In Bloom: Spring has sprung, bringing not only new blossoms but also awards
and honors for various College of Arts and Sciences students and faculty. The
following pages detail some of those honorees.
UNO Alumni Outstanding Teaching
Three Arts and Sciences faculty received 2008
Alumni Outstanding Teaching Awards at the UNO Faculty Honors Convocation
Breakfast April 10, each receiving a $1,000 award and commemorative tablet.
Bullock and Parnell photos by Tim Fitzgerald, University Relations. Desmarais
photo by Karen Kempkes
Steven Bullock
Alyson Roach, a
political science student, wrote in support of Steven Bullock's nomination,
"Dr. Bullock's classes in constitutional law kindled an enduring passion for
the subject in me, which I am pursuing as a graduate student."
Bullock is an assistant political science professor whose primary
areas of specialty include the American founding, constitutional law, and the
intersection of sport and American culture. He also has focused his teaching
efforts in recent years on developing innovative graduate courses for K-12
teachers.
In addition, Bullock
heads UNO's Dual Enrollment program, which has a current enrollment of
approximately 2,000 students. The program allows talented high school juniors
and seniors to enroll in UNO courses while simultaneously encouraging these
students to interact with various components of the university.
He was a lecturer at
UNO from 1997 until 2003, when he joined its faculty. Bullock earned his
bachelor's degree from Midland Lutheran College (1993), his master's degree
from UNO (1996) and his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2001).
Michele Desmarais
Former student Tammi
Owens writes in support of Michele Desmarais' nomination, "Her professionalism,
dedication to her students, and breadth of knowledge in her field has been a
powerful inspiration to me."
Dr. Desmarais (pictured; photo by Karen Kempkes) is an assistant
professor of philosophy and religion whose primary focus are Sanskrit and
Indian thought, particularly Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) and Buddhism. She
teaches courses on Eastern Religious Traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism and world
religions for UNO's Religious Studies Program. She also teaches courses on the
Sanskrit language and is a member of the Native American studies faculty at
UNO. Her book, "Changing Minds: Mind, Consciousness and Identity in Patanjali's
Yoga-sutra and Cognitive Neuroscience" recently was published by Motilal
Banarsidass, a noted publisher in the field of Indology. Desmarais earned a
bachelor's degree in psychology (1986) from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby,
British Columbia, Canada. She earned an M.A. in religious studies (1992) and a
Ph.D. in Asian studies (2001), both from the University of British Columbia.
Juliette Parnell
Courtney Wheat, a student of Dr. Juliette Parnell, writes, "Dr.
Parnell has challenged me to work harder, be stronger, bolder, and more
precise. She has given me the tools and the inspiration to make the most of
every class."
Parnell is an
associate professor of French in UNO's Foreign Languages Program.
She teaches
beginning, intermediate and advanced French classes. Her specialty topics are
French civilization, contemporary France, French films and business French.
Parnell produced a
CD-ROM for the beginning French textbook "Voilà" in 2006.
Her other teaching
interests focus on business French and writing at the advanced level. Parnell
also has been an AP French reader and consultant since 2005. Her research has
been on 19th century French women and politics.
Parnell earned a B.A. in history (1976) from
Paris I and a B.A. in English (1978) at Paris VII in France. She then moved to
the United States to pursue graduate studies in French at the University of
California at Los Angeles, where she earned an M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1991).
UNO Chancellor John
Christensen and Vice Chancellor Sheri
Noren Everts, right, recognized Maria Anderson-Knudtson for her
service-learning contributions at UNO. Photo by Tim Fitzgerald, University
Relations.
Excellence in service-learning
A writing teacher at
UNO since 1985, Maria Anderson-Knudtson was recognized at the 2008 Faculty
Honors Convocation for her contributions to service-learning at UNO. Well
before many knew of the term "service-learning," Knudtson realized the need to
make classroom assignments into "real-world" experience for students of
writing.
"The advantage to
the students is that their people-power is directed to a client who can use
their work," Anderson-Knudtson explains. "It doesn't dead-end at the
professor's desk."
Clients — businesses
in the local community who partner with the university in service-learning —
get quality products at no cost.
"They also get fresh
ideas, creativity," Anderson-Knudtson adds. "I might have 60 brains working on
a single project. Think about the power in that! The fascinating aspect is that
those many brains do have different levels of creativity. Art history majors do
view and approach tasks differently than civil engineering students. The
diversity of their ideas and perspectives is a great benefit to each client."
Much of
Anderson-Knudtson's work with service-learning has been through her teaching a
course called Technical Writing across the Disciplines. She describes the
course as follows: "The Technical Communication class is basically a writing
class that introduces students to applications in professional situations. The
assignments differ from writing academic papers like essays, which students
traditionally produce in general composition classes in colleges. Tech Com
focuses on the writing situation, audience, format of documents, researching,
and editing documents such as reports, resumes, letters, memos, technical
definitions and descriptions."
Clients for her
classes have included the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and the Omaha Online Public
Art Project.
Anderson-Knudtson
also has offered several workshops for other faculty incorporating
service-learning in their classes.
A colleague wrote in
support of Knudtson that she, "exemplifies what a faculty member working with
service-learning should embody: developing and coordinating meaningful projects
for students; ensuring high-quality and effective student work; maintaining
excellent relations with community partnerships; and actively supporting
service-learning, not only on campus and community-wide, but nationally as
well."
Dean's Award, Student Honors
A key component to
the traditional liberal arts education is the study of a second language.
Through this level of immersion in another culture, students achieve an
intimacy that opens their minds to other cultural perspectives — a fundamental
hope to the future of our world.
Perhaps no one
better represents such hope than Aaron Albin (pictured; photo by Tim
Fitzgerald, University Relations).
A Spring 2008
graduate, Albin received this year's Dean's Award in Student Honors for the
College of Arts and Sciences and subsequently was selected as the recipient of
the Vice Chancellor's Award and as the student commencement speaker. He
graduated with a 3.99 GPA, a double major in English and Spanish and a
certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
The Omaha native stands out even among the brightest honors
students in the role he plays as an ambassador to UNO's international students
and, ultimately, to the international community.
In addition to his
university study of Spanish, Albin has taught himself Japanese. He puts his
extraordinary skill in language to use by tutoring for the intensive English
program, the Foreign Languages program and the UNO Writing Center. He has
served as an orientation leader for international students and as secretary for
the student organization Friends of Japan.
Albin is a past
recipient of the English department's most prestigious scholarship, the Marion
Basler/Helen Basler Anderson Scholarship, UNO's Hansen Distinguished
Scholarship, and a UNO Regents Scholarship. He is active in Omicron Delta Kappa
(National Leadership Honors Society), Sigma Tau Delta (International English
Honors Society) and Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honors
Society).
English Professor
and department Chair Dr. Susan Maher writes, "Among the linguists in my
program, Aaron is held in high esteem, celebrated as one of the most gifted
linguistics students we have ever taught."
This fall Albin
plans to enter a master's program in linguistics in Indiana, where he also will
teach Japanese courses through an associate instructorship.
From left to right,
Christian Haunton and Julien Fielding receive their awards from Religious
Studies Professor Bill Blizek.
Excellence in Teaching Awards for
Part-time Teachers
A"life-changing experience" is what the very
best Arts and Sciences instructors offer their students each semester. Recently
honored for being among the very best are Dawn Cripe (Women's Studies),
Christian Haunton (Religious Studies) and Julien Fielding (Religious Studies).
According to nomination letters from their students, these winners of the
Excellence in Teaching Awards for Part-time Teachers alter students'
perceptions of themselves and their world by three persistent techniques.
Making it personal
One nominator wrote
of Fielding, "College is expensive and sometimes I wonder why I decided to take
this class and spend all my money on something that is not even going to help
me in my field of work … but it is in my field of life. Her teaching helped me
discover more of who I was and what I believed in."
This discovery is
all part of Fielding's plan. She says of her students, "I want to inspire them
to seek education for the personal rewards it offers."
Fielding graduated
summa cum laude from UNO in 1992 with a B.A. in art history and minors in
religious studies, English, medieval studies and French.
She earned her M.A.
in religious studies from the University of Kansas in 1996. She has been
teaching classes in religion at UNO since 2005 and also teaches at Midlands
Lutheran College and Metropolitan Community College. Among her current projects
is completion of a book on religion and film to be published by Scarecrow Press
this winter.
Being responsive
These sentiments
expressed by one of Haunton's supporters are echoed for all three instructors:
"Mr. Haunton never ignored a question, and he answered them adequately and
without bias. Acknowledging the questions of ill-informed people and answering
them without arrogance, no matter how unusual they may seem, marks the
character of a good person."
Religious Studies
Professor Bill Blizek testifies to the same on visiting Haunton's class. "A
large percentage of students asked questions during the class and a number of
students stayed after class to talk to Christian about the material," Blizek
says. "Christian stayed until every student had asked his or her question."
Haunton is an Omaha native who earned his B.S.
in criminal justice at UNO (1998) and his M.A. in religious studies at the University
of Iowa (2006). His areas of academic interest include religion in the ancient
and classical Mediterranean world, archaeological investigation of religion,
and issues of definition and interpretation in the study of religion.
Staying passionate
Fielding, Haunton and Cripe all were lauded by student nominators
for their caring and enthusiasm. A student who nominated Cripe writes, "Dawn
adds excitement to her lectures. She is never monotonous, as she cares strongly
about all the material in her course and is always excited to share it with her
students."
Cripe (in left of
picture and with Professor Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Director of Women's
Studies.) arned a B.S. in
journalism from UNO with a minor in women's studies in 2000 and an M.A. in communication
in 2004. She teaches journalism, speech, and women's studies at UNO and also
teaches for the College of St. Mary.
Communication
Professor Shireen Bingham writes, "Whether she is designing a new course,
creating an activity or assignment, selecting a film or textbook, bringing
guest presenters in to her course, or taking her students into the community,
Dawn fully and meaningfully engages her students in processes of critical
thinking and active learning."
Making it personal,
being responsive and staying passionate all require time, energy and commitment
to the ideal of a liberal arts education.
For their commitment
to this ideal, Cripe, Fielding and Haunton were awarded plaques and checks for
$1,000 each at the Arts and Sciences Faculty Reception.
UNO Chancellor John
Christensen and Vice Chancellor Deb
Smith-Howell, right, recognized Lisa Kelly-Vance with UNO's Outstanding
Graduate Mentor Award for 2008.
Outstanding Graduate Mentor
UNO's Outstanding
Graduate Mentor Award for 2008 was awarded to Lisa Kelly-Vance, who has served
as advisor, mentor and advocate for the Department of Psychology's graduate
students for 13 years. Her work extends far beyond the classroom, encompassing
research, advising, mentoring and career preparation.
"With her teaching,
guidance, and support, I have achieved things I never thought possible, helped
children in ways I never thought I could, and learned invaluable information
both inside and outside the classroom," writes Abbey Modica, a school
psychology graduate student.
Another graduate
student, Karin Mussman, explains how Kelly-Vance earns the title "outstanding":
"One of the other key features that makes Dr. Kelly-Vance a superb supervisor
is her wide network that she has built with other school psychologists and
community members. She is involved in state, regional and national committees
and organizations, not just for herself but also for her students."
Kelly-Vance,
director for the School Psychology Program, previously received the University
Excellence in Teaching Award and the UNO Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award,
both in 2002, and the University of Nebraska Outstanding Teaching and
Instructional Creativity Award in 2004.
She earned her Ph.D.
in educational psychology in 1990 from Indiana University and taught at
Creighton University for several years before coming to UNO.
We forgot to mention ...
In the Spring 2008
issue of the Alum magazine, we neglected to give credit to Karen Kempkes for
two photographs that accompanied an article about Michele Desmarais.
Kempkes took both
the featured portrait of Desmarais (above) and the cover photo for Desmarais'
new book, "Changing Minds: Mind, Consciousness and Identity in Patanjali's
Yoga-sutra and Cognitive Science."
Desmarais writes,
"Karen Kempkes is an alumna of our Religious Studies program, the business
manager in Continuing Studies, and a very good friend. She is also a wonderful
photographer.
"The publisher asked
me for ideas about a cover design, and also a photo if I had it for the book.
"The Samkhya-Yoga
system of thought (upon which the book is based) uses a metaphor of the soul,
purusha, as an audience member who watches the material world, prakirti,
perform a show. I draw on this imagery throughout the book."
Desmarais explains
that, though the photo of the stage was her idea, Kempkes thought to include
the chair.
She adds, "When I
went to Delhi and met my publisher, he took me to meet the people who worked on
the cover of the book. They were raving about the cover and the empty chair on
stage! One of them exclaimed, 'It's perfect! You sit in the chair, and your
mind changes!'"
