7 to receive UNL Alumni Achievement awards

Seven University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates will receive Alumni Achievement Awards from the Nebraska Alumni Association during the All-University Celebration and Salute to Alumni Achievement at the Nebraska Champions Club May 4.

The 2007 recipients of the award, which recognize service to one's community, state and nation, are:

* Edwin Dosek, 1942 business graduate and retired brigadier general living in Crofton, Md.;

* George W. Haecker Jr., 1963 architecture graduate and managing principal with Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects in Omaha;

* Jack Koenig, 1957 and 1959 chemistry graduate and the Donnell Institute professor emeritus at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland;

* Ted Kooser, 1968 master's degree recipient, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, essayist, UNL professor of English, and the U.S. poet laureate consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006;

* Robert F. Krohn, 1960 civil engineering graduate and president and CEO of PSI Group Inc., headquartered in Omaha;

* George Schlothauer, 1969 graduate and a dentist in Gering; and

* Ray Ward, 1959 and 1961 agronomy graduate and president and co-owner of Ward Laboratories Inc. in Kearney.

Dosek served in the U.S. Army in World War II, graduated from Creighton University Law School, and practiced law in Lincoln from 1948 to 1969. He later worked for 16 years as senior trial attorney for the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. Dosek founded and coached in the Lincoln Midget Football League and was named Lincoln Jaycees Outstanding Young Man in 1955. His Army Reserve service culminated in promotion to the rank of brigadier general and being named commander of the 97th Army Reserve Command at Fort Meade, Md. Dosek served as president of the Crofton Civic Association and was named Crofton's Citizen of the Year in 1998. His passion is golf and he pioneered the development of the USGA's "slopes" system for golf course ratings.

Haecker's contribution to the future of the architectural profession is demonstrated by his founding of the Bahr Vermeer Haecker Leadership Program for Young Architects at the UNL College of Architecture; the recipients of this award receive the AIA Practitioner in Education Award each year. A practicing architect since 1963, he is adviser emeritus to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and has served on the AIA's Historic Resource Committee. He has also generously contributed his time to preservation advocacy including formation and development of the Omaha Landmarks Commission, the Nebraska Preservation Council and the Nebraska State Capitol Commission. Haecker has served on the Nebraska Alumni Association's Board of Directors since 2004.

Koenig worked as a research chemist for the DuPont Co. prior to moving to the Case Institute of Technology as an assistant professor of polymer science. He was promoted to full professor in 1970. Koenig is a leading international authority in the field of nondestructive characterization of macromolecules and his work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors including election into the Plastics Hall of Fame. He has published more than 660 articles in scientific journals and has authored or co-authored 12 monographs and textbooks in his field of expertise. He has consulted for the Department of the Navy and has been a member of numerous National Science Foundation advisory panels.

Kooser worked for many years in the life insurance business, retiring in 1999 as vice president of Lincoln Benefit Life. He is the author of 11 full-length collections of poetry. His work has appeared in many periodicals including Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, The Nation and Prairie Schooner, among others. Kooser also has written in a variety of other forms including plays, fiction, personal essays and literary criticism. His first book of prose, "Local Wonders, Seasons in the Bohemian Alps," won the Nebraska Book Award for nonfiction in 2003 and his "Delights and Shadows" won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

Krohn also worked for Henning, Durham and Richardson from 1962 to 1988, and built HDR into one of the world's most formidable and respected engineering and architectural firms during his tenure as president (1976-1988). From 1984 to 1995, he served as a director of Commercial Federal Corp. and Commercial Federal Bank and was elected chairman in 1989. Krohn joined the newly formed PSI Group in 1995, restructuring 16 predecessor companies into one of the nation's largest presort mail-processing companies. Among the boards he serves on are the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City, Mo.; the Nebraska Environmental Trust; the University of Nebraska Foundation; and the University of Nebraska Medical Center Cancer Research Center, where he chairs the board of advisers.

Schlothauer served as a dentist in the U.S. Navy and with the Marines in Vietnam, returning to his hometown of Gering to establish a private dental practice. He has been president of the West District Nebraska Dental Association and the Nebraska Dental Association. He is a member of the NDA's Hall of Fame, the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists. In 1996, he received the Alumni Achievement Award from the UNMC College of Dentistry. His volunteer activities include service as a dentist in Guatemala and as a mentor with the Teammates mentoring program. In 2003, Schlothauer helped open a branch of the College of Dentistry hygiene program in western Nebraska, serving as the off-site coordinator at that clinic and on the College of Dentistry dean's advisory council in Lincoln.

Ward's company provides consultation on crop nutrition and management, feed testing, fertilizer recommendations, manure and sludge management, soil and plant testing, and water. Ward also teaches the introductory soils class at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and Agronomy 405 at UNL. Before opening his lab, he taught at Oklahoma State and South Dakota State universities. Among his many honors are the Soil Science Industry Award, an achievement award from the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Alumni Association, the Distinguished Service Award from the Nebraska Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, and induction into the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement. He serves on the UNK College of Natural and Social Sciences Advisory Board.

Reservations for the All-University Celebration and Salute to Alumni Achievement may be made by calling the Nebraska Alumni Association, (888) 353-1874 or (402) 472-4250. The cost is $25 per person and the deadline for registrations is April 27.

Nebraska Alumni Association programs are developed in support of UNL and funded by member dues and corporate partnerships. The Nebraska Alumni Association (www.huskeralum.com) is an independent organization that receives no state or tuition dollars.

CONTACT: Marti Paquette, Nebraska Alumni Association, (402) 472-4250