August 8 - August 15, 2005
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PROFESSOR JOINS NATIONAL COUNCIL
Anderson Named Senior Economist With Council of Economic Advisors
University of Nebraska-Lincoln economist
John Anderson has been appointed as a senior economist with the President's
Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, D.C. He will serve as an
adviser with the council, with particular duties related to public finance
policy issues including tax reform, social security, and other federal
revenue and spending programs.
Anderson, Baird family professor of economics and chair of the
Department of Economics in the UNL College of Business Administration, has
extensive international expertise in the re-development of former Communist
countries, having acted as economic adviser to the parliament of Moldova
and as economics educational adviser in Russia and Bulgaria. The author of
the best-selling economics textbook, "Public Finance," Anderson has been
commissioned by state governments to study the effects of property tax
rates, economic development incentives and tax increment financing.
The Council of Economic Advisers was established by the Employment Act
of 1946 to provide the president with objective economic analysis and
advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic
and international economic policy issues. In addition to the chairman and
two other members, the council has a professional staff of about 10 senior
staff economists, generally professors on one- or two-year leaves from
their universities, and 10 advanced graduate students. Four permanent
economic statisticians assist the economists in the interpretation and
identification of economic data.
The academic nature of the staff and of most council members
distinguishes the council from other government agencies. Members and staff
also use their strong links in the academic community to obtain advice on
technical issues throughout their time in Washington.
COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS
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MUELLER PLANETARIUM, TUE-SUN 2PM
Mueller Planetarium Hosts "Point Of No Return"
Journey with Mueller Planetarium into a universe of bizarre monsters as the planetarium explores quasars and supermassive black holes in a new show: "Point of No Return." The feature delves into the story of quasars, the most powerful steady sources of energy in the universe. Quasars are powered by supermassive black holes with masses millions to billions of times the mass of our sun. It is only within the last few years that astronomers have been acquiring a more complete picture of quasars. "Point of No Return" uses powerful graphics to represent some of the newest discoveries.
The new show, which will be in shown in planetariums around the country, was created by Mueller Planetarium and produced with financial support from the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute. It is a collaborative effort between members of the Mueller Planetarium staff, and UNL quasar research group members Martin Gaskell, Mary Hiller, and Elizabeth Klimek. The late Thomas Gehringer, director of the Burke High School planetarium in Omaha, served as the educational consultant to the show. The show is dedicated to his memory. The music is by award-winning composer Mark Petersen. The new program is the first produced entirely digitally by Mueller Planetarium.
The Mueller Planetarium showings of "Point of No Return" are preceded by an introduction to the current night sky's constellations and planets. The entire presentation lasts approximately 35 minutes.
Admission to Planetarium Astronomy Shows is $6 for Adults and $4 for all Children and UNL students. This price includes museum admission. All tickets are sold at the front desk of the Museum once the Museum opens for the day. Mueller Planetarium is located in the University of Nebraska State Museum (Morrill Hall) at 14th and U. Streets on the UNL City Campus.
MUELLER PLANETARIUM
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CARSON LEGACY CONTINUES
UNL Receives $5 Million From Johnny Carson Estate
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has received a $5 million gift from the estate of Johnny Carson for endowed support of programs in theatre, film and broadcasting. This gift brings to more than $11 million the total philanthropic support given to his alma mater. The bequest establishes the Johnny Carson Fund for Theatre, Film and Broadcasting. Annual income from this endowment will provide support to the Department of Theater Arts at the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and the broadcast program at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
In November the university announced a $5.3 million gift from Carson for support of theatre and film programs. Of that gift, $4.3 million is for renovation and expansion of the Temple Building at UNL, home to the theatre program and where Carson studied. Another $1 million created an endowment to keep performance spaces current with latest advances in lighting and sound technologies and for general support of students and programs within the theatre department.
"These tremendous gifts commemorate Johnny Carson's impressive legacy, both on this campus and around the world," UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said. "It brings great distinction to UNL and encourages two colleges to work collaboratively on programs between broadcasting and theatre and film." As a memorial to Carson and his generosity, the university will rename the Department of Theatre Arts the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. The name was approved by the Board of Regents in June and is pending final approval by the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education this summer.
Throughout his successful career, Carson maintained a strong relationship with his university. In the 1970s he established an endowed scholarship to assist outstanding Nebraska high school graduates.
In 1988, he provided a gift toward construction of the Lied Center for Performing Arts. The black box theatre adjoining the main stage was renamed the Johnny Carson Theater in his honor.
"I got my start in the Temple Building and have never forgotten the impact of my academic studies at the University of Nebraska on my life and career," Carson said in November, just over two months before his death. "It is my hope that this gift will enable future generations of theatre and film students to learn their craft . . . which will enable them to pursue their goals, just as I did."
Tentative plans call for renovation of the Temple Building to begin in November with completion slated for the 2006-07 school year. The building will receive a new black box theatre and film sound stage for students to use in their productions; a newly remodeled and expanded scene shop and updated lighting facilities; new computer-aided design and theatre class lab space; new offices for attracting additional graduate assistants; enhanced storage facilities; and an updated lobby for the Howell Theatre. When completed, the new addition will connect the Temple Building to the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. John Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, on Oct. 23, 1925, and grew up in Norfolk, Neb. He served in World War II in the Navy as an ensign before enrolling at the University of Nebraska in 1947. He received a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.
The University of Nebraska Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization supplementing support for students, faculty, facilities and programs at the University of Nebraska's four campuses through gifts from alumni, friends, corporations and other foundations.
DEPARTMENT OF FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS
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GREAT PLAINS ART MUSEUM
Gude, Murphy Exhibition Continues
This Week At Great Plains Art Museum
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Deborah J. Murphy, "The Silence Is Golden" 2005, prismacolor on board
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Parallel exhibitions featuring
the work of two Great Plains artists will open June 3 and run through
July 31 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Great Plains Art
Museum.
"From the Heart of a Regionalist: Paintings by Anthony Benton Gude"
will include nearly 60 works, mostly oil paintings, but also a number of
watercolors and drawings.
"WaterWays & Other Perspectives" will feature 13 Prismacolor drawings
by Deborah J. Murphy of Omaha, all completed in the last two years.
Both artists will be featured at an opening reception from 7-9 pm
June 3 at the museum, 1155 Q St., Hewit Place. The receptions and
exhibitions are free and open to the public.
"These are two wonderful exhibits and each is powerful in its own
right, although they do complement each other in some ways," said Reece
Summers, curator of the museum. "The two artists work with different
materials, Gude mostly with oils and Murphy with Prismacolor pencils, but
both look at the landscapes of the Midwest and Great Plains, and the
interactions of humans with the natural world."
Gude attended the School of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston in
1986-87 and later studied at the Art Student's League in New York City,
focusing on drawing and paint. He mastered the Venetian technique of oil
painting, a system that employs the use of monochromatic under painting to
develop form and composition before the color is painted on. The many
layers of paint give the final result a stronger body.
His recent commissions include four historical murals covering 480
square feet for the St. Joseph River Boat Partners in St. Joseph, Mo.; "The
Benton," a portrait of a stern-wheeler, for The River Club in Kansas City,
Mo.; and a mural, "A Century of Service," 8 feet by 12 feet, and five
paintings of various Kansas themes for Western Resources in Topeka, Kansas.
Gude and his family live on a small farm in southeastern Marshall
County, Kan. (county seat Marysville). The farm was originally purchased in
an unusual fashion by his grandfather, muralist Thomas Hart Benton
(1889-1975). Benton painted a picture of the farm's barnyard and silo, sold
the painting and purchased the farm with the proceeds of the sale.
A native of North Platte, Murphy has been a professional artist for
more than 30 years and has shown extensively around the Midwest, where her
work has been collected both publicly and privately. She is known primarily
for her Midwestern landscapes, and in recent years has come to prefer using
Prismacolor pencils to capture the texture and colors of prairie
vegetation. She uses poster board of a particular texture that allows her
to build many layers of color.
Murphy, who earned a bachelor's degree in music education at the
University of Nebraska at Kearney (then Kearney State College), was the
recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in painting in
1994 and a Distinguished Achievement Grant from the Nebraska Arts Council
in 1998.
The Great Plains Art Museum is part of the Center for Great Plains
Studies at UNL. It is open from 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Saturday
and 1:30-5 pm Sundays. It is closed Mondays.
GREAT PLAINS ART MUSEUM
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MARY RIEPMA ROSS MEDIA ARTS CENTER
Continuing This Week at the Ross: Mondovino, Murderball.
UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center
presents the globe-spanning wine documentary Mondovino, and
Murderball, the winner of the Documentary Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
Jonathan Nossiter’s Mondovino is an epic exploration into the modern world of wine that was presented in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Nossiter has an unusual dual career that includes award-winning credentials as a filmmaker--his second feature, SUNDAY, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance--and sommelier, consultant, and wine writer. These two disciplines come together in MONDOVINO, a celebration of wine in its infinite variety that was filmed across three continents, in five languages, over a three-year period. With an insider’s access and an artist’s eye, Nossiter weaves together multiple family and multi-generational sagas, and uncovers a complex tapestry of rivalries, alliances, conflicts, and conspiracies—all stemming from the production, distribution, and consumption of one of the oldest, most respected, and still-affordable luxuries remaining. Juxtaposing artisanal wine growers with multi-national conglomerates, and peasants with billionaires, the film gives voice to those who create, critique, and do commerce in wine, offering up a surprisingly prismatic, varied, and sometimes controversial glimpse into something everyone enjoys but few people know much about
Featuring fierce rivalry, stopwatch suspense, and larger-than- life personalities, Murderball, Winner of the Documentary Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, is a film about tough, highly competitive rugby players. Quadriplegic rugby players. Whether by car wreck, fist fight, gun shot, or rogue bacteria, these men were forced to live life sitting down. In their own version of the full-contact sport, they smash the hell out of each other in custom-made gladiator-like wheelchairs. And no, they don't wear helmets. From the gyms of middle America to the Olympic arena in Athens, Greece, Murderball tells the story of a group of world-class athletes unlike any ever shown on screen. In addition to smashing chairs, it will smash every stereotype you ever had about "gimps" and "cripples." It is a film about family, revenge, honor, sex (yes, they can) and the triumph of love over loss. But most of all, it is a film about standing up, even after your spirit - and your spine - has been crushed.
More information is available at the Ross website.
MRRMAC | MONDOVINO | MURDERBALL |
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HOWELL THEATRE, 1ST FLOOR TEMPLE BUILDING,
TUE 7:30PM
Tuesday Destinations - Cork Ramer reading selections from Ted Kooser's prose and poetry
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