Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by Kristen Blankley, Minshuai Ding, Paul Hay, Stevan Knezevic, Megan Kolbe, Colleen Jones, Katie McNealy, Randy Pryor, Todd Thornock and Broghan White.
Honors
• Minshuai Ding, a project manager in the Bureau of Sociological Research, is the 2024 recipient of the John Tarnai Memorial Scholarship Award from the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations. The award recognizes "an outstanding early-career survey center employee with great promise for long-term involvement in and contributions to the field of survey research."
• Nebraska’s Natural Resource Districts have awarded the Outstanding Water Conservation of the Year Award to Paul C. Hay (posthumous), emeritus Extension educator, alongside Randy Pryor, also an emeritus Extension educator. The two longtime educators were nominated by the Lower Big Blue Natural Resources District for their nearly 40 years of service to agricultural sustainability in Southeast Nebraska. Hay and Pryor left an indelible mark on the region’s farming community, promoting sustainable practices such as no-till farming and water conservation through innovative teaching. Their work with the NRD, farmers and the broader community set new standards in conservation and education. Read more here.
• The Serbian Weed Science Society honored Stevan Z. Knezevic, a professor of integrated weed management in agronomy and horticulture, with a Certificate of Appreciation on Sept. 24 during the 12th Serbian Weed Science Society Conference, held at Silver Lake, a resort along the Danube River in northeastern Serbia. The award, which is similar to a fellow award in the United States, was given to Knezevic for his work in advancing weed science in Serbia and for training Serbian graduate students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Since 2010, Knezevic has trained 20 students from Serbia on the topics of dose response, herbicide resistance, flame weeding, critical period of weed control, dicamba drift and hormesis.
• Megan Kolbe, a senior emerging media arts major from Lincoln, is an on-campus student ambassador for Adobe at Nebraska. She is one of only five such ambassadors worldwide to be selected to attend the upcoming AdobeMax 2024 conference in Miami, Florida, Oct. 12-16. Her travel and stay for the conference is sponsored by Adobe. She will participate in classes and panels and give Adobe feedback on student needs for the Adobe software suite. Steve Kolbe, associate professor in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, will also be taking about 20 emerging media arts students to the conference this year.
• Colleen Jones, emeritus associate professor of practice in management, posthumously received the Woman of the Year award during the 10th annual Inspire — Celebrating Women Leadership Awards, presented by the Lincoln Journal Star. Jones died June 18 in Lincoln. Read the Lincoln Journal Star story.
• Katie McNealy, a doctoral student in psychology, earned the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from Women in Learning.
Appointments
• Kristen Blankley, professor of law, has been named the 2024-25 chair of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee. The committee is appointed by the Faculty Senate and oversees the academic side of Husker Athletics. The committee approves student-athlete travel schedules and conducts a review of one academic program offered through Athletics each year. These reviews ensure that practices are consistent with the educational mission of the university and that they support student-athletes in both their academic and athletic endeavors.
• Todd Thornock, Raymond C. Dein Professor of Accountancy and associate professor of accountancy, was appointed by the Institute of Management Accountants, the association of accountants and financial professionals in business, as its first academic research fellow. He will be responsible for working with the academic community and accounting and related associations. Read the full article.
• Broghan White joined the University Libraries Acquisitions, Cataloging, Metadata and EResources unit in September as assistant professor and cataloging and metadata librarian. Broghan comes to Nebraska from Toronto, Canada, where he worked as a data services assistant for the Ontario Council of University Libraries.
This column is a regular feature of Nebraska Today. Faculty, staff and students can submit achievements to be considered for this column via email to achievements@unl.edu. For more information, call 402-472-8515.
