Two articles on reforming men’s college basketball and an opinion piece comparing the 1978 film “The Wiz” to “Black Panther” were among 18 national news stories featuring University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty, alumni and programs in March 2018.

Josephine Potuto, Richard H. Larson Professor of Constitutional Law at Nebraska and a former member of the NCAA Division I infractions committee, was interviewed for a March 1 Inside Higher Ed story on the “one-and-done” phenomenon in college basketball. She said enforcing a policy against the trend would be problematic. It’s difficult to change NCAA practices because of the wide range of opinions in Division I, not because the institutions aren’t interested, she said.

Potuto also was featured in a March 27 Inside Higher Ed article in which experts weighed in on a commission to reform men’s college basketball.

Wheeler Winston Dixon, professor of film studies at Nebraska, was quoted in a March 21 Toronto Star story comparing the all-black musical adaptation “The Wiz” to the 2018 box-office smash “Black Panther.”

Dixon said he doesn’t buy that “The Wiz” was a victim of an unenlightened era and that “Black Panther” succeeded because of more socially aware moviegoers.

“There’s simply no comparison. ‘The Wiz’ was directed by Sidney Lumet, who turned in a hackwork job on a deeply compromised project that has no direct relationship to African-American culture,” he said. “ ‘Black Panther,’ on the other hand, was a passion project directed by African-American director Ryan Coogler, and transcended its comic book origins to become a deeply empowering vision for black audiences, resonating well beyond the target audience.”

Other coverage:

Students from as many as 25 states are expected to travel to Lincoln for the annual National Personal Finance Challenge May 11 at the College of Business. A story on the event appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star on March 1 and was picked up by the Columbus Telegram, Fremont Tribune, Grand Island Independent, Hastings Tribune, KETV, Norfolk Daily News, Scottsbluff Star-Herald and more than 30 other media outlets across the country.

Benny Mote, animal science, was quoted in a March 2 Iowa Public Radio story on hog breeding.

Rebecca Fischer, research associate professor in music and violinist in the Chiara String Quartet, wrote a March 2 article for Strings magazine on teaching musicians to play with character and engagement to enhance musical expression.

Fischer also wrote a March 5 article for the SHAR Music blog on her new creative projects. She and her husband, a visual artist and writer, have been working together as The Afield, combining new and original compositions for violin, voice and electronics with video and other media. They also are bringing interdisciplinary arts education to the wider community through The Afield School, a pop-up collaborative arts experience.

Ann Mari May, economics, wrote a March 8 piece on women being underrepresented in economics for the Huffington Post’s “This New World” series. She stressed that gender parity is important because women bring different perspectives than men on issues such as government intervention, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, calls to make employers provide health insurance, and income inequality.

Elspeth Ready, a postdoctoral research associate in sociology, recently conducted an extensive survey of the food-sharing practices in a small Inuit village in northern Quebec, Canada. She found that sharing traditional food provides many benefits to Inuit. One of the most impactful benefits is in the political sphere, as sharing helps some households obtain positions of influence within the community. A story on her research appeared March 12 on Canada.com and several other Canadian news sites.

Research by Joe Szilagyi, a hydrologist with the Conservation and Survey Division, showing that widespread irrigation has resulted in a net moisture loss in Nebraska was featured on the Futurity website on March 12.

Anthony Zera, biological sciences, was quoted in a March 14 National Geographic story on snapping shrimp. In a new study, Sally Bornbusch, an evolutionary anthropologist and doctoral student at Duke University, and colleagues claim to have discovered an evolutionary trade-off between the species’ queens’ ability to reproduce and defend themselves. Zera said he was not convinced the team had discovered a trade-off.

Max Perry Mueller, classics and religious, was interviewed about Mitt Romney’s Senate run March 14 on Phoenix radio station KJZZ.

Aaron Young, survey geologist with the Conservation and Survey Division, said Nebraska groundwater levels didn’t change much over the most recent report period. Articles on the report appeared in the Beatrice Daily Sun, Columbus Telegram, Fremont Tribune, Grand Island Independent, Hastings Tribune, Holdrege Citizen, KIOS, KLKN, KRVN, KTIC, KTIV, Lincoln Journal Star, Midwest Messenger, Norfolk Daily News, Sidney Sun-Telegraph, West Point News and a few media outlets across the country.

Channy Chhi Laux, who earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has written a memoir titled “Short Hair Detention: Memoir of a 13-Year-Old Girl Surviving the Cambodian Genocide.” Laux was featured in a March 15 story in the Palo Alto Weekly.

Alice Henneman, a pioneer of food and nutrition education programming, retired from Nebraska Extension on March 30. Midwest Messenger ran a feature story on Henneman on March 15.

Nebraska is partnering with Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue and Rutgers on a cybersecurity initiative called OmniSOC. The initiative will be based at Indiana and will review security data from each member campus in real time using human analysis and machine learning. An article on the initiative appeared March 21 in Inside Higher Ed and several other media outlets across the country.

The university is part of an initiative that fosters active learning methods — such as those found in debate and collaborative problem-solving — in college math courses. The project is called Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning, or SEMINAL. An article on the project appeared March 26 in the Christian Science Monitor.

Greg Ibach, a fifth-generation farmer and rancher from Sumner, will be honored by the university’s Block and Bridle Club. Midwest Messenger ran an article on the award March 29.

Faculty, administration, student and staff appearances in the national media are logged at http://newsroom.unl.edu/inthenews.
 If you have additions to this list, contact Sean Hagewood at shagewood2@unl.edu or 402-472-8514. If you have suggestions for national news stories, contact Leslie Reed at lreed5@unl.edu or 402-472-2059.