The project is not expected to be completed until mid-to-late January, but much of the dirty, noisy work will be done during the winter holiday break.

The project will replace the existing handrails with a new handrail system that will meet the International Building Code and maintain the architectural integrity of the building. The changes will assure a safer museum.

Sheldon will not present its monthly First Friday reception in January. For more information, go to www.sheldon.unl.edu.

Wisherd died in 1981, bequeathing 20 percent of her estate (more than $36,000) to the University of Nebraska Foundation for the benefit, welfare and comfort of the emeriti association. The money was given in honor of Zelma’s sister, Maude Wisherd, a former NU employee.

“The Maude Wisherd Fund was initially used to pay health care insurance premiums for emeriti,” said Lowell Moser, president of the association. “Even though the fund has grown nicely, eventually those costs became too expensive. Proceeds from the fund are now used to award grants for health-related items, scholarly activity, special projects and activities of the emeriti.”

Research for an Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education conference presentation last fall pulled Moser and Bob Fuller, then president of the association, into the world of the Wisherd clan. Paced by Moser’s previous work in genealogy, the duo learned all they could about the family and the large donation – which is uncommon for emeriti associations nationwide.

“Maude was an emeritus,” said Moser. “She worked as a librarian with the rank of assistant professor in the University of Nebraska Libraries from 1916 to her forced retirement at age 65 in 1955. She also worked for an additional 10 years with the state historical society.”

The shadow of Lowell Moser falls across the graves of the Wisherd children at Wyuka Cemetery. The UNL Emeriti Association raised funds to purchase a headstone for Zelma Wisherd, who donated a portion of her family’s estate to the association.

Zelma graduated from NU in 1920, and went to Napa, Calif., where she was a teacher. Eventually she moved back to Lincoln to be closer to her family.

Moser and Fuller continued to search for information on the Wisherds, finding that their parents once owned about 2,300 acres of land near Beatrice, and later the family lived in a home at 1821 Prospect Ave., until Maude’s death. Two brothers – Harry and William – served in World War I. Their parents, Samuel and Alice, died in 1932.

Only one of the siblings, William, married. Moser is still searching for census data to see if he had children.

Hoping to add visuals to the conference presentation, Moser began looking for the Wisherds’ graves. The search was brief, as answers came at the first stop.

“I stopped out at Wyuka and started looking through records,” said Moser. “I located the parents’ grave, then found those of the other brothers and sisters, but I could not find Zelma’s grave.”

Moser ventured back a couple of times before confirming that Zelma was buried next to her siblings.

“We looked through the records again and found that Zelma’s grave was simply not marked,” said Moser.

Moser and Fuller found no official reason for the unmarked grave. They suspect it was because Zelma was the last of the family to die and left no heirs.

After returning from the presentation at the ARONE national meeting, the emeriti pulled together to purchase the stone for Zelma.

Lowell Moser examines the Wisherd family gravestones during a Nov. 13 visit to Wyuka Cemetery.

“Members of the emeriti association were shocked that Zelma’s grave was unmarked,” said Moser. “When we talked about raising money for a marker, everyone was really supportive.”

The group quickly collected the $700 necessary from emeriti donations to purchase a stone to match those of Zelma’s siblings.

“I wasn’t surprised at how quickly the emeriti got behind this proposal,” said Moser. “We all know what the interest from the Wisherd donation has meant to the emeriti. In my opinion, it has been the glue that has kept this group together.

“The UNL Emeriti Association simply could not function effectively without the Maude Wisherd Fund.”

The grave marker is now in place at Wyuka Cemetery. The UNL Emeriti Association will hold an official ceremony at the Wyuka grave site (section 30) at 11 a.m. on Dec. 1. The ceremony is open to the public.

Anyone with information about the Wisherd family can contact Moser at lmoser2@neb.rr.com.

– Story and photos by Troy Fedderson, University Communications



Wisherd Ceremony

The UNL Emeriti Association will honor the Wisherd family during an 11 a.m., Dec. 1 ceremony at Wyuka Cemetery (Section 30). The event is open to the public.

NSF grant to fund innovative, water-focused graduate education program

UNL is launching an innovative, interdisciplinary graduate education program to prepare future scientists, policymakers and natural resource managers to address increasingly complex global water issues. The program is funded by a $3.1 million National Science Foundation grant.

The five-year grant from NSF’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program, known as IGERT, will fund an education project focused on resilience and adaptive governance in stressed watersheds. Doctoral students in this rigorous program will study resilience and adaptive management strategies for stressed watersheds in the United States and eastern Europe. The program will integrate scientific, socio-economic and legal aspects involved in studying and managing complex systems of people and nature.

The program will train graduate students from many disciplines across the natural, computational and social sciences to become the next generation of natural resource scientists, managers and policymakers, said wildlife ecologist Craig Allen, who leads the IGERT program, which is based in the School of Natural Resources.

“Resolving increasingly complex water issues requires the best and clearest scientific information from interdisciplinary and integrative science, and the best well-trained scientists we can provide,” Allen said.

This is Nebraska’s first IGERT award since NSF established the program in 1997. The IGERT program encourages collaborative new models for graduate education in science and engineering. It teams UNL water experts in many scientific disciplines with national and international partners, as well as agencies and non-governmental organizations dealing with water management issues.

“This grant will jump-start a permanent interdisciplinary program of study in resilience and adaptive management,” said chancellor Harvey Perlman. “It fits well with our university’s strategic goals for interdisciplinary research and education, and our commitment to be a leader in water research.”

The program taps UNL’s broad expertise in water, natural resources and climate science to provide an innovative, interdisciplinary graduate education and research experience, said Prem Paul, vice chancellor for research and economic development. “Such training is largely missing in U.S. graduate programs but it’s vital if we are to prepare the next generation to respond to increasingly difficult water issues worldwide,” Paul said.

John Owens, Harlan vice chancellor of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said, “This is exciting news for UNL. It takes advantages of some key strengths we have in water research and education and positions us to enhance our national and international leadership in this area.”

Diminishing water resources and increasing demand require policy experts, managers and scientists who understand complex ecosystems, Allen said. UNL’s program will focus on resilience theory and adaptive management and governance. Resilience focuses on preserving a complex ecosystem’s ability to adapt or evolve in the face of environmental change. Adaptive management is a process of making decisions in the face of uncertainty, monitoring over time and improving or adjusting management as new information is available.

The IGERT program will fund 26 doctoral trainees over the next five years. The program’s first students are expected to begin their studies in January. They will study every angle of scientifically managing stressed watersheds starting with Nebraska’s Platte River. They also will study the Tisza River in Hungary and the Odra River in Poland in cooperation with the program’s international partner the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis in Austria.

The program focuses on interdisciplinary training in natural, social and computer sciences. About 20 UNL faculty members helped develop the adaptive management curriculum and will work with graduate students. Research will focus on understanding and enhancing the resilience of over-appropriated watersheds in the Great Plains, where agricultural production and critical habitats rely on fluctuating water resources.

Local, state and federal agencies, some of which have formally partnered in UNL’s IGERT program, will help shape an interdisciplinary curriculum in natural sciences, policy and law and research externships, or practice-based learning. Externships and workshops in the U.S. and Europe will give the fellows real-world experience putting their training and theories to the test in ways useful to environmental managers and policymakers, Allen said.

“The program will help fundamentally change academic culture by coalescing students, faculty and partners from many disciplines around a common goal of sustainably managing over-appropriated watersheds,” Allen said. UNL’s program could provide a model for integrating natural sciences, social sciences, law and computer sciences in graduate education.

Organizers are working to recruit top doctoral students, Allen said, especially those from underrepresented groups.

IGERT partners currently include The Nature Conservancy, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Headwaters Corp. and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. The program also will work with the Resilience Alliance, a loose international consortium of 17 members, including UNL, focused on multidisciplinary research that explores the dynamics of complex adaptive systems.

Co-leaders at UNL are Sherilyn Fritz, geosciences professor; Ashok Samal, computer science professor; Alan Tomkins, director of the university’s Public Policy Center and professor of psychology and law; and Andrew Tyre, associate professor of natural resources.

What is the IGERT?

The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program is the National Science Foundation’s flagship interdisciplinary training program. IGERT is designed to educate doctoral scientists and engineers by building on their disciplinary knowledge with interdisciplinary training.

Since 1997, the IGERT program has made 215 awards to more than 100 leading universities in 41 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. IGERT has provided funding for nearly 5,000 graduate students.

The $3.1 million IGERT award is a first for UNL.

IGERT @ UNL

The UNL IGERT was developed by about 20 UNL faculty members. The diverse group will also work with the IGERT graduate students.

Co-leaders include Sheri Fritz, geosciences; Ashok Samal, computer science; Alan Tomkins, diretor of NU’s Public Policy Center; and Andrew Tyre, natural resources.

The program will work with four local partners and the Resilience Alliance, a loose international consortium of 17 members.

Craig Allen has charted a career path inspired by the words of Jack London and the grunge of chimney sweeping.

Toss in some helpful “work faster” demands of a few supervisors/high school dropouts, and you could correctly say Allen has led a non-traditional march into academia.

“I had a little bit of trouble finding an area of study,” said Allen. “But, I started college as a creative writing major.”

Allen, adjunct professor and director of the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, is the principal investigator in UNL’s first IGERT program. The interdisciplinary education program for doctoral students is directed toward studying resilience and adaptive management strategies for stressed watersheds – one of Allen’s specialties.

Craig Allen, adjunct professor and director of the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, has taken on the lead roll in UNL’s IGERT program. Allen has been with UNL since 2004. Photo by Brett Hampton/IANR News Service.

He first became interested in wildlife ecology after reading Jack London’s “Call of the Wild,” while attending grade school in the suburbs of Madison, Wis.

“That book really opened up my horizons,” said Allen. “I started looking at what surrounded us in Madison. It was a shock to me that we were surrounded by cornfields and not by Northwoods wolves and moose. I wondered where they had all gone.”

The wonder didn’t last long.

“In my teenage years, I wasn’t interested in anything,” Allen said. “Then I went to college and burned through writing, geology, soil and forestry majors. I was very disenchanted.

“If only I’d known that you can get paid to chase animals around.”

He dropped out of the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, eventually starting his own chimney sweep business.

“It was actually pretty good money,” said Allen. “But once you slide off a roof covered in snow a time or two, the attraction wanes.”

He returned to UW-Green Bay and earned a bachelor’s degree, majoring in biology. Allen said interest in the topic he was studying led to a steep improvement in his grades. He was also inspired by a research project.

“As an undergraduate, I was able to study fox on campus,” said Allen. “It was a great opportunity, the right species to work with. I had a lot of fun sitting 30 feet from a fox den, watching them run around.”

Allen continued to work toward a doctorate. He earned a master’s in wildlife science at Texas Tech, then on to a doctorate in wildlife ecology at the University of Florida. He finished a post-doctorate at Florida before moving to work as the leader of a wildlife cooperative at Clemson University.

Allen came to UNL in 2004 as the founding leader of the UNL cooperative. He also teaches one course annually and is helping guide 12 graduate students toward degrees.

And, with the IGERT award, Allen is also working with colleagues across campus to prepare for the first group of students to come aboard.

The first task for the IGERT doctoral students will be to develop research projects. Their initial area of focus is the Platte River.

“This is a very unique IGERT,” said Allen. “What we will be doing is based on a very new and emerging body of theory. But, there’s a real applied aspect to this project. There is potential for applications in water management and policy in Nebraska. It’s a daunting task, but I think we’re going to see results that make an impact.”

– By Troy Fedderson, University Communications

But forget fieldwork and gleaming red metal. Think mouse chasing and gray fur.

For the last three years, the tractor museum has been home to Allis Chalmers, a stray cat who was so hungry she wandered repeatedly into the East Union.

“We got a call from a worker in the bookstore asking if we were interested in a cat,” said Jeremy Steele, educational associate with the museum. “She was just skin and bones, but a super nice cat. So, we took her in.”

Allis quickly accepted the museum as her new home – regular food, water, heat and affection helping speed the transition.

“She’s not officially one of those Husker Cats,” Steele said. “I guess you could say she’s a walk on.”

Allis Chalmers, the stray cat adopted by the workers at the Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum, sits on the wheel cover of a tractor she is named after.

Allis has all her shots and is licensed with Animal Control. And, she’s also become a prime draw for museum visitors.

“Most everyone is pretty surprised when they first see Allis,” said Steele. “But, now we have people that come in just to see the cat. And she’s really popular with the kids from the Ruth Staples Child Development Laboratory. They come visit Allis all the time.”

The feline is also popular among the museum workers – especially with 11-year volunteer Mark Nickolaus.

“She’ll climb up on my shoulders and ride there,” said Nickolaus. “It’s really nice to have Allis around. I think she helps people remember what it was like on the farm. I know she makes me think of growing up on my family farm near Aurora.”

Along with the tractors and other museum displays, Allis is helping the museum link to the past. Steele said the museum building was home to cats when it housed the tractor test and power facility.

“We’ve found some old photos with cats in the test facility,” said Steele. “There’s also a door in the wall that allows Allis to come and go from the building. It was put there 50 years ago for that exact purpose.”

Allis also draws attention while on her outdoor adventures.

Shortly after she came to the museum, Allis disappeared for nearly two weeks. A landscape services employee eventually found her, trapped in a building window well.

“She came back to us all skin and bones again,” said Steele. “She also lost the tip of her ear to frostbite. She was pretty lucky.”

In June, Allis was found near Claremont Apartments, east of City Campus.

On average, Steele fields one call a semester asking if the museum is missing their cat.

“We got a call from NET last week asking about Allis,” said Steele. “We just tell everyone to let her go. She always comes back home.”

– Story and photo by Troy Fedderson, University Communications

Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center construction rolls into final month

– Photos by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.

Full text for photos:

Miguel Contreras, an employee of the Omaha-based Demarco Brothers Co., works on the floor of the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center on Nov. 13. According to site supervisors, the new campus building is about one month away from completion. A grand opening is being planned for the spring.

Students pass by the north entrance to the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center. The $8.7 million, three-floor building features 30,000 square feet of space, including student offices, tutoring rooms and areas for faculty, staff and students dedicated to diversity and multicultural programming, such as the staff of the Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services.

Brandon Gemmell installs final pieces of drywall below the third floor railing in the main lobby of the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center. Half the cost of the building is being provided by students, who voted in March 2006 to move forward with the project. The vote increased student fees by $12 per semester per student in 2009 to assist with the funding.

The view west across City Campus from the third floor of the Gaughan Multicultural Center. The capstone donation for the building was provided through the University of Nebraska Foundation by the Gaughan family of Las Vegas. The building is named after the family’s patriarch, Jackie D. Gaughan, an Omaha native known in the hotel and entertainment industry for being one of the first employers in Las Vegas to encourage diverse hiring practices.

Ryan Peterson, an employee of the Lincoln-based Platte Valley Company, insulates pipes in the basement of the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center. The building has been designed with sustainability in mind and campus officials are pursuing a LEED certification. The multicultural building is expected to draw a silver rating.

Two new mural-sized images are taking University of Nebraska State Museum visitors on a journey to the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

The photographs, unveiled during a Nov. 15 ceremony in the museum’s Mueller Planetarium lobby, commemorate the 2009 International Year of Astronomy. They were unveiled with the assistance of Timothy Clare, member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. Following the reveal, Jack Gable, assistant professor of physics at Creighton University, offered a talk on black holes.

More than 50 attended the ceremony.

Timothy Clare, NU Regent (left), and Mark Harris, associate director of the University of Nebraska State Museum, remove the cover from one of the Milky Way galaxy images during the Nov. 15 ceremony in the Mueller Planetarium lobby. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.

A giant 6-foot by-3-foot image presents a unique view that showcases the galaxy in near-infrared light observed by Hubble, infrared light observed by Spitzer, and X-ray light observed by Chandra. This combined image was carefully assembled from mosaic photo surveys of the core by each telescope. It provides the most wide-ranging view ever of the Milky Way’s mysterious hub.

Officials unveiled a matched trio of Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra images of the Milky Way’s center on a second large panel measuring 3 feet by 4 feet. Each image shows the telescope’s different wavelength view of the central region of our galaxy.

Within the images individuals can trace the spectacle of stellar evolution – from vibrant regions of star birth, to young hot stars, to old cool stars, to seething remnants of stellar death called black holes. This activity occurs against a vivid backdrop in the crowded, hostile environment of the Galaxy’s core, the center of which is dominated by a supermassive black hole millions of times more massive than our sun.

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 celebrates the 400th anniversary of Galileo turning a telescope to the heavens.

Great Observatories explore Milky Way’s ‘heart of darkness’

The Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory are NASA’s premiere space astronomy missions, known collectively as the Great Observatories. In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the three telescopes have collaborated to produce the unprecedented image of the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy on display in the Mueller Planetarium lobby.

The Milky Way is a pancake-shaped galaxy filled with stars, gas and dust. Because our solar system is located within the plane of the galaxy, most scientific observations are blocked by giant clouds of dust and gas. The view toward the center of the Milky Way is almost completely dark in visible light observations. Researchers say the view is as if we were peering towards a “heart of darkness.”

In the composite image, observations using infrared light and X-ray light see through the obscuring dust to reveal the intense activity near the galactic core. Each telescope’s contribution is presented in a different color:

• Yellow represents the near-infrared observations of Hubble.

• Red represents the infrared observations of Spitzer.

• Blue and violet represent the X-ray observations of Chandra.

When these views are brought together, infrared observations (red and yellow) show not only hundreds of thousands of stars, but also glowing dust clouds heated by radiation and winds from those stars. X-rays (blue) reveal an energetic double star on the left as well as gas across the region heated to millions of degrees. The center of the galaxy is marked by a supermassive black hole and is located within the bright white region to the right of and just below the middle of the composite image.

The entire image width covers about one-half a degree, about the same angular width as the full moon.

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 celebrates the 400th anniversary of Galileo turning a telescope to the heavens and revolutionizing the view of the universe.

The multi-wavelength mural showcases not only stunning beauty, but also a wealth of scientific information that could not have been dreamed of by Galileo.

The University of Nebraska awarded its first doctorate in geography 100 years ago, with the honor going to Joseph Allen Warren, whose dissertation was “An Agricultural Survey of Nebraska.” At the time, the University of Chicago had the only other graduate program in geography in the Midwest. The University of Nebraska’s program was the first established west of the Mississippi River.

The anniversary celebration, which coincides with National Geography Awareness Week, features two lectures by Stephen Egbert, associate professor of geography at the University of Kansas. His first lecture, “Current Research Initiatives at the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program,” is at 3 p.m. Nov. 19 in Hardin Hall, room 901. The second lecture, “The Geography and Geopolitics of Genocide” is at 2 p.m. Nov. 20 in Hardin Hall, room 228.

Egbert has more than 27 years of experience in the analysis and application of remotely sensed satellite imagery for a wide range of issues. His introduction to remote sensing came via experience in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he served for 18 years following four years of active duty. He received a master’s degree in geography at UNL and a doctorate from the University of Kansas.

Both lectures are free and open to the public.

Other anniversary celebration events include a photo display (Nov. 16) and poster display (Nov. 17) in the Hardin Hall lobby; a movie night featuring “The Proposal” and pizza, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Nov. 18 in Hardin Hall, room 163; a geography bowl competition, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Nov. 19 in the Hardin Hall Auditorium; and an awards ceremony for the photo and poster competition, 1:30 p.m., Nov. 20.

For more information on Geography Awareness Week events, go to http://snr.unl.edu/geographygis.