UNO TV pairs with zoo on Madagascar
documentary
By Lisa Nielsen
A UNO
Television camera crew recently spent three weeks in Madagascar shooting
footage for a new one-hour documentary on the Madagascar Biodiversity Project
at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. Led by Henry Doorly's Dr. Ed Louis, the project is
expected to receive international attention.
Currently in
production, the program will highlight the project's complex conservation
efforts to save rainforest-indigenous plants and wildlife. Using
high-definition video and stereo sound, Executive Producer Gary Repair and
Production Coordinators Mark Dail and Steve O'Gorman bring to life Madagascar's
breathtaking beauty, as well as its deforestation.
A variety of people connected to the project
will share their insights on the ecological problems Madagascar faces and what
its future may hold. Omaha zoo personnel will be seen working directly with
Malagasy conservationalists and students on activities such as propagating and
transplanting orchids, collecting, examining and releasing various lemur
species, and helping administer breeding programs for the rare, highly
endangered plowshare tortoise and Re Re turtle.
Unmatched biodiversity combined with extreme
habitat destruction makes Madagascar the world's most endangered ecosystem.
Eighty percent of its plant life and all of its primates are endemic, occurring
naturally nowhere else in the world.
Because most of Madagascar's rainforests
already have been lost, several plant varieties and extraordinary animal
species have become extinct. The extensive fieldwork and sophisticated
laboratory analysis the Biodiversity Project provides will help Malagasy
government officials and conservationists address these concerns.
The documentary is tentatively scheduled to
debut sometime in Spring 2006.
Photo: UNO TV
Production Coordinator Mark Dail captures footage of a chameleon (Photo by Gary
Repair).
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Approval has been requested of the University
of Nebraska Board of Regents for the restructuring and renaming of the UNO College
of Fine Arts by moving the School of Communication and KVNO/UNO Television into
the College of Fine Arts and renaming it the UNO College of Communication, Fine
Arts and Media. If approved, the new college could be operable by July 1, 2005.
Watch this space for further updates.
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The UNO Department of Theatre's production of
"Playboy of The Western World" was selected to perform at the Kennedy Center
American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) Region V festival. Thirty-seven
students and seven faculty members traveled to St. Louis in January to attend
workshops and productions and compete in the festival competitions. The
following faculty and students received recognition for their achievements:
Meritorious
Achievement - "The Playboy of the Western World;" Costume Design, Charleen
Willoughby; Direction, D. Scott Glasser; Original Musical Score, Paul Boesing;
1st Place regional Costume Design Competition, Travis J. Halsey. Irene Ryan
Acting Competition—Semi-Finalist, Kevin Bensley with scene partner Jen Agnew,
Finalist, Adam Scarpello with scene partner Maria Vacha;
The aims of
KCACTF, a national theater education program, are to identify and promote
quality in college-level theater production.
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2005 Fine Arts Student Awards
Outstanding Graduate Honorees
Sonia Keffer, Omaha, Theatre. Future plans:
Stay involved in the Omaha theatre community, continue her work with the
Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, teach and encourage others in the pursuit of
their dreams.
Jonathan Pinkerton, Harrisburg, PA, Music
Future plans: Enter a doctoral program in
saxophone performance
Outstanding Undergraduate Honorees
Hannah Marchio,
Council Bluffs, IA, Studio Art. Future plans: Attend graduate school to earn a
master of fine arts degree.
Curtis Marolf, Durant, IA, Art Education. Future plans:
Apply for admission to the UNO CADRE program, earn a master's in secondary
education and pursue a career as a high school art teacher and wrestling coach.
Stephanie Thompson, Bailey, Colo., Art History.
Future Plans: Attend graduate school with an emphasis in museum studies.
Gordon Roberts, Sidney, IA, Music Education. Future Plans:
Teach in southwest Iowa as a band director of grades 5-12, and continue to lead
the Sidney Senior High Youth Group.
Timothy Hillyer, Omaha, Music Performance. Future plans: Work
as a substitute for the Omaha Symphony, attend the Cleveland Institute of Music
as a graduate student.
Quinn Corbin, Omaha, Theatre. Future plans: Apply for an
internship in stage management in New York City then pursue MFA in theatre.
Christina Harding, Omaha, Writer's Workshop. Future plans: Earn
an MFA in fiction and pursue a Ph.D. with creative dissertation.
2005 College of Fine Arts Dean's Award
Christina
Harding,
Writer's Workshop
UNO Art Student Exhibition Awardees
Studio
Art majors are encouraged to submit work to be considered for exhibit. This
event offers students the opportunity to become exposed to professional
practice in visual art, and to be considered for scholarship awards selected by
the exhibition juror including awards supported through the Bertha
Mengedoht-Hatz Fund. This semester's juror is Steve Elliot, an assistant
professor of art and design at Wayne State College, where he teaches sculpture,
design, drawing, metalsmithing and electronic media.
Spring 2005 awardees are: Joseph Buda, Jessica
Levy, Dan Lowe, Curtis Marolf, Timothy Mayer, Matt Orand, Chulwoo Park, Mike
Pleiss, Jon Sours, Megan Thomas, Linda Value (honorable mention), Bart Vargus
and Nathan Wetjen.
Juror Bethany Springer chose the following
students to receive scholarship awards for the Fall 2004: David Beckman, A.J.
Bredensteiner, Adam Ciochetto, Phillip Faulkner, Brandon Liebig, Dan Lowe,
Diane Nelson, Susan Pedersen, Mike Pleiss, Gregory Rishoi, Matt Rooney,
Laurence Taylor, Matt Walke.
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It was a good week to be Alexander Payne. On a
mid-December Monday the rising star writer/director saw his film "Sideways"
receive a leading seven Golden Globe nominations.
On Friday of the same
week UNO also recognized the Omaha native, presenting him with an honorary
doctor of human letters during the university's winter commencement ceremony at
the Civic Auditorium.
"It's often been said that a prophet is never
honored in his own country," says Robert Welk, interim dean of UNO's College of
Fine Arts. "Alexander Payne's
celebration of the flawed yet remarkable human spirit, along with his love of
his hometown, are due such recognition."
Payne's work is hardly flawed itself, as
indicated by ensuing honors the 44-year-old received following UNO's
commencement. On Jan. 17, "Sideways" won Golden Globes for best comedy and for
best screenplay. One week later it received Academy Award nominations for best
picture, achievement in directing, best supporting actor, best supporting
actress and best adapted screenplay. Payne received an Oscar for one of those
five nominations, winning for best adapted screenplay.
In addition to conferring Payne with an
honorary degree, UNO also held a film festival and symposium in his honor.
Prior to commencement, UNO showed all three of
Payne's previous Nebraska-based films—"About Schmidt," "Election" and "Citizen
Ruth"—as well as "Sideways" in the Milo Bail Student Center. The day after
commencement, more than 300 people came to a morning symposium featuring Payne
that was held in the UNO Eppley Administration Building auditorium. The crowd
went beyond standing room only.
"The only other person to attract this kind of
crowd was Ted Kooser, the U.S. poet laureate," says Tim Kaldahl, assistant
director for media relations in UNO University Affairs. "His presentation was
funny, informative, and he seemed to be enjoying himself."
An Omaha Creighton Prep graduate, Payne said
that during high school he spent many evenings in the Eppley Auditorium when
UNO ran an art house film series, and that it still looks the same.
Payne's degree at UNO commencement drew
attention near and far. Several local television stations attended the
ceremony, as did photographers from the Omaha World-Herald and Associated
Press.
Payne said that he has no desire to act and
that he wants to stay in the director's chair. "I'm behind the camera for a
reason. I pity famous actors," he said in a World-Herald article.
Photo by Tim Fitzgerald: UNO Chancellor Nancy Belck, left, and Vice Chancellor for
Academic and Student Affairs John Christensen, right, present Alexander Payne
with colors noting his honorary doctor of human letters.
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