UNO Archives - Only in Nebraska

Learning to Fly

November 14, 2023 by Katie Squier

By Susan Houston Klaus

Aviation Gift Fuels Students’ Jet Training

Gemma Ossi got a head start on her love for aviation. Shadowing her mother, who flew for United Airlines, she had a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be a pilot.

Ossi said one of her favorite experiences was at 17, when she tagged along with her mom to go inside a flight simulator to watch the pilots train.

Today, as a student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Aviation Institute in the College of Public Affairs and Community Service, Ossi is on her way to becoming a professional pilot herself.

It’s an in-demand job, especially at regional and charter carriers, and regional operators are eager to fill these positions, said Scott Vlasek, UNO Aviation Institute director.

According to the Regional Airline Association, regional airlines provide 50% or more of the air service in Nebraska. But nearly 50% of the qualified pilot workforce must retire in 15 years — and that’s impacting regional carriers.

Supporting Nebraska’s workforce needs is a key priority of Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future. The campaign aims to meet these needs in part by focusing on improving student access and success.

Ossi and others have been provided an instrumental tool in their academic and career success, thanks to a new addition at the institute — a Boeing 737 jet simulator.

Made possible by a gift from the Ethel S. Abbott Charitable Foundation, the new Boeing 737 Flight Training Device from Flightdeck Solutions (FDS) offers tactile training with a full-replica cockpit built to scale.

A 200-degree curved screen wraps around the nose of the simulated aircraft, providing pilots with an immersive, seamless first-person view as they simulate flights to and from real-world airports, including Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. It features high-level Sim-Avionics Flight Management System software that fully simulates the operations and measurements of the aircraft on its journey.

The Ethel S. Abbott Charitable Foundation was established in 1972 by its founder, Ethel S. Abbott, who passed away in 1992.

Ethel Abbott was an aviation pioneer who with her first husband, Raymond H. Page, operated the Lincoln Aircraft Company in Lincoln, Nebraska. The couple trained student pilots, and together they taught aviation legend Charles Lindbergh to fly.

It’s truly such a valuable opportunity that we have at our fingertips to use because it’s going to set us up so well. It fuels my fire, knowing that I can be in something so similar to where I’m going to be in a few years — just practicing and getting ready for the big moment.

“Our mission is to perpetuate the charitable generosity that Ethel S. Abbott demonstrated through her 97 years of life,” said Dorothy Pflug, president of the Ethel S. Abbott Charitable Foundation. “Flight training technologies have evolved tremendously from the aircraft the Pages used to teach Charles Lindbergh to fly. We are pleased to support the next generation of aviators as they pursue their own dreams of flying.”

Many students previously have never seen or been in anything like the simulator, said Vlasek.

“Where it’s really going to pay off is preparing them to make that transition to flying in jets, which is where you’re seeing that workforce issue, especially at the regional and commuter level of airlines,” he said.

The simulator offers early exposure to an important kind of training for these future professionals, Vlasek noted.

“When they make that jump from doing training to being a flight instructor to flying at that first airline,” he said, “they’ll have some basic understanding of some of the systems.”

Even more important, students gain a better understanding of decision making at 500 miles an hour, Vlasek said.

“We can start to prepare them to make that transition,” he said, “so when they go into training they will have seen these different systems and have been able to react from a critical-thinking standpoint to making decisions faster.”

Ossi said the experience being in the simulator is “scary accurate, and that gets me so excited because this is almost the real thing.”

“It’s truly such a valuable opportunity that we have at our fingertips to use because it’s going to set us up so well,” she added. “It fuels my fire, knowing that I can be in something so similar to where I’m going to be in a few years — just practicing and getting ready for the big moment.”

After she graduates in spring 2025, Ossi plans to put her experience to work in the area. She expects to work as a flight instructor at the Council Bluffs Municipal Airport, where she currently flies, then fly for a regional or charter operation. Her ultimate goal is to be a pilot for a major airline, like her mom.

“Aviation truly has so much to offer. I want to experience as much of it as I can,” Ossi said.

Thanks to the early experience she’s getting in the jet simulator, she and other students in the program will be well prepared to join the workforce and make their mark in the industry.

The Identity of an Urban University

November 8, 2023 by Katie Squier

By Robyn Murray

Omaha Philanthropists Invest in Leadership at UNO

Joanne Li did not grow up in Omaha. But while she is relatively new to the city — she became chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2021 — the Hong Kong native’s passion for Omaha is clear.

Pointing to redevelopment projects, such as the RiverFront transformation that encompasses 72 acres and three downtown parks, Li said Omaha is a city where people care about each other and come together to achieve great things.

“I find Omaha fascinating,” Li said. “[It is] a very relational town. People work very hard to build relationships. And they work equally hard, if not harder, to maintain the relationship. So that is actually very heartwarming.”

If we successfully provide an affordable, accessible education, we’ll be able to elevate our community.

UNO Chancellor Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA

Li began her academic career in Florida as a first-generation college student. After graduating summa cum laude with her finance degree and her doctorate from Florida State University, she went on to earn her Chartered Financial Analyst designation. She served as dean and professor of finance at the Raj Soin College of Business at Wright State University in Ohio before becoming dean of the Florida International University College of Business, serving 11,000 students.

At UNO, Li impressed the hiring committee with her passion for the essential responsibility of an urban university, which she believes is to educate by inclusion, not exclusion.

“We know that we have to do right by our community,” Li said. “If we successfully provide an affordable, accessible education … we’ll be able to elevate our community.”

Approximately 40% of UNO students are first-generation college students, Li said. In addition, more than one-third are eligible for Pell Grants.

“Our job here is to create social and economic mobility that will lead to what I call multigenerational prosperity, developing economic prosperity and mobility for the family,” Li said.

In addition to being “a font of creativity and discovery,” Li said UNO’s responsibilities are threefold: Educate the people of the world; contribute pragmatic research that impacts and improves the community; and serve the community to solve real problems.

“In any given year, UNO students and faculty donate more than 300,000 hours of community service to this community,” Li said. “And because this is the identity of an urban university … we say let’s understand the challenges of the community; let’s do something that can solve problems for all communities.”

Li’s community-based vision for UNO helped inspire a $19 million landmark gift to the university from Omaha philanthropists Barbara and Wally Weitz.

“It is thrilling to be a part of a place that is doing the kind of things that are happening at UNO,” Barbara Weitz said. “This institution, and the University of Nebraska as a whole, are incredibly valuable because of the education they provide and for their importance to the economy of the state. We must have well-educated citizens for Nebraska.”

A former faculty member of UNO and current University of Nebraska regent, Barbara Weitz is most recognizable on campus for her namesake, the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center — a historic building that opened in 2014 and was a result of her vision for UNO as a community-first university.

In June, Barbara Weitz and her husband, Wally, designated $14 million to create the Weitz Innovation and Excellence Fund and $5 million to establish the Barbara and Wally Weitz Endowed Chair in Higher Education Leadership — a first for the University of Nebraska System as a gift attached to a chancellor’s position.

“First and foremost, I feel extremely honored to be the first chancellor that will hold an endowed position,” Li said. “Barb and Wally understand how the education leadership pool is getting very tight. They want to send a credible signal, not just for Joanne Li but all the future chancellors, that this university is worth investing in, so let’s make sure that we can get the best leadership in place.”

Li said the Weitzes’ investment in innovation is visionary and particularly impactful as the university faces budget tightening.

“It’s a very smart way to incentivize the right behavior,” Li said. “So often universities will not have the opportunity to have what we call ‘financial slack,’ to invest in exciting initiatives that can propel research and improve operations that can bring in efficiencies.”

Li said universities use every dollar to invest in student success, but that can leave little room to look to the future.

“Research and development must be intentional,” Li said. The Weitz gift communicates “that we will stand by you, provide you the right aspiration, the right incentive to go and do great things that will bring great returns on investment for this university. It’s an ingenious gift and really timely.”

The investment reminds Li of what has made Omaha feel like home since her arrival on campus two years ago: a community that cares and aspires to be greater.

“There is no community better than a community that really believes in itself,” Li said. “So their philanthropic support is a very credible signal to tell the world: This community believes in itself.”

Fall Giving Days Will Support UNK and UNO

September 6, 2023 by Katie Squier

Mark your calendars now for two opportunities this fall to support the University of Nebraska at Kearney and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

One Day for UNK, Oct. 5-6

Coming up in October is One Day for UNK. This 24-hour day of giving will start at noon Oct. 5 and conclude at noon Oct. 6. Supporters will have the opportunity to make a gift in support of UNK scholarships, colleges and programs, Loper athletics, student organizations and other priorities.

UNK has set a goal to receive 1,905 gifts in honor of its founding year. Donors making gifts totaling $65 or more will receive a reversible UNK bucket hat to sport their Loper pride. To learn more, go to givingday.unk.edu.

Wear Black, Give Back, Nov. 8-9

Wear Black, Give Back, UNO’s giving day, will be from noon to noon Nov. 8 and 9. Alumni, students and staff are asked to wear their black UNO gear and make a donation in support of UNO scholarships, colleges and programs, student groups and activities, inclusion and wellness, and other priorities.

This year, UNO has a goal to receive 4,000 gifts during the 24-hour day of giving. Every donor who makes gifts totaling $65 or more will receive a bonus UNO blanket.

To learn more, go to givingday.unomaha.edu.

Hope in the Darkness

May 26, 2023 by Katie Squier

New ‘Flight and Hope’ Exhibition on Display at Samuel Bak Museum

Students Learn the Art of Moving Forward Through the Work of Holocaust Survivor Samuel Bak

By Robyn Murray

The boy stands with his hands in the air, despair and fear in his eyes. His body, scarred and pitted in stone, seems to emerge from a gravestone riddled with bullet holes. He holds a sling shot in his hand, a doomed defense against crushing force.

The painting, Icon of Loss, For the Many Davids, by Samuel Bak, captures and transforms an iconic image from the Holocaust of a young boy with his hands up, being marched to his death or another wartime horror. The original image, which became known as “Warsaw boy,” was captured by a Nazi photographer trying to document his efficiency as an executioner.

As Bak writes in his memoir, Painted in Words, the boy could have been him: “the same cap, same outgrown
coat, same short pants.”

Bak, a Lithuanian-American artist, was born in 1933 in Vilna, Poland, a city whose population of 60,000 Jews was annihilated during the Holocaust. By some accounts, as few as 2,700 Jews survived. Among them were Bak and his mother, who spent much of World War II hidden in a convent, aided by a Catholic nun. By age 11, Bak had lost his entire extended family, including his father, who was murdered days before Vilna’s liberation.

“The Holocaust was a laboratory of human behavior,” Bak said in a recent interview. “It taught us to see that in each one of us was the best and the worst.”

As a child, Bak was already a prolific painter. His first exhibit, at age nine, was organized by two poets he befriended while living in the Vilna Ghetto. Today, his work is featured in galleries around the world, and his vast collection — he reportedly can be working on 120 paintings simultaneously — is considered a seminal representation of the Holocaust and Jewish experience.

Bak’s work is particularly valuable as a teaching tool. His use of symbolism provides the viewer with a means to absorb difficult subject matter.

“They are windows into an alternate reality,” Bak said. “And in that reality, what they see are remains of a world that once existed and remains that have tried to reconstruct, somehow.”

Mark Celinscak, executive director of the Sam & Frances Fried Holocaust & Genocide Academy at UNO, has long recognized the value of Bak’s work in education.

“The art of Samuel Bak helps teachers and students make important connections between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives,” Celinscak said.

Celinscak had incorporated Bak’s work into his curricula for years when he began a quest to bring the artist and his work to Omaha. In 2019, Witness: The Art of Samuel Bak drew approximately 4,500 visitors, including more than 2,000 middle and high school students, over its three-month run.

Moved by the response to his exhibit, Bak gifted a massive collection of his work — 512 pieces that span several decades — to UNO. And in February, Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center opened with a curated exhibit of his work and a series of events that welcomed 600 students, faculty and community members.

The museum is currently housed in a temporary space in Aksarben Village, but the goal is to find a permanent home for Bak’s collection on campus. It’s an ambition that will require private investment. The move is being led by a veteran of development, public administration and museum leadership, Hillary Nather-Detisch, who was hired as executive director in July 2022.

“The vision is a space where we talk about social justice, human rights, the Holocaust and genocide,” Nather-Detisch said. “It’s a conversation starter.” Nather-Detisch said the museum will bring people together to tackle hard questions about the nature of humanity, our shared history and our present. She envisions it as a versatile tool for educators that inspires hope despite the darkness of its subject matter.

“Sam’s work is an expression, yes, of his experience in the Holocaust, but it’s really about moving forward and how, for him, it’s a process,” said Nather-Detisch. “That’s how he’s processing everything that he experienced. It’s about hope … it’s about how do we move forward?”

That is one question Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center will encourage students and community members to wrestle with.

“My aspiration is to make people wonder and question all the assumptions that they have,” Bak said, “and try to understand the world in which we live.”

At 89, Bak continues to paint prolifically, charged with a sense of urgency to tell his story. He once said he wishes he could paint “one million of these Warsaw boys, for the number of children who were murdered.”

But the dozens Bak has painted live on, forever with their hands raised, for all those lost — broken but still present, haunting but hopeful in their resilience. As long as Bak’s paintings survive, so do they, each child given new life through the eyes of those who see them and remember their story.

Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center is free to the public. All ages are welcome. Visit bak.unomaha.edu for more information and upcoming events. Or visit the museum in person at 2289 S. 67th St., Omaha, Nebraska.

‘Flight and Hope’ Exhibition on Display at Samuel Bak Museum

A new exhibition of Samuel Bak’s artwork, “Flight and Hope,” is on display now through Dec. 22 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center.

The exhibition explores themes of flight, journey and migration through Bak’s artwork. Informed by his experiences as a forced migrant and refugee in the aftermath of World War II, Bak’s work offers a potent reminder of the humanity of migrants, their flight from oppression and the fraught journey they undertake in the hope for a better life.

“Flight and Hope” is part of a broader conversation about the status of refugees in 2023, given the rising number of forced migrants around the globe. Nebraska has become home to thousands of resettled refugees since the late 1970s, following conflicts in Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria. Refugees have built new homes, communities and businesses in Nebraska, creating a global heartland.

Numerous events, including a lecture series, poetry workshops and roundtables, are scheduled as part of the exhibition. For a full schedule, visit the museum’s website. All events are free and open to the public. The museum is located at 2289 67th St. in Aksarben Village near UNO’s Scott Campus.

UNO Fund Scholarship Stories – Matthew Beckmann

February 24, 2023 by Derek Dillon

As a full-time social worker, Matthew Beckmann works every day to assist those who most need support. In the course of working on behalf of these individuals, he also navigates a social safety-net system that is incredibly complex and has what he sees as significant flaws.

Matthew wants to change that and currently is taking the first steps to do so by pursuing his bachelor’s degree through the University of Nebraska at Omaha, with emphases in social work, business administration, and psychology.

“I feel like, as a social worker at this level, I can’t make changes.” he said, “So in a perfect world, I’ll keep on going through — I’m planning on getting my master’s degree — so hopefully I can actually make some of the changes I would like to see.”

Matthew’s ambitions are matched by his determination. Both he and his wife, a registered nurse, work full-time in North Platte, Nebraska. The couple have two sons, one 4 years old and one 5 months. To support his family as well as make a difference in his field, Matthew wanted to continue his education. But unfortunately, he found few options close to home that would let him pursue his chosen field.

Initially, Matthew looked at a nearby community college but found the experience discouraging. He decided to explore distance education options. After researching the offerings at most of the major universities in Nebraska, he decided to enroll in UNO’s online multidisciplinary studies program in the fall of 2021.

“I talked with the advisers at UNO quite a bit before I made my decision, and they definitely were amazing through the entire process and kind of told me what I could expect,” Matthew said. “Honestly, this last year and a half that I’ve completed the program with UNO, they’ve been there basically every step of the way. It has been great.”

Shortly after enrolling and starting classes at UNO, Matthew learned he would be one of the recipients of the UNO Fund scholarship, which provides financial assistance thanks to the generosity of alumni and others who donated to the UNO Fund.

While UNO has many scholarships, the UNO Fund for Student Scholarships are the only ones that see hundreds of alumni and supporters come together and make gifts — last year gifts ranged from $5 to $15,000 — to give directly back to students. Thanks to UNO Fund donors, UNO was able to offer Matthew a renewable scholarship to cover much of his tuition through his expected graduation in May 2023.

“When I received the message that I was going to get a scholarship, it definitely made my wife and me very happy,” Matthew said. “With two kids, we’re both working full-time jobs. But it’s definitely been difficult to work extra or really do anything extra because we’re so tight to the wall with our budgets right now. Getting the extra money just to be able to take a breath and actually pay off some different things because of the scholarship has definitely made a massive difference in our quality of life. I’m able to focus more on school because I’m not trying to work 40 hours a week plus more overtime so I can cover the different expenses.”

Matthew has been able to continue working and taking distance classes and is now on track to graduate with his bachelor’s degree from UNO. After that, he hopes to pursue his master’s degree in social work, which is also offered by UNO as an online program.

Matthew said the UNO Fund scholarship helped propel him toward the finish line, and he wished to express his gratitude to every donor to the fund, no matter the size of their gift.

“My wife and I are both so incredibly thankful for this opportunity,” Matthew said. “The donors that are contributing are providing an avenue for people that are not financially able to go through UNO, and I feel like the benefits that you provide are just so incredible. To be able to give that opportunity to prospective students is just an absolute gift. We couldn’t imagine trying to do it without the scholarship. We are so incredibly, incredibly grateful.”

You can help bring more students like Matthew to UNO. The more people who give, the more scholarships we can award to students who need and deserve them.

UNO Fund Student Scholarship Stories – Reagan Folda

February 24, 2023 by Derek Dillon

As a student in the Sign Language Interpreting program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Reagan Folda understands the importance of a clear and simple message. She wants UNO alumni to clearly understand this: Their gifts to the UNO Fund scholarship have changed her life.

“I am extremely grateful that I got this scholarship,” she said. “It brought me a lot of relief when I needed it during stressful times.”

Reagan is one of eight promising students who this fall was awarded a UNO Fund scholarship, receiving financial assistance thanks to the generosity of alumni and others who have contributed to the UNO Fund.

While UNO offers many scholarships, the UNO Fund for Student Scholarships is the only one that sees hundreds of alumni and supporters come together and make gifts — last year gifts ranged from $5 to $15,000 — to give directly back to students. Thanks to UNO Fund donors, UNO was able to offer Reagan a renewable scholarship to cover much of her tuition through her expected graduation in December 2024.

Reagan grew up in Schuyler, Nebraska, and after graduating from high school in 2019 she attended Central Community College as a student-athlete, playing soccer. However, after a year there, she felt drawn to a bigger city environment and started looking at transfer options. She transferred to Metropolitan Community College (MCC), where she majored in liberal arts.

While at MCC, Reagan took an ASL class and fell in love with the language. After a year at MCC, Reagan earned her associate degree. She then transferred to UNO to become a speech pathologist; however, she decided to change her major to become a sign language interpreter.

“I love learning about the Deaf community and American Sign Language,” Reagan said. “I think everyone should learn more about Deaf culture and ASL.”

Reagan has been impressed with the classes, people and campus at UNO, and she said she has found it a good fit for all the experiences she was hoping to receive from her college education.

“The campus is really nice,” Reagan said. “You feel very at home here, and the people are so awesome. I wanted a bigger city to live in, but it’s also just an hour from my hometown.”

Reagan also said she would enjoy working in the educational setting assisting children who are Deaf and hard of hearing. She hopes to pursue a career as an educational interpreter.

“I am considering getting my master’s in Deaf education,” Reagan added. “Right now, I am leaning toward becoming an educational interpreter, but there are many opportunities for me to think about.”

Reagan said she felt immediate relief this fall when she learned she would be receiving the UNO Fund scholarship.

“Transferring from Metro, it’s a price change, so I was nervous about that, but the scholarship really was a relief,” she said. “I was really grateful. I was nervous about taking out too much of a FAFSA loan, so I didn’t have to take out as much because I have the scholarship. And the scholarship is renewable, so that was really nice, too.”

In addition to taking classes at UNO, Reagan works as a nanny to help pay her living expenses and tuition. She said the UNO Fund scholarship has helped to ease some of those financial burdens. It also allowed her to find the right major without having to worry about adding additional semesters and incurring an even greater tuition bill.

“I get to focus more on my schoolwork,” she said. “I have a nanny job where I only work two days a week, which is nice. If I did not have this scholarship, I would probably have to find a second job, so it has been wonderful.”

In addition to expressing her gratitude, Reagan encouraged UNO alumni to consider giving back to this scholarship in an amount that makes sense to them. She said she knows firsthand that the gifts are being used to help students who want to make a positive impact in their communities.

“The people who have the UNO Fund scholarship, and anyone who graduates from UNO, they go out and do great things,” she said, “so I think it is a really good thing to donate to the UNO Fund scholarship. I know when I’m an alumnus, I’ll try to do it too for sure, because it helped me, and I want to give back, too.”

You can help bring more students like Reagan to UNO. The more people who give, the more scholarships we can award to students who need and deserve them.

Civil Engineering Student Loves Everything about Nebraska, Even the Weather

November 9, 2022 by Katie Squier

Jennifer Davis is a University of Nebraska–Lincoln civil engineering student who attends classes at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

By Connie White

Jennifer Davis feels at home in Nebraska.

“It’s not too crowded. It’s not too big,” she said.

She likes driving into the city to attend classes at the University of Nebraska at Omaha then taking the half-hour drive home through the countryside to Louisville. She even appreciates Nebraska’s unpredictable, if-you-don’t-like-it-just-wait-five-minutes weather.

“I like the weather,” she said. “I like how you go from winter to spring, and you really get to enjoy the different seasons.”

That’s why Davis plans to stay in Nebraska after she graduates in May with a civil engineering degree.

Though Davis attends classes on the UNO campus, her degree will be from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. As the state’s only engineering college, UNL’s College of Engineering offers classes on the City Campus and East Campus in Lincoln and on the Scott Campus in Omaha.

Davis, 22, has lived all over the world. Born in Landstuhl, Germany, near Ramstein Air Base, Davis moved nine times as a child with her family, including stays in Spain and in five U.S. states, as her father, Air Force Col. Randy Davis, received new assignments. Davis said she considered following in her parents’ footsteps (mom Marjorie was in the Air Force for six years) and serving in the military.

But Davis wanted to build her career in Nebraska, where her father grew up and her family relocated after he retired from the Air Force in 2012.

Davis attends UNO on a full-tuition Regents Scholarship. She also received an honors scholarship her freshman year that came with a laptop. The scholarships “took a lot of stress off of us,” Davis said, noting the financial assistance has allowed her to complete her degree without student loans.

After graduation, she hopes to use her engineering degree to safeguard one of Nebraska’s greatest natural assets.

While in high school, she read several books about clean water and its importance to community health. Those books lit a spark — one that put purpose behind her interest in biology and math and led her to study civil engineering.

She sees water as a blessing and wants to ensure that the water coming out of the kitchen faucet is safe to drink and that the wastewater going down the drain is properly treated before flowing into rivers and streams.

“It’s invaluable that we have access to water in the U.S.,” she said. “Look at other areas in the world —you can see that they don’t have that access to water.”

Davis said she feels at home on UNO’s Scott Campus, where she spends most of her time in the Peter Kiewit Institute. Her classes are small, with typically 20 to 30 people, so she knows her classmates. She has participated in research relevant to her field, including a project to monitor COVID-19 in wastewater. In addition, she completed an internship with the Missouri Department of Transportation and is currently working an internship with Olsson, an engineering and design firm.

Davis spends one day a week at a wastewater treatment plant in Lincoln that is being updated to run more efficiently. She said she likes the combination of outside experiences and engineering coursework.

“It’s good, experience-wise, to do an internship, go back to class, and see ‘oh, that’s why they’re teaching this,’” Davis said.

Next summer, she plans to marry fiance Nate Andres, a cyber security major at UNO, and start her civil engineering career in Omaha or Lincoln, ideally in the field of wastewater treatment.

“I want to make sure our water is being cleaned as well as possible to help protect the environment and just to be good stewards of what we have been given,” she said.

Serenity on Campus

November 8, 2022 by Katie Squier

Nationally Relevant Research Positions UNO to Meet Surging Demand for Health Counseling

By Robyn Murray

Abby Bjornsen-Ramig, Ph.D., runs her hand along the shiny surface of a laminate reception desk. Her fingers land on a cream-colored ceramic container filled with mints. Those are for clients — and like everything in this softly lit space, they were carefully chosen. The comfortable couches, the culturally inclusive artwork on the walls, HGTV playing softly in the waiting area and the faint aroma of cinnamon coffee in the air have all been designed to create a serene, inviting setting where clients feel relaxed and welcome.

Bjornsen-Ramig, associate professor and clinical training director in the counseling department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is giving a tour of the newly renovated Community Counseling Clinic on the first floor of Roskens Hall. The thoughtfully decorated space represents how far the program has come. Students and community members can visit the office and receive counseling services from advanced graduate students in one of the comfortably furnished private therapy rooms, which are fully equipped with subtle audio and video recording equipment for supervisory purposes.

Some of the people who have made this progress possible are part of the tour Bjornsen-Ramig is leading: Marti Rosen-Atherton and John Atherton, two counseling icons in Omaha; and Jack and Stephanie Koraleski, UNO alumni and longtime friends and colleagues of the Athertons.

“When we were here, we had to hold counseling sessions in big classrooms, working off those rickety wooden desks,” Rosen-Atherton said. “This is so much better.”

A living legacy of service

The Athertons dedicated much of their careers to counseling at UNO. They taught in the counseling department for nearly three decades after receiving their degrees at the university; and Rosen-Atherton served as director of what is now UNO Counseling and Psychological Services from 2003 to 2012. Stephanie Koraleski studied under Rosen-Atherton as a graduate assistant at UNO before serving the community as a licensed psychologist.

First founded in 1977, UNO’s Community Counseling Clinic has evolved tremendously since those early days. But in recent years, the clinic and overall department have progressed even more rapidly. The growth is partly due to an accelerating demand for counseling services brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and an easing of the stigma around mental health. But it is also due to the department’s rising-star faculty and the national attention they’ve garnered from their research. The rise has been so pronounced that UNO is currently able to admit only 60% of the applicants qualified to study in the counseling department.

“I’ve seen it go in a really great direction in terms of student interest, program rigor, clinic expansion, community partnerships, faculty research and applications for external and internal funding,” said Bjornsen-Ramig, who began her faculty career at UNO in 2012. She received the Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award in 2021, has published numerous articles and book chapters and presents her research annually at local, regional and national professional conferences.

“I think we are more on the map of the college and of the university than we were previously, so it’s been a really exciting time to be part of this team,” she said.

Elevating the department through research that matters

Abby Bjornsen-Ramig, Ph.D., (center) joined by Jack and Stephanie Koraleski (left), who provided a lead gift to establish the Marti & John Atherton Clinical Mental Health Counseling Professorship, and Marti Rosen-Atherton and John Atherton (right). “It was incredible affirmation of everything that we have done,” Rosen-Atherton said. “What this means to me and to all of the students and colleagues and this place that held me up and gave me opportunities — and to have it made possible by the dearest friends we could ever have is the frosting on the cake.”

Bjornsen-Ramig says elevating the reputation — and ultimately the footprint — of the counseling department is aided tremendously by faculty who conduct nationally relevant research. Bjornsen-Ramig’s research focuses on career development and the impact of work on personal and professional wellness. During the pandemic, as the traditional workplace was upended, Bjornsen-Ramig became a regular feature in local media.

“I am passionate about that area of study because of its centrality in everyone’s life,” Bjornsen-Ramig said. “Everybody either works or they’re looking for work. They don’t like their job, they’re underemployed or unemployed, they’re being bullied at work. I think it’s a really important area of study, and it intersects beautifully with wellness and counseling.”

While Bjornsen-Ramig represents the future of UNO counseling, her professorship was made possible by the living legacies of the past.

Bjornsen-Ramig holds the Marti & John Atherton Clinical Mental Health Counseling Professorship, which was provided in honor of the Athertons through generous gifts from the Koraleskis as well as numerous friends and colleagues who were impacted by the Athertons’ work in counseling. The gift represents a line of investment and continuity from community stakeholders who care deeply about counseling at UNO, the people it helps — and the future it must rise to meet.

“I really want to do them proud and to be able to make great strides in their honor,” Bjornsen-Ramig said. “We’re in a really good place now as a faculty to kind of explode out of the gates.”

All the Right Moves

May 18, 2022 by Katie Squier

By Susan Houston Klaus

How the UNO Pitching Lab Is Helping Athletes Improve Their Games

The digital images generated in the University of Nebraska at Omaha Department of Biomechanics might prompt a double take. Human skeletons appear to be pitching a baseball or softball, spiking a volleyball or swinging a golf club. But these bundles of bones are actually living, breathing athletes — from UNO, the local community, the region and the country.

They’ve come to the UNO Pitching Lab in the Biomechanics Research Building for movement assessments designed to improve their performance and prevent injuries from taking them out of the game. It’s the first time the department has combined biomechanics, athletic training and data gathering to benefit the athletic community. And like other unique programs happening in the Biomechanics Research Building, it’s giving students experiences they wouldn’t find anywhere else.

The Biomechanics Research Building garners envy around the world for both its people and its equipment, said Jeff Kaipust, UNO’s assistant director for biomechanics. Opened in 2013 and expanded in 2019, the building represents the generosity of Nebraskans, particularly the Ruth and Bill Scott family, who provided the lead donations for the building’s construction and expansion, and the support of the UNO administration and University of Nebraska System.

“None of the wonderful things we do in UNO Biomechanics would have been possible without private support, especially from the Ruth and Bill Scott family,” said Nick Stergiou, Ph.D., assistant dean and director of the UNO Division of Biomechanics and Research Development.

“This support is fundamental for construction of our facilities,” Stergiou said. “It is also essential for retaining and attracting talented young scientists who work in the pitching lab.”

Together, those elements have created a place that puts a high value on collaboration — a place where, Kaipust said, “one lab doesn’t belong to one researcher; every space in our facility is shared.”

The lab is populated by people from around the world with all kinds of expertise, including in mathematics, engineering and kinesiology.

“From the brain to the individual muscles to the different properties of the ligaments, tendons and bones, we’re just trying to solve interesting problems on the way we move,” he said.

The idea for the pitching lab started with an athlete.

Tyler Hamer is a former NCAA Division I pitcher who played at the University of Illinois before transferring to UNO for his last two seasons. As he was completing his master’s degree in biomechanics at UNO in 2019, he mulled over his next move.

“As a player growing up, a pitcher in high school and also in college, baseball’s been a lot of who I was and who I still am now,” he said.

He wondered if it was possible to pursue a doctorate with his dissertation focused on baseball pitching. Hamer talked it over with his faculty adviser, Brian Knarr, Ph.D., an associate professor in the UNO Department of Biomechanics. For a decade, Knarr has been doing his own research on understanding how people move, how injuries can be prevented and how to optimize rehabilitation from an injury. He’s also a lifelong baseball fan.

With Knarr’s support, Hamer outlined an idea for a lab focused on the unique needs of athletes. He tested the system out on himself, again stepping on the mound to deliver pitch after pitch — this time, in the name of scientific research. Soon, the lab had the interest of others on campus.

That included Adam Rosen, Ph.D., and Sam Wilkins, Ph.D., at the UNO School of Health and Kinesiology. Both have been Division I baseball athletic trainers; now they train the trainers who work with UNO athletes and bring a clinical aspect to the lab. Hamer and the team also got buy-in — and an old pitching mound they reengineered to use in the lab — from UNO baseball coach Evan Porter.

The pitching lab officially hosted its first subjects in October 2019, bringing in UNO Baseball pitchers. They’ve returned regularly to check their progress. Porter said players have tweaked their movements and improved their velocity on the mound. But there’s also the unmeasurable part of the assessment he’s glad they have access to. Catching movements that may lead to injuries is crucial to preventing them and staying in the game. Having that information gives them added confidence as athletes, Porter said.

“It provides them with more knowledge about how their bodies work, how their mechanics work, and that leads to better tendencies, better performances and more wins, hopefully, for the Mavericks for the long term,” Porter said.

The collaboration among biomechanics, athletic training and the athletes they serve has been valuable for biomechanics as a program and for its students, said Knarr.

“It’s something that is incredibly attractive for students coming into the program,” Knarr said. “We’ve seen increases in recruiting and increases from the student body to come to our program to work with our athletes, to work with our faculty doing the science.”

Students also get a tremendous opportunity to work with athletes at an elite level, he said.

“Not many places in the country and across the world really have the opportunity to work with high-level athletes,” Knarr said. “Often, they’re either on professional teams or they’re siloed off in their academic or athletic programs. But some of the best opportunities to learn and to understand the sport are to work with athletes that are great at that sport.”

Baseball assessments were just the beginning for the lab.

In the past couple of years, the lab has expanded to include testing for UNO athletes in softball, volleyball, golf, swimming and diving, and men’s soccer, as well as players of middle-school age and up from the greater community. The lab has developed a reputation not only as an assessment destination, but also a learning resource for local students. Athletes with their eyes on the Major League Baseball draft have also made the trip from around the country to get advice on how to improve their performance and throwing velocity.

Marriah Buss recently visited the lab with her UNO Volleyball teammates for an assessment. An outside hitter, she’s been a standout on the court for years: In high school, she finished her years at Lincoln Lutheran with the second-most kills in Nebraska history. So, a particular finding from her assessment was more than a little surprising.

“One thing we learned about me is I have really bad shoulder mobility,” she said. “So, we’re wondering how I’m able to hit the ball, and how I’m able to hit it hard. Through the biomechanics testing, we learned it’s not through my shoulder that I’m hitting the ball, but it’s because of my hips, how they rotate and the speed at which they rotate.”

Buss said she was “just really shocked” by the information.

“Now I know that by working out my hips, it will improve my arm swing and how well I’m hitting the ball,” she said. “It’ll definitely become something I’m way more focused on now than I was before.”

Buss is looking forward to putting the newfound knowledge to work so she’s even more powerful when the season begins again in late August.

For Hamer, research in the lab has provided a bigger view of where his career may lead. In October 2021, he joined biomechanists from UNO Pitching Lab collaborator Wake Forest University in the Dominican Republic at the MLB International Combine in Santo Domingo. There, he operated the biomechanics pitching lab, collecting data for MLB teams to review for the draft season. His paper, co-authored with Rosen, was published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine in March 2021.

Those experiences wouldn’t have been possible without those who originally put UNO Biomechanics on the map, Hamer said. “It’s really just the hard work that happened before I ever arrived here that’s allowed me and others working in the lab to make it what it is today,” he said. Hamer said, ever since he started playing baseball, he’s wanted to make it to the majors. Today, his work in the lab has helped him achieve that dream — just not in the way he imagined.

What’s next for him?

“It’s just kind of seeing where life takes me and just going each day as best as I can,” he said. “I’ve always been a believer in hard work, and if you work as hard as you want to, you can make anything happen.”

UNO’s Mark Gilbert explores the healing power of art

September 26, 2021 by Robb Crouch

The surgery wasn’t the hardest part.

The worst was squeezing his face into a tightly fitted plastic mask and lying down on a cold, metal table. Every day, he endured the same waves of claustrophobia as he kept his body still while the nurses secured him to the table and the sickening stench of his burning skin washed over him.

“I saw the experience turn a gentle, lovely man into someone who was being violent,” said Mark Gilbert, Ph.D., an artist and medical humanities professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Gilbert met the man, Roland S., when he was undergoing radiation treatment for cancer of the upper jaw. Gilbert painted Roland’s portrait during the process — sitting with him during his surgery and radiation treatments and spending hours with him in his studio.

“It takes courage at the best of times to have somebody looking at you while they’re drawing you,” Gilbert said. “I took confidence in the fact that he had confidence in me. He trusted me to do justice to this part of his story.”

Roland’s portrait was part of “Saving Faces,” a project conceived by a surgeon at the Royal London Hospital, who commissioned Gilbert to paint portraits of patients undergoing facial reconstructive surgeries. The hope was the process of being painted would help them heal and adjust to their facial deformities.

While not a new idea, it has gained significant traction in recent years: the power of art and humanities to heal.

“Humanities aren’t just a pleasant distraction,” said Gilbert, who has conducted numerous studies on the impact of art on well-being. “They can allow us to engage with what we’ve found most challenging in a way that can be healing.”

“Saving Faces” was exhibited at UNO in 2006 through a partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. That led to a 15-year relationship that resulted in Gilbert’s joint appointment as professor of studio art and medical humanities in 2020. Gilbert’s position is part of UNO’s medical humanities program, an interdisciplinary partnership that was established as a major in 2019.

The program is directed by Steve Langan, a poet and writing teacher with a background in public health administration. Langan came to the position after his experience as founder of the Seven Doctors Project, which paired doctors with writers and aimed to provide a creative outlet for physicians to
relieve stress and burnout. Langan said the impact was profound.

“Humanities and the arts are, in my experience, life-altering,” Langan said, “and that’s not an exaggeration.”

UNO’s medical humanities major has grown to include 80 students, who hail from various backgrounds and have a range of career goals.

It includes a long list of participating professors from UNO and UNMC in fields as varied as sociology and anthropology, philosophy, English, communication and social work. It is highly collaborative and involves organizations across the country, including New York City’s Theater for
Social Change.

“It’s been well known for a long time that various types of art — written art, literature, poetry, graphic arts, music — have had a dramatic effect on how people heal, particularly for serious and chronic diseases,” said Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., chancellor
of UNMC.

As the program grows, Langan says it will not only focus on helping patients heal through engagement with the arts, but it will also aim to improve wellness among health care workers. Langan says the program is currently focused on tackling burnout, a problem exacerbated by the pandemic.

“We recognize the sky-high burnout numbers, sky-high suicide numbers. Physicians are at the top of that terrible list,” Langan said. “We believe that what we bring to the table helps alleviate the stress, suffering, the pain of not thinking about and talking about what ails us. We’re not trained therapists. But our specialties contain that inoculation.”

For Roland S., the process of sitting with Gilbert through one of the most challenging periods of his life and seeing the portrait of his face — the scars, the fear in his eyes — helped him turn his pain into something he could confront, and even into something beautiful.

“He turned something that was deeply upsetting into something that was powerful,” Gilbert said.

In August 2022, Gilbert’s work will be exhibited at the UNO Art Gallery alongside drawings by his late father, Norman Gilbert. For more information, contact Gilbert at 402-554-2420 or mgilbert8@unomaha.edu

By Susan Houston Klaus

Aviation Gift Fuels Students’ Jet Training

Today, as a student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Aviation Institute in the College of Public Affairs and Community Service, Ossi is on her way to becoming a professional pilot herself.

It’s an in-demand job, especially at regional and charter carriers, and regional operators are eager to fill these positions, said Scott Vlasek, UNO Aviation Institute director.

By Robyn Murray

Omaha Philanthropists Invest in Leadership at UNO

New ‘Flight and Hope’ Exhibition on Display at Samuel Bak Museum

Students Learn the Art of Moving Forward Through the Work of Holocaust Survivor Samuel Bak

By Robyn Murray

‘Flight and Hope’ Exhibition on Display at Samuel Bak Museum

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By Susan Houston Klaus

Aviation Gift Fuels Students’ Jet Training

Today, as a student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Aviation Institute in the College of Public Affairs and Community Service, Ossi is on her way to becoming a professional pilot herself.

It’s an in-demand job, especially at regional and charter carriers, and regional operators are eager to fill these positions, said Scott Vlasek, UNO Aviation Institute director.

By Robyn Murray

Omaha Philanthropists Invest in Leadership at UNO

New ‘Flight and Hope’ Exhibition on Display at Samuel Bak Museum

Students Learn the Art of Moving Forward Through the Work of Holocaust Survivor Samuel Bak

By Robyn Murray

‘Flight and Hope’ Exhibition on Display at Samuel Bak Museum

A living legacy of service

Elevating the department through research that matters

We are strongertogether.

We are stronger
together.