New faces in the Center for Grassland Studies (which administers the PGAM degree program) greeted our students when they returned in the fall.
The former smiling face at the front desk, Maria Benes, received an assistantship to pursue a Ph.D. in the UNL Political Science Department. Most alumni will remember Jan Shamburg who operated the front office for years during the early years of the program. Maria replaced Jan at the front desk. The current smiling face belongs to Shaun Weishaar, whose family moved to Lincoln in June. She was already familiar with UNL, as one of her daughters is a junior here.
Leaving the program on the happiest of terms was former PGAM director, Dr. Alan Baquet. Alan is enjoying his own new and exciting opportunity called retirement. He moved to Virginia last summer where he is able to spend lots of time with his wife, Belinda, who works for the federal government, and his son, Daniel, who recently graduated from UNL and started graduate school at UVA. The new director is Dr. Dann Husmann. Prior to joining the UNL faculty in 2000, Dann taught at the high school level (where he was an assistant golf coach) and had positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and South Dakota State University.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/odat