Weber and PRSSA recognized
Lecturer Karen Weber recently was named the UNO Student Organizations & Leadership Programs Outstanding Organization Advisor for 2008-09. Additionally, UNO PRSSA earned a finalist spot in the Club & Organization of the Year competition.
Pictured from left: Cassie Prestia, Maverick Solutions, account executive; Heather Knudson, PRSSA president and Maverick Solutions account executive; Karen Weber, PRSSA and Maverick Solutions faculty adviser; Yan He, PRSSA communications director and Maverick Solutions account executive; Heather Nasif, PRSSA recruitment director and Maverick Solutions account executive; and Jessica Legg, PRSSA public relations director.PRSSA earned an honorable mention for outstanding student organization. Associate Professor Chris Allen won the advisor award in 2008, and Associate Professor Hugh Reilly won it in 2007.
Top fifteen
UNO Forensics repeats
The UNO Forensics team has placed 13th in the nation for the second consecutive year and scored 30 more points than last year.
UNO ForensicsUNO Forensics competed at the AFA-NIET (American Forensics Association-National Individual Events Tournament), held in Akron, Ohio, April 1-7.
UNO advanced five events to quarter-finals (top 24 in the nation). Of those five, four advanced to semi-finals (top 12). UNO had two students compete in national final rounds (top 6).
Senior Matt Eledge quarter-finaled Prose Interpretation. He advanced to semi-finals in duo with Cameron Logsdon and made finals in Dramatic Interpretation. Matt placed 2nd overall in Dramatic Interpretation. Matt was also recognized among the elite “Top 20” in Individual Sweepstakes. He placed 19th, the only student from Nebraska to do so. Logsdon, a sophomore, semi-finaled duo with Eledge. He advanced to finals in Poetry Interpretation and placed 4th.
Freshman Tessie Stednitz advanced to semi-finals in Program of Oral Interpretation (POI). At AFA, every UNO student contributed to the 13th place finish.
Western Kentucky, George Mason and Texas-Austin were the top three teams in the nation. The UNO squad finished just behind James Madison and ahead of Northwestern. UNO was among four Nebraska schools in the elite top 20, which also included Nebraska-Lincoln, Doane College and Hastings College.
Exclusive news analyses
The Omaha News dominates primary coverage
The Omaha News covered the primary election April 7, and the students offered a professional broadcast and important public service for the community.
Students prepare for live broadcast
The control roomChris Allen, Mike Hilt and UNO TV staff again assisted the students in their live show from 8-10 p.m. – the broadcast offered the only live and extended, in-depth coverage with news analyses. Allen received positive comments from a local television news director.
Guest Mark Leonard is interviewedThe news and analyses were insightful about every aspect of a very important city election. The students were back on Cox 17/Qwest 74 at 4 p.m. April 8 for a wrap-up.
Of note
Excellence in action
Teresa Lamsam recently traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the invitation of the National Congress of American Indians. The NCAI Policy Research Center has developed a workshop entitled "Research that Benefits Native Communities: A Guide for Tribal Leaders." Lamsam was invited to take part in a Train the Trainer pilot session for the purpose of evaluating the training process. She also gave a "live" workshop presentation to community members. The project is described as follows: "By recognizing the values of Western research approaches and Indigenous ways of knowing, tribal leaders can choose to reap the benefits of Western research while still respecting their own community standards. This research curriculum is intended to be a resource for tribal leadership as they fulfill their role as responsible and proactive stewards of their Native communities. The curriculum helps start a dialogue in reconciling Indigenous and Western worldviews and provides practical information on how to engage with research." Lamsam has co-authored with an Iowa State researcher, “Navigating ways of knowing: Finding collaborative space in community development research,” in the 2008 Intersecting Interests compendium. It is now available as a PDF on the website.
Lamsam also traveled to the University of South Carolina for her leadership mentoring trip. The program concludes later this year with a meeting at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference in Boston.
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The National Broadcasting Society UNO chapter has won a Most Improved Chapter national NBS award in New York City for their work hosting a regional conference in Omaha last fall.
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Taricka Fairgood, Mike Durand, Kayla Vavra, Kevin Laurenti and Kylie Albrecht have been awarded a Pinnacle Award from the American Marketing Association. The students were all members of last fall's Advanced Advertising class and won the award for their work on a campaign for Rick's Boatyard Café, Hugh Reilly said. This is the sixth year in a row that students from this class have won a Pinnacle Award, which is a tribute to the hard work and talent of our students.
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The first UNO School of Communication Lambda Pi Eta formal induction and elections for officers (Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer) was held April 23 at the Collaborating Commons. Andrea Ciurej has been named founding chapter president, Instructor Marlina Davidson reports. She, Instructor Kate Rempfer and Instructor Courtney Fristoe organized the chapter.
Induction at the CPAC Commons* * * *
Shereen Bingham, Robert Carlson, Karen Kangas Dwyer and Marshall Prisbell (2009) just published, “Student Misbehaviors, Instructor Responses, and Connected Classroom Climate: Implications for the Basic Course,” in Basic Communication Course Annual 21, pp. 30-68. Dwyer also recently had five papers accepted for the November National Communication Association meeting in Chicago, including co-authored work with instructors Marlina Davidson and Kate Rempfer.
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Courtney Fristoe’s honors speech class partnered with Alice Buffett Magnet Middle School to work on coaching, mentoring, outlining and presentation skills. The Buffett students participated in various service-learning projects, and the UNO honors students helped them reflect and organize a speech. The Buffett students delivered their speeches April 17th with their UNO honor student mentors present.
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Cynthia Robinson-Moore presented to more than 100 people at the Malcolm X Conference April 15 on campus. "From Racism to Colorism: Race, Tension, and Black Female Beauty" dealt with four parallels between racism and "colorism." She plans a submission to Essence magazine. Also, her entry, "Cultural Contracts Theory," has been accepted for the SAGE Reference project Encyclopedia of Identity.
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Bruce Johansen's Forgotten Founders was cited in “Kuka omistaa demokratian? Länsimaat ovat omineet demokraattiset ihanteet, mutta irokeesien demokratia oli Yhdysvaltain perustajillekin liian tasa-arvoista.” By Juha Rudanko, in Kumpanni (Helsinki, Finland), April, 2009. Kumpanni is a magazine published by Finland’s Foreign Ministry. The April, 2009 edition featured non-European concepts of democracy, from Africa, Asia, and Native America.
Did you know?
People in the news
Beth Flynn, a 2006 School of Communication graduate, is owner and operator of Capture the Moment.
Flynn recently told Karen Weber about a very successful nine month writing assignment with international aviation magazine Twin & Turbine. “I was really able to use my skills from your classes to help land this assignment, as well as improve my writing, which is something I try to do everyday,” she said. Last May, Flynn also organized a fundraiser for Cervical Cancer Awareness in the Omaha area –raising nearly $3,600 for the National Cervical Cancer Coalition. Capture the Moment specializes in portrait photography.
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As part of its "Be a Team Player: Become an M.V. (Most Valuable) Player organ donor awareness campaign, PRSSA held a bake sale on April 15. All proceeds were directed to the campaign, and a donation will be made to Donor Dudes, a national college organ donation advocacy group, founded by Chris Klug, the bronze medalist snowboarder and liver transplant recipient. The campus event was held April 16.
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PRSSA’s Mexican Night featured authentic Mexican cuisine from a variety of local Mexican restaurants on April 18 at the Biltmore Apartment Clubhouse, 120th and Maple streets.
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CFAM "A Breath of Fresh Art" April 19 included the following people from the School of Communication: Karen Weber and Kathy Tremmel: Voci per Voi choral group; Cameron Logsdon, UNO Forensics Team member: award-winning forensics piece; Josh Buda, broadcasting student: magic tricks during the silent auction as one of the pre-show acts; Tom McCauley, journalism student: poetry reading; and Chantel Crockett: co-organizer. The event raised more than $6,000 for CFAM alumna Lara Marsh. Born with cystic fibrosis, she must raise funds for a needed lung transplant.
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Alumnus Sterling Smith, 44, a Chicago economic analyst and vice president of trading firm FuturesOne, was quoted in a recent Chicago Tribune story about the revival of interest in the rock band Rush. Smith has followed the group since high school. He told the newspaper that he joins several dozen like-minded Rush devotees who work at the Chicago Board of Trade. "Talk to any male on the floor [of the Board of Trade] and if they're under 55, I would bet you they're at least 50 percent likely to be a fan. And I think I know why: The Rush fan is a person who values precision and analysis, and the music is often about the rights of the individual—and any of these things would be interesting to someone who trades commodities all day. We're a mathematically oriented group."
Footnotes
Evidence of excellence
1. Assistant Professor Adam Tyma facilitated a student debate April 8 in a Human Resource Management course at UNO. Students debated the Employee Free Choice Act. The proposed legislation makes dramatic changes in the way employees might go about forming a union.
2. Mike Sherer is displaying his Iowa photography during Second Fridays in historic downtown Council Bluffs. He has been documenting through images the changes in the rural landscape in the Hawkeye state.
3. Three local media practitioners discussed the changing face of today’s media at the UNO School of Communication’s annual High School Journalism and Broadcasting Conference on April 23.
Hugh Reilly questions panelistsLeAnne Morman, WOWT-TV backpack journalist; Matt Tompkins, imaging director for Clear Channel Radio in Omaha; and Karyn Spencer, Omaha World-Herald reporter, discussed “A Fresh Twist on the Traditional: New Media Trends.” Hugh Reilly of the School of Communication moderated the discussion.
The MBSC Ballroom was full of studentsA record 350 students from the Omaha metro area attended this year’s conference. Of those, 90 visited UNO in the morning before the conference to learn about campus media facilities and visit the School of Communication. Sherrie Wilson coordinates the annual event.
The week in photos
Images from around the school
Alumnus Larry Boersma spoke to Dave Ogden's PR class
Dave Ogden guides a strategic planning discussion
Sherrie Wilson prepares high school journalists for the conference
Area high school students asked questions
The OPS Career Center won numerous awards
Omaha Press Club scholarship winners and honorees
Terry Hynes presents Phi Kappa Phi honors to Kevin LaurentiDates & times
Mark calendars for interesting events
April
28 – PRSSA Presentations, MBSC Chancellor’s Room, 4 p.m.
29 – Persuasion Poster Session, MBSC Dodge Rooms, 10 a.m.
30 – Scholarship Breakfast, MBSC Chancellor’s Room, 9 a.m.; 5th Annual Alumni Panel, MBSC Dodge Rooms A & B, 1 p.m.; Reception, WFAB Art Gallery, 4:30 p.m.; 54th Annual Awards Banquet, Thompson Alumni Center, 6 p.m.
May
5 – UNO 2009 Service Award Ceremony, MBSC, 11:30 a.m.
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