780 to receive degrees at UNL commencement exercises Aug. 14-15

Approximately 780 students will receive degrees at University of Nebraska-Lincoln commencement exercises Aug. 14 and 15.

Barbara Couture, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, will preside at the ceremonies for recipients of master's and doctoral degrees at the Bob Devaney Sports Center at 3 p.m. Aug. 14 and at the ceremonies for recipients of baccalaureate degrees at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 15. Mehrdad Negahban, associate professor of engineering mechanics at UNL, will address the Aug. 14 postgraduate ceremony. Helen Moore, Aaron Douglas professor of teaching excellence and professor of sociology and women's studies, will address the Aug. 15 baccalaureate ceremony.

Moore's research focuses on educational stratification, including race, social class and gender dynamics as they link to economic outcomes. From 1999 to 2004 she edited the American Sociological Association quarterly journal Teaching Sociology. Her most recent publications include "Testing Whiteness: No School Left Behind" (Washington University Law and Policy Review) and a co-authored article in the Journal of Higher Education (2009), "Maintaining Credibility and Authority as an Instructor of Color in Diversity-Education Classrooms: A Qualitative Inquiry." Her research projects include a book manuscript, "Schooling Girls: Queuing Women" (forthcoming from Paradigm Publishers), and a mixed-methods study of the teaching careers of minority faculty. Moore was co-director of the UNL Preparing Future Faculty program for advanced doctoral students (2003-08) and was co-director of a National Institute of Mental Health Career Opportunities in Research grant for American Indian undergraduate students (2003-06). She was elected president of the Midwest Sociological Society (2007-08), and is chair of the society's Teaching and Learning Committee. Moore joined UNL's faculty in 1979. She holds a B.S., an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside.

Negahban was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1959. He studied, lived and grew up primarily in Iran, where he attended Neeki-Ala Elementary School and Alborz Middle and High Schools. He came to the United States as an undergraduate student in 1978 and graduated with a B.S. (1982) in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University, and an M.S. (1984) and a Ph.D. (1988) in applied mechanics from the University of Michigan. He came to UNL in 1989 as an assistant professor in engineering mechanics and became an associate professor in 1995. He has received awards in teaching from both the Department of Engineering Mechanics and the College of Engineering, and has been involved with the development and implementation of a joint international master's program in engineering mechanics and materials engineering with partners in France and Sweden. He has more than 30 refereed journal publications, one edited book, two books in preparation, and sits on the scientific committee of two international meetings, and on the editorial board of one journal. His basic area of research has been solids and thermodynamics in solids, with work in theoretical continuum thermodynamics, computational mechanics, and experimental mechanics. New areas of interest for him are in the mechanics of biological materials and in the development of a joint international laboratory looking at the modeling, design and characterization of materials for the future.

Handicap accessible shuttle buses will be available for easy access to the Devaney Center entrance. Handicap permit parking will be available on the north side of the Devaney Center.

The ceremonies are free and open to the public, and tickets are not required. They will be Web-streamed live from the Devaney Center through a link at the UNL Web site, www.unl.edu.

A drop-off area for graduates and mobility-restricted guests will be available on the south side of the Devaney Center. Sign-language interpreters for hearing-impaired individuals will be provided through the HuskerVision screens. Reserved seats for guests who are ambulatory restricted will be available next to the stage on the arena floor, as well as in Section B-11. Guests in wheelchairs will be seated on the northeast corner of the arena floor.

Because of security concerns, parcels, handbags and camera bags will be subject to search.