Recent honors collected by the UNL community include awards for current and past research, as well as career recognitions for teaching and research excellence. For more information, read below.

Faculty/Staff

• A study by Sue Burzynski Bullard, associate professor of news-editorial, was published in the spring edition of the Newspaper Research Journal. The study, “Editors Use Social Media Mostly to Post Story Links,” examines social media’s role in the modern-day newsroom and how editors are using the tools to communicate with readers. The study found that most editors use social media to just post links to stories, but that isn’t the most effective way for news organizations to use social media. Newsrooms should engage with readers by posing questions, responding to comments and keeping a conversational tone. It is also important that social media is ingrained in the newsroom as part of everyone’s job. Newspaper Research Journal is a refereed journal published quarterly that reaches more than 1,000 journalism students, scholars and media professionals in the United States and 20 countries.

• Rhonda Garelick, a UNL professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences with a special joint appointment in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, was awarded the Stanley Kelly, Jr., Visiting Professorship for Distinguished Teaching in Comparative Literature at Princeton University.

• Kathy Krone, professor of communication studies, has won the National Communication Association’s Charles H. Woolbert Research Award. The award celebrates research that has stood the test of time and is chosen by the National Communication Association’s Research Board. Krone and co-author Erika Kirby earned the award for their article, “The Policy Exists But You Can’t Really Use It: Communication and the Structuration of Work-Family Policies,” published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research in February 2002. Erika Kirby earned a doctorate in communication studies at UNL in 2000 and is a professor of communication at Creighton University in Omaha. The award will be presented at NCA’s annual meeting, Nov. 21 in Las Vegas.

• Dennis Molfese, professor of psychology and director of UNL’s Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, received the inaugural EGI Educator Award in recognition of his work in advancing human brain research and educating people on the advanced methods of human brain electrophysiology. Molfese received the award during EGI’s annual EEG School, held Aug. 11-14 in Eugene, Oregon. Molfese also was the event’s keynote speaker, discussing “The Dynamic Links Between Mind and Brain: The Next Frontier.”

• Bill Seiler, professor of communication studies, has won the National Communication Association’s Wallace A. Bacon Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award. The award recognizes one NCA member each year for his or her outstanding teaching within the classroom, as well as demonstrating a long-term commitment to instruction. Seiler has been a member of UNL’s faculty since 1972. He served as chairperson of communication studies for 21 years, ending his term in 2010. The award will be presented at NCA’s annual meeting, Nov. 21 in Las Vegas.

• Susan Sheridan, director of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, has received the Senior Scientist in School Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association’s Division of School Psychology. The award, which honors sustained research excellence throughout a career, was presented during the APA convention, Aug. 8 in Toronto, Canada. Sheridan’s research has focused on enhancing children’s social, behavioral and academic outcomes. Her work specifically explores ways to support the healthy development of young children, from birth to age eight, in homes, preschools and classrooms.

Students

• Catie Finkenbiner, a graduate student in the School of Natural Resources, has been selected to receive a $25,000 Monsanto Graduate Student Scholarship. The company’s scholarship program recognizes high-achieving, underrepresented students pursuing degrees in agriculture and STEM-related fields. She will use the award to fund master’s degree research into improving the cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture method, which has the potential to allow for real-time soil moisture mapping of hundreds of center-pivots using the mobile cosmic-ray probe. The Monsanto Graduate Student Scholarship is awarded to ten graduate students annually. Recipients must be enrolled in a master’s program in a STEM-related field with a minimum 3.0 GPA. In addition to academic performance, selection is based upon demonstrated leadership, communication, extracurricular activities, involvement with student professional organizations and community service.

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.