Nebraska Quarterly Fall 2022

One year ago university student-athletes were given the approval to market themselves and benefit financially from their own name, image and likeness — something the NCAA had previously prohibited.

Navigating this new territory is quite complicated. So the colleges stepped in to guide and educate our players at

Q U A R T E R LY

inside: FASHION PASSION Campus dress codes evolve over the decades. page 42 LOVE STORY She walked by the bagel shop, then he couldn’t get her off his mind. page 64

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FALL

Contents 2022

There’s value in vintage — the walk down memory lane, the “cool factor” and sometimes the need for an update. The mystery photo on the right is a great example. Who are these college students from the mid-1960s? We don’t know.

So, along with UNL Libraries, we are hoping you will don your detective cap and help us fill in the missing information. This will be a new standing element in future magazines as we aim to assist the library researchers. Send educated guesses to kwilder@huskeralum.org. Speaking of libraries, the cupola on Love Library is in the process of being restored. It’s been two decades since it’s been given some, ahem, love. P20 Your Cornhusker Marching Band introduced a five-foot-tall drum in 1932 and it, too, has undergone a facelift and is back on display. P10

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Social Hour

Fashion Passion

Finally a Graduate

Alumni of color will be feted during homecoming festivities this fall when they return to campus to share their experiences.

Campus clothing trends certainly change over the decades. Once upon a time women couldn’t wear pants. Now almost anything goes.

Carol (Dahl Leacox) Livingston studied at UNL in the 1950s, and finally collected her hard-earned diploma this year.

unl archives & special collections

4 Contributors 8 Community 10 Campus News 25 Voices 49 Bulletin 62 Obituaries 64 Love Story

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MYSTERY

PHOTO DO YOU KNOW THESE STUDENTS? Jazz session circa 1965 University Libraries Archives & Special Collections has stacks of photos that could be enhanced with more information about who, what, when, where or why the photograph was taken. We’re hoping you — ­ our valued alumni — will help us play detective. Do you recognize any of these college students from 1965 or this location? If so, help us fill in the details of this mystery photograph. We’ll publish our findings in the winter edition of Nebraska Quarterly.

LET US KNOW Email all educated guesses or concrete identifications to kwilder@huskeralum.org.

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NEBRASKA

CONTRIBUTORS

QUARTERLY

FALL 2022 VOLUME 118 NO. 3

TONY MOTON

Tony Moton (’98) is a screenwriter and an assistant professor of sports media at Wartburg College in Iowa. He earned his second master’s degree, in screenwriting, from UCLA in 2003. He previously worked as a columnist at the Omaha World-Herald and also was an award-winning sportswriter and investigative reporter in Las Vegas and Kansas City.

Shelley Moses Zaborowski, ’96, ’00 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Kirstin Swanson Wilder, ’89 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SENIOR DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS

Quentin Lueninghoener, ’06 Ben VanKat, ’06 MAGAZINE DESIGN HANSCOM PARK STUDIO

TROY FEDDERSON

Troy Fedderson (’95) is the university’s senior director of strategic communications and editor of Nebraska Today.

A South Dakota native, he journeyed to Nebraska for Cornhusker football and stayed to hang out at Morrill Hall, raise a family with a beautiful Holbrook girl and work in newsrooms from Alliance to Wahoo. You’ll most likely find him on campus, cruising local bike trails or on the hunt for Star Wars toys.

CHAUN BALLARD

Chaun Ballard is a doctoral student of poetry, an affiliate editor for Alaska Quarterly Review, an assistant poetry editor for Terrain.org, and a graduate of the MFA Program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. His chapbook, Flight, was the winner of the 2018 Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. He is the recipient of the UNL English Department Susan AtefatPeckham fellowship and the Alaska Literary Award.

Rafa Alvarez COVER ILLUSTRATION

NEBRASKA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION STAFF Kim Brownell

Tyler Kruger

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

DIRECTOR OF VENUES

Hilary Winter Butler, ’11, ’18

Heather Rempe, ’03

SENIOR DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

Conrad Casillas DIRECTOR OF VENUES

Katie Nieland (’08, ’20) is an artist living in Lincoln. She worked as a writer and designer for daily newspapers in Chicago before returning to Nebraska where she is the associate director at the Center for Great Plains Studies at the university. She is also a freelance designer and illustrator. You can find her art on Instagram @KatieNielandArt.

Megan Copsey, ’20 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, VENUES AND EVENTS

Tia Dixon VENUES AND EVENTS COORDINATOR

SENIOR DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT & SENIOR DIVERSITY OFFICER

Bailee Gunnerson, ’22 ASSOCIATE DESIGN DIRECTOR, MULTIMEDIA

Nathan Hé, ’18 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

Wendy Kempcke Nebraska Quarterly is published quarterly by the Nebraska Alumni Association, the known office of publication is 1520 R St., Lincoln NE 68508-1651. Alumni association dues are $65 annually. Requests for permission to reprint materials and reader comments are welcome.

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SE ND MAI L T O:

Nebraska Quarterly Wick Alumni Center / 1520 R Street Lincoln, NE 68508-1651 Phone: 402-472-2841 Toll-free: 888-353-1874 E-mail: nebmag@huskeralum.org Website: huskeralum.org Views expressed in Nebraska Quarterly do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Nebraska Alumni Association. The alumni association

does not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, veteran’s status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.

EDITORIAL QUERIES:

Kirstin Wilder (kwilder@huskeralum.org)

Kaitlyn Ryan, ’22 VENUES AND EVENTS COORDINATOR

Viann Schroeder ALUMNI CAMPUS TOURS

Jeff Sheldon, ’04, ’07 ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MARKETING AND BUSINESS RELATIONS

Nicole Josephson Sweigard ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI RELATIONS

OFFICE COORDINATOR

Cheyenne Townsley, ’19

Maria Manning Muhlbach, ’09

ALUMNI RELATIONS AND PROGRAM COORDINATOR

DIRECTOR, ALUMNI OUTREACH

Sharon Walling Hanna Hoffman Peterson, ’16

DIRECTOR OF DESIGN

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

Andy Washburn, ’00, ’07

ADVERTISING QUERIES:

Jeff Sheldon (jsheldon@huskeralum.org)

Ethan Rowley, ’03, ’13 DIRECTOR, MEMBERSHIP

Jordan Gonzales ’17

KATIE NIELAND

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

Denise Jackson CUSTODIAN

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF OF STAFF

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YOUR MEMBERSHIP CAN LAST A LIFETIME.

YOUR LEGACY CAN LAST MANY MORE.

“I just hope that students can look back when they’re older and say, ‘I’ve lived the dream. I had the opportunity.

I made it work. And I had some very important support along the way.’”

-Bruce Mackey

Nebraska Alumni Association lifetime member Bruce Mackey has established four funds to help first-generation students from low-income families and other students who face barriers to a college education. By including the University of Nebraska Foundation in his estate plans, Mackey has ensured that these funds will assist students for generations to come. To learn more about Mackey’s gift, go to nufoundation.org/mackey.

Don’t miss the opportunity to leave your legacy, too.

Visit giftplanning.nufoundation.org/personal-estate-planning-kit to download your free estate planning kit or contact a member of the University of Nebraska Foundation’s gift planning team at gift.planning@nufoundation.org or 800-432-3216 to ensure your goals for a legacy gift are met.

JAMMING WITH DR. CHATTERS

Q:

What is the Red Carpet

Experience?

Two-time alumnus Lawrence Chatters has been DJing since 2001 under the name DJ-XL. “When I place my hands on my DJ equipment, I become one with the board, orchestrating every aspect of the performance.

I am a mixer when it comes to my DJ style, which means that I blend tracks together as I perform.

You might hear me mix Fishin’ in the Dark with Teach Me How to Dougie. Two totally different songs by two groups who never intended their music to blend, but it does beautifully,” he says.

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Trev Alberts, and he shared the idea with some generous donors who decided to purchase all the remaining tickets. The Red Carpet Experience was born.

Last year thousands of children and their families had their first Husker experience due to the generosity of other Husker fans.

We even were able to expand the program to five other sports, including men’s and women’s

basketball, softball, baseball and volleyball. The smiles and laughs were priceless. I saw myself in those children and I am sure now that you thought of your first Husker memories, you would too. Go Big Red! — D r. L a w r e n c e C h a t t e r s , (’04, ’18) EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

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A: Do you remember your first Husker football game? I hope that question brought back some beautiful memories. I can distinctly remember mine. It was Sept. 16, 1995, and the game was an absolute blowout against Arizona State 77- 28. I was a sophomore in high school at Bellevue West and as a special privilege of Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, I earned the opportunity to attend a game free of charge and work as a server in the West Stadium Club.

The “free” part was important because my family of five could never afford to attend a game.

I will never forget stepping out into the crowd. The “sea of red” was amazing and as we made our way into the stadium, I felt like I was a part of something much bigger than myself. Back then, I had heard of the legend of Husker football, and the only people I knew who attended games had connections and money.

So, when I became an executive in the Athletic Department in August of 2021 with the season opener around the corner and a couple of thousand tickets left to move to preserve the sellout streak, I thought of my 14-year-old self and so many other children across our state.

What if the people who love Husker football could share that experience with other children and their families by purchasing tickets for them? I mentioned the idea to my boss

ADV E RT I S E M E N T

NEBRASKA Authors

FBI Case Files: Michigan – Tales of a G-Man

By Greg Stejskal (’72, ’74)

During Greg Stejskal’s 30+ year career in the FBI, he was involved in many unique and high-profile cases including Jimmy Hoffa, the Unabomber, Okla. City bombing, Mafia, murders, and kidnappings.

In his book Stejskal tells the fascinating stories engendered by those and other investigations.

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Featured books by Nebraska alumni, faculty and staff Law for Fitness Managers and Exercise Professionals

Reflections From an Aging Book Lover

By Donald E. Pont (’66, ’70)

JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek (’74, ’81, ’95), Barbara Zabawa and Paul Fenaroli

Why do some books stay with you for a lifetime? What’s our place in the universe? What does it mean to age with grace? Like his ancestor pictured on the cover, the author is an aging book lover. In this collection of diverse essays, he’s searching for the answers to these and other questions in his favorite places—books.

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This new, comprehensive textbook is the “go-to” resource for fitness managers and exercise professionals.

Written for a “lay” audience, it is designed to help fitness managers and exercise professionals comply with the law, enhance fitness safety, and advance the exercise profession.

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The Fun Master

By Jeff Seitzer (’81, ‘84)

An academic struggling to cope with his own neurological problems, Jeff Seitzer could hardly take care of himself, let alone a child with special needs, when his son, Ethan, was born — but Ethan chose him anyway, and Jeff, to his great surprise, rose to the challenge.

Available at Amazon

ADVERTISE

your book in our next edition of Nebraska Quarterly

The Psychology of Recruiting

By Stephen J. Brennan, PhD (’73, ’78, ’86, ’01)

In the only book ever written on the topic, Dr. Brennan utilizes his background in sport psychology and college basketball coaching to explain how elite student-athletes think and how psychology plays a pivotal role in how college coaches should approach the recruiting process. www.thebestcollegerecruiter.com

CONTACT e:p: jsheldon@huskeralum.org 402-472-8918

COMMUNITY

Child’s Play

Future Husker University More than 150 alumni and their young charges gathered on campus in July for the fifth annual Future Husker University. The two-day event, which included an optional overnight stay at a residence hall (complete with bowling on East Campus), featured adults and students attending classes in various colleges. Three generations of the Dinslage family attended. Above right, Matthew Dinslage (’02) assisted his daughter Monica who says she’d like to go into nursing someday. Above left, LeRoy Dinslage (’72) partnered up with his grandson Matthew Jr. to figure out how to create a prosthetic leg for a teddy bear.

Find Archie!

Morrill Hall’s Archie is hiding somewhere in the magazine, like only a 20,000-year-old mammoth can. Find him, email us with his location at alumni@huskeralum.org and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a Husker prize. Congratulations to Kristen Hansen (’81) who found Archie near the fishing lure on page 18 of the summer magazine. In college Hansen was involved with The Daily Nebraskan, dance marathon and was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority. Hansen currently works for DePaul University in community and government relations.

NOW

Go Big Grad

International Reception International students, their families, friends and members of university leadership gathered in May to mark the graduation of these students from around the world in a reception co-hosted by Global Nebraska and the Nebraska Alumni Association. Amr Sobeh, right, who is from Egypt, earned his bachelor of science in biochemistry. His friend Vishakha Jayasekera, a current Ph.D. student from Sri Lanka, joined him. Guests toasted the achievements of these students and encouraged them to stay connected to their university as they return to their home countries and embark on their careers. Students thanked advisers, mentors and friends for helping them navigate higher education at Nebraska. Fifty-eight countries were represented.

Reunited

THEN

Physical Education Trailblazers The Women’s Physical Education class of 1972 reunited in May for a 50th class reunion. Their weekend was filled with campus tours, a banquet at the Wick Alumni Center and reminiscing about their time as female students entering a world of sports and physical education before Title IX existed. The tight-knit group could be heard repeating that “the class of ’72 is turning 72.” The group toured the new Carolyn Pope Edwards building, which is replacing the class’s beloved Mabel Lee Hall, and set to open in this fall.

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N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

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15 18 20 23 DEVOUR

GO BABY

LOVE IT

GAME ON

Stay at the Scarlet Hotel on campus.

Engineers craft kid mobiles for youth.

Library cupola gets a facelift.

Video game teaches prairie protections.

FALL

FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS

Drumroll, Please BIG BERTHA RESTORED TO ITS GLORY DAYS

T Members of the Cornhusker Marching Band walk with the five-foot-tall drum down R Street during the 2021 homecoming parade.

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he drumbeats of campus life are just a little bigger these days at Dear Old Nebraska U. Through a collaboration between the Nebraska Alumni Association and Cornhusker Marching Band, the university’s five-foot-tall bass drum (known colloquially as a “Big Bertha” drum) has been refurbished and returned to service on campus.

“The drum was well-used through the years and, while it still looked great, it had fallen into a state of disrepair,” said Andy Washburn, associate executive director of operations for the alumni association. “Over the years, it had become a part of the alumni center’s collection. When plans for the university’s 150th celebration came together, we decided it was the perfect time to repair the drum and return it to campus in all its glory.”

Used primarily as a decorative piece in parades and at campus events, the instrument has a rich 89-year history that includes the “World’s Biggest Drum” of Purdue University and a disappearing act in 1941. “It all started in when (Chancellor) John K. Selleck went on an East Coast/Ohio Valley tour,” Washburn said. “He saw these big drums at Purdue and Northwestern and wanted one for Nebraska.”

In 1932, the drum (along with two glockenspiels and a half-dozen specialized horns) was purchased and first used during a home basketball game against Creighton University. It was used consistently at

craig chandler

BY TROY FEDDERSON (’95)

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FALL Joyce Burns was the first twirler for the Cornhusker Marching Band. She made her debut in 1961 bursting forth from a false cover of the large drum.

BIG BRAG The university has set a record in offering more than 6,800 universitywide scholarships to the 2022 graduating class from Nebraska high schools and other first-year admits.

Nearly two out of three first-year admitted resident students have been offered an academic scholarship for the current school year.

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the percussion instrument’s repair — Tony Falcone and Doug Bush, two long-time leaders with the band.

“I really had no idea where you would go to order five-foot tall drum heads,” Washburn said. He provided artwork to the company, recreating E.F. Jackson’s hand-painted design on the original drum head into a digital file. He also sought help from a welder neighbor to refurbish the cart that the drum rides in.

The project came together in late 2019 when student leaders from the band helped Washburn replace the old drum heads with the modern versions. The drum was unveiled to the public on Feb. 14, 2019, the university’s charter day.

The drum will be used for campus events and by the marching band (as needed). “It’s doesn’t have great sound, so its days as a musical instrument are behind it,” Washburn said. “But the drum makes for an outstanding centerpiece and it is a great artifact in our university’s rich history.

“As an alumnus of the band,” he said, “it was really great to help be a part of the drum’s history and protect its legacy for generations of Huskers to come.”

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university of nebraska library

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campus events through the 1941 Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl game against Stanford.

Then, the drum faded from public view. “Reports state that it was either misplaced or went into storage,” Washburn said. “It came back in an interesting fashion in 1961.”

The drum’s return marked the introduction of the university’s first baton twirler, a student named Joyce Burns. As the drum rolled across the turf of Memorial Stadium on Sept. 23, 1961, Burns burst forth from it (via a false, paper drum head) and started to perform.

Burns’ appearance marked the start of the Cornhusker Marching Band using baton twirlers in performances — a tradition that continues today (though, without them bursting from drum heads).

The drum continued to be used during games, including the start of the Memorial Stadium sellout streak on Nov. 3, 1962. It eventually was retired, became a part of the Nebraska Alumni Association’s collection and put on display for visitors to enjoy.

An alumnus of the Cornhusker Marching Band, Washburn turned to those he trusted to help guide

OVERHEARD

JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATIONS

College Kudos BEING BLACK IN LINCOLN PROJECT

“We are incredibly proud of the hard work of our students and coaches. Many of our tournaments were moved online the past two years because of the pandemic, but we were able to have both national tournaments in person.

Our students showed they were prepared and ready to compete in person.”

courtesy

EARNS KENNEDY JOURNALISM AWARD A student project that reported on the Black experience in Nebraska’s capital city took home the College Journalism Award at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Book and Journalism Awards in May. The depth-reporting project — Being Black in Lincoln — was developed by 12 students via a college course.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement in collegiate journalism that is focused on social injustices and human rights. This is the second time in five years that a depth-reporting project from the college has received a Kennedy award.

In 2017, a Husker reporting team won the College Journalism Award and the grand prize for The Wounds of Whiteclay: Nebraska’s Shameful Legacy.

The project explored the issues and impact of alcohol sales in the small community of Whiteclay. It was the first time in the event’s 49-year history that the top prize went to a college group.

Joe Starita (’78, ’95), professor emeritus of journalism, was the editor for Wounds of White Clay and for this year’s award-winning project.

Starita and then-professor Jennifer Sheppard, created Being Black in Lincoln to shed light on the reality that the Black community experiences in Nebraska’s capital city. Students applied to be in the class by submitting a 500-word essay explaining why they should be chosen. Starita and Sheppard selected 12 students to write a dozen profiles on Black residents of Lincoln.

“The bar was set pretty high on those essays,” Starita said. “They had to convince us that we should take them (into the class), and we were flabbergasted by the energy, the insight, the smarts and how clean the writing was in the essays among those we ultimately selected.”

The class launched during the spring 2021 semester, and the stories were published in the Lincoln Journal Star in summer 2021 and the fall 2021 edition of Nebraska Quarterly.

With Lincoln being predominantly white, the stu-

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— Associate Professor AARON DUNCAN (’11), director of speech and debate, on the Speech and Debate Team winning a national championship in April— the first in the team’s 151-year history.

dents knew they wanted to highlight the Black community’s experience since most Lincolnites have not experienced the isolation that can come from being a person of color.

Sheppard said the success of the project doesn’t stop at winning this award, it lies in the community’s response and greater understanding of varied experiences.

—Kaitlin Van Loon

Dominique Liu-Sang speaks in front of Lincoln’s Hall of Justice on the injustices of Black and brown people in 2020. Her story is featured in the Being Black in Lincoln series.

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FALL Architecture students frame out the foundation for Mizer Ruin being built near Ogallala.

ARCHITECTURE

Tiny House, Big Payoff STUDENTS RESEARCH NEW USES OF EASTERN REDCEDAR WITH CABIN CONSTRUCTION BIG BRAG Law Professor Ryan Sullivan received the Access to Justice Award from the Association of American Law Schools for his timely and transformative work on the Tenant Assistance Project, which has helped keep over 2,000 Nebraska families in their homes since the beginning of the pandemic.

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Griffiths aims for final completion next spring.

Once finished, the micro-dwelling residence will be used by the Cedar Point Biological Station manager. With only 200 square feet, the students had to design for space efficiency, including a tiny kitchenette, a small shower, a living space and a bedroom.

Being built as a sustainability research project, Griffiths will be collecting data for milling the project on-site as a method to reduce the embodied energy of the building materials. “I won’t know the total environmental costs of this project until it’s all said and done in 2023, but I’m very curious to see the numbers and whether this will be a viable, cost-effective building method,” said Griffiths.

Using a mobile, wood mizer won’t be the only aspect that is unique to this project. The team plans to use the Japanese technique called shou sugi ban to treat the exterior of the log construction. The method includes charring the surface of the wood using a propane wood torch, and then rubbing it with natural oil. This technique for weatherproofing wood creates a material that is resistant to rot, pests, water and fire.

—Kerry McCullough-Vondrak

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Exploring a more sustainable way to build, Associate Professor Jason Griffiths’ students are designing and constructing Mizer Ruin, a 200-squarefoot micro dwelling using eastern redcedar at the University of Nebraska’s Cedar Point Biological Station near Ogallala. For many Nebraska farmers, these trees can be a nuisance and costly to remove as they encroach on pasture and farmland. Finding creative solutions to this problem is one of the project objectives as Griffiths and his students explore the use of eastern redcedar as a construction material.

If this team can demonstrate that eastern redcedar is a cost-effective, viable building material, this could prove a more sustainable choice for construction as well as a possible solution for offsetting tree removal costs and a means for forest fire management.

Studio classes have been involved since 2018 and further developed through the 2019 and 2021 master-level, design research, design-build studio. Last fall students finalized the design, began site preparation and poured the footings. Last summer, research and independent study students milled the logs in preparation for the fall class to begin construction.

DEVOUR IN HUSKER COUNTRY

BUY

STAY

Scarlet Hotel Enjoy a night or two at the Scarlet Hotel located on Nebraska Innovation Campus. Staying true to Nebraska’s motto, each bedroom in the 154-room Marriott complex pays homage to local Nebraska towns and heroes.

Vintage Jersey Rep your alma mater with an authentic flannel from 1941. Made in NU’s classic scarlet and cream colors, this baseball jersey is an authentic reproduction of the jersey worn by the 1941-42 baseball team.

This jersey is available exclusively at ebbets.com for a whopping $235.

WATCH

Return of the Pawnees Watch the story of reconciliation and environmental justice as Nebraska writer Roger Welsch turns over his 60-acre homestead to the Pawnee Nation, land that previously belonged to the Pawnee people who were forcibly removed in 1875 by the U.S. government. Co-produced by professor of history Margaret Jacobs, Return of the Pawnees is streaming on Nebraska Public Media.

READ

courtesy, shutterstock

DONATE

Lavender Closet Donate your gently-used and worn clothing items to the campus Lavender Closet. A resource of the LGBTQA+ Center, the Lavender Closet is a free, confidential resource aiming to provide inclusive, gender-affirming and affordable clothing.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

RIDE

Electric Bicycles Feel fall’s cool breeze as you ride through the city on BikeLNK’s new electric bikes. As Lincoln’s premiere bike-share program, BikeLNK gives residents and visitors the option to explore the city on a rental bike as found at the many docking stations around the city and the campus.

Flight Risk Follow the tale of Isabel Morales, a successful Latinx sculptor living in Chicago, as she faces her past of traumatic upbringing, poverty, instability and familial violence upon her mother’s death. This is the sixth novel by Joy Castro, Nebraska’s Willa Cather Professor of English and ethnic studies.

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FALL EDUCATION AND HUMAN SCIENCES

Mental Health School psychologist Katie Bevins talks with students at Crete Middle School.

BIG BRAG Professor Valerie Jones received a Fulbright Global Scholar Award on April 1 to study the use of emergent technology in facilitating social connectedness for aging adults in the United States and Australia. She is the first professor from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications to be named a Fulbright Scholar since 1999.

HUSKER PROGRAM TRAINING MUCH-NEEDED SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS Every morning at Crete Middle School, school psychologist Katie (Pickett) Bevins (’99, ’04, ’07, ’17) walks the commons area and visits with students using the space to eat breakfast, chat with friends, or study a bit more before classes begin.

These interactions play a crucial role for Bevins in building trust and relationships with them, because like all school psychologists, she will be one of the first called on to help if a student is struggling with mental or behavioral health or facing a crisis.

“Kids are themselves at school, and I think we get a unique view of what kids are facing,” said Bevins, an alumna of the psychology program. “A lot of kids who need help end up getting it in a school setting, because they’re here, and we can provide some of those services.”

School psychologists play many roles, and their training reflects that, said Catelyn Kenney (’13, ’16), who works at Lincoln Public Schools.

“We’re often the only one in the building with expertise in managing behavior, understanding classroom climates, understanding interventions for behavior and academics,” Kenney, a school psychologist, said. “We have expertise to work with individual students, but we’re also able to take a step back and be experts in data analysis to evaluate systems and form best practices.”

Despite their importance, which was magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic, school psychologists are

in short supply. In Nebraska, and across the United States, many positions consistently go unfilled, leaving a segment of students underserved. In Nebraska, more than 47,000 children have been diagnosed with behavioral or mental health conditions, according to the 2020 Kids Count in Nebraska report, and these students often rely on support from school psychologists.

“Approximately 20% to 22% of children and adolescents have one or more mental health disorders recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.

Community providers — hospitals and clinics — are meeting the needs of only about a fourth of those, so the majority of children with mental health needs are receiving services through schools,” said Beth Doll, professor of School Psychology.

The university’s School Psychology program continually helps address these shortages for Nebraska and beyond through its practice-centered curriculum that provides three-year and six-year training programs for educational specialist and doctoral degrees, respectively. Considered one of the best training programs in the United States, Nebraska’s school psychology program is accredited by both the American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists, and typically graduates about 10 students each year.

—Deann Gayman

OVERHEARD

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craig chandler, ananda walden

— PAT TETREAULT (’89), director of the university’s LGBTQA+ Resource Center and the Women’s Center, who served as grand marshal for the second annual Star City Pride Parade in June.

“I am humbled by the support and appreciation being extended to myself and the LGBTQA+ Center for our contributions over the years. Our work has helped create meaningful change with the contributions and support of all those who helped establish the center and have supported or contributed to our mission.”

ARTS AND SCIENCES

Hands-on for a Leg Up BOOSTING THE VALUE OF A DEGREE WITH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Last year, undergraduate mathematics major Grace Farson helped U.S. Strategic Command update an online nuclear conflict wargame during her stint as an intern with the National Strategic Research Institute. She was immersed in knowledge about national security and real-world, mission-related policy and technical challenges. Farson spent hours researching, writing, and coding with six peers.

They then briefed U.S. Strategic Command leaders, including deputy commander Lt. Gen. Thomas Bussiere.

“This experience has influenced my future education and career path greatly,” Farson said. “(The Institute) has helped educate me on various national security topics and provided me with connections and experiences that have enhanced my knowledge base and led me to finding my future career path.”

These experiences — called “experiential learning” — give students a way to apply coursework to real world activities, problems and organizations and reflect upon those connections. It might be through an internship, assisting in a lab or field, volunteering, engaging in a student organization, or studying and serving outside of the United States.

Experiential learning isn’t new, but over time more emphasis has been placed on career readiness, empowering students with skills employers are seeking as they build experience before graduating and adding value to a college degree. A core tenet of the College of Arts and Sciences has been academics + experience = opportunities: gaining experience, coupled with academic success, leads to more opportunities after graduation. Dean Mark Button’s aspiration — and the college’s vision — is that every student will have at least one transformative hands-on learning experience during their time at Nebraska.

This vision has been a decade in the making, starting with the college’s Advising Center becoming the Academic and Career Advising Center, complete with career coaching and a four-year success plan.

The college’s strategic plan, launched last year and aligned with the university’s N2025 plan, incorporated experiential learning into one of six aims, specifying it will be a national leader in experiential and lifelong learning opportunities.

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The next step, born from and powered by goals from the plan, is an Experiential Learning and Career Development Center, a central hub for experiential learning, career counseling and internship placement. It will serve as a gathering place for students and the embodiment of career readiness. This can take many forms. Students in the Legal Research Lab, led by historian Katrina Jagodinsky, analyze historical and ongoing legal practices and structures, use primary source materials from digital and physical repositories, and leverage different research methods. They exercise critical thinking, analysis, and communication skills — while restructuring archival legal data, assisting in the completion of research.

In Munster, Germany, a team of students led by anthropologist William Belcher is learning forensic archaeological field techniques to excavate the remains of an MIA soldier from a World War II aircraft crash site. Their education abroad experience includes visiting historical sites and networking with officials from the Department of Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency.

When students are elected to student government or join one of more than 500 student organizations (or start a new one), they build relationships and leadership skills, which can include identifying goals, recruiting new members, managing budgets and leading meetings. They can also work on campus, becoming knowledgeable about aspects of the university’s operations, and assist the community in using services or understanding information and policy.

These are a few among many ways students are complementing their academics with experiential learning, making themselves more marketable — an early post-graduate advantage.

Alumnus Thatcher Davis (’90) and his wife Shannon see the exponential value. They have invested $1 million in the college’s strategic focus on experiential learning and career development and its impact on the future of students. Dean Button is enthusiastic to build upon the momentum their investment has made possible. “We are committed to having students become alumni who transform lives and improve our world — which we enable by letting curiosity move them to do big things,” Button said.

Grace Farson

Lt. Gen. Thomas Bussiere

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FALL

Ethan Bowles, a biological systems engineering major, makes an adjustment to the steering wheel in an electric car during the GoBabyGo! build last spring. He was among seven Huskers to assist with the project.

ENGINEERING

Go Baby Go HUSKERS PROPEL AREA YOUTH VIA HIGHER ED COLLABORATION

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Callum was one of 10 area youth who received a free customized battery-powered car last spring through Nebraska’s GoBabyGo! chapter. Established in 2016 and funded through the Munroe-Meyer Guild, the chapter is a partnership between the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Engineering, University of Nebraska at Omaha and UNMC’s College of Allied Health Professionals/physical therapy students.

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kent sievers (2)

Clinging to a ledge — and with a little support from his mom — Callum Wilkie watched through a window as other children cruised about in kid-sized battery powered cars.

The 3-year-old, who was born with congenital hip dislocation, rocked slightly with excitement as he turned to look at his mother, Erin.

“Yep, yours will be here soon,” Erin Wilkie said. “We need to be patient. Just think, you’ll be able to go to the park and drive around like all the other kids.”

Twice each year, future engineers and health professionals from the partner institutions and Creighton University join forces to customize the electric cars to meet the specific needs of children with mobility issues.

“Most of these kids haven’t moved on their own in their lives,” said Ethan Bowles, a biological systems engineering major. “It’s incredible when you think about that — mobility is so very important, but it’s something that many of us take for granted every day.”

Bowles was one of seven Huskers from the university’s Biomedical Engineering Society chapter who participated in the April GoBabyGo! event at UNMC’s Munroe-Meyer Institute. It was the third time he volunteered to assist with the project.

Teams of four, which include at least one engineer and a physical therapist, perform the modifications.

Their work is defined by the needs of each child — the physical therapist (who usually works with the child) providing oversight on the adaptations, and the engineers/technicians performing the electrical, steering and seating adjustments.

“Having the mindsets from the different schools, backgrounds and disciplines come together allows us to develop some innovative solutions,” Bowles said.

“It’s always a great collaboration. And it allows each of us to apply skills we’ve learned in the classroom on a real-world project while also developing our interpersonal skills.”

The GoBabyGo! project was founded by Cole Galloway, a physical therapist at the University of Delaware, to make mobility devices accessible, affordable and easy to use for all children. Its creation is based on research that shows independent mobility changes the way children think about space, objects and social interaction.

“My son is behind in terms of mobility because he spent the first nine months of his life in a cast from just below his ribs to his ankles,” Erin Wilkie said. “He can’t walk, but this will allow him to keep up with the other kids at daycare. He’ll be able to move along with them and it will allow him to drive around when we hang around outside at our house.

“Being able to move around freely like that is a big deal — something every kid should have.”

And seeing the kids realize the power of mobility is what keeps Huskers, Mavs and Jays coming back to assist with the GoBabyGo! builds.

“The end of the day is so satisfying, knowing you’ve used your skills to make a child’s life a little bit better,” Bowles said. “But the real payoff is seeing their faces light up when they start moving that first time. The feeling that smile gives you is like nothing else — it’s very gratifying.”

—Troy Fedderson

Four-year-old Dayana Torres enjoys the new, battery-powered car.

BIG BRAG Nebraska Engineering researchers Jinying Zhu and Fadi Alsaleem have received a three-year, $800,000 award from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a dual-sensing, health-monitoring system for a spent nuclear fuel canister.

OVERHEARD

ananda walden

“The Scarlet Hotel brings a unique opportunity for college students to have a front row seat to see how a high-end boutique hotel is run. There are more than 78 years of hospitality knowledge between the general manager, director of sales and marketing, director of food and beverage, and the executive chef. The students can gain knowledge from each senior leader with various backgrounds without having to leave Lincoln, Nebraska.”

— REBECCA ELLERS (’22) graduated in May with a degree in hospitality, restaurant and tourism management. Now she is the front desk supervisor at the 154-room Marriott Tribute Portfolio Hotel which opened this spring on Nebraska Innovation Campus.

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FALL BIG BRAG

craig chandler

Among the nearly 120 Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts undergraduate students who graduated on May 14 were the first nine emerging media arts graduates from the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts.

The Carson Center opened in the fall of 2019. Preparations for the center were launched in 2015 with a $20 million gift from the foundation of iconic talk show host Johnny Carson.

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LOVE IT Cupola gets a facelift Shining across campus and downtown Lincoln since Love Library opened, a major restoration of the exterior of the Love Library cupola is in the works to repair damage to the exterior of the cupola.

WAS THIS DONE BEFORE? Yes, in the summer of 2012.

WHO’S TAKING PHOTOS? Erin Crombach Colonna (’03), a graphic designer with University Libraries, documents signatures on the walls inside the cupola. One of the earliest marks is dated 1943 when the library opened as a temporary barracks for cadets in the Army Specialized Training Program.

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FALL BUSINESS

Great Expectations COLLEGE WILL PARTNER WITH FUTURE LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL

Standing Bear High School Principal Sue Cassata spoke during the annoucement of the new partnership with UNL saying, “through hands-on immersion experiences in early college pathways, the focus program with the College of Business will allow Standing Bear High School students to explore their passion and career opportunities.”

BIG BRAG

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Kathy Farrell

to be built, curriculum planning will take shape this next year collaboratively with Lincoln teachers and College of Business faculty.

—Sheri Irwin-Gish

OVERHEARD “Be a catalyst for meaningful social change. Our law degrees are a powerful tool that can be wielded to affect the kind of change that American society so desperately needs right now.” garrett stolz; ananda walden

Paul (’76) and Mary Ann (’77) Koehler donated a $1 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to establish a permanently endowed fund for the College of Business.

The endowment will provide annual support to the college to make enhancements at Howard L. Hawks Hall.

Lincoln P ublic Schools and the College of Business are joining forces to launch Nebraska Business at Standing Bear High School.

“We exist to create opportunity for Nebraska, and today we are boosting access to exceptional business education for Nebraskans,” said Chancellor Ronnie Green. “Partnering in this new way with our College of Business builds on a historically strong relationship and expands opportunities for students right here in Lincoln.”

Standing Bear High School students will learn about the dynamic world of business and take courses to explore and learn more about potential career opportunities in business. Students in grades 9 and 10 at Standing Bear High School will have business coursework integrated into other classes they take. Students in grades 11 and 12 may opt to take classes for college credit through the focus program and will receive reduced tuition. Non-credit experiences will be available to students free-ofcharge. The program is designed to be affordable and accessible to students and their families.

Through hands-on immersive experiences and early college pathways, the focus program will allow Standing Bear High School students to explore their passions and career opportunities in the areas of marketing, management, accounting, finance, supply chain and economics. Pathways are designed for students who wish to pursue a two- or fouryear college degree, as well as for students who plan to enter the workforce after graduating from high school. They will do so while connecting with peers, teachers and business professionals from the community.

“We all know business and entrepreneurship are critical to our state and that our state’s high school students can go on to lead successful careers in Nebraska,” said Dean Kathy Farrell. “This partnership will help Lincoln high school students explore the world of business and gain insight into their interest in leading the future of business.”

Standing Bear High School will open in the fall of 2023, and with it the new Nebraska Business focus program. As the new high school continues

— DEENA KEILANY (’22), speaking to the College of Law’s spring graduates

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AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Game On HUSKER-DEVELOPED VIDEO GAME PUTS PLAYER IN ROLE OF PRAIRIE PROTECTOR More than two years in, Jenny Keshwani (’03, ’05) has cleared countless prairie acres of the eastern redcedar tree. The invasive species, dubbed the “green glacier” for the way it has overrun native grasslands throughout much of the Great Plains, is now threatening to do the same in Nebraska. So, Keshwani has taken up the ax, chainsaw, bulldozer and, when she has enough coin, controlled burns of purging fire to obliterate the menace.

No w h i g h s c h o o l e r s a c r o s s t h e Cornhusker State are joining Keshwani in lifting a finger for the cause: eradicating swarms of pixelated evergreens from a screen via the click of a mouse.

That’s the charge presented in Prairie Protector, a computer game conceived by faculty and developed by undergrads across various colleges. The game’s simple 2D graphics and gameplay mechanics belie a grander vision: spreading the word about an invader that is endangering native plant and animal species, the livelihoods of ranchers, even the financial security of Nebraska’s public schools.

“It gives students a really tangible way to see the impact on their own environment,” said Keshwani, an associate professor of biological systems engineering and science literacy specialist with Nebraska Extension. “When we’ve talked to students after they’ve played Prairie Protector, they start noticing there is invasive redcedar all over the place. It wasn’t there a few years ago, but now it is.”

As little as a few years ago, eastern redcedar was a stranger to Keshwani, too. But her expertise in translating university research for K-12 audiences brought her to the attention of Dirac Twidwell, an associate professor of agronomy and horticulture who has spent years studying and working to slow the spread of the invasive species. Keshwani agreed to join The Prairie Project, a multi-state research, education and outreach effort aimed at mitigating threats to the grasslands of the Southern Great Plains.

While doing their homework on eastern redcedar, Keshwani and colleague Erin Ingram came across a blog post that compared its encroachment to the 1978 arcade classic Space Invaders.

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“I remember being a little kid playing Space Invaders,” said Keshwani, who was previously involved with another Husker-developed game, Agpocalypse 2050. “It resonated with me.”

Inspired, she was soon partnering with a group of five Husker students led by Conner Lunn (’19) to develop a game that instead had players fighting off a terrestrial invader.

In the course of their research, Twidwell and his colleagues had developed mathematical models of eastern redcedar’s spread that Keshwani and the students used to calibrate the pace of its propagation in the game. That research likewise led the team to implement three stages of invasion, only the latter two of which can drop seeds — making them strategic targets for players looking to stop the spread.

“Anytime we develop a game, we want to make sure it’s true to the science,” Keshwani said.

The science also helped the team decide on the type and effectiveness of treatment methods included in the game. Hand-cutting with an ax keeps young trees from growing into mature, seed-producing ones, whereas bulldozing can clear out those mature specimens or even an entire woodland. But none of those mechanical methods can delay the sprouting of new eastern redcedar. Controlled burns, meanwhile, will stymie new growth for at least a few rounds, giving players valuable time to start clearing other areas of the map.

—Scott Schrage

TRY IT To play Prairie Protector, visit prairieprotector.com.

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Sponsored Feature

Scholarships help power alums’ entrepreneurial dreams While in college, Husker alumni and brothers Matt Brugger ’19 and Joe Brugger ’19 of Albion, Nebraska, started their own company, Upstream Farms & Distillery. They credit UNL’s Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program and scholarships with helping them begin to realize their dreams. Following are excerpts from a conversation with the Bruggers. Visit nufoundation.org/naabrugger to read the entire Q&A. What opportunities most influenced your experiences while students at Nebraska?

Matt: Being a part of the Engler Program was one of the most pivotal experiences for me as a young adult. Engler challenged me to think outside of the box when it came to my education and career. The program gave me the tools and autonomy to jump outside of the classroom and learn through experience, failure and success while launching and running our farm-to-table business. Joe: I agree with Matt. Engler was one of the most influential programs. We also had the opportunity to play in the drumline for the Cornhusker Marching Band which, I have to say, was a lot of fun!

Talk about the impact of the scholarship you received.

Matt: The scholarships we received from the Engler Program and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation gave us the privilege of financial autonomy to start a business in college without the worry of student loans.

The burden of student debt can make it difficult to ideate and implement outside-of- the-box ideas. Because of these scholarships we have been able to have a positive impact in our community after college.

What sparked your interest in becoming entrepreneurs?

Joe: Growing up on a farm, we were always working as a family to bring in revenue to stay afloat. We all played a role helping with chores, washing eggs, bottle-feeding lambs and calves, whatever we could do to bring in extra income for the farm. … I think growing up in that environment naturally instilled an entrepreneurial spirit in us.

What has influenced your passion to help rural Nebraska thrive?

Matt: When we were younger, I think investing back into a community that invested so much into us was a huge motivation. Watching farms sell and rural communities shrink was hard for us to watch, and we wanted to do something to combat that. As we’ve grown up, we’ve seen rural Nebraska grow, innovate and adapt. However, there is still so much work that can be done.

What is your vision for the business and its impact on the community and state?

Joe: Right now, our goal is to take the commodities we grow as farmers and turn them into consumables. Our farm, from the outside, might look like a typical Nebraska farm. We raise corn, rye, soy and cattle. But rather than

Matt and Joe Brugger

selling these products on the commodity market, we add value by marketing the all-natural Black Angus beef we raise directly to consumers all over the country. In addition to this, we have renovated an old milk barn on our farm into a small micro distillery and started sourcing Berkshire pork and homegrown honey from others involved in the Engler Program. Our end goal with this is to create ease in the market volatility we see as producers. (Visit upstreamfarms.com to learn more about Upstream Farms & Distillery.)

What would you say to those who supported the programs that benefited you while students at Nebraska?

Matt: First and foremost, I would say thank you.

We can put as many resources into educational and professional development programs as we want, but at the end of the day, students will be able to tap into the creative and innovative parts of their hearts and minds when there isn’t a financial burden of the cost of college hanging over them. Those who support programs that support students, are directly impacting the families and communities of those students who benefit from them. This support matters and is appreciated more than you can know.

Learn more about how to support Nebraska students by visiting nufoundation.org or calling 800-432-3216.

When the Alpha Gamma Sigma house decided to rebuild, alumni stepped up to envision a new kind of fraternity house. Further afield, a group of Lincolnites spent a few weeks in Poland connecting with families who had fled their homeland of Ukraine.

SHARING THE VIEWPOINTS OF OUR ALUMNI, FACULTY AND STUDENTS

UNIDENTIFIED MAKER KALEIDOSCOPE The International Quilt Museum located on East Campus is marking its 25th year. This Kaleidoscope quilt (82 by 80 inches) is part of a current exhibit showcasing the Joanna S. Rose Red & White Collection. It was hand-pieced and appliqued between 1880 and 1920. A team from the museum traveled to Rose’s home in Long Island, N.Y., last fall to supervise the packing and shipping of the majority of the 651 red and white quilts featured in the exhibition Infinite Variety, organized by the American Folk Art Museum in 2011. Nebraska’s International Quilt Museum is honored to become the caretakers of this important group of quilts, donated in whole by Rose before her death in last November.

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Onward

Artist Kelli Zaugg puts the finishing touches on a mural inside the Alpha Gamma Sigma fraternity house in August.

If You Build It, They Will Grow ‘The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.’

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Restaurant Executive; Interfraternity President (’87)

T

he Alpha Gamma Sigma Fraternity Alumni Association, of which I am a member, was considering a remodel of the existing chapter house on East Campus. The project was being driven by the need to make improvements to the facility and fueled by our desire to keep up with the Joneses (by Joneses, I mean FarmHouse, Alpha Gamma Rho and Sigma Phi Epsilon, all of whom had recently rebuilt their houses). The task seemed simple enough: design it, raise a bunch of money, get a loan for the rest and build it.

Little did we know at the time, the challenges we would face over the next few years. First, we discovered the existing house was not a viable remodel candidate, then COVID swept across the world bringing death and destruction in its wake,

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jordan opp

—M ARCUS AURELI US, ROM AN EM PEROR A N D P H I LOS OP H E R

BY RICK GESTRING (’87)

VOICES followed by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages. It was no time to be undertaking such a project, and yet it was precisely the right time given the unique learning and leadership lessons that resulted.

Oddly enough, the obstacles we faced, challenged us to think and act differently about the project and our assumed priorities. COVID focused our attention on what matters most, it elevated our sense of urgency to respond to the emerging health needs of the young men in our fraternity whose parents had entrusted us to ensure a safe and secure place to live and thrive. It brought us closer together even as we learned to lead via Zoom calls from a distance. It helped us to bridge the generational divides and led to alumni recommitting to a brotherhood pledge made many years ago. There evolved an appreciation for the range of backgrounds and career experience of our alumni members. The life lessons derived from hard work and a “Git-R-Done” attitude fueled our belief that that we could do this.

We came to realize that in our quest to honor tradition, we had become stuck in the past. As the world was changing around us, what had not changed was our approach to the fraternity experience itself. Specifically, the array of available leadership development resources just a click away, yet not grasped by today’s fraternity leadership programs. We began to ask what students wanted in terms of their living space, academic support and leadership development. We learned that the old fraternity style living arrangement, the strict rules of new member activation, old habits of hazing, and societal pressures were impacting the way in which incoming students viewed Greek life and its relevancy in the fast-paced, social media influenced, individualistic, progressive-leaning, world they were growing up in.

With that in mind, we set out to be more adaptable to the changing needs of each generation. We sought to create a brotherhood experience for the next generation of fraternity men We quickly learned that our existing house could not be remode l e d to m e e t o u r needs. We considered the former Lambda Chi Alpha

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chapter house on City Campus but decided that even though our membership is currently 40% non-agriculture majors, the move would be a house too far from our East Campus roots. Instead, we set our sights on a multi-use apartment and retail space at 3455 Holdrege St. It provided an opportunity to create a modern living experience in step with the expectations of today’s college students.

We built a one-of-a-kind fraternity experience that incorporates modern design elements, innovative study and collaboration spaces, an artist painted mural depicting the brotherhood experience, and unique apartment-style rooms. It is a stunning building that stands proudly as a $6 million investment in the next generation of fraternity men.

The re-imagined facility became the impetus for a broader evolution of the overall fraternity experience. We began to consider how our 13 principles might represent more than just words on an activation board, but instead as leadership competencies to be used throughout life. It was an “aha moment” which led us to think differently about the leadership development we were providing and how to integrate current leadership tools that we alumni have learned in our places of business or on the farm. We sought to create a learning journey that begins as a new member and extends through college and the rest of our lives.

To that end, we established an Alpha Gamma Sigma leadership development program we dubbed “Aspire.” The program is a competency-based, experiential development experience which is web-based, app-enabled and accessed via a single sign on through LinkedIn. I have come to learn that each generation has its own unique challenges. They are most certainly different and yet in so many ways, they are the same.

The past few years have reminded us of what matters most and the important role that universities and institutions play as touchstones of our values. I am proud to be a Husker alumnus and grateful for my college experience at the University of Nebraska. Go Big Red!

Alumni rallied to build a new fraternity house for the men of Alpha Gamma Sigma.

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Supporters B Y M A N D Y H A A S E - T H O M A S ( ’ 1 0 , ’ 17) Adjunct professor and Lincoln Children’s Museum director of operations and engagement

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Child’s Play nurturing families who fled Ukraine 28

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don hutchens

Alumna spends two weeks in Poland

n my office at the Lincoln Children’s Museum, I hear my phone alert sound.

It is a notification from the Telegram app — the phone app volunteers of Operation Safe Harbor-Ukraine use to communicate with other volunteers and the program’s Ukrainian refugees.

I read, “(she) just found out her house was bombed.” My heart sinks. This type of message is not unfamiliar.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, it is estimated that over 3 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland. Of those in Warsaw, the government reports nearly 60% will stay in hope of returning to Ukraine when the war ceases.

Thanks to efforts of a community of Nebraskans, Operation Safe Harbor-Ukraine has helped to provide shelter, meals and assist with immediate medical needs for hundreds of women and children that fled their home country for safety in Warsaw.

Led by business leader and former Husker football player Steve Glenn (’79), the Operation has obtained hundreds of thousands in monetary donations and recruited volunteers to support the temporary housing effort at the Best Western-Felix in the capital city of Poland. I was one of those volunteers.

I will never forget one of my first interactions upon arriving at the hotel in late April. Fellow volunteer and executive director of the Lincoln Children’s Museum Tara Knuth and I noticed a group of kids wandering the hallway of the reserved floor of rooms. We retrieved some notebook paper and began making paper planes. The children soon joined in creating their own.

I noticed one child off to the side taking small pieces of the paper and wrapping them up like you would a gift. Using Google Translate on my phone, I asked the 8-year-old what he was making. He replied, “wrapping supplies for the war.”

We soon learned that this child and his mother were from Mariupol where, during a two-month period, they had slept in the hallway of their apartment building during bombings; sheltered with relatives where a nearby explosion eventually caved in the dwelling’s roof; and spent nights in a crammed school sleeping on a cardboard box. They finally boarded a minibus that was stopped 40 times for checkpoints before making it out of Ukraine.

Their story is like many others. We met another mother who was a hairdresser in Ukraine. After

VOICES

realizing it would take days to leave the country in a vehicle due to miles of traffic also trying to exit, she decided to venture on foot with her young child. That child soon took on the role of caregiver telling his mother to give him the backpack to carry and the suitcase to roll as they walked 18 miles to get to the border checkpoint.

For myself and Knuth, we volunteered because we felt compelled to support these fellow mothers and their children. Every day at the Lincoln Children’s Museum we offer an environment that allows kids to be kids and for caregivers to have both respite as well as make happy memories with their children no matter their personal situations. This is exactly what we wanted to do for the Ukrainian families.

Play is a child’s language; it’s how they interpret the world around them. The children we encoun-

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tered have an acute sense of the war and what was happening around their homes and to their families and friends.

We brought two suitcases of toys, art supplies and games for the children. Using the hotel conference room, we set-up a kids club of sorts with our supplies where children could come and be who they are — just kids — amidst their current situation.

If you have cared for children in the past, imagine being cooped up in a hotel with them for two to three weeks at a time. Add to that the uncertainty of what is to come while you acclimate to your new surroundings and navigate resources with a language barrier all while your homeland and everything you left behind is being destroyed. Our time in Poland wasn’t only for the children, it was for their caregivers too.

Opening the doors to the conference room for our first play time, we were unsure how many of the 60 children to expect. A few wandered in and cautiously sat down at a table with craft supplies. I had set up bowls of plastic beads with pipe cleaners to make simple bracelets and necklaces. The children were soon sporting five and six each and some gifting them to their new hotel friends and other volunteers.

Over the days of our play times, we also saw the mothers engaged. They sat at the art tables and created their own works. You could feel a sense of relief, even if only for a short time, as they tinkered with the materials we provided.

Among our other roles during the two-week time frame, we supported the hotel residents by providing two meals per day; distributed supplies of toiletries and medication; and offered shoulders to cry on.

We helped in many different capacities before our volunteer term ended the first week of May. Knuth, along with myself and other volunteers, including Don Hutchens (’70), past executive director of the Nebraska Corn Board, assisted in setting up a pseudo-medical clinic in our supply room on more than one occasion when we were visited by U.S. doctors from Agape Blessings Cure. These physicians became my friends. They are helping recruit other U.S. physicians and nurses to be part of the hotel operation. In doing so, the refugees will have easier access to be assessed by a medical professional.

As I reminisce on my time in Poland another Telegram message notification rings through on my phone. The mother who was a hairdresser in Ukraine is offering to give a haircut to anyone needing one. It takes a community and I’m so glad I am part of this global one.

Mandy HaaseThomas, far left, and others from Lincoln created play stations for Ukranian families who fled to Poland.

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Poetry

MY BLACK ASH IN THE SUN IS NOT A PHOENIX

BY CHA U N B A L L A R D Ph.D. student

The orthopedic surgeon tells me after the surgery, after seven stitches, after three nights in the hospital, after the IV drip in the vein, after several treatments of antibiotics, after the prescribed capsules, after ten days in a soft cast, after having my stitches removed, I am more likely to have scar tissue

because I am African American.

And I wonder if he wonders this beyond clinical fact, if, somehow, he’s been following the news, reading headlines, doing his research.

Does he know how many nights I’ve been planning old tissue reform, watching skin thicken beneath skin, waiting new flesh to take?

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UNIL Colleges partner with student-athletes to foster success with regards to Name, Image and Likeness

BY TONY MOTON (’98)

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ridiron collisions have been a staple of the university’s football heritage for decades. On any given Saturday at Memorial Stadium, the sound of a linebacker’s shoulder pads crackling against the thigh pads of an opposing running back is almost symphonic to the ear. Football simply wouldn’t be football without its tackling and blocking, which create a hyperkinetic transfer of force and power for all to hear.

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With that in mind, Joe Petsick (’95) began game-planning for what might be considered the Mother of All Collisions soon after he was hired three years ago as an executive in residence and assistant professor of practice in management in the College of Business. His goal was to prepare the school and its student-athletes for name, image and likeness (commonly referred to as NIL), the ground-breaking policy enabling collegians to earn money for their status as athletes.

“NIL is, in my opinion, the single largest element to make the most dramatic impact on college athletics in the last several decades,” Petsick said. “It has the capacity to dramatically change the competitive fortunes of a school and it created an immense amount of pressure on schools to keep up and deliver.”

Petsick’s theory was that the school could shape its NIL fortunes by student-athletes engaging with fellow students, educators, administrators and outside supporters and businesses with an approach akin to gang tackling. The more collisions that can be generated by different forces, the better the university could make noise in this new era of college sports.

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Joe Petsick

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“When I was researching what other universities were starting to build and work on (in relation to NIL), they were focusing on one thing — how to help athletes make money.” Petsick said. “My idea instead was let’s teach the student-athlete how to build a business around themselves so that they can, in turn, earn money. That way we are giving them tools for the next 40 years, not just the next four.”

So, when NIL became a reality on July 1, 2021, the sounds you heard in and around Lincoln were student-athletes careening into business majors seeking advice on how to manifest their brand awareness. Journalism and business professors were joining forces on their way to developing courses that could enable volleyball and baseball players to increase their marketing potential by teaching them the power of mass and social media.

Incoming freshmen basketball and softball players were bumping into seasoned pros who might already be operating their own businesses. Sophomores, for goodness sake! And for any of the school’s 600-plus student-athletes dreaming of having their silhouettes turned into logos (see Michael Jordan), some of them certainly made a stir ramming into future lawyers at the College of Law for tips on weighty matters such as forming limited liability companies, signing contracts and registering trademarks.

Brett Stohs, a clinical associate professor of law, said the university’s collision-style approach to name, image and likeness is a win-win for both the student-athletes and the Law College because he knows this first-hand. He’s the director of the Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic, which enables law students to mix it up with the university’s sports standouts.

“It’s an exciting educational opportunity,” Stohs said. “I have law students who are about to graduate and they are seeing these changes unfold and looking forward to helping student-athletes. In addition to working with student-athletes one-on-one, they have engagement with the community and do presentations with the athletic department.”

From the Law College’s perspective, Stohs said, NIL can be something of a legalistic cautionary tale.

“There are a lot of risks and not a lot of regulation with NIL, and we are dealing with college students who might not be ready for the risks ahead,” he said.

“We pride ourselves on helping the student-athletes understand these opportunities and protect themselves from the risks of this unregulated marketplace.”

Partnerships like the ones between the athletes and lawyers-in-the-making were no accident. One set of tools used to help student-athletes develop their entrepreneurial skill set is the College of Business offerings known as pop-up classes, onecredit courses taught by a range of faculty and industry professionals with thematic titles such as Pitching Yourself and Ideas Online, Mobile Production in Your Pocket and The ‘Reel’ Deal: Instagram for Storytelling Online.

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“The way that we wanted these classes to unfold was under the hope that the classes would be filled by half student-athletes and half non studentathletes, which is actually what happened,” Petsick recalled. “And another reason for that is by design, to create more collisions, to create more ways for people to find each other who might not likely do it otherwise, to help them realize they could build something together.”

One year into the Age of NIL, the university seems to have built a winning formula with collisions as the main element. According to Opendorse, a marketing company that assists athletes in maximizing endorsement values, the Big Ten Conference was the national leader in both earnings and the number of NIL deals from July 2021 through June 2022. A source familiar with name, image and likeness earnings said the Cornhuskers were among the conference leaders in total earnings. The Big 12 Conference was second in both total compensation and total deals made during that time period, the Opendorse report indicates.

But heading into the summer of 2021, most institutions, according to reports, were sent scrambling for answers on ways to best handle NIL because the NCAA offered few clear-cut rules on how schools should manage this brave new world of student-athletes finally making an honest dollar.

Clamored a headline posted on USA Today’s website just hours before the bell tolled making NIL official: “NCAA’s band-aid approach to name, image and likeness leaves athletes and schools with confusing options.”

Or this posted earlier in the day by The New York Times: “The NCAA and Supreme Court took a small step to fix college sports. It’s not nearly enough.”

Finally, this gem from Sports Illustrated on the day NIL went into effect: “It’s Going to Be a Cluster---: The New Era of College Sports Is Here. Is Anyone Ready?”

Anyone? Anyone? For an answer to the NIL readiness question, one need only to look at Nebraska’s approach. Consider these collision-makers helping transform the energy to the school’s NIL fortunes: • All current student-athletes can be found in the Nebraska Huskers Marketplace, which gives Nebraska fans, brands and sponsors the ability to browse, book, pitch and pay any Husker student-athlete for NIL activities.

• The athletic department brokered a partnership with Altius Sports Partners, an NIL advisory and education firm which was set to help provide strategic guidance on the school’s overall NIL policy and development of a corporate partnership strategy.

• Athlete Branding & Marketing, founded by for-

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mer state Attorney General Jon Bruning (’90, ’94) and Carson Wealth Management managing partner Paul West (’98), works with companies and donors around the state to raise money and partner with athletes as donor collectives become more prominent players in NIL. Former Nebraska football chief of staff Gerrod Lambrecht runs the collective, which reportedly had raised $3.5 million and paid Husker athletes nearly $1 million through the spring of 2022.

• Tom Lemke (’13), a former baseball player, serves as the assistant director of life skills and post-eligibility opportunities director for the athletic department. He has been tasked with leading the NIL education program called Husker Advantage, which helps incoming freshmen get acclimated to college life during the summer before their first year at school.

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• The Clifton Strengths program in the College of Business utilizes Husker Advantage to help student-athletes become more aware of their natural patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving as they prep for life after sports. The student-athletes also have access to a program that helps assess their entrepreneurial attributes.

One early example of collisions working magic in

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the NIL space was Adrian Martinez (’21), the former Husker quarterback and current Kansas State player.

Thinking ahead and thinking on his feet, Martinez reached out to the College of Journalism and Mass Communications and collided with Geoff Exstrom, a senior majoring in sports media communication and broadcasting. Together, they released the podcast Athletes Unfiltered.

Martinez later created his own line of merchandise and, when NIL started, he already was set to partner with brands on local, regional and national levels. Along the way, Martinez was shepherded in the process by two former Husker football players who long ago envisioned the day when student-athletes could reap the benefits of branding themselves the right way.

In 2012, Adi Kunalic (’11) and Blake Lawrence (’09, ’11) created Opendorse as a company serving the needs of clients in the athlete endorsement industry.

At some point in the distant future, they figured, the doors to endorsing collegiate athletes would swing open.

“When we were in school, NIL felt a million years away,” Lawrence said. “Even then, we could feel the support of the Nebraska community. It was clear that if college athletes were ever allowed to benefit from NIL rights, Nebraska athletes would be in a great position to succeed.”

Lawrence, who earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and an MBA in strategic marketing, found

Blake Lawrence, left, and Adi Kunalic conceptualized their company Opendorse in 2012 in preparation for athlete’s to one day own their brand.

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HIGHLIGHT REEL Select events and name, image and likeness deals secured by student-athletes:

the ideal running mate in Kunalic to help make Opendorse one of the country’s largest and most influential purveyors of NIL opportunities. Kunalic, who has an advertising degree, said the company — with its office in the shadow of the campus at 13th and Q streets — makes it easier for athletes to maximize their branding potential while juggling school, athletics and life away from campus.

“We saw the opportunity that athletes had, but also understood the massive time and energy commitments that college and professional athletes face,” Kunalic said. “We wanted to make it incredibly easy for any athlete to receive opportunities, complete deliverables and accept payments all in one place. That’s where Opendorse started and we’ve stayed true to the vision for over a decade.”

But Opendorse probably hasn’t gone through a more vision-filled time in its existence than the first 365 days of NIL. On July 1, the firm released a 41-page report analyzing the financial impact of NIL on student-athletes, universities and college athletics across the country. Their study projects a market spend of $1.14 billion for athlete compensation via NIL in the United States during year two.

“One of the most significant benefits that will stem from NIL is the long-term benefit for student-athletes,” Lawrence said. “They’ve always been able to build their brand or network while on campus, but now the results are immediately tangible. These student-athletes will now make connections with local business owners and community leaders that would have been less likely to occur pre-NIL. More important than the deal they get tomorrow will be the career opportunities that are created years down the road.”

To create career opportunities for the future, nothing works better than a few collisions here and there for athletes aiming to cash in on NIL. This idea rings particularly true for former student-athletes who never had a chance to bank on their name, image and likeness during the NCAA’s long-standing amateur-athletes-can’t-get-paid approach.

“Every recruit today, transfer portal or high school, is asking about NIL,” Kunalic said, “and many will make decisions, at least in part, based on where they expect the highest level of NIL support.

(But) the NCAA has made clear that boosters (collectives) cannot contact non-enrolled athletes.”

Frauke Hachtmann (’94, ’97, ’00, ’10), a journalism professor and former scholarship tennis player from 1991-95, feels empowered by helping student-athletes earn paychecks.

“I think our students deserve to be paid because they make a lot of universities a lot of money,” Hachtmann said. “They have bills to pay and, from that perspective, it’s really interesting now and things are really changing. You have to stay on top of all the developments.”

Hachtmann has taught a pop-up course titled Branding Yourself in Today’s Market, which entails five weeks of classes and exercises designed to figure out what kind of mission and values a student possesses. Next, the course hones in on the type of brand and social media presence that would work for students in the eyes of sponsors.

“We try to find what makes someone interesting as a person and an athlete,” Hachtmann

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JULY 2021

UNL and Opendorse, an NIL marketing firm co-founded by former Huskers football players Blake Lawrence and Adi Kunalic, announce the launch of a first-ever program designed to help student-athletes build their individual brands.

Gov. Pete Ricketts signs Legislative Bill 962 allowing intercollegiate student-athletes the ability to earn compensation, making Nebraska one of the first states to enact such legislation.

The Supreme Court rules 9-0 against the NCAA in a highprofile case that effectively signals the end of NIL restrictions for college student-athletes.

Runza, the fast-food chain, announces an offer of product endorsement deals to the first 100 athletes statewide who opt in through the Opendorse platform.

The interim suspension of the NCAA’s rules governing name, image and likeness goes into effect for all three NCAA divisions enabling incoming and current student-athletes to profit from sponsorships and endorsements.

Nebraska announces its own set of guidelines prohibiting athletes from promoting brands in conflict with the school’s values.

All-America volleyball player Lexi Sun partners with volleyball apparel company REN Athletics to design her own sweatshirt and market her own personal apparel line.

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said. In some ways, Hachtmann experiences a sense of poetic justice teaching students lessons that never came about during her own college days in Lincoln.

“There is a lot of communication and interconnectedness here at Nebraska,” Hachtmann said.

“We are very collegial, so when NIL started, some disciplines lent themselves to this, like business and us in media. But instead of having two competing colleges, we came together and figured it out. We are getting a lot of students taking these courses who might be majoring in something totally different. I think it really speaks to the overall sense of team.”

The team players in the Nebraska ecosystem simply aren’t afraid of bumping heads or bumping into each other if the endgame is getting the most out of NIL for student-athletes. One such player is Jake Bowman who, as a junior, started the school’s first peer-led advisor program and is credited with helping Husker football center Cam Jurgens land a trademark for his Beef Jurgy brand. He also had a big hand in enabling basketball guard C.J. Wilcher to book a long-term endorsement deal with U-Stop Convenience Shop, the longstanding, Lincoln-based chain.

“I want to help athletes grow their brands and their businesses and help them understand how their talents can be applied off the field or court,” Bowman said. “Me and Joe (Petsick) talk about this a lot, but in order to get to play D1 sports,

you have to have personal drive and self-motivation, all the things an entrepreneur needs to start a business.”

Bowman started his first company, an online athletic shoe and clothing retail arbitrage business called Pickswap, alongside his brother in high school. At Nebraska, Bowman sought opportunities to expand his own brand by helping student-athletes do the same. He is among a team of students who have a proclivity toward entrepreneurship and, in many cases, already operate burgeoning companies on their own.

Formed within the College of Business, the student advisors work one-on-one with student-athletes to help them maximize their earning potential and organize their commitments, agreements and compliance.

“We work with a lot of athletes, but we get to work with a lot of different people in this community,” Bowman said. “Being able to be in these meetings with the athletes I work with, meeting CEOs of these companies from around the area, working with people in the athletic department and the College of Business is fun for me.”

But the most fun for Bowman? Those initial collisions with potential advisory clients or paying sponsors. “I like talking to people,” Bowman admitted. “I get to meet tons of new people, and it’s great to approach NIL this way.”

No self-respecting Cornhusker would approach name, image and likeness in any other fashion.

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Sun and Borsheims, the Omaha-based independent jewelry store, announce what is believed to be the first major deal between a Nebraska female athlete and a local company.

Offensive linemen Bryce Benhart, Matt Sichterman, Cam Jurgens, Ethan Piper, Turner Corcoran, Brant Banks, Broc Bando and Trent Hixson promote the four-pound Pipeline Burrito for Muchacho’s restaurant in Lincoln.

Basketball player C.J. Wilcher endorses Lincoln-based convenience store chain U-Stop with an assist from fellow student Jake Bowman, who help start the school’s student-run NIL advisor program.

Texas quarterback Casey Thompson transfers to Nebraska and, later says to the press corp: “Nebraska is probably hands-down one of the best programs in the country for name, image and likeness opportunities.”

After getting help with a trademark through the school’s student-run NIL adviser program, former offensive lineman Cam Jurgens promotes his own brand of Beef Jurgy by passing out samples to teams at the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The university and Opendorse announce creation of the Nebraska Huskers Marketplace, one of the first licensed school NIL marketplaces in college sports promoting all student-athletes.

In an Opendorse report analyzing the first year of NIL, Huskers volleyball player Nicklin Hames, whose portfolio includes some 10-plus partnerships, makes the firm’s national list of “Athletes Leading the NIL Era.” —Compiled by Tony Moton

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COMING HOME

Alumni of color to be feted during homecoming week

BY VICTORIA BAKER

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ach fall, a selection of accomplished multicultural alumni are invited to return to campus to be honored at the Multicultural Social, hosted by the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of People of Color. As a part of the university’s homecoming events, academic colleges are invited to choose an alumnus to highlight, citing their significant accomplishments and ability to connect with current students.

Now in its fifth year, coordinator Georgia Jones believes that the Multicultural Social is a source of pride for the campus

community. “People of color need to see successful alumni of color. We want alumni to make connections with students of color,” Jones said. “It is one way to increase the visibility of people of color on campus.”

From starting a marketing agency to bridging the gap between English and Spanish speakers to returning home to revitalize farming amongst elders to advocating for underserved and underprivileged children, this year’s honorees exemplify the power of one’s background, community and support, as cultivated by Nebraska.

BUSINESS

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n 2014, Susana (Brizuela) Eshleman (’93) was named CEO and president of Children International, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that helps children break the cycle of poverty. This opportunity, however, was a long time coming.

Eshleman, who sat on the board of directors for 10 years prior, wanted to make sure she was ready, well-prepared and equipped for the position. “They say when you take on a new role, it should be about no more than a 30% stretch,” Eshleman said. “Well, this was like a 200% stretch for me, given the magnitude and global scope of this organization.”

When she consulted and updated her resume — which hadn’t been done in almost 16 years — she found a letter. Not just any letter, but a letter of recommendation that helped her receive the Outstanding Junior Leadership award during her undergraduate years at Nebraska.

A letter of recommendation that was written by her economics professor Dr. Gregory Hayden two decades earlier.

“I remember opening the folder and seeing this letter and almost having tears coming down my eyes,” she said. “His words written 22 years earlier were a source of encouragement as I considered this new role.”

For Eshleman, Dr. Hayden’s

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kind words were a source of empowerment. “I fully expect regardless of the path Susana chooses, by the time she’s 40 years old she will be an international leader advocating for the rights of the least and the last,” read the letter.

At Children International, Eshleman does just that as she advocates for underprivileged children in 10 different countries by investing in their lives at young ages with programs that target health, education, empowerment and employment.

Yet, Children International is just an extension of Eshleman’s sense of advocacy, which started at a young age. As a child, Eshleman and her grandfather visited some of the poorest parts of Argentina, her native country, bringing food and material goods to those communities.

With her grandfather’s guidance, Eshleman knew she wanted to make a difference.

“I remember how meaningful it was for me to interact with those families to put a smile on their face and to kind of bring some hope and lighten their burdens,” Eshleman said.

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hen Aaron LaPointe (’16) entered the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, he’d never worn cowboy boots, driven a truck or even set foot on a farm. While culturally different from his classmates, his developing passion for agriculture was all the same.

“I was all in, very passionate about (agriculture),” LaPointe said. “I knew there was great opportunity coming.” That opportunity would reside in his own foundation, his hometown in Winnebago.

Prior to LaPointe’s time at the university, he attended Briar Cliff University on a basketball scholarship. During his summers he returned to Winnebago where he worked for the Environmental Protection Department.

Through this he understood the tribe’s land base and how to use the land. He found that there was little to no involvement with agriculture.

“Our tribe owned about 30,000 acres, and they didn’t farm any of it,” LaPointe said.

“That’s what drove me to go into agriculture.

I knew there was great opportunity and that our tribe was really underutilizing their agricultural land.”

While LaPointe didn’t grow up on a farm in Winnebago, he knew of the agricultural passion his family had. “My father, one of our tribal leaders, and my grandpa really had that passion for agriculture too,” LaPointe said.

“They knew there was opportunity there, and they knew it was important to us as a people.”

So, when LaPointe came to Lincoln, he knew he wanted to learn the skillset needed to return to his community and elevate it, in whichever way he could. He took full adva n ta ge of h i s classes, connecting with professors and his academic a d v i s e r. A n d in the summer b e fo re h i s l a s t year, he interned with Ho-Chunk Farms, a newly developed tribally-owned corp o ra t e fa r m i n Winnebago. After his internship, LaPointe was prom-

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ised a full-time position — one he couldn’t turn down. And upon his graduation, he returned home for Winnebago, Ho-Chunk and his community.

“I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for my entire community. There were a lot of people in the community that helped raise me, so, I felt obligated to give back to the community,” LaPointe said.

Now, under the ag business management of LaPointe, Ho-Chunk aims to teach young people in the community to farm, the value of farming, and hopefully, bring young people back to Winnebago, to give back to their community.

LaPointe, however, is already on a headstart. The traditional and cultural production of Indian corn was becoming scarce in Winnebago, with only a couple of producers to manage the high demand for it. So, in 2018, LaPointe organized the Indian Corn Project, where students partnered with the Winnebago elders and the greater community to plant and harvest corn.

After two years, Ho-Chunk went from growing about three acres of corn to 10 acres, all from the community members and families wanting to take part in this traditional practice and plant their own plots. Now, Ho-Chunk plants 25 acres of Indian corn.

Ho-Chunk doesn’t just stop at harvesting and producing. After the corn is harvested, they donate to the volunteers that helped the process, to the senior citizens center, to a local food bank and to funerals, where traditional Indian corn is a cultural staple.

LaPointe’s work with Ho-Chunk has been s o i n fl u e n t i a l t h a t it’s been recognized across Indian Country, with other tribes understanding that they should be doing something similar.

“That project was one of those moments that (showed) me why I c a m e ba c k ,” LaPointe said “To know that we went from doing nothing to setting the bar is really fulfilling to me.”

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JOURNALISM & MASS COMMUNICATIONS

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orberto (Rob) Ayala-Flores (’84) remembers that special moment where he felt his marketing company — Puente Marketing — was making an impact. In a project with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Flores conversed with Hispanic and Latino men, raising awareness about the risk of diabetes amongst their communities. “They thanked me for letting them express their opinion, their ideas, their thoughts,” Flores recalled.

“Nobody really asks us what we think,” one man told Flores. “And you’re doing it in Spanish. That’s like a first.”

Puente (which translates to bridge in English) serves the Hispanic community, connecting major brands, start-ups and new product launches to Hispanics and Latinos in the United States.

At Puente Marketing, Flores directly bridges the gap between Hispanics and English speakers — something that he’s well-versed in.

Growing up in Alliance, Flores experienced the “best of both worlds,” that is coming from a Latino (Mexican) household and growing up in predominantly white, rural Nebraska.

“It was being around good people in rural Nebraska who appreciated our family of 18,” Flores said. As the youngest of 16 children, Flores leveraged the roadway his parents and older brothers and sisters paved for him.

It was the same roadway that drove one thing home: his last name “Flores” was his brand. “Oh, you’re a “Flores,”

EDUCATION & HUMAN SCIENCES

Dr. Anitra (Webster) Warrior (’05, ’07, ’15) is a psychologist and president of Morningstar Counseling in Lincoln. She is from the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma and attended Little Priest Tribal College i n Winneba go b e fo re earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees in counseling psychology from Nebraska.

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LAW

LaChandra Pye (’09) is senior legal counsel at ABB, a global technology corporation. She serves as counsel to the electrification business supporting the corporate functions and government contract issues on legal matters across the United States.

She lives in Georgia.

people would say. What that meant was you come from a good family with a lot of respect, you’re family-oriented and you help out your community,” Flores said.

When Flores came to UNL in the 1980s, he expanded his community by joining Delta Tau Delta fraternity as he continued to explore both worlds. With the help of one of his fraternity brothers, Flores changed his major after his first semester from architecture to a double major in advertising and public relations and Spanish.

In the modern languages department, Flores was able to connect with his instructors, faculty and staff on a different level. “I remember having a great time with those professors and teachers, and we could share stories just from being Hispanic,” Flores said.

ARTS & SCIENCES

Nicholas Gordon (’11) majored in political science and minored in sociology. He is director of recruitment for the College of Arts and Sciences after serving in admissions at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He was a team captain for the Huskers’ track and field team and was named 2011 Male Student-Athlete of the Year.

ARCHITECTURE

Phuong Nguyen (’14, ’17) is a project architect at BVH Architecture. She brings a keen eye for detail along with her interest for thoughtful design. With a passion for space, environment and people, Nguyen has always been interested in a career in architecture.

She creates better living environments for people with different cultures, needs and wants.

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THEN: During the 1950s, women commonly wore midi-length skirts and dressy blouses to study and attend class. Men leaned toward formality as well, frequently opting for slacks and button-ups.

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university of nebraska libraries archives and special collections

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BY MEKITA RIVAS (’12)

NOW: Students like Briana Barrios typically keep their wardrobes casual.

Athleisure, loungewear and sneakers are the style du jour.

craig chandler

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FASHION CAMPUS LOOKS EVOLVE THROUGH THE DECADES

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who we want to be.”

This degree of fashion freedom wasn’t always the case. There was once a time, for instance, when women wearing slacks in the Nebraska Union caused quite the commotion.

In November 1965, the Association of Women Students hosted a standards week, where they addressed a pressing sartorial issue of the time: whether slacks were acceptable apparel for female students. “It goes without saying that a wellgroomed girl never wears shorts, Bermudas, slacks or jeans to classes, library, activity meetings, downtown or the union,” read the campus handbook.

During the mid-1960s on Midwestern college campuses, women still had to wear dresses and skirts for most occasions. Catherine Pohlman Wolfe (’68) was at UNL in February 1965 and recalls a particularly bad blizzard.

“I remember 11 to 12 inches of snow but who knows — it was a lot,” Wolfe says. “At that time, sorority girls couldn’t wear pants on campus and to classes. Jeans weren’t even an option.”

Despite the heavy snowfall, students had to attend classes anyway. The concession? It was the first time women could wear slacks and boots.

“We didn’t mind the snow we were trudging through because we were so happy to be wearing Campus dress codes in 1962 meant paying close attention to skirt length. These Burr East stupants,” Wolfe says. “Of course, we got to many of the dents used measuring tape to ensure that their skirts adhered to the sartorial norms of the time. classes, and the professor hadn’t made it to campus, hese days, a stroll across any college cambut it was a memorable day.”

Generally, societal norms of the era disapproved pus will yield an assortment of wardrobe of any silhouette that might run the risk of a female choices. Many students favor athleisure, student looking “sloppy” and not “feminine enough.” attending class in comfortable hoodies, “You couldn’t even have Bermuda shorts on with leggings and sweatpants. Others pair knee socks,” says Barbara Trout, professor emeritus of textiles, merchandising and thrifted finds with everyday basics — think jeans fashion design. “You had to have a skirt on, and T-shirts — to craft casual looks that still conwhich sounds archaic to us (now).” vey an air of personality.

Cindy Porter (’78) remembers that “I’ve seen just about every fashion trend you period well. She was a high schooler in Grand Island in the early 1970s, when skirts can think of while walking to classes,” says Lexie were still largely the style du jour for girls Worden, an advertising/public relations and journaland women. She had to wear dresses through Lexie Worden ism double major from Omaha. “Everyone has exited her junior year in high school until the rules changed her senior year — well, sort of. their high school days where they worried about finding “When they did change it over to where we could the right outfit to impress their crush. Now people are diswear pants, you had to wear dress pants,” Porter covering who they are and who they want to be, and they says. “You weren’t allowed to wear jeans, either. It use clothing to express themselves.” was a change of going from a more formal way of dressing to more casual, kind of like how Worden describes 2022 college fashion as “unique” and has observed that students are fre“The 1970s came, and in the movies quently using their clothing as a creative outlet. you had the low-slung pants and the College is a time when you make countless self-dismidriff tops that were more baring. But coveries; naturally, your personal style is a part of college girls at that time were not so that process. much interested in Hollywood fashion “We’re all coming to learn what we’re passionas they were in getting away from home ate about, and with that also comes evolving as a human,” Worden says. “We’re not who we once were and dressing functionally.” in high school, so a lot of us college students have – Barbara Trout, professor emeritus of textiles changed our styles to fit who we think we are and

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casual Fridays worked eventually.”

By the time Porter came to campus in 1974, the shift away from that level of formality was fully underway. “The ’70s came, and in the movies you had the low-slung pants and the midriff tops that were a little bit more baring,” Trout says. “But college girls at that time were not so much interested in Hollywood fashion as they were in getting away from home and dressing functionally.”

Large sweatshirts and tight pants, in particular, tended to be a common trend in the late ’60s and early ’70s. It wasn’t so much fashion, Trout explains, but rather to signal a new era of sorts, especially for the liberated young woman. “It was just to show that you were on your own, you were independent, and you could dress a little sloppy, if you wanted to,” she says.

The seeds of this campus fashion revolution were actually planted some two decades prior, in the 1950s, when college students first began to get a taste of a more laid-back approach to dressing.

Deirdre Clemente, author of Dress Casual: How College Students Redefined American Style and associate director of the public history program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, explains that the culture after World War II allowed for even more variety in dress.

“College campuses provided a self-regulated environment in which they could push the boundaries of acceptable dress,” Clemente says. “By the mid-1950s, things really broke out of the social constraints that had existed earlier in the century.”

Men started to wear jeans and sweatshirts.

Women began to wear pants and forgo accessories traditionally associated with modesty, such as girdles, panty hose and hats. Ultimately, by the 1970s, virtually all formality had vanished from campus, as did the dress codes that regulated what women could wear (men had very few dress codes).

“It did seem to change very quickly,” Porter recalls. “The hippies idea came about in the late ’60s, but it was kind of slow, I think, to hit Grand Island.

Lincoln seemed to be a little ahead of us, so clothes became less structured, more relaxed looking.”

As a textiles, merchandising and design major, Porter regularly shopped at the Hitchin’ Post and the Wooden Nickel (what became known as the now-shuttered Post & Nickel in downtown Lincoln), which first opened its doors in 1966.

“If you went to UNL, that was the place to shop,” Porter says. “Whatever they had was what the trends would usually be, (and they would indicate) what was going to happen on campus.”

As jeans gained popularity, they became a go-to for campus-goers, including Porter, who preferred denim for her day-to-day wardrobe. “I wore a lot of jeans,” she says. “I saved my money to buy the one or two best jeans, and I’d wear them over and over.”

Women embracing pants on such a widespread scale marked a significant turning point in the history of the American wardrobe. Clemente traces the

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Throwback fashion advice: These pages from a 194849 handbook doled out tips for getting dressed as a college student.

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As dress codes loosened in the 1970s, men (like these College of Architecture faculty members and students) began shying away from slacks and blazers and started embracing more casual silhouettes and textures, such as loose plaid button-up shirts and relaxed denim.

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In 1953, women like these Teachers College students kept their wardrobe more formal, favoring ankle-grazing hemlines and saddle shoes, which were a popular footwear style of the era.

“During the pandemic when I was doing online school, I don’t think I ever wore anything other than an oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants,” Worden says. “We were all locked inside of our homes, we rarely went out, so who did we have to impress?”

Loungewear went mainstream as more people studied and worked from home. For students in particular, trends like tie-dye sweat suits and pajamas as daywear became the norm. The lines between relaxed and formal began to blur even more. Just as they were some 50 years ago, college campuses continue to be the epicenter of burgeoning fashion trends.

Back then, women rejecting skirts marked a departure from gendered sartorial stereotypes and a collective embrace of function over fashion.

Today, students are building upon that foundational freedom of expression — and by all accounts, it’s unlikely they will ever go back.

“Although going back in time and seeing how college students dressed in the past would be interesting,” Worden says, “our trends have just developed so much over time. Now, students dress a lot more for comfortability rather than for looks.”

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university of nebraska libraries archives and special collections (2)

trend to college campuses on the West Coast, particularly in California. It started in the early 1930s at single-sex colleges in the Northeast such as Smith and Vassar.

“Jeans were very practical and it was all about function,” Clemente says. “In these spaces, women policed themselves. These places had dress codes against pants that were largely written by the women and policed by the women.”

Most of the time, the codes were simply ignored.

At coed schools, these rules were made and enforced by the administration, specifically the Dean of Women, who was put in charge of monitoring the clothing and behavior of the women.

By the mid-1950s, women at coed schools were actively requesting to wear pants and parameters were put on when and where.

“For example, at Penn State they could wear them to the cafeteria for certain lunches but not for Sunday dinner or to class,” Clemente says. “This was all about being appropriate for men on campus, who generally hated pants.”

Indeed, a Daily Nebraskan article from 1965 includes a poll of 10 male students who expressed their distaste for their female peers stepping out in trousers. “I don’t like slacks on girls in public places,” said one student. Another added: “I don’t personally like girls with slacks on around campus.

However, I feel during informal hours of the evening slacks are acceptable with a coat over them.”

“Men hated pants, moms hated pants, many professors hated pants, but women still wore them,” Clemente says. “They wore them because the garment is comfortable. College women really paved the way for pants as acceptable attire, and broader society slowly followed.”

Fashion, by its very nature, is cyclical in nature.

What goes around does, in fact, come back around.

Comfort and mobility were key drivers in freeing women from the standard skirt silhouette, and those factors remain as influential as ever, especially in light of recent historical events.

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CLASS QUOTES

WASHBOARD BAND

LOVE STORY

This two-time alumna uses her engineering and architecture degrees to create.

Alumni tells us about their favorite spots on the university campus.

This 1980s grad still cherishes her decorated bib overalls from her sorority days.

He watched her walk by the bagel shop daily and then created a playlist.

BULLETIN

EVENTS SEPT. 16-17 LINCOLN Nebraska vs.

Oklahoma The Sooners come to town and you should too. Drive through the Wick Center parking loop on Friday for a Beat Oklahoma Tailgate featuring a quick dose of refreshments, swag and Husker spirit.

SEPT. 30OCT. 1 LINCOLN Homecoming Return to Lincoln for homecoming activities on Friday including a tour of the Greek house lawn displays, scavenger hunt and the annual parade. On Saturday, watch the Huskers play Indiana in an afternoon game at Memorial Stadium.

OCT. 15 WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA Tailgate Join your fellow Huskers before the Purdue football game for the Husker Huddle tailgate party at Walk-On’s Bar near

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the Purdue campus.

Better Late Than Never N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

Chancellor Ronnie Green presents 84-year-old Carol Livingston with her bachelor’s degree in business administration at the May commencement ceremonies held in Memorial Stadium. “63 years ago this amazing woman came to Lincoln as a business student. Today she is officially a graduate … long overdue,” Green posted on social media.

For all events, visit

>>

huskeralum.org/calendar

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BULLETIN << Carol (Dahl Leacox) Livingston with her four children and husband Gene Livingston on the occasion of her graduation from UC Davis King Hall School of Law in 1980.

From left, Mike Leacox, Dan Leacox, Carol, Gene, Cathy Leacox Farman and Jeff Leacox.

Alumni Profile

Living Her Dream Six decades after leaving UNL, Carol Livingston gets her diploma and a graduation ceremony

BY GRACE FITZGIBBON (’21)

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just didn’t get to stay and finish my hours.”

This all happened thanks to a daughter who heard this story of what could’ve been. An email to the university, and it became what is. Cathy Leacox Farman believes it’s never too late to make something right, so she made this right for her mom. “(Cathy) is from a different generation,” Livingston said. “And she’s done wonderful things with her life. She just wanted this fixed for me. If I wasn’t going to do it, then, by golly, she would.”

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courtesy

The family on the occasion of Carol and Gene’s 50th anniversary in March. From left, Mike Leacox, Cathy Farman, Carol Livingston, Gene Livingston, Dan Leacox and Jeff Leacox.

y all accounts, Carol (Dahl Leacox) Livingston has enjoyed a spectacularly successful life as a lawyer, mother and wife. But one thing has always been missing. On May 14, that changed as she walked across the commencement stage in Memorial Stadium, family cheering her on, a moment 63 years in the making. She got her diploma — a bachelor of science in business administration — for her studies from 1955-59.

“I did the work,” Livingston said. “I knew I did the work. I did it on purpose. It’s what I wanted. I

LIFE IN LINCOLN Livingston, who grew up in Alliance, loved her university years and spent them like most: dancing, football games, building snowmen on snow days.

She and her brother William Dahl (’58) grabbed Reubens on Sundays at The Cornhusker Hotel. A member of Kappa Delta, a dedicated tutor to the football team, so efficient with her schoolwork to the point where friends made jokes.

With almost all graduation requirements completed in her senior year of 1959, Livingston also had big things transpiring in her personal life: She was married and pregnant with her first child.

Mid-century America was not long ago in time, but it’s a world away in ideology. It was often said tongue-in-cheek that women attended college to get their “M-R-S Degree.” Women in business were a rarity with societal norms at times frowning on a woman in business school, let alone a pregnant woman working toward that career. And for Livingston, with required classes completed in the prior seven semesters, her attempt to schedule optional business classes for her final semester was rejected. She was told maybe Teachers College would be a better fit.

“I wanted to take the classes I wanted to take,” Livingston said. “My father was in business. I wanted to be in business.”

So, she got infant Dan Leacox in April instead of a diploma in May. She thought she’d finish in the next fall semester. But by then she was expecting Mike, her second child. Then Cathy. Then Jeff. The kids became her full-time job.

Rather than capitulating, Livingston just moved on, without her hard-earned degree. During childhood years, the kids were not aware of what happened. No one knew until they were grown that motherhood had cost their mom that diploma.

“It’s never been defined as Dan being the cause,” Cathy Farman said. “But now he gets endless grief for it.”

LIFE AFTER NEBRASKA The kids were 1, 2, 3 and 4 when Livingston moved to Modesto, Calif., in 1963. For a while, they kept her occupied. She quickly became busier as president of the local chapter of the League of Women Voters and social concerns chair for the Council of Churches. As she became involved in the community, she saw where she could be of help — this was a county where a third of the people

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were on welfare. Through the churches, Livingston started three food banks and a daycare program to prepare disadvantaged children for school, encouraging people to do what they can, give what they could.

“People are so happy when they know what they can do,” Livingston said.

Livingston started craving independence and wanted to work for money toward putting her kids through college — to get that, she realized, she might just have to go back to school. Enter second husband Gene Livingston, a lawyer who suggested law school. Only problem: She was still missing that undergraduate degree.

“The most romantic thing I think I ever heard in my life was when he said, ‘I will help you with your tuition.’ That sounded like ‘I love you,’ ” Livingston said. “I got my education. (But) I need a piece of paper. That was the hardest time because I should have had my degree then. And then if I wanted to go to law school, I could just have done that.”

She got that piece of paper at California State University, Stanislaus, had a brief stint living in the southeastern United States where Gene taught law at West Virginia University, then moved to Davis, Calif., when he was hired by the governor.

While in West Virginia, knowing they were soon going back to California, she tried to late-apply to University of California, Davis School of Law. Livingston, then in her late 30s, remembers calling the young president of the King Hall Women’s Law Association to plead her case. She asked for Livingston’s age, and then: “ ‘Why would a woman of your age want to go to law school?’ This sounds like old times.”

Another year of waiting it was. She started law school in fall of 1977, and during that time the family really had to help out, Livingston said. Everyone had to up their participation in household jobs to help their mom be a student again.

“It was such a change in my life,” Livingston said.

“I’d done wonderful things, really fun things raising the kids, in the community, and I really enjoyed that, and I felt accomplished about it. When I went to law school it was more about me, everybody supporting me. That doesn’t happen to moms a lot.”

Livingston and Farman were the first mother-daughter pair to graduate from UC Davis School of Law, Livingston in 1980 and Farman in 1985. Son Jeff followed in 1988, another first. As a traditional student, with far fewer responsibilities, Farman is still proud of her mother to this day.

“I’ve always admired her for taking on the

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BULLETIN Carol (Dahl Leacox) Livingston in December 1958 when she was pregnant with her first child.

challenge of law school while she was a mom of four teenagers,” Farman said. “And it’s harder to build a career when you’re in your 30s and 40s than it is when you’re in your 20s. It’s just harder.

She never stumbled. She just was fully committed to the opportunity that came to her with her graduate degree. She built a great legal career while still being a mom to her four children, and then a grandma to 11 grandchildren.”

Livingston’s first job out of school was for a labor law firm in Sacramento, where for 12 years she worked for labor unions, litigated and negotiated contracts, and became a partner in the firm.

She went to law school to get a better paying job to fund her kids’ college tuition — but once immersed in the career, she was having a great time.

Later she pursued litigation and administrative law with her husband — who had earned the nickname “Mr. Regulatory Law” — at his firm. Regulatory law was especially gratifying to Livingston, as she got to work with the same people over the years, making good friends with both clients and opponents. There she became the managing partner.

“I was the boss,” Livingston said. “I was the employer, and I wanted to be a wonderful employer.

And I wanted to do it right and have people who enjoy their workplace. They were safe and well paid. That was my payoff.”

Yet, at first, she didn’t know if it would be wise to work alongside Gene.

“There are funny assumptions when you go to work with your husband, that maybe you’re not the managing partner but you’re the administrator, or you’re just doing the staff work,” she said. “I was a good lawyer, and I didn’t like that implication, but you just tough it out and then you have to prove yourself. Girls always have to prove themselves.”

Livingston said her identity turned out to be a major asset. “I’m a female, girl-person,” she said.

“We like to chat and solve problems, right? And if I can’t figure out this or that I have no trouble saying, ‘Hey, will you help me think about this?’ We’re different from our male counterparts. We’re pretty good and very successful at that.”

She retired at 75. By then it was time to focus on her parents (nearing 100) and throwing parties for family birthdays, weddings and graduations.

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courtesy

After her long and eventful career, Livingston’s missing Nebraska degree was but a small chapter in the family lore. It was a story to share with the

kids, but no one thought much of it.

“As a female, it always was something I registered not in any particular way except ‘Huh. That’s weird. That’s not right,’ ” Cathy Farman said. “But nothing more than that.”

Then Farman raised her own daughter prioritizing education, just as her mom did for her. She started thinking more about that missing piece from 63 years ago — how it would never happen today, how it shouldn’t have happened then.

“As time went on, in the last five years, it was just bothering me more and more,” Farman said.

“Because as a world, as a nation, we’re just so much more focused on… how to repair the wrongs of the past. I thought, well, everything’s terrible, globally and nationally, but there’s one little wrong that could be repaired.”

So, she did something about it. She emailed Nebraska Alumni Association Executive Director Shelley Zaborowski, wondering about the possibility of an honorary degree — a good thought, though there’s a long process to obtain one. Zaborowski visited with the Chancellor’s Chief of Staff Mike Zeleny, and suddenly the idea sprang forth — why not present Livingston her actual degree?

“We care about her, we want her to know that,” Zaborowski said. “We want her to feel the Husker love, we want her to be a part of our family to the extent that she wants to feel like a Husker. It just felt like the natural and right thing to do, to celebrate this person and welcome her with open arms.”

Associate Registrar Gail Meyer provided oversight for the initial approval. Melody Torske in Graduation Services pulled a degree catalogue from the time Livingston was attending; require-

Carol Livingston traveled to Lincoln in May to collect her diploma and participate in graduation ceremonies held in Memorial Stadium.

ments were compared to her UNL transcript and University of California records. The graduation analysis was passed along to the College of Business, where Jennifer Mostek, director of business advising and student engagement, finally gave the word that a degree could be awarded; Dean Kathy Farrell signed off. A win for everyone involved.

“We are all about seeing students graduate,” Meyer said. “That’s what we’re here for. And whatever we can do to help a student achieve their goal to receive their degree — we take great pride in that.”

On Christmas Day 2021, with her entire extended family surrounding her, Livingston was surprised with a gift. A red sack with a big N on it, Husker swag and pompoms overflowing. A certificate that said she would, after all this time, receive her hardearned and long-overdue degree.

“It says hard-earned,” Livingston said. “That was so important because I didn’t slide by. I earned that sucker. ‘Your hard-earned and long-overdue Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Welcome to the Husker alumni family.’ I cried.”

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COMMENCEMENT DAY At age 84, Livingston — first in the line of graduating business students — waved her diploma high in the air, showing it off to her cohort.

“I got tears,” she said on that bright May day. “I had not been in the stadium for 63 years.”

When it all came together alumna status felt a little more real: “I’m feeling like a Husker again.”

While in Lincoln she had lunch with Chancellor Ronnie Green, toured campus, saw how much has

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changed. Livingston says being an alumna provides an automatic touchpoint for staying connected, something she previously missed out on.

This saga ultimately has a satisfying conclusion, and Farman will make sure to pass on her mom’s story to any future family members. It’s important to celebrate the milestones, the victories.

“We grew up as a family fighting for others’ rights,” Farman said. “We walked on picket lines and we participated in the voting process. My mom was one of those poll workers who would pick up election results. Everything back then was all about the rights of people to vote, the rights of people for shelter, food, to be treated with dignity and fairness. That was my whole life growing up — my parents standing for that. The closure for this is that my parents were doing this and yet there were injustices imposed upon my mom. It was really important that we also stand for the injustices that we personally experienced too. It’s one thing to do that for the world. It’s also necessary to do that for oneself and one’s family.”

As much as this situation was a product of its time, the root issue is something that has always and will always be with us. Livingston’s own mother was reluctant to seek a career, lest people thought she’d be taking a job from a man. Likewise, today’s generation faces a new set of the same problems. While we can’t always immediately make the sweeping changes that are necessary, we can ensure we’re being treated fairly. We can have each other’s backs. Said Carol Livingston, 2022 Nebraska graduate: “We have to protect the rights we have and work to make sure everybody has them too.”

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Alumni Profile

Sporting a Design Driven Career Erleen Hatfield’s two degrees add up to engineering and architectural feats

BY MELISSA CASTRO WYATT (’94)

Erleen Hatfield inside Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, which she engineered.

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would stand flush and plumb, that its 728-foot roof trusses would bear the load of a 2,000-ton scoreboard hung from the roof and that the structure, which includes a 16-story window, would withstand any amount of wind and rain — plus the mini earthquakes generated by up to 75,000 rabid fans.

But the first order of business for Hatfield was proving the feasibility of the proposed stadium’s 14.5-acre roof, with eight panels that needed to open like the aperture of a camera. Dozens of publications and more than one television documentary have tabbed it the “world’s most ambitious retractable roof.”

Before presenting the proposed design to the Atlanta Falcons owner, the lead design architect,

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t least three Huskers played a role in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta; most memorably, Rex Burkhead, whose overtime touchdown run in the AFC Championship game sealed the New England Patriots’ berth in the Super Bowl held at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

But a less prominent Husker was partially responsible for the Mercedes-Benz Stadium itself being there at all. Erleen Hatfield, a 1991 and 1996 graduate of Nebraska’s architecture and engineering schools, was the structural engineer of record for the $1.6 billion stadium.

That means Hatfield was ultimately responsible for every mathematical calculation that went into making sure the 2-million-square-foot stadium

Bill Johnson of St. Louis-based HOK, had a moment of doubt and called Hatfield for reassurance.

“Everybody loved the design and were like, ‘This is what we want to do,’ but (Johnson) called me and said, ‘This is crazy, do you actually think you can make it work?’ ” Hatfield recalls.

She took out a napkin. “I ran some numbers and did some calculations by hand, to understand first principles and the physics of it. I knew we could make it play out,” she says.

Computer analyses later proved her handwritten calculations correct which, as it turns out, is not an uncommon feat for Hatfield, at least according to James Brakenhoff (’21) a Nebraska graduate who started at Hatfield’s firm as an intern before being hired full-time. While Brakenhoff was helping design the steel beams and columns for a Best Buy renovation, Hatfield told him offhand how much load would be on each and her guesstimated size for the pieces of steel.

“I then spent a week doing the calculations and her ‘guesses’ were spot-on,” Brakenhoff says. “I don’t know that it was really a guess — I think she might have just known.”

A graduate of Lincoln Southeast High School, Hatfield had been mechanically and mathematically inclined since her early childhood. She recalls a house littered with her cardboard edifices and her brother, Scott Hatfield (’93), remembers a Christmas when his 7-year-old sister independently put together a mechanized 1,000-piece model car engine.

“She put it together and then had advanced auto-engine discussions with my dad for months, before moving on to the intricacies of nuclear power,” Scott says. “I’m not kidding. She seriously wanted to build a small nuclear reactor for our own power use until my dad explained to her the nitty gritty of uranium.”

Hatfield disputes that she had nuclear ambitions; regardless, the child moved on to teaching herself to code in Fortran. Scott, a real estate investor who also owns Duffy’s Tavern, said his own parlor tricks at the time consisted of “doing like six things with a slinky.” (Granted, he was 5.)

Erleen Hatfield spent her first year of college as a golfer (major undeclared) at Nebraska Wesleyan but transferred to the University of Nebraska as a sophomore to major in architecture.

She was also precocious on the golf course, and her experience there may have helped her develop the intestinal fortitude she would need to work in an industry dominated almost completely by men. (Less than 15% of U.S. structural engineers are female, and

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she recalls being the only woman in more than one of her master’s level engineering classes.)

But, Scott says, “Erleen was never afraid of barriers, and my parents encouraged that.”

Acknowledging her golf skills, her dad encouraged her to play from the men’s tees. When the Hatfield siblings were 15 and 13, Scott says, they were playing a golf course in Ohio and the course marshal started shouting at Erleen to get off the men’s tees while her dad told her to ignore him.

“With this random guy yelling at her, she just put the ball in the ground, set up and smashed it down the middle of the fairway. She picked up her tee and we left. The course guy sped away humiliated,” Scott says. “The point is, she was encouraged to do whatever she thought she could excel at, and she’s nails under pressure.”

After completing her master’s in civil engineering at Nebraska, Erleen headed to Chicago to work on bigger buildings at Thornton Tomasetti. That firm transferred her to New York City to work on a stadium for the Detroit Lions for a year.

She was captivated by the length of the 630-footlong trusses. “It’s a very specialized field; you need people who understand the complexity of longspan engineering and construction,” Hatfield says.

“All of (the firm’s) expertise in that was in New York City. I came for a year and I never left. I’ve done all kinds of things — a lot of museums and cultural institutions — but I’ve always had a sports project since I started working on the Lions.”

The sports specialty has also afforded her the opportunity to leave her mark on her alma mater.

She was the structural engineer of record on Nebraska basketball’s Pinnacle Bank Arena and is currently the lead on Nebraska’s new football training facility.

As one who came of age during the Husker football reign of dominance, Hatfield says she is thrilled to have an opportunity to contribute to a facility that may help future Husker teams regain an edge.

After finishing up her work on the MercedesBenz stadium, Hatfield left her firm, Buro Happold, and started The Hatfield Group in 2018 in order to focus more on what matters to her: the primacy of design and treating employees with respect.

Between running the business, crunching numbers and teaching at Yale University’s school of architecture, she says she probably works 60 hours each week — which doesn’t leave much time for golf.

That’s OK with her. “I’m passionate about what I do,” Hatfield says. “I love structural engineering and I love seeing buildings built.”

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Class Quotes

QUESTION

What was your favorite place on campus and why?

1960s

Swede’s had the best cinnamon rolls.”

“My dorm window during freshman year which was right over the busy front door of Neihardt. Being a farm girl from a small town, it made me feel like I was in the middle of a great campus — and I was!”

Dori (Sheffield) Bush (’69) has been a life member since 1978.

She returned to Lincoln in 2017 and is involved in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute after living in North Platte and Grand Island for 40 years.

Carol Bischoff (’67) has been a Nebraska Alumni Association life member since 1997. She is happily retired in Maine and Florida after earning three masters degrees and working in higher education.

“Walking across campus one beautiful afternoon I noted that something was happening in front of Love Library. I sat down on the lawn to watch and relax.

Turned out they were setting up a live performance by the Dave Brubeck Quartet — it was a fabulous afternoon that I will never forget.”

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Irene Bjorklund (’69), originally of Greeley, has established an endowed schol-

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1970s

“As a commuter student dependent on a work study job in the administration building, I needed a quiet place to sit and study. I found a bathroom with a bed in one of the classroom buildings. I waited there for President Richard Nixon to arrive on campus. I went out just in time to see the snowball lofted from the crowd.”

Vicki Pratt (’71) has been a life member since 1980 and lives in Omaha.

She spends her retirement time dancing (tap, international folk, Scottish Country, contra) and playing alto recorder with a

Renaissance trio.

1980s

“Memorial Stadium because the entire state

Dr. Johnnie Selmon (’82) has been named the 11th president of Muskegon Community College in Michigan.

At Nebraska he won the Big Eight Conference outstanding

wrestler award in 1982 and was a two-time Big Eight Conference champion and a two-time Big Eight Academic Team honoree.

“Avery Hall, because that’s where my love of journalism was refined and honed by some

1987

“The small strip of grass along the sidewalk behind Hamilton Hall and in front of Manter Hall. As a pre-med student, I was there often.

My classmates and I would marvel at the tall green grass, despite there being no sunshine. Ever. We all thought that this was some sort of “super grass” made possible by some shenanigans of the combined efforts of the biology and chemistry faculty.”

Douglas Martin (’87) is an occupational medicine physician in Sioux City, S.D., and was recently installed as president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

of the best writers, editors and photographers ever to teach at Nebraska.”

Thom Gabrukiewicz (’86) lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and is a photographer. During the pandemic he conducted remote photo shoots by controlling cameras through his laptop with models across the world.

“Morrill Hall.

It was an interesting, relaxing mini getaway. (Even if was only for a half hour.)”

Roseann Anderson (’89) lives in Prospect, Kentucky, and taught language arts and literature for several years.

1990s

“The Coliseum is my favorite because the atmosphere of volleyball games in that building was incredible. The architecture is very cool.”

Sonya Bieber (’92) has been a life member since 2008 and lives in Macungie, Pennsylvania.

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aimee erickson(3)

“During the mid-1960s, we music students at the “music building” (where Kimball Hall now stands), commonly gathered at Swede’s — a nearby coffee shop on R Street.

arship honoring her mentor and favorite mathematics professor, Dr. Walter Mientka.

converged on campus for home football games.”

Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University.

“Neihardt Hall.

There were so many unique spots throughout the dormitory that added a different feel to each wing.

The small rooms forced you to explore more of the

open areas of the building, allowing you to meet tons of people.”

Jeremiah Sievers (’13) is the assistant director of academics in Utah State University’s Athletics Department.

2020s “The Mill on Innovation Campus

where I spent a significant amount of time and money.

Whether I had assignments I needed to get done or wanted to secretly procrastinate, you could typically find me there.”

Kaitlyn Ryan (’22) joined the Nebraska Alumni Association in May.

2004

“Broyhill Fountain, located outside the Student Union, was the perfect place to meet up with friends or to simply unplug and be present amongst the sights and sounds of the beautiful fountain.”

1998

“The KRNU studio where I learned to be a professional broadcaster and the green space by the Sheldon where Jazz in June happens.”

Sarah (Wootton) Rider (’04) is the senior director of donor experience for the University of Nebraska Foundation and lives in Omaha with her spouse Adrian and three children, two African dwarf frogs and one adopted crawfish with one pincer.

Mike Wagner (’98) has been a life member since 2009 and lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where he works at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a professor and director of Graduate Studies for their School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“The pool tables in the Nebraska Student Union.”

Sameer Srivastava (’99) lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

2000s

“The 1st-floor sectional couch in Sandoz.

It was the place where

exhausted helpers would seek reprieve after a long move-in/out day. It was the guaranteed place for any late-night shenanigans and “elevator theater” while I was on RA duty. If that couch could talk, just imag-

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ine the stories.”

Stephen Heinauer (’02) has spent the last 19 years as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, building principal, and has recently been named the director of human resourcescertified for Blue Valley School District in Kansas.

2010s

“Love Library, specifically in the basement. I spent so much time in Love Library writing essays, studying for exams, socializing with friends and classmates.”

What college course impacted you the most?

Katie Kuipers (’12) will be graduating in May with a

Do you want to be featured in the winter issue? Email your answer to this question to erowley@huskeralum.org.

SHARE YOUR MEMORIES

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Alumni Profile

Eyewitness to History

FBI agent’s dream career started when Jimmy Hoffa went missing

BY CHRIS GRAVES (’87)

G Greg Stejskal in his Michigan backyard.

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though, that taught him the skills he put to use as an agent. “When you play a team sport, you learn a lot of lessons about teamwork. At least I did. I think I took away a lot of good values from football.

“I subscribe to the fact that sometimes sports can get way out of perspective,” he added. But they are ultimately an allegory for life. The values that you learn — the discipline and the work — relate well to other things.”

Stejskal detailed his career in his 2021 book FBI Case Files Michigan: Tales of a G-Man. Readers, he cautioned, should not see it as a memoir or autobiography. Rather, it’s a collection of stories from his front-row seat to some of the most important and newsworthy cases in the last 30 years. A case is not built by one person, he said, but rather a team working together.

“It wasn’t like I was a big part of all of those cases, but it was just amazing to be involved in all them,’’ he said.

Indeed. Stejskal is the agent who helped identify Ted Kaczynski as the Unabomber, a domestic terrorist who sent 16 bombs to people before the FBI caught up with him in a ramshackle cabin in Montana.

He is the agent who pushed, at the prompting of former University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, to investigate the illegal trafficking of prescription steroids among college athletes in 1988, at a time when the DEA and FBI were focused on cocaine and heroin trafficking. The FBI sting

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brittany greeson

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reg Stejskal was a newly minted and eager FBI agent, assigned to the bureau’s Detroit office in 1975, when the call came that the former Teamsters president had vanished.

Like every agent in the office that July day, Stejskal — a Nebraska native who knew more about football and constitutional law than mafia and labor unions — was tapped to help find Jimmy Hoffa, who was last seen getting into a car outside a metropolitan Detroit restaurant.

Stejskal couldn’t know then that day would begin one of the most famous and fascinating criminal cases of the century, but it began his storied three decade FBI career, one that reads more like a movie script than a resume. At 26, Stejskal (’71 and ’74) was the guy in the suit with a badge he had read about in the Landmark Books series The FBI, as a fifth-grader growing up in central Omaha in the ’50s and ’60s. He was Jimmy Stewart in The FBI Story.

He was Robert Stack in The Untouchables.

“From about the age of 10, I really wanted to be an FBI agent,’’ said Stejskal, who is now retired and living with his wife of 47 years in Michigan. “So, I went to law school with the idea of going into the FBI.” The only other career he contemplated: football.

Stejskal attended the university on a football scholarship, but he is quick to joke that his days under former coach Bob Devaney were short-lived: “I practiced more than I played really.”

It would be his days in Memorial Stadium,

operation, dubbed Equine, netted more than 70 drug dealers in several states and Canada and seized 8 to 10 million dosage units of real and counterfeit steroids. (A call from George H.W. Bush’s White House to FBI headquarters kept Stejskal’s steroid investigation alive.)

Stejskal met Schembechler in 1982 after he asked the FBI to talk with Michigan players about illegal sports gambling. The two remained friends for decades and Stejskal again credited his knowledge of football and his friendship with former Husker football coach Tom Osborne as helping to build his rapport with Schembechler.

“I think (between) football players and coaches, there’s a certain mutual respect there,” he said.

He is also the FBI agent who warned Major League Baseball about the use of anabolic steroids in 1994 — a claim later denied and then recanted by the League during the dark years of its steroid scandal. Years later, Stejskal helped arrange for Oakland Athletic players Jose Canseco’s and Mark McGwire’s steroid supplier to testify during a Senate subcommittee. Both players later admitted steroid use.

He was also the case agent in the first criminal prosecution that would test the boundaries of the First Amendment when perceived threats were made on the internet in the 1995 case United States v. Alkhabaz. And while ultimately the prosecution lost the case on appeal, Stejskal called it perhaps the most important case he worked. It set a precedent and foreshadowed the web of current issues related to threats, free speech, the internet and social media.

At issue, he said: “When can law enforcement or when should law enforcement intervene? Or, do they have to wait?”

The case is still studied by law students, he said.

He is quick to point out, too, that the work of an FBI agent was filled with hurry-up-and-wait days and weeks, administrative paperwork and filing of court documents and testimony that sometimes spanned years.

First as a special agent and then as the senior resident agent in the FBI’s offices in Detroit and later in Ann Arbor, Stejskal helped foster a collaborative relationship with local law enforcement on bank robberies, undercover drug operations and surveillance, said Rich Kinsey. Kinsey met Stejskal when Kinsey worked for the Ann Arbor Police Department, from which he is now retired. The two were among a group of Michigan law enforcement detectives in Washtenaw County that coined them-

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Greg Stejskal played on the football team for three seasons from 1968 to 1970.

PERSONNEL FILE Greg Stejskal (’71 and ’74) Age: 73

selves “The League of Justice.” The group, which met socially, formed strong professional relationships that helped each agency catch criminals.

“You know the way the relationship between local police and FBI are portrayed in the media and television and movies: That they don’t get along?

That couldn’t be further from the truth. We really get along well … and much of that is because of Greg Stejskal,’’ said Kinsey, now a sergeant with the Chelsea (Michigan) Police Department.

Kinsey worked with Stejskal for years before Kinsey retired from the Ann Arbor Police Department. He still calls the agent a friend.

“He is the epitome of an FBI agent. He’s just a great guy,’’ Kinsey said. “Just picture John Wayne as an FBI agent and that’s Greg Stejskal. Honestly, he’s big, tough, honest, funny, very witty. And he’s smart. He’s really smart. And he gets the job done.’’

Stejskal would still be at it if he could. The FBI has a mandatory retirement age of 57. The bureau extended his job for six months to allow him to finish his work and train his replacement.

“My feeling was that I always wanted to be an FBI agent. So why would I leave until I was asked?’’ he said. “I loved the job.”

Omaha native currently living in Michigan.

Graduate of Omaha Central High School in 1967 Earned bachelor’s degree in business in 1971.

Awarded Juris Doctor in 1974 Married Patricia Legate (’73), in 1975 Two children: Taryn, 43, and Andy, 40 FBI agent: 31+ years before mandatory retirement at 57 Author: FBI Case Files Michigan: Tales of a G-Man Featured in documentaries Killing Jimmy Hoffa (2014), Unabomber: In His Own Words (2020)

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BULLETIN ITEMIZED: A look at a treasured college relic

DEBBIE DUNN NELSON’S WASHBOARD BAND COSTUME

Debbie Nelson works as a real estate agent in Silverthorne, Colo.

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If the Cheeseburger in Paradise tune shuffles up on her exercise playlist, Debbie Dunn Nelson (’88) joins in. Words flow naturally after her four seasons performing with the Tri Delt Washboard Band. The group hyped up Husker crowds at the now defunct PO Pears bar and other venues on football Saturdays, belting out Jimmy Buffett and John Denver hits. Know them by their signature look: customized, self-decorative bib overalls, red checkered blouses and white visors.

“When it gets to the chant, ‘I like mine with lettuce and tomato,’ I start singing along,” Nelson said. “I have my headphones in and people are looking at me. I can’t help but do that because that was such a big song that we would sing and everybody would get involved.”

Of course she’s kept her full band uniform for four decades — homemade shirt and Delta Delta Delta appliquéd overalls — she could never part with it. When she unearths the denim ensemble, memories flood — particularly, arriving on campus from small-town Maywood and immediately feeling welcomed and included in the Hee Hawlike group. Freshman through seniors were unified through song.

“It’s probably one of my favorite memories of college,” Nelson said. “It was just a very fun experience. Fun way to connect with people, girls in the sorority that I wouldn’t necessarily do other stuff with.”

It was never about the fame, or even producing high-quality music. As Nelson said, “We weren’t Britney Spears or anything.” But in the ’70s and ’80s, campus really knew the Tri Delt Washboard Band. Advertised in The Daily Nebraskan classifieds: “Catch the spirit, catch the babes, catch the brews” — and fans showed up to sing along with 25 Tri Delts as guitarists, maraca and tambourine shakers, washtub bassists, hand

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signers, and of course, washboardists. Nelson was on maracas as a freshman, but come need for more guitarists, she picked up a few new chords for the rest of her college career. It was a bonding activity as much as an excuse to be silly.

“We were trying to be as corny as possible and just trying to generate spirit, both in the house itself and for football game days,” Nelson said.

For the record, their audience got very into the set. When the band got big, they took a few gigs outside of PO Pears, once rocking the grand opening of an Omaha mall.

“It was very interactive,” Nelson said. “You’d have everybody clapping along and it was super fun.”

Nelson now lives in Dillon, Colorado, with high school sweetheart Rick Nelson (’88) and works as a realtor, using her business degree. She suspects the ’80s washboard outfit will perplex her two sons when the time comes to clean out her beloved keepsake box.

A musician her whole life, she still plays piano, not so much guitar anymore. Though she’s still good for a karaoke rendition of washboard cover classic, Proud Mary. As a solo artist, that is — the band members went their separate ways after college. Nelson nonetheless still hears about old friends’ Cheeseburger in Paradise moments.

“When a song comes up, somebody might post on Facebook: ‘Oh, my god, I just had this great flashback,’ ” Nelson said.

Because whether or not we’re ever treated to a reunion concert, Tri Delt overalls are for life.

—Grace Fitzgibbon SHARE YOUR TREASURE Do you still have a cherished object from your college days? Tell us about it and we may feature you on this page.

Email: kwilder@huskeralum.com

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BULLETIN Obituaries

1930s Elizabeth Green Neville (’39) Kearney, April 22

Shalla (’49) Omaha, May 6; Rita Fitzmorris Walrath (’49) Scottsbluff, June 5

1940s 1950s Roland Nyquist (’43) Grand Island, May 18; Edward Malashock (’44) Omaha, May 10; Robert Hastert (’46) Lawrence, Kan., June 6; Frances Payzant King (’46) Omaha, April 10; Nancy Bachkora Ciemnoczolowski (’47) Lincoln, April 27; Ara Jane Hill Dunlap (’47) Papillion, March 22; Kevee Kirshenbaum (’47) Omaha, April 20; Robert Gessner (’48) Ballston Lake, N.Y., March 18; Arnold Magnuson (’48) Lincoln, March 17; William Nye (’48) Lincoln, April 5; Roberta White-Miller (’48) Omaha, April 17; Gaylord Atkinson (’49) Dallas, May 12; Jocelyn Ehrmann Barbash (’49) Lititz, Pa., March 28; Hal Langford (’49) Springfield, Va., May 28; Lloyd

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Marian Battey Andersen (’50) Omaha, April 28; Max Hanson (’50) Grant, April 8; Edward Sabatka (’51) Corvallis, Ore., Jan. 6; Billye Schicketanz Stevens (’50) Falls Church, Va., March 20; Janet Kepner Jensen (’51) Lincoln, May 16; James Miller (’51) Papillion, May 28; Jack Wilson (’51) Oakland, May 14; William Wiese (’52) Lincoln, Jan. 21; Carol Cherny Asche (’52) Cupertino, Calif., April 25; Vernon Davidson (’52) Naples, Fla., March 27; Roland Beideck (’53) Omaha, April 18; Carolyn Kunkel Boomer (’53) Lincoln, March 28; Gertrude Cherny Cekal (’53) Lincoln, March 3; Jeanne Smith Holmquist (’53) Carmel Valley, Calif., March 19;

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Frederick Hurlbut (’53) Lincoln, May 11; Marjorie Danly Wendell (’53) Axtell, April 27; Foster Woodruff (’53) Lincoln, May 11; Marvin Bean (’54) Arlington, Texas, March 20; Claire Johnson (’54) San Marino, Calif., June 6; Lawrence Nordhues (’54) Kearney, May 10; Maurice Norton (’54) Louisville, June 11; Donald Olsen (’54) Lincoln, May 28; Darleen Holm Petersen (’54), March 19; Dale Wolf (’54) Blacksburg, Va., April 22; Robert Anderson (’55) Boulder Junction, Wis., April 23; William Clark (’55) Johnson, April 2; Kenneth Moore (’55) Austin, Texas, March 22; Louis Schoen (’55) Minneapolis, March 23; Gladys Schumacher Dobler (’56) North Chesterfield, Va., June 5; William Mannlein (’56) Naples, Fla., May 1; Barbara Jelgerhuis

Langner (’57) Albuquerque, N.M., June 5; Daisy DuTeau Minnick (’57) Lincoln, April 24; Donald Montgomery (’57) Minneapolis, May 12; Gerald Reagan (’57) Lewis Center, Ohio, March 14; William Rhodes (’57) Puyallup, Wash., June 7; Robert Tyler (’57) Lincoln, May 20; George Hirschbach (’58) Hartington, May 29; Stuart Howerter (’58) Tubac, Ariz., April 29; Andris Kleinhofs (’58) Pullman, Wash., May 9; Robert Kremke (’58) Arlington, May 31; Robert Kutilek (’58) Grand Island, May 3; Richard Large (’58) Lincoln, March 12; Pierce Mullen (’58) Bozeman, Mont., March 16; Elvin Papik (’58) Lincoln, May 7; Frederic Vondra (’58) Lincoln, March 21; Roger Anderson (’59) Lawrence, Kan., April 27; Frank Bizal (’59) Fairfield, Conn., April 16; Eldon Blaser

(’59) Duncan, March 8; Kenneth Kohler (’59) Charlotte, N.C., March 12; Don Kubik (’59) Omaha, April 22; Donald Navrkal (’59) El Paso, Texas, April 2; Stewart Roach (’59) Lincoln, June 11; Duane Shaneyfelt (’59) Inver Grove Heights, Minn., May 8; Prudence Morrow Skinner (’59) Herman, June 5; Joann Haas Swanson (’59) Omaha, March 18

1960s

James Bjorklund (’60) Lincoln, March 22; James Eastman (’60) Lewisville, Texas, June 3; James Hyland (’60) Lincoln, April 22; Marvin Maurer (’60) Lincoln, April 25; David Mesner (’60) Urbana, Ill., March 26; Paul Moritz (’60) Elkhorn, May 11; Howard Bosley (’61) Great Bend, Kan., May 22; Loraine Nelson Carlson (’61) Lincoln, May 8; Sharon Baughman Gordon (’61) Blair, May 26;

Lane Isaacson (’61) Lincoln, May 31; Philip Kester (’61) East Moline, Ill., June 7; Roy Smith (’61) Plattsmouth, March 29; Judith Irick Lary (’62) Eugene, Ore., April 8; Richard Schmoker (’62) Edina, Minn., April 3; Ronald Simons (’62) Omaha, March 30; Linda Mueck Tharp Arnn (’62) Boulder, Colo., May 20; Sharon Murphy Vandenack (’62) Lincoln, April 26; Margrethe Plum Ahlschwede (’63), Lincoln, Jan. 22; Larry Irvine (’63) Lincoln, May 27; Bernard Kavan (’63) Portland, Ore., June 1; Derald Kohles (’63) Lincoln, March 23; Richard Larson (’63) Omaha, June 9; Om Patney (’63) Park Ridge, Ill., April 26; Virginia Sagehorn Schuerman (’63) Hallam, April 22; Philip Tracy (’63) Raleigh, N.C., May 8; Beverly Owens Allen (’64) Colorado

Springs, Colo., May 11; Gary Palmer (’64) Gretna, March 23; Lawrence McNulty (’65) Westchester, Ill., June 5; Lester Miller (’65) Beatrice, May 18; Lou Raasch (’65) Johnson City, Tenn., April 29; Larry Schmer (’65) Lincoln, April 7; Dale Drum (’66) Palatine, Ill., March 12; Harold Epp (’66) Sheboygan, Wis., April 24; Roger Macklem (’66) Geneva, April 3; Marjorie Schoen Schmidt (’66) Lincoln, May 9; Karen Schneider Baisinger (’67) Lincoln, March 26; James Birkel (’67) David City, March 12; Joyce Pope Goodwin (’67) Omaha, April 17; Charles Greene (’67) Lincoln, March 14; Joann King Maleski (’67) Chesapeake, Va., March 14; Norma Knott Wilcox (’67) Louisburg, Kan., March 7; Georgia Wilkinson Bishel (’68) Hastings, June 4; Paul Enersen (’68)

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Marshall, Minn., May 22; Terry Gibson (’68) Lincoln, May 25; Tommie Thompson (’68) Omaha, April 17; Keith Watt (’68) Lincoln, April 30; Larry Williams (’68) Lincoln, June 12; Jack Clair (’69) Lincoln, June 9; Glaura Harry Falk (’69) Omaha, May 28; Sharon Scott Harlan (’69) Hickman, May 4; Margaret Newell Morton (’69) Council Bluffs, Iowa, March 16; William Nygren (’69) Orlando, Fla., May 21; Arthur Scott (’69) Aurora, Colo., March 22

1970s

Loren Hoelscher (’70) Williams, Iowa, March 17; Marilyn Burton Hutchinson (’70) Lincoln, March 8; Mary Cronin King (’70) Lincoln, March 12; Ronald Patterson (’70) Greensboro, N.C., March 23; Kay Sherburne Knorr (’70) Papillion, Jan. 22; Nicholas Birkel (’71) Lincoln, May 7; Linda Nobles

1920-2022

Rosalind Morris Rosalind Morris, professor emeritus of plant cytogenetics, died March 26, just shy of her 102nd birthday. Her study of “misbehaving chromosomes” remains relevant to wheat scientists today. Morris’ career at Nebraska spanned from 1947 to 1990. She is internationally recognized for her pioneering work in wheat cytogenetics and in showing the effects of irradiation on corn.

For more than 30 years, her research focus was to locate important characteristics in wheat genes that would be useful in breeding wheat varieties.

In 1947, Morris accepted an assistant professor position at UNL, becoming the first female faculty member hired by the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. Morris was promoted to associate professor in 1953 and professor in 1958. In 1979, Morris became the first woman honored as a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy. She served as president of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences in 1980, the first woman in more than 50 years to hold the position.

Cozette (’71) Bellevue, May 29; Audrey Doolittle DeVries (’71) Cortland, June 2; Eugene Goeglein (’71) Lake in the Hills, Ill., April 26; John Hedegor (’71) Goose Creek, S.C., March

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20; Larry Loomis (’71) Corp Christi, Texas, June 2; Gary Oxley (’71) Lincoln, May 18; Leonard Sand (’71) Crete, April 24; John Erickson (’72) Bellingham, Wash., March 23; Carolyn

Kleinschmidt Freeman (’72) Lincoln, June 6; James Garver (’72) Lincoln, March 30; Dale Gatz (’72) Denver, May 2; Joseph Muskin (’72) Omaha, April 5; Terry Ochsner (’72) Vancouver,

Wash., May 4; Sara Frasier Sellgren (’72) Omaha, June 5; Michael Sundermeier (’72) Omaha, April 11; Roger Carlson (’73) Winona, Minn., April 23; Daniel Jacques (’74) Omaha, May 2; Donald Kimbrough (’74) Geneva, March 15; Donald Schuler (’74) Omaha, March 30; Lawrence Deane (’75) Papillion, May 3; Ursula Walsh (’75) Minneapolis, May 31; Edward Chevalier (’76) Council Bluffs, Iowa, April 7; Kathryn Ocander (’76) Bellevue, April 6; Kathleen Young (’76) Lincoln, May 22; Patricia Harney (’77) Lincoln, May 10; Jane Nerison (’78) Chicago, April 1; Gregory Cochran (’79) Omaha, March 11; Rhonda Beins Grosshans (’79) Aurora, May 7; Richard Pahls (’79) Boys Town, April 27; Timothy Reimers (’79) Grand Island, April 29;

George Royce (’79) Omaha, April 11; Shirley Trigg Smith (’79) Omaha, June 3

1980s

Allen Cramer (’80) Peoria, Ariz., May 10; Edward Beranek (’81) Gulfport, Fla., May 15; Diane Eicher Caulkins (’81) Sun Lakes, Ariz., April 9; Terry Maly (’81) Lincoln, May 2; Kyle Stiegert (’81) Fitchburg, Wis., April 11; Timothy Wurth (’81) Edwards, Colo., April 30; Jonathan Hook (’84) Homer City, Pa., March 14; Tod Smith (’84) Overland Park, Kan., July 25, 2021; James Cunningham (’86) Lincoln, April 18; Brian June (’86) Wahoo, May 1; Georgiann Thomas Rapp (’86) Cozad, May 11; Martin Wells (’86) Lincoln, April 21; Jeffrey Welsh (’86) Lincoln, April 23; Sharon Chatfield Sawyers (’88) Lincoln, March 21; Carol Clifford Jenkins (’89) Lincoln, May

25; Debra Kuhn Lange (’89) Addieville, Ill., May 18; Christa Rakowsky O’Dell (’89) Lincoln, April 26

1990s

Kelley Chrouser (’90) Wausau, Wis., May 31; Philip Schroeder (’91) Bloomfield, May 18; Judith Gust Bothern (’92) Lincoln, April 23; Michael Baker (’94) Lincoln, May 25; Timothy Lewandowski (’94) Ravenna, May 10; DeDra Janssen Robb (’95) Omaha, May 8; Tarn Davis (’96) Murdock, May 3; Kent Redwine (’96) Grand Island, May 16; Daniel Wiedel (’97) Beatrice, May 8; Mark Gibson (’98) Madison, Wis., June 4; Dawn Koenig (’98) Rogers, Minn., May 2

2000s

Craig Schoonveld (’01) Lincoln, May 11; Albert Ward (’02) Thornton, Colo., April 17; Jonathan Jacobs (’08) Lincoln, March 16

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Love Story

The Face That Launched a Thousand Songs He was smitten from afar, then invited her to the family farm

BY DANI EL SI M ON ( ’ 90) Poet, essayist, editor, translator and 2018 Nebraska Book Award winner

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with her fellow fine arts classmates for a mediocre cup of coffee.

Just my luck, she and a friend sat down at the counter one day to discuss their next assignment: a unit on landscape photography. Not so subtly eavesdropping on their conversation, I volunteered that I grew up on a farm in southeastern Nebraska — a farm with cows, no less. So, on a Sunday in November — in one of those “only in Nebraska” stories — we drove out to the family farm before sunrise, then had some coffee and houska (a sweet Czech bread) with my family. The rest, as they say, is history: Alba Coto (’90) photographed lots of cows that day ... and this past summer we celebrated our 28th anniversary.

We had other dates that semester: a chance encounter at the Coffee House, lunch at the Rotisserie, happy hour at Barrymore’s. Eventually, we’d see Madama Butterfly at the Lied when it opened in 1990. My cassette repertoire also included several other border-crossing albums: the torch songs of k.d. lang’s Shadowland, the Britpop R&B of the Fine Young Cannibals’ self-titled debut and the alt-retro country of the Cowboy Junkies’ The Trinity Session. But when it came to romance, the Gipsy Kings had schooled me in the language of love. And nothing quite matched the magic of that little hole-in-the-dough bagel shop.

N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY

katie nieland

et me introduce you to The Dating Game, late 1980s analog style: 1. Wait for her to walk by the window facing R Street. 2. When the door opens, push play. It’s that simple.

During my morning shift at the bagel shop adjacent the Temple Building, timing is everything. On the days I know she’s stopping by for coffee and a bagel, I fast-forward my cassette past Bamboléo, the song about a “wobbly” womanizer, and go straight to Un Amor (A Love), a ballad that pours out my most maudlin romantic longings. I discover that her name is Alba, which in Spanish and Italian means both sunrise and aubade — a popular genre of Renaissance poetry Speaking your mind, I seek meaning behind the words, that imagines two lovers parting at daythe mind behind the meaning, break after their tryst the night before. the tongue-loosed translation of you.

This particular fall I had returned —Excerpted from Love in Three to the university after studying abroad Languages, in After Reading in the south of France during the Everything (2016), by Daniel Simon 1988-89 school year. I was a student in Montpellier, the hometown of the Gipsy Kings, a rumba catalana group of Frenchborn guitarists and singers whose Romani parents fled Spain during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Several singles from their self-titled third album were released during my year abroad, including Un Amor in the summer of 1989.

That fall, I returned to campus as a fifth-year senior, working two jobs to pay off my studyabroad debts. The bagel shop was tucked into the arts district that includes Sheldon and, today, the Lied Center and Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. The Hole Works happened to be a popular hangout spot for music, art and theater students on campus. Alba, a photography major, often came by

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ubt.com/extra200 *Checking offer not valid for primary accountholder on existing UBT personal checking account(s). Savings offer not valid for primary accountholder on existing Simply Savings or Simply Savings Student account(s). Offer not valid if existing checking or savings accounts closed 120 days prior to 05/02/2022. Receive $50 when you open a Simply Free checking account and complete the following within 90 calendar days of account opening: (1) have $500 in electronic direct deposits posted; and (2) enroll in e-Statements via online or mobile banking. Receive $150 when you open an interest-earning checking account (Simply Free Plus, Simply Free Platinum, or Premium Interest Advantage) and complete the following within 90 days of account opening: (1) have $2,500 in electronic direct deposits posted; and (2) enroll in e-Statements via online or mobile banking. Receive $50 when you open a Simply Savings account and complete the following within 90 days of account opening: (1) maintain a $2,500 balance; and (2) enroll in e-Statements via online or mobile banking. Bonus is credited to your active account within 100 days of account opening if you meet requirements. $50 opening deposit required on checking accounts (Simply Free Plus requires a $1,000 opening deposit). Simply Savings requires a $2,500 opening deposit in new money. Various Annual Percentage Yields (APYs) offered for interest-earning checking accounts based on the account and balance maintained. For example, Simply Free Platinum requires a $100 minimum daily balance to earn .05% APY. Simply Savings earns .10% APY. APYs accurate as of 06/30/2022. Fees may reduce earnings; rates subject to change. Promotion offers limited to one new checking account and one new savings account per person and cannot be combined with other offers. Simply Free Platinum accounts are designed for people ages 50 and over. Premium Interest Advantage is limited to residents of Douglas, Sarpy, and Washington counties in Nebraska. Promotions available 05/02/2022 to 09/30/2022. Member FDIC

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