that art depends not on location, but on imagination: like
an alchemist, the poet tries to transmute the lead of everyday life into the
gold of sheer wonder."
Kooser, 65, is a retired insurance executive and
University of Nebraska-Lincoln English professor who has written 10 books of
poetry. His latest book, "Delights & Shadows" was published this year. His
2000 collection, "Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison,"
won the 2001 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry. A book of his essays published in
2002, "Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps" won the Nebraska Book Award
for Nonfiction in 2003. Friends of American Writers also named "Local Wonders"
Best Book Written by a Midwestern Writer for 2002, and it won the Gold Award
for Autobiography in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards.
"Ted
Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first
poet laureate chosen from the Great Plains," Librarian of Congress James H.
Billington said in a press release about Kooser's poet laureate appointment.
"His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in
accessible ways."
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Lecture series, scholarship
established in honor of mother, student
Pearl Blizek
UNO
Professor Bill Blizek has inaugurated the Pearl Blizek/Women's Studies Lecture
in his mother's honor.
Pearl Blizek (pictured) was a
strong woman—independent, courageous and kindhearted. At 17, she realized a new
stepfather meant that her home no longer was safe for her and her younger
sister, Ruby. So she packed up their clothes, caught the train in Fremont,
Neb., and moved to Chicago, where they moved in with their older brother, Sam,
until they could strike out on their own.
In her
early 20s, Pearl asked her boyfriend, Edwin, to marry her. Though Pearl had a
job, Ed was not able to find work because of the Depression. So she supported
the family until Ed could find work.
For most
of her life, Pearl Blizek was what we would call a stay-at-home mom. But she
also worked as a deacon in her church and regularly made contributions to the
lives of her friends and fellow congregates. During this period she also cared
for her sister, Ruby, until her death of cancer. Even in her 80s, Pearl reached
out to others, teaching English to recent immigrants through a program
supported by her church.
Pearl
died of cancer in December 2001 at the age of 90.
Dr.
Frances Fox Piven will present the inaugural lecture Friday, April 1, at noon
in the W.H. Thompson Alumni Center. She is a distinguished professor of
political science and sociology at the Graduate School and University Center of
the City University of New York.
Fred Ludwig
Foreign
Languages recently established the Fred Ludwig German Memorial Scholarship.
According to Professor Tony Jung,
"Fred Ludwig (pictured) was a nontraditional student who not only brought his
enthusiasm for learning into the classroom, but also enriched the lives of
students and faculty with his thoughtful questions, valuable insights,
experience as a musician and great sense of humor.
"After
completing a career, he pursued a baccalaureate degree in German. I shall
always remember our many conversations after class. Whenever I saw him coming
for a visit, I knew that we would have a mutually stimulating conversation
about an aspect of literature or culture that had caught his fancy. Now we
could explore it together!"
The Fred
Ludwig scholarship will offer support to students who want to study abroad in
Germany or Austria. Fred was the husband of Anne Ludwig, assistant director of
UNO's International Programs. He died in December 2000.
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The UNO
mathematics department's Problem of the Week (POW) contests continue to expand
while challenging more and more area high school and UNO students.
Each week
the department offers problem-solving contests on its website,
www.unomaha.edu/wwwmath.
The
college POW is designed for UNO students and has two divisions—Rockies and
Himalayas—with varying degrees of difficulty.
Problems also are posted weekly on the mathematics bulletin board in
Durham Science Center. Prizes are awarded at the end of each semester to
students submitting the most correct solutions.
The
Rockies problems are designed for any UNO mathematics student. The Himalayas
generally are more difficult problems designed for upperclassmen and graduate
students. In each case, problems typically are not ones that students would see
in regular mathematics courses.
Recent
examples of POW problems include:
Rockies:
Show that x(x+1)(x+2)(x+3) + 1 is a perfect square.
Himalayas:
A dart, thrown at random, hits a square target. Assuming that any two parts of
the target of equal area are equally likely to be hit, find the probability that
the point hit is nearer to the center than to any edge.
Express
your answer in the form 
where a, b, c and d are integers.
Several
instructors in the mathematics department share the responsibility of
submitting and grading the problems. In a recent week, more than 40 students
submitted correct solutions to the UNO POW Rockies Division problem.
The high
school POW is administered by a group of three undergraduate mathematics
students with the assistance of a mathematics faculty advisor. The three
students select, post and grade 10 problems each semester in an online contest,
which is accessible to all area high school students. Prizes are awarded at the
end of the school year to students submitting the most correct solutions.
The online contest culminates in an on-site
problem-solving contest in April during Math Awareness Month at UNO. Students
who have participated in the online contest are invited to compete for
individual and team prizes. The online contest has had more than 130 students
from area high schools submit at least one correct solution so far in
2004-2005.
A recent
high school POW problem: In a 10-mile race First beats Second by 2 miles and
First beats Third by 4 miles. If the runners maintain constant speeds
throughout the race, by how many miles does Second beat Third?
POW
problems and solutions, including solutions to those given above, can be viewed
at the math department website, www.unomaha.edu/wwwmath.
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"Time is
short, and we do not have much time and it is time we stop mincing words. . . .
No oppressed people ever gained their liberation until they were ready to
fight."
James
Forman
Echoes of
the civil rights movement of the 1960s rang from the lectern at the fourth
annual Malcolm X Festival hosted by UNO's black studies department in February.
Veteran
activists and scholars gathered on the UNO campus to explore the impact of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) upon civil rights and America.
On Jan. 11, nationally known SNCC leader James Forman, who inspired thousands
of young people in the 1960s, died of colon cancer at the age of 76.
"Having an opportunity to hear
about the civil rights movement and SNCC directly from people who participated
is vitally important," said Robert Chrisman, chair of UNO's black studies
department. "The death of Jim Forman underscores why we need to take the time
to listen and learn."
Clayborne
Carson (pictured), curator of the Martin Luther King Papers, professor of
history at Stanford, and the author of "In Struggle: SNCC and the Black
Awakening of the 1960s," gave the keynote lecture. Carson also authored
"Malcolm X: The FBI File" and served as senior advisor for "Eyes on the Prize,"
the award-wining PBS series on the civil rights movement.
Other
presenters:
• Cleveland
Sellers, SNCC organizer, survivor of the Orangeburg Massacre of 1968, and now a
professor at the University of South Carolina;
• Joseph
White, an expert on issues of black masculinity;
• Arthur
Himmelman, a community development specialist and former activist for Students
for a Democratic Society;
•
American Muslim scholar Umar Faruq Abd-Allah;
• Michael
Thelwell, a former field secretary for SNCC, distinguished novelist and
professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
A product
of the 1960s, nationally and internationally known poet Jayne Cortez read from
her works. Cortez is known for powerful surrealist expressions that reflect the
idioms of jazz, blues and internationally black music of the Diaspora. Cortez's
awards include the Langston Hughes Award for excellence in the arts and
letters, the American Book Award and the International African Festival Award.
She is president and co-founder of the Organization of Women Writers of Africa.
Also
performing at the festival was Awele Makeba. She performed "Rage Is Not A 1-Day
Thing, The Untaught History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott." Makeba, a
nationally acclaimed performer, uses drama, oral history and music to explore
the contributions of three individuals who worked to end legal segregation.
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As a
child, did you stare into the exotic faces on the covers of National
Geographic? Were you excitedly transported to cultures and scenery beyond
imagining?
Perhaps,
when we are young, there is a little geographer in us all. For those who grow
up and retain their fascination for the study of people, places and
environments, the adventure becomes real.
"Human
geographers," notes the American Association of Geographers (www.aag.com),
"work in the fields of urban and regional planning, transportation, marketing,
real estate, tourism and international business. Physical geographers study
patterns of climates, landforms, vegetation, soils and water. They forecast the
weather, manage land and water resources, and analyze and plan for forests,
rangelands and wetlands. They are active in the study of global warming,
desertification, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, groundwater pollution and
flooding.
Sounds a
bit like a list of graduates from the College of Arts and Sciences geography
program. Encompassing five areas of study, the program boasts numerous
successful graduates involved in a variety of adventures.
The list includes Bob and Miriam
Ubbelohde (pictured), who added romance to their adventure while meeting as UNO
students in a Computer Mapping and Data Analysis class. Bob took graduate
courses at UNO from 1996 to 1999. Miriam was on campus much of the same time,
graduating with honors and a BS in geography in 2001. They were married in May
1998.
Today,
both work for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in St. Louis.
Bob describes the NGA as a national intelligence and combat support agency
whose mission is to provide timely, relevant and accurate geospatial
intelligence in the support of national security.
But the
Ubbelohdes credit UNO's geography program for opening their minds to the world,
as well as for opening a door to exciting careers. Miriam writes that the
program "consists of a family of brilliant professors and motivated students.
The focus is on excellent course material and student interactions backed up by
knowledgeable and helpful professors who sincerely want to see their students
succeed."
Bob
recalls the value of courses he took with Dr. Karen Falconer Al-Hindi—history
and philosophy of geography—writing that, "Students who have a good grasp on
human-geographic interface obviously will have a more holistic view when given
the opportunity to solve a geospatial problem, whether the issue is dealing
with a purely physical, analytical solution or one relating to a social-economic
dilemma."
Professors and courses impacting lives
Course
subjects in geography run the full range from the very human to the highly
technical. Bob describes Environmental Remote Sensing with Dr. Michael Bishop
as "a challenging and comprehensive class focusing on the exciting world of the
electromagnetic spectrum outside our visible range."
Other
professors and courses the Ubbelohdes say made an impact on their lives and
careers:
• Dr.
Charles Gildersleeve who teaches, among other courses, Cultural Geography and
Human Geography. Well known for his lively sense of humor and passion for his
field and his students, Gildersleeve recently was honored with the 2004 Del and
Lou Ann Weber award of excellence, marking his 40 years of service to the
university and the community.
• Dr.
Jeffrey Peake: Introduction to Earth and Environmental Science and Advanced
Climatology. Bob describes the latter as "a technical course, providing the
student an in-depth look and an opportunity to better understand the interplay
between the earth and her atmosphere, necessary information for anyone
interested in better understanding issues ranging from biomass to
evapotranspiration."
• Dr. Michael Peterson: Introduction to
Cartography. "Dr. Peterson provided an environment to explore and discuss the
direction in which Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mapping software
and principals were taking us," Bob says. "At the time I was taking Dr.
Peterson's course (1997) GIS software was just beginning to break into the
mainstream market."
Marriage of geography, technology
It is the
relatively young marriage of geography and technology that is found attractive
by many other students, including Teresa Silence, vice president of Applied
Data Consultants, Inc. (ADC). There she oversees operations for the Omaha
office of ADC, "a firm that provides a full range of services in the area of
GIS."
"Often
times students will have that one class that changes their entire perspective.
For me that was Introduction to GIS taught by Dr. Peterson," Silence writes.
"Because of it, I did my master's in geography and now do GIS for a living."
It's a similar tale for Michael
Schonlau (pictured), who graduated with honors in 1999 with a BS in geography.
"The UNO geography program provided me with a unique opportunity to convert a
lifelong passion of mine, maps, into an exciting and rewarding career," he
says.
Schonlau
today is GIS Director for Pottawattamie County, Iowa. "My work includes
integrating spatial data (maps) and applications within the county's existing
operations to improve productivity and efficiency; providing the public with
better access to information in person and over the web via digital mapping;
and assisting other county departments in problem solving through the use of
GIS technologies."
For some
geography students, UNO's program provides a foundation for further study. Such
is the case with student Mark Finn, who is scheduled to graduate this May with
a BS in geography and a certificate in Geographic Information Processing. He hopes
to continue his studies at Pennsylvania State. "They have one of the best GIS
programs in the country and are currently doing research in Geocollaborative
Crisis Management, which is the development of GIS systems to be used by groups
of people to coordinate and plan in crisis situations," he says.
Finn
plans to earn a doctorate in geography and eventually work in the field of risk
management. "The major combines my love of computers, exploring the world and
solving problems," he says. "The professors in the geography department at UNO
have had a great impact on my life. Not only have they helped me learn about
geography and the world, they have fueled my desire to learn more."
Dr. Rex
Cammack's desire to learn more carried him from undergraduate student in the
geography program at UNO to his post as associate professor of geography at
Southwest Missouri State University, where he specializes in Geospatial
Sciences. Cammack mentions, in particular, his appreciation of Peterson,
Gildersleeve and Peake for encouraging and preparing him to attend "one of the
best geography graduate programs in the country," the University of South
Carolina.
It's an
adventure, though, that began at UNO.
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