Archives for March 23, 2021

Breaking the Trend: Academy Tackles Nebraska’s Teacher Shortage Head On

March 23, 2021 by Robb Crouch

by Jennifer Overkamp

Gresham, Nebraska, native William Wilton is a small-town kid with a big heart. He’s a sophomore at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, majoring in education and planning to be a family and consumer science teacher. He wants to change lives for the better, to inspire his future students just like his teachers inspired him.

“Education is all about preparing students with the skills that they need to succeed,” Wilton said. “For me, teaching Family and Consumer Sciences will give me the opportunity to inspire future students to be successful members of their families and communities through the lessons taught in my classroom.”

Wilton is one of 40 UNL students in the inaugural cohort of the Teacher Scholars Academy, an honors academy for education majors that includes students at three of the four University of Nebraska campuses. He’s also one part of the solution to a big problem: Nebraska’s teacher shortage.

It’s easier to solve a problem than to fix a crisis. The Nebraska teacher shortage is a problem that is slowly, quietly turning into a crisis.

It comes down to math. From 2009 to 2017, the number of K-12 students in Nebraska rose by 8%. Yet, in that same timeframe, the number of college students studying education fell by 48%, according to data from the Nebraska Department of Education. That adds up to a shortage of teachers, especially when combined with the fact that Nebraska, like the rest of the nation, has a problem retaining teachers. The Nebraska Department of Education data also show that 30% of new Nebraska teachers leave the profession within their first six years, most in the first two or three years.

The result of this combination of circumstances is that a gradually increasing number of teaching jobs are filled with teachers who are not fully qualified. This usually means that they have only a provisional license or they lack an endorsement in the needed area. However, the number of positions left vacant is also gradually increasing. From just 12 unfilled teaching jobs across Nebraska in the 2013-2014 school year, the number rose to 36 in 2018-2019.

In 2019, it was 62.

Not surprisingly, COVID-19 is expected to exacerbate the problem.

“Pre-pandemic, I was certainly concerned about the efforts to recruit and retain teachers in the profession,” said Nebraska Commissioner of Education Matt Blomstedt, Ph.D. “Post-pandemic, I expect the same attrition trends, but at a more accelerated pace.”

The William & Ruth Scott Family Foundation has long been interested in supporting education. A few years ago, John Scott, vice president of the William & Ruth Scott Family Foundation, and Matt Boyd, assistant vice president with the University of Nebraska Foundation, started discussing a plan to address the teacher shortage. What sealed the deal for Scott was that the plan they created called for a team effort: University of Nebraska administrators, students, faculty on three campuses and donors would all be part of the solution.

Through the University of Nebraska Foundation, the William & Ruth Scott Family Foundation, along with other major donors, joined leadership at UNL, the University of Nebraska at Kearney and the University of Nebraska at Omaha to create the Teacher Scholars Academy. This university program provides top undergraduate students studying education with scholarships, professional development opportunities and a cohort experience where scholars move through all four years of their bachelor’s degree within a group of other high-achieving students. Fundraising to support future cohorts is ongoing.

High-achieving students planning to study education apply to the academy before they start their bachelor’s degree. Each year, UNL and UNK choose 40 new scholars, and UNO chooses 24.

Now in its second year, the academy includes more than 200 talented scholars, all eager to make a positive difference through education. They attend regular education classes and a few academy-only classes.

“The Teacher Scholars Academy is much more than just an honors academy for education majors,” said Braden Foreman, coordinator of UNL’s Teacher Scholars Academy. “It tackles the teacher shortage head on, taking strategic, practical steps to recruit the right students and then give them the financial, professional and personal support to excel and lead. The goal is to help mold future teachers who are really effective.”

The academy is specifically focused on addressing the overall issue of the workforce shortage in education by meeting a number of key challenges.

CHALLENGE: Student loan debt and its impact on students’ career choices.

STRATEGY: The academy offers full-tuition scholarships and a generous stipend for room and board to every scholar for all four years of their degree.

Scott best summed up the importance of this strategy, saying, “When you’re trying to recruit kids of the caliber that we’re trying to get, you’re looking at kids who could easily choose a different career path with the potential to make more money. The reality is that student debt plays a big role. We’re trying to remove the financial obstacles that could potentially get in the way of kids choosing education as a career path.”

UNO scholar Alexandra Espinoza said the scholarship was “a huge relief.” She’s preparing for her dream job of teaching high school Spanish and English, a job where she knows her outsized enthusiasm isn’t going to be matched with a correspondingly big paycheck.

“I’m really excited that I’m going to be teaching!” Espinoza said. “But it’s also not a high salary job, and I would have had thousands in debt. The scholarship was definitely a true blessing. It took away the stress.”

CHALLENGE: Ensuring the most talented, passionate future teachers have the best possible training.

STRATEGY: The academy recruits top students, considering not only grades and test scores but also community service, leadership and enthusiasm for teaching, with an eye toward increasing diversity in education as well. Along with a typical application process, aspiring scholars are required to create an introductory video and are interviewed by the selection committee.

In addition to their regular classes, first-year scholars meet regularly for professional development seminars. Topics have included Gallup’s CliftonStrengths, education resumes, diversity, mental health and well-being, leadership, conflict resolution and presentation skills.

Community service or service learning is also central to the academy and helps scholars further develop the skills they are learning. Scholars have helped a variety of community organizations, doing everything from promoting literacy, mentoring at-risk youth and reducing the misuse of prescription drugs to supporting musicians with special needs. Their work in local schools has included crafting customized, at-home activities for struggling distance-learning grade-school students.

For early childhood education major Kylie Miller, who chose UNK after falling in love with the small campus community, her service learning opportunity added to her education in more ways than one.

“Our spring semester requires 20 hours of service learning, but it kind of doesn’t feel like service learning at all, especially because we get to work with kids,” Miller said with a big smile. Miller volunteered as a tutor with the America Reads program, and that’s where she realized she wanted to teach English as a second language. She said, “I was able to work within an ESL classroom, and I absolutely fell in love with it.”

CHALLENGE: Keeping new teachers in the classroom, especially during those first years that are typically the most difficult.

STRATEGY: Academy scholars graduate with not only a strong education but also a strong support network. The academy creates close-knit cohorts of students who attend seminars and some classes together and come together for community service and team-building activities.

A dedicated coordinator on each campus pulls it all together, serving as mentor, facilitator and organizer, connecting scholars with schools, professional opportunities and each other. At UNL, academy students share the same dorm floor for the first year.

Wilton, Espinoza and Miller all emphasized the value of the strong community within the academy. Their cohort is where they’ve found their closest friends, even their roommates in Miller’s case. It’s where they go for encouragement and studying help. They know they can rely on those bonds after they graduate.

“I can definitely see that we’ll all be standing strong together within the teaching community after we graduate, because we all have one another,” said Miller. “It’s just a great community of support,” Espinoza said. “It feels like a family.”

The Teacher Scholars Academy started in the fall of 2019 and added its second cohort fall of 2020. In terms of the big picture, its founders won’t know if it works for another 10 years, when academy graduates are in their classrooms, and they are able to see if their success, including their retention in the field, is greater than their peers. Big problems don’t always have quick fixes.

“It’s big and broad, but you’ve got to take steps, right?” Scott said. “You can’t be intimidated by the magnitude of the problem.”

Scott said the William & Ruth Scott Foundation chose to invest in the Teacher Scholars Academy because of a core belief in the value of education.

He quoted his mother, Ruth Scott — a former teacher — as saying, “Being a good teacher and a good parent are two of the most important professions on the planet. Impacting the lives of children brings an indescribable sense of fulfillment.”

Scott said that his family’s work with the academy has been “as satisfying as anything we’ve ever done.” He added, “We’ve gotten the same feedback from our peers in the community who have joined us in this investment.”

Wilton also sees the donors’ gifts as investments for which he and his peers are truly grateful.

“I see the donors’ investment in me and in future educators as truly not just an investment in me. It’s an investment in every student who will walk into my classroom, someday in the future,” Wilton said.

Wilton noted that this investment is multiplied by all of the academy’s scholars on all three campuses and all of the students they will teach throughout their careers, leading to an impact that is hard to count or even put into words.

“When we are able to positively impact one student,” he said, “they’re going to positively impact their family and their peers and the other people around them whom we might not be able to teach. And I’m really thankful for the donors for the experience from the Teacher Scholars Academy, and, for some of us, the gift to make college a reality, and to be able to go on and make the difference that we want to make.”

Nurturing the Environment and Our Health

March 23, 2021 by Robb Crouch

by Tom O’Connor

With a massive flood in 2019 and a serious drought in 2020, Nebraska knows only too well the water extremes that can occur and the havoc they can produce.

For Jesse Bell, Ph.D., it makes Nebraska the perfect place for him to conduct his work as director of the newly established Water, Climate and Health Program based in the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health.

The program brings together experts from the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska. It was created in 2020, thanks to a $5 million gift commitment made by UNMC alumna Anne Hubbard, M.D., through her family’s foundation, the Claire M. Hubbard Foundation.

Bell grew up in the tiny community of Bloomfield in northeast Nebraska.

He loved to fish and hunt and be out in nature.

When UNMC recruited him for an associate professor role in 2018, one of his colleagues said, “You could go to a lot of places. Why Nebraska?”

The answer was easy, said Bell, who was lured back to the Cornhusker state from Atlanta, where he created the first joint research position between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I loved growing up in Nebraska,” he said. “I knew the state, and I felt there was tremendous potential for future work — a better chance that we could move the meter a little more to produce improved health outcomes.”

When it comes to flooding, Bell said most people think of coastal states as having the biggest problem. Amazingly, with its large number of rivers and waterways, Nebraska ranks as the sixth most flood-prone state in the country.

“The 2019 flood was devastating to Nebraska,” Bell said. “It resulted in three deaths, and the $10.8 billion economic loss made it the costliest inland flooding event in U.S. history.

“We saw the full spectrum of flooding — the damage caused by rushing water, contaminants, bacteria and ag chemicals in the water, debris you can’t see, animals trying to escape. Once the waters receded, we saw the problems afterwards, such as mold in houses and mental health issues due to lost crops and livestock.”

With 92% of Nebraska’s land dedicated to agriculture, it’s no surprise that high nitrate concentrations can be found in groundwater across the state. Nitrates, which have been linked to potentially serious health issues in babies, originate primarily from fertilizers, septic systems and manure storage or spreading operations.

In addition, other elements found in Nebraska’s water can impact health. These include arsenic, lead, uranium, agricultural chemicals and herbicides such as atrazine.

Bell said 80% of Nebraska’s water comes from community public water systems, while the remaining 20% comes from private domestic wells.

Climate change is another area of concern in Nebraska, Bell said.

“Over the past 50 years, Nebraska’s temperatures and precipitation have increased,” he said. “Scientists expect this trend to continue in the future, which will translate to winters being wetter and summers being drier.”

By partnering with DWFI, the Water, Climate and Health Program will be able to enhance its effectiveness, he said.

Peter G. McCornick, Ph.D., executive director of DWFI, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, agrees.

“This is a strategically important alliance for our institute and the UNMC College of Public Health,” McCornick said. “It will enable us to better research the complex issues impacting water quality and develop solutions for improved public and environmental health. We’re very pleased to welcome Dr. Bell to the DWFI leadership team.”

The Water, Climate and Health program will work in three main capacities:

Bringing diverse university experts together to solve complex issues
Finding technical and policy solutions to improve the environment for better human health
Providing experiences for students studying these issues

Research topics the program could address include the following:

Links between the state’s water quality and pediatric cancer and birth defects
Health outcomes related to Nebraska’s flooding
The impact of technology, such as precision application of nitrogen fertilizer on soil and water quality
Mapping at-risk populations and environmental exposures in the state

“The hope is to build an interdisciplinary program across the university that will thrive for decades to come,” Bell said. “We have plenty of work to do. We will focus on Nebraska first, then the region, and then everything outside the region. I’m excited about this. I think there will be a lot of good that will come out of this.”

Looking out for Mother Nature

Hubbard has had a love affair with nature since she was in her mid-20s.

When she was looking to make a significant investment in the University of Nebraska, it was very obvious to her that the best use of the money would be to address Nebraska’s most pressing public health issues associated with water and climate.

“Nature is so important. It calms you down … relieves mental stress. I love getting out and moving around,” said Hubbard, a 1977 graduate of the UNMC College of Medicine and member of the University of Nebraska Foundation Board of Directors. “I know there is a God when I’m outside.

“We need a healthy environment. Life is circular. All of us are connected. If we have unhealthy water or soil, it affects everyone — humans, plants and animals. We have to look out for Mother Nature, because she’s trying to look out for us.”

In addition to establishing the Water, Climate and Health program, her gift commitment created the Claire M. Hubbard Professorship of Water, Climate and Health that Bell will hold, pending approval by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.

A pediatric radiologist, Hubbard worked in children’s hospitals in Kansas City and Philadelphia for 21 years before joining UNMC and Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in 2005. She retired in 2015.

Her gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation helps meet a critical need in public health.

“The idea behind public health is to prevent disease instead of just treat it,” Hubbard said. “It is so obvious to me how much impact environment has on human health.

“Water is life. The goal is for everyone to have safe, clean water available. It’s exciting to see the University of Nebraska come together to try to make this happen.”

Visit nufoundation.org/university-receives-5 to learn more about Hubbard’s reasons for supporting the study of water, climate and health.

UNK Confronts a Growing Issue in Early Childhood Education

March 23, 2021 by Robb Crouch

by Kristin Howard

Sarah Collins, a sophomore from Omaha, knew she wanted to be a teacher long before choosing the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

She expected a standard arc of education classes to prepare her with method and theory, then a semester of student teaching to get real-world experience to launch her career in the classroom. Instead, she began working with students almost right away with a job at the LaVonne Kopecky Plambeck Early Childhood Education Center at UNK.

Collins is delighted with the change of plans.

“This job has been such a light in my life, and applying here was truly the best decision I have made as a college student thus far,” she said.

The Plambeck Center opened in November 2019 in University Village, a mixed-use, urban-village development that’s located just south of UNK’s main campus. The center provides developmentally appropriate early education for up to 176 children from infant to 6-year-olds, including those with special needs. It features 11 classrooms dedicated to three research-based philosophies for early childhood education.

“This hands-on experience has cemented my desire to pursue my career in education,” said Collins. “Working with kids of all ages has broadened my developmental experience. Interactions with the parents have improved my professionalism.”

The Plambeck Center’s facility also serves as a lab where students from UNK and the University of Nebraska Medical Center prepare for their future careers through experiential learning activities, such as classroom observations, practicums, internships, student teaching, diagnostic testing and research.

Interim Director Chelsea Bartling manages the center’s day-to-day operations, collaborating with various campus departments and community organizations on learning, child development and research initiatives.

“At the Plambeck Center we encourage our college students to come and learn through interactions with the children and teachers here at the center,” Bartling said. “Hands-on experiences with early childhood students provide our future educators a valuable learning experience that tandems the university teaching. It puts the practices learned into play and helps to guide our future educators in their teaching journey.”

Collins said the learning is constant, and UNK and UNMC students are included in many aspects of the center.

“I was recently promoted to teacher’s assistant and have been involved in lesson planning and have had experience being the lead instructor when the lead teacher is not in the room,” she said.

In addition to serving Kearney-area families, the Plambeck Center addresses a statewide need for developing early childhood educators in a hands-on setting that exposes them to the best teaching methods.

“We know there’s a severe shortage of high-quality early childhood education providers,” said Bartling. “That’s been a big issue, especially for rural Nebraska. It is important for our future educators to continue their educational journey, as students still need highly qualified teachers to teach even amongst the teaching challenges that our society is currently facing.”

It’s a workforce need and a community need, she said, noting that childcare and early education are among the top priorities for employees and businesses looking to move into a community.

“As individuals come to town, child care is one of the first things they look for. We as a center and business need to be ready to help support families,” said Bartling.

Kearney residents and UNK graduates Jennifer and Chuck Rowling recognize the advantages of the Plambeck Center’s educational approach.

“Our family has been fortunate to have all three of our children attend the Plambeck Center,” said Jennifer Rowling. “The excellent teachers and students who work with the children daily are the true heart of the center and do an amazing job providing the early childhood education that sets these children apart from their peers. Learning through play and exploration is so important for children, and the center has figured out how to incorporate fun and learning daily.

“The Plambeck Center is a perfect example of … why the quality of the teachers and staff makes all the difference.”

The center’s role in educating early childhood teachers and other professionals is expected to address a growing need across Nebraska.

Through 2026, the Nebraska Department of Labor projects that there will be an average of almost 2,300 job openings for child care workers each year and a cumulative 12% expansion of total employment in this occupation between 2016 and 2026.

Preschool teaching alone is expected to have more than 100 openings per year and a 9% total employment growth during this decade.

The Nebraska Department of Education conducts its annual Teacher Vacancy Survey in PK-12 schools each fall. Its 2019 survey showed early childhood education sitting 10th among 15 endorsements with a shortage of educators — the fifth straight year it has been identified as a shortage area.

UNK’s Early Childhood Inclusive Teaching Field Endorsement Degree program, which is among the largest in the state with more than 250 students, is playing a key role in building this skilled workforce. Students at the Plambeck Center are also being trained for all different types of classrooms. In January, the center opened its Montessori Early Childhood classroom, which will enable more teachers to complete credentials in Montessori and support LaVonne Plambeck’s complete vision.

Mark Reid, Ph.D., dean of the College of Education, who took the reins as dean in 2020, reflected on the impact Plambeck’s passion for education has had at UNK.

“Many thanks go out to Dr. LaVonne Plambeck, for whom the center is named,” Reid said. “Her enthusiasm and generosity were imperative for this aesthetically and functionally beautiful facility to become a reality. In addition to the traditional classrooms, one of the spaces has been fully outfitted for Montessori teaching, for which Dr. Plambeck has an international reputation. At UNK, we are always looking for and improving the best and effective ways to prepare our teachers.”

Bartling said, “As a graduate from the Early Childhood Inclusive Endorsement program at UNK, I feel that the program and those hands-on experiences of the university child care center played a huge role in where I am as an administrator and former preschool teacher/special educator.”

Bartling’s UNK teaching and administration experience has come full circle. Collins is at the beginning of her journey but loves what her future may hold.

“One day, when I was working with the pre-K students, I spent the last half hour of the day working directly with a few of them on writing the alphabet. They were so excited about learning and displaying their knowledge, and it really made an impact on me,” said Collins. “That spark in their eyes — that’s what all of this is about. This moment painted a picture of what my future will be like.”

Erasing the Stigma: Treating Addiction as a Disease is Key to Beating Substance Use Disorders

March 23, 2021 by Robb Crouch

by Ed Rider

He thought he would never practice medicine again.

The stigma associated with seven years of alcohol and opioids misuse — being labeled an addict — affected his medical license and his practice. With no job and few prospects, he returned to school in hopes of pursuing a career as an alcohol and drug therapist.

Fate had another plan.

“My journey to recovery gave me empathy for patients, because when they talk about how painful withdrawal is, I get it,” Zoucha said. “These are sick people who need help to get well, not bad people we need to make good.”

His path also led him to better understand how the stigma of addiction hinders people from getting the help they desperately need.

Zoucha, now assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the addiction medicine division at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Department of Psychiatry, applauds the psychosocial interventions and therapies that have helped many people with use disorders. However, he believes education on the neurobiological disease behind addiction is key to more successful recoveries.

“Substance use disorder is a disease that needs to be treated medically, like we treat patients with diabetes,” he said. “The more we can talk about addiction as something that can be treated at your doctor’s office with the aid of expertly trained therapists, the less stigma there will be surrounding it.”

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that more than 35% of drug overdose deaths in Nebraska involved opioids. Alcohol, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, kills more than 300 Nebraskans each year. More than 37% of vehicle fatalities were due to alcohol impairment.

The same survey estimates that up to 7,000 people in Nebraska are living with a substance use disorder. Only about 10% will get the medical help they need.

With just eight physicians who are board certified in addiction medicine in the state (all located in the Omaha metropolitan area) and 178 physicians who obtained the waiver to prescribe buprenorphine (a narcotic prescribed for addiction to pain relievers), the need for more providers is urgent.

UNMC, Nebraska Medicine and the state have joined forces in a public-private partnership to develop training programs that will educate more physicians to treat patients with addictions. Development of two addiction fellowship programs as well as Pain and Substance Use Disorder Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) were kick-started through private support and assisted by a subaward of the State Opioid Response grant from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Howard Liu, M.D., MBA, chair of the UNMC Department of Psychiatry, recruited Zoucha from his position overseeing the juvenile chemical dependency unit at the Hastings Regional Center to initiate the Addiction Medicine Fellowship program (accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) and the executive fellowship program. It is the first fellowship program of its kind in the state.

“Few physicians in Nebraska know how to treat patients with addiction,” Liu said. “Our fellowship programs allow doctors to become experts in caring for patients with a substance use disorder. By lowering the stigma, medical professionals are more likely to see addiction as something they can treat.”

Addiction medicine fellowships are one-year multispecialty training programs for anyone who has completed a residency in the United States. Training provides a deep dive into providing care for people with unhealthy substance use, substance use disorders and other addictive disorders. The fellowship provides experience in the prevention, clinical evaluation, treatment and long-term monitoring of substance-related disorders.

Demand has been high for UNMC’s 30-day addiction medicine executive fellowship program for physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice nurses. Through a combination of clinical inpatient and outpatient treatment experiences, practicing providers learn how to evaluate and manage patients with substance use disorders.

In-person and web-based training helps executive fellows gain core skills for addiction treatment.

The program has graduated 35 fellows since its inception two years ago.

Growing the number of medical professionals who can treat patients with a substance use disorder is assisted by fellows applying these new skills to their practices and educating their partners. Giving providers the skills, knowledge and confidence to be the experts in their communities allows them to teach those skills to others.

ECHO uses videoconferencing to connect a variety of addiction specialists with providers across the state to discuss cases related to substance use disorders. Online sessions consist of a brief educational presentation followed by a clinical case discussion from a provider. Recommendations for treatment are also discussed.

“This amazing opportunity wouldn’t have happened had I not gone through my recovery journey,” Zoucha said. “Anyone can get substance use disorder, regardless of your status in society … it’s a medical disease.

“It also shows that people can get well.”

Hate Has No Home Here: UNO’s National Counterterrorism Center Aims to Understand, Track and Stop Homegrown Terrorists

March 23, 2021 by Robb Crouch

by Robyn Murray

It began on a clear morning in 1995, when Timothy McVeigh demolished a federal building in Oklahoma City and killed 168 people. For the nation, it was a watershed moment — the deadliest act of homegrown terrorism in U.S. history. But for the residents of Oklahoma City, it was woven into the fabric of their identities. Gina Ligon, Ph.D., grew up in Oklahoma City. She was 16 when she toured the wreckage of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. She remembers the smell of the thick, muggy air, which was still acrid five days after the building was blown apart, and how indiscriminate it felt.

“They were just doing normal things,” she said. “They were cogs in the machine of this ideological hatred that he had.”

That day changed Ligon. It made her want to find the next McVeigh, the terrorists lurking among us — and stop them.

Today she is doing exactly that. Ligon is the head of NCITE — the National Counterterrorism, Innovation, Technology and Education Center, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. NCITE is dedicated to understanding, tracking and stopping domestic terrorists. It is a one-of-a-kind institution based at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and it just earned UNO the largest grant in its history: $36.5 million awarded by DHS.

The grant lasts 10 years, but Ligon is already planning beyond that.

“This is an opportunity to build something that Nebraska can be known for,” she said.

On a recent Zoom call, NCITE students scroll through charts and graphs, tweaking variables and inputting data to make the lines bend and curve.

A little blue dot pops up on a map, corresponding with phone data and pinged locations.

It’s mesmerizing, and the students are excited about the software behind it. But they also understand the gravity of what they’re looking at.

That little blue dot is a potential terrorist.

“I’ve never been exposed to data in that way before,” said Liz Bender, a UNO junior majoring in criminology and criminal justice. “You read about it, but I never really thought I could have access to some of that data.”

Data is what drives NCITE. It began with the Jack & Stephanie Koraleski Commerce and Applied Behavioral Laboratory (CAB Lab).

Ligon pitched the idea to the former dean of the College of Business Administration, Louis Pol, Ph.D., in 2013. The proposal: high-tech tools capable of analyzing people’s emotions by tracking facial expressions, eye movement, brain activity and other neurophysiological responses. Her team would then apply that data to a broad range of subjects and answer questions like: What kind of business leaders are most effective, and how do terrorists recruit new members?

Terrorism and business may seem unusual bedfellows, but Pol said the CAB Lab’s business perspective was key to winning over DHS.

“From the very get-go,” Pol said, “when [Ligon] was applying those business perspectives to this study of violent extremist groups, they said, ‘Holy cow, this is different. We need to pay attention to this, and we need to pay attention to this person.’”

Along with its unique perspective, the program stood out because of its multidisciplinary nature — the College of Information Science and Technology is a key partner — and how much support it received from the university and community.

Ligon and her team pitched what would eventually become NCITE as part of a universitywide search for the next Big Ideas that would help UNO grow academically. The proposal led to increased funding at the university level and five new positions to support NCITE’s future growth.

Omaha philanthropists Jack and Stephanie Koraleski provided funding to launch the CAB Lab as well as a professorship, which Ligon holds. And a whole community stepped up to support the college’s new $17 million privately funded addition to Mammel Hall, which will house NCITE headquarters.

For students at NCITE, getting to solve real problems for DHS and helping stop terrorism are transformative opportunities. Bender says she learns something new every day and loves being encouraged to seek out her own projects.

“It’s not something I’ve experienced before,” she said. “It’s like the world is your oyster — do with it what you will.”

Bender said her interest in criminology stems from growing up in the era of school shootings.

“I wanted to understand why,” she said.

Tackling questions such as those is what makes NCITE a powerful experience for students, whom Ligon wants to mold into the nation’s best counterterrorism professionals ready to work in government, nonprofits or business.

“NCITE has given greater purpose to all of these students,” Ligon said, “so they can work together to solve something bigger than themselves.”

Something bigger — like stopping the next McVeigh before he, or she, has a chance to act.

The timing could not be more apt. As the U.S. struggles to recover from a global pandemic, a massive economic crisis and a highly divisive presidential election, risk factors for homegrown terrorism are extremely high.

“We have this boiling cauldron of risk factors that none of us really know what it’s going to lead to,” Ligon said. “There’s no more important time to have a DHS Center of Excellence than right now.”

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