Continuing through COVID-19

Nebraska’s Paul Barnes sits at the Steinway piano in his home while teaching a one-on-one lesson with student Cameron Berta, who returned home to Dallas in the wake of the university's shift to remote instruction. Credit: Craig Chandler.
Nebraska’s Paul Barnes sits at the Steinway piano in his home while teaching a one-on-one lesson with student Cameron Berta, who returned home to Dallas in the wake of the university's shift to remote instruction. Credit: Craig Chandler.

As a global pandemic swept across the world during the spring 2020 semester, the entire University of Nebraska-Lincoln community pulled together to continue education for the world’s future leaders, find new ways to pursue impactful research, and manage partnerships in a new normal.

Learn about the incredible faculty who provided innovative courses for their students around the world, and the inspiring students who persevered in the light of COVID-19.

Honors' Global Dialogues course continues despite travel cancellations
Despite the university's transition to remote learning in March, Nebraska Honors students in a spring seminar have gained real-world insights through virtual visitors. The seminar, “Honors in Winnipeg: An Ethics Based Study of Human Rights," moved from in-person to synchronous Zoom discussions, including opportunities to engage with human rights experts from Canada and around the world.
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Leow aligns therapists to offer free mental health supports
In adjusting to the new normal of a world impacted by COVID-19, many Nebraskans are in need of resources to help cope with stress. Yet, while mental health help is needed, cost barriers and stigmas keep many from reaching out for assistance. Husker Cassandra Leow, a doctoral candidate from Malaysia studying global family health and wellbeing, wants to change that.
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Araz’s research prepares for pandemic decision-making
Özgür Araz, associate professor of supply chain management and analytics and Daugherty Water for Food Institute faculty fellow, believes decisions imposed to change the way we live in the short term stem from critical research analysis now in the hands of government and health care providers. In response to the global pandemic, Araz has used his predictive analytics expertise to shed light on the tradeoffs between societal and economic wellbeing.
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Grad student lends language, public health skills to community
Falah Rashoka is well-versed at overcoming obstacles. Now, he’s ready to help combat COVID-19 through volunteer efforts with local health departments. Rashoka, who came to Lincoln as a Yezidi refugee from Iraq in 2016, has found his home in Nebraska and currently serves as a volunteer interpreter for the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
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Barnes keeping piano lessons sharp from a distance
With COVID-19 temporarily joining music as a universal language, the sounds of piano lessons led by Nebraska’s Paul Barnes are now digitally hopscotching across town, state, border and even ocean. The 14 undergraduate and graduate students taking one-hour, one-on-one lessons with Barnes this semester hail from across the United States and the globe: Lincoln and Omaha, Nashville and Dallas, China and Argentina.
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UNL student reflects on South Korea study abroad trip’s COVID-19 conclusion
New alum Diandra Freese was in South Korea interning on an International Studies Abroad program when her time abroad was cut short due to the spread of COVID-19. Nevertheless, she continued her internship remotely by submitting work to her supervisor in South Korea via Google Docs. Though disappointed to return home early, the global pandemic has not deterred Freese’s hopes to return to Korea in the near future, this time as an English teacher.
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View the latest updates about the university’s COVID-19 responses at https://covid19.unl.edu.