Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by Emmanuel Aidoo, Paul Barnes, Seth Barnes, Abby Buback, Clare Clark, Frauke Hachtmann, Andrew Hanna, David Lott, Kristen Olson, Christopher Schafhauser, Ryan Tan, Brandy VanDeWalle, Kara Mitchell Viesca, Madelyn Waltman, David Wedin, Barbara Woodhead, College of Law, Mortar Board, Print and Mail Services, and the University of Nebraska Press.
Honors
Emmanuel Aidoo, graduate student in the Department of Chemistry, received the 2025 Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholars Recognition Program award from the American Chemical Society. The program recognizes talented graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the chemical sciences who demonstrate leadership in mentoring and promotion of belonging and research safety.
Paul Barnes, Marguerite Scribante Professor of Piano, will be inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame at the historic Steinway factory in New York on Oct. 20. The Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame is a prestigious designation recognizing the work of North America’s most committed and passionate piano educators. Every two years, teachers are selected from the United States and Canada to be inducted into the Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame recognizes the talented educators who foster passion, creativity and discipline in the next generation of piano artists. Learn more here.
The Mortar Board National College Honor Society's National Office recognized the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's chapter of Mortar Board for its exceptional contributions to scholarship, leadership and service. Seth Barnes, chapter adviser, was honored with the Gold Torch, Excellence in Advising award. The chapter also earned the Outstanding Achievement in Public Tapping Awards. These distinctions are given to chapters that exemplify the highest standards of engagement and impact.
Three graphic design students from the School of Art, Art History and Design took home honors at the American Advertising Awards this year. The American Advertising Awards are the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition, attracting more than 25,000 entries per year.
- Madelyn Waltman: Gold-Live Bait Card Deck; Gold-Live Bait Gallery Navigator Magazine Design; Gold-Live Bait Installation; Silver-Live Bait Gallery Navigator Cover; and Silver-Live Bait Posters.
- Clare Clark: Gold-Mato Campaign; Gold-Well Rooted Campaign; Gold-Eyelectic Campaign; and Gold-Go Outside Campaign.
- Abby Bubak: Silver-Love Logic Website Design.
Frauke Hachtmann, professor of advertising and public relations; and Zachary Schafer, a May 2025 doctoral graduate in teaching, learning and teacher education, earned the Honors Innovative Teaching Awards, sponsored by the University Honors Program and the Center for Transformative Teaching. The awards celebrate Honors faculty who are creative and effective in teaching and learning. The award provides $1,000 in professional development funds for their innovative teaching techniques and student-centered, inclusive learning environments.
David Lott, Nebraska Extension educator, received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. He was recognized July 1 during the association’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference in Billings, Montana. The award honors NACAA members with at least 10 years of service who are held in high esteem by their colleagues and have demonstrated an outstanding Extension program. Only the top 2% of members are selected for the award each year.
Kristen Olson, Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Professor in Sociology and director of the Bureau of Sociological Research, was the keynote speaker at the European Survey Research Association conference in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The keynote, “From Mail Surveys to Chatbots: Changes in Survey Modes, Methods and Data Sources Over Time,” was held at the City Theater in Utrecht, and opened the conference for the leading professional association of survey researchers in Europe, with more than 800 attendees.
Christopher Schafhauser, professor in the Department of Mathematics, has been recognized by two organizations for his work in algebras. The Canadian Mathematical Society has awarded him the Israel Halperin Prize for several contributions in the field of C*-algebras. The Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences awarded Schafhauser the Barbara and Jaroslav Zemánek prize for his outstanding contributions to the classification and structure theory of C*-algebras, particularly to the Elliott classification program.
Ryan Tan, assistant professor; Cory Armstrong, associate dean for research and faculty affairs and Pike Professor; and Sharon Baldinelli, assistant professor of practice, all in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, received a $59,860 grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development for their project, "Develop a Tabletop/Online Role-Playing Tool to Improve Public Engagement in Nebraska's Disaster Recovery and Community Resilience." The group will officially begin working on a prototype of an interactive training simulation tool this month. The tool will encourage resource sharing among students, community residents and elected officials during crisis events.
Brandy VanDeWalle, a Nebraska Extension educator, was recognized for her outstanding work in youth programming. VanDeWalle received the Search for Excellence in 4-H and Youth Programming award at the 2025 National Association of County Agricultural Agents Annual Meeting for Professional Improvement in Billings, Montana. The award honors members who have developed and delivered outstanding youth development programs through Extension and 4-H. VanDeWalle has led the Nebraska Youth Crop Scouting Competition for 11 years, designing and implementing a program that equips middle and high school students with the knowledge, skills and experience needed to pursue careers in agriculture and pest management.
David Wedin received the 2025 Extended Service Faculty Award in the School of Natural Resources, capping 27 years of work there and three in the Center for Grassland Studies. The director of the Center for Grassland Studies, Wedin is also a professor in the School of Natural Resources and a courtesy professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and the School of Biological Sciences.
Barbara Woodhead, director of Services for Students with Disabilities, was recently honored at the 2025 AHEAD conference with the AHEAD Honor for Meritorious Contribution. The AHEAD Honor for Meritorious Contribution on behalf of individuals with disabilities is to publicly honor individuals and groups whose vision, values, efforts and/or accomplishments have led to significant advances in access for people with disabilities. Such benefits or advances may relate to postsecondary education; if so, that should be articulated in the nomination. Recognizing vision, values, extraordinary efforts and accomplishments, this award is one of AHEAD’s two most prestigious awards. AHEAD is the Association on Higher Education and Disability and is the preeminent organization for disability work and specialists in higher education.
The College of Law has received the 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award from Insight Into Academia magazine. The award is a measure of an institution’s work to advance the core values of inclusive excellence and belonging through programs, initiatives and many other campus priorities. Institutions receiving this recognition have committed to the integration of mental health initiatives, including accessible services, peer support, emotional resilience and proactive policy. Nebraska Law will be featured, along with 70 other recipients, in the magazine's September issue.
Print and Mail Services earned five national awards from the Association of College and University Printers and In-Plant Printing and Mail Association, two of the industry's top organizations. Both competitions featured top university print operations from across the nation.
The awards include:
- Second Place Gold from ACUP+ for an offset printed Admissions Marketing Recruitment Envelope;
- First Place Gold from IPMA for a Nebraska Public Media 70th Anniversary Thank You Card;
- Second Place Silver from IPMA for a Lied Center "The Rainbow Fish" Ticket Ordering Postcard;
- Third Place Bronze for Laurus Literary Magazine; and
- Winner (Non-Professional Video Award) for "The Hands of the Print Shop."
The University of Nebraska Press won the 2025 Nebraska Book Award in the Nonfiction Nebraska as Place category for "The Nebraska Sandhills," which features nearly 40 essays from many Nebraska faculty members about the history, people, geography, geology, ecology and conservation of the Nebraska Sandhills. Illustrated with hundreds of remarkable color photographs of the area, it is the most up-to-date and illuminating portrayal of this remarkable yet largely unknown region of the United States.
Appointments
Andrew Hanna, assistant professor of management, was elected to serve a three-year term on the board of directors for the Southern Management Association, an affiliate of the Academy of Management whose mission is to advance the research, teaching, learning and practice of management.
Publications
Kara Mitchell Viesca co-authored with Nancy Commins the book, "Humanizing Pedagogies with Multilingual Learners Transforming Teaching in the Content Areas", which was published by Routledge. The book is for pre- and in-service teachers.
