Kwame Dawes has been named to a PEN Literary Award shortlist for his latest volume of poetry.

Kwame Dawes, Chancellor’s Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of the Prairie Schooner, is one of five authors shortlisted for the PEN Open Book Award. The award recognizes an exceptional book-length work of literature by an author of color. Dawes’ latest book, “Duppy Conqueror,” earned the nomination.

A group of three judges will make the final selection and the awards will be announced July 30.

The PEN Literary Awards recognize outstanding literature and assist with the organization’s mission to dispel national, ethnic and racial tensions and to promote understanding among all countries. Its 2,000 distinguished members carry on the achievements in literature and advancement of human rights of such past members as James Baldwin, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Arthur Miller, Marianne Moore, Eugene O’Neill, Susan Sontag, and John Steinbeck.

Faculty/Staff

• Kiyomi Deards and Jolie Graybill contributed to the writing and edition of the book “Succession Planning and Implementing in Libraries: Practices and Resources.”

The book provides information on the process of implementing succession planning in libraries. It provides insight on the challenges and possibilities of a succession plan’s effect on the success of library organizations.

Deards, assistant professor and science librarian at the University Libraries, was a co-editor of the book along with Gene R. Springs, a business librarian from Ohio State University. Deards and Graybill, associate professor at the University Libraries, worked together to write the fifth chapter of the book, “The Role of Professional Protocols: Recruitment, Retention, and Service” (pages 106-132).

For more information on the book, click here.

• Don Wilhite, climatologist and professor, has authored drought policy guidelines for the Integrated Drought Management Program under the leadership of the World Meteorological Organization and the Global Water Partnership. The guidelines, which provide a template that countries can follow for the development of a national drought management policy and drought preparedness/mitigation plans, were recently published online.

Wilhite is chair of the management and advisory committees of the IDMP.

The guidelines will be provided to participants in the next IDMP workshop, which is in early August in Addias Ababa, Ethiopia. The guidelines are also available at http://go.unl.edu/ptjd.

• “Wildlife Damage Management for Nebraska Master Gardeners,” the first state-specific manual on wildlife damage management designed for master gardeners, is now available. The book was adapted from one created for the northeast, said Stephen Vantassel, wildlife damage management coordinator.

The manual is a resource geared toward the state’s master gardeners to ensure that their interactions with wildlife are safe and secure. Vantassel co-authored the manual with Scott Hyngstrom, professor and extension wildlife damage specialist for Natural Resources; Paul Curtis, extension wildlife specialist at Cornell University; and Raj Smith, researcher at Cornell.

Reference copies of the manual will be provided to UNL Extension offices across Nebraska. The manual is also available for purchase from the Nebraska Maps and More Store at http://nebraskamaps.unl.edu or via phone to 402-472-3471. Cost is $25. To place an order via phone, call 402-472-3471.

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.