Greetings, Honors Alumni,
I am so glad that I agreed to be the Director of the University Honors Program almost six years ago. As I prepare to step down from my role as Director, I have spent time reflecting on that time. It has been a rewarding period in my life, and I have learned so much. Here are a few of the milestones the Honors Program has achieved in that time:
- Within my first year, we moved the program across the street and into the newly renovated Knoll Residential Hall.
- In 2019, Honors received funding from a local foundation to respond to an important community need, allowing us to create Honors Afterschool Clubs in low-income Lincoln schools. This experiential learning opportunity allows students to engage, excite, and inspire Lincoln youth through clubs they create and lead.
- Since 2019, we have partnered with the Cooper Foundation to host the E.N Thompson Forum on World Issues, Lincoln's premier lecture series.
- For several semesters, starting in the spring of 2020, Honors staff worked extra hard to engage and support students while COVID transformed our teaching and our lives.
- In fall 2020, we implemented a new Honors curriculum that included our interdisciplinary seminar, "The Science of You," helping students find their place and purpose at UNL while building community.
- In 2022, we received government funding to expand Honors Afterschool Clubs across the state throughout the summer months.
- In 2022, Honors partnered with The Foundry to create an internship program that helps students build their professional networks in Nebraska while working for Nebraska nonprofits, government agencies, and purpose driven business.
- In February 2024, we hosted a major fundraiser, Operation Brain Gain, which invites community members to campus join Honors faculty and students for engaging discussions.
- During these years, the Honors team grew (from 3 to 7), we had our largest graduating class ever (in 2023), the largest percentage of students of color (19.4% in 2023) and are on track to welcome our largest incoming class ever for the fall 2024 semester.
Honors Alumni Newsletter, Summer 2024
Previous Alumni Newsletters
These milestones taught me a great deal, but I will share my top three lessons as Director of the University Honors Program. First, it takes a team. Nothing at the University happens without trusted colleagues. In Honors, I have benefited enormously from knowledgeable and diligent Honors staff, faculty, and, of course, students who inspire, work hard, and know how to get things done. Second, be open — to new ideas, approaches, and people. Although I was a faculty member for many years before becoming director, Honors helped make me aware of the big picture and value different disciplines, perspectives, and responsibilities. Finally, never underestimate the power of relationships. We do many things in the Honors Program, and the program does not have a large budget. At the end of the day, I believe that students will remember what I remember the most: relationships. At UNL, we say that every person, every interaction matters. In Honors, I learned what this really means.
Dr. Tyler White has agreed to serve as the inaugural Faculty Director. In addition to teaching Honors seminars, Dr. White will focus on collaborations with academic partners, Honors curriculum, and working with external constituencies like alumni. Dr White is a Professor of Practice in the Department of Political Science where he has specialized in international relations, human security, intelligence studies, and U.S Foreign policy since 2010. He has also served as the Director of UNL's National Security Program since 2020 and was a College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Academy Member from 2021-2024. From 2022-2024, Dr. White also served as a USSTRATCOM Strategic Leadership Fellows Program Mentor. Dr. White has taught numerous Honors courses, including "Ethics in a Globalized World," "Understanding the IC through Structured Analytic Techniques," "The Global War on Terror," and "You MAD Bro? The Politics of Weapons of Mass Destruction."
Dr. Tamy Burnett has accepted the position of Director of Honors Operations. In addition to teaching Honors seminars, Dr. Burnett will focus on partnerships with campus units and community partners, co-curricular programming and student success initiatives, and the operations of the Honors Program office. Dr. Burnett has been with Honors since 2015, serving as Assistant then Associate Director. She is also a courtesy faculty member in the Department of English and a campus associate in the Women's and Gender Studies program. She specializes in popular culture, narrative, and pedagogy in higher education. Dr. Burnett has taught a wide variety of Honors courses, including "Women, Leadership, and Power," "Sitcoms and Social Change," and "Female Action Heroes in Film and Television," as well as Honors Abroad courses. She has also been a faculty mentor for numerous Honors theses, UCARE projects, and learning assistant experiences.
Congratulations to Dr. White and Dr. Burnett. I am excited for Nebraska Honors' next chapter under their leadership.
Patrice C. McMahon
Director, University Honors Program
Message from the New Faculty Director
Dear Alumni,
Greetings! My name is Dr. Tyler R. White, and I am honored to be assuming the role of Faculty Director of UNL Honors this fall. I am thrilled to join the Honors Program and humbled to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Patrice C. McMahon, whom I have had the absolute pleasure of knowing and working with for more than twenty years.
I am excited to begin reaching out to all of you this fall to build on the strong relationships Patrice has already cultivated. I believe that a strong alumni presence in the Honors Program benefits not only the program itself but also has an immeasurable impact on the students. Keep an eye out for more information on how you can get involved with Honors this coming fall.
I look forward to working with you and serving this incredible program.
Sincerely,
Tyler R. White, Ph.D.
Honors Fundraiser Works to Combat Brain Drain
By Tram Ngo, Honors Communications Intern
Nebraska is a place many call "home." Yet, we see a concerning trend of talented young people leaving the state to pursue opportunities beyond Nebraska. Like other groups in the state, Honors wants to address Nebraska's loss of talent, the so-called "brain drain".
On February 8, 2024, the University Honors Program dedicated an evening to bringing the Honors community together for insightful discussions facilitated by Honors faculty and students while raising funds to support experiential and work-based learning opportunities for current Honors students. Operation Brain Gain was co-sponsored by several community partners, including: Beyond School Bells (BSB), a program of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation; Lincoln Community Foundation; Nebraska Community Foundation; Union Bank & Trust; the Foundry; Dr. Patrice Berger; and General Roger Lempke.
The format of the evening encouraged guests to participate , fostering an atmosphere of learning, sharing, and community building. The dinner and discussion fundraiser mirrored the ethos of Honors classes, promoting discussions around thought provoking questions, from "Why do we travel?" to "What can movies teach us?", facilitated by some of the University's best faculty.
As Honors director Dr. Patrice McMahon explained, "We are so excited to welcome the community to campus for conversation and community building. This is the second year we have hosted this important event. Last year all the money we raised went to a partnership with the Intern Foundry Program. This year, thirty Honors students received paid internships to Nebraska nonprofits, government agencies, and purpose-driven businesses. We cannot imagine a better way for Honors students to learn about the city and state, and the many advantages to working here, while the community gets to know our talented students."
The event was a huge success, with donations this year going towards more internship opportunities with the Intern Foundry Program. The Foundry connects Honors students to a local non-profit to gain professional skills while addressing some of Nebraska's most pressing needs. The event emphasized the importance of internships for students and the community, with students' skills increasing capacity of local organizations, while internships help to retain talent in the community, thus combating Nebraska's brain drain.
Operation Brain Gain would not have been possible without the contributions of sponsors, donors, faculty, and students. One student in particular, Abigail VanHorn, played a pivotal role in making this event welcoming and well-organized for guests. VanHorn, a senior criminology and criminal justice major who has been the lead Honors student staff member for the past year, supported McMahon in coordinating the logistics of the successful evening.
"Being a part of the planning process for the Operation Brain Gain event was a way to say thank you to the Honors Program and the community organizations for supporting my education and helping to prepare me for success in my future career," VanHorn explained. Having the opportunity to engage in deep conversations with university faculty and community leaders helped me gain a deeper appreciation for the great minds of the university and the community."
The event was a testament to UNL's commitment to invest in its future, fostering an environment where the best and brightest can intern, innovate, and grow professionally. It was a memorable evening that brought together people who care about the future of Nebraska to support the University Honors Program while making new connections and engaging in rich conversation.
Honors Alumni Apparel for Sale
Each year the Honors Program Student Advisory Board (HPSAB) sells branded Honors apparel and uses the funds generated to support a scholarship for current students. HPSAB hosts a contest to select the year's design from entries submitted by Honors students. This year, HPSAB is proud to also offer an Honors Alumni t-shirt alongside student and parent apparel. Both designs were created by Rowan Havranek, a junior Honors student from Ravenna. We are proud to partner with Shirts 101, a locally-owned business that has supported the Lincoln community for the past 30 years.
Apparel may be purchased in the Nebraska Honors Apparel online store. At time of purchase, you may choose to have your order shipped to you or, if you're in the Lincoln area, delivered to the Honors Office in Knoll Residential Center, where you can pick it up M-F 8:30 am-5:00 pm. There are two order periods this summer. All apparel ordered will be printed after the relevant order window has closed and shipped or delivered to the Honors Office by the dates indicated below.
2024 Honors Apparel Order Periods:
- Orders placed by July 26, 2024 (9:00 am central) will be shipped or available for pickup starting August 16.
- Orders placed between July 26 and September 20 (9:00 am central) will be shipped or available for pickup starting October 4.
Honors, LPS students imagine Lincoln's future
By Tram Ngo, Honors Communications Intern
Imagine Lincoln in 2040 — what tourist attractions or local amenities could this Great Plains city have?
CityBuild 2040 allowed local elementary school students and University of Nebraska–Lincoln undergraduates to create their vision for Lincoln. From March 10-17, a group of Nebraska Honors students kicked off their biannual CityBuild 2040 project in Lincoln. Led by Sawyer Smith, Honors coordinator, the project engaged Hartley and Calvert Elementary School students. This initiative, piloted in Crete in 2021 and since hosted in Grand Island and Schuyler, has now brought the benefits of the innovative and interactive curriculum to Lincoln.
"We always look forward to the enthusiasm and fresh ideas the elementary school students bring, and our Honors students are well-equipped to help realize those ideas," Smith said.
CityBuild 2040, a project developed by Beyond School Bells, involves hands-on activities using recycled and crafting materials. The objective is to stimulate young students to conceptualize and construct a model of their dream future community. During spring break, Honors students, alongside staff for afterschool programs and ambassadors from the College of Engineering, played a pivotal role in mentoring and helping bring the cardboard cities to life. They facilitated conversations with young students to enrich their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. This experience also gave college students greater insight into the Lincoln community and helped them gain leadership and networking skills.
The elementary students actively collaborated with their mentors throughout the week, distributing tasks and working together to build their future city. CityBuild 2040 concluded with a community showcase, allowing elementary school students to present and explain their creations to mentors and families.
Trenton Ditter, an Honors student who facilitated the curriculum in Schuyler last fall and again during his spring break in Lincoln, was enthusiastic to participate a second time.
"It was great bringing CityBuild to Hartley and Calvert elementaries and encouraging our future leaders to have pride in our community here in Lincoln," Ditter said. A first-year physics major, Ditter has participated as a CityBuild facilitator during each of his first two semesters in college. "I enjoyed engaging with the students as they brainstormed ways to bring new life to their communities."
The Honors Program's ongoing focus on community engagement, and strong partnership with Beyond School Bells, have allowed many Honors students to gain valuable professional experience. More importantly, CityBuild 2040, now in its fourth year, continues to connect Honors students to the Nebraska community while providing opportunities to give back and form meaningful connections.
For May 2024 Honors Graduates, Senior Projects Make a Big Impact
By Tram Ngo, Honors Communications Intern
To some, the Honors Senior Project (commonly called a thesis) is a daunting requirement. Completing a senior thesis is certainly no small feat, but for many Honors seniors, it is an exciting opportunity that reflects their passions and marks the culmination of their learning at Nebraska. With every senior project completed, the University Honors Program is shaping the leaders of tomorrow and preparing them to impact their communities.
This year, Nebraska Honors seniors collectively completed 197 senior projects. These scholars came from all corners of campus and studied topics that mattered to them and their communities. Below are a few examples of the meaningful projects these graduates completed:
- Ritsa Giannakas, a political science and economics major from Lincoln, Nebraska, completed her project about economic downturn and body image messaging toward women. Giannakas saw her thesis as an intersection and culmination of her studies in economics, psychology, and data science/statistics. "This project allowed me to be creative in delving into a relatively unexplored topic that affects people I know daily."
- Grace Hilfiker helped increase nursing aides' knowledge of the benefits of light for sundowning syndrome. Hilkfiker, a biological science major from Roca, Nebraska, spent hours interviewing nursing aides about their experiences working with dementia and sundowning syndrome patients. As a nursing aide during her time in college, Hilfiker acknowledged the gap in nursing aide training and what can be done to improve the quality of life for her patients. Hilfiker hopes her project will advocate for the patients with whom she was able to connect first-hand.
Grace shared a valuable experience she gained through her Honors senior project: "I was able to present my thesis at the 2024 Nebraska Nursing Facility Association-Nebraska Assisted Living Association Spring Convention. I was able to meet people from various facilities and organizations all involved in the care of older adults and share my research with those who are passionate about my work." - Grant Cline, a nutrition, exercise and health sciences, from Springfield, Missouri studied the biometric, kinetic and kinematic components of using weighted baseballs as a training method for baseball pitchers. Using those three perspective lenses, Grant wanted to determine the efficacy and safety of baseball training methods used at UNL. While his results were inconclusive, Grant saw this as a professional opportunity to become familiar with the technology and tools to safely and efficiently train athletes. His studies will impact future insights on related training methods.
- Sidney Yant, an elementary education major, dived into her senior Honors thesis with the next generation of students in mind. Yant's project studied the interdisciplinary lesson plans of social studies and language arts for third graders. Yant explained, "My Honors thesis allowed me to deepen my understanding of interdisciplinary teaching and expand my ideas for what kind of educator I want to be in my future classroom."
- Alice Young will be sharing her Honors experience worldwide as a Fulbright Scholar. Young, a psychology major on the pre-med track, was recently announced a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. Her senior thesis studied the effects of music on chemistry students' perceived stress levels. Young's research revealed that stress levels are lower amongst groups when music is played during their laboratory class. After graduation, she will be moving to Japan to start her research on attitudes among the elderly towards advanced directives and end of life care. Young reflected that "the most challenging part was learning to work through the bureaucracy of research, which I overcame with help from both my advisor and Dr. Burnett."
Congratulations to the class of 2024 (and newest batch of Honors Alumni) on completing their senior projects, fulfilling the Honors graduation requirements, and graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln!
Cooper Conversations Enhance Thompson Forum "Uprooted" Series
The University Honors Program collaborated with campus and community partners to host five events in spring 2024: two E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues talks and three Cooper Conversations. All events were tied to the Thompson Forum's 2023-24 season, "Uprooted: Displacement, Migration and Searching for Home."
The first Cooper Conversation of the spring semester, "Immigration Law and Advocacy" on February 14, featured representatives from each of the following organizations: Center for Legal Immigration Assistance, Immigrant Legal Center + Refugee Empowerment Center, and Nebraska Appleseed. In the typical Cooper Conversation format, the event included a brief panel followed by roundtable discussions with students. The directors, attorneys, and community organizers shared stories and data and described laws and pending legislation impacting immigrants in Nebraska and throughout the U.S. After the event, the Nebraska Appleseed representatives stayed to play an immigration journey board game with interested students.
On March 5, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario presented "Of Love & War: Stories of Tragedy & Resilience" at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Addario has been covering humanitarian crises for The New York Times and National Geographic for more than two decades, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Darfur, South Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Syria, and Ukraine. Addario displayed her stunning images, told her personal and professional story, and shared some heartbreaking and inspiring stories about war, displacement and family separation, maternal mortality, and more.
The Cooper Conversation on March 21 focused on access to healthcare and housing, with an emphasis on supporting refugees and immigrants. This conversation coincided with the Future Healers Track course, UHON 302H. Staff from Center for People, Nebraska Appleseed, and Catholic Social Services described challenges newcomers often face navigating the paperwork and complexities of meeting these basic needs. Students were especially impacted by Refugee Housing Coordinator Caroline Nebel's explanation of the problem-solving required to find adequate housing near school resources such as English Learner services.
In April, a combination of two events featured the work of housing advocate Leilani Farha. As the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift, Farha has helped develop global human rights standards on the right to housing. She is the central figure in the documentary PUSH regarding the financialization of housing. On April 2, a Cooper Conversation held at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center included a free screening of PUSH followed by a panel discussion with Nebraska housing advocates from Together Omaha, NeighborWorks Lincoln, and Collective Impact Lincoln at Nebraska Appleseed. One week later, on April 9, Farha presented "Back Home: Returning Human Rights to Housing" at the Lied Center. In addition to describing global housing trends and frameworks, Farha brought the issue closer to home by incorporating Lincoln data and initiatives.
The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues brings a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and people of Nebraska to promote understanding and encourage debate. A cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, Lied Center for Performing Arts, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Honors has served as its administrative home since 2019. Honors offers a zero-credit seminar, UHON 201H, for which students attend one event each month; 22 students participated in spring 2024. Students in Future Healers and UHON 201H propose Cooper Conversation topics for upcoming semesters. The Cooper Foundation offers financial support for the Thompson Forum and for Cooper Conversations.