This Week, July 4 - 8, 2011
Report: State's workforce is prepared for growth of green-collar jobs
Nebraska's workforce is well-positioned to meet an expected demand for green-collar jobs in the coming years, according to a new analysis by the Bureau of Business Research.
The report, prepared by UNL for a six-state consortium of labor departments that includes the Nebraska Department of Labor, analyzed the supply and projected the demand for 16 specific green occupations -- from civil and environmental engineers to carpenters, truck drivers and electricians -- in the next two years. Read more about this report on Today@UNL.
Life Sciences Initiative funds 12 projects
Twelve projects proposed by interdisciplinary teams received seed funding in the UNL Life Sciences Initiative's inaugural competitive grants program. The internal grants competition is designed to encourage faculty to build multidisciplinary teams across departments, centers and colleges to tackle new life sciences research projects. Jointly funded by the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Office of Research and Economic Development, the grants are for two years and funding begins July 1.
Grants support initial research so teams can gather the preliminary data needed to compete more successfully for external funding. "We have great scientific expertise within our departments at UNL," said Deb Hamernik, interim associate vice chancellor for research. "This funding is designed to encourage projects that tap expertise across departments to tackle big ideas and problems." Read more about the Life Sciences Initiative funding.
Cori Curtis
Curtis earns Fulbright to teach English in Turkey
May graduate Cori Curtis of Milford has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship from the U.S. State Department to serve as an English teaching assistant in Turkey this fall. Curtis majored in international studies and political science and had minors in communication studies and human rights and humanitarian affairs. He is the eighth Fulbright from UNL announced this spring.
Curtis credits a class he took as a freshman for helping him focus his broad interests in the Middle East on Turkey. The communication studies course features a global classroom using distance-learning technology to connect UNL students with other students in Pakistan, Turkey and Russia. The interaction lets students practice their intercultural communication skills with students living in different cultures. Curtis said students in each country challenged each other to learn more about one another and to communicate their culture effectively. Read more about this Fulbright scholar on Today@UNL.
Nebraska Rep opens with 'Church Basement Ladies'
The Nebraska Repertory Theatre, the professional theater at UNL, opens its season with "Church Basement Ladies" by Jim Stowell and Jessica Zuehlke with music and lyrics by Drew Jansen, inspired by the books of Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson, authors of the best-seller "Growing Up Lutheran."
This new musical comedy follows the four women who run the basement kitchen of a small-town Minnesota Lutheran Church in the '60s. Dates are July 7, 8, 9, 15, 27, 29 and Aug. 6 at 7:30 p.m. and July 24 at 2 p.m. in Howell Theatre, Temple Building, 12th & R streets. Individual tickets are $20, $18 faculty/staff and senior citizens, and $10 students with ID. Read more about this production on Today@UNL.
