Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by Rick Alloway, Humberto Blanco, Charles Francis, Benjamin Hintz, Jay Puckett, Philip Schwadel, the Explore Center and the university’s Crops Judging Team.
Faculty/staff
Rick Alloway, associate professor of broadcasting and general manager of 90.3 KRNU, was named to the advisory board for P1 Learning. P1 Learning is a Kansas City-based media training organization that creates and develops short video training courses for professionals. The organization offers training in a wide variety of topics including media sales, employee onboarding, leadership and business.
Humberto Blanco, professor of agronomy and horticulture, is in the third year of leading the project “Enhancing Soil Ecosystem Services with Cover Crops.” Funding is provided by the Nebraska Environmental Trust. Project objectives are to quantify soil ecosystem services of cover crops and determine whether or not cover crops improve negative effects of crop residue removal for livestock or biofuel on soil services in rain-fed and irrigated croplands in Nebraska. The study is being conducted at Nebraska’s Rogers Memorial Farm. This project will contribute to a better understanding of cover crop benefits on soil ecosystems.
Jay Puckett, professor in and director of the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, has been awarded the Wyoming Eminent Engineer for 2018 on behalf of the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi. This award is presented annually and honors someone who has provided significant service to the College of Engineering or the State of Wyoming in the field of engineering. A student panel of Tau Beta Pi members selects the recipient of this award.
Philip Schwadel, professor of sociology, will serve as a senior researcher with the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. The appointment begins in August and will continue for one year. While there, Schwadel will lead a project exploring faith among American adolescents.
Charles “Chuck” Francis, professor of agronomy and horticulture, was one of two members to receive Hero Recognition from the North Central Region’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. The recognition highlights members for their service to the program, along with their leadership and lasting contributions to sustainable agriculture.
Students
- Benjamin Hintz, an agronomy and horticulture major, received a six-month Disney Agricultural Internship in Orlando, Florida. Hintz graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in agronomy. Selected from 50 applicants, Hintz will be working in the greenhouses at The Land tending plants and leading informative and interactive guest tours. He will also help manage the garden at Golden Oak, a high-end, gated Disney community, to supply the clubhouse restaurant with fresh produce and garnishes.
Departments/Organizations
The Explore Center will receive the 2018 National Academic Advising Association Outstanding Institutional Advising Program Award Sept. 30 at the association’s annual conference. The Global Awards Program for Academic Advising honors individuals and institutions making significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising. This program award is presented in recognition of innovative and/or exemplary practices that have resulted in the improvement of academic advising services with direct impact on students. The Explore Center is being honored for its COMPASS Exploratory Advising program. The COMPASS program is focused on assisting undeclared students with at least a sophomore standing. Learn more about the COMPASS program.
Nebraska’s Crops Judging Team took top honors at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Judging Conference National Collegiate Competition at Northeast Community College in Norfolk. In attendance were 43 colleges and universities from across the United States competing in 12 different contests. Nebraska placed second in the Precision Agriculture contest where students were quizzed over harvester settings as well as planter and sprayer calibration and agronomic math. Team members include agronomy majors Bryant Biskup, Rodger Farr and Jake Krings, and Mitch Zobel, a mechanized systems management major. The team of agronomy majors Sam Teten, Farr and Kolby Grint and Ryan Langemeier, an agronomy and plant biology major, placed third in the Crops Judging contest. Individual awards went to Langemeier, Farr and Zobel. Langemeier placed first in the Crops Judging Agronomic Exam component. Farr placed third in the Precision Agricultural Analysis component. Zobel placed third in individual overall and second place in the Precision Agricultural Analysis component.
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
