UNO Magazine Spring 2014

SPR ING 2014

LET’S GET STARTED. UNO GRADUATE STUDIES For more than 100 years, we have helped professionals advance their careers through a wide array of award-winning programs. We offer over 60 graduate programs, at master’s, Ph. D. and certificate levels.

Our master’s and doctoral degrees rank among the best in the country according to U.S. News & World Report.

UNO has the most affordable graduate school tuition rates in the Omaha area and provides a multitude of funding sources for graduate students to help finance their education.

FACT: On average, employers will pay 15% more to those who hold a master’s degree than those with a bachelor’s degree.

(U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS)

IT’S YOUR TURN. gradschool@unomaha.edu www.facebook.com/UNOGraduateStudies www.unomaha.edu/graduate 402-554-2341 Eppley Building Room 203

SPRING 2014

VOL. 5, NO. 1 WWW.UNOALUMNI.ORG/UNOMAG

MANAGING EDITOR

Anthony Flott ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Jennifer Arnold Charley Reed ART DIRECTION

Heidi Mihelich Emspace Group

8 Alumni Association 13 Philanthropy Matters

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The Colleges

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Letter from the Chancellor

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Letters to the Editor

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Letters from the Editor

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Get to Know

COVER ILLUSTRATION

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Edel Rodriguez CONTRIBUTORS

Dave Ahlers, Kevin Bartram, Jeff Beiermann, Rick Davis, John Dechant, Wanda Ewing, Eric Francis, Austin Gaule, Joel Gehringer, Susan Houston Klaus, Greg Kozol, Nate Pohlen, Charley Reed, Bonnie Ryan, Nicholas Sauma, Chelsea Schreiber, Alexandra Siebenthal, Terry Stickels, Kevin Warneke, Nate Watson

Marlin Briscoe broke pro football's color barriers Now he's breaking into Hollywood with his life story

Team Colors

What is beauty — and who says so?

ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS TO 80,000 UNO GRADUATES! TO LEARN MORE, CONTACT GARY DOMET AT 402-995-1918 OR GMD6@COX.NET.

UNO Magazine is published three times a year by the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the UNO Alumni Association and the NU Foundation. Direct editorial inquiries to Managing Editor: UNO Alumni Association, 6705 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68182-0010. Phone: 402-554-2444; tollfree, UNO-MAV-ALUM, FAX 402-554-3787.

Email: aflott@unoalumni.org Send all changes of address to attention of Records or visit www.unoalumni.org/records Views expressed within this magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the UNO Alumni Association or the NU Foundation.

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Athletics

A look at team mascots and how they’re changing

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The Last Ouampi

38 44

Eye of the Beholder

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A Look at Genocide

Opinion

CLASS 52 NOTES

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Sights & Sounds

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For Fun

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FROM THE CHANCELLOR

Dear Alumni and Friends: IT HAS BEEN SAID that education is the “great equalizer” of society. I believe this is true — particularly for metropolitan universities like UNO and our students.

For UNO to be successful in helping our students achieve these goals, we must provide and encourage an atmosphere that is welcoming, diverse, tolerant and fosters equality. I am proud of the diversity that exists among our students, faculty and staff — the most diverse in the University of Nebraska system.

In today’s knowledge-based world, those who possess skill sets and education are more competitive for employment and positioned for a higher standard of living, irrespective of race, gender or personal beliefs.

But beyond that, I am equally proud of the way the UNO family interacts and works together on a daily basis. As our value statement cites:

UNO students represent a broad cross-section of our metropolitan community. Some are the first in their families to attend college, some are economically disadvantaged, some are more affluent. Some come to UNO from countries around the world, while others have never traveled beyond this community or state.

“UNO is proud to have the most diverse collegiate student body in the region. Racial and ethnic diversity are celebrated, and UNO fosters a welcoming culture of learners from Omaha to Oman, from high school dual enrollment to doctoral studies, from on-campus to online. A wide range of rich experiences are possible when the world comes to study at UNO.”

They come to us from diverse backgrounds, but all come for one compelling reason: to obtain an education that provides options and removes obstacles. Or, put more simply, to achieve equality and opportunity through education.

In yet another compelling and thought-provoking issue of UNO Magazine we examine equality through a variety of lenses. I hope you enjoy it and read it cover to cover.

Until next time, Chancellor John E. Christensen

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Reader feedback is key to making UNO Magazine among the best university publications in the country. Write us about the magazine, the university, or suggest a story. Letters must include the writer’s first and last names, address and phone number and may be edited for taste, accuracy, clarity and length. www.unoalumni.org/unomag-led A WELCOME CHANGE Wow. I was taken aback by the Fall 2013 magazine — in a good way. I attended UNO for my MBA in 1978-1979 on the G.I. Bill and had a great experience. But I never met another Vietnam Veteran nor did I see any organizations related to military veterans. In fact, I stopped telling anyone I was a veteran after a fellow worker took a picture I showed him on Veterans Day and posted it all over the office ridiculing my tour in Vietnam. I am so glad to see such an open, positive attitude toward current veterans.

Wes Haun, ’79 The Woodlands, Texas FREEDOM RIDER WRITER Thank you so kindly for the complimentary copies of the fall Issue of UNO Magazine that you provided to the In Country Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club. Your thorough coverage of the association that UNO has had with current and past members of the military was warmly received.

As a UNO alum and past instructor in the College of Engineering, I took particular pride in your presentation of that enduring relationship. May we all be thankful for the past and continued service that our men and women in uniform provide us by their unwavering devotion to duty in preserving our freedom. Thanks to UNO, there is a place where we all feel welcomed, either during our service, as in the case of the legendary Bootstrapper Program, or on the completion of our service when we can use the G.I. Bill to complete our study in higher education as I did upon completing my enlistment in the USAF. Bill Woodward, ’76 Omaha NO MORE HIDING I read with great interest your article on veterans at UNO. I graduated Class of ’76 with a BS in criminal justice. My father, Col. James S. Connell (UNO, ’58), was the Professor of Aerospace Studies at UNO and commissioned Cadet Laura (Havelka) Miller (’74) and my old boss at the VA Medical Center in Phoenix, Cadet Michael Achey (UNO, ’72).

My father also swore me into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1970 and I went on to serve two combat tours in Vietnam. Your printed letter from Chancellor Christensen painted a rosy picture about how veterans are treated at UNO. That wasn’t the case when I was in school there after Vietnam. I had to hide the fact that I was a veteran to avoid being vilified everywhere I turned. I lived through it and America has changed because of the Vietnam veteran experience. I am glad to see that UNO is in full support of our veterans now.

It wasn't that way in 1974.

Patrick J Connell, ’76 Peoria, Ariz.

HATS OFF TO UNO I just received my copy of UNO Magazine this afternoon and read it front-to-back, as always. Thank you for dedicating it to the men and women of the Armed Forces.

When I deployed the first of four times, in 2006 (Iraq x 3, Afghanistan x 1, and a year in Korea), you sent me my first care package (before even my lovely mother!). I wore my Mav hat whenever I could get away with it (I took it back with me on each subsequent deployment). I knew then how much you, the Alumni Association and the University, supported us. I'm proud to be a UNO alum! Now I find myself working on two MA degrees at Columbia University in NYC: one in political science and one in philosophy. I will graduate in the spring and will begin teaching at the United States Military Academy at West Point this fall. I should pin major in the fall as well. I will proudly hang my UNO diploma next to my Columbia diplomas in my office and will tell ALL my cadets how wonderful Nebraska and UNO are!

(David) Scott Parsons, ’98 Highland Mills, N.Y. CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT The fall edition was another SUPERLATIVE issue. Laura Havelka Miller was my sorority daughter and homecoming queen the year after I was. That's me putting the crown on her head. She was an exemplary young woman and I was thrilled that she became UNO's first female AFROTC cadet and the first one commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. I knew she would be a terrific addition to our Armed Services.

Carol Schrader, ’88 Omaha AN ENRICHING ISSUE I just wanted to pass on my appreciation for the excellent publication for the Fall 2013 UNO Magazine. As I read through the many articles about other graduates, it made me appreciate even more being a graduate of UNO. UNO has been highlighted as being extremely progressive and having excellent instructors and staff. I have actually signed up to use the Veteran's Business Courses for personal enrichment.

Steve Novotny, ’86 Papillion, Neb. EDITOR’S NOTE: Novotny was featured for his service in command of Camp Ashraf prison camp near the Iran-Iraq border while serving with the 530th MP Battalion as part of the 800th Military Police Brigade.

On Fall 2013

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION TAKE A LOOK AT MY PICTURE and tell me what you see.

A dashingly handsome fella, you say? Come on, I’m not after the obvious here. Try harder and take another look.

Do you put me in a “box” when you see my photo? Man? White person? White male?

I’m guessing you didn’t think “African-American,” did you? But that’s what I am.

OK, I’m only partly black — 10.5 percent, according to DNA (see chart). That comes from my father, born a Creole in New Orleans. His DNA is 21 percent West African, reflecting African ancestry through his father and mother. Both of them descend in part from slaves.

On my grandfather’s side, the lineage includes not only a slave — Etienne LeFleau, my great-great-great-great grandfather — but also a slave owner, Francois LeFleau, Etienne’s father.

10%

26%

Eastern European

Southern European

10%

West African

Chew on that for a bit.

Francois, a Frenchman from Mobile, Ala., had two children by Etienne’s mother, Felicity. Felicity was the daughter of Jacque Lorreins, a French-black mix and also a slave.

53%

British Isles

1%

Uncertain

In 1797, LeFleau granted freedom to Etienne and a sister, Adelaide. The manumission papers list “Good services, mother” and “much love & affection” as reasons for granting freedom. Etienne was 5, Adelaide 3. Each was valued at $325.

Felicity remained LeFleau’s slave but eventually must have been given her freedom, for on Etienne’s marriage certificate years later she is listed as a “free person of color.”

It also appears that LeFleau later gave Etienne land near present-day Abita Springs, just north of Lake Pontchartrain. By some accounts, Etienne was perhaps the area’s first pioneer, settling opposite a village of Choctaw Indians.

The clan grew extensive and was integral to Abita Springs’ growth. The name morphed from LeFleau into LeFlore, Flot, Flott and other variations. The family founded and sent their children to a school exclusively for Creoles. One of our ancestors built a swimming pool there for people of color. It was fed by the same artisan wells that today feed Abita Brewing Company. On the same grounds they also built an amusement park for people of color, Hidden Paradize.

Etienne is still there, buried in a family cemetery including nearly four score of his descendants.

My grandfather was born there in 1912. He met and married my grandmother, Michaela Houlemard.

She grew up in the heart of the French Quarter, speaking a mix of Louisiana Creole French and English. Among her ancestors was a black slave from Haiti.

I love my Creole heritage. I grew up on red beans and rice, gumbo, okra and other Creole standards.

I always felt unique among my friends. Special.

Two generations ago in Louisiana, though, my bloodlines would have been a mark against me.

By Louisiana law, anyone determined to have 1/32 African ancestry was black. Called the “One Drop” rule (also known as hypodescent) — it was upheld as recently as 1985 when a Louisiana court ruled that a woman with a black great-great-great-great-grandmother could not identify herself as white on her passport.

When American census takers came around, members in my grandfather’s and grandmother’s families sometimes would get marked with a “C,” sometimes with an “M” — colored or mulatto. My grandmother’s birth certificate listed her as colored. The first five children she had were, too. My father, the sixth of her 11 children, likely also would have been listed as colored had he not been born at home and never issued a birth certificate.

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

My grandparents faced discrimination. My grandmother and her sisters used to walk to work at a sewing factory. Otherwise, they would have had to ride on the back of the bus with other colored people. My grandfather talked of separate drinking fountains and having to sit in the back at movie theaters.

So in 1948, with six kids in tow, he left.

Yes, partly to find better work. But also to find a better way. To leave a place that judged people by their color and not their character.

Is it any wonder Louisiana ranks so low on so many indicators (health, education, workforce, etc.)? When the talent leaves — and when you don’t give a place at the table for those who stay — you’re bound to stagnate.

As Grant Stanley and Tad Wood write on pages 44-45, people are a state’s most valuable capital. We’re seeing that in Nebraska with the influx of Hispanic immigrants. Yes, they might strain an economy at first, but the input of their children and later descendants typically benefit an economy.

You can see the same thing in microcosm in the article on Marlin Briscoe (pages 26-31). Marlin became pro football’s first black starting quarterback, setting records that not even John Elway could top. Yet the Broncos never gave him a shot in his second year and he parted ways. Their loss was the gain of Buffalo, where Briscoe became an All-Pro receiver, then Miami, where he helped the Dolphins to a pair of Super Bowl wins.

My grandfather, and eventually all 14 of his siblings and their families (yes, I said 14), left Louisiana and its backward ways.

Wherever they went, they prospered. At one point an uncle of mine employed the largest number of construction workers in the state.

Many of us are college educated. We are teachers, professionals, tradesmen, religious, business owners, an actress and more.

I sometimes wonder what would have become of our family had it stayed put. Some family remains in Abita Springs, but not many. In the summer of 2012, Flotts from across the country gathered for a reunion in Abita Springs Town Hall. It was a true Creole mural, with shades from white to black, all sharing a common slave and slave-owner ancestor.

One of my cousins, Sophia Flot-Warner was there. My great, great grandfather is her great grandfather. As you can tell from her photo here, we look nothing alike.

But don’t go by what you see.

Enjoy the read, Anthony Flott Managing Editor

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Young Alumni Academy

PARTNERSHIPS Insurance Are you in need of home, life, auto, health or life insurance?

The UNO Alumni Association offers graduates insurance for these and other needs at discounted rates. See all the coverage available at www.unoalumni.org/insurance.

Travel The UNO Alumni Association is pleased to announce discounted travel opportunities for alumni through a new partnership THE FOURTH CLASS of the award-winning UNO Young Alumni Academy has been on the move since the last UNO Magazine was published.

with travel provider Go Next!

The eight-month leadership development and networking program, specifically designed for alumni 35 and younger, boasts its largest class to date with 44 members.

of these three cruises

Participants in October were running to all corners of campus as teams competing against each other in a scavenger hunt. In November the academy got a behind-the-scenes tour of the CenturyLink Center prior to the UNO-Miami hockey game. Sessions also included presentations on UNO’s various funding structures and its numerous and growing community engagements.

The academy meets Feb. 20 and March 13 before its April 10 “graduation” ceremony and reception at the Thompson Center. The academy has earned numerous awards since its 2010 launch, most recently receiving three CASE awards. See “Good as Gold” for more.

Join fellow graduates on one in 2014: • Baltic Marvels — Copenhagen to Stockholm, Aug. 13-21 • Autumn in America’s Heartland — St. Louis to St. Paul, Sept. 26-Oct. 4 For more information, visit www.unoalumni.org/travel. To receive a brochure, call the association toll-free at UNO-MAV-ALUM (866-628-2586).

Frequent Flyer

India

Award-winning Show the O campaign still on the move THE O IS RACKING UP serious frequent flyer miles.

Launched in January 2013, the Show the O campaign continues to go global with students, alumni, faculty and friends taking “O” flags to 41 countries and all but seven states.

Czech Republic

Show the O was instituted to celebrate the UNO Alumni Association’s 100th anniversary and to emphasize the spread and stature of the worldwide UNO alumni network — now numbering 100,000 graduates.

The campaign provides participants with a large “O” flag with which they pose for photographs in front of some notable icon where they live or are traveling. Photos are displayed on an interactive website — showtheo.com — that includes a clickable map and photo gallery indicating all the locations around the world where “O” flags have traveled. Brief information about participants also is included.

The program won a silver award for Silver Specific Media Relations Programs in the recent CASE Institutional awards program (see page 10).

There is no cost to participate. Flags are provided for free and a postage-paid return envelope is included for their return.

To participate, visit showtheo.com.

Texas

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Striking a Pose THE MAVERICK MONUMENT was among the celebrities appearing at the UNO Alumni Association’s 100th Anniversary Celebration, attracting numerous alumni who grabbed “selfies” with the bull statue.

Among those striking a pose with the miniature model was artist Jocelyn Russell and Nebraska First Lady Sally Ganem, a UNO graduate. Russell is working on the full-scale model, which will stand 8-feet high and weigh 1,500 pounds. It will be installed in the fall of 2014 amid a new plaza in front of the Sapp Fieldhouse and HPER Building.

Artist Jocelyn Russell and Nebraska First Lady Sally Ganem, a UNO graduate, pose with the miniature model of the Maverick Monument.

Based on a fighting bull, the powerful, muscular Maverick Monument was commissioned in celebration of the Association’s 100th anniversary.

It symbolizes the determination, pride and success of UNO students and alumni and the opportunities before them. The monument will become an

Rocking 100 Hundreds help celebrate 100 years of Alumni Association Hundreds of guests helped the UNO Alumni Association celebrate its 100-year anniversary, gathering Friday, Nov. 8, on the UNO campus. UNO graduate Billy McGuigan headlined the event with his popular “Rock Legends” show.

The fun was held in the East Gym of the HPER building.

Guests included former UNO Chancellors Ron Roskens and Del Weber, current Chancellor John Christensen, NU Regent Bob Whitehouse, Nebraska First Lady Sally Ganem, various UNO administrators, faculty and staff, and, of course, numerous alumni. Also attending was artist Jocelyn Russell, creator of the forthcoming Maverick Monument.

Funds raised through the 100th Anniversary Celebration supported the monument, which will be "unleashed" in Fall 2014 (See “Striking a Pose”).

McGuigan, a 1999 UNO graduate, is one of the region’s most popular and sought-after musicians. His “Rock Legends” show featured music from the 1950s to today.

The anniversary celebration also included dinner and an authentic soda fountain.

The Class of 1913, composed of 13 graduates, founded the UNO Alumni Association at a banquet June 6, 1913. Since then the university has graduated 109,000 alumni — nearly 100,000 of whom are living.

enduring campus icon, sparking new traditions and offering interactive photo opportunities for students, alumni, visitors and media.

UNO’s Student Government has led donations to the monument, allocating $30,000 for it. Gifts of $500 or more to the monument will be recognized on the plaza’s honor wall as follows: $500

Name on honor wall

$1,000 Premium name placement on honor wall $5,000 Name on Maverick Monument plaque $10,000 Premium name on Maverick Monument plaque and a personal bronze miniature of Maverick Monument To make YOUR mark on the monument, donate online at unoalumni.org/mavmonument.

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Good as Gold Association wins six gold awards in CASE program

ONCE AGAIN, UNO ALUMNI Association programs, events and communications have proven to be good as gold.

CASE VI Awards: Alumni Relations Programs

The association received a university-record six gold awards and 11 overall in the annual CASE VI Institutional Awards Program recognizing the best work of advancement professionals. CASE — the Council for Advancement and Support of Education — encompasses eight districts. CASE VI is comprised of nearly 200 institutions from eight Midwest states.

GOLD

The awards honor work from July 2012 through June 2013 and were conferred at the annual CASE VI Conference Jan. 12-14 in Kansas City. A record 575 entries were submitted to the peer-judged awards program.

The association has received 27 CASE awards since 2010.

“Credit goes to our dedicated staff members who are never satisfied with the status quo as they work to strengthen the UNO alumni network,” says Alumni Association President Lee Denker.

“It is especially meaningful to be recognized by our colleagues as we kick off our second century serving this great university.”

The UNO Young Alumni Academy, created and managed by Programs Director Elizabeth Kraemer, facilitates networking and professional growth for alumni 40 and younger. Meetings are held at unique locations on and off campus, and UNO leaders address members on topics such as athletics management, student focus and

Volunteer Engagement and Leadership — UNO Young Alumni Academy

CASE VI Awards: Communications & Marketing, Excellence In Design GOLD

Periodicals — UNO Magazine

GOLD

Covers — UNO Magazine, Fall 2012

GOLD

Collaborative Programs — UNO Young Alumni Academy

Illustrations — UNO Magazine, Fall 2012

SILVER

BRONZE Regular Alumni Programs — UNO Young Alumni Academy

Specific Media Relations Programs — Show the O

SILVER

BRONZE Programming for Special Constituencies — UNO Mavs on the Move in Arizona

Traditional video, DVD, CD or film — Jeopardy! video

BRONZE Specific Media Relations Programs — Jeopardy! video

GOLD

GOLD

Programming for Special Constituencies — UNO Golden Circle

community engagement. More than 140 young alumni have participated in the academy in its four years.

The UNO Golden Circle is comprised of alumni, retired faculty and staff 65 and older. The group meets monthly for luncheons featuring campus speakers. UNO Mavs on the Move in Arizona was a reception for UNO alumni and friends held January 2013 at the Commemorative Air Force Arizona Wing Aviation Museum in Mesa, Ariz.

Director of Communications Anthony Flott is the magazine’s managing editor and Emspace Group of Omaha designs it. The magazine is published as a cooperative effort of UNO, the UNO Alumni Association and the University of Nebraska Foundation.

The “Jeopardy!” video features Alex Trebek introducing graduate Gary Johnson as recipient of the association’s Citation for Alumni Achievement award. Trebek is shown on the “Jeopardy!” set and delivers the news in the show’s answer-question format.

The Show the O! campaign includes a website featuring UNO faculty, staff, graduates and friends photographed with “O” flags where they live or travel.

The Fall 2012 issue of UNO Magazine featured Photos with the a graphite sketch by illustrator Linda Huber of New York depicting a woman eating a hamburger. flag have been taken on six Huber’s detailed sketch often is mistaken for a photograph. The gold awards for periodicals honors continents and 42 states. the design of UNO Magazine for the entire year.

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

“I am the O”

Annual Board Meeting to be held May 20

OUT OF MANY, ONE UNO. UNO’s faculty and staff understand this well — it takes a village to graduate more than 2,000 students each year. It also requires ownership of students’ futures through time, talent and treasure.

Last fall, UNO’s professors, administrators, professional staff, facilities services, safety officers, support staff and more proudly declared: “I am the O!”

Senior Admissions Counselor Megan Schmitz Nelson only graduated in 2011 but already is contributing to her alma mater.

The UNO Alumni Association Board of Directors will hold its annual meeting Tuesday, May 20, at 4:30 p.m. at the Thompson Alumni Center. New board members and officers will be elected. A slate of proposed directors and officers will be posted by the nominating committee on the UNO Alumni Association website at http://unoalumni.org/board.

For more information contact Meri Kennedy (402)-554-4887 | mkennedy@unoalumni.org.

“I Am the O” is a new program for UNO’s employees to support their passion at UNO, whether that be chemistry, classical music, libraries, alumni programs, athletics, scholarships or other area. “I Am the O” was designed to allow faculty and staff to make a gift where it mattered most to them.

By the end of 2013, more than 200 faculty and staff had made gifts to UNO. This incredible level of support, in addition to their work done every day for UNO, serves as a reminder to students, alumni and community of the dedication and drive of individuals that makes UNO an outstanding metropolitan university.

UNO employee giving comes from all walks of campus life. UNO graduate and associate professor Dr. Robert Blair supported scholarships through one fund that supports students studying to be city managers and through another established in memory of his son Andy.

“It’s about paying back and giving back to the institution,” Blair says. “Not just the profession, but to the institution.”

Janine Brooks, a staff assistant in the chemistry department and current UNO graduate student, has been giving payroll gifts to support her department. She also makes gifts to KVNO and the Chemistry Club.

“Anything that your heart is dedicated to, you can find a way to support it at UNO,” Brooks says.

James Freeman, UNO graduate and director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, gives back to UNO’s libraries, because he found guidance and comfort in them himself as a student.

It’s about paying back and giving back to the institution...

“It is so important that faculty and staff members give back to those areas on campus that made a difference to their college experience and helped them to be the person that they are today,” Freeman says.

Young staff members also have contributed to the fund. Megan Schmitz Nelson, a 2011 graduate and current senior admissions counselor, made her first gift to UNO in 2013 to the UNO Annual Fund.

“It’s an extremely exciting time to be on campus,” Nelson says, “but it’s not a time to sit back and watch what happens.”

Are you the O? Want to make a difference to our students, just as more than 200 UNO employees have? You can support engagement, communications, scholarships, events and more through the UNO Annual Fund. Declare your pride in UNO, and show our community your passion for UNO with a gift to the UNO Annual Fund today!

To make a gift, visit www.unoalumni.org/give. Our UNO faculty and staff members are in. Are you?

34th Scholarship Swing set for Sept. 8 The UNO Alumni Association is seeking sponsors and prizes for the 34th annual UNO Chancellor’s Scholarship Swing — its largest annual fundraiser. Last year’s Swing netted $35,000, bringing the total to nearly $800,000 since the Association began hosting the event in 1995. Almost 100 golfers and 50 sponsors participated in 2013.

The 2014 Swing will be held Monday, Sept. 8, at Tiburon Golf Club.

More information about the event is available at http://unoalumni.org/swing. To participate, contact Elizabeth Kraemer at 402-554-4802 or ekramer@unoalumni.org.

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

DeBoer, Withem receive Citation awards The UNO Alumni Association bestowed its Citation for Alumni Achievement upon graduates Gail DeBoer and Ron Withem during the university’s December Commencement Dec. 21 on the UNO campus. DeBoer, a 1987 graduate, is president of SAC Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Bellevue, Neb. Withem, a 1973 graduate, is the University of Nebraska’s associate vice president for University Affairs.

The citation, inaugurated in 1949, is the association’s highest honor. It encompasses career achievement, community service, involvement in business and professional associations, and fidelity to the university. The association now has presented the citation award to 163 graduates.

DeBoer became president of SAC Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in Nebraska, in 2007. She oversees a staff of more than 200 people with 19 locations serving eight counties. She has helped the organization grow from $312 million to more than $640 million in total assets. It will move its headquarters into a new building in Papillion in 2014.

Withem is among the most well-known and influential figures in the Nebraska State Capitol, having served as a state senator and speaker of the Unicameral prior to becoming director of governmental relations for the University of Nebraska in 1997.

Today he represents and advocates for the university system’s interests as they are impacted by governmental policies and is chair of NU’s Legislative Liaison Committee.

See extended biographies of DeBoer and Withem at unoalumni.org/citation-fall13

Sending seniors off in style The UNO Alumni Association celebrated commencement with just over 1,200 graduating students during the 2013 Senior Send-Off Dec. 19 and 20! Seniors were given free UNO Alumni Cards and UNO Alumni pins and had their pictures taken in the UNO Alumni photo booth. Photos were posted on the Association's Facebook page and emailed to each participant.

Alumni Night on the Ice set for March 1 MARK YOUR CALENDARS to join fellow grads and their families at the 10th annual UNO Alumni Night on the Ice Saturday, March 1, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Get ready for the Mavs’ final regular season game, against the University of Colorado College. The fun will include a buffet reception at CenturyLink Center, door prizes, Hockey 101 with former Mav hockey players, great Lower Bowl seating and more. All that for just $20 per adult, $15 per child age 2-12 (children under 2 attend free).

Reception-only price of $12 per adult and $10 per child for those who already have game tickets Register online at www.unoalumni.org/eventregister or call 402-554-4802

Adult fee includes one game ticket and pre-game buffet (pulled pork sandwiches, chips, salad, cookie, tea and lemonade). Cash bar available.

Children’s fee includes game ticket and plated children’s meal. Hockey tickets are distributed at the reception.

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PHILANTHROPY MATTERS

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT OMAHA Amount Raised Toward $150 Million Campaign Goal

2005

$181,896,790

88%

565

new funds have been established during the campaign to support UNO.

• Building the educated workforce of tomorrow.

• Enriching campus and community life.

10,927 59% 80% of UNO donors have donated for the first time during the campaign.

UNO CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES

• Engaging our community.

of UNO campaign gifts are from Nebraska households/organizations.

individuals have made donations to UNO during the campaign.

2014

of UNO students apply for financial assistance.

The Campaign for Nebraska is a four-campus fundraising campaign benefiting the University of Nebraska.

campaignfornebraska.org/uno All statistics as of November 30, 2013. The Campaign for Nebraska began in July 2005 and will conclude December 2014.

Helping students learn, engage and lead

A UNO student participates in campus’ Three Days of Service, an opportunity for students to engage in community service over fall break each year.

UNO’s new Community Engagement Center (CEC) will become a national model for innovative engagement as well as the front door to campus. Currently UNO seeks to raise $6 million in support of CEC programs, including: • A student-driven community engagement and leadership development program.

• Community engagement internships with student stipends.

• Nonprofit Executive-in-Residence Program.

• Community outreach programs that support UNO service learning and P-16 partnerships.

• Endowed directorship and fellowships for the UNO Service Learning Academy.

For more information about supporting these programs, contact the University of Nebraska Foundation’s Renee Reding at 402-502-4119 or rreding@nufoundation.org.

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Fostering Faculty

Faculty are the heart of the University of Nebraska at Omaha — the teachers and scholars who impact thousands of students and help them gain the skills and education to be successful.

Through the University of Nebraska Foundation’s Campaign for Nebraska, which ends Dec. 31, numerous donors have generously supported UNO’s efforts to attract and retain the very best faculty. But 2013 was a particularly remarkable year with more private funding committed for faculty support than in the previous seven years of the campaign combined. Following is a look at some of those newly endowed faculty positions.

Sophie and Feodora Kahn Professorship in Biology A new endowed professorship at UNO will strengthen STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education at UNO while honoring two fearless women who escaped Nazi Germany during World War II. The Sophie and Feodora Kahn Professorship in Biology was created by a gift from the Kahn Family Foundation.

2013 was big year for private support of UNO teachers Michelle Kahn, a trustee of the Kahn Family Foundation and Guinter Kahn’s daughter, said her grandmother’s and great aunt’s heroism and foresight allowed them to escape Nazi Germany and provide better lives for their families.

“Thanks to these women with merely 8th grade educations, my father had the opportunity to graduate from high school, college and medical school,” she says. “That level of education was something which the previous generations of Kahns could only dream of attaining.”

She says her father’s academic interests were in the areas now known as STEM. “When my father decided to major in biology and go to medical school, my grandmother had only one request. ‘Be a good doctor,’” she says. “He not only became a good doctor, but he exceeded her expectations tenfold, and our hope is that this professorship will pave the way for many more good doctors, researchers, inventors and teachers, like my father, for years to come.”

UNO Distinguished Community Research Chair in Biomechanics

Sophie and Feodora Kahn were the mother and aunt, respectively, of Dr. Guinter Kahn, a 1954 UNO graduate. He is known for revolutionizing the hair-growth industry with his discovery that the drug Minoxidil is an effective hair-growth stimulant. The drug eventually was manufactured and sold by Upjohn as Rogaine.

Created by a gift from the Ruth and Bill Scott family, the distinguished chair honors Stergiou’s contributions and passion for biomechanics research. He will be the first to hold the chair, beginning in August 2014.

“I’ll never forget the first time I met Dr. Stergiou and heard about his amazing research,” Ruth Scott says.

“He and his staff are improving Dr. Stergiou the lives of people of all ages throughout the world. It’s incredibly inspiring.”

The work of Stergiou and his team has led to new treatments Dr. Nicholas Stergiou and diagnostic tools for mobility problems due to aging, stroke or diseases such as Parkinson’s, and earlier interventions for babies with cerebral palsy.

John Morgan Community Chair in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Franchising Passionate about Omaha and his alma mater, John Morgan recently made a gift to benefit his hometown and UNO. The John Morgan Community Chair in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Franchising was established last fall in the UNO College of Business Administration (CBA). It is the first endowed chair in CBA and, as a community chair, one of the highest-ranking endowed faculty positions on campus.

The new facility houses the rapidly growing biomechanics program led by Dr. Nicholas Stergiou, director of the Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility at UNO.

The recipient will lead UNO in connecting with students in local schools and generating interest in these fields as well as overseeing the college’s academic and research programs in innovation, entrepreneurship and franchising.

During the ceremony Ruth Scott, one of the building project’s lead donors, surprised Stergiou

“The community chair that John

Last fall, UNO hosted an event so extraordinary that Elvis, the King himself, made an appearance to celebrate the opening of the Biomechanics Research Building on campus.

Michelle Kahn, a trustee of the Kahn Family Foundation was on campus to announce the Sophie and Feodora Kahn Professorship in Biology. She is pictured with Chancellor John Christensen and College of Arts & Sciences Dean David Boocker.

with a miniature chair that symbolized the establishment of a new endowed chair — the UNO Distinguished Community Research Chair in Biomechanics.

CBA Dean Lou Pol and John Morgan on campus earlier this year.

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Morgan has kindly made possible steepens the trajectory of an already successful Center of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Franchising,” says Louis Pol, the John Becker dean of CBA. “Students, local entrepreneurs and our faculty will benefit greatly from the resources generated by this gift.”

Morgan, a 1969 UNO graduate, is CEO and chairman of Minneapolis-based Winmark Corp., which creates, supports and finances business and has more than 986 stores in North America.

“I feel privileged to be part of an effort to reach out to young people and to promote interest in careers that are similar to mine,” Morgan says.

Haddix Community Chair in Science

“Dr. Haddix understands the importance of effectively teaching students in these critical fields,” says David Boocker, UNO’s dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The Haddix Community Chair in Science will coordinate and strengthen STEM efforts among the science department and within the college in a way that has not been possible before.”

innovation in the classroom. The community chair really is a catalyst.”

A national search is underway to identify the strongest candidate for the Haddix Science Chair. Once selected, the recipient will join UNO’s interdisciplinary team of STEM faculty to promote STEM education as a critical priority on campus and in the community.

A recent gift by former University of Nebraska President Ronald Roskens and his wife, Lois, established the Lois G. Roskens UNO College of Education Deanship at UNO this fall.

Union Pacific Community Chair of Computer Science Education Dr. Brian Dorn wasn’t actively looking for a new job when he saw a job description for the Union Pacific Community Chair in Computer Science Education at UNO. As soon as he read it though, he knew it was written for him.

Last fall, Dorn, formerly with the University of Hartford, became the first recipient of the community chair in UNO’s College of Information, Science & Technology.

The endowed chair was created by support from Union Pacific.

UNO Professor of Education Neal Grandgenett

A growing concern in the United States today is the insufficient number of STEM-educated professionals in the country — those needed to meet the demands of an increasingly sophisticated and technological society.

In 2008, for example, only 31 percent of U.S. bachelor’s degrees were awarded in science and engineering fields, compared to 61 percent in Japan and 51 percent in China.

STEM education remains a top priority for UNO and for Dr. George Haddix, a 1962 UNO graduate.

Last year, Haddix made a gift to create the Haddix Community Chair in Science at UNO — the third community chair he’s established on campus in the area of STEM education. His first, chair, held by UNO Professor of Education Neal Grandgenett, was the Dr. George and Sally Haddix Community Chair of STEM Education.

“It’s a great honor to hold this chair,” Dorn says.

“It carries a responsibility to engage the campus and the community in order to promote and enhance computing education. It’s also a privilege to say the university and Union Pacific are behind my efforts to advance computer science education locally, regionally and nationally.”

Dorn, a Nebraska native, was particularly pleased to have the Union Pacific name associated with the chair. “It’s where my grandfather spent his entire career,” he says.

Lois G. Roskens UNO College of Education Deanship Two names synonymous with excellence in education now are permanently associated with the UNO College of Education’s leadership.

The inaugural recipient is Dr. Nancy Edick, the current UNO College of Education dean.

“The impact and legacy of Dr. Ron and Lois Roskens’ work in education COE Dean Nancy Edick has been extraordinary,” Edick says. “The deanship serves as a catalyst for me and future leaders to continue to honor their work through the ongoing transformation of UNO’s College of Education.”

Dr. Roskens served as chancellor of UNO from 1972 to 1977. He was named president of the University of Nebraska system in 1977, a post he held for 13 years.

Lois Roskens is longtime supporter of UNO and the Omaha community.

Dorn is spearheading efforts to develop teacher certification pathways in computer science for K-12 teachers in Nebraska. This will enable teachers to be better prepared to teach computer science and promote the field early in the educational pipeline.

“As a former teacher, I count it a special privilege to have my name associated with such an outstanding college of education and its extraordinary leadership,” she says. “The students that are a part of the UNO College of Education are learning from the best in the profession and within a college that continually strives for excellence.”

New to UNO, Dorn says the community chair provided an immediate network on campus with other STEM leaders. “We’ve been able to accomplish a lot already with research and

Faculty support remains a top priority at UNO. For more information, contact Lori Byrne with the University of Nebraska Foundation at 402-502-4920 or lbyrne@nufoundation.org.

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Reaching the Summit OLLAS celebrates a decade

UNO’S OFFICE OF LATINO/LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES (OLLAS) celebrated its decade anniversary in November with Cumbre, a semi-regular conference that updates the community on OLLAS efforts. “Cumbre” is Spanish for “summit” and, after 10 years of work and success, the title is spot-on.

“The trip really hits on all of UNO’s priority areas,” says Clare Maakestad, the study abroad assistant. “It is focused on students, it’s academically rigorous, engages the community, focuses on early childhood issues and, as of this last summer, includes a STEM component.”

Cumbre 2013’s theme was “Looking back, looking forward.” Speakers covered topics including the future of Latinos in America, immigration and civil rights. An intergenerational roundtable fostered discussion between young and old sharing their unique experiences, struggles and triumphs.

The conference ended with a view to what the next 10 years would hold — not just for Latinos, but also for OLLAS.

That Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) component involves focus on water toxicity to help people in Lima to continue to improve their lives with technology and education. This year’s trip was unique in that it was the first time students lived briefly with families rather than commuting each day from their hotel.

Lourdes Gouveia, director of OLLAS, says Cumbre is unlike any other academic conference, and it’s all due to the unique way OLLAS approaches their study.

“We always say that this trip is not a vacation,” Gouveia says. “The students, faculty, staff, and community members that come along all enjoy their trips, but there’s a lot of hard work each and every day they are there.”

“What we do is focused on affecting both Latinos and non-Latinos, so everything we do has a participatory nature,” Gouveia says. “Everything is in English and Spanish, and we coached some of our presenters on how to use accessible language that anyone could understand.”

OLLAS offers a major and minor, publishes research and policy briefs available, and houses the Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies.

OLLAS is perhaps best known for its community engagement efforts at home and abroad, including a yearly trip to Peru that began in 2008.

Since then, a sister university agreement has been signed and implemented, a childcare center/preschool constructed, and connections made with local government to continue to improve life in a shantytown just outside of Lima.

“We celebrated by doing what we do, and doing it the way we do it, just as we have for the previous 10 years,” Gouveia says. “There’s no greater celebration than that.”

Though OLLAS is always looking forward, Cumbre 2013 offered a wellearned look back.

— Nicholas Sauma, University Communications

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Walking the Walk SHORTLY BEFORE THEY “WALK” at commencement, students in UNO’s teacher education program walk to lessons outside the classroom.

Begun in 2008, UNO’s Culture Walks program exposes students to diverse Omaha neighborhoods where they can meet with community leaders. Walks include visits to Omaha’s Latino and black neighborhoods in North and South Omaha. The walks are required for teacher education majors but open to all UNO students.

“Many of the state’s teachers are from a middle class, suburban background and are Caucasian,” says Connie Schaffer, assessment coordinator for UNO’s Teacher Education Department. “The demographics of our country are trending that the face of a K-12 student is going to be increasingly diverse and increasingly urban.”

Culture Walks take place early in each semester before student teachers spend time in classrooms. This year, for the first time, visits to area schools were included.

Schaffer says UNO students often have misconceptions of what schools look like or what types of students attend schools in less affluent neighborhoods.

“I think pairing the culture walk with that building orientation gets us to see that neighborhood from a different perspective, really immersing them in that area for an afternoon,” Schaffer says.

It also fosters a much-needed teacher skill — empathy.

“As one of this year’s speakers put it,” Schaffer says, “’Students won’t care what you know until they know that you care.’”

— Charley Reed, University Communications

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Native Files

Top Down

UNO administration becoming increasingly diverse

WITH MORE THAN 700 STUDENTS from 121 countries, there’s no arguing that the University of Nebraska at Omaha is a diverse campus. But that diversity goes right to the top, too.

Of the 12 deans or associate deans across the university’s colleges, four are held by women — two of whom are women of color — and another three are held by men with at most one generation separating them from parents who immigrated to the United States.

Hugh Reilly, left, and Bruce Johansen, tackle Native American themes in much of their writings.

You won’t find it on any syllabus — yet — but two UNO faculty members have extensive research backgrounds involving the intersection of Native American culture and communication.

of being the outsider. That helps them connect with students and be those mentors.

“They understand that I have had a similar experience of being the minority in the room,” Ali says. “How they are feeling in the classroom may be what is happening to me when I’m in a meeting in Eppley and I’m the only one who looks funny.”

Finding ways to improve campus diversity at all levels is important for Hesham Ali, born and raised in Egypt and now dean of UNO’s College of Information Science & Technology.

“Diverse teams are more productive,” Ali says. “Not only is that good from a morale standpoint, but that produces better products.”

Before coming to UNO, Bruce Johansen was a Seattle Times reporter. He was introduced to Native American culture while covering protests against state denial of fishing rights to tribal groups — and was fascinated.

Among Ali’s initiatives at UNO is establishing a Women in IT Initiative within the College of IS&T.

A few years later he wrote his Ph.D. dissertation topic on Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and their use of Native American ideology in democracy. The dissertation turned into a book, “Forgotten Founders,” published in 1982. That was the same year he began a 31-year career at UNO. Today Johansen has 38 published books and is working on more, including a history of the Muckleshoot tribe near Tacoma, Wash.

David Boocker, dean of UNO’s College of Arts and David Boocker and Hesham Ali. Boocker holds a photo of his parents, the children of Polish and Lithuanian immigrants.

Sciences, has struggled with the same challenge. Born and raised in Lafayette, La., by the children of Polish Those backgrounds are as equally important for bridging and Lithuanian immigrants, Boocker understands the gaps between different cultures. important role of diversity and has worked to amplify the roles of culture-based programs at UNO, including “I will never know what it means to be a white male. I Black Studies, Native American Studies and Latino/ can say that I think I understand, but I’ll never know,” Latin American Studies.

Barron-McKeagney says. “So, it’s important to bring people together and ask, ‘What do you see from your “I’m not sure why, but to me, it’s proven to be a greater perspective?’” challenge than it should be,” Boocker says. “At the same

Hugh Reilly, interim director of the School of Communication, also has written extensively on Native American themes, including Bound to Have Blood, a study of the newspaper coverage of the Plains Indian Wars.

Reilly’s interest in Native American themes began as a third-grader browsing Omaha’s Benson library. The interest was cemented when he and his father took a trip to South Dakota and visited the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890.

“This was in the 1960s and you could still see the bullet holes in the walls,” he says.

Reilly, who’s also worked for the Omaha WorldHerald and the Greeley (Colo.) Tribune, continues to be fascinated with the portrayals of Native Americans in popular culture and hopes to one day create a special topics class at UNO on Native Americans and the media.

— John Dechant, Contributor

“If we are committed to increasing diversity, it’s not going to happen by itself,” he says. “We need a concerted effort to see how we can make that happen.”

time, it remains critically important.”

Theresa Barron-McKeagney, a first-generation college student born and raised by Mexican immigrants, has seen the increase in administrative diversity at UNO firsthand. She’s part of the trend, having become associate dean of UNO’s College of Public Affairs and Community Service earlier this year.

“When I came on in 1989 there were five Latino professors and now there are around 16 or 17,” she says. “It’d be nice to see more.”

For Barron-McKeagney, the key towards increasing diversity at UNO is about finding community mentors.

“Young people need that support and new families to this country may not know who those people are,” she says.

Ali, Boocker and Barron-McKeagney each come from different backgrounds but have shared the feeling

UNO’s diverse faculty includes Theresa Barron-McKeagney,

In trying to improve diversity on campus, Boocker believes it needs to start from the top, which is why he is pleased to see UNO’s colleges run by such a variety of backgrounds.

“It seems to me that regardless of what happens with the student body the administration and faculty have to represent a diverse community,” he says.

Whether it be through diversity-focused programs like the Women in IT Initiative or through cultural scholarship, Boocker, Ali and Barron-McKeagney, as leaders in their respective colleges, understand that for UNO to be a leader academically, the university must demographically representative.

“We are committed to diversity,” says Ali says, whose associate dean, Deepak Khazanchi, is from India “We understand how important it is and we have seen the difference it makes.”

— Charley Reed, University Communications

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“Color Blind” Award-winning

In Case of Emergency Floods. Tornadoes. Fires. Hurricanes. For many Americans, natural disasters are an unwanted, albeit common, occurrence that can devastate small communities.

For Native Americans, the level of devastation can be insurmountable.

UNO is hoping to change that.

Currently, many tribes rely on the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during such disasters.

While FEMA provides a Tribal Affairs division designed to assist tribal nations, such aid is begrudgingly accepted as reliance on FEMA runs counter to tribal nations’ desire for sovereignty from the federal government.

Enter Patrick O’Neil (above, left) and Edouardo Zendejas (right) , two UNO faculty members working to establish the nation’s first certificate in tribal emergency management. O’Neil is UNO’s emergency management coordinator and Zendejas is chair of UNO’s Native American Studies program.

When completed, UNO’s tribal emergency management certificate program could serve more than 500 tribes across the country.

“This partnership is what a public university should be doing: educating young people so they can contribute to society,” says John Bartle, dean of UNO’s College of Public Affairs and Community Service, which houses the emergency management program.

In addition to work on the first-of-its kind certificate, UNO has begun work on a cooperative associate’s degree program with two tribal community colleges in Nebraska: Little Priest Tribal College in Winnebago and Nebraska Indian Community College in Macy.

“The larger initiative, from our perspective, is to develop a hierarchical developmental training process for Native American emergency management,” O’Neil says.

In the last several years, UNO’s focus on emergency management scholarship has increased rapidly. It was only in 2012 that UNO began enrolling students in Nebraska’s first emergency management bachelor’s degree program. UNO is one of fewer than 200 emergency management degree programs nationwide.

“There are 200 or so tribes at any one time being affected by natural emergencies of some kind,” O’Neil says. “We want to make sure they can internally address O’Neil and Zendejas hope that students who earn a these issues with their own expertise to maintain their tribal emergency management certificate would apply sovereignty and autonomy and provide opportunities for that credit toward an associate’s degree at one of professions for people who want to do that.”

Nebraska’s tribal community colleges, then continue to In October, UNO entered into a memorandum of UNO and earn a bachelor’s and/or master’s degree. understanding with the Tribal Emergency Management “This program design is like a staircase,” Bartle says.

Association (iTEMA). UNO will design the coursework “A student learns the technical competencies in the and administer the certificate while iTEMA, the nation’s certificate, then they can gain the other necessary leading emergency management organization for career skills with the associate’s degree, and then gain tribes, will oversee the degree program and provide the breadth with the bachelor’s degree.” accreditation for participants.

Says O’Neil: “It’s a win-win for everybody if we can pull “We are excited about this partnership with UNO this off.” because it formalizes tribal emergency management Each of the proposed programs is in its infancy, but all services as a specialized field of study,” iTEMA President Jake Heflin said of the agreement in October. could be in place by the 2015-2016 academic year.

— Charley Reed, University Communications

AMONG UNO’S DIVERSE DEANS is Gail F. Baker, who heads the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media.

And her take on color is award-winning.

In November, Baker received a third Emmy Award, this time for producing the feature-length documentary, “Colorblind: ReThinking Race.” She received her award at the Chicago/Midwest regional Emmy Awards.

“The best thing about winning this award is the message it sends to our students,” Baker says. “I started as a journalist and what I learned about listening, storytelling and making deadlines has served me well throughout my professional life. I want our students to use their UNO experience to seek new and different opportunities.”

As a college student, Baker interned at the Chicago Defender, a century-old publication serving Chicago’s AfricanAmerican community. She later became a full-time employee of the newspaper.

Baker later began a career in higher education. Beginning in 1995 she joined the University of Florida and held several positions there until taking her present post at UNO in 2006.

“Colorblind: ReThinking Race” examines institutional racism in health, wealth, education and the justice system. It premiered on WYCC PBS Chicago in 2012.

The film can be viewed in its entirety at Vimeo.com.

Baker also has received Emmy Awards for script writing on two other documentaries: “Paper Trail: 100 Years of the Chicago Daily Defender” (2006) and “DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis” (2011).

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Schwalb Center IT BEGAN WITH A conversation between Nate and Hannah Schwalb.

Both saw a need for a place to study Israel or Jewish studies among the Jewish community. But the Schwalbs did more than just talk.

They sprang into action, founding UNO’s Natan and Hannah Schwalb Center for Israel and Jewish Studies in 2009.

“We ended up choosing both Israel and Jewish studies because the topics are so intertwined,” Schwalb says. “Furthermore, there is an insufficient knowledge of these topics, and with most centers like this one on either coast, we thought it would be unique and beneficial to have one in Omaha.”

and members of the community,” says Moshe Gershovich, professor of history and director of the center. “What we have done already is just the beginning, and we are already working on some new ideas and projects.”

A recent development is the addition of Anat Gilboa, a visiting art professor from Israel as a Schusterman Fellow. Gilboa is teaching two classes, one on Israeli visual culture on gender and discrimination and the other on Jewish and Israeli art. Students in each class reflect the interdisciplinary and community engagement aspects of the Center’s mission, coming from a variety of majors and including seniors from the community who are auditing the class.

Growth has come quickly. The center boasts popular offerings such as the Phil and Ruth Sokolof Lecture Series and monthly Middle East Forums. A minor and more community programming also are on the way.

“I am also working on an art exhibit on campus in the spring dedicated to the theme of ‘Yearning for Zion,’” Gilboa says. “We are welcoming local and Israeli artists to share their work, and then hope to have lots of visitors view it during its showcasing.”

“Our mission is centered on interdisciplinary and engaging practices with both Jewish and non-Jewish students

Schwalb is particularly excited to have Gilboa aboard as a sign of the success of the program.

Ambassador Stuart Eizenstadt (speaker at Sokolof Lecture 2013), Moshe Gershovich (professor of history), Natan Schwalb, Hannah Schwalb. The photo was taken at the Sokolof Lecture in October.

“Anat is one of about 20 Schusterman Fellows,” he says. “Of all the universities with centers like ours, she ended up here at UNO, which means we have to be doing something right.”

This summer the center will offer a study abroad trip to Israel with a focus on Israeli history and archaeology. Unlike most study abroad trips run through UNO, the trip will be open to students and community members.

“All along we’ve hoped to be able to send our students to Israel since it is truly the center of most of our study,” Gershovich says. “While they are there they can see firsthand the sites and history of both Judaism and Israel, meet and learn from Israeli scholars, and hopefully have a little fun as well.”

— Nicholas Sauma, University Communications

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THE COLLEGES

Program in Bloom UNO’s Native American Studies Program Among UNO’s most diverse offerings

SCAN THE LIST OF CLASSES for UNO’s Native American Studies Program and you’ll find a little bit of everything — Native American Literature, Federal Indian Law, Indian Boarding Schools, Shamanism. And much more.

It’s among UNO’s most varied academic programs.

And that’s no accident.

“That’s one of the strengths of the program,” says Program Director, Ed Zendejas. “We have history, literature, religion, anthropology, sociology and communications. The spectrum is pretty wide. We bring a depth of experience to the program and a diversity of thought regarding Native American studies, which gives students the option to explore different areas and grasp a broad view of the discipline.”

Established in 1992, the interdisciplinary program offers students the chance to learn about the many facets of Native American culture. Minors are offered at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and Zendejas estimates that about 30 students per year graduate with Native studies minors.

Zendejas, a 1987 UNO Goodrich program graduate who later earned a law degree from Brigham Young University, took the reins of the program in 2010. He has worked for the Ponca and Omaha tribes as a judge and general counsel and teaches federal and Indian law.

More than one third (10 out of 24) of the faculty members are Native Americans and enrolled tribal members. Aiming to diversify the class offerings — and, by extension, the campus profile — it’s created an evolution within the classroom and has added a new perspective to the Native American narrative.

“Several years ago the university made a commitment to expand the diversity of the faculty,” Zendejas says. “We’ve come a long way in terms of getting community support for what we do. A good number of tribal members are professors. We wouldn’t have survived without the support of the administration, and we’re so grateful for that support.”

Zendejas hopes to expand the program’s profile and outreach. One recent effort toward that end was sponsoring Omaha’s first Native American Film Festival Nov. 1-3. The event, which showcased short and feature films, was free and open to the public. The “free” part is important to Zendejas, who hopes to continue to invite community members into events without the expectation of paying.

Last year, Billy Mills, gold medalist in the 10,000 meter run at the 1964 Olympics and the second Native American to win an Olympic gold medal, was the featured speaker of a Native American Studies event (bottom photo) . The Wambli Sapa Memorial Pow Wow, held in April, named in honor of popular Ponca leader Fred Leroy, has become the program’s signature annual event. Another recent initiative aims to develop a curriculum for a tribal emergency management certificate to help tribes better respond to man-made and natural disasters.

“We’ve made a strong effort to extend our outreach,” Zendejas says. “We want this to be viewed as a place to not just send your kids to school, but to be part of a community. The community needs to know that they can count on us to be a good partner.”

— John Dechant, Contributor

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GET TO KNOW she answered ARE RACE RELATIONS BETTER IN AMERICA TODAY THAN WHEN MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DELIVERED HIS “I HAVE A DREAM” SPEECH IN 1963?

I don’t know if race relations are better but they are certainly different. There have been great strides; there have also been constant challenges and setbacks. I can say, things are not as I believed or hoped they would be after Dr. King’s words.

we asked

GAIL BAKER Dean, College of Communication, Fine Arts & Media

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? I was a reporter for the Chicago Daily Defender newspaper. My assignments included crime, politics and a beat called at the time, “The Women’s Section.” For that one, I covered weddings and fashion shows. Luckily, women are now represented throughout the media — not just in a special section.

WHAT WAS THE BEST ADVICE YOU EVER RECEIVED? From my father — “It’s easier to do it right than to do it over.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WEEKEND HANGOUT? My kitchen. Because I love to bake, my kitchen has the potential to provide endless opportunities for fun and creativity.

WHAT IS YOUR SECRET TO HAPPINESS? It’s not a secret at all. I laugh a lot.

we asked

ARE RACE RELATIONS BETTER IN AMERICA TODAY THAN WHEN MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DELIVERED HIS “I HAVE A DREAM” SPEECH IN 1963?

My answer depends on the meaning of “race relations.”

As an American-born Chinese, my experience has been radically different than the typical “black & white.” Yes, in general, relations between the races are improved. Yet still today, I am negatively affected by racial stereotypes and discrimination, even at UNO.

answered Peter Szto, Professor, School of Social Work

Text by Austin Gaule, UNO Alumni Association.

I think it is somewhat better than it was in 1963. Race relations are still a problem going on in today’s world. It may not be as broadcast as it was in 1963, but it is still a problem we have, whether we want to admit it or not.

answered C.J. Carter, Men’s basketball player

As a Latina woman in America, I don't feel race relations are greatly better than the iconic speech in 1963. I've experienced more racial tension encounters this year than in my entire life. Those encounters have opened my eyes significantly. Modern day racial relations are like racial inequality without racism.

In 1963, the tens of thousands of disenfranchised blacks who marched on Washington had to use “Black only” public accommodations. Fifty years later, in 2013, white “Tea Partiers” marched on Washington, and waving Confederate flags in front of the White House, demanded impeachment of the newly re-elected first Black President.

answered

answered

Nancy Anaya, Student

Cynthia Robinson, Alumna

Our family holidays are different than my German forbears might have dreamed. The table is blessed with Hispanic, African-American, and Asian faces. The world still struggles with race, but at our meals the dream lives in the joyous noise. Is that progress? We make it so one family at a time.

answered Douglas Otis Wesselmann, KVNO radio host

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ATHLETICS

Bits of the Bull Claussen/Leahy Run & Walk set for April 26 For the second straight year, one of UNO Athletics’ biggest fundraisers will send runners and walkers through the streets and trails around the UNO campus. The Claussen-Leahy Run & Walk will take place Saturday, April 26, at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village.

It’s the third year for the run & walk and the second year it will take place at the park.

The event is the outgrowth of the UNO Women’s Walk, which raised money for UNO’s women’s teams for 26 years.

Last year, UNO hosted a record 1,200 people in the 10K and 5K runs and 2K walk, raising more than $211,000 for Maverick student-athletes and athletic programs.

Since the Women’s Walk began back in 1986 it has raised almost $4.5 million for UNO Athletics.

The event begins at 9 a.m. from Stinson Park, sending competitors in each race in different directions before bringing them back at the park for the finish. A Kids’ Race will begin at 8:30 a.m. and trace the

perimeter of the park, and the Elders’ Walk will follow the same path. Free massage therapists will be available before and after the race.

Clinics for children will be hosted by UNO student-athletes, and more than 50 vendors will have booths set up to showcase healthy lifestyle products and services.

Online registration for the Run & Walk will be open through April 24 at OMavs.com under the “Support Us” tab.

Participants also may register on the day of the event beginning at 7:30 a.m.

For more information and for volunteer opportunities, contact Pam Schwarting at 402-554-3689.

Oral Roberts University Joins Summit League ORU to become all-sports member starting in 2014-15 The Summit League late last year announced the addition of Oral Roberts University as its ninth full-time member.

ORU’s membership officially begins July 1, 2014, and all 16 Golden Eagle athletics

programs will compete in the Summit League starting with the 2014-15 academic year.

“We are excited to have Oral Roberts University join the Summit League for the 2014-15 season,” says Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple. “ORU brings very strong and well-rounded athletic and academic programs to our league.”

ORU was a member of the Summit League from 1997-2012 and has continued to compete as an affiliate member in men’s soccer each of the past two years. During its 15 years in the league, the Golden Eagles won nine Commissioner Cups, awarded to the league’s top overall athletics program, 91 league championships and 49 regular season crowns.

Founded in 1963, Oral Roberts University has an enrollment of 3,403 and offers more than 60 undergraduate majors, as well as 13 master's-level programs and two doctoral degrees. Based in Tulsa, Okla., ORU becomes the fourth Summit League institution located in top 60 U.S. metro populations.

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ATHLETICS

Mavericks Await Spring Thaw

For many UNO student-athletes, spring means the opportunity to practice and play with the sun — not a roof — over their heads.

Nearly every spring sport spends the winter months gearing up for competition within the confines of the Sapp Fieldhouse or the dome at Chili Greens. But when the buds start to open — and often before then — the Mavericks jump headlong into action on the field, the court, the course and the track.

Here’s a preview of Mav teams in 2014.

Baseball

Regular season Summit League champs in 2013, the UNO baseball team enters 2014 poised to contend for another championship.

The Mavericks return eight players with starting experience on last year’s squad, led by four All-Summit selections: first-team honorees in junior catcher Alex Mortensen and senior third baseman Tyler Splichal and second-team picks in sophomore second baseman Clayton Taylor and senior designated hitter Brett Bass. Collegiate Baseball also named Taylor a Freshman All-American.

Missing from the roster are two all-league honorees from 2013, both of whom graduated: outfielder Ryan Keele and first baseman Cory Buckley. Keele was 2013 Summit League Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year and an All-American Honorable Mention pick by College Baseball Insider and Louisville Slugger. The Keele/Buckley duo was part of a Maverick contingent that held four of the top five batting averages among league hitters with Buckley first (.391), Keele second (.385), Taylor third (.352) and Mortensen fifth (.318).

Omaha led the conference in league games with a .332 team batting average and was second as a pitching staff with a 3.82 ERA.

Head Coach Bob Herold enters his 15th year at the Maverick helm with a career record of 447-302-2.

Herold is one of three Maverick baseball coaches to top 400 career wins and needs 18 more to pass Bob Gates as the winningest skipper in UNO history.

Fellow coaches named Herold 2013 Summit League Coach of the Year after he guided UNO to a 20-6 league record and 27-22 overall mark. The Mavericks won the regular-season title in their first year in the league and their second as a Division I program. It marked the university’s first Division I conference championship in any sport.

The Mavericks begin play Feb. 14-16 in Knoxville, Tenn., splitting four weekend games with Tennessee and Purdue. The schedule includes a weeklong jaunt to Florida for the Snowbird Classic Tournament and nonconference matchups with regional foes Kansas State, Creighton, Nebraska and Bradley surrounding the start of Summit League play in late March.

Softball

UNO softball won all six of its Summit League series in 2013 and finished the season 36-7 overall and 14-3 in its first year in the Summit League.

The Mavs finished second in the league, but UNO isn’t eligible for the conference tournament until 2016 as part of its Division I transition.

Still, the Mavs’ .837 winning percentage was secondbest in school history behind only the 2001 Division II national championship team mark of .900.

Senior ace Dana Elsasser returns for her final season.

She finished last year 21-7 with a 1.25 ERA and had 13 shutouts and 24 complete games. The Hershey, Neb., native posted the lowest overall ERA in the Summit League and the best ERA in conference games (0.62).

She was named the conference’s pitcher of the week four times.

At the plate, the Mavs return the meat of their lineup.

Junior Allie Mathewson (.395, 11 HR, 36 RBI), sophomore Campbell Ditto (.376, 7 HR, 30 RBI) and senior Amber Lutmer (.304, 12 HR, 47 RBI) are among seven of the Mavs’ nine regular starters returning to the batting order. Mathewson was an All-Summit League first-team selection while Ditto was named Summit League Freshman of the Year. Lutmer was a second-team pick and is 11 home runs, 63 RBI and 12 walks from establishing new career records in each of those categories.

The Mavs will benefit from

the return of pitcher Kat Barrow. The Kearney, Mo., native appeared just four times last season and had a perfect 4-0 record with a 1.66 ERA before missing the rest of the season with an injury. UNO also added freshmen pitchers Cheyenne Baxter and Lizzie Noble.

They are part of a five-member freshman class that includes infielder Lia Mancuso, catcher/outfielder Megan Stegman and infielder Nicole Warren.

Omaha opens the season Feb. 7 at the Red Desert Classic in St. George, Utah. The Mavs will play in six consecutive tournaments to begin the season before their home opener March 18 against Wichita State. The schedule includes games against Nebraska March 26 (home) and April 8 (away).

Track and Field

The Mavericks surprised many in the Summit League with a third-place finish in their first outdoor season last spring. Senior Sami Spenner is back to lead the charge following a remarkable performance in 2013.

Spenner earned a whopping 49 points at the championships last spring, winning three events and finishing second in two others.

She also was part of two relay teams that combined to score 10 points. She was named the Summit League’s Field Championship MVP, repeating the feat from the indoor season when she also was named Field Athlete of the Year. She will be a favorite to win the heptathlon, long jump and triple jump when the Summit convenes for the outdoor championship at North Dakota State in May. Spenner is not the only returning weapon for new Head Coach Chris Richardson. Kathie-Lee Laidley, who was the Summit League runner-up in the high jump based on a tie-breaker, returns for her senior season. Laidley broke a 15-year-old school record in the event last spring with a leap of 5-11 ½. Like Spenner, she is a threat in multiple events, including the long jump and hurdles. Fellow senior Denneil Shaw also gives the Mavericks another scoring threat in the triple jump.

On the track, the Mavericks will move on without seniors Maja Mihalinec and Amanda Vorthmann, who excelled in the sprints and distance events, respectively. But UNO returns several accomplished runners and a defending champion. Katarina Zarudnaya was the Summit League’s outdoor champion in the 1,500 meters last spring while junior Lauren Psota was the runner-up in the 800 meters. The Mavericks also hope to get contributions from veteran distance runners Kristin Rogers, Ashley Kildow

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ATHLETICS and MiKayla Peck and promising freshman Lindsey Bruns, who led the Mavs at the 2013 Summit League Cross Country Championship.

Sophomore Katie Kesti had a strong start to her second season at UNO, leading the Mavericks in the fall with a stroke average of 79.5. She shot UNO’s best round of the fall by six strokes, carding a 70 at the Bellevue Shootout in October. She finished runner-up in the event by virtue of a playoff.

The Mavericks’ outdoor schedule had not been completed as of press time.

Last year’s leading scorer, junior Sophie Peters, also had a solid fall campaign, finishing second to Kesti in scoring with a stroke average of 79.7.

She had three top-10 finishes, including a seventh at the North Dakota Fall Classic in September and a fifth at the Bellevue Shootout.

Men’s Golf

The UNO men’s golf team looks to build off a solid fall season that saw the Mavericks host their first-ever home tournament in the Division I era.

Sophomore Mitch Ryan led the Mavericks through four tournaments in the fall with a scoring average of 76.1 and shot a career-best round of 72 twice. Ryan led the Mavericks with two top-10 finishes, including a tie for fifth overall at the Erv Kaiser Classic at North Dakota State in September.

Junior Karl Krieser, who led UNO in scoring last spring, was second in scoring during the fall with an average of 76.3. He fired a career-low round of 70, tied for team best, and was second overall at the Mavericks’ home tournament at Nebraska City in October. That helped push the Mavs to a runner-up finish in the event, their best team showing of the fall.

Junior Alex Holtan and freshman Lucas Gervais also picked up a top-10 finish in the fall, and Gervais tied Krieser for the best round of the fall with a 70 at the Erv Kaiser Invitational.

The Mavericks will play in several warm-weather venues in the spring, including two matches in California, two in Arkansas and one in Louisiana.

The spring season opens with a tournament hosted by Summit League foe Western Illinois in San Diego in early February and concludes with the Summit League Championship in Keller, Texas, in late April. The Mavs were eighth in their first appearance in the championship last spring.

Women’s Golf

The Maverick women were fourth in their first appearance in the Summit League Championship last spring and will need contributions from everyone on their roster to move up the ranks.

Redshirt freshmen Makenna Kroeker and Gentry Carveth and true freshman Kat Slump all showed steady improvement throughout the fall and will be looked upon to improve in the spring.

Like the men, the UNO women will open the spring season in the warm weather, competing in the Grand Canyon Invitational in late February. The Mavs also compete in Florida in March and at UMKC in April before concluding their season at the Summit League Championship.

Omaha will have seven freshmen among its 11 available players.

Ten singles matches are slated for either the Hanscom Brandeis Tennis Center or Koch Tennis Center this spring. In addition, four of the Mavs’ five conference matches will be played at home. UNO also will take a spring break trip to Florida in mid-March.

Women’s Tennis In 2013, the Omaha women’s tennis team put together an overall record of 7-14 with a 2-5 mark in Summit League play. The year was highlighted by wins over league foes Western Illinois and IUPUI in the Mavericks’ first year as a member of the conference.

After a successful fall season that included three tournaments, UNO looks to build toward competing for a Summit League championship. The Mavericks lose just two letterwinners from 2013 and return six: seniors Alex Tran, Lindsay Weideman and Adrienne Benson, junior Jacqueline Baude and sophomores Tiffany Hottman and Molly Matricardi.

Tran leads Omaha’s senior trio, as she was an Academic All-Summit pick in 2013 and posted a 4-2 record in conference singles play. She finished Spring comes early for the UNO men’s tennis team, which with 10 overall singles victories, the most of any starts Jan. 31 with a home match against Nebraska Maverick.

Wesleyan. The Mavericks are coming off a 5-16 season last spring. The Mavericks will be young but talented Head Coach Mike Saniuk, in 2014 and will continue to build toward 2016, when who enters his third year they become eligible for the Summit League and NCAA at the helm, signed four postseason tournaments. newcomers who will make an immediate impact on Lone Senior Eric McKnight returns after posting a 6-9 singles record last year, the best winning percentage of the lineup. Maddie Holscher (Scottsbluff High School), any Maverick. John Ellis, who broke into the lineup as a freshman last spring, will redshirt in 2014 as he studies Allison Johnson (Millard abroad. Junior transfer Tyler Mercier, younger brother of North High School) and Hylan Miller (Elkhorn South former Maverick standout Drew Mercier, likely will play a key role for the Mavs. The Bennington, Neb., native High School) are all in-state products, while Kenzie played the last two seasons at Guilford College in North Hill joins the team from Washburn Rural High School in Carolina and was the team’s top singles player.

Topeka, Kan.

Men’s Tennis

Omaha kicks off the 2014 season with three matches Jan. 23-25, hosting Southeast Missouri State before traveling to Iowa State and Iowa.

By Dave Ahlers with additional reporting

by Bonnie Ryan and Nate Pohlen, UNO Athletic Communications

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Courtesy: Denver Broncos

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Marlin Briscoe broke pro football's color barriers Now he's breaking into Hollywood with his life story

By Kevin Warneke

Photo: Chelsea Schreiber

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Even the president knows what Marlin Briscoe did.

POTUS and the Magician exchanged pleasantries last year — history maker to history maker — when President Obama invited members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins to visit the White House to recognize their undefeated season and Super Bowl championship — 40 years after the fact.

Briscoe was one of the last in line to greet the president. The two shook hands.

“You’re the trailblazer,” Briscoe recalls the president saying.

“You set the tone for black quarterbacks.”

That he did.

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Just five months after graduating from the University of Omaha, Briscoe on Sept. 29, 1968, found himself under center for the Denver Broncos — the first black man to start at quarterback in a modern-day professional football game.

He completed his first pass that day and later scored on a 12-yard run as Denver fell to the Boston Patriots 20-17. Briscoe started four more games that season, and finished with 1,589 yards passing and 14 touchdowns — rookie records that still stand. Yep, not even hall-offamer John Elway could top that.

Briscoe left Denver confident that he would have an opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback position the following season.

But he never played another down for the Broncos.

It would become one of several life-defining moments for Briscoe, whose life story is headed for the big screen.

Three Times as Good Some day soon, Hollywood will share Briscoe’s message of perseverance. A movie about his life — from Omaha University standout, to NFL All-Pro to recovering drug addict — soon will be going into production, says Terry Hanna, UNO graduate and co-producer.

West Omaha Films — which includes Briscoe, Hanna, Omaha actor and former OU student John Beasley, and David Clark — has been working with the NFL the past six months to receive its endorsement of the movie, which is titled “The Magician.” Funding and distribution are in place and West Omaha Films has a production partner in Los Angeles. The group engaged Gregory Allen Howard — “Remember The Titans” and “Ali” — to write the screenplay.

The president called Briscoe a pioneer in the fight against racism.

Briscoe also can carry the moniker of Super Bowl champion (twice) and All-Pro Receiver.

He’d rather be described as a man who refused to give up. Refused to allow one coach’s racism end his professional football career. Rather, Briscoe reinvented himself by learning a new position. Refused to allow cocaine dictate his life — though it did for a while. Rather, he overcame his addiction and now shares a message of hope with anyone who will listen.

Briscoe grew up in Omaha during the turbulent ’60s. Make no mistake: Omaha was no Birmingham, Ala., or Jackson, Miss. Still, Briscoe faced discrimination. He recalled he wasn’t welcome to swim at Peony Park, although one time he and some friends bullied their way in. He was careful where he went and with whom he spent time.

Perhaps growing up in South Omaha, rather than on Omaha’s north side, sheltered him. South Omaha, he says, was a melting pot — and Briscoe’s neighbors bore different colors. He learned from his mother that he’d have to be three times as good because of his race. “I always wondered why it had to be three times,” he says. “It proved to be true.

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Staging a Career John Beasley might not have a catchy handle like his buddy Marlin Briscoe, but Beasley’s done just fine making a name for himself ever since the two first played for Omaha University 50 years ago.

Beasley was a year younger than Briscoe but made an immediate impact playing for Coach Al Caniglia, starting as a freshman as a 6-foot, 220-pound left guard.

Courtesy: John Beasley

He attended OU from 1964 to 1968 but eventually left the gridiron. Instead, he found another arena in which to compete — acting.

You couldn’t be as good or twice as good.”

Briscoe, a standout for Omaha South, could have gone elsewhere to play collegiate ball. But he knew if he did, he’d be playing a different position. Blacks didn’t play quarterback in those days.

They did at Omaha University because Coach Al Caniglia was a man of his word. He promised Briscoe could play quarterback, and he kept to it. More poignant than his promise was his pledge to Briscoe’s mother that her son would receive his education.

Five years later, which included a season on the sidelines with a medical hardship, Briscoe left as an All-American after setting 21 records and having led the then-Indians to the Central intercollegiate Championship in 1965, 1967 and 1968.

At OU, Briscoe earned the nickname “Marlin the Magician” — for which Omaha actor and former teammate John Beasley takes credit.

Beasley, an OU offensive lineman who played with Briscoe one season, recalls being in the stands and watching Briscoe and OU fall behind their opponent. So he and former teammate Terry Williams left early — only to be brought back by the roar of the crowd. Briscoe had engineered a comeback.

While still a student, Beasley was a member of the OU Reader’s Theater. In 1967 he and the group staged “In White America,” a play recounting the history of blacks in America from the time of slave ships to the civil rights struggle of the 1960s.

It would not be the last time Beasley was part of a race-themed performance. Later he would play falsely accused Tom Robinson in an Omaha Community Playhouse production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

There also was a turn as a black boxer in a Center Stage production of “Great White Hope” based on the life of Jack Johnson.

Beasley worked while acting, but eventually it became his full-time career. He went from stage to screen, starring in numerous TV shows (“CSI,” “Everwood”) and movies (“The Sum of All Fears,” “The Mighty Ducks” and “Rudy”).

In 2000 he founded the John Beasley Theater promoting works written by or featuring black playwrights and actors. Five years later UNO presented him with an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

His next performance just might come in the movie on his old pal Marlin.

He knows that script by heart.

“It was magical,” Beasley says.

OU didn’t venture into the South for competition back then, which meant Briscoe never faced the possibility of being told he wasn’t welcome at the team hotel or a restaurant where his teammates were eating. Just two decades previous several OU players were prohibited — by a Missouri state Jim Crow law — from playing in a game against Missouri State Teachers College.

Yet Briscoe can’t remember a time when he, Briscoe and other black players on the OU team faced overt racism. Neither can Beasley.

And one of the things Briscoe remembers about his time with the Broncos was that his lineman had his back — though four starters came from the South and had never played for a black quarterback, let alone had a black teammate. But they rallied behind Briscoe, he says, when they realized he could play the game.

“I had to earn their trust,” Briscoe says. “Sports bring people together.

You’re fighting for a common cause and can put aside the negativity that comes with racism.”

First in Line Based on a search of yearbooks, the first black football player to suit up for Omaha University appears to be James Lewis in 1921 (above left). “He helped make a line that could stand against any line in the West,” said the caption underneath his yearbook photo.

Forty-two years later, OU President Milo Bail hired Don Benning (right) as the school’s wrestling coach, making him one of the country’s first black head coaches at a predominantly white university. Seven years later he helped the university to another first — its first national wrestling championship.

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(cont. from page 29)

Lows a Mile High Still, Briscoe was put aside after his promising rookie season. He had finished the 1968 campaign confident he’d be given an opportunity to compete for the starting job the next season.

When the team began preparing for that season, Briscoe learned that Saban was meeting with his quarterbacks in Denver — but left Briscoe off the invitation list.

Briscoe later returned to Denver and waited to join the competition. “He (Saban) wouldn’t even look me in the eye,” he says.

Briscoe asked for and was granted his release. He headed to Canada — where blacks played quarterback. In the meantime, he learned that Buffalo wanted the Magician — but as a wide receiver. He had three weeks to learn the position. His contract stipulated that the Bills couldn’t release him until the final rounds of cuts. “I just needed time,” he says.

Ironically, Buffalo quarterbacks Jack Kemp, Tom Flores and James Harris were injured and Briscoe initially found himself at quarterback. He didn’t see action at receiver until the last preseason game.

“Jack Kemp was my roommate on the road. He said ‘I’m coming at you.’ He kept throwing me the ball and I kept catching it.”

Briscoe made the team, a testament to his athleticism that got him on the court to play for the OU basketball team. He would make All-Pro as a receiver for the Bills.

During his time in Buffalo, Briscoe mentored Harris, a black quarterback from Grambling who had never played against whites. Harris received death threats, Briscoe recalls, but he doesn’t recall receiving any during his time in the spotlight in Denver. Perhaps the Broncos kept them private.

Later, Briscoe would catch passes for the Dolphins. He’d win two Super Bowl rings. He’d also get into drugs and nearly ruin his life. He fought back and recovered.

There’s a lot more to his tale, of course.

Soon, you’ll see it all on the big screen.

As a freshman in 1963, Briscoe (standing, far right) was among black OU players including Artie Reynolds (40), Roger Sayers (24), Willard Shepard (73), Jim Jones (82) and Gerald Allen (44).

OU vs. Jim Crow

A 1947 Missouri state law meant Omaha University had to play with a “whites-only” lineup With many of its players fighting in World War II, the University of Omaha in 1942 dropped its football program. Not until five years later would OU field another team.

• OU’s black players were informed that they would be unable to play in the Maryville game but would be taken there as members of the team, in uniform. The players agreed.

In the midst of that return season, however, Omaha U. would play one game with a “whites-only” lineup.

• In the future, no football game would be played against “any team in any state which sanctions racial intolerance in any form.”

The Omaha World-Herald first made the controversy public in an article published Sept. 22, 1947. The newspaper claimed black Omaha University players would be unable to participate in a game against Missouri State Teacher’s College at Maryville, Mo., because of that state’s Jim Crow laws.

Missouri was no stranger to Jim Crow conflict. The state had various discriminatory statutes on the books, and prevalent racism there impacted football games through the years. In 1892 the University of Missouri forfeited a game against Nebraska because the Cornhuskers had a black player, George Flippin. In 1910, Iowa left its lone black player at home at the request of Missouri officials.

The Young Progressive Citizens of America (YPCA) didn’t want Omaha University to follow suit. The group sent OU President Rowland Haynes a letter requesting he cancel the Sept. 26 game if its black players would not participate: “This state of affairs represents a low level of our American ‘Democracy,’” the YPCA stated in its letter. “We have no words to stress the viciousness of this particular type of discrimination — we can only condemn it as being un-American, un-democratic, and intolerant.”

In a Gateway student newspaper article, OU Athletic Director Virgil Yelkin made three points: • The contract to play Missouri Teacher’s College was signed in 1946 before team personnel had been decided. The Missouri school mentioned no discriminatory restrictions. The contracted had been bonded “with an appreciable sum” which OU would lose were it to forfeit the game.

The game went on with whites only.

The Gateway interviewed OU’s four black players in the program, two of them varsity starters — Archie Arvin, Clon Fitz, Ruben Pierce and N.C. Fritz. All of them signed a statement that there was “absolutely no discrimination” on behalf of athletic officials or fellow students.

The Gateway also interviewed Missouri State Teacher’s College Athletic Director E.A. Davis, who told the paper that the discrimination was not university policy but a state statute. “He further stated that his college would play Omaha University in Omaha with no thought of color line.”

But the game would be played in Maryville — without OU’s black players. That included starters Pierce, an end, and Arvin, a guard.

OU lost the game 26-0.

Two years later, Missouri state law was changed to allow black students to enroll at the University of Missouri — but only if courses they took were not available at Lincoln University, a black college. In 1958, the University of Missouri became the last Big Eight school to integrate its athletics program. The first black football player at Missouri Sate Teacher’s College was Bill Hedge in 1970. He remains on the Maryville campus today as an assistant professor of educational leadership.

As for Omaha University, Pierce would graduate in 1949 with a BA in biology. He died in October 2000 in Washington, D.C. Arvin earned a BS in 1950. He died in November 2002 in Sioux City, Iowa.

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Two Good Legs Among the earliest Hispanics to play in the NFL, Joe Arenas was a record-setting kick returner with the San Francisco 49ers Joe Arenas doesn’t hesitate to say what he would have done had he experienced racism during his playing days in the NFL. “I think if I had run into a situation, I would have taken care of it.”

But, Arenas says, he never did experience racism. Born Guadalupe Joe Arenas but called “Lupe Joe,” the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native was one of the first 20 Hispanics to play in the National Football League. His seven-year playing career with the 49ers ended in 1957.

Arenas says he never personally experienced racism during his time at Omaha University or in San Francisco. He recalls that his OU teams included another Hispanic player and two black players. His 49er teammates included black players Joe Perry and Charlie Powell.

Arenas, says Perry and Powell weren’t allowed to stay with the team when the 49ers played in the South.

“Lupe Joe’s” path to professional football started during his childhood, playing with a homemade ball. “We didn’t have a regular ball,” he says.

“We rolled up paper and tied it tight with string. You could sling it like a baseball.”

Arenas actually preferred baseball and basketball to the gridiron. After two tours with the Marines — including action on Iwo Jima — Arenas took his basketball skills to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he made the team as a freshman. But a back injury he suffered on Iwo Jima and low grades sidelined him.

He transferred to Omaha University with hopes of playing basketball for the then-Indians. Athletic Director Virgil Yelkin steered him toward football. Arenas agreed and spent his first season as the blocking back in Coach Lloyd Cardwell’s single-wing offense.

When the starting tailback didn’t return the following season, Arenas told Cardwell he wanted the ball. He responded and finished with 1,612 total yards in just eight games. He was named a Little AllAmerican in 1949. He also played basketball for OU. The 49ers drafted him in the eighth round with the 89th overall selection. Arenas’ best season in the NFL came in 1953 when he led the league in kickoff returns, averaging 34.4 yards per attempt. In seven seasons, he rushed for 987 yards and caught passes for 675 more.

These days, Arenas spends his days at a retirement home in Webster, Texas. He says he watches football whenever he can. And, he says, he could play today.

“Any team you want — if I had my two good legs.”

At Last Count Communication Professor Dave Ogden studies the dwindling number of black baseball players Dave Ogden knew something was missing when his son started playing select baseball in the late 1990s.

“I noticed that there were hardly any black kids playing in my son’s tournaments,” says Ogden, professor of communication and avid baseball researcher.

Unable to determine whether this void was a fluke or part of a national trend, Ogden started counting kids.

Fourteen years later, his son long done playing baseball, Ogden is still counting. His ongoing research includes data from more than 700 teams representing 29 states that compete in tournaments in the Midwest. He’s found that, on average, about 3 percent of players competing on these select teams are black.

His findings mirror statistics from Major League Baseball where black players make

up less than 9 percent of the professional population — down from 17 percent in 1989.

Ogden has conducted additional research that closes the loop — playing select baseball is nearly a must in order to play college baseball, let alone play professionally. So he expects the trend to continue.

These findings lead Ogden to speculate about the causes. The easy, obvious answer, Ogden says, is that basketball and football are too enticing for youths. His theory goes beyond: Communities with African-American populations lack pied pipers to introduce them to the game. “These kids are growing up in a non-baseball environment. AfricanAmerican kids don’t see their peers playing catch,” Ogden says. “We’ve lost a generation of fathers playing catch with their sons.”

Major League Baseball and its Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities — RBI — aim to provide disadvantage youth with an opportunity to learn the game. Since 1989, according to Major League Baseball, RBI has grown from a local program for boys in south-central Los Angeles to an international campaign that includes more than 200 cities and serves as many as 200,000 boys and girls each year.

Ogden says he’d like to endorse the program, but has yet to see it impact the makeup of the game.

So he continues to count.

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photo: Eric Francis

The Last

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t Ouampi

By Greg Kozol

Lloyd Roitstein jokes that he went to college for so long, people eventually thought he was a professor.

Attending Omaha University and then UNO from 1964 to 1971, he balanced night school and a job with a stint in the U.S. Army Reserves. Through it all, he always managed to find time to play “Ouampi,” the university's Native American mascot.

Roitstein showed up at football games, rallies and other events in full Native American regalia. With the sounds of drums or the school fight song in the background, he performed a dance to generate support for athletic teams that were known as the Indians from 1939 to 1971.

He never thought anything of it.

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Native Americans, he says, taught him an authentic dance known as “double action.”

He said he started learning Native American dances at the age of 10 and was a member of the Ahamo Indian Dancers in Omaha when he was in scouting.

"We were taught by Native Americans in the beginning and passed it down over the years. It was all authentic," he says. Roitstein says he even taught Native Americans in Omaha how to dance. His performances at UNO were crowd favorites, he says. His brother, Larry, also performed as Ouampi.

“Everyone stood up and clapped and never had an issue,” Roitstein says. “I tried to do everything I could to respect the Native Americans and not embarrass anybody. It was something I loved doing and had a lot of fun doing.”

He especially loved the outfit. Roitstein estimates he spent thousands of hours perfecting the elaborate beadwork that decorated Ouampi’s buckskin outfit.

He even was asked to bring his Native American regalia to the inauguration of President Lyndon Johnson, in 1965.

Larry Roitstein as Ouampi in the 1960s

Roitstein refused.

“They didn't want me, they wanted my regalia,” he says. “I didn't want it out of my sight.”

It never dawned on Roitstein that he could be the last Ouampi.

Only in the Movies Like many college students his age, Jim Zadina’s first glimpse of Native Americans came at the movies. It wasn't a good first impression, with many Westerns in the 1950s depicting Native Americans as stereotyped savages.

With that cultural backdrop, Zadina pursued a degree in psychology and became UNO’s student body president in 1971. In February of that year, a fellow student told Zadina that a group of Native Americans wanted to Jim Zadina meet with him. Someone had attended a football game and found the dancing Ouampi character to be offensive.

Zadina, went to the off-campus meeting and found it to be enlightening.

“I don't remember them being angry. I don't remember them being hostile,” Zadina says. “I remember them being resolute. They made it clear this was offensive to them, the way the Indian culture was being portrayed was stereotypical and insulting.”

“I felt like they had a pretty good point.”

Within three months, Zadina introduced a Student Senate measure to abolish the Indian nickname, as well as the Ouampi mascot that included a cartoon depiction of a dark-skinned Native American kicking up dust and swinging a tomahawk.

In a packed meeting room, the Student Senate voted to drop the Indian name, and Ouampi, by an 18-7 vote. The Indians joined the Cardinals, Maroons, Ponies and Crimson and Black among the university's discarded team names.

Zadina described the meeting as “intense.” “There was obviously a lot of debate and strong feeling,” he says.

Courtesy: Tulane University

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In the student newspaper, the story on the name change was published right below a front-page article on the need for more campus parking.

National Conversation The debate over UNO's mascot and team name came to a quick resolution in 1971.

Since then, Native American groups have used public pressure and legal means to challenge team names. Change has come more slowly than it did at UNO. Zadina points out that “UNO was 30 years ahead of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,” which in 2001 called for an end to the use of Native American images and team names by non-Native schools. A commission release stated: “These references, whether mascots and their performances, logos, or names, are disrespectful and offensive to American Indians and others who are offended by such stereotyping.

They are particularly inappropriate and insensitive in light of the long history of forced assimilation that American Indian people have endured in this country.”

Today, the issue of using Native American names as mascots again has become a national discussion, this time centering on whether the NFL's Washington Redskins should change its name.

He likely has support on the UNO campus.

Even President Barack Obama weighed in on the controversy.

I’d think about changing it.

“I've been advocating this for years,” says Ed Zendejas, director of UNO’s Native American Studies program. “It's coming to a point where it's becoming a national topic.”

Zendejas examines the topic of mascot names in his class lectures and wrote a book about it: “Mascots that Honor Indians: The Audacity of a Dope.” To him, the problem with names like Redskins and Indians isn't that they're offensive.

“Being offensive is subjective,” he says.

“You can have the best of intentions.

The argument is about perpetuating ignorance.”

Zendejas objects to mascots that not only enforce stereotypes but also ignore the history of Native Americans and misuse symbols that have deep meaning, such as arrows, feathers and dances.

He asks students in his class, if they were religious, how would they feel about their faith's sacred symbols and your priest's vestments being used as a vehicle to fire up fans at a football game?

“You have to earn it,” Zendejas says. “You don't go and borrow that stuff. Those things have meaning. Putting feathers in your hair or paint on your face means something. You don't just do it because it looks cute.

Name Games Fifty-one votes.

That’s all it took for the Indians to become the Mavericks — and to avoid becoming the Unicorns.

When UNO in the fall of 1971 decided to drop its Indians nickname, students at homecoming that year were asked to vote for a new handle.

The final tally: Mavericks Unicorns

566 515

Roadrunners 397 Demons

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Indians

0

It was not the first time the university had changed its name.

Omaha U. had only been the Indians since 1939. Prior to that they were the Cardinals (1924-39), Maroons (1920-24), Crimson & Black (1913-20) and Ponies/Shetlands (1912-13).

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“People need to look at it in that light,” he says.

Efforts to change Native American team names often are fought on a case-by-case basis across the country. Opponents of the Washington Redskins name waged a legal battle over the trademark.

Ed Zendejas, director of UNO’s Native American Studies

Native American groups claimed a major victory in 2005 when the NCAA Executive Committee banned team mascots considered “hostile and abusive.” Of more than 30 schools with Native American mascots, 14 changed their team names before the NCAA ban went into effect. Others, such as the Florida State Seminoles, were exempted after they received authorization from a specific tribe.

Sometimes, the change is subtle. The University of Illinois retained its Fighting Illini name but retired Chief Illiniwek, a Ouampilike mascot in face paint.

One holdout was the University of North Dakota, which became embroiled in a messy court and legislative battle over the Fighting Sioux nickname. The university is expected to go without a nickname until 2015.

The National Congress of American Indians estimates that 2,000 sports teams have

A trip from Omaha to the Omahas

How Omaha University came to be the Indians Omaha University’s change from Cardinals to Indians was not done on a whim — and it didn’t happen overnight.

Someone from the group recounted the visit in a Gateway editorial:

took to answer our inquiries directly and honestly not only surprised us, but made the visit one to be remembered.

Another thing we didn’t expect, and this was most touching, was the amount of historical information that has been lost to the tribe. Even the elderly men cannot remember … the tribe cannot waste time on keeping an accurate historical record. When we told them that the Municipal University was eager to relieve the government and the Indians of that responsibility, the flood of talk commenced.”

“Over bowls of chili and crackers, interesting bits of legends were told, and the committee was amply repaid for the journey. The pains which the Omahas

The students brought what they knew back to campus. However, it would be five years before its teams became known as the Indians.

Students in 1934 were clamoring for a new nickname with more tradition and meaning behind it than “Cardinals” had.

And so on Nov. 26, 1934, the Gateway student newspaper sent five students to visit with the Omaha tribe in Macy, Neb. It rained, making for a muddy journey and slick roads.

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changed their Native American nicknames in the last 35 years, including 28 high schools that used to be called the Redskins. About 1,000 teams retain some sort of Native Americanthemed name, the organization says.

“It's a slow course,” Zendejas says. “The numbers are changing daily.”

Zendejas scoffs at notions that team names like Redskins and Indians, or mascots decorated with feathers, are a way to honor Native Americans. “People always say that,” he says.

“It irritates me to no end that they can't see through their ignorance.”

Respect Ouampi still lives in Roitstein's home.

After graduating from UNO, Roitstein worked 40 years for the Boy Scouts, an organization that incorporates Native American influences in its programs. He wore the costume for scouting activities but put it away around the time he retired as executive of the scout's MidAmerica Council in Omaha.

Today, it remains as a relic of traditions that have long since passed. “To this day, I love that tradition,” he says. “I hated to see it go.”

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Roitstein believes the university enjoyed a sense of school spirit — he says Ouampi is a combination of OU and a Native American word for spirit – that was hard to replace. He lumps Mavericks in there with other school nicknames in the state that just don't do it for him.

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UNO students picked the Mavericks over Unicorns, Roadrunners and Demons.

“That's something positive,” Zendejas says. “That's a prime example of how we can move on.”

Zadina moved on to a successful career as a neuroscientist at Tulane University in New

UNO should be proud of being a leader on this issue.

“It's hard to have much excitement about a stalk of corn,” he says.

Asked if he would want to keep the Indians name today, he says it would be better to defer to those who find it objectionable.

“If I was in charge of making that decision, I would let the Native Americans determine that.

You have to be respectful,” he says. “I don't think I would be the right person to ask.”

Zendejas says he feels a sense of pride in working for a university that was among the first in the nation to abolish its Native American nickname.

Stanford also switched its team name in the early 1970s, going from the Indians to the Cardinal.

After suggesting a steaming manhole cover or a French fry, students at the California campus settled on a tree for its mascot.

Orleans. He led a research team that discovered naturally occurring compounds in the brain, which could lead to new drugs that relieve pain without as much risk of addiction.

With UNO now having played as the Mavericks longer than any other school nickname, Zadina says the battle to abolish the Indian ranks right up there with his other accomplishments.

“I'm actually quite proud of it,” he says. “It was the right thing to do. A number of us took up the cause and fought for it. I feel like with this controversy over the Redskins, UNO should be proud of being a leader on this issue.”

Even better, his alma mater didn't become the Unicorns. “I could have been blamed for that,” he says.

Mr. Hamilton What appears authentic isn’t always so. Case in point: As a publicity stunt for the 1951 Omaha University Alumni Association membership drive, outgoing Association President Joe Baker journeyed to the Macy, Neb., Indian reservation to present an honorary alumni membership to “Chief Nunkagthaze.”

The photo was published in the association’s short-lived alumni publication, “Injun Magazine.”

Chief Nunkagthaze actually was Walter Hamilton.

Was he a real chief? Ed Zendejas, director of UNO’s Native American Studies program, tried to find out, posting the photo on the Omaha Tribe's Facebook page and asking for information regarding Walter Hamilton.

“Some extended family members have responded, but I have not received an answer

regarding his capacity as ‘Chief,’” Zendejas says. “As of 1936, the Omaha Tribe adopted what is known as an Indian Reorganization Act Constitution. After this point, the tribal leaders were not called ‘Chief.’ They were referred to as ‘Chairman.’ The title of chief has not been used since Logan Fontenelle was killed in the latter part of the 1850s.”

Zendejas says there was some feedback indicating Hamilton might have been referred to as “Chief,” but that it’s not clear if he was actual leader of the tribe or if it was a title of respect because he might have been a descendant of a chief prior to 1850.

Hamilton, born in 1889, died in 1978 in Macy, Neb.

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The Dark Side of Humanity

Photo: Alexandra Siebenthal

By Rick Davis

Opposite page: Sam Fried parents, Nathan Leopold and Freidl Fried

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Sam Fried will never forget.

He will never forget the day, some 70 years ago, when the local pharmacist asked him to ride his bike to a nearby Czechoslovakian town to “see what they were doing to the Jews there.”

He will never forget, once there, seeing Nazi troops round up people in the town square. He will never forget asking a policeman at the scene, a friend of the family, what was going on, only to be warned,

Get out of here quick, before somebody else recognizes you.

Or they will take you, too!

He will never forget “pedaling like hell” the five or six miles back home to tell the pharmacist, Jewish neighbors and his parents what he saw — and the officer’s warning that their town was next. And he will never forget their reactions. “Don’t worry, that won’t happen to us.”

He will never forget his friend, a non-Jewish boy, giving him his identification papers, so that the 15-year-old Jewish boy might run away.

He will never forget consulting with his parents and then packing a small suitcase and heading out on his own.

Photo: Alexandra Siebenthal

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He will never forget, three days later, while hiding behind a barn, watching SS troops march his parents and other Jews out of their homes.

Mostly, though, he will never forget the reaction of his non-Jewish neighbors — people his family had known for years — standing outside, watching … silent.

“That’s when I threw my papers away, and I turned myself in,” Fried says.

Fried and his parents eventually were loaded onto a railroad cattle car with other Jews and taken to Auschwitz, where, upon the train’s arrival, the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele directed Fried’s parents left toward the gas chambers.

They were among the 6 million Jews killed in the camps. Fried was sent to the right to the hellish life at the work camp.

“Based on my experience, there are four components of the Holocaust,” Fried says.

“Perpetrators, collaborators, victims and bystanders.”

Fried believes it’s the bystanders — in his case, the neighbors who stood silently by as the Jews in his town were forced from their homes — who have the most responsibility in preventing atrocities like the Holocaust. “They are the only ones who can do something,” he says.

That’s why Fried believes educating the next generation of leaders about the Holocaust and genocide is so important — so they don’t become silent bystanders to such atrocities.

To that end, Fried and Louis Blumkin of the Nebraska Furniture Mart family combined with their wives to establish in 2011 the Blumkin Professorship of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at UNO. Blumkin, who died in January 2013, helped liberate Dachau and other camps as a U.S. soldier — which he described as a defining experience in his life.

Fried is excited about the first person to hold the Blumkin Professorship — a 36-year-old Episcopalian, West Point graduate and military veteran who served as a platoon leader in Iraq, Waitman Beorn.

“He really connects with the students,” Fried says, “Holocaust education is not just a subject he teaches; he’s got his heart and soul into it. I think he’s the tops.”

Beorn, who joined UNO in 2012 and is also an assistant professor of history, is equally excited about the professorship.

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“It’s a great opportunity to have a platform to continue a lot of the work that has been going on in the community already, in terms of remembering the Holocaust,” Beorn says. “Also, I want to build at UNO an institutional center for Holocaust and genocide studies — to put UNO on the map as a place where we study this in detail, where this is something that we value.”

Factors Leading to Genocide Beorn teaches a class on comparative genocide, examining the commonalties of genocidal events throughout history.

“There’s a great book by Ben Kiernan (director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University) called ‘Blood and Soil,’ where he lays out some of these structures,” Beorn says.

“There’s always some kind of fear, be it racial or political or ethnic, that leads to ‘othering.’

There’s always some form of expansion or land issue — who owns it or who controls it.

“Some kind of military conflict. If you look at most modern genocides, they occur in the context of a war or civil war.”

But not all of the factors are structural. Some are more frighteningly human — inviting us to take a long, hard look in the mirror.

“We are all capable of doing this,” Beorn says.

“We are all capable of fulfilling every role, if you want to look at it that way, in genocide.

Genocide, in a very twisted way, is a very human event. It’s not a bunch of psychopaths.”

So what would lead seemingly regular, everyday people to participate in acts of genocide?

That question has nagged at Beorn — during his time at West Point (when he wrote a paper on Nazi doctors) through graduate school at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to the writing of his book “Marching into Darkness: the Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus,” which examines the complicity of the German army in the Nazi genocidal project in the occupied Soviet Union.

“This is a question I work with in my research, and that a lot of us who study the Holocaust are still trying to figure out,” Beorn says.

While ideology certainly is a factor, the UNO professor says there are a “myriad of potential reasons” that someone might participate in genocide — from simple greed to social pressures.

Waitman Beorn, Blumkin Professorship of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Genocide: A Definition Raphael Lemkin, a PolishJewish lawyer, coined the term “genocide,” when he introduced the word in his 1944 book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. He combined the Greek word genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin word cide, killing. He wrote: “By ‘genocide’ we mean the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group.”

On Dec. 9, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in which it described genocide as various acts “committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

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Ethnic Cleansing in Azerbaijan

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There is also a complexity of involvement.

“There are vast arrays on the spectrum in which someone can become complicit. The guy who drives the train (to the death camps) has a certain sense of complicity, but in a different way than someone who is shooting people.”

Never Again?

The rallying cry after the Holocaust was “never again.” While there have been advances in terms of international justice, there are stark reminders that mass atrocities continue around the globe.

A young Konstantin Gazaryan was taking a nap in the apartment shared by his grandparents and other family members in Azerbaijan, when a loud pounding on the door shook the 5-yearold from his sleep.

“I remember looking down the hall and seeing my grandpa, grandma and mom scurrying around,” Gazaryan recalls today. “I really didn’t know what was happening. The crowd outside hacked through the front door with a machete. Then I saw an arm reach in and unlatch the door.”

The mob raided the apartment. The family was marched outside, where buses were lined up to take them and others away. “In a sense, we were kind of lucky, because during the ethnic cleansing, they were killing other Armenians.”

Indeed, a U.N. report found that “for five days in January 1990,” Armenians in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, where the Gazaryans were living, “were killed, tortured, robbed and humiliated.”

The Gazaryans fled to Rostov, Russia, and eventually made their way to Lincoln, Neb., where they had extended family. Konstantin graduated from UNO in May 2009, and that same month was commissioned in U.S. Air Force. Today, he is a captain with the 343rd Training Squadron stationed at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

“It’s personal for me,” Gazaryan says about his decision to join the military.

“I felt like this country gave me a home and a chance to succeed.”

• Cambodia in the late 1970s, when the Khmer Rouge murdered an estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million Cambodians.

• T he “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia Herzegovina, which included the killing of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims within a week after Serb forces took the town of Srebrenica in 1995.

• T he 100 Days of Slaughter in Rwanda, during which Hutu extremists murdered an estimated 800,000 rival Tutsis and sympathizers in state-sponsored violence.

• T he “Darfur Genocide,” with the killing some 480,000 Darfuri men, women and children (and the displacement of more than 2.8 million) by government-armed militias since 2003.

•T he conflicts in Congo between 1996 and 2003 were fueled by the genocide in Rwanda and claimed more than 5 million lives, mostly civilians. The atrocities continue today in the form of systematic rape, murder, abuse and starvation of, primarily, internally displaced people, says Beorn.

And the list goes on. As then-U.N. SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan stated in 1998: “Many thought, no doubt, that the horrors of the Second World War — the camps, the cruelty, the exterminations, the Holocaust — could not happen again. And yet they have.”

“We haven’t been able to say, ‘Never again,’” Beorn says. “On the other hand, there have been some very important successes since 1947.”

The United Nations adopted a definition of genocide. The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in 2002 in The Hague,

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Netherlands. “And the world is aware of genocide and genocidal potentialities in a way that we certainly weren’t before the Holocaust.”

What is Genocide?

A major challenge is determining just what is genocide.

Tusty (Zohra) ten-Bensel, who earned her Ph.D. in criminology and criminal justice at UNO and is now an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, says it can be difficult to identify instances of genocide.

“The issue … is sovereignty. It’s really hard to tell while it’s happening if it’s a state civil conflict or if it’s ethnic cleansing or if it’s genocide,” explains ten-Bensel, who taught a course on genocide while at UNO. She says ethnic cleansing differs from genocide in that the perpetrators are “trying to eradicate a population from an area and not trying to eradicate a population as a whole.”

She adds: “We find that international bodies are very hesitant in interfering, because if it is a civil war, that is a state-specific concern.

And so the international body typically would prefer not to intervene.”

Beorn agrees. “What is, if you will, ‘normal’ political or war violence and when does that shift to become genocide? It is very difficult to nail down.”

In addition, under the U.N. Genocide Convention, Beorn says the U.N. is legally obligated to act when it believes genocide is occurring. While he believes this is a commendable stance, “it can also be problematic, because then it becomes very political of what is called genocide and what isn’t."

What Can Nations Do? “The U.S. military, at the strategic level, has developed something that they call MAPRO, Mass Atrocity Prevention and Response Operations,” Beorn says. “They are at least beginning to think about some of the ways in which we would intervene. And they range from a completely nonviolent intervention to an armed military intervention.”

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There’s a great reluctance to call anything genocide because it now obligates us to do something.

Genocide Watch, an international monitoring organization, has declared a “genocide emergency” for five countries where it believes genocide is currently happening: Syria, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Burma/ Myanmar. It has another six countries on its genocide “warning” list, where it considers genocide is imminent, and another 10 on its “watch” list.

“Publication of knowledge, letting the world know, as well as the perpetrators or potential perpetrators, that we are watching, that we know what’s going on, that you’re not hiding this from anybody is important,” Beorn says.

“That is where the International Criminal Court is useful, because it shows that people will be held accountable for this.

And that can be important in the context of prevention.”

The difficulty, in the case of the ICC, is enforcement. It doesn’t have a police force to bring accused perpetrators to court. It must rely on its member states, which can be a tricky bit of diplomacy.

Consider the case against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who, despite arrest warrants issued by the ICC in 2009 and 2010 for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, has not only continued to remain in power, but has traveled to at least a dozen other countries, all of which have refused to arrest him.

Never Forget Beorn sees his professorship as a way to bridge what happened during the Holocaust to the mass atrocities happening today, and to get us to think about how we respond to acts of intolerance and hatred — around the world and in our own backyards.

“The Holocaust was not something like a natural disaster,” Beorn says. “There are reasons behind it, and those reasons and structures still exist today. It continues to be relevant, unfortunately, for all of us.

“Secondly, the Holocaust, and genocide in general, doesn’t just start with people killing each other. It starts with intolerance, bias, prejudice, a basic lack of respect for other people. I think that’s important for all of us to consider.”

Tracking Extremist Movements Pete Simi, associate professor of criminology and criminal justice, has done extensive research on right-wing extremist groups across the United States, including neo-Nazis. He is the author of “American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement’s Hidden Spaces of Hate.”

He has found that those who join these types of hate groups “tend to see things in black and white. They’re often very concrete thinkers, who don’t do well with gray areas. In a way, that’s what the movement is all about, trying to convert people to seeing the world in very straight-forward terms and reducing complexity.”

Globally, Simi has seen a troubling increase in the neo-Nazi movement in Russia. “Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the neo-Nazi presence in Russia is just off the charts. It’s very troubling there. And we’re really not paying much attention to that. There is some survey data that suggests up to 25 to 30 percent of Russian natives support the idea of creating settlements or re-ghettoizing Jewish people.”

Genocide in the Balkans While the causes of the Bosnian War (1992-1995) and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans are complex, Rory J. Conces, an associate professor of philosophy and a member of the international studies faculty at UNO, says ethno-nationalism played a major role.

“The United States is very nationalistic, but our nationalism tends to be civic, so the nation is identified with a territory, whereas in Bosnia, the nation is identified in terms of ethnicity,” explains Conces, who has studied that region extensively. “I think ethno-nationalism is extremely malevolent and divisive; it fragments society.”

The principal ethno-nationalisms in the Bosnian conflict reflected the three constituent groups: ethnic Serbs, who are primarily Orthodox Christian; ethnic Croats, who are mostly Catholic; and Bosniaks, who are Muslim. Bosnians of all ethnic groups were

victims during the war, which left over 200,000 dead and more than 2 million people displaced or made refugees.

While some high-ranking officials have been prosecuted before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands, the trials of some leaders continue to this day — such as those of Radovan Karadžic, the former president of Republika Srpska, and Ratko Mladic, commander of the Bosnian Serb army. Unfortunately, Conces says most of those who were complicit in the atrocities will never be brought to justice.

“In 2008, I stayed with a Muslim family in Srebrenica, and I put the question to them: Are there people walking the streets here, Serbs, who engaged in atrocities?” Conces says. “The daughter, who spoke English, said, ‘We know the people who sit in the café when we walk by, and they were part of the problem.’”

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What is beauty — and who says so?

By Susan Houston Klaus

Helen of Troy may have had the face that launched a thousand ships. But Kate Moss, Heidi Klum — and now the Kardashians — are the faces that have launched thousands, even millions, of magazines.

For better or worse, physical beauty continues to be a standard by which women and men alike are measured. Research shows it can be a determiner of higher salaries and more favorable reactions in social situations — not to mention good-looking offspring.

But what makes us put a certain definition of beauty above others? None of this is new. Humans have been focusing on looks for thousands of years.

There’s plenty of evidence of that in the art and artifacts left behind by ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. And, though they’re often overlooked, says Bridget Sandhoff, the Etruscans made their own contributions to beauty and culture.

“It’s just human nature to want to look good,” says the UNO assistant professor of art and art history. Her research of the Etruscan people, who lived in Italy from about 750 BC to 100 BC, yielded information about their tricks of the trade.

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The quality of perfume vessels, hair pins, toiletries boxes and jewelry indicated an Etruscan woman’s status, she says. While women weren’t allowed to distinguish themselves in athletics or politics, beauty was a way for women to become well-known.

One of the most prevalent artifacts to survive the culture also may hold a deeper meaning.

At least 3,000 engraved bronze mirrors have been unearthed. A popular wedding gift of the times — often commissioned and given by men — these mirrors also made the journey into the afterlife with their owners.

Who says what’s beautiful?

Liking what’s reflected back to us in the mirror — and hoping others like it, too — is a universal desire. However, what’s considered beautiful, and the lengths people go to achieve that kind of beauty, varies around the world.

In some African countries, a figure with considerable curves is considered much more

preferable to a skinny frame. In parts of India and in Korea and Japan, cultures prize pale skin — the latter being home to an age-old beauty formula that incorporates nightingale droppings as the not-so-secret ingredient. And a growing number of Asian women are opting for eyelid surgery to create a more westernized appearance.

The Caucasian idea of beauty has dominated the worldview for as long as there’s been a way to perpetuate it. For women, it’s a slender figure.

Sleek, straight hair. Elegantly chiseled features.

For men, it’s broad shoulders. A narrow waist. A strong jawline.

It’s ironic that what the world calls the “American” look by definition really shouldn’t be one concept of beauty, but rather reflective of the proverbial melting pot. And it’s continually evolving: Census projections show that by 2043, Caucasians will be in the minority. Today, more than ever, there’s a trend toward an ethnic influence on beauty.

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Still, the desire to conform to a certain look is strong.

Does the concept of privilege among AfricanAmericans still impact black women and men A study by Dove Research called “The Real Truth today? Robinson wanted to find out. In 2003, she conducted a study of 38 black women — light About Beauty: Revisited” found that 80 percent of women agree that every woman has something skinned and dark skinned — concerning black about her that is beautiful but don’t see their own female beauty. beauty. More than half of the women around the “I wanted to know, do we really look at black world surveyed agree that when it comes to how female beauty based on skin color and hair? Is they look, they’re their own worst beauty critic. that really how people judge who’s attractive?

And what’s it like to be the person who is And maybe women are a little hypocritical. In a thought to be unattractive based on skin color 2011 survey by Allure magazine, more than 70 percent of women respondents said a curvy figure [in general society] and wonderfully attractive in is “more appealing” than it has been in the past the black community?” decade. But when asked if they wanted to change their hips, 85 percent of them said they wanted them to be narrower.

Skin color and privilege Cynthia Robinson knows firsthand about how outward appearance can have an impact on people’s perceptions.

The communication professor grew up as one of six African-American siblings, whose skin color ranged from light to dark. As a child, she was influenced by what she observed was a different kind of behavior toward her darker-skinned sisters than to herself — and saw that other African-Americans treated those with light skin as more privileged.

That attitude, which Robinson calls “light-skin privileging,” is rooted in 300 years of slavery.

“Colorism began on the plantation,” Robinson says. “Within slave society, those [slaves] with light skin were extremely privileged and didn’t have anything to do with darker-skinned slaves.”

That bias has continued through history, she notes. Robinson cites the “paper bag test” conducted among some historically black colleges and universities, black churches and black social organizations. To qualify for admission and membership, a candidate’s skin needed to be lighter than a brown paper bag.

The women surveyed indicated that they received messages about what’s considered beautiful in black culture in several ways. On the playground.

In who was chosen for the school play. In who the boys liked. The women said they believed dark skin is considered masculine; light skin is thought of as feminine.

Robinson had a surprising finding, however.

She thought the study would show that lighterskinned women say they love their skin color and that darkerskinned women say they want to be lighter.

However, the results showed that darker-skinned women surveyed were more content about their color.

She then conducted a survey in 2011 of 60 black men, asking them about their perceptions of black women and skin color. She thought the men would say that they favor light-skinned women.

Again, another unexpected result. She found that the men surveyed did not prefer a certain shade of women over another, or favor other ethnicities over black women.

“The surprising thing we found is that black men really love and favor black women,” she says. “As black women, we don’t think that. I came away from this research with more optimism on black male and female relationships.”

Media has an impact Beyond what we learn on the playground and in school play tryouts, the media have a significant influence on what’s considered beautiful, says Jessiline Anderson, associate professor of psychology.

Unless individuals are grounded in a healthy view of what makes them beautiful, inside and out, the

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images presented on TV, in music videos and in magazines can chip away at our vulnerabilities.

Psychologically, the damage can be significant, she says. “If I don’t portray a certain image or look a certain way, that can lead to other psychological issues, to alcohol or drug abuse, or to depression.”

Anderson, whose ancestry is half Native American and half African-American, says identifying with one’s own culture is an important piece of cultivating self-esteem. The Native American culture, in particular, looks beyond outer beauty.

“We want to see how an individual connects with their creator, walks their journey of life, treats other people. We believe we are all related, even to rocks and animals.” Somebody who is considered to have little physical beauty, she says, can be defined in other ways as a very beautiful person.

Learning to love yourself Medjine Desgraves, a UNO junior, came from Haiti to the United States as an 8th grader. She quickly discovered the aesthetic differences between cultures. Haitian women choose to have natural, not processed, hair. And “thick,” not

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skinny, women are considered attractive. As for men, she says that women are most attracted to someone who has a job and can take care of them.

Desgraves acknowledges that she likes to fit in with the American culture, but she doesn't let others influence what she should look like.

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Now a graduate student in counseling, the psychology graduate has adjusted to how people view beauty in the United States, and hasn’t let it get her off track of how she feels about herself.

“I’m not the person on a magazine cover, but I’m happy with the way I am. It’s about loving you.”

“UNO is very diverse,” she says. “We have kids from all over the world.” When it comes to beauty, “I think people should look at the whole person.”

For Jody-Ann Coore, who came to UNO on a track scholarship in 2008, life in Omaha introduced her to a different standard of beauty compared with her native Kingston, Jamaica.

“It was quite a shock. One thing I’ve taught myself is to learn to accept me for who I am and whatever I look like. When I got here, [the message was] you had to be thin and long and flowing and your skin had to be light.”

Coore came face to face with a culture that puts an emphasis on hair and makeup — something she wasn’t familiar with.

She also discovered that because she is dark skinned, people presume she’s African-American.

1.62 The Beauty Ideal?

As far back as ancient Egyptians and Greeks, symmetry was thought to go handin-hand with beauty. The more balanced the proportions of a person’s features, the more pleasing they were to the eye.

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GOLDEN RATIO:

EQUAL LENGTHS:

PROPORTIONS:

• M easure the length and width of the face.

• Measure the three segments of the face

• Divide length by the width

• The forehead hairline to a spot between the eyes

• M easure other facial features to determine symmetry and proportion

I f the result is close to 1.62, you have a golden ratio.

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• From between the eyes to the bottom of the nose • From the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin If the numbers are equal, a person is considered more beautiful.

• C heck if the length of an ear is equal to the length of the nose • C heck if the width of an eye is equal to the distance between the eyes If yes, your face has symmetry and is more attractive.

Fast forward to the Renaissance era when artists developed a numeric value to define symmetry, the so-called Golden ratio or divine proportion. Equal to 1.61803398875 — rounded to 1.62 — it’s been found in the architecture of everything from the pyramids and the Parthenon to the planes of a supermodel’s face.

In fact, the Golden ratio is prevalent in nature, appearing in things as great as the shape of the Milky Way galaxy and as small as the spiral pattern of pinecone seeds. It’s found in nautilus shells, hurricanes and even DNA molecules.

Scientists in recent decades have been using the Golden ratio to look at the human form. A study by the University of New Mexico used digital scans of faces and bodies to study symmetry. The findings showed that both women and men gave higher scores to symmetrical faces and figures, deeming them more attractive and in better health than those less evenly aligned.

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Art ©Wanda Ewing 2014

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Art

Making

to Change Perceptions

Growing up with darker skin and short, kinky hair, Omahan Wanda Ewing never thought she fit the typical definition of beauty.

Feeling isolated and unattractive — and, at some point, admittedly “ugly” — Ewing moved to California. She lived in the Bay Area for 10 years and loved it, earning a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the San Francisco Art Institute (She also had an MA and MFA in printmaking, both from the University of Iowa).

Ewing remembered San Francisco as the place where, surrounded by all shapes, shades and sizes of people, she got her confidence.

“I remember seeing this woman, 300 pounds and with a shaved head,” the UNO art professor said.

“She was walking down the street and living her life. And she was beautiful.”

Ewing shared the story in November, shortly before passing away at 43 years old following complications from chemotherapy (see sidebar).

The experience motivated Ewing to tell her story and how she felt — and maybe along the way connect with others who felt the same way.

Her 2006 series, “Black as Pitch, Hot as Hell,” features 10 acrylic and latex paintings of AfricanAmerican women. Pictured in black and white, they know they’re far from a size 6 — and they’re reveling in their feminity.

Ewing said that while the women are depicted in a square — indicating “how people place each other in boxes and categorize them”— these women “are also commanding the space and owning it.”

For the associate professor of art, creating the series reflected a place of empowerment.

“When it comes to beauty and appearance, we get constant messages about ‘be sexy, be thin,’” she said. “But at the same time, you’re not supposed to use these things. It can be confusing for a lot of people.”

Ewing tried to bring clarity through her art. In a statement on her website, wandaewing.com, she wrote: “The artworks I create explore the subjects of race, beauty standards, sexuality and identity.

Inspired by images found in popular culture, I often use humorous narratives as a device for engaging the viewer.”

In 2013, Ewing was moving on from the pin-up girls’ subject matter. She saw her future evolving into more abstract work, as shown in her recent latch-hook portraits. Beauty, though, would always figure into her art.

“I do feel I’m making an impact. Just recently, a woman from Toronto asked my permission to tattoo one of my [Black as Pitch] girls on her arm. This is about why I became an artist. Through art, it’s easier to have conversations that are difficult. It’s working.”

Wanda Ewing’s painting “Black as Pitch Hot as Hell: Girl #8”(pictured left) was gifted to the permanent collection at the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, Neb., in July 2013.

Wanda Ewing Jan. 4, 1970 - Dec. 8, 2013

The UNO Department of Art and Art History lost a valued and beloved faculty member Dec. 8 with the unexpected death of Wanda Ewing due to complications from chemotherapy.

Ewing did not teach last semester because of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for nonsmall cell lung cancer. She was expected to return to the post she had held since joining UNO in 2005.

“I am deeply saddened by the untimely loss of such a great teacher, artist and member of the UNO community,” said Gail F. Baker, dean of the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media, in a statement. “Wanda's thoughtfulness and caring nature were surpassed only by her remarkable talent and unique voice. She will be greatly missed.”

Ewing was preceded in death by her father, Clarence Ewing Jr. She is survived by her mother, Elouise Ewing of Omaha; sister Mona Ewing Yaeger of Chicago; brother Clarence Ewing III of Chicago; and sister Annette Ewing of Omaha.

In her honor the UNO art department has established the Wanda Ewing Scholarship Fund through the University of Nebraska Foundation.

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OPINION

To remain competitive, creativity and innovation are critical not just for businesses, but, increasingly, for countries and states.

By Grant Stanley and Tadd Wood, Contemporary Analysis

To remain competitive, creativity and innovation are critical not just for businesses, but, increasingly, for countries and states.

Technology has flattened access to resources and geography. Access to capital, equipment and raw materials no longer is a competitive advantage. Even geography offers fewer protections.

The only true competitive advantage is people — their connections and creativity.

This is especially the case in Nebraska, where we never have had an advantage in technology, capital, equipment or raw materials outside of cold and corn. People have always been our advantage. For this reason, we lead the country in attracting and employing a workforce.

The future of Nebraska’s economy is dependent on its workforce present and to come. Given this importance, we set out to discover whether immigration gives Nebraska a competitive advantage.

Tadd Wood

Grant Stanley

Grant Stanley and Tadd Wood are co-founders of Contemporary Analysis, a predictive analytics firm in the Old Market founded in 2007. The opinions herein are not necessarily those of the University of Nebraska, the UNO Alumni Association or the University of Nebraska Foundation.

The dashboard made it easier to answer several questions: How many immigrants are migrating to Nebraska?

What has been the change over time?

What is their education?

What jobs are they retaining?

How do they and their families assimilate into the Nebraskan culture?

We started by looking at data available from the census from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The data was vast and deep. To better understand the trends hidden within we created a dashboard to help explore education and employment by race from 1999 to 2012.

The dashboard (http://bit.ly/cws-analytics) explores jobs distribution, job trends, educational attainment distribution, educational attainment trends, and correlation between job types and attainment of a bachelor’s degree. All information is searchable by individual race.

Education key to upward mobility Among the most notable findings is an especially sharp increase over the last 10 years of higher education among Hispanics. In 2012, compared to 1999, there are 188% more Hispanic employees with high school diplomas, 232% more employees with bachelor’s degrees, and 286% more employees with master’s degrees in the workforce.

The dashboard also shows that while the majority of Hispanics still are employed as Operatives (9,992), Laborers (12,694), and Service Workers (4,768), this will be changing soon. The correlation between education and job type, and the changes in trend and distribution of education, indicate that Hispanics are getting educated and moving to jobs that require more education. The differences in the degree of correlation show that there is less job growth in labor, craft workers and technicians, and that there is growth in Hispanics becoming officials and managers, professionals, sales workers, and service workers.

This doesn’t conform to how many people view immigrants — as people who move here and never assimilate, never educate, and never provide a positive gain for the culture.

UNO Sociology Professor Lourdes Gouveia, director of UNO’s Latino/Latin American Studies of the Great Plains (OLLAS), provided much-needed insight to the data.

“To migrate is to be human,” Dr. Gouveia says.

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OPINION

To boot, given technology and an ever-changing job market, many of us exhibit characteristics of immigration and migration in our daily lives. Many of us move between cities and states each year, to places we know nothing about and where we might not know a soul.

Benefits overlooked Often overlooked, says Dr. Gouveia, are the benefits of immigration. Benefits are hard to trace because children and great-grandchildren of immigrants typically are not counted as immigrants. But when those are taken into account, the costs of immigration usually are temporary, typically concentrated in the first decade of the first generation.

The benefits, though — especially when second- and third-generation population growth are taken into consideration — can last for more than 100 years.

While first-generation immigrants — those born outside the United States — tend to be less educated and struggle economically, their children and grandchildren tend to be strong contributors to society in both economics and politics. Immigrants take low-skill positions only until they have a grasp of how a society works and what they need to move upward. Their children grow up here, educate here, and eventually become the doctors, lawyers, executives and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Gouveia’s third insight is that Americans are having fewer but more educated children, and migration is a way to sustain our country’s much-needed population growth. With a robust immigration culture, the United States is avoiding a plague many other developed nations face right now — declining populations. Elsewhere, huge numbers of peoples are leaving workforces, leaving a smaller and smaller population to care for large numbers of people.

This conventionally is measured as a dependence ratio — the number of workers in the 15- to 64-year-old age group that must cover the dependent population of young and retired people. In Japan, where there is little to no immigration, the ratio is down to 1.8 working/dependent this year, with a projected ratio of one worker per dependent after 2050. If this were to happen in the U.S., the consequences for taxes, transfers and incentives would be enormous.

we need to attract the right people for the right reasons. We should remove some of the legal speed bumps to make immigration easier. We should help immigrants find housing, join churches and other social organizations, and to gain education.

Dr. Gouveia encourages Nebraska to provide its Hispanic workforce with more resources and support so that they can become more educated and productive quicker. To our credit, the data indicates that our immigrant, Hispanic workforce is a bonus to our state and not a drag on our economy.

Let’s not waste our demographic bonus for Nebraska, let’s protect and grow it.

Tracking the changing employment and education trends among Nebraska Hispanics. For graphs by race, see An Analytical Look at Nebraska's Workforce at http://bit.ly/cws-analytics.

JOBS Officials & Managers

Craft Workers Technicians Sales Workers Office & Clerical Workers Operatives Service Workers Laborers 0K

EDUCATION

The good news is that Nebraska is well ahead of other states. We currently have the highest work-force participation of any state. But more is needed.

If we want successful immigration that quickly incorporates into our society,

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Attainment Distribution

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Attainment Trends

Doctoral Degree Professional Degree Masters Bachelors Assoc. Degree (Occ.) Assoc. Degree (Acad.)

Some College High School Grad 0K

CORRELATION

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between job type and obtaining at least a Bachelor’s Degree

Officials & Managers Professionals Craft Workers Technicians Sales Workers Office & Clerical Workers

Education more related

Nebraska should spend as much effort to recruit technology and professional talent as it does laborers, craft workers and technicians. Wellexecuted immigration is the only sustainable way to increase Nebraska’s human capital, while embracing many American’s desire to have fewer and more educated children.

Trends

Professionals

Immigration is America’s greatest weapon to keeping the dependency ratio at a sustainable point.

This is not to say we should open our doors to everyone. If Nebraska only recruits low-skilled, low-paying immigrants, it will have a population that lacks the skill or income to incorporate immediately, which is important. Lengthy incorporation times have a negative drag on economies. But that can be reduced by improving education prior to immigration or shortly thereafter.

Distribution

Education less related

We often think of Hispanics as immigrants that come to Nebraska to take our jobs, but we forget that all of us have immigrant roots. These are just the next wave of people merging into our society.

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CLASS JOHN B. MORSE (MS) retired from teaching and coaching in 2008. During his 50-year career he taught social studies and human relations at Omaha Benson High and Omaha Technical High Schools, UNO and Metropolitan Community College.

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NOTES

CLASS NOTES

ALBERT HODAPP

(MA) presented a paper in September 2013 titled “Media and Nature” at a Kentucky Association of Psychology conference in Louisville, Ky.

JAMES URNESS (BGS) lives

in Spanaway, Wash., and retired from the Air Force the same year that he attended the New York graduated from UNO. He spent 19 premiere of “Anchorman 2” years working as a software engineer and met the movie’s cast. As for Boeing and recently published a reported in USA Today, the Daily Mail book, “25 Brave Men.” It’s a nonfiction and elsewhere, account of a 1880s arctic expedition.

Will Ferrell has GEORGE B. said he based his MEEGAN (BGS) retired Ron Burgundy from the U.S. Marines in character on Crim, 1978 after 23 years of a longtime Detroit service. He was twice a distinguished broadcaster. That Kiwanis Club president and he was came after Ferrell watched a inducted into the Arizona Veterans documentary on Jessica Savitch, one of Hall of Fame in 2011. In his free time, the first female anchors in the nation Meegan volunteers at an elementary whom Crim worked with at KYW-TV in school in reading and math and is Philadelphia. Crim later spent nearly developing as an amateur artist.

20 years as anchor on WDIV in Detroit.

JIM ADAMS (BA) He received the UNO Alumni lives in Omaha and writes Association’s highest honor, the that he and his wife, Leigh, Citation for Alumni Achievement, in were married on New Year’s 1983. Today he delivers speeches and Eve 2011. Adams has two sons, both works with infomercials, college students. He writes: “I have documentaries, commercials and worked 39 years in television voice-overs for radio and TV. He also broadcasting. I started at KETV in has written eight books. See more at 1974 and took a job at UNO as the www.mortcrimspeaks.com assistant general manager of UNO DANNY POWERS Television in 1997. I love working (BGS) writes: “After a brief with students and greatly enjoy career on the felony trial campus life.” staff of the Douglas County, BOBBYE HITZFELD (BS) lives Nebraska, Public Defenders Office, a in Texas and recently retired from few years in private practice and 22 American Airlines and has earned her years at the Division of Behavioral Health, Nebraska Department of Health MBA in international management from the University of Dallas. and Human Services, I have retired. I currently live in Lincoln but plan to move back to Omaha in the spring.”

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MORT CRIM (BS)

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Send your classnotes to www.unoalumni.org/classnotes.

Or, post your note on the UNO Alumni Association Facebook site: www.facebook.com/UNOAlumni

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PENNY PARKER

(MS) was awarded the Ak-Sar-Ben Court of Honor Award for her work as executive director of Completely Kids for 22 years.

Completely Kids is an organization serving more than 2,000 inner city children through out-of-school programs in low-income schools, homeless shelters and at their headquarters in Omaha. Parker completed a capital campaign to purchase and renovate their building and led the construction of an outdoor nature explore classroom. Parker also serves on the UNO Alumni Association Board of Directors.

MIKE BURRIS (BGS) remembers his time at UNO fondly. He writes: “My freshman year, in 1965, includes much about my Psychology 101 class. The class, on closed circuit TV, would start with the theme song ‘The In Crowd’ by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. The professor would start with a joke. Through a cartoon caption, the lab rodent would say: ‘I have this lab assistant trained perfectly— every time I press the lever— he gives me a piece of cheese.’

Thanks for everything!”

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MARK J. MANHART

(BS) lives in Omaha and teaches dentists calcium therapy in Paris, London, Barbados and the United States. mm@calciumtherapy.com

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VICTORIA L. HUTCHISON HOSKOVEC (BS) was

named vice president of institutional technology at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha. She previously worked as executive director of technology for Millard Public Schools and prior to that served as the development manager for MPS Educational Service Unit #3.

JON RICKERS (MS) lives in Wills Point, Texas, and has been promoted to global vice president of human resources at EnPro Industries for the Technetics Group. In his new position he will be a strategic thought partner to senior management and have responsibility for human resources for 14 locations in North America, Europe and Asia. Jon and his family will relocate to France in 2014 as part of this global assignment. Jon received his BS in psychology from Texas Christian University (TCU), his MS in industrial-organizational psychology from the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO), and his executive MBA from Southern Methodist University (SMU).

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jdrickers@yahoo.com

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JENNIFER COLWELL (BS) became

legal administrator of McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp in Omaha. She is pursuing her EMBA through UNO with an anticipated graduation date of December 2014. jennlc@mac.com

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CLASS NOTES

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JEFFERY OEHLER

(BS) retired from active duty in the U.S. Air Force in 2011 after 25 years of service. He now is a financial advisor with First Command Financial Services in Torrance, Calif. jeffoehler@gmail.com

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ERIK DIAZ

(BA) was hired California Lutheran University in October as assistant professor of theatre arts.

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LINNEA DAVIDSON

(EMBA) lives in Omaha and in February 2013 joined StrategicHealthSolutions (Strategic) as vice-president of human resources. Strategic is an Omaha-based federal contractor that provides health care solutions to the federal and state governments. Inc. Magazine cited it in September 2013 as one of the fastest growing private companies in America. l.davidson@strategichs.com

PETE PIRSCH (MBA) lives in Omaha and recently announced his candidacy for the elected position of Nebraska state auditor. Pirsch, a two-term state senator and attorney, has held several leadership positions in the state legislature.

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papirsch@yahoo.com

MICHELLE GAUCHAT (MA) lives in Omaha and received the Women in Leadership Future Leader Award from Consulting Magazine. Michelle was one of 12 women across the consulting profession recognized at the annual gala dinner in New York City in November 2013. Her story is highlighted in the December 2013 issue of the magazine. mgauchat@deloitte.com

DEREK FEY (BA) lives in Omaha and is a graduate student in the geography department at UNO. Fey won the Omaha Marathon last September.

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Criss Library to debut 1955 Tangerine Bowl film synced with newfound audio broadcast UNO’s Criss library has rediscovered the audio broadcast of the 1955 Tangerine Bowl, won by the University of Omaha 7-6 over Eastern Kentucky. The library will synchronize the audiotape with existing film of the game and debut it at a special event in April.

The library is inviting anyone associated with the team — players, coaches, band members, students, fans, etc.

— to attend the event.

Those interested in attending should contact Beau Malnack at Criss Library, UNO, 6001 Dodge St., Omaha NE 68186.

Malnack also can be called at 402-554-2916 or emailed at bmalnack@unomaha.edu

SHOW YOUR “MONUMENTAL” SUPPORT FOR UNO For years, UNO students have dreamed of having a mascot statue as a rallying point on campus.

In its 100th year, the Alumni Association is making that dream a reality. The association is giving students and campus the “Maverick Monument” which will be “unleashed” in the fall of 2014.

Leave your legacy on the Maverick Monument. You can have your name inscribed on the new monument with a gift to the Alumni Association (see details at our website). Show your “monumental” support as part of UNO’s worldwide alumni network – make your gift today! unoalumni.org/mavmonument

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CLASS NOTES CATHLYN TARYN PANYAPINITNUGOON,

FUTURE ALUMS

Since 1991, the UNO Alumni Association has given more than 2,000 free shirts and bibs to the children and grandchildren of UNO graduates!

Get YOUR child a shirt today! Submit a birth announcement within 1 year of birth by completing the form at www. unoalumni.org/futurealums. Or, send by mail — include baby’s name, date of birth, parents’ or grandparents’ names and graduation year(s). Mail to UNO Magazine Future Alums, 6705 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68182.

daughter of May Lang and Boonyot Panyapinitnugoon (’04) of Omaha.

BECKSLY JO GAPINSKI, daughter of Kelly (Campbell, ’09) and Neal (’09) Gapinski of Omaha and granddaughter of Kim Campbell (’84) of Omaha.

SANTINO JAMES ALIANO, son of Joe and Erin

JANE ELIZABETH PETERSEN, daughter of Tara

(Richardson, ’00; ’02) Aliano of Papillion, Neb.

(Novotney, ’08) and Brandon (’09) Petersen of Omaha.

KYLER LOUIS BRANDON, son of Lisa and

RONALD “REX” EDWARD HINELINE III,

Mike (’02) Brandon of Bellevue, Neb., and grandson of Herman Weber (’71) of Nebraska City, Neb.

son of Ashley (King, ’06; ’10) and Ronnie (’07) Hineline of Omaha.

ALANA MAE CHAMBERS, daughter of Jamal and Naomi (Henderson, ’07) Chambers of Omaha.

SIENNA MAY ERDEI, daughter of Daniel and Melissa (Vlach, ’04) Erdei of Omaha and granddaughter of William Vlach (’75) of Omaha.

JASE LUTHER STUTTLE, son of Jeff and

FIONA IRENE BRENNAN, daughter of Wendy (Troff, ’02) and Kevin (’01) Brennan of Omaha.

LINCOLN DAVID DLOUHY, son of Lori and Dallas (’02) Dlouhy of San Antonio, Texas

ALEXANDER LOGAN STEFFEN, son of Josh and Shelly (Kind, ’03) Steffen of Centennial, Colo.

CHARLES DEAN FITCH, grandson of Joyce (Lusienski, ’71) Fitch of Omaha.

Jessica (Knoke, ’05) Stuttle of Blair, Neb.

TUCKER JAMES FREEMAN, son of Michael

WESTON ISAAC CADY and LANDON JAMES CADY, sons of Bruce and Tracy

and Kelly (Salvatori, ’96) Freeman of Papillion, Neb.

(Friesen, ’07, ’09) Cady of Omaha.

IN MEMORIAM A listing of alumni whose deaths the UNO Alumni Association has received notice of through Dec. 11, 2013.

Years indicate graduation from UNO. 1944

1948 1949

1951 1954

1956

1957 1958 1959 1960 1962

1964 1965

Richard T. Burress Harold E. Hamilton Martha J. Dus Daniel D. Koukol Daniel J. Krupski Robert J. Horak Stuart R. Rochman Maynard Tatelman Larry E. Johnson William A. Engelhardt Charles E. Honke Mary Little Claassen Peter J. Vaughn Blanche D. Clary Richard G. Paulson Mary E. Reed Jerry T. Kendall Robert E. Ogden Richard A. Bowen Cosmo M. Barone Robert C. Conway Russell G. Mills

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1970 1971 1972 1973

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Raymond L. Kervahn Michael R. Mathis Ronald H. Stave Antonio T. Criscuolo Russell E. Scholtec Robert L. Teal Thomas M. Conlon Louis J. Dean Joseph Guido Donald Q. Paulsel Janet M. Huizenga Raymond E. Ramsey Oscar Herren Marnie H. Miller Alfred F. Placek Roger E. Coenen Cathy J. Hollins-Schubert Rolland L. Fenster Philip A. Cerra Phyllis M. Japp

1977 William J. Herzberg

John C. Waterman 1983 Kevin Ryan 1984 Wendell Kronberg 1986 Rosemary Walters E. Scott Carroll 1987

Stephen W. Olmstead 1989 Eugene Lake

Patricia A. McClellan

Kayla Quist 1992 Maureen Hrouda Eric W. Musgjerd 1994 1996 Sabrina M. Schooler 1999

Neal James White 2012 Patrick Roth Faculty & Staff Dr. Otto Bauer Wanda Ewing Dr. Orville Menard

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WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING SINCE GRADUATING FROM UNO? Send updates to us with Name, Class Year, Degree, Phone, Address and Email.

Send to: UNO Magazine Class Notes, 6705 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68182-0010.

Fax to 402-554-3787 or submit online at www.unoalumni.org/classnote.

N OPO E E H T T C PUBLI

Get down to business at the

Thompson Center Meetings Receptions Business socials Holiday parties Fundraisers Retreats Workshops Conferences Seminars Training Retirement Parties Press conferences

Visit, click or call!

We offer everything to make your corporate or business event a success!

• Midtown location

• Extensive A/V selection

• Versatile room spaces

• Exceptional catering

• Affordable rates

• Private outdoor patio

• Professional staff

• Free, available parking

Thompson Center at UNO | 6705 Dodge St. 402-554-3368 | www.thethompsoncenter.org

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SIGHTS & SOUNDS

SIGHTS & SOUNDS A look at happenings on and off campus

Pitch Perfect UNO’s Al Caniglia Field got a new look — and a new purpose — with the installation of a soccer-specific turf.

The grass-like field features a lower grain that allows the ball to move faster and an infill of ground coconut husks and cork to keep the on-field temperature lower. The UNO men’s soccer team christened the field Oct. 26 with a game against Oral Roberts. The field will be home for the UNO men’s and women’s soccer teams and is expected to attract much area use.

All Balled Up Maverick Productions, UNO’s official student programming board, hosted Human Hamster Ball Races in the Pep Bowl in September. The event pitted students in races against each other while running inside giant inflatable balls.

WOWT featured the event in a newscast.

Homecoming Hoedown UNO Homecoming 2013 on Nov. 8 featured a “Wild, Wild West” theme that included a free concert in Aksarben Village’s Stinson Park by country artist Aaron Watson and the Bryant Carter Band. Durango got into the act, too, helping whip up a good time, which included a petting “zoo” in the Pep Bowl. Sean Robinson (Pi Kappa Alpha), a UNO Alumni Scholar, was crowned homecoming king.

Homecoming queen was Kelsie Pettit (Alpha Xi Delta).

You’re So Vane The cupola atop Arts & Sciences Hall was restored last fall with repairs, new paint and re-installation of the original weather vane that had fallen off a few years ago. The vane, first installed in 1937, is an exact copy of the one that tops Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

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Propping up the Pantry UNO Housing in November won the Community Service Program award from the Midwest Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls. The award was given for its “Reverse Trick-or-Treat” program that brought 3,600 non-perishable items and more than $200 to the Maverick Food Pantry. UNO created the pantry in August. Housed in the Milo Bail Student Center, it’s open to enrolled UNO students, faculty and staff. It provides packages containing approximately two days’ worth of non-perishable food items. Packages can be requested online. Pictured is student Jordan Koch, Allison Woolcott, Maverick Village Hall Director, and Bill Pickett, Senior Director, Student Involvement.

Service and Smiles UNO in October hosted its annual “Three Days of Service” during the university fall break. Students, faculty and staff participated in various service projects, including renovating low-income housing and neighborhood cleanup.

Far From Home President James B. Milliken & Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman hosted an international student reception at UNO in November.

Pictures by Jeff Beieremann, University Relations

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FOR FUN

FOR FUN Visual — Puzzle 161

Test your brainpower with these puzzles created by UNO graduate Terry Stickels (’76). An author, speaker and puzzle maker, Stickels’ FRAME GAMES is published by USA Weekend magazine and in 600 newspapers. For more information on Stickels, or to order any of his books, visit www.terrystickels.com

Here’s a new twist on our scrambled word puzzle. Below are two 9-letter words (one an anagram of the other). What are the two words?

Logic

A group of 100 football players suffered the following injuries while playing: 70 ballplayers injured their arm, 75 injured their leg, 85 injured their hand, and 80 injured their shoulder. What is the minimum number of ballplayers who must have suffered all 4 injuries?

Mathematics

How many days are in 5,000,000 seconds?

Language Six of the seven words below share a common characteristic that the seventh word doesn’t. Which word is the odd one out and why?

Present

Stream

Psychology

LANGUAGE: Present is the odd one out. All the others have at least one silent letter.

Mould

Half

VISUAL: Catalogue, coagulate

Ensign

Knives

MATHEMATICS: There are 57.87 days in 5,000,000 seconds.

LOGIC: 10 ballplayers suffered all 4 injuries. Count the number of ballplayers in each group who did not suffer an injury. Respectively, those numbers are 30, 25, 15, and 20 for a total of 90. Simply subtract this number from 100 and you get 10.

ANSWERS

Puzzles taken from “The Big Brain Puzzle Book,” created by Terry Stickels for the Alzheimer’s Association

Half a

Billion Dollars Back to Nebraska

including

$231,714,469 for

Scholarships and Educational Funding

nelottery.com Must be 19. Please play responsibly. Problem Gambling Help Line: 800-522-4700.

online.nebraska.edu/alumni Choose from 100+ online degrees, certificates and endorsements.

UNO Programs Include: • Education • Criminal Justice • Gerontology • Information Technology • Political Science • And More

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NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #301 OMAHA, NE

26 Team Colors

UNO Magazine is the flagship publication of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is published three times a year. It is mailed to all UNO graduates and to community leaders in and out of Nebraska. Please share your copy with anyone who might benefit from the work of our great university.

Marlin Briscoe broke pro football ’s color barriers Now he ’s breaking into Hollywood with his life story

38 A Look at Genocide 44 Eye of the Beholder The dark side of humanity

A look at race, ethnicity and ideas of beauty