Huskers who earned recent honors include Joan Barnes, Carrie Clark, Paul Dizona, Jordan Soliz, Helan Xu and Yiqi Yang. Other honors include two awards for Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Faculty/Staff

• Joan Barnes, associate professor of practice and community engagement librarian with the University Libraries, has been appointed vice president of the Library Marketing and Communications Conference, a national nonprofit organization. During the course of the two-year term, Barnes will help further the group’s mission to explore important issues related to marketing, communication and public relations for libraries across the nation.

• Carrie Clark, assistant professor of educational psychology, co-authored a chapter in the book “Executive Function: Development Across the Life Span.” The chapter outlines the development of executive function – cognitive processes that allow people to set goals, focus, retain important information and follow through on tasks – in early and middle childhood. Learn more about the book.

• Jordan Soliz, associate professor of communication studies, co-wrote an introduction to chapters in the 2nd edition of the “Handbook of Instructional Communication: Rhetorical and Relational Perspectives.” The introduction lays out the rationale for researching race/ethnicity and sexual/gender identity in the classroom, along with how these components of social identity fit within current theoretical frameworks. Learn more about the handbook.

• Yiqi Yang, Charles Bessey Professor of biological systems engineering and of textiles, merchandising and fashion design, and Helan Xu, research assistant professor of textiles, merchandising and fashion design, served as co-editors of the book “Porous Lightweight Composites Reinforced with Fibrous Structures.” The publication offers a comprehensive overview of the raw materials, processing technologies, performance properties and applications of lightweight composites. Learn more about the book.

Students

• Paul Dizona, doctoral student in educational psychology, received the Psychological Assessment Young Scholars Award from the American Psychological Association. The award recognized his research poster, titled “Pre-K Measurement Triangulation Using Caregiver and Directly Assessed Measures of Cognitive Ability,” which Dizona presented at the 2017 APA Convention in early August. Learn more about Dizona’s research.

Departments/Units

• Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity has earned a pair of North American honors. The Gamma Beta chapter, recognized as one of the top 10 percentile of high performing chapters across the United States and Canada, received the Robert Adger Smythe Award and the Raymond L. Orians Chapter Excellence Award. The Smythe Award is given once a year to chapters who have achieved academic excellence, contributed to the community through service and philanthropic events, distinguished themselves as leaders on campus, and lived by the values of the fraternity. The Orians Chapter Excellence Award recognizes overall chapter excellence and is reserved for Pi Kappa Alpha’s most competitive chapters. Nebraska’s Gamma Beta Chapter was recognized for a 3.3 GPA, 100 percent involvement in campus activities, an exceptional new member retention rate, contributing more than 10,000 hours and $39,410 to community service and philanthropic events, and ranking first in fraternity intramural athletics. Learn more about the honors.

This column is a regular Friday 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.