The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Speakers Bureau enters its 21st year in 2015-16 with 23 speakers and several topics from which to choose. This free service connects faculty and other university experts with Nebraska citizens through service organizations, schools and other groups who want knowledgeable, interesting speakers on a variety of topics.
The Speakers Bureau features speakers available on a year-round basis as well as during the academic year only. The website http://www.speakersbureau.unl.edu provides access to each speaker’s topic information with a form to submit to book a speaker. For questions, please contact Kellie Wesslund, Speakers Bureau coordinator in the Office of University Communications, 202 Canfield Administration Building, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0424; telephone 402-472-0088 or email speakers2@unl.edu.
The members of the 2015-16 Speakers Bureau and their topics:
Sylvana Airan, assistant director of housing, business contracts and student services, “My Life Growing Up in Pakistan.”
Christian Binek, associate professor, physics and astronomy, “Magnetic Refrigeration,” “Magnetic Thin Films: From Basic Research to Spintronics” and “Physics Between High School and High-Tech.”
Charles Braithwaite, editor, Great Plains Quarterly, senior lecturer, Department of Communication Studies, “African Americans on the Great Plains,” “The Global Classroom: Using New Communication Technology to Improve Education” and “Tribal Colleges: Culture and Higher Education on the Plains.”
Daniel Claes, professor, physics and astronomy, “Comic Book Physics 101,” “What the Heck is a Higgs Boson?!” and “Are We Alone in the Universe?”
Don Costello, associate professor emeritus, computer science and engineering, “When I was a Lad in the Bronx in the ’40s,” “Information Technology – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” “Robotics: Status Today, Impact Tomorrow,” “Investment Versus Gambling in a Digital Economy,” “How You Can Learn to Like Your Computer, But Not Love It” and “The Computer in Medical Care: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”
Ken Dewey, professor of applied climate sciences, School of Natural Resources, “Chasing Icebergs” and “Tornadoes!”
Dick Dienstbier, emeritus professor, psychology, “Building Resistance to Stress and Aging” and “Gay or Straight: The Science of Sexual Orientation.”
Bob Diffendal, professor emeritus, Conservation and Survey Division, “Fossils on the Floor – Mosaics of Fossils on the Floor of the Nebraska State Capitol Rotunda” and “Fossils from Nebraska’s Ancient Seas.”
Stephen Ducharme, professor, physics and astronomy, Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, “Can a Photon Wave?” and “Nanoscale Science and Technology.”
Kate Engel, operations manager, Nebraska Innovation Campus, “Nebraska Innovation Campus: Spaces and Culture that Inspire.”
Keith Glewen, extension educator, Ag Research and Development Center, “Grass to Gas? Converting Switchgrass to Biofuel!”
Michael Hoff, professor of art history, “Ancient Roman Religion and Nebraska Football,” “Athens Under Roman Domination” and “Pirates and Romans Along the Cilician Coast of Ancient Turkey.”
Roger Hoy, professor, biological systems engineering; director, Nebraska Tractor Testing Lab, “The Nebraska Tractor Testing Lab: Past, Present and Future.”
Gary Kebbel, professor, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, “How to Use Social Networking like Twitter or Facebook or Foursquare as Reporting Tools,” “Reaching Youth: If It’s Not on a Cellphone, It Doesn’t Exist” and “The Changing News Ecosystem.”
David Keck, professor and director (through December 2015), Raikes School, “Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Key Drivers of Business and Economic Growth.”
Bradley Lubben, extension assistant professor and policy specialist, “Growing Agriculture to Meet Society’s Demands” and “More Than Farm in the Farm Bill.”
Wes Peterson, professor, agricultural economics, “TPA, TPP and T-Tip: What’s it All About?” “U.S. and Global Economic Inequality” and “Huskers in Benin: Culture and Agriculture in West Africa.”
Paul Read, professor, horticulture and viticulture, “Gardens of the World” and “Grape Expectations: Nebraska’s Developing Grape and Wine Industry.”
John W. Richmond, professor, director of the UNL School of Music, “Does Music Make You Smarter? It Depends on What You Mean!” “Finding the Next Mozart! Music Composition Education in the 21st Century” and “Speaking the Universal Language Without an Accent: UNL in Our Global Musical Village.”
Greg Snow, professor, physics and astronomy, “Cosmic Rays from Outer Space – What Do We Know About Them?,” “Did a Giant Asteroid Kill the Dinosaurs?” and “High Energy Physics and the Discovery of the ‘God Particle.’”
Sandra Stockall, professor emeritus, University of Nebraska Extension, “You Are Who You Are Because” and “Wow, That Felt Great!”
Joseph Weber, associate professor, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, “Transcendental Meditation in America: How a New Age Movement Remade a Small Town in Iowa.”
Darryl White, professor of trumpet, “Jazz: An American Art Form” and “African Americans and Jazz.”
