Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by David Annis, Herman Batelaan, Casey Beck, Paula Caldwell, Alec Doyle, David Hage, Rebecca Jack, Jacob Schwitzer, Tyler White and the Selleck Food Court.

Honors

• David Annis, director of dining services, was named as the winner of the Theodore W. Minah Distinguished Service Award at the 2023 NACUFS National Conference in Baltimore. The Minah Award is the highest honor given by the association, which represents the higher education dining community.

• Casey Beck, a third-year Master of Fine Arts student in ceramics in the School of Art, Art History and Design, is among 21 ceramic artists nationally chosen as 2023 Emerging Artists by “Ceramics Monthly” magazine. There were more than 760 applicants to this year’s annual Emerging Artist competition. Beck’s current technical research focuses on the process of soda firing.

• Paula Caldwell, associate director of career and professional development of the Business Career Center, was named the 2023 Outstanding Career Services Professional by the Hire Big 10+ Awards Committee. Selected for her work in the College of Business, including with the Professional Enhancement Program, she leads 10 peer career coaches and recruits the new cohort while assuring the center’s services are current and inclusive. The award recognizes an individual with five to nine years of full-time experience in career services and shows genuine support and regard for students and colleagues, an outstanding commitment to students’ career success and is active in the profession.

• Alec Doyle, a senior cello performance major in the Glenn Korff School of Music, earned a cello spot in the National Repertory Orchestra, a training orchestra for young professionals and college students. More than 1,000 musicians audition. During an eight-week long festival between June 18-Aug. 13 in Breckenridge, Colorado, the NRO performs 17 concerts. The musicians are familiarized with the process of rehearsing and giving frequent professional-level performances. Additionally, attendees participate in local community outreach concerts and events.

• David Hage, James Hewett University Professor in the Department of Chemistry, received the 2023 Award for Distinguished Contributions in Education from the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. This award recognizes his teaching, work as a research mentor for students, and published textbooks and textbook chapters related to clinical chemistry and bioanalysis. He was nominated for this award by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry after receiving their Outstanding Contributions to Education in Clinical Chemistry award last year.

• Jacob Schwitzer, a game producer and developer at Nebraska Public Media, was recognized by “Current,” the source for news about public media, as a Rising Star in Public Media. Among 238 nominees from stations of all sizes across the country, judges selected Schwitzer as one of 22 finalists. The Rising Stars initiative recognizes up-and-coming public media talent ages 35 and under in a variety of audience-facing and behind-the-scenes roles at stations and national organizations.

Craig Chandler | University Communication and Marketing

Students approach a pick-up counter in Selleck Food Court.

• Food Management selected the Selleck Food Court as its Best Concept Award in the Best Renovation category. The renovated Selleck updates the oldest dining center on campus from a traditional dining hall into a modern food court that uses cutting-edge technology like a ghost kitchen with mobile ordering at each of its seven new restaurant concepts to facilitate customer convenience and operational efficiency while preserving campus dining’s traditional role as a community gathering space.

• Tyler White, professor of composition and director of orchestras in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Glenn Korff School of Music, is one of 17 finalists for The American Prize in the division of Composers (opera/theater/film/dance-professional division) for his opera “The Gambler’s Son.” Winners will be announced later this year. The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the performing arts. The American Prize is designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, directors, ensembles and composers in the U.S. at professional, college/university, community and high school level, based on submitted recordings.

Appointments

• Herman Batelaan, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, was named the inaugural Burton Evans Moore Professor of Physics. Selection is based on ability and accomplishments in teaching and research as well as academic purpose, and the appointment is held for five years. Professorships are one of the highest forms of recognition provided by the university. Batelaan’s group studies the fundamental interaction between light, electrons and atoms, including theoretical analysis, simulation using supercomputers, and experiments. He is collaborating with colleague Cornelis “Kees” Uiterwaal on a Catalyst award-funded project, Quantum Business, Arts and Science for Society.

Publications

• Rebecca Jack, doctoral student in economics, had research published in an American Economic Association journal article about the impact of in-person schooling. She and her co-authors found that pandemic disruptions led to a significant decline in American students’ standardized test scores, but those who had more days of in-person schooling saw a much smaller drop. Read the research.