By SEAN McCARTHY
Alumni News staff
Kelly Jo Hinrichs doesn’t need a polygraph to spot an excuse made up by a student. She learned how to detect a lie while she was growing up with an older brother and sister. She also thinks she heard all the good and bad excuses when she was a student at the University of Nebraska.
“I can usually detect a bull by body language and their facial expressions,” Hinrichs said. “I can tell when someone’s lying.”
Hinrichs has already used this skill at her new job as lecturer in the UNL advertising department. When one of her students presents an excuse, Hinrichs makes the student plead his or her case in front of the class. She said she thought it was a good solution for excuse-prone students.“There are very few instances where students don’t turn in their work now,” Hinrichs said.
Hinrichs began teaching at NU in spring 1998 as an adjunct faculty member. She became a full-time faculty member last fall, teaching a promotional writing and a copy and strategy course.
Hinrichs grew up in Little Rock, Ark., where she attended high school at Mt. St. Mary’s Academy for Girls. Hinrichs said she became “over involved” in extracurricular activities in high school, including cheerleading and swimming.
When Hinrichs was ready to choose a college, her parents told her she could attend school out of state only at a place where family members lived within a 50-mile radius. With two cousins attending NU and and aunt and uncle who lived in Omaha, Lincoln was an obvious choice, Hinrichs said. Besides that, her father graduated from NU.
She enrolled at NU in 1982 to pursue her love of swimming as well as to earn a degree in journalism with an emphasis in advertising.
During her years in college, Hinrichs landed an internship at Miller and Paine in 1983. She acted as a liaison between the now closed department store and the Daily Nebraskan. Part of her job included developing ads for the store. That responsibility became one of the most vivid and valuable experiences Hinrichs had as a student at NU, she said.
Hinrichs graduated from NU in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with an emphasis on advertising. Her minors included psychology, art and English.
She went to work for Swanson Russell Associates, an advertising agency based in Lincoln, as an assistant account executive and was later promoted to account executive. Steve Russell, co-owner of the business, taught Hinrichs about dedication to the field of advertising as well as about the job, Hinrichs said.
“He helped toughen my skin a little bit,” Hinrichs said.
In 1992, Hinrichs was hired as the marketing director for Cliffs Notes, where she was the liaison between the firm and advertising agencies.
One of her biggest challenges at Cliffs Notes was connecting the business to the Internet, Hinrichs said.
Before going on-line, Hinrichs had to determine the needs and wants of the audience Cliffs Notes was trying to reach and learn the company’s own objectives.
“It’s costly to get into it (the Internet),” Hinrichs said, “But the advantage is that it is fairly inexpensive to maintain.”
Doug Lincoln, former president of Cliffs Notes, said Hinrichs brought a tremendous enthusiasm to her job at Cliffs Notes. That ability was especially evident with Hinrichs’ work on the World Wide Web, Lincoln said.
“She had a tremendous ability to interact with out-of-state industry,” Lincoln said.
Lincoln said he thought Hinrichs would bring something to academia that most students may not have seen.
“She will combine practical job experiences with theory (strictly book knowledge),” Lincoln said.
In both her jobs, Hinrichs has worked with students. She said she found most students had a craving for both information and experience. That was one of the factors that led her to begin teaching classes at NU.
“There’s this incredible, intangible reward for helping students experience on their own,” Hinrichs said.
Hinrichs’ office, located in the basement of Avery Hall, feels as if it belongs to a strict schedule follower. Very little is out of place. Photos of her family, mementos of her former jobs and a painting are expertly placed throughout her office. Hinrichs said she would like to get more artwork in her office, but she proudly displayed the artwork from her two children, Emma and Lilly.
Hinrichs said the biggest challenge now was balancing teaching classes, pursuing her master’s degree and spending time with her children and her husband, Mark.
Along with her work and school schedule, Hinrichs also teaches Sunday school at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 2325 S. 24th St.
“I try to have a healthy combination of work and children,” Hinrichs said.