Nebraska Builder Award Presented to Dr. Mark Gustafson

Few Nebraskans are as devoted to the University of Nebraska as Mark Gustafson. Driven by his belief that a strong university is key to a strong Nebraska economy, Mark is an advocate for the university in the local, state, and national arenas. He is a Nebraska delegate to the Council for Agricultural, Research, Extension, and Teaching, a national advocacy organization for higher education. Since 1991, he's been a member of Agriculture Builders of Nebraska, Inc., which supports UNL's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, as well as the entire University, and has served three terms as president. He has served on the advisory councils for the UNL chancellor and the NU president and served on UNL's Future Nebraska Taskforce. He holds baccalaureate and master's degrees from UNL and a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley. When he's not volunteering his time, Mark operates the family farm near Mead. He and his wife, Dianne, are the parents of two children - Christopher, a UNL alumnus, and Anneke, a UNL junior.

Maxine Singer

Maxine Frank Singer began her education in the New York City public schools and earned her baccalaureate degree from Swarthmore College and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Yale University. Dr. Singer has had a long association with the National Institutes of Health and served as Chief, Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Cancer Institute, where she now carries the title of Scientist Emerita. In 1988, she became President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and served in that capacity until 2002 when she was named President Emerita and Senior Scientific Advisor to the Carnegie Academy for Science Education.

May Commencement

Few Nebraskans are as devoted to the University of Nebraska as Mark Gustafson. Driven by his belief that a strong university is key to a strong Nebraska economy, Mark is an advocate for the university in the local, state, and national arenas. He is a Nebraska delegate to the Council for Agricultural, Research, Extension, and Teaching, a national advocacy organization for higher education. Since 1991, he's been a member of Agriculture Builders of Nebraska, Inc., which supports UNL's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, as well as the entire University, and has served three terms as president. He has served on the advisory councils for the UNL chancellor and the NU president and served on UNL's Future Nebraska Taskforce. He holds baccalaureate and master's degrees from UNL and a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.

Winning On for the Gipper: Diversity Strategies and Initiative at Notre Dame

One of the enduring images linked to the University of Notre Dame is that of injured football player George Gipp imploring Coach Knute Rockne to "Win One for the Gipper. " Similarly, people of color and conscience at Notre Dame struggle with formidable challenges in implementing diversity into areas of faculty retention, university initiatives and community outreach, all while remaining sane. The panelists will discuss innovative successes and continuing efforts that can be adapted by others seeking a game plan for diversity.

Dispelling the Mascot Myth: The Misuse of Indigenous Peoples as Mascots in American Schools

This workshop details the deculturalization process that takes place when Indigenous Peoples are used as mascots in school-related activities; examines the arguments(s) and defensive tactics used by sports fans and school officials to maintain these hegemonic images; and offers successful strategies for developing policy toward the elimination of Indigenous Peoples as mascots.

Academentia: Physiological Stress, Toxic Work Sites and the Neutralization of Blackness by the Whiteness Standards of Professionalization

Using auto-ethnographic methods, supplementing by current race theories, along with interviews from other scholars, I regard academentia as a form of professionalism most readily communicable to academics of color seeking advance. It can also infect those whose embrace of blackness (widely defined across cultures) is the least tolerant of the racial designs of white cultural practices. Where in the interest of students and colleagues, such academics challenge the whiteness criteria defining academic success, most of their peers adhere to the racial standards of professionalism.

Measuring Success One Student At A Time

This presentation describes Murray State University's proactive efforts to enhance African¬-American students' preparation, recruitment/retention and graduation. Strategies utilized to create and maintain a positive/hospitable campus environment will be delineated. It is our campus-wide responsibility to "nurture" each student with personalized contact and carefully selected services to engender degree persistence.

Creating a Diversity Movement in the University

What kind of actions can a university take to create a diversity movement within its confines? Taking recent work at North Carolina State University as the prototype, this session will be used to outline and discuss the characteristics of administrative action that can lead to a comprehensive and programmatic diversity movement within any college or university.

African American and Teaching in Higher Education IS a Course on Race and Culture

Using theoretical applications, the authors present an overview of theories that highlight approaches for teaching culturally sensitive content, personal experiences as educator and colleague in a predominantly white college campus and strategies for addressing culturally insensitive experiences in and outside the classroom. Presenters focus on the recruitment and retention of people of color and stress the need for today's predominantly white institutions to become more knowledgeable, tolerant and sensitive about their environments in an effort to make them more accepting.

Promoting Higher Education: The Latino Achievement Mentoring Program (LAMP)

Statistics suggest that Latino youths are at risk for academic underachievement and withdrawal. Culturally sensitive approaches to supporting school achievement based on the needs of Latino youth and their families must be developed. In response to these needs, the Latino Research Initiative (LRI), a collaborative group with members from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the Hispanic Community Center (HCC) created the Latino Achievement Mentoring Program (LAMP). LAMP is a culturally appropriate mentoring program designed to promote school success and post-secondary opportunities for Latino youths. This program provides Latino youths with positive role models and information and guidance about academic life and future school success. Finally, because of the cultural significance of family members among many Latinos, LAMP activities are developed and implemented such that the mentees' family members are involved. This presentation will report the first-year activities of the initial mentor and men tee pairs, with particular emphasis on educational outreach and academic development of the program. Evaluation data will be presented for the first cohort of mentees, including academic information, teacher reports and self-measure findings. LAMP activities aimed at promoting academic success will also be presented. Finally, the experiences of the mentors will briefly be reported.

The Importance of Affirmative Action in the 21st Century: Building Transformational Alliances with Constituencies Across the Power Structure for Scholars, Students and Staff of Color at Predominantly European American Institutions.

The purpose of this session is to reject the notion that proactive Affirmative Action strategic plans are no longer needed at predominantly European American Institutions. Data reveal an inverse relationship between creating successful strategic plans for inclusion and negative reactions from the power structure.

In Pursuit of Brain Compatible Intimate Relationships

This session comprises a highly interactive and creative format designed to provide a maximum of information and conceptual integration regarding human relationships. The presentation style embodies creativity and scholarly intent that leads the audience through brain and contextual processes that severely limit or lovingly spiritually enhance male/female relationships.

“MINORITY STUDENTS WITHIN A COLLEGE OF BUSINESS: HEARING THE VOICES”

"In recognition of the dynamic interplay among academic and social aspects of any student's campus experience, our institution has implemented an Innovative Community Initiative (ICI) which provides a panoply of support programs for students of color."

"BREAKING THROUGH THE SOFT SPOKEN STEREOTYPE: THE VOICES OF ASIAN WOMEN IN DOCTORAL PROGRAMS"

This panel session explores how the dynamics of race and gender within university settings influence Asian women’s experiences in graduate psychology programs.