DEAN'S MESSAGE

Successful Community

Over the last two weeks, I finally watched The Last Dance documentary, the story of Michael Jordan and the success of the Bulls in the 1990s. One surprising moment for me was Jordan’s emotional reaction after listening to his teammates answer whether he was a “nice guy.” Most used words like “relentless,” “harsh,” or even “dictatorial.” In context, they were referring to Jordan with respect, earned and demanded. Jordan’s win at any cost mentality meant demanding much from himself and his teammates. But Jordan, now roughly 60 years old, writhed a bit and demanded a “break” while listening to how his teammates described his behavior. He seemed to recognize the essential nature of his approach but also appeared to carry a few emotional consequences. Why is my distant and perhaps unqualified assessment relevant? While it may be a stretch, it prompted me to write this to express my hope for a healthy balance of both striving for excellence in our work and striving for healthy community relationships to support the decades of collaboration ahead.

Make it a great week!

Kevin G. Van Den Wymelenberg

Fall & Summer Advising

Priority Registration has ended, and we are now in the open registration period. Throughout the rest of the spring semester and summer you can schedule an advising appointment with your academic advisor directly by clicking on their direct link below.

Jaime Mastera - click here.

Leslie Gonzalez - click here.

Master's students can schedule advising appointments directly with Stephanie by clicking on the link below:

Stephanie Kuenning - click here.

Last Day to Withdraw from a Course

The advising staff would like to remind faculty and students that the last day to WITHDRAW from one or more full semester courses for spring 2023 is Friday, April 21. Please contact your advisor with questions about this process.

-Stephanie Kuenning

COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING

CRP student Nabhan Mubarak Jamil Al Hajri and Professor Zhenghong Tang, as a part of the team members in the USDA rural development project, presented the regional tourism maps in Niobrara, Nebraska. Approximately 20 stakeholders from local, regional, state and federal agencies participated in the stakeholder meeting and discussed the collaboration opportunities in regional tourism related to the Lewis and Clark Lake area. The graduate student Mubarak Jamil Al Hajri shared the environmental inventory maps and collected professional feedback from the team. The engagement with the key stakeholders will help develop effective marketing strategies to highlight the natural, cultural and historic resources and assets in this region and support local and regional economic development in the Northeast Nebraska region.

- Zhenghong Tang

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

The third-year students departed for their studio trip to Arizona and the rest of us partook in the annual ASLA student professional mixer last week. Making connections outside the College is a key aspect of the education you receive here in the Landscape Architecture Program. Getting out to see state of the art examples of landscape architecture, sharing work and contemporary issues with professionals and participating in community projects are all activities that better prepare you for your future professional careers. This important context allows you to better situate your thoughts and work in the contemporary world of practice and community building.  Performance in the design of new landscapes is becoming an ever-increasing aspect of design.  My students from LARC 411 are using the performance guidelines created by the Landscape Architecture Foundation as both a projective and evaluative tool to generate, evaluate and improve the urban environments the students are designing. Looking through the lens of environment, social and economic considerations, the students are working towards the design of a more sustainable urban condition.  This increased criticality of perspective requires research to be done to understand how greater depth beyond initial design intentions can be added to their projects. The challenges of global warming, urbanization, land use management and public health require the design community to go beyond the aesthetic and into the performative, if we hope to stem the negative tide they represent. As the program mission statement says we pursue the creation of ‘resilience, sustainable, and joyful places.’

-Mark Hoistad

FACULTY/ STUDENT NEWS

UNL Research Days



Showing our Glory, Sebastian Toalson was named as one of the winners of the 2023 UNL Student Research Days for his presentation “Transportation And The Workplace: How Do They Intersect.”

The competition involved over 40 faculty and postdoc reviewers who rated student presentations on the basis of their research scholarship and presentation skills. Winners will receive a $400 award/travel grant to present their research at a regional or national conference or to support other research costs.

Faculty Service News



Associate Professor of Architecture Brian M.

Kelly was voted in as Chair of the Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects in March. He will serve in this position for one year representing the College of Architecture as an Education Member of the Board.

Check out the College of Architecture website for new internship and job opportunities. 



Plus, University of Nebraska Career Services encourages you to view a few of their new Full-Time job postings at Handshake. Check them out!

Build-Up Week

Date: May 1-5

Finals Reviews

Date: May 8-12

Final Exams

Date: May 15–19

UNL Graduate Commencement and Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

Date: May 19

College of Architecture Graduate Recognition Ceremony

Date: May 19

Time: 6 pm

Place:

Union Ball Room

(Tentative)

UNL Undergraduate Ceremony

Date: May 20