Search Underway for Dean of Student Affairs

Our thanks go to the following colleagues who have been selected to serve on the Dean of Student Affairs search committee:  

The search is currently under way and we expect to successfully conclude the search by the middle of summer.  The commitment of time for these committee members will be great.  Again, we wish to express our sincere appreciation to each of them for their "above and beyond" service to our campus.

- Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs 

Spring Commencement Friday, May 7 at 10:00 a.m.

The 2010 Spring Commencement speaker is Dr. Terry Hartle, Senior Vice President, Division of Government and Public Affairs, American Council on Education (ACE). For more than a decade, Dr. Hartle has directed ACE's efforts to engage federal policy makers on a broad range of issues affecting higher education, including student aid, scientific research, government regulation and tax policy. He holds a doctorate in public policy from The George Washington University, a master's from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from Hiram College.

Nikki R. Scott of Broken Bow will deliver the student address, and she will graduate Magna Cum Laude from the College of Education with a Communication Disorders Comprehensive endorsement. James T. Jelkin of Kearney has been selected as the Honors Convocation student speaker, and he will graduate Summa Cum Laude with an Organizational Communication Major and a Theatre Minor.

Spring Commencement will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 7, 2010, in the Health and Sports Center (HSC).

 - written in collaboration with Bev Mathiesen, Office of the Chancellor 

Newest Edition of UNK’s Literary Publication, The Platte Valley Review Recently Released

Volume 31, No. 1 of The Platte Valley Review is now available. This edition represents a revitalization of the publication, which has been on hiatus for seven years. The special volume contains works of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and ecocriticism, providing a tribute to literary life and its migrations and representing the work of writers from around the world, including Antarctica. Contributors include nationally and internationally respected authors as well as emerging voices producing excellent work. The editorial team is proud to celebrate the release of this edition of The Platte Valley Review and to bring UNK back into the literary publication field. The Marlene and Vern Plambeck Endowment for the College of Fine Arts and Humanities provided the funding for this print edition. Vern Plambeck was part of the English faculty at UNK for 36 years, serving as editor of The Platte Valley Review for 25 years. Dr. Plambeck’s comments about the publication follow. 

Copies of the newest volume of The Platte Valley Review will be available at the Reynolds Series National Poetry Month event featuring Greg Kuzma, Greg Kosmicki, & Don Welch on Saturday, April 24, at 3:00 p.m. in the Sandhills Room of the Nebraskan Student Union.

- written in collaboration with Allison Hedge Coke, Editor of The Platte Valley Review and Associate Professor of English

CSIS Department receives 15 Verizon DROID phones from Google's AndroidEDU program

Dr. John Hastings and the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems (CSIS) at UNK have been awarded 15 Verizon DROID phones from Google's AndroidEDU program at a current retail value of $9000.  The award is the result of a competitive application process. AndroidEDU is designed to generate a new interest in mobile engineering and make computer science tangible for students by supporting a hands-on coding and testing experience.  Dr. Hastings' proposal, titled "UNKLE! (University of Nebraska at Kearney: Launch Engineering!)" aims to launch an interest in mobile phone computing which will increase UNK computer science program visibility, integrate mobile phone projects into a variety of courses, and culminate in a specific focus on mobile phone computing within the software engineering course.  The phones will support undergraduate student research as well.  CSIS students have been using the phones already this semester, as they arrived at the beginning of April.

 - Sherri Harms, Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems 

UNK Sent 21 Undergraduates to 24th Annual NCUR

On April 15-17, 21 of UNK’s undergraduate researchers attended the 24^th annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. The group made the trip to Missoula by bus and received recognition in an article in the University of Montana’s newspaper. The students participated in oral and poster presentation sessions, joining with nearly 1,500 undergraduate students from other institutions.

UNK had 24 students submit abstracts to this year’s conference, and all 24 were invited to participate. Three students were unable to attend because of prior commitments. Congratulations to the 2010 NCUR presenters and their faculty mentors!

For more information about the 2010 NCUR, see these articles from University of Montana publications: “Campus to host major undergraduate research conference” and “‘Meet Me In Montana’: National Conference on Undergraduate Research April 15-17 at The University of Montana.”

- written in collaboration with Susan Campbell, Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity;
Dianne Holcomb, Office of Sponsored Programs; and
John Falconer, Office of Sponsored Programs and Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity 

Library - In Brief Online  

Diana Keith, Government Documents Librarian, announces retirement 

Written by Janet Wilke, Dean of the Librarywilkej@unk.edu 

Please join the library in thanking Diana Keith, Government Documents Librarian, for her service to the University. Diana joined the library as support staff in 1978. When the position of Government Documents Librarian became available in 1980, Diana, already possessing a Master’s degree in Library Science, was tapped to fill the position on an interim basis. A year later, after a full search, she was hired to serve in the position from which she is now retiring.

The University, or as it was then known, Kearney State College (KSC), has benefited from Diana’s expertise in many ways. In addition to librarianship, Diana served as an instructor for the Geography Department, in the mid-1980s. This honor fell to her based on her outstanding scholarship as a graduate from KSC (1977, summa cum laude, geography). She has also served on several Academic Program Review Committees, and numerous other library and University committees. Under her guidance, the Federal and State documents collections have become an outstanding resource for the University and the 3rd District of Nebraska.

Asked what she values most about her experience at Calvin T. Ryan, she said, “I’ve enjoyed helping students, faculty and staff find the information they need and the challenges of working with government documents.”

Thank you Diana! You will be missed… 

Fortieth anniversary of Earth Day 

Written by Jennifer Harvey, Curriculum Librarianharveyjs@unk.edu 

April 22, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day (click on this hyperlink to read an overview of the annual celebration from Gale’s Virtual Reference Library–login as a valid user may be required if accessing from an off campus IP address). The year the celebration began is also the year that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Clear Air Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) were enacted in this country (these hyperlinks also resolve to articles from the library’s online resources).

Who was president of the United States in 1970?  Richard Nixon (follow this link to see some of the resources available at the library related to this subject).

Want to catch the spirit of the day? Explore these topics and more through the library’s catalog of resources:

wind power
ethanol
biodiesel fuels
global warming
cap and trade
organic farming
bioengineering
recycling 

Use the facets on the left-side of the catalog page to narrow results to just government documents, ebooks, videos, or practical resources like kits and games from the Curriculum department. Looking for information in scholarly journals related to these topics? Just click on the arrow button in the Articles and More area on the right hand side of the page to search over several general databases. 

Recognition

 Items to Note for Faculty and Faculty Committees

•   Academic Affairs Committee 
  The link to the CAP ("Course Approval Process") information is located on the Academic Affairs Committee page. CAP is an electronic approval system that has taken the place of the paper forms for course proposals. The new online system allows department chairs to initiate proposals, which then automatically route to the next levels in the approval process. The entire approval process can be monitored online. **NOTE** The paper process for making changes to programs will continue; the form and instructions for submitting program proposals are available on the Academic Affairs Committee page.
  
  Worksheets for both the creation of new courses and the alteration of existing courses have now been added to the CAP information page. Faculty members may use these worksheets to assist them in gathering the necessary information for department chairs, who are responsible for entering course requests in the system.
  
  The schedule of Academic Affairs deadlines for the 2009-2010 academic year is available on the Academic Affairs Committee page. The page also contains a committee roster and a link to the approved Academic Affairs minutes. Department or program chairs needing to make curricular changes should be aware of these deadlines and instructions.
  
   
•   Faculty Handbook In a continuing effort to provide faculty with the most current policy information, the Faculty Handbook has been revised and reorganized. The purpose of the handbook is to gather the documents and policies that inform and guide critical decisions, including the Collective Bargaining Agreement (2009-2011).
  
  Please note that the Faculty Handbook is updated in an online version only; refer to the online handbook when looking for the most up-to-date versions of policies, including the new Guidelines for Evaluation, Promotion, and Tenure, which have recently been revised. 
    
   
•   Faculty Senate To keep faculty informed and in the spirit of shared goverenance, the 2009-2010 Faculty Senate Roster is posted on the Faculty Senate home page. The page also contains links to meeting agendas, meeting minutes of both the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Senate committees, and the Faculty Senate Constitution and Bylaws.
  
   
•   General Studies 
  Instructions have been posted on the General Studies website regarding the submission of courses  for the new General Studies Program. The course submission page includes information about the portal courses and the capstone courses.
  
   
•  Graduate Council 
  A webpage has been created for the Graduate Council. It contains information regarding changes to graduate courses or programs, as well as a list of the 2009 Graduate Program Committees and a link to important Graduate Faculty announcements.  
  
   
•   WI/CD Committee The WI/CD Committee has posted a schedule of deadlines for the spring semester on the WI/CD Committee page. The page also contains instructions for applying for WI or CD designation, as well as a committee roster, agendas, and minutes. These resources are provided for those wishing to offer courses as WI or CD.

 Calendar of Events within the Academic and Student Affairs Division

 Edited by Kim Elliott, Coordinator of Academic Publications 

 A Publication of the
Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs
University of Nebraska at Kearney
905 West 25th Street
Kearney, NE 68849
Phone: (308)865-8209 

  For questions or submissions,
contact the Coordinator of Academic Publications at 8935 or academicpublications@unk.edu.