The University’s most prestigious awards—The President's Excellence Awards—recognize especially meritorious research, teaching, and innovative efforts by individual faculty and academic departments or units.
Outstanding Research and Creative Activity (ORCA) Award Recipients:
ORCA recognizes individual faculty members for outstanding research or creative activity of national or international significance.
KWAME DAWES, PH.D.
Department of English
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Born in Ghana, Dawes spent most of his childhood and early adult life in Jamaica. He is the author of 21 books of poetry and numerous books of fiction, criticism and essays. His most recent collection of poems is City of Bones: A Testament (2017). His other books include Speak from Here to There (2016), a collection of poems co-written with Australian poet John Kinsella, and Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius (2007), which remains the most authoritative study of the lyrics of Bob Marley.
Dawes is director of the African Poetry Book Fund and artistic director of the Calabash International Literary Festival. Dawes’s awards include an Emmy and Webby for LiveHopeLove, an interactive website based on his project HOPE: Living and Loving with AIDS in Jamaica. His numerous other honors include the Forward Prize for Poetry, several Pushcart Prizes, a Guggenheim fellowship and the prestigious Windham/Campbell Prize for Poetry.
EVGENY TSYMBAL, PH.D.
Department of Physics
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Tsymbal’s research is focused on computational materials science aimed at the understanding of fundamental properties of advanced ferromagnetic and ferroelectric nanostructures and materials relevant to nanoelectronics and spintronics – research fields that promise to revolutionize electronic and data storage industries.
Since 2007, Tsymbal has been the director of the National Science Foundation-sponsored Nebraska Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) “Polarization and Spin Phenomena in Nanoferroic Structures,” which involves 26 faculty members from six UNL departments. Tsymbal has also been founding director of the Center for Nanoferroic Devices, charged with developing non-conventional electronic devices that can scale computer technologies.
Since coming to UNL in 2002, Tsymbal has secured more than $32 million as a principle investigator. He has also published more than 240 papers, review articles and book chapters, has served as the specialty chief editor for Frontiers in Condensed Matter Physics, and is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Institute of Physics.
Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA) Recipients:
OTICA recognizes individual faculty members who have demonstrated meritorious and sustained records of excellence and creativity in teaching.
LLOYD BELL, PH.D.
Department of
Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Bell’s scholarly activity and research interests are dedicated to researching theory and best practice, the promotion of the teaching and learning process within agriculture, and facilitating a nurturing atmosphere of interaction and thought.
Bell has received numerous teaching awards within CASNR and has been widely recognized by the North Central Region of the American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE). In 2012 Bell was named a Senior Fellow in AAAE, recognizing his exceptional and sustained contributions to the agricultural education profession.
WILLIAM MAHONEY, PH.D.
School of
Interdisciplinary Informatics
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Mahoney, the recipient of numerous UNO teaching awards, was a longtime adjunct faculty member for the computer science department before joining UNO full-time in 2005.
He created the master’s degree in cybersecurity for UNO, and is the recipient of several scholarship awards which were used to recruit students into the program. Two of these, the NSF Scholarship for Service grants, have provided UNO with $3.9 million to fund cybersecurity students who then enter the workforce for federal, state, tribal or local government agencies.
Mahoney has created new courses to support the master’s degree program which have helped UNO earn a Center of Academic Excellence—Cyber Operations designation from the National Security Agency, placing UNO in the company of only 19 other universities in the United States. Mahoney has supervised 42 independent studies, served on 44 thesis or dissertation committees, and is the faculty representative for NULLify, the UNO student cybersecurity club.
Innovation, Development and Engagement Award (IDEA) Recipients:
IDEA recognizes faculty members who have extended their academic expertise beyond the boundaries of the university in ways that have enriched the broader community.
MARIO SCALORA, PH.D.
University of Nebraska Public Policy Center
Department of Psychology
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Scalora supervises research on a range of areas such as threat assessment, stalking, extremist violence, school violence and workplace violence. In collaboration with his colleagues, Scalora’s research activity focuses on increasing public safety and violence prevention at the individual, institutional and community levels. This behavioral science approach to threat assessment involves teaming with human service, educational, law enforcement and public safety professionals to prevent violence.
Over the course of his career, Scalora has focused on advancing the research and development of threat assessment methods and translating these into real-world training to increase public safety and awareness of threat risks. His research has evolved into a nationally recognized assessment strategy used by a wide array of educational, law enforcement, public safety, and industrial security professionals. In training thousands of professionals in assessing and managing threats at the local, state and national levels, Scalora and his colleagues have also provided a valuable workforce development pipeline of clinician trainees.
Inclusive Excellence Collaboration Award (IECA) Recipient:
IECA honors sustained, outstanding contributions in diversity and inclusion between two or more University of Nebraska academic and/or administrative units or campuses that move the university system toward inclusive excellence.
OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Launched in 2016, Husker Dialogues is an annual event for first-year students that facilitates conversations about promoting respect and understanding for different perspectives and identities in the UNL community, and introduces tools students can use in meaningful conversations about diversity and inclusion. The event is held in the third week of the fall semester and begins with remarks from students about their experiences on campus. Students then break into small groups for facilitated discussions about their own experiences.
Participation in Husker Dialogues has grown from 2,800 in 2016 to more than 3,400 last year, with some 90 percent of respondents reporting the event increased their awareness of diversity and modeled respectful ways to talk about related issues.
Students serve as facilitators for the small group discussions given that students may feel more comfortable discussing potentially difficult issues with their peers. Additionally, follow-up events were created to allow participants to delve more deeply into issues raised at Husker Dialogues and further develop their leadership skills.
That led to the creation in spring 2018 of the Inclusive Leadership Retreats, daylong events designed to help students think more broadly about diversity issues and how to lead inclusively in the classroom, in the community and in their extracurricular activities. More than 100 students participated in the first Inclusive Leadership Retreat, with 150 additional participants in the fall.
Students reported greater awareness of their own unconscious biases and more confidence in their ability to discuss issues related to diversity and inclusion even when the topics are sensitive or uncomfortable.
University-wide Departmental Teaching Award (UDTA) Recipient:
UDTA recognizes departments or units within the university that have made unique and significant contributions to NU’s teaching efforts and that have demonstrated outstanding commitment to the education of students at the undergraduate, graduate or professional levels.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Chaired by Paul Black, Charles Bessey Professor of Biological Chemistry, the Department of Biochemistry has made significant efforts to revitalize its curriculum in order to enhance the student experience through engagement, outreach and research. The department’s faculty have also built an outstanding record in research, with one of the highest levels of extramural support on campus and numerous publications in high-impact scientific journals.
The department is a shared program between the College of Arts and Sciences and Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Recent department successes include:
- A nationally accredited undergraduate curriculum of experiential learning using data-driven outcomes to inform a program that emphasizes critical thinking, experimental testing, computational modeling and inferential logic.
- An outstanding, nationally recognized, interdepartmental graduate curriculum that is training students in modern, interdisciplinary biochemical sciences.
- A culture of pedagogical excellence through faculty engagement on campus and innovation both in the classroom and online.
- A multidimensional program that enriches science literacy in all facets of the population, from citizens, to K-12 teachers and students, to non-biochemistry majors and other stakeholders.
Through a commitment to inclusive excellence and the success of its 350-plus students, the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry are effectively preparing students for careers in medicine, industry, teaching and research.