Thursday, January 5, 2012
Announcement to be made on former Industrial Arts Building
At an announcement at 10 a.m. today, the community will learn the future of the former Industrial Arts Building at Innovation Campus. Nebraska Innovation Campus Executive Director Dan Duncan will make an announcement to media at Van Brunt Visitors Center. The campus community is welcome, and a live stream is available.
The 93,000-square foot Industrial Arts Building was developed as exposition space and called Agricultural Hall. A "show stopper" with natural skylights, intricate roof trusses and a four-story fountained interior, the design features Palladian windows and red brick exterior. Following World War I, the Lincoln Standard Aircraft Co. used the building to assemble airplanes. In 1948 it was renamed Industrial Arts. It was closed in 2004 when disrepair rendered it dangerous and useless as fair exposition space. Consultants and planners for Nebraska Innovation Campus in 2008 recommended the brick-and-steel trapezoidal-shaped 1913 structure be razed to make way for development at the campus.
UNL again a Kiplinger's 'Best Value'
UNL was named one of the top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges by Kiplinger's Personal Finance for 2012. The report features schools that deliver a quality education at an affordable price. UNL placed 68th. According to Kiplinger's, the total cost of private colleges has recently averaged almost $39,000 a year, more than twice the average annual in-state sticker price — roughly $17,000 — at public schools. A third of the public schools on Kiplinger's top-100 list charge about the same as or less than $17,000.
Kiplinger's assesses quality and affordability according to a number of measurable standards. This year, Kiplinger's revamped the rankings to give more weight to academic value, such as the percentage of students who return for sophomore year and the four-year graduation rate. Cost criteria include low prices, abundant financial aid and low average debt at graduation. Read more about this report on Today@UNL.
"High Plains — Range Land," an oil on linen painting by Raymond J. Eastwood.
New exhibitions explore Great Plains landscapes
The Great Plains Art Museum's new permanent collection exhibition "Transported with Wonder" opened Jan. 3. The exhibit runs concurrently with "Marking the Prairie Sublime: Paintings and Prints by Jonathan Goodding." "Transported with Wonder" features Great Plains landscapes.
"There is often a sense of grandeur — visually intense and emotionally powerful — in portrayals of Great Plains landscapes," said Amber Mohr, curator of the museum. "During the time of westward expansion, artists were commissioned to convey a temptation to bountiful promise — broad expanses of land, plentiful game and agricultural potential. Read more about this exhibit on Today@UNL.
(From left) Eric Richards, Gene Aitkena and Paul Haar stand next to a poster advertising the Shanghai Conservatory Jazz Orchesta's concert featuring the commissioned work of Richards with guest soloist Haar.
China trip offers music profs new perspective
Music faculty Eric Richards and Paul Haar traveled to China in November to perform and deliver master classes at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
The Shanghai Conservatory Jazz Orchestra performed a concert featuring compositions by Richards, assistant professor of composition and jazz studies. One of Richards' friends and mentor, Gene Aitken, former director of the jazz studies program at the University of Northern Colorado and now a guest professor at the Shanghai Conservatory, has commissioned works by Richards since the mid-1990s. Aitken has commissioned a new piece annually from Richards since 2008 for the Shanghai Conservatory's fall concert. Read more about this teaching and learning trip on Today@UNL.
