Faculty Notes
Advertising
Linda Shipley, associate dean, has become the chair of the college's graduate committee and will be coordinating the graduate program for the college.
Michael Goff, assistant professor of advertising, has been named by Dean Norton as the interim assistant dean for undergraduate studies.
Frauke Hachtmann presented a paper at AEJMC in the International Communication Division. The paper was based on her master's thesis: "German and American Students' Perceptions of Social Values as Depicted in Print Ads: A Copy Testing Approach."
Phyllis Larsen wrote an article titled "Academic Reputation: How U.S. News & World Report Survey Respondents Form Perceptions," which was published in the CASE International Journal of Educational Advancement. She also received a UCARE grant to conduct research along with undergraduate student Jonathan Watts. They will explore the value of pairing students with an industry professional in a mentoring relationship. This research draws from the mentoring project Larsen coordinates with Public Relations Student Society of America members. In its second year, the project includes 19 pairs of students and public relations professionals. Larsen was recently elected to a three-year term on the Nebraska Public Relations Society of America board of directors as the ethics chairwoman and continues to serve on UNL's Teaching Council.
Nancy Mitchell reviewed "The Media Handbook: A complete guide to advertising media selection, planning, research and buying," second edition, published in the Journal of Advertising Education, fall 2003 issue. She also wrote a case study about "The Farmer's Wife," a documentary that aired on PBS. "Questions of role: Is a documentary film maker a friend, a journalist, or an entertainer?" will appear in the fifth edition of Patterson and Wilkins' "Media Ethics: Issues and Cases" text.
Broadcasting
Rick Alloway presented the "pre-performance talk" prior to The King's Singers' holiday concert at the Lied Center on Dec. 5. He also moderated a panel on Thursday, Jan. 22, at the UNL Culture Center on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as part of MLK week activities on campus. He was honored for the 12th time with the Contribution to Students Award presented by the UNL Parents Association. He also has been a frequent contributor to Kent Pavelka's morning show on KKAR-Omaha discussing media related issues - things like coverage of the Iraq War and the creation of the new liberal talk radio network.
Laurie Thomas Lee spoke on a panel about the effects of the USA Patriot Act on university students and faculty at an event sponsored by several student groups Nov. 13. She served as chair of the AEJMC Membership Committee and hosted the association's new member breakfast at the national meeting in Kansas City in August. As president of the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska (AFCON), she hosted a panel during Banned Book Week on "Issues Confronting Book Banning/Intellectual Freedom," Sept. 15 at UNL. She also helped in hosting AFCON's 15th anniversary statewide annual meeting and panel presentation on "Is it OK to Say 'God Bless You?'" Nov. 22.
Peter Mayeux reviewed the prospectus and nine manuscript chapters for an American media history textbook Wadsworth/Thomsen Learning Group. The book will be published in 2005.
Jerry Renaud's documentary, "Cuba: Illogical Temple," was released in October. The documentary was shown at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center and on Nebraska NET. Renaud has secured a grant through the Department of Education to have the program closed-captioned and an audio description added so it can be uplinked to all educational television stations through NETA (National Educational Telecommunications Association) in January. He is also in the process of creating a Spanish version and trying to market the program internationally.
Shooting is now completed on a six-year project looking at three buffalo ranchers in Nebraska and how things have changed during that time. It will now be edited into a 30-minute documentary. Plans are underway for the spring 2004 depth report and documentary. The class will look at the Midwest, failing rural communities and the ability of some areas to sustain populations of people and animals.
Long-term plans are underway to take a group of students to France next August to look at the complex relationship between France and the U.S. over the past 250 years. Students will then produce an in-depth magazine and 60-minute documentary.
Larry Walklin has been appointed chair of the Freedom of Information Committee of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and reappointed as an NBA representative to the Media of Nebraska Steering Committee.
News-editorial
John Bender is the lead author for the eighth edition of "Reporting for the Media." The book will be out this summer and available for adoption for the fall 2004. Oxford University Press is the new publisher. This addition will also include an electronic component - either a CD-ROM or a Web site - specifically for teachers and students using the textbook. The electronic materials will include additional exercises. Later the authors may add updates for the text itself.
Charlyne Berens accompanied a group of honors students to Washington, D.C., for five days in January. She is on leave spring semester, doing research for a book about Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel. Her book, "Power to the People," about the Nebraska Unicameral and social choice, was published by University Press of America in March.
Luis Peon-Casanova has been interim photojournalism teacher during 2003-04. With the help of the college's computer specialist, Luther Hinrichs, he created a new electronic darkroom consisting of eight computer workstations, five scanners and two printers. The lab is home for lectures, scanning and printing services for photojournalism classes. In the future, he plans to be able to produce short video segments and multimedia using Final Cut Pro in one of the workstations.
Mary Kay Quinlan and her oral history colleague Barbara W. Sommer were invited to present day-long oral history workshops this year at the American Association for State and Local History annual meeting in Providence, R.I., and at the annual meeting of the North Dakota State Historical Society in Bismarck. They also presented papers at both of those conferences and at the annual meeting of the Oral History Association on their recent oral history project and book documenting the history of Lincoln's Cushman Motor Works.
Quinlan and Sommer also presented oral history workshops in 2003 for the African-American Community of Lincoln Oral History Project and the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation. They assisted the Foundation with research and writing its Ak-Sar-Ben memories book, published in conjunction with the opening of the new Omaha Convention Center. Sommer and Quinlan are co-authors of "The Oral History Manual," published by AltaMira Press in 2002.
Joe Starita went to Washington, D.C., in September to meet with the head of the National Science Foundation as part of a plan for the J school to initiate a science-writing sub-specialty within the college. While there, he also visited several area high schools to help recruit minority students to UNL. In October, he went to Paris to participate in a French national literary festival celebrating literature from the American West. His book, "The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge," was one of the featured selections of the festival. In November, it was announced that last year's depth reporting magazine on Cuba has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. Starita also was part of a five-day Learning Community trip to New York in mid-January.
