates. Using techniques such as radiocarbon dating of water-soluble carbon picked up as water passes through the soil, he calculates the water’s age based on changes in isotope compositions over time. “Isotopic tracers let us unravel how long groundwater has been in an aquifer.”

In contrast to aquifers in northern China, most of the High Plains Aquifer in Nebraska receives sufficient recharge for the time being, thanks largely to its sandy soil.

“We do have some hot spots of depletion around the state,” Gates said. “But Nebraska is fortunate to have natu-rally high recharge rates.” UNL hydrogeologist John Gates is surrounded by samples in his lab. He studies the

world’s aquifers to understand groundwater recharge.

By Gillian Klucas

Carbon, the ubiquitous element of life, has many special properties.

Harnessing it at the atomic level to create nanostructures promises to

transform many everyday products, from computer chips to sunglasses.

Discovering fast, cost-effective ways to mass produce these nanostructures is key to their practical use. It’s Yong-feng Lu’s specialty.

“Carbon nanostructures have very large potential in different applications,” said Lu, Lott University Professor of Electrical Engineering.

His UNL team has developed several unique processes that use lasers to make precise carbon nanostructures. They are refining their techniques and exploring new ap-plications for their nanostructures. Since 2003, they have earned more than $14 million in research grants.

Their laser-based production techniques can precisely control the length, diameter and properties of carbon nanotubes. Using these highly electrically and thermally conductive nanotubes, Lu’s team developed methods to improve transistors and sensors that may one day speed up computers and other electrical devices, while minimizing energy consumption and heat generation.

They also discovered how to control a carbon nano-tube’s diameter from one end to the other, which alters its characteristics. Lu envisions variable-diameter nanotubes customized for specific uses.

Now they’re studying how to join carbon nanotubes to make smaller, lighter wires that carry large amounts of current for use in electric cars and other products.

Another breakthrough process creates carbon nano-onions, spherical nanostructures resembling onion layers that have unique electrical, optical and mechanical proper-ties. Nano-onions can store large amounts of energy on their extensive surface area. Using nano-onions, Lu’s team has developed supercapacitors for high-density energy storage.

Nano-onions also have optical limiting properties,

Office of Research and Economic Development

Laser Power Creates Precise Nanostructures

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researCH | spring 2012 | 15

absorbing light as it intensifies. Lu’s research could lead to improved eye protection, optical sensors, satellites and other optical-dependent materials.

Lu’s team also developed a fast, single-step process using lasers to write graphene patterns on surfaces. A basic building block for other nanostructures, graphene re-sembles nanoscale chicken wire. Its electrical conductivity and transparency could be used in products such as LCD televisions and solar panels.

“Carbon is everywhere, so the future of electronics, photonics and many high-tech industries will not be lim-ited by supplies,” Lu said.

Yongfeng Lu (left), Lott University Professor

of Electrical Engineering, and some of his team in the lab.

Also pictured, from left, are: graduate students Zhiqiang Xie

and Lisha Fan and post doc Prem Kumar.

With a historic Big Ten home game slate featuring Michigan, Penn State, Minnesota and

Wisconsin, this coming Husker football season may be one of the most anticipated ever.

16 | GoodNUz | MeMbersHIP

Through the annual association ticket lottery, VIP program and the Hail Varsity Society, NAA membership could be your key to a great seat in the Sea of Red when the 2012 season kicks off.

Our ticket system is based on membership status, involvement and giving. The more involved you are with the alumni association, the better chance you have of receiving single-game tickets of your choice.

If You Are Already a Member…For current members, it couldn’t be easier – simply return the Football Ticket Request form ranking the games that interest you. If the association has tickets available for a game you ranked and your membership is active, tickets will be awarded to you. You also have the opportunity to make a new 100 percent tax-deductible gift or upgrade your membership on the ticketform – doing so moves you up the priority list.

Not a Member? Not a Problem!If you want in on the gridiron action and aren’t currently a

member, you can join on the request form or online at Huskeralum.org before May 1. If you really want to enhance your chances of getting tickets to a top-tier game, join as a life member and consider making a 100 percent tax-deductible gift on top of your life membership. In addition to your game tickets, you’ll enjoy member benefits such as discounts, publications like the members-only Nebraska Magazine, special event invitations and more. New Life Members will also have their names engraved on a bronze plaque for the Life Endowment Wall in the garden at the Wick Alumni Center.

Another OpportunityOccasionally, tickets become available at the last minute for

home and away football games and home basketball and volleyball games. Life members of the NAA are eligible to purchase these tickets by joining the Husker Hotlist. Once your name is on the hotlist, you’ll receive e-mail notification when tickets become avail-able. To join the list, check the box on the form on page 17, or update your HuskerAlum user profile by selecting “yes” next to the option for the Husker Hotlist.

Nebraska Alumni Association

MEMBERSHIP: Your Ticket to the 2012 Football Season

VIP Packages —Assure Yourself a Seat

NAA members may also participate

in the Nebraska Alumni Association’s

VIP Football Weekend that includes

guaranteed game tickets, a downtown

hotel stay, Nebraska Champions Club

passes, special tours, access and more.

Just pack your red, get to Lincoln and

we’ll take care of the rest. For more

information visit HuskerAlum.org or

call Sarah Haskell at (888) 353-1874.

If you’re not already a NAA member,

you may join at the time of your VIP

purchase.

Football Season TicketsAvailabletoHail Varsity Society

If one game just isn’t enough, a

limited number of season tickets will be

made available to members of the Hail

Varsity Society. For a $4,000 annual

donation, society members get access

to purchase up to four 2012 season

tickets and four Nebraska Champions

Club passes, and the ability to request

surplus tickets for away football games,

volleyball,basketballandOlympic

sports. Society membership is extremely

limited. For more information or to join

the Hail Varsity Society, contact Andrew

Greer at (402) 472-8915.

Chapter/Affiliate Group Seating

Group seating is available for

chapter and affiliate group members.

At least 10 chapter or group members

must request and receive tickets to

any given game to be seated together,

based on availability. Chapter and group

leaders will work with members to

determine the group’s preferred games.

Please note, any individual member is

free to deviate from the chapter/group

preference, if he/she has interest in

other games. Contact your chapter or

group leader for more information.

prOcedUre ANd deAdLINeSPlease complete the form below by May 1, 2012 to be included in the football ticket lottery. Tickets are lim-ited to one game and two tickets per household, with priority going to life members with donations, then life members, then annual members of the Nebraska Alumni Association. Involvement and service moves you to the top of your group.

TIcKeT reQUeSTSMark your preferences for home and away games on the form below. If your name is drawn to receive tickets, your credit card will charged and you will receive mail or e-mail confirmation by mid-June. The actual per ticket price will match university single-game tickets prices. Home tickets will be available for pickup at the Wick Alumni Center, at “Football Friday” the week of the game, or at the stadium will-call window on game day beginning three hours prior to kickoff. Away game tickets may be picked up at our pre-game event(s) where applicable or via FedEx for a $25 charge.

2012 Football tICket requeSt Form

Name______________________________________________________________________________

Address_____________________________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip_______________________________________________________________________

Telephone (home)_______________________________ (work)_______________________________

E-mail Address ______________________________________________________________________

Enroll me in the Husker Hot List (must be a life member)

Please charge my credit card: AmEx Discover MasterCard VISA (No checks please)

Credit card #________________________________________________________________________

Exp. date____________________________ V-Code____________

Membership/Giving Status: Life Member + Donor Life Member Paying Life Member Annual Member

Member ID # (See your magazine mailing label – directly across from your name)____________________

Affiliate/Chapter Name (if applicable)______________________________________________________

Additional Tax-Deductible Gift to Elevate Priority $___________________________________________

20

12

FOO

TBA

LLTI

CK

ET

2012 NebraSka Football tICket requeSt FormIndicate quantity (maximum of two tickets) and rank your

game preferences with 1 being your top choice: Home games in boldface.

Rank Quantity Price Game Date

_____ 1 or 2 TBd Southern miss Sat., Sept. 1

_____ 1 or 2 TBD @ UCLA Sat., Sept. 8

_____ 1 or 2 TBd Arkansas State Sat., Sept. 15

_____ 1 or 2 TBd Opponent TBd Sat., Sept. 22

_____ 1 or 2 TBd wisconsin (Life Members Only) Sat., Sept. 29

_____ 1 or 2 TBD @ Northwestern Sat., Oct. 20

_____ 1 or 2 TBd michigan (Life Members Only) Sat., Oct. 27

_____ 1 or 2 TBD @ Michigan State Sat., Nov. 3

_____ 1 or 2 TBd penn State Sat., Nov. 10

_____ 1 or 2 TBd minnesota Sat., Nov. 17

_____ 1 or 2 TBD @ Iowa Fri., Nov. 23

Games not shown are sold out, although tickets may still be available as part of a travel package. Check “Tickets and Travel” at HuskerAlum.org for details.

RE

QU

ES

T FO

RM

INVOLVEMENT and SERVIcE (if any)Postcards of Pride VolunteerHuskers for Higher EducationCather Circle Affiliate/Chapter MemberAlumni Awards CommitteeAlumni Advisory CouncilTravel Program ParticipantHusker Rewards Card Holder Former Board MemberReunion Attendee Other__________________________________ Other__________________________________ Other__________________________________ Other__________________________________

Send form with credit card info (no checks please), postmarked by may 1, to: Nebraska Alumni Association, ATTN.: Football Tickets, 1520 r Street, Lincoln, Ne 68508-1651

Non-members complete This Section

Life membership paid-in-Full No reminder notices, no annual dues. Add your name to the Life Endowment Wall. nIndividual $1000 nJoint $1250

Life membership 5-year plan Makes life membership easier to afford by billing you annually. nIndividual $230/year nJoint $290/year

Senior Life membership For our alumni and friends over 65 years old. nIndividual $450 nJoint $550

Annual membership Less than a dollar per week. nIndividual $50 nJoint $60

recent graduate membership For our newest alumni less than three years out of college. nIndividual $15 nJoint $20

For Office Use Only:

MeMbersHIP | spring 2012 | 17

4NAA12•TIX

Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources

USDA Grant Supports New E. coli Research

18 | GoodNUz | IaNr

By Daniel R. MoserUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln scientists are taking their

battle against foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 into the belly of the beast, as it were – hoping to figure out what is in the gut of some livestock that makes them so-called “supershed-ders” of pathogens.

The research team, headed by food microbiologist Andy Ben-son, received a five-year, $2.35 million grant from the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture last summer. The project will build on earlier work done with lab mice by Benson and his collaborators.

E. coli O157:H7 long has been known to colonize the bovine gut. Although it causes no disease symptoms in the animals, it can be transmitted to humans through improperly cooked beef, among other ways.

Pre-harvest E. coli research has focused primarily on the epidemiology of the disease, along with field-level and management factors that affect transmission from animal to animal, Benson said.

“More recently, studies looking at animal-level factors have shown that while many animals may be carriers of the organism, a small portion of animals shedding the organism at very high levels may account for much of the transmission risk,” added Benson, the W. W. Marshall Professor of Biotechnology in UNL’s Department of Food Science and Technology.

Those animals are referred to as “supershedders.”E. coli research so far has yielded disease-fighting interventions

primarily at slaughter and post-slaughter stages of production, Ben-son said. With the newly funded research, scientists hope to devise some intervention strategies against the disease much earlier in the production process.

Previous research at UNL by a large team led by Benson used mice to show that genetic makeup of vertebrate hosts is a key factor in controlling the levels of individual organisms within the entire microbiota carried in the gut. This work, funded by the National Institutes of Health, combines quantitative genetics and micro-biota analysis across different mouse populations. Collaborators in this research include Stephen Kachman, a UNL statistics scientist; Etsuko Moriyama, a UNL genomics and bioinformatics scientist; and Daniel Pomp, a mouse geneticist formerly of UNL and now of the University of North Carolina.

Benson said the team’s research has documented a strong association of several gut organisms with 13 different genetic loca-tions in the mouse, with more still being discovered as the work progresses.

“It wasn’t a big leap to think, ‘you know, this hasn’t really been looked at in food animals,’” Benson said. The new USDA grant

will enable Benson and other scientists to do just that.

UNL scientists will do so in partnership with USDA’s Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center and Geneseek, a private, Lincoln-based company that specializes in genotyping.

“It’s really a Nebraska-centric project,” Benson said, noting that all of the important pieces to the research exist in the state.

The goal is to try to associate organisms in the cattle’s gastro-intestinal tract with genes in the animals to see if some of those interactions are causing certain animals to become supershedders of the E. coli pathogen, while others that may have E. coli present do not shed it in unusual numbers.

If those relationships can be understood, it may be possible to develop breeding and genetic programs to reduce the number of animals that shed high levels of E. coli O157:H7, salmonella, campylobacter and other pathogens.

“While epidemiologically oriented approaches have provided extensive information about the transmission patterns of the organ-ism, they have essentially failed to come up with meaningful and effective pre-harvest interventions that work in beef production,” Benson said. “On the other hand, breeding strategies, which have heretofore never been considered as an approach, could be imple-mented as a relatively simple intervention with potentially huge payoffs, ultimately reducing numbers of ‘supershedders’ that are released into feeding operations.”

Benson said producers would be eager for such a break-through.

“Many producers are already using sophisticated approaches to manage their breeding programs. For them, it would be yet another gene and another trait on their list of things that want to breed for or breed against,” he said.

MARC will provide about 1,500 animals for the research, and its bovine gene mapping group, including Larry Keuhn and War-ren Snelling, will be involved, as will USDA microbiologists Jim Wells and Jim Bono. Geneseek will handle the genotypic studies.

UNL’s Gut Function Initiative and Core for Applied Genom-ics and Ecology also will be involved in the research.

Benson said the MARC-UNL partnership was “greatly facili-tated” by John Pollak, director of MARC, and Rolando Flores, head of UNL’s Department of Food Science and Technology.

The USDA grant was part of the Food Safety Foundational Awards from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The goal is to try to as-

sociate organisms in the

cattle’s gastrointestinal tract

with genes in the animals to

see if some of those interac-

tions are causing certain ani-

mals to become supershed-

ders of the E. coli pathogen,

while others that may have

E. coli present do not shed it

in unusual numbers.

If those relationships can

be understood, it may be

possible to develop breeding

and genetic programs to re-

duce the number of animals

that shed high levels of E.

coli O157:H7, salmonella,

campylobacter and other

pathogens.

Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Heuermann Lectures Address Coming Agricultural Challenges ‘Backyard Farmer’

Maintains Popularity After 60 YearsBy Sandi Alswager Karstens, ’01, ’07

Now in its 60th year of production,

“Backyard Farmer” has something in

addition to an anniversary to celebrate.

Ratings for the popular garden show

reached an all-time high last year.

May 2011 sweeps reached 23,500

Nebraska households, which was about

a 46 percent increase in audience, said

Backyard Farmer Producer Brad Mills.

Theshowhadaveraged14,000house-

holds since 2007.

“I think people are getting a lot more

serious about growing their own food and

they want to know how to do that,” Mills

said. “We’ve been concentrating on get-

ting people back to their own backyards

and getting the most out of their home

gardens.”

Mills also attributes the ratings to

younger people who are buying homes

for the first time and then want answers

on how to make their surroundings look

better.

Theshowalsoreceivedabumper

crop of e-mails, letters, samples and

phone calls, Mills said.

It is the most downloaded UNL pro-

gram, said EdMedia’s Mark Hendricks. In

addition, the show has made a splash on

iTunesUandYouTube,consistentlybe-

ingintheTop10ofthesciencecategory

oniTunesandNo.17overalloniTunes

U–adistributionsystemforeverything

from lectures to language sessions, films

to labs, audio books to tours and a way to

get educational content into the hands of

students and others.

Theshowalsoreceivesthousandsof

hitsonitsYouTubechannel.(http://www.

youtube.com/user/bucslim).

“It’s not just Nebraska anymore, it’s

going across the country,” Mills said.

Archived shows, clips and other in-

formation about “Backyard Farmer” can

be found on its website, http://www.byf.

unl.edu, or by liking it on Facebook.

Speakers from both fronts set the tone last fall for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ new Heuermann Lecture series.

Ronnie Green, Harlan vice chancellor of IANR, said the lectures, to be held monthly during the school year, will help frame the issues around the challenges ahead for agriculture.

“Predictions are that in the next 40 years, the world’s popula-tion will require a doubling of food production globally, where at least 70 percent must come from efficiency improving technology,” said Green, who also is University of Nebraska vice president for agriculture and natural resources.

“How we’ll produce that increased food supply affects everyone. People need sound information to make thoughtful, well-informed decisions on what they’ll support, and why. The Heuermann Lectures are a wonderful gift to the state of Nebraska to bring world leaders in the conversation about the security and safety of our food supply and natural resources to UNL on an ongoing basis for many years to come.”

The world must find ways to sustain natural resources and produce renewable energy even as people talk of global climate change and its potential effects on animals, land and people, Green continued, adding there’s also a need to secure the sustainability of rural communities where the vital work of producing food and renewable energy occurs.

“Ways we can provide security – and by that I meanenough to sustain us all, all around the world – in the areas of food, natural resources, renewable energy, communities and people, are the focus of this lecture series,” Green said.

The second speaker in the series, UNL small grains breeder P. Stephen Baenziger, put it this way: “Failure cannot be an option – unless you’re willing to accept starvation.”

The first speaker in the series was the world’s first World Food Prize laureate, M.S. Swaminathan of India, a world leader in sustainable food security, and the catalyst of the green revolution movement in India from 1960-1982 that moved the country from having the world’s largest food deficit to producing enough grain to feed its people.

ianr.unl.edu

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(From left) Norma and B. Keith Heuermann visit with M.S. Swaminathan and NU President J.B. Milliken.

The critical battle to feed a growing world in the future will be

fought everywhere from the labs and fields of land-grant universities such as the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln to the front lines of growing populations in India and elsewhere.

By Cheryl Alberts Irwin, ’96, ’00

Kai Schafer loves camping and the outdoors. So when he hiked

325 mountainous miles to collect hair samples from grizzly bears,

he says he “had the time of my life” while working toward career goals.

Ashley Bernstein’s healthier confections, and the family farm roots

of Alissa Doerr and Courtney Spilker, all move them toward their career goals, as well.

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Undergrad Experiences Pave Career Paths

20 | GoodNUz | CoLLeGes

Schafer and Doerr are among College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources students gaining career footholds through internships, while Bernstein and Spilker are among the 425 UCARE (Undergraduate Creative Activities Research Experiences) students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Schafer, a fisheries and wildlife student from St. Edward, had a 2011 summer internship on the Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Project, a cooperative venture of the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Montana.

The UNL senior collected hair samples from grizzlies after they rubbed and scratched themselves against trees. Samples were analyzed to determine bear gender and num-bers, helping indicate bear popula-tion trends in the 2.4 million-acre study area in northwest Montana and northeast Idaho.

Schafer said his experiences were a career “stepping stone many people don’t have.” He next hopes to be a grizzly project biotechnician, planning routes to collect wildlife samples.

Out on the East Coast, Alissa Doerr found she needn’t have been apprehensive about living in the nation’s capital while she interned with the National Corn Growers Association.

“I was shocked I fit in so well,” said Doerr, an agricultural economics junior from Creighton.

She took notes during Congressional meetings and hearings on the Korea, Panama and Columbia North American Free Trade Agreements, and topics such as bio-technology, ethanol, water quality, pesticides and food aid. In her spare time she kayaked the Potomac River.

Doerr now better understands the federal government,

lobbying and agricultural policies, and has gained multiple professional contacts.

The student ambassador and future attorney is president of the Nebraska chapter of the National Agri-marketing Association. Doerr said she hopes to practice agricultural law in the Midwest, allowing her to retain her rural roots.

Bernstein, a food science and technology senior from Elkhorn, worked with Michael Zeece for her first UCARE project, researching and developing apple-pie caramels made with real apples. She also made a healthy caramel with honey, brown rice syrup and low-fat evaporated milk.

Her second UCARE project, working with pilot plant

manager Laurie Keeler, is frozen kefir that is healthier than traditional ice cream, Bernstein said.

Her experiments in the Food Science and Technology laboratory include working with edible glitter and hand-pulling taffy, learning ingredients and perfecting their com-binations for the marketplace. The Honors student and CASNR ambassador is contemplating graduate school and

aspires to “make food safe, healthy and affordable for everyone.”

Plant biology sophomore Courtney Spilker’s summer UCARE focus was switchgrass/greenbug interactions, a project started earlier in the laboratory of entomology professor Tiffany Heng-Moss.

Spilker ground grass samples for protein, analyzed data and took careful measurements – long, repetitive laboratory tasks that taught her the value of patience. The Beatrice native also is a plant science teaching assistant and was a Dean’s Scholar in Experiential Leadership freshman.

Spilker said she gains energy being surrounded by young women who are “super motivated. The more experi-ences you have the more you know what you want in life.” Heng-Moss, she added, has shown her the many diverse occupations that can be held with a CASNR degree. Grad-uate school might be in her future, and possibly teaching.

“Nebraska is my home, and I want to make it a better place,” Spilker said.

(Above) While collecting hair for the Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Project, Kai Schafer hiked 325 miles in northwest Montana and northeast Idaho.(Left) Ashley Bernstein makes healthier confections, such as low-fat, low-sugar caramels and frozen kefir, in the Food Processing Center laboratory.

casnr.unl.edu

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By Sabrina Tockook and Megan BrincksStudying abroad impacts students personally, socially,

educationally and professionally, whether the student travels for a year, a semester or a few weeks. The College of Archi-tecture offers short summer excursions to Ecuador and Italy for students to enrich their experiences abroad.

From the ancient elegance of Italy to the tropical lands of the Amazon, the students encounter amazing, life-changing experiences. While these summer trips are altered slightly each year, improving personal skills in stunning environments is still guaranteed.

ecUAdOr 2010

The Ecuador trip presents a completely different adventure from other study abroad countries. Professor Kim Wilson, landscape architecture and community and regional planning program director, wanted students to leave the comfort of United States suburbs and explore a much more developing area.

During the summer of 2010, Wilson took 12 students to the Amazon of Ecuador for 15 days. The students worked directly with the village as the community changed its focus from agriculture to eco-tourism. The goal was to develop a new master layout plan for the village, establishing both short and long term development schedules. Wilson’s goal for her students was to “condition them as much as pos-sible.”

“It is stressful, but a learning opportunity,” Wilson said. ”You impact individuals as well as yourself, even if there are no physical results within those three weeks.”

“The overall experience was really life changing, and it makes me see how we live back in the states in a completely different way,” said Kristen Bender, third-year interior de-

sign student. “It’s different than the other study abroad trips, I think, because it is the reality of a developing country smacking you in the face.”

Daily interaction with and feedback from the villagers involved the students in the community. Andrea Koerner, sixth-year architecture graduate student, said, “You had to listen to them. We didn’t just come in and tell them what to do; they were involved in every step of the process.” Koerner found Ecuador the most beautiful and unique of the 13 countries she has visited.

gALApAgOS 2011

The 2011 Galapagos trip followed the same structure as Ecuador. “Go with the flow and see what happens, you never know how it will turn out,” Wilson said. Students again worked in teams, gained service knowledge and impacted communities as well as themselves, leaving with an eye-opening experience.

The trip began with a few days in the city of Kito. The group then traveled to their Galapagos destination for ten days of work and ended the trip with a few days in Baños in the Andes Mountains. This gave the students a look at three entirely different environments in a short amount of time.

ITALy 2010

Summer 2010 was the first trip to Italy for a drawing and sketching class. The idea for the trip came from the seminar presented by Hyde Chair of Excellence Professor Brian Andrews during the spring of 2010. Students read and discussed Italian architects and architecture, and many of the Hyde chair students wanted to experience what was taught in class, which sparked the idea for a trip to Italy. Ten stu-dents traveled throughout the country learning and drawing.

The trip began in Rome and moved through Florence, Siena, Venezia, Vicenze Verona, Mantova, Como and Milan. The beginning of the trip was not what the students antici-pated, however.

“We arrived in Rome without any of our luggage,” said Kelly Hiskey, sixth-year architecture graduate student. “We spent four days walking around in the pouring rain without clean clothes, umbrellas, etc. That did not stop me from having a good time. All I could think was, ‘I am in Italy!’”

Sometimes the group was so enthralled by their sur-roundings they would not stop for lunch, using every moment to explore the city. The students spent a few hours at each destination where they produced a series of sketches and writings.

Hiskey said the experience was “amazing! We were constantly surrounded by brilliant architecture, beautiful materials and a wonderful culture.”

“It was the best thing I have ever done. We’ve learned about all the buildings and the architectural periods, but to experience them was awesome,” said Archie Carpenter, sixth-year architecture graduate student.

Italy and Ecuador excursions allow for unique opportu-nities for College of Architecture students. From working in a third-world country, to sketching the ancient architecture of Italy, both are open to students of all levels and disci-plines in the college and produce new friendships in new work environments. Architecture students are encouraged to sign up, pack their bags and prepare for the summer of a lifetime.

archweb.unl.edu

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College of Architecture

Summer Studies Take Students to Italy, Ecuador

Villagers and students posed in Ecuador. Italian architectural sketches. Students used headlamps to work at night.

College of Arts and Sciences

UNL Chemist Winner of NSF Innovation Grant

22 | GoodNUz | CoLLeGes

By Jean Ortiz JonesA potentially life-saving innovation developed by a University

of Nebraska–Lincoln chemist is among 21 concepts across the country selected to receive support through a new National Science Foundation program that aims to guide promising scientific discov-eries toward commercialization.

Professor Stephen DiMagno and his entrepreneurial team are among the inaugural recipients of NSF’s Innovation Corps award, also known as the I-Corps. Winners were announced this past fall.

“This award confirms the importance of the four years of work that went into helping to develop the technology,” DiMagno said. “The selection process also helps validate the value of the technol-ogy for translation into clinically important medicines.”

Each recipient team received $50,000 to begin assessing the viability of the technology for a new start-up enterprise, specialized training, and an opportuni-ty to present their products to venture capitalists at the end of the six-month program. NSF specifically sought out discoveries that offer near-term benefits to society or the economy.

With support from a previous NSF grant, DiM-agno developed a new way to make imaging agents for staging and managing certain cancers, including pediatric cancers and cardiac disease, as well as various neurological disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

“Our research program allows us to create imaging agents that previously were very difficult to synthesize or were unknown,” DiMagno said. “Such compounds will allow us to understand each person’s specific disease process better and apply optimum therapies on a patient-by-patient basis.”

He said he got the initial idea to pursue this research as he contemplated how to get back to the reason he chose to become a chemist: to have a positive impact on people’s lives through science.

“It sounds trite, but it’s true,” he said.DiMagno had the help of Kiel Neumann, a graduate student

from O’Neill who is pursuing a doctorate in organic chemistry. Neumann has been involved with the project from its infancy and helped establish a collaboration with St. Jude Children’s Research

Hospital, an internationally recognized pediatric treatment and research facility based in Memphis, Tenn. It’s there that Neumann and DiMagno complete the final step in making the radioactive compounds. That’s necessary because the compounds only have a half-life of 110 minutes, meaning to be effective they must be used immediately or they disappear.

Working to develop the technology has been rewarding to say the least, Neumann said.

“I think a lot of people see chemistry as this esoteric thing that nobody really knows about and it’s all sort of voodoo magic,” Neu-mann said. “But it’s nice to see what you develop at the benchtop translate into impacting children’s well-being.”

With its team format, the I-Corps program is structured to train the next generation of entrepreneurs to look at all aspects of high-tech business development, DiMagno said.

“The goal is that the student eventually will lead a company or have the training necessary to start his own company in the future,” he said.

Besides Neumann, DiMagno’s team includes Allan Green, a physician, research scientist and law-yer with extensive experi-ence in the pharmaceutical industry, including the

launch of imaging products. Green will serve as a mentor.In his quest toward commercialization, DiMagno also has

worked closely with NUtech Ventures, a nonprofit affiliate of the University of Nebraska that connects university researchers with the private sector. NUtech staff has helped manage the technology, filed patents to protect the technology, and offered advice about how best to proceed with establishing a viable business enterprise around the technology.

DiMagno said he is happy about the progress made to date and with the NSF grant in hand, is confident about the potential surrounding his discovery.

“I’d like to think we have arrived at the cutting edge of mo-lecular imaging, starting from nothing, in four years,” DiMagno said. “And that is really a testament to the amount of support we get from the people of Nebraska and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.”

“Our research program

allows us to create imaging

agents that previously were

very difficult to synthesize

or were unknown. Such

compounds will allow us to

understand each person’s

specific disease process

better and apply optimum

therapies on a patient-by-

patient basis.”

– Professor Stephen DiMagno

ascweb.unl.edu

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Professor Stephen DiMagno and graduate student Kiel Neumann (right) share a lighter momentwhile conducting research.

By Sheri Irwin-Gish

When Peter Sam moved to Gothenburg, Neb.,

from Los Angeles in 2005, he experienced cul-

ture shock. A sophomore in high school at the

time, Sam liked to blend into the crowd.

“I was shy and it was tough meeting people.

However, everyone was nice in Gothenburg and

introduced themselves, so it was much easier to

get to know people,” Sam said.

His parents, Kit and Lan Sam, moved to Nebraska to open a restaurant. Both were born in Guangzhu, China, and did not speak fluent English. Peter greeted patrons, dealt with the business paperwork, trained new employees, helped with advertising and translated for his parents.

“I learned a lot about running a business and developed an entrepreneurship mind,” Sam said.

When it was time to select a college, he wanted to stay in state to make tuition affordable.

“Visiting was the deciding factor for me in choosing the Uni-versity of Nebraska–Lincoln. The people I met provided valuable insight about UNL, the College of Business Administration and the city of Lincoln. I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of something big,” Sam said.

Now a senior at the UNL College of Business, Sam plans to be an interventional cardiologist, a doctor who specializes in the catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases. He decided to major in management because he also wants to own his own practice.

Sam has already shadowed nurses and doctors at three hospi-tals in Nebraska and one in San Diego.

“At Schripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego, I was right next to the doctor while he was in surgery. I got to see everything while they explained step-by-step what they were doing. One doctor taught me how to look at a cardiogram of a heart,” he said.

He was one of 60 students selected from all over the country to be part of the summer Medical and Dental Education Program offered by the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

“This program prepared us for medical school. People from all over the world were there and it wasn’t all about studying. It really broke down the stereotypes related to these professions and solidi-fied that I want to be a doctor,” he said.

While at UNL, Sam has been very active in the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE). SIFE is an international non-profit organi-zation that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their commu-nities.

“SIFE is a great organization and I have gained so much life experience and improved my leadership skills in the process. I’m helping people with projects and building my resume at the same time,” he said.

This fall, Peter received the Alvin Rohrs Servant Leadership Scholarship and the Paul Hogan Entrepreneurial Scholarship. The Rohrs award recognizes a SIFE student who had the greatest impact improving their team as servant leader. The Hogan award honors a CBA student for academic excellence and a desire to start his or her own business following graduation.

“I was honored and am extremely grateful for both awards. They have made my senior year less stressful,” said Sam, who no longer wants to blend into the crowd. He will take the MCAT this spring and apply for early admission to the University of Nebraska Medical School.

College of Business Administration

Senior Peter Sam Thrives at CBA SIFE Wins

True Hero GrantBy Roger Simonsen

TheUNLStudentsinFreeEnter-

prise (SIFE) group has received a $3,000

grantfromTrueHeroInc.,anonprofit

organization that awards grants to youth

and student groups whose community

projectsgarneroutsidesupport.True

Hero’s goal is to raise money and aware-

ness for heroic efforts in a fun way by

using social networking, cash awards,

andpopularvoting.TheSIFEteamwas

awarded first place in the college project

category with 1,234 votes, mainly due

to support from the UNL College of

Business Administration and the Lincoln

community.

“TheTrueHerograntawardedto

the UNL SIFE team highlights the talents

and abilities of our students,” said Sam

Nelson,SIFEAdviser.“TheUNLSIFE

team consists of a diverse group of very

bright individuals from multiple colleges

within UNL, yet they all share a passion

to improve the world around them.”

With the grant money, SIFE plans

to help promote self-sufficiency among

residents in the Pine Ridge community

in southwest South Dakota by providing

opportunitiestosucceed.ThePineRidge

Indian Reservation has one of the highest

rates of unemployment in the United

States.

Thegrantmoneywillhelpestablish

grant writing education in Reservation

high school classrooms and entrepre-

neurial programs encouraging the growth

ofsmallbusinesses.Thehopeisthat

Pine Ridge students will use their writing

skills to influence their community with

their ideas.

Students of all majors interested in

making a difference can e-mail unlsife@

yahoo.com to see how to get involved

with SIFE.

cba.unl.edu

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Peter Sam

24 | GoodNUz | CoLLeGes

College of Education and Human Sciences

Susan Swearer Looks for Ways to Prevent Bullying

In March at a conference in the White House, UNL professor Susan Swearer joined a panel of researchers to stress the need to put research to practice when looking for ways to prevent bullying.

“There is a big gap between research and practice,” she said later. “We know from two decades of research what works and what doesn’t work. We don’t have all the answers, but we have a lot of the answers.”

In November back home in Nebraska, Swearer took part in a series of events that demonstrated her commitment to narrowing that gap between research and practice. She led a teacher workshop and met with middle school students who had just seen the play, “Shape of a Girl,” presented Nov. 7 by the Canadian Green Thumb Theatre of Vancouver, British Columbia, in the Johnny Carson The-ater at UNL’s Lied Center for Performing Arts.

An estimated 400 middle and high school students and teachers attended the play, which is based on the real-life story of a Canadian girl, Reena Virk, 14, who was murdered by teen attackers in 1997.

“Quality performances like this bring issues to life and help kids and adults think about issues from multiple perspectives,” said Swearer, a licensed psychologist and a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology in the College of Education and Human Sciences. She said the students she met with at Irving and Mickle Middle Schools in Lincoln had a great deal to say about the circum-stances revealed in the play, were engaged in the discussion, and asked thoughtful questions.

“The students were very interested in the play and the true story behind the play, and that helped them think about the issue of bul-lying in a deeper way,” Swearer said.

“Bullying is a complex phenomenon,” she said. “This play illustrates the complexities of the phenomenon, and it illustrates what we know from research.” The playwright was inspired by researcher Shelley Hymel of the University of British Columbia, who coordinates the Bullying Research Network with Swearer. Hymel’s research, in addition to the true story, informed the play’s content and story line.

Swearer said researchers need to be involved in translating com-plex issues for the public so that presentations are true to research findings, accurate, and not sensationalized. As far as anti-bullying programs in schools, she said, too often evidence-based research is overlooked.

School administrators are inundated with anti-violence, anti-bullying programs, and many implement these programs based on a friend’s recommendation or slick promotional materials without regard for whether the program is based on empirical evidence ob-tained through careful research, she said.

“Sadly, many schools are doing things we know don’t work. Yet, they do it and spend a lot of money doing it,” Swearer said. Researchers know, for example, that one-time large assemblies or motivational speakers “do not provide lasting change.” While many good prevention programs are available, she said, many others are ineffective and not grounded in research.

“We have moved beyond increasing awareness. My work now is focused on the transfer of research to practice, helping schools to collect data on bullying that will inform strategies and inform practice,” Swearer said. Research makes it possible for intervention programs to be tailored to the specific needs of a given school, based on data collected at that school.

She also is looking at mechanisms that underlie bullying to bet-ter understand what allows kids to morally disengage and be mean and how they rationalize and justify their behavior. “Many kids who bully others are popular and have high social standing, at the top of the heap. Others see that and think it’s the way to popularity, to higher social standing. We need to understand the reality of our soci-ety and culture that makes this behavior acceptable in some circles,” she said.

In March Swearer shared her research on peer victimization and the psychological causes and consequences of bullying with President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and participants at a White House conference on bullying prevention. While taking part in the conference was a rare opportunity to bring national attention to prevention, particularly noteworthy to Swearer was the fact that researchers were invited.

“It was an important opportunity to bring research findings to the forefront. Of the 120 people at the conference, seven were researchers. Researchers were in the room; we had a voice,” she said. Another significant outcome of the conference was creation of www.stopbullying.gov, a website managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the Department of Education and the Department of Justice.

Both President Obama and Mrs. Obama spoke at the confer-ence in the East Room of the White House. Also speaking were Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Secre-tary of Education Arne Duncan. Attending were students, parents, educators, school psychologists, school administrators, political leaders, representatives of social media networks, and online safety consumer groups.

Swearer Joined by Others at Workshop

Joining Dr. Susan Swearer in her

pre-performance workshop on “Practical

Ways to Deal with Bullying Inside and

OutsidetheClassroom”onNov.5was

RESPECT2ofOmaha.

RESPECT2isaneducational

resource organization that uses theater

and plays to address issues of bullying

andharassment.Thegroupperformed

and conducted role-playing activities

with participants at the workshop.

ThetwoLincolnperformances

of“ShapeofaGirl”byGreenThumb

TheatreofVancouver,BritishColumbia,

Canada, were made possible by a grant

from the Lincoln Community Founda-

tion with support from Dr. Phillip Engen,

an anesthesiologist in Wheatridge, Colo.

Engen is the brother of Nancy Engen-

Wedin, who is in charge of education

and grant programs for the Lied Center

for Performing Arts and is a lecturer in

the UNL College of Education and Hu-

man Sciences.

Swearer also spoke Nov. 14 at a

one-day symposium on the use and

misuse of social networking at Rutgers

UniversityinPiscataway,N.J.Thesym-

posium, “Identity, Connectedness, and

ThreatinSocialNetworks:Adolescent

and Young Adult Use and Misuse of New

Media,” was sponsored by Rutgers and

theTylerClementiFoundation.Clementi,

a Rutgers University freshman, jumped

to his death from the George Washington

Bridge in 2010 after an intimate encoun-

ter was streamed live on the Internet.

Susan Swearer

cehs.unl.edu

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By Carole WilbeckTwo figures emerge from the mist of an early morn-

ing alongside a river in the upper Midwest. A five-foot-tall Eastern Greater Sandhill Crane on spindly legs unfolds powerful wings that fly it thousands of miles in migration each year, unhindered by a wallet-sized electronic package recently strapped to its body behind the wings. The other figure – a human form, though he’s barely awake enough yet to grasp this fact – holds a receptor for gathering data wirelessly from the bird-mounted sensing equipment.

It’s a successful “fishing trip” for all involved, as the crane conducts its morning forage and Mehmet Can Vuran, UNL assistant professor of computer science and engineer-ing, collects information on the crane’s movements.

Back in Lincoln, Vuran leads the Cyber-Physical Networking Laboratory in UNL’s June and Paul Schorr III Center for Computer Science and Engineering, stream-lining embedded systems for remote data gathering in challenging environments from Nebraska’s underground to the frozen Canadian tundra. He especially enjoys when his work comes to life in the wilds of Wisconsin, home of the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo.

With CSE colleagues Matt Dwyer and Sebastian Elbaum, and ICF ecologists Anne Lacy and Mike Engels, Vuran and students are developing Crane Tracker: an adap-tive sensor network to monitor migratory birds throughout the continent.

“The idea incubated in one of our sensor networks courses,” Vuran said. “Several UNL undergraduate and graduate students helped build some of the components” as part of their learning through the years in that curriculum and also in embedded systems courses.

The sensor system developed at UNL uses solar-powered electronic devices that wirelessly provide real-time information about birds’ locations and movements during migration – a feat that previously involved immense amounts of scientists’ time and resources.

ICF has conducted traditional banding, with a field ecologist following the birds only at their breeding grounds. VHF transmitters have been used to follow migrating birds, but the receiver must be within a few miles of the bird. More recently, technology included satellite transmitters to record birds’ locations via ranging techniques – costing thousands of dollars per device, plus satellite data fees, and the disadvantage of data delayed up to 56 hours. Crane

Tracker systems by Vuran’s team cost a fraction of that amount, and 96-99 percent of the data is received within a day.

In summer 2011 Vuran and two CSE graduate stu-dents, Dave Anthony and Paul Bennett, conducted initial tests on Siberian Cranes at ICF’s captive breeding grounds in Baraboo. Their Crane Trackers were harnessed to the birds using a backpack design. During tests, the cranes were also monitored by a video camera to observe the birds’ reac-tions to their new backpacks, while the trackers recorded their locations and movements and wirelessly conveyed this information (including device voltage, ambient tempera-ture, and the bird’s horizontal and vertical acceleration, directional heading, pitch and roll).

“The initial tests with captive cranes had very prom-ising results for the tracking device and the backpack technique,” Vuran said. Motivated by this success, the team harnessed a Crane Tracker to “JB,” a male Eastern Greater

Sandhill Crane, for two weeks of testing in the wild. The initial field data helped the team improve Crane Tracker capabilities, and the Nebraska engineers continue to moni-tor the sensing, communication and energy consumption profile of the trackers, with next-stage testing on reintro-duced Whooping Cranes migrating between Wisconsin and Florida.

“The Crane Tracker data is very, very accurate,” said ICF’s Lacy. “We get the detailed information we want and (with Crane Tracker) it’s much cheaper.” Her hope is that behavioral information gathered via Crane Tracker will, over time, layer into even more robust measurement.

Bennett, who grew up in Grand Island near the Platte River where half a million cranes gather each spring, said he feels “a lot of motivation” for this work, which he’ll docu-

ment in his thesis for a master’s degree in engineering. The project has expanded his engineering skills – from the basics of how to design a device that’s waterproof yet power-effi-cient, all the way to software refinements for gaining better data – and challenged him to be more insightful.

Derek Homan, a computer engineering senior, has adapted the tracker work for undergraduate research, apply-ing it to study pheasants with Extension faculty at UNL’s East Campus.

What’s next for this technology? With the birds “tweet-ing” their locations and activities, will there be family plans for the cranes? Can ecologists communicate with their trackers? On the horizon is more research, Vuran said, to make the trackers smaller, self-sufficient, dependable and more powerful; the ICF scientists want to reprogram and reuse these “flying labs.”

Vuran said the possibilities are exciting: to “try new ways to decode the birds’ movements – their ‘onboard com-

pass.’” Lacy agreed: “As the human impact on the landscape increases, Crane Tracker will help us find out how these birds successfully adapt.”

In the last week of the summer tests at Baraboo, the Crane Tracker on one bird already showed ICF scientists a new discovery: a nearby roosting area they hadn’t realized was so popular with the birds.

“There’s always something we can’t predict,” Bennett said. “That’s what makes it a great learning experience.”

Learn more about ICF work at savingcranes.org.

The phenomenon of crane migration season is a highlight of late winter and early spring in central Nebraska. For view-ing locations and timeframes, visit nebraskaflyway.com.

College of Engineering

A Wing and Some SoftwareComputer Engineers Led by UNL’s Vuran Shape Crane Tracker to Help Birds Survive and Thrive

(Above Left) Wearing its Crane Tracker backpack developed with UNL computer engineers, an Eastern Greater Sandhill Crane chick flies unhindered near the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin during testing in early fall 2011. (Middle) A tracker on a Sandhill Crane. (Right) UNL and ICF Teams: Dan McElwee (ICF), Eloise Lachance (ICF), Derek Homan (Undergraduate UNL), Anne Lacy (ICF), Paul Bennett (M.S. candidate UNL), Molly Stewart, Can Vuran (UNL), Andy Gossens (ICF).

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By Kathe AndersenHeeeeere’s ... Johnny! And yet another generous gift for his alma mater.This past November at UNL’s Temple Building, where

legendary comedian Johnny Carson once honed his skills, people from the John W. Carson Foundation announced a $1 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation.

The gift creates the Johnny Carson Opportunity Schol-arship Fund in honor of Carson, who died in 2005. The scholarships will help students in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts who – like Carson – graduated from high schools in Nebraska. Preference will be given to students in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film.

Chancellor Harvey Perlman said this latest gift dem-onstrates the continued support of Johnny Carson to his home state of Nebraska.

“Once again, Johnny Carson’s legacy lives on at the University of Nebraska,” Perlman said. “He has demon-strated time and time again his love for his home state, and we are grateful to the Carson Foundation Board for this generous gift to help our students with much-needed scholarship support.”

The gift was announced on Nov. 4 following the Carson Lecture presented by “Mr. Baseball,” Bob Uecker. Two members of the John W. Carson Foundation Board – Jeff Sotzing, the president of Carson Entertainment Group and nephew of Johnny Carson; and Larry Witzer, president of Gettleson, Witzer & Co., Lexington Financial Manage-ment LLC in Beverly Hills, Calif. – were present for the

announcement in Howell Theatre in the Temple Building on UNL’s city campus.

“Johnny Carson began his career right here in the Temple Building at the University of Nebraska,” said Paul Steger, director of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. “One of his enduring legacies was helping others achieve their dreams by giving them their big break by ap-pearing on The Tonight Show.”

Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, on Oct. 23, 1925, and grew up in Norfolk, Neb. He served in World War II in the Navy as an ensign before enrolling at the University of Nebraska in 1947. He received a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.

His 1949 senior thesis was entitled “How to Write Comedy for Radio,” which he recorded on a reel-to-reel tape. The 50-minute recording was a scholarly examination of the techniques and devices that radio comedy writ-ers used to construct the jokes and gags in comedy radio shows. Using bits from several well-known comedians, such as Jack Benny and Bob Hope, Carson illustrated the various

techniques used to write comedy, which he later effectively used in television through his Tonight Show monologues.

Carson also served as master of ceremonies for the male dramatic society Kosmet Klub shows from 1947-1949, and he once dressed in drag to become the first male to ever emcee the female Co-Ed Follies Show in 1948.

Both John and his brother, Dick (‘51), were members of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. John Carson starred in the Fiji’s Kosmet Klub skits. The fraternity won first place in the 1947 Kosmet Klub fall revue for their skit, “She Was Only a Pharaoh’s Daughter, But She Never Became a Mummy,” which featured Carson as Cleopatra.

While at the University of Nebraska, Carson per-formed locally at the American Legion, VFW and local clubs in Lincoln at night, practicing the skills he learned during the day in the Temple Building. Carson also wrote and did shows for KFAB radio in Lincoln.

He hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years, from 1962 to 1992. Carson earned six Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award and was inducted into the Televi-sion Academy Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Presi-dential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received Kennedy Center Honors in 1993.

In 2004, Carson donated $5.3 million to the Universi-ty of Nebraska Foundation to support theater and film pro-grams in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and to renovate and expand the Temple Building, at 12th and R streets, home to the theater program and where Carson studied radio. In 2005, the university received an additional $5 million gift from the estate of Carson for endowed support of programs in theater, film and broad-casting, following Carson’s death on Jan. 23, 2005.

The university’s Department of Theatre Arts was renamed the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film in 2005.

With this recent gift, Carson’s support for the Univer-sity of Nebraska totals more than $12 million. Terry Fair-field, vice chair of the University of Nebraska Foundation, said Carson’s gifts have transformed the department.

“The generosity of Johnny Carson forever changed the future of the theater and film programs,” Fairfield said. “This new permanently endowed scholarship continues his commitment to students and his legacy at the University of Nebraska.”

Support for students like those in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts is a top priority of the Campaign for Nebraska. If you’d like to help students, too, please contact the University of Nebraska Foundation at (800) 432-3216 or visit campaignfornebraska.org.

Chancellor Harvey Perlman shakes hands with Jeff Sotzing as Larry Witzer waves to the crowd during a second quarter time out at the Nov. 5 Husker football game. Sotzing and Witzer are with the John W. Carson Foundation. Photo by Craig Chandler of University Communications.

Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts

Carson Foundation Donates $1 Million

for Scholarships

26 | GoodNUz | CoLLeGes

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John W. Carson Foundation Board Members Larry Witzer (left) and Jeff Sotzing in the lobby of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. Photo by Kathe Andersen, Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.

By Teresa Lostroh

New media is a global phenomenon, and CoJMC

students have seen firsthand how journalism and advertising

professionals are working to embrace the change across the Atlantic.

Seventeen students from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications traveled to Moscow and Sochi, Rus-sia, in May to learn about and analyze mobile media’s popu-larity and applications, especially as the country prepares for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Although Russia has been slower than the United States to accept platforms such as blogs, Twitter and Storify as legitimate outlets for news and advertising, the students quickly learned that digital tools are a growing force even in a country with an altogether different media climate.

“New media has hit there, definitely,” said Pat Radigan, a senior news-editorial major from Sioux Falls, S.D. “Media outlets have to use these new platforms to stay ahead. They make their content and then push it through all these new channels.”

But, he said, “the way people view the things they’re creating is still in the traditional way. If something’s coming from a newspaper, they still read it like a newspaper story. If it’s from a television station, it’s understood as a TV broadcast.”

There was nothing traditional, however, about the way the CoJMC students approached mobile media. They completed assignments using Storify, a digital tool that allows users to write original content and drag and drop in information, Tweets, photos and videos from other sites to form one cohesive story.

“They had a chance to see how they might tell a story using elements of social media in addition to their own reporting,” said Amy Struthers, an assistant advertising professor. Struthers and advertising lecturers Adam Wagler and Luis Peon-Casanova led the Russia study trip. “They got to practice shooting and editing their own videos, shooting their own photos and uploading it all to the web,” Struthers added.

Three group projects focused on the changing face of Sochi in anticipation of the Olympics.

One examined how the city was marketing itself do-mestically and abroad. Text explained Sochi’s strategy, but the group pulled in a Russian advertisement promoting a

unified Russia, an image of the Olympics logo and a video from national sponsor Russian Railways to show – rather than simply tell – what Sochi was up to.

Another set of students used text, Tweets, photos, vid-eos and a blog excerpt to describe the bond between Sochi and sports. (After the Olympics, Sochi will host the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix and the 2018 World Cup.)

The third group told the story of the city’s pre-Olym-pics makeover using text, photos, links, website excerpts, videos, Tweets and Facebook posts.

Students also used Storify individually to document their cultural experiences.

Of course, in accordance with the trip’s theme, students used mobile devices to execute the assignments.

“We were using iPads to produce text and video,” Radigan said. “We were using cell phones to upload stuff to Twitter as we were at places; we were checking in on four-square. We got to see how it worked to actually do some-thing using digital platforms instead of just conceptualizing a mobile project.”

The students shared four Droid smartphones and two iPad2s provided by the journalism college.

The trip included eight nights in Sochi and seven in Moscow. In Sochi, the group toured under-construction Olympic sites and spoke with officials about the city’s transi-tion from mid-size resort city to world-class sports host.

At Moscow State University, they heard from MSU and UNL faculty and local digital reporters about the history and structure of Russia’s press, its current evolution, website promotion and social media best practices. They also toured TV news network RT (formerly called Russia Today) and advertising agency McCann Erickson Russia.

The UNL group worked closely with Moscow State University students, swapping experiences and observations about culture and media.

“The (Nebraska) students really got an idea of what life is like for a Russian ad, PR or journalism student,” Struthers said. “They formed some really strong friendships in a very short time. From us, I think the Russian students learned

maybe a different attitude toward school. They saw the American students as perhaps more energetic, more innovat-ive in their thinking, more real-world, hands-on.”

As a result of the trip, UNL and Moscow State have an exchange partnership that will allow Russian professors and students to come to Lincoln and vice versa. The college is trying to arrange a month-long visit from a Moscow State professor next year, Dean Gary Kebbel said.

Radigan said he is considering enrolling at Moscow State or Sochi State University in the future. But for now, he’s working on mastering the language.

He is taking Russian courses this fall at UNL so that he can return to Sochi in a few years and volunteer during the Olympics.

“I always used to say Russians seemed cold and brusque, just kind of guarded,” Radigan said, “But I realized they aren’t, and the country was actually more expressive than Paris and Rome. (Russians) want to get rid of the idea that they’re cold and stagnant. It’s lively and exciting, and I want to go back.”

(Top) The UNL group toured Red Square where they posed for a photo in front of Saint Basil’s Cathedral. (Above) Dean Gary Kebbel (white turtleneck on the right) and Alexander Zolotarev (left). In the background are two graduate assistants of the journalism program who answered questions, trans-lated, and chaperoned the UNL group in Moscow. Zolotarev, a member of Moscow State University, taught a multimedia workshop during the first leg of the trip, facilitated the UNL group’s itinerary and assisted with translation during the classroom work. He was the J school’s first Innovator in Residence and visited Lincoln last summer through the program launched by Dean Kebbel to expand UNL’s international presence.

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College of Journalism and Mass Communications

Summer Study Trip Explored Mobile, New Media In Russia

College of Law

Nebraska Law Grads Have What It Takes to be Presidential

28 | GoodNUz | CoLLeGes

The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program has been matching outstanding graduate students – including several from Nebraska – with federal opportunities since 1977. Although not law-specific, PMF is looking for individuals with strong ana-lytic, leadership and writing skills – the skills students are develop-ing during their time at Nebraska Law.

The goal of the two-year fellowship experience from the fed-eral agency’s perspective is to provide the training and development necessary to create a new generation of leaders. Even so, there is no requirement that fellows stay with the federal government follow-ing their service.

Whether prospective fellows want to stay in public service or choose to move on to the private sector after the completion of the program, there is no doubt that fellows are provided a great foun-dation on which to build their career.

The PMF program has a rigorous and lengthy applica-tion process. As a result, Ne-braska Law is extremely proud of its recent alumni selected as fellows.

“PMFs perform valu-able service to the American people while jump-starting their careers,” according to the program’s website. Michael Holtje, ’08, and member of the Presidential Management Fellow Class of 2008, said this is an accurate description of the experience. Holtje visited the Law College in early September to share his experiences with current students and meet with prospective applicants. Holtje had nothing but positive comments to share about his experience as a fellow and commented, “In my opinion, the PMF program is the best way to enter federal service directly from graduate school.”

Originally Holtje’s focus was on public domestic policy, but as he progressed in his education he was drawn to international policy. This change in focus was in part based on his belief that he might better contribute to effectuating change in the international and national security domains.

In fall 2008, Holtje joined the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research where he served as the action officer for Intelligence Policy and Foreign Partnerships. PMFs are allowed to take part in rotations with other federal agencies, so although Holtje was assigned to the Department of State’s Bureau of Intel-ligence and Research, he completed rotations with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as well as the Department of

State’s Legal Advisor’s Office, where he served in office of Law En-forcement and Intelligence. In 2010, Holtje converted to full-time civil service when his two-year fellowship expired. He continues to serve as the action officer for Intelligence Policy with the Depart-ment of State.

Amber Charlesworth was selected as a presidential manage-ment fellow upon her graduation from the LL.M. program in Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Law in May 2011. As a re-sult of that selection, Charlesworth now works for the U.S. Depart-ment of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, the Office of Space and Advanced Technol-ogy (OES/SAT). OES/SAT has primary responsibility for U.S. representation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), where a wide range of space policy issues are addressed. Most recently, UNCOPUOS has been

a vital forum for U.S. efforts to develop new international guidelines on emerging issues such as minimizing the gen-eration of orbital debris and ensuring safe space operations and sustainable access to space. Charlesworth works on space policy issues for OES/SAT as a result of that office’s connection to UNCOPUOS.

Mark Nelson, ’11, was selected as a presidential management fellow upon his graduation as well. As a result of that selection, Nelson works for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Of-fice of Development Credit (ODC). The mission of the ODC is to mobilize private investment within developing countries. This is done by providing partial loan guarantees in order to incentivize private banks and investors in these countries to lend to creditwor-thy entities that would otherwise not be approved for credit due to extremely conservative lending standards and loan terms. These guarantees many times spawn subsequent assistance-free investment.

Nelson works as a risk analyst, protecting aid money from being subject to loss, and he will get the opportunity to travel and do on-site assessments of financial institutions and borrowers in developing countries all over the world.

The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF)

program has been matching outstanding graduate

students – including several from Nebraska – with

federal opportunities since 1977. Although not

law-specific, PMF is looking for individuals with

strong analytic, leadership and writing skills – the

skills students are developing during their time at

Nebraska Law.

law.unl.edu

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Michael Holtje

Amber Charlesworth

Mark Nelson

aTHLeTICs | spring 2012 | 29

Spring 2012 Husker Athletics Schedules

* Indicates conference game/meet; home games in RED. Photos courtesy of Nebraska Media Relations. baSeballFeb. 17 Gonzaga at Peoria, Ariz., 8 p.m. Feb. 18 Gonzaga at Peoria, Ariz., 8 p.m. Feb. 19 Gonzaga at Peoria, Ariz., 1 p.m. Feb. 24 Utah at Corpus Christi, Texas, 2 p.m. Feb. 25 Utah at Corpus Christi, Texas, 3 p.m. Feb. 25 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Corpus Christi, Texas, 7 p.m. Feb. 26 UNLV at Corpus Christi, Texas, 11 a.m. March 02 West Virginia at Minneapolis, 12:15 p.m. March 03 New Mexico State at Minneapolis, 12:05 p.m. March 04 Minnesota at Minneapolis, 3:05 p.m. March 06 Kansas State, Hawks Field, 2:05 p.m. March 07 Nebraska-Kearney, Hawks Field, 1:35 p.m. March 09 Cal, Hawks Field, 1:35 p.m. March 10 Cal, Hawks Field, 2:05 p.m. March 11 Cal, Hawks Field, 1:05 p.m. March 12 Cal, Hawks Field, 12:05 p.m. March 13 South Dakota State, Hawks Field, 1:35 p.m. March 15 Louisiana Tech, Hawks Field, 3:05 p.m. March 16 Louisiana Tech, Hawks Field, 1:35 p.m. March 17 Louisiana Tech, Hawks Field, 1:35 p.m. March 18 Louisiana Tech, Hawks Field, 11:05 a.m. March 20 Northern Colorado, Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. March 21 Northern Colorado, Hawks Field, 1:35 p.m. March 23 Illinois* Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. March 24 Illinois* Hawks Field, 2:05 p.m. March 25 Illinois* Hawks Field, 1:05 p.m. March 27 Kansas State, Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. March 30 Northwestern* at Evanston, Ill., 3 p.m. March 31 Northwestern* at Evanston, Ill., 1 p.m. April 01 Northwestern* at Evanston, Ill., 1 p.m. April 03 Kansas State at Manhattan, Kan., 6:35 p.m. April 06 Iowa* Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. April 07 Iowa* Hawks Field, 2:05 p.m. April 08 Iowa* Hawks Field, 1:05 p.m. April 10 Creighton, Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. April 13 Ohio State* at Columbus, Ohio, 5:35 p.m. April 14 Ohio State* at Columbus, Ohio, 2:05 p.m. April 15 Ohio State* at Columbus, Ohio, 12:05 p.m. April 20 Purdue* Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. April 21 Purdue* Hawks Field, 2:05 p.m. April 22 Purdue* Hawks Field, 1:05 p.m. April 24 Creighton at TD Ameritrade Park, 6:30 p.m. April 27 CSU Bakersfield, Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. April 28 CSU Bakersfield, Hawks Field, 2:05 p.m. April 29 CSU Bakersfield, Hawks Field, 1:05 p.m. May 05 Indiana* at Bloomington, Ind., Noon May 06 Indiana* at Bloomington, Ind., Noon May 07 Indiana* at Bloomington, Ind., Noon May 08 Creighton at TD Ameritrade Park, 7 p.m. May 11 Minnesota* Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. May 12 Minnesota* (Parent’s Day), Hawks Field, 2:05 p.m. May 13 Minnesota* (Senior Day), Hawks Field, 1:05 p.m. May 15 Wichita State, Hawks Field, 6:35 p.m. May 17 Michigan* at Ann Arbor, Mich., 5:05 p.m. May 18 Michigan* at Ann Arbor, Mich., 5:05 p.m. May 19 Michigan* at Ann Arbor, Mich., 12:05 p.m. May 23-27 Big Ten Tournament* at Columbus, Ohio (Huntington Park), TBA June 01-04 NCAA Regionals, Campus Sites, TBA June 08-11 NCAA Super Regionals, Campus Sites, TBA June 15 College World Series at Omaha, Neb., TBA

boWlINGFeb. 17-19 Morgan State Invitational at Baltimore, All DayMarch 16-18 Music City Classic at Nashville, All Day April 12-14 NCAA Championships at Cleveland, Ohio, All Day

Football - Spring GameApril 14, Memorial Stadium, 1 p.m.

meN’S GolFFeb. 25-26 Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate at Palm Desert, Calif. (Classic Club), TBA March 12-13 Jackrabbit Invitational at Primm, Nev. (Primm Valley Golf Club), TBA March 23-25 Denver Desert Shootout at Goodyear, Ariz. (Palm Valley Golf Course), TBA April 09-10 C.O.G. Mizzou Intercollegiate at Columbia, Mo. (The Club at Old Hawthorne), TBA April 14-15 Hawkeye-Taylor Made Invitational at Iowa City, Iowa (Finkbine Golf Course), TBA

April 27-29 Big Ten Championship* at French Lick, Ind. (Pete Dye Golf Course), TBA May 17-19 NCAA Regionals at TBA May 29 - June 03 NCAA Championship at Pacific Palisades, Calif. (Riviera Country Club), TBA

WomeN’S GolFFeb. 12-14 Lady Puerto Rico Classic at Rio Grande, P.R., 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26-27 Westbrook Spring Invitational at Peoria, Ariz. (Westbrook Village GC), 9:30 a.m. March 19-20 BYU Entrada Classic, St. George, Utah, 9:30 a.m. March 23-24 Mountain View Collegiate at Tucson, Ariz., 9:30 a.m. April 21-22 Ohio State Spring Invitational at Columbus, Ohio (Scarlet Course), 7:30 a.m. April 27-29 Big Ten Championships* at French Lick, Ind. (D. Ross GC) 7:30 a.m. May 10-12 NCAA Regionals at Columbus, Ohio, University Park, Pa., Erie, Colo., TBA May 23-26 NCAA Championship at Franklin, Tenn., TBA

meN’S GymNaStICS Feb. 18 Minnesota* at Minneapolis, 1 p.m. March 04 Arizona State, Bob Devaney Sports Center, 2 p.m. March 11 Minnesota, Illinois* Bob Devaney Sports Center, 1 p.m. March 17 Oklahoma, Air Force at Norman, Okla., 7 p.m. March 24 Iowa* Bob Devaney Sports Center, 7 p.m. April 06 Big Ten Championships Team Competition* at Iowa City, Iowa, 7 p.m. April 07 Big Ten Championships Individual Competition* at Iowa City, Iowa, 7 p.m. April 19 NCAA Championships Team Qualifier at Norman, Okla., All Day April 20 NCAA Championships Team & All-Around Finals at Norman, Okla., 7 p.m. April 21 NCAA Championships Individual Event Finals at Norman, Okla., 7 p.m.

WomeN’S GymNaStICSFeb. 18 Minnesota* at Minneapolis, 6 p.m. Feb. 24 Arkansas at Fayetteville, Ark., 7 p.m. March 04 Florida, Lincoln, Neb., 2 p.m. March 09 Utah at Salt Lake City, Utah, 8 p.m. March 16 Iowa State, Lincoln, Neb., 7 p.m. March 24 Big Ten Championships* at Iowa City, IowaApril 07 NCAA Regionals at TBA April 20-22 NCAA Championships at Duluth, Ga., TBA

SoFtballFeb. 17 Colorado State at Las Cruces, N.M., 3 p.m. (Central) Feb. 17 New Mexico State at Las Cruces, N.M., 5 p.m. (Central) Feb. 18 Weber State at Las Cruces, N.M., 12:30 p.m. (Central) Feb. 18 Stephen F. Austin at Las Cruces, N.M., 10:30 a.m. (Central) Feb. 19 New Mexico State at Las Cruces, N.M., 10 a.m. (Central) Feb. 24 Oregon at Cathedral City, Calif., 12:30 p.m. (Central) Feb. 25 Cal Poly at Cathedral City, Calif., 2 p.m. (Central) Feb. 25 Missouri at Cathedral City, Calif., 4:30 p.m. (Central) Feb. 26 Texas at Cathedral City, Calif., 11 a.m. (Central) Feb. 26 Washington at Cathedral City, Calif., 1 p.m. (Central) March 02 Houston at College Station, Texas, 12:15 p.m. March 02 Texas A&M at College Station, Texas, 3 p.m. March 03 Texas State at College Station, Texas, 10 a.m. March 03 Texas A&M at College Station, Texas, 5:15 p.m. March 04 Texas State at College Station, Texas, 10 a.m. March 09 Arkansas Pine-Bluff at Stillwater, Okla., 1:30 p.m. March 09 Oklahoma State at Stillwater, Okla., 7 p.m. March 10 Bracket Play at Stillwater, Okla., 4:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. March 10 Loyola-Chicago at Stillwater, Okla., 11 a.m. March 11 Bracket Play at Stillwater, Okla., 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. March 13 South Dakota, Bowlin Stadium, 5 p.m. March 20 Nebraska-Omaha at Omaha, Neb., 3 p.m. March 23 Northwestern* Bowlin Stadium, 5 p.m. March 24 Northwestern (DH)* Bowlin Stadium, 1 & 3 p.m. March 28 South Dakota State (DH), Bowlin Stadium, 3 & 5 p.m. March 31 Minnesota (DH)* at Minneapolis, Noon & 2 p.m. April 01 Minnesota* at Minneapolis, Noon April 06 Illinois (DH)* Bowlin Stadium, 4 & 6 p.m. April 07 Illinois* Bowlin Stadium, Noon April 11 Creighton, Bowlin Stadium, 6 p.m. April 14 Iowa (DH)* at Iowa City, Iowa, 2 & 4 p.m. April 15 Iowa* at Iowa City, Iowa, 1 p.m. April 18 Nebraska-Omaha, Bowlin Stadium, 6 p.m.

April 21 Ohio State (DH)* at Columbus, Ohio, 4 & 6 p.m. (Central) April 22 Ohio State* at Columbus, Ohio, 1 p.m. (Central) April 25 Creighton at Omaha, Neb., 6 p.m. April 28 Michigan State (DH)* Bowlin Stadium, 1 & 3 p.m. April 29 Michigan State* Bowlin Stadium, Noon May 05 Indiana (DH)* at Bloomington, Ind., 1 & 3 p.m. (Central) May 06 Indiana* at Bloomington, Ind., Noon (Central) May 11 Wisconsin (DH)* Bowlin Stadium, 5 & 7 p.m. May 12 Wisconsin* Bowlin Stadium, 1 p.m. May 17-20 NCAA Regional, at Campus Site, TBA May 24-27 NCAA Super Regional, at Campus Site, TBA

traCk aND FIelDFeb. 17 Nebraska Tune-Up, Devaney Center Indoor Track, 12:30 p.m. Feb. 24-25 Big Ten Indoor Championships* Devaney Center Indoor Track, 10 a.m./10 a.m. March 03 Iowa State NCAA Qualifier at Ames, Iowa, TBAMarch 09-10 NCAA Indoor Championships at Boise, Idaho, TBAMarch 23-24 Arizona State Invitational at Tempe, Ariz., TBA March 31 Arkansas Spring Invitational at Fayetteville, Ark., TBA April 06-07 Sun Angel Classic at Tempe, Ariz., TBA April 13-14 K.T. Woodman Classic at Wichita, Kan., TBA April 19-21 Kansas Relays at Lawrence, Kan., TBA April 19-21 Mt. SAC Relays at Walnut, Calif., TBA April 25 Nebraska Mini-Meet, Ed Weir Stadium, TBA April 26-28 Penn Relays at Philadelphia, TBA April 26-28 Drake Relays at Des Moines, Iowa, TBA May 05 Nebraska Invitational, Ed Weir Stadium, TBA May 11-13 Big Ten Outdoor Championships* at Madison, Wis., TBA May 24-26 NCAA West Preliminary Round at Austin, Texas, TBA June 06-09 NCAA Outdoor Championships at Des Moines, Iowa, TBA

meN’S teNNISFeb. 17 Drake, Nebraska Tennis Center, 6 p.m. Feb. 19 Idaho, Nebraska Tennis Center, 9 a.m. Feb. 25 VCU at Richmond, Va., TBA Feb. 26 William & Mary at Williamsburg, Va., TBA March 02 Illinois* Nebraska Tennis Center, 3 p.m. March 18 Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo, Calif., 2 p.m. March 20 Pepperdine at Malibu, Calif., 3 p.m. March 25 Northwestern* Lincoln, Neb., Noon March 30 Ohio State* at Columbus, Ohio, TBA April 01 Penn State* at University Park, Pa., 10 a.m. April 04 Iowa* at Iowa City, Iowa, 2 p.m. April 06 Purdue* Lincoln, Neb., 3 p.m. April 08 Indiana* Lincoln, Neb., Noon April 14 Michigan* at Ann Arbor, Mich., Noon April 15 Michigan State* at East Lansing, Mich., TBA April 20 Minnesota* at Minneapolis, TBA April 22 Wisconsin* Lincoln, Neb., Noon April 27-29 Big Ten Championships* at Chicago, All Day

WomeN’S teNNISFeb. 17 Washington State, Nebraska Tennis Center, 12:30 p.m. Feb. 19 Miami (Ohio), Nebraska Tennis Center, 1 p.m. Feb. 24 Wichita State, Nebraska Tennis Center, 5 p.m. Feb. 26 Colorado State, Nebraska Tennis Center, 10 a.m. Feb. 29 Kansas State, Nebraska Tennis Center, 4 p.m. March 02 St. Louis, Nebraska Tennis Center, 7 p.m. March 04 Colorado, Nebraska Tennis Center, Noon March 09 Iowa* Nebraska Tennis Center, 5 p.m. March 11 Tulsa, Nebraska Tennis Center, 11:30 a.m. March 20 Long Beach State at Long Beach, Calif., 2 p.m. March 24 Illinois* at Urbana, Ill., Noon March 25 Northwestern* at Evanston, Ill., 11 a.m. March 30 Ohio State* Nebraska Tennis Center, 5 p.m. April 01 Penn State* Nebraska Tennis Center, 11 a.m. April 07 Purdue* at West Lafayette, Ind., Noon April 08 Indiana* at Bloomington, Ind., 11 a.m. April 13 Michigan* Nebraska Tennis Center, 3 p.m. April 15 Michigan State* Nebraska Tennis Center, Noon April 20 Minnesota* Nebraska Tennis Center, 2 p.m. April 22 Wisconsin* at Madison, Wis., 11 a.m. April 26-29 Big Ten Championships* at Columbus, Ohio, TBA May 10-13 NCAA Tournament Regionals at TBA May 19-24 NCAA Tournament Championships at Stanford, Calif.

Athletics – Women’s Basketball

City Slicker, Country Girl

Inspire Each Other

30 | GoodNUz | aTHLeTICs

By Randy York, ’71They’re a year apart, but always together. Each knows

what the other one is thinking and they laugh at punch lines before they’re even delivered. They’re roommates, teammates, best friends and push each other hard to im-prove on a daily basis.

Lindsey Moore has no official designation as an assis-tant coach, but everyone around Nebraska’s No. 15-ranked (the week of Jan. 9) women’s basketball program knows the junior point guard plays a big role in the rapid rise and development of sophomore forward Jordan Hooper, the Big Ten Conference’s leading rebounder and second-lead-ing scorer. Moore pushes every button in Hooper’s head. She’s a confidante who spurs confidence. Moore is the city slicker from suburban Seattle, and Hooper is the country girl whose home base of Alliance, Neb., is 36 miles from the ranch she grew up on in Sheridan County.

In her third year as a starting point guard, Moore was dealing the cards as a freshman to a veteran team that won 32 of 34 games and made the NCAA Sweet 16. A year later, she helped guide Hooper through an adventuresome but losing freshman season, and Nebraska Coach Con-nie Yori now gives Moore credit for helping mold Hooper into the toughest scoring/rebounding threat in the Big Ten Conference.

“Lindsey had a very mature basketball IQ when she came here,” Yori said. “You talk about somebody that can pick things up. She’s one of those kids where you tell them once, and she does it right 10 straight times. That’s rare, and we’re really happy with the way she’s taken Jordan under her wing.

Of Hooper, Yori says: “She wants to do the right thing. She’s extremely coachable. If you tell her something, she’s going to try to do it. She has a really good mind and picks things up quickly, and I said that from the day she walked on campus. She didn’t have the advantage of play-ing club basketball and knowing how much faster the game would be played, so she was a little overwhelmed when she first got here.

“Here’s a kid from (suburban) Seattle and another from Alliance,” Yori added, “and they’ve developed a good friendship, on and off the court. Lindsey even went out to Jordan’s ranch, and that’s a whole different world out there,

compared to where she grew up. It’s neat when two kids love the game so much that they connect in other ways.”

Moore says her Nebraska ranch experience “was awe-some. It was really cool to see how Hooper grew up,” she said. “It’s fun to see another environment and how people live and work. I’m not even close to anything like that. The great part about going to Alliance and the ranch, you can tell why she’s so excited and why she thinks that town is so awesome.”

Let the record show that this dynamic Husker duo – Moore the 5-foot-9 guard and Hooper the 6-foot-2 for-ward – played one game last Easter weekend on the slab of concrete on the Hooper ranch – a court that’s wider than it is long and has the full range and circumference to accommodate 3-point shooting. The one-on-one battle went down to the wire. Final score: Country Girl 21, City Slicker 20. “Home-court advantage,” Hooper said. “We didn’t play another game. We were both too tired.

“I love playing against Lindsey,” Hooper said. “She helps me every day, on the floor and off. We live together, so she never misses a chance to boost my confidence. At the beginning of this year, I didn’t have any confidence shooting the ball. I’d shoot it and not know if it was going in or out. I remember one night when I told her I didn’t have any confidence. She sat me right down, looked me in the eye and said: ‘You need to have confidence in yourself because I have all the confidence in the world in you.’ Hearing her say that and mean that was a big help. It changed my mindset.”

A city slicker telling a country girl how to stay positive kind of goes against the grain of the way most Nebraskans

think. But Moore is a persuasive leader, even convincing Hooper to take on the pressure of great expectations, so she could help the Huskers develop a championship mindset.

“I never wanted to tell people that I felt so much pres-sure – from Alliance and everywhere else,” Hooper said. “Now I can say it. I wanted to impress people every game. I still carry some of that pressure with me, but Lindsey’s helped me take it on. She’s helped me grow.”

When a city slicker shares her vast basketball experi-ences with an equally self-driven country girl, they end up pushing each other, supporting each other and challenging each other.

Jordan Hooper grew up on a ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. Photo by Matt Miller, Omaha World-Herald.

Lindsey Moore drives against Indiana.

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HUSKER ALUMNI

We’re looking for a few good writers. Whether you’re an ardent alumnus, nostalgic Nebraskan, prolific professor or student scribe, here’s your chance. Show us your work. There are two categories, with prizes awarded in each category, along with a byline in Nebraska Magazine.CateGory oNe: alumNI ProFIleS Write about a Nebraska grad with an interesting hobby or career, or do a “where are they now?” piece on an alumnus who was well known during his/her student days.CateGory tWo: NoStalGIa PIeCeS Tell us about a memorable student activity when you were at NU, or write about a favorite professor.PrIzeS: Three prizes will be awarded in each category. In addition, the winning articles will be published in future issues of Nebraska Magazine. 1st Prize - $500 2nd Prize - $250 3rd Prize - $100eNtry DetaIlS Articles must be 750 to 1,000 words in length and typewritten. Enter as many articles as you wish. Entry deadline is April 15, 2012. Submit entries, along with the author’s name, address and phone number to: Magazine Writing Contest, Wick Alumni Center, 1520 R St., Lincoln, NE 68508-1651, FAX:(402)472-9289, E-mail: nebmag@huskeralum.org

the 13th annual Nebraska magazine Writing Contest

By Randy York, ’71For Will Shields, Tuesday, Dec. 6, was a clear day, and

he could see forever. The Husker All-American, Outland Trophy winner, 12-time All-Pro, NFL Man-of-the-Year and new Hall-of-Famer looked back, enjoyed the moment and saw the landscape of his entire career flash before his eyes.

“It’s a very special day, and we were informed that we are .0002 percent of the qualified players to be in the Hall of Fame,” Shields said before the National Football Founda-tion’s Annual Awards Dinner at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where he became Nebraska’s 15th player inducted into College Football’s Hall of Fame.

Four important thoughts kept racing through Shields’ mind amidst all the hoopla surrounding this historic day:

1) Nebraska was his springboard to blossom as a student, an athlete and a man.2) Silence is still golden.3) Lincoln helped him learn the value of giving back.4) Getting paid to play a game you love is the rarest of

opportunities.“Being an offensive lineman, it’s unbelievable to be a

part of this group,” Shields said. “I was so fortunate to be

recruited by Nebraska, become a part of its tradition and play under the leadership of (head coach) Tom Osborne and (offensive line assistants) Milt Tenopir and (the late) Dan Young. “They gave me the chance to blossom as a young man. The University of Nebraska is a great place for a kid to go grow and prosper and mature.

“A lot of memories reach out and grab you but Kenny Walker was one I’ll never forget. He was deaf and couldn’t hear on Senior Day. So instead of clapping for him, our fans did a hand wave. It was amazing to be there and know that the whole stadium was silent. All you could see were their hands waving. It was something unique and something that you still carry with you because those were the guys that al-ways made you better and helped you become who you are. They’re woven into Nebraska’s tradition just like you are.”

Then, Shields brought up something that remains part of his DNA: “I’ll always remember volunteering to become a TeamMate and helping someone in need,” he said. “For me, it was the beginning of realizing how you could go out and help your community and how you can become a part of a whole social network. The simple fact of already having a coach there doing that was inspiration enough. It was also

a great opportunity to build a bridge between the university and the community and then become a professional athlete and have the opportunity it provided for my family.”

Shields credits Nebraska alum Dave Redding for the mindset he endorsed almost daily. “He was my strength coach with the (Kansas City) Chiefs,” Shields said of Red-ding, “and his favorite expression was ‘Always remember, they’re paying you to play a game you love.’ It helped me think about opportunity, history and pure love of the game. It also helped me understand how the game can change your life because you have the opportunity to go out there every single day and represent the values of the University of Nebraska.”

Athletics – Football

Shields NU’s 15th College Hall-of-Famer

College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Will Shields.

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N E B R A S K AA l u m n i A s s o c i a t i o n

By Randy York, ’71Sometimes, it’s tougher to win a conference championship

than a national championship. Ask Alabama’s football team, which didn’t even play in the SEC championship game, yet won the 2011 national title over conference rival LSU.

Big Ten volleyball is equally grueling, and the welcome mat wasn’t exactly thrown out for a newcomer which claimed only one of the league’s five consecutive national championships entering the 2011 season.

Unfortunately, UCLA ended the Big Ten’s streak, upsetting Illinois in the NCAA championship match.

That left only time and perspective to frame Nebraska’s accom-plishment. Somehow, the tradition-rich Huskers and their legendary coach, John Cook, found a way to end Penn State’s historic run of eight consecutive Big Ten volleyball championships.

Nebraska’s surprising 25-5 season and 15-1 record at home

gave Big Red volleyball fans across the country a chance to stand up and cheer as they followed their favorite team on multiple national telecasts.

“To be the first Nebraska team to win an outright Big Ten championship is tough to do in any sport,” Cook said. “We had to go through a lot of mousetraps to get there.”

For the first time under Cook, the Huskers beat a No. 1-ranked team in Illinois. They also beat seven other Big Ten teams which qualified for the NCAA Tournament en route to their own first No. 1 rating in four years. Despite a No. 2 overall seed in the national tournament, Nebraska’s dream season ended in its own regional.

Still, the school’s first Big Ten title was worthy of the high standards set by the team’s three senior captains – Brooke Delano, Jordan Wilberger and Brigette Root. “Brook, Jordan and Brigette were great captains and great leaders,” Cook said. “They helped us make history.”

Athletics – Volleyball

School’s First Big Ten Title Has Nebraska Roots

Alumni Association of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln

From left: Brooke Delano (Bellevue), Jordan Wilberger (Scottsbluff) and Brigette Root (Grand Island) were the captains for Nebraska’s Big Ten Conference volleyball champions – the school’s first athletic team title in the nation’s oldest conference.