May 29, 2015

Achievements | Honors, awards, publications for May 8-28


The UNL Soil Judging Team with coaches Paul Hanson (far left) and Mark Kuzila (far right) at the National Collegiate Soil Judging Contest. (Courtesy photo)

Members of the UNL community who were featured in award announcements between May 8-28 include Barbara Homer, Christopher Marks, Sarah Thomas Karle, David Karle, Kevin Bukowski, Liz Szatko, Maci Lienemann, John Kosch, the Center for Sales Excellence and the UNL Soil Judging Team.

Faculty/Staff
  • Barbara Homer, a secretarial specialist for criminology and criminal justice, was selected as the 2015 Olive T. Ritchie Educational Office Professional of the Year by the National Association of Educational Office Professionals. Homer will be honored at the national conference in Buffalo, New York, July 25.

  • Christopher Marks, an associate professor of organ, has been named associate dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, which will become effective July 1. Marks will take over from Christin Mamiya, professor of art history, who is returning to the faculty in the Department of Art and Art History. She has served as associate dean since 2009, including one year as interim dean. For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/3vgf.

  • Sarah Thomas Karle, assistant professor of landscape architecture, and David Karle, assistant professor of architecture, co-authored and published an essay, “200 Million Trees: Fabricating a Rain-Making Scheme,” in the Journal of Architectural Education (69:1 CRISIS issue). The content of the essay was presented in March at the 2015 Council of Educators for Landscape Architecture, National Conference at Kansas State University. The article is available for review at http://go.unl.edu/a0q6.

Students
  • The UNL Soil Judging Team competed at the National Collegiate Soil Judging Contest, which took place April 19-24 at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The team placed third in the group judging portion of the contest, which is where all of the team members work together to describe, classify and interpret the soils. Members include: Josiah Dallman, senior, fisheries and wildlife/agronomy; Joshua Gates, senior, environmental restoration science; Philip Goodin, senior, environmental restoration science; Alainie Hersh, senior, environmental studies; Danielle Jones, junior, environmental studies; Mark Keck, junior, agronomy; James Reece, senior, environmental restoration science; and Rachel Stevens, senior, agronomy. UNL broke into the top 10, placing ninth overall. The overall score is the combination of the group score and individual scores of four of the team members. For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/ufwg.

  • Kevin Bukowski and Liz Szatko were awarded a Silver Award of Honor from the Society of American Registered Architects | New York 2015 Design Awards. Bukowski and Szatko were internationally recognized for their Architecture-410 Air Rights project and were selected as one of six winning student teams, along with students from Cornell University and the ETH Zurich. These student teams join a winner’s list that includes international architecture firms Perkins+Will, Robert A.M. Stern Architects and NADAAA. Bukowski and Szatko’s Air Rights project was previously recognized as one of four finalists for the SGH/Dri-Design Competition in December 2014. For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/306u.

  • Maci Lienemann, a junior animal science major from Princeton, has accepted an internship with U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse. Support and funding for Lienemann will come from the Nebraska Farm Bureau through the Keith R. Olsen Ag Policy Internship Award and the American Society of Animal Science through the Science Policy Summer Internship Program. Lienemann is one of four individuals selected nationwide to participate in the ASAS program. She began her internship May 26. For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/w50e.

  • John Kosch, a student at the UNL Glenn Korff School of Music, was named the winner of the Presser Scholarship given by the Presser Foundation. The scholarship is considered the most prestigious award given to an undergraduate student in the school. Each year, the Presser Foundation makes a grant to UNL to be given to an outstanding music major at or after the end of their junior year. Kosch was selected by a vote of the Glenn Korff School of Music faculty and is to be designated as the “Presser Scholar.” This national honor, which includes a cash award, is intended to recognize outstanding and meritorious achievement in music. Kosch is a Lincoln native, and he is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in music education with an emphasis in composition. As a pianist, he has appeared with groups such as the Bobby Layne Orchestra and the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra. For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/v0sb.

Departments/Units
  • The Center for Sales Excellence, located in the College of Business Administration, was named as a 2015 “Top University for Professional Sales Education” by the Sales Education Foundation. The sales programs were recognized for preparing students for careers in professional selling and helping to elevate the sales profession. The center was made possible by a major gift of $1.5 million from National Research Corporation in 2014. The program is open to both business and non-business major students. Students earn a certificate in professional selling by completing 13 credit hours of required coursework. An advanced certificate can be earned by completing an additional three credit hours. SEF also assists in hiring organizations by connecting them to top sales students and forging key relationships with top sales programs. For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/6c6r.

This column is a regular feature of UNL Today. Faculty, staff and students can submit their achievements to be considered for this column via email to achievements@unl.edu. For more information, call 402-472-8515.

Barbara Homer
Christopher Marks
Christopher Marks
Maci Lienemann
John Kosch
Ravi Sohi, executive director of the Center for Sales Excellence, meets with sales center students.