Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by Nebraska Innovation Campus, Kristina Alas, Crystal Carrillo, Elle Covington, Jillian Harpster, Jamie Reimer and James Schnable,

Honors

• Nebraska Innovation Campus was named Outstanding Research Park at the Association of University Research Parks’ 2023 International Conference held Oct. 16-19 at the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus. AURP is the leading nonprofit organization representing research parks, innovation districts, tech hubs and all communities of innovation. The award recognizes research parks and innovation districts and their leadership for their achievements and encourages continuous evaluation and development of best practices for the research park community. The award also highlights research parks and innovation districts which have created an exceptional ecosystem that supports bringing technology from inception to market, thereby positively impacting the sustainable growth of scalable businesses, creation of jobs that are higher paying than the regional average and contribute to the economic health of the region where they are located.

• Kristina Alas, doctoral student in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture specializing in plant breeding and genetics, received the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture 2023 Graduate Student Teaching Award. This award recognizes and rewards graduate student members who are involved in classroom instruction for at least a year and who excel as teachers in the agricultural disciplines. NACTA is a professional society that focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning agriculture and related disciplines at the postsecondary level. Read more about the award here.

• Crystal Carrillo, a junior Spanish major from Schuyler, Nebraska, was selected as the first annual scholarship winner of the Pat McBride Excellence Fund Scholarship. Carrillo was a NSE orientation leader in 2023 and all the donations to the Excellence Fund were provided by past orientation leaders. Carrillo is the third in her family to serve as an orientation leader, as her brothers, Sadid and Joel, served in the position in 2012 and 2016. Outside of being an orientation leader, Carrillo is a medic in the Army National Guard and involved in her multicultural sorority on campus. She plans on attending medical school after graduation. The Excellence Fund was named after former New Student Enrollment director, Pat McBride, who led the NSE office for 31 years. Carrillo was honored with this award at the Orientation Leader Reunion on Sept. 22.

• Jamie Reimer, the Richard H. Larson Distinguished Professor of Music (voice) in the Glenn Korff School of Music, has been selected as one of eight performers and the only singer to perform on the International Alliance for Women in Music annual concert in Antwerp, Belgium, on Nov. 4. Reimer, a soprano, was selected by blind peer review for the concert, which recognizes the accomplishments of IAWM member composers and aims to increase the awareness of the musical contributions of women. Reimer will perform “Shoe Jazz,” arranged for Reimer and her collaborative pianist, Stacie Haneline, by composer Gwyneth Walker with text by Nikki Giovanni, an African-American poet. Read more about the concert and Reimer here.

Appointments

• Elle Covington joined the University Libraries July 10 as a Research Specialist Librarian and assistant professor in the Research Partnerships department. Covington specializes in social sciences research and will participate in the Social Sciences librarians group, assisting with higher level research questions from students and faculty. Covington received their Master of Science in information studies from the University of Texas, Austin, and holds a Master of Arts in media and communication. Covington’s specialty is evidence synthesis methods including systematic and scoping reviews as well as related reviews. These research methodologies are characterized by an exhaustive search on a topic, limiting bias, and transparency and reproducibility. Covington comes to Nebraska from the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries where they were the multidisciplinary liaison librarian.

• Jillian Harpster, associate professor of practice in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, has joined the board of the Nebraska Writing Project. Harpster is a former 9-12 English teacher, and taught at Lincoln North Star Hight School for nine years, which is where she first learned about the Nebraska Writing Project. The Nebraska Writing Project is a network of professional educators and affiliated writers that provides opportunities to improve, enhance and celebrate writing for classrooms and communities across Nebraska, and is an affiliate of the National Writing Project.

• The Nebraska Corn Board and the Nebraska Corn Growers Association selected James Schnable, professor of agronomy and horticulture, as the next Nebraska Corn Checkoff Presidential Chair. In a news release the organizations noted the opportunities for engagement and collaboration the partnership can provide. The presidential chair appointment serves as an opportunity to focus university research and a dedicated faculty member on the topics that are pertinent to Nebraska corn growers.