Recent accomplishments by the campus community were earned by Kellogg Apetse, Sam Berghuis, Ridge Gerstberger, Willis Hanneman, Thomas Henry, Emma Kuss, Elaina Madison, Jennifer Mostek, Oghenetega Allen Obewhere, Frank E. Ordia, Kendra Ordia, Jim Specht, Eamon Sughroue, Daniel Tannenbaum, Ben Tolsen, Lily Wang, Katrina Webster and the Center on Children, Families and the Law’s Community Services Division.
Honors
Kellogg “King” Apetse, a business administration major from Omaha, won a $25,000 scholarship from the Taco Bell Foundation for his animation project. He works at a Taco Bell in Lincoln, where his dad is general manager. Learn more here.
The Alpha Gamma Chapter of Pi Alpha Xi, the national honor society for horticulture, inducted new members during a ceremony in the East Campus Dinsdale Family Learning Commons on April 15. New inductees this year are Sam Berghuis, Ridge Gerstberger, Willis Hanneman, Thomas Henry, Emma Kuss, Elaina Madison, Eamon Sughroue, Ben Tolsen, and Katrina Webster. Nationally, there are 40 chapters with more than 14,000 members. Chapters are located in the United States at four-year institutions with programs in horticulture.
The Center on Children, Families and the Law’s Community Services Division, lead agency for the Nebraska Balance of State Continuum of Care, was awarded $2.2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address unsheltered and rural homelessness. The award will support housing programs in rural Nebraska with a focus on the North Platte and Panhandle regions. CCFL team members on the project are Brittany Brakenhoff, Sally Buchholz, Jeff M. Chambers, Denise Packard, Angel Shafer, Abby Spicer, Danell McCoy Vaughan, Skye Windle and Liz Woods. Read more here.
Jennifer Mostek, director of business advising and student engagement in the College of Business, earned the Excellence in Advising Administration Award from the National Academic Advising Association North Central Region. Mostek received the award May 2 at the regional conference held in Lincoln. The award honors individuals who serve as a director of an academic advising program for at least three years and demonstrate qualities and practices that make significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising.
Oghenetega Allen Obewhere, a doctoral student in chemical engineering, received a Grad Brag Award at the annual National Society of Black Engineers Annual Convention, March 22-26 in Kansas City, Missouri. The awards are presented to three students from U.S. college chapters in recognition for “upholding the NSBE mission in increasing the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” Read more here.
Frank E. Ordia, lecturer in the College of Architecture, has received the 2023 Great Commoner Award, presented by the Preservation Association of Lincoln. Among eight awards presented annually by PAL, the Great Commoner Award recognizes outstanding efforts in preservation education. Ordia was honored with the award at PAL’s annual meeting, awards ceremony and 30th birthday celebration. The event was held at Assemblage, a privately owned gallery in downtown Lincoln.
Kendra Ordia, assistant professor in the College of Architecture, was honored with the 2023 Interior Design Educators Council Teaching Excellence Award. Ordia was awarded this accolade because of her efforts in crafting nature-integrated interiors through biophilic experiential learning methodology in teaching studios. The award recognizes her success in the development and delivery of educational experience that has yielded exceptional student learning. This is the second time in the past three years that a Husker interior design faculty member has earned the honor.
Jim Specht, professor emeritus in agronomy and horticulture and Scottsbluff native, was recently awarded the first-ever Larry Tonniges Research Achievement Award. Named for the late Larry Tonniges, a longtime Nebraska farmer who was dedicated to production research as part of the Nebraska Soybean Board, the award honors researchers who have made significant contributions to soybean research for NSB. Specht, who began a career at Nebraska in 1976, is internationally recognized for his work in modern plant biology and genetics for soybean improvement. His research has helped with specific growing conditions for the various regions of the state.
Daniel Tannenbaum, assistant professor of economics, and co-authors received the American Economic Journal Applied Economics Best Paper Award for “The Evolution of Work in the United States” that was published in the April 2020 issue. Selected by the journal’s editorial board, the award highlights the best paper published in the journal over the past three years.
Lily Wang, director of the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction and renowned acoustical engineer, was selected as one of SWE Magazine’s “Women Engineers You Should Know.” The article appears in the magazine’s spring 2023 issue. Since 2015, the magazine has conferred this honor to women engineers who were nominated by members of the Society of Women Engineers.
