TMU 6(16) -- July 28, 2009

School mourns loss
Alumna dead at 29

Crystal Renee Reid Austin, 29, passed away unexpectedly July 17. She was business reporter for the Bismarck Tribune.

Photo courtesy Bismark Tribune

Reid graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2006 after serving as editor of UNO's student newspaper, the Gateway. She rose to local prominence with her work as a reporter with the Bismarck Tribune and managing editor of Business Watch magazine. Her work at the Trib gained her the coveted Associated Press Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, which included two months working with the AP in Berlin, Germany. She also received numerous journalism awards in Nebraska and North Dakota.

She was extremely active in the local Bismarck-Mandan community. She was the current vice president of the Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals Network and received the 2008 Teddy Roosevelt Award for Persistence from the organization. She was also a 2008 Bismarck-Mandan Leadership graduate. Additionally, Crystal founded and was the director of Capitol Shakespeare, one of her proudest contributions to Bismarck-Mandan, her obituary reported.

She lived in the Philippines, Germany, England and seven US states. She was the Department of Defense Dependent School System European Women's Tennis Champion in 1998, and twice selected to participate in the Model United Nations program in The Hague, The Netherlands.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Crystal Reid Austin Memorial Fund via the Capital Credit Union, PO Box 2096, Bismarck, ND 58502-2096, (701) 255-0042 or 1-800-735-6922 and the funds will be distributed to Crystal's favorite charities.

Growing older in Nebraska
UNO TV program planned

Assistant Dean and Professor Mike Hilt has secured $4,500 in funding from Home Instead Senior Care to produce a 60 minute program.

"Growing Older in Nebraska” is a joint effort between broadcasting students, UNO Television staff, and faculty in communication and gerontology. The funds will be used to purchase a new HD student camera.

Broadcasting students will work on the project during the fall semester.

Hilt also announced that UNO will provide more than $14,000 in matching technology fee funds to support our transition to HDTV field cameras for The Omaha News and other programs.

Of note
Excellence in print & action

Alumnus and KVNO Producer-Production Coordinator, Josh Krohn won a Nebraska Broadcasters Association award under News Best In Depth or Investigative Story or Series for "Street Children" – a project with Assistant Professor and General Manager Robert Franklin.

Retired Instructor Dave Hamer is one of two inductees into the NBA Hall of Fame.

UNO Television won four awards: Public Service Program: “Consider This...”; Public Service Project: “Omaha Kids Coalition”; Program or Series “Hola Amigos! Hello Friends”; and Service to Business/Industry/Govt/Education “Inside Art.” Gary Repair and School of Communication broadcasting students produce the new arts program.

Two UNO TV productions also were awarded Silver Telly Awards in the Classic category. This is for productions done any time in the last 30 years, by previous Telly winners, to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Telly Awards. The Silver Telly is the highest award given in the competition. The programs were two UNO TV documentaries, "The War Comes to Nebraska" and "Madagascar: Conservation vs. Survival." This is the second Silver Telly for the Madagascar documentary, the first was awarded in 2007, after the program's initial release. The program also received a Davie Award and a Regional Emmy. "The War Comes to Nebraska" was originally released in 1997 and at that time was recognized by the American Association for State and Local History as well as receiving a Gold CASE award.

* * *

Instructor Courtney Fristoe will present at the Midwest Consortium for Service Learning in Higher Education Conference "Millennials Making a Difference," Sept. 23-25, at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Scott Conference Center.

* * *

Kayser Professor Bruce Johansen was interviewed July 15 on the noon news of KSFR (101.1 FM), National Public Radio, Santa Fe, New Mexico, about the epidemic of lung cancer among former uranium miners on the Navajo Nation. The interview was aired on the 30th anniversary of a major uranium waste spill into the Rio Puerco on the eastern edge of the reservation. Johansen also published, “Chemicals [in the Arctic]” in Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen, Stig Andur Pedersen, and Vincent F. Hendricks. The Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Technology. West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, 546-550.

* * *

UNO PRSSA placed third in the National Organ Donor Awareness Competition (NODAC). Their campaign "Be a Team Player: Become a MVDonor" used a sports theme for its event on campus April 16. More than 200 students attended the event at the Student Center, which featured a talk from Sarah Prenosil, a UNO senior who had a heart transplant at age 14 and a panel from the Nebraska Organ Recovery System and the Medical Center. Penn State and University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh took first and second place in the annual competition sponsored by Rowan University. Kristen Martin, Mikaela Knipe, Heather Nasif, Cassie Prestia and Jill Sauser are seniors and presenting team members at the National Conference Nov. 9. in San Diego. PRSSA is sending 12 officers and account executives thanks to fundraising efforts and Maverick Solutions fees, Advisor Karen Weber said.

Did you know?
People in the news

UNO Forensics Coach Abbie Syrek was a "behind the scenes" coordinator for a summer debate camp July 27-30 at Arts and Sciences Hall on the UNO campus.

* * *

Associate Professor Dave Ogden welcomed granddaughter Grace Elizabeth, his first grandchild, on July 27.

Dave Ogden and Grace Elizabeth

Grace was 20 inches and 9.3 pounds.

* * *

Secretary III Michelle Thies’ Grandson, Garix Alexander Muzzy, born October 23, 2008 was the first place winner of the Shelby Co., Iowa Fair Chubbiest Cheeks Baby Contest.

Garix Alexander Muzzy

Garix was the top winner, beating out two others at the July 18 event.

* * *

Associate Professor Chris W. Allen attended the Poynter Institute’s Multimedia Journalism for Educators seminar July 20-23 in St. Petersburg, FL.

* * *

Assistant Professor Adam Tyma was interviewed on UNO Television’s “Consider This...” The program focused on Facebook, a social networking Internet site.

* * *

Maverick Solutions, UNO’s public relations firm, is assisting KVNO in promotion of the launch of UNO sports broadcasts.

Footnotes
Evidence of excellence

1. The sixth annual La Notte Italiana Italian Night fund raiser dinner will be held Sunday, Oct. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Suneg Center at St. Margaret Mary Church across from UNO. Italian Night serves as UNO PRSSA’s biggest fundraiser and helps to pay for all state, regional and national professional development opportunities and competitions/campaigns for members as well as the bi-annual induction and senior recognition dinners. Last year with donations, ticket sales and silent auction proceeds, PRSSA earned nearly $6,000.

2. Alumna Allison Meier is the newest High School teacher and Cheer Coach at Boys Town.

3. Alumnus Kenny Hopkinson accepted a job offer from Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kansas as a Communication Instructor and Director of Forensics.

4. Instructor Mike Whye has two stories in the July/August issue of Nebraska Life magazine. One is a profile on the hyper-realistic works of Omaha artist Kent Bellows, who died in 2005 and whose works sold for up $125,000 in East Coast galleries. The other is about what may be the state's largest used book sale, at the Hastings Public Library.

The week in photos
Images from around the School

Chi Zhang defends Ph.D. in Information Technology
Jeremy Lipschultz was a committee member

Around town
Omaha happenings

The Omaha Press Club inducted the late John Clark, WOWT news director, into the Hall of Fame. Wife Joyce and son Jeff accepted the award.

Alumna Carol Schrader, Joyce Clark and Jeff Clark

Photo courtesy Gary Willis and the OPC

Dates & times
Upcoming events

August
August 15 – Part-time faculty workshop, ASH 110, 9 a.m.
Faculty reception, Alumni Center, 2-4 p.m.

August 18 – Welcome Week 2009, Tuesday is designated as Academic Department Day, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

September
TBA

October
October 4 – Italian Night, St. Margaret Mary, 6 p.m.