CPACS faculty members, from
left, Peter Szto, Lyn Holley, Troy Romero, Pete Simi and Angela Eikenberry.
Photo by Tim Fitzgerald/University Relations
Converging paths
Five people, diverse in age, background,
interests and points of origin, yet their paths have led them to the College of
Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS). As varied as they are in the
subjects they teach and the research they conduct, they share a passion for
knowledge. Each is eager to continue learning - and to pass what they learn on
to others. "They are indicative of the dedication, the expertise and the talent
inherent in our junior faculty," says CPACS Dean B.J. Reed.
Angela Eikenberry,
Ph.D., Assistant Professor
School of Public
Administration
With an interest in the role of philanthropy, non-profit
organizations and civil society in democratic governance, one of Angela
Eikenberry's research streams focuses on "giving circles," groups of
individuals who pool their money and other resources and decide together where
to give these away.
"It's a form of philanthropy that has grown
recently in the United States and now abroad," she says. "It is a grassroots
movement among people who want to avoid the bureaucracy inherent in traditional
philanthropic structures."
While the idea behind giving circles is
actually quite old, only within the past five to 10 years has it been
recognized as a phenomenon in the world of organized philanthropy and been
given its name. Eikenberry is completing a book manuscript on giving circles.
Eikenberry earned her bachelor's degree in
international studies and her master's and Ph.D. in public administration from
UNO. She taught at Virginia Tech University for two years before returning to
UNO last August.
Through her research, she says, "I am trying
to understand issues about small-group democracy, and what non-profit and
social agencies can do to address social problems. Studying giving circles is
one way for me to try and determine whether small groups can really meet the
needs of society at a time of privatization and government cutbacks."
Lyn M. Holley, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor
Department of
Gerontology
Lyn Holley grew up in Beachwood, N.J., which at the time had a
population of a few hundred people. "Most girls I knew had aspirations to own a
washer and a dryer," she says. "I was desperately interested in college."
She earned her bachelor's degree from American
University in 1964 and began a career with an emphasis on tests and measurement
and personnel management.
She worked for the U.S. Army, the Departments
of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development, the United Nations, the
Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Customs Service. From 1987 to 1990, she
served as project director for compensation and job classification with the
National Commission on the Public Service (the Volcker Commission).
"I had worked devising performance management
systems in seven federal agencies, at the U.N. and internationally," Holley
recalls. "One day I realized I was overseeing work done by people who had their
Ph.D.s"
When her husband took a job at Union Pacific
Railroad, they moved to Omaha and she returned to school, earning her master's
degree and her Ph.D. in public administration from UNO. She teaches and
conducts research into topics including government policies relating to
Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers.
She finds her work in gerontology at this
point in life a joyful experience. "I can teach and be 'Exhibit A.'"
Troy Romero,
Instructor
Goodrich Scholarship
Program
When he was a child, Troy Romero's parents were custodians at UNO.
"Now, I'm working in a building my mother used to clean 15 or 20 years ago," he
says.
An Omaha native and a graduate of the Goodrich
Scholarship Program, Romero is working on his Ph.D. at UNO in
industrial/organizational psychology in a program offered through the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
His dissertation will examine the current
obstacles faced by marginalized students in higher education. He hopes the work
will one day result in strategies that improve the way at-risk students receive
and are accepted for higher education.
"I can relate to the students in the Goodrich
program," he says. "I understand where they are coming from, and I have seen
the potential barriers that might lead them away from higher education."
Romero also is a faculty member of the Office
of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS), which contributes knowledge and
understanding of Latino and Latin American communities and migrants within
Nebraska and across the region.
He is pleased to take an active role as an
instructor in the Goodrich program. "My work is service-learning in many
respects. I see the effects, sometimes directly, that I have on students. I get
from my 9-to-5 job the kind of satisfaction that most people have to go out and
perform community service to find."
Pete Simi, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor
School of Criminology
and Criminal Justice
To determine how violence becomes central to the way individuals
and groups define themselves, Pete Simi focuses his research on U.S. racial
extremist groups. He has done extensive interviews, attended the groups'
rallies and festivals, and lived in extremists' homes.
An active volunteer in projects that promote
safe neighborhoods and residential care for at-risk young people and adults
with developmental disabilities, Simi knew it would be difficult for him to
spend so much time with those who embrace violence and hatred.
Despite his mental preparation, what he saw
was shocking. "In the summer of 2004, I lived with a neo-Nazi family in
California," Simi says. "The husband and wife are veterans of the white
supremacist movement, and they're raising five children to become neo-Nazis."
The couple's 5-year-old son was already
saluting Nazi-style and referring to himself as a "skinhead." He had become
increasingly violent, having killed a bird and attempted to kill a cat - at
school during show-and-tell.
"My son was the same age as this little boy,
and it was deeply troubling to see the things this kid was going through; how
he had become the victim of a completely dysfunctional family."
A native of Vancouver, Wash., Simi received a
bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and his master's and Ph.D.
in sociology from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. He is completing a
book-length manuscript detailing his face-to-face study of hate groups.
"Ultimately, I'm most interested in research that informs our understanding of
these social problems and offers ideas about preventing and intervening in
them."
Peter Szto, Ph.D.,
Bachelor of Social Work Coordinator
School of Social Work
Born in New York City, Peter Szto witnessed as a child the plight
of that city's poor and homeless.
Szto earned a bachelor's degree from Calvin
College, master's degrees from Michigan State University and Westminster
Theological Seminary, and a master's in social work and Ph.D. from the
University of Pennsylvania. He has extensive clinical experience working with
preteens and adults with chronic mental illness.
He came to UNO in 2004. "A colleague lured me
here. I was living in Michigan," he says, chuckling, "and I wanted to come
south for warmer weather."
Beyond his teaching, Szto has tapped an
interest in China by accompanying UNO students to the country the past three
summers. He also is conducting research regarding race relations, racial
identity, institutional racism and mental illness in China, and has been using
photography to document his work. "I want to create a better understanding of
the history of mental health and practices in China, and bring these practices
to light in America. I also want to better apply the use of photography in
social work, to build understanding and to enhance social work in an
autobiographical form."
His photographs will be the subject of an
exhibit titled, "The Floating Population in Guangzhou, China," at the W. Dale
Clark Library in downtown Omaha in May.
He will be taking another group of students to
China this year - and will witness how the country deals with social welfare
issues in preparation for the summer Olympics in Beijing.
