Education Commons^™

Nebline, October 2025

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Contents

4-H super fair helps youth become beyond ready

What's popping? by Natalie Sehi

Recipes of the month, by Kayla Colgrove: Fish bait snack mix, kicked up popcorn, and cinnamon crunch snack mix

Are your trees for the next storm? by Rachel Anderson

Garden guide: Things to do this month by Mary Jane Frogge

GRO Big Red virtual learning series

Composting demonstration

Promoting language development in young children by Hayley Jackson

Tip sheet for harvest 2025 by John Nelson

Rogers Memorial Day farm field day, September 2025

Heart of 4-H volunteer award: Rachel Wells

Join 4-H to become beyond ready …

Nebraska Transcript (University Of Nebraska College Of Law), Fall 2025

Nebraska Transcript

Dean’s message

Nebraska Law students achieve outstanding results in competitions

Nebraska Law recognized for excellence in mental health and well-being

Clifton, ’08, honored as 2025 Alumni Master

Uecker, ’25, selected as a 2025 Next Generation Leader

Unexpected path to Nebraska Law leads Haratsis, ’25, to home, calling

Client Counseling program celebrates 50 years

Big Ten law schools present series of panel discussions on rule of law

A reflection of the past six years, College’s strategic plan now complete

A culture of strengths: CliftonStrengths and the College of Law

Celebrating 50 years of Ross McCollum Hall

Johnson studies how election law …

Curiosity, Intention, And Reflection On Teaching And Learning Edps 967 Motivation In Education: A Teaching Portfolio, Mary G. Zeleny

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The intention of this course portfolio is to reflectively explore more deeply the teaching and learning of the Educational Psychology graduate course, EDPS 967- Motivation in Education. This course provides a foundation of theories and concepts related to motivation from a psychological perspective, including the interrelatedness of affect and emotion, with an emphasis on the learning environment. The course focuses on different theories of motivation, motivation in education, and considering theoretical applications in education, as well as professionally and personally. The class explored motivation, including the impact of emotions in motivation, through reading, course activities, assignments, and discussion. Goals included …

Exploring Identity Through Six-Panel Memoirs With Collegiate And Secondary Students, Ewa Mcgrail, Lisa York

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

Memoir writing helps to provide mirrors and windows (Bishop, 1990) into the larger human experience by conveying narratives that center on actual life experiences. While memoirs are a well-established genre in literature and literary criticism (Aronowicz, 2024; Kleinbauer, 2007), only recently have graphic novels, including graphic novel memoirs, gained popularity and respect not only among teens, librarians and educators but also among the public (Williams, 2022). In this article, we describe a six-panel memoir assignment completed by collegiate and secondary students and analyze a sampling of memoir creations by both groups of students. Specifically, we are interested in the expressions …

Parliamentary Procedure Interactive Notebook: Newly Revised, P. Troy White, Amie Carter

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

An interactive notebook for teaching fundamentals of parliamentary procedure. Over 120 pages of content to help teach correct principles of this critical organizational management skill. P. Troy White is a Professional Registered Parliamentarian and a Certified Parliamentarian, ensuring that the content included follows the 12th Edition of Robert's Rules of Order.

Paying The Education Debt: How Community Colleges Can Lead In Restoring Higher Education Access In U.S. Prisons, Tammy Zimmer

Instructional Leadership Abstracts

Discusses paying education debt with respect to how community colleges can lead in restoring higher education access in United States prisons.

"The question is no longer can we provide higher education in prison, it’s will we. For those of us already engaged in this work, the answer is clear. I invite you to join us."

Unl Emeriti And Retirees Association Newsletter, August 2025

UNL Emeriti and Retirees Association: Newsletters and Other Materials

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Emeriti and Retirees Association Newsletter, August 2025

President's message: Continuing our commitment, Pam Edwards

Welcome to new members

Wake up your well-being

Book review, Atlas of the Heart

A look ahread at programming

Recapping past programming

Memory moments

Traffic Prediction For Research And Education Networks: Anomaly-Aware Deep Learning And Benchmarking, Mohammad Arafath Uddin Shariff

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Research and Education Networks (RENs) and High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments are critical infrastructures for modern scientific discovery, demanding sustained high-throughput and low-latency data transfers. Unlike commercial networks, RENs exhibit unique traffic characteristics, including predominant “elephant flows,” inherent burstiness, and complex temporal-spatial dynamics often decoupled from human-driven cycles. Traditional traffic forecasting methods, tailored for commercial Wide Area Networks (WANs), consistently fail to capture these distinct REN dynamics, leading to inefficient resource management and potential impediments to scientific progress.

This thesis addresses this critical gap by developing and validating a robust, scalable, and anomaly-aware traffic forecasting framework specifically tailored for REN/HPC networks. …

Nebline, August/September 2025

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Contents

Summertime’s Natural Light Show: Fireflies by Kait Chapman

Insect Science with Kids: Bug Collecting as a Tool to Learn

The Perfect Partnership: EFNEP and SNAP-Ed Join Forces for Lifelong Nutrition and Health by Emily Gratopp

Recipe of the month by Emily Gratopp: Fruit salsa & cinnamon chips

Southeast nebraska Pasture & Acreage Expo

Southeast Nebraska Alfalfa & Wheat Expo

Landlord/Tenant Cash Rent workshop

Vegetable Gardening in the Fall by Mary Jane Frogge

GRO Big Red virtual learning series

2025 perennial plant of the year: Blue mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)

Garden guide: Things to do this month by …

Educational Attainment Patterns Among Mena Adults: A Comparative Study Of Native- And Foreign-Born Groups In The Us, Michael Okyere

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines educational attainment patterns among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) adults in the United States, focusing on how nativity status, residential patterns, and gender shape these outcomes. Drawing on segmented assimilation and spatial assimilation theories, I analyze data from the 2018-2022 American Community Survey using ordered logistic regression models. Results indicate that educational attainment varies by gender, with MENA women consistently achieving higher education levels than men across all nativity groups, though this advantage varies considerably in magnitude between native-born and foreign-born subgroups. Residence in ethnic enclaves demonstrates a strong negative association with educational attainment among foreign-born …

The Career Resilience Of Women Of Color Amidst Intersectional Racism-Sexism In The Us: A Consensual Qualitative Study, Hannah Ahmad Ridzuan

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Women of color have historically and presently experienced both sexism and racism on interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels (Sue et al., 2007). While discrimination based on racial-ethnic and gender identities has by far the most extensive literature base (Duffy et al., 2016), literature on the development of women of color career resilience is not as expansive. Informed by the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) (Blustein, 2006; Duffy et al., 2016), the intersectionality framework (Crenshaw, 1989; Collins et al., 2021), and critical consciousness (Freire, 1971; Quiñones-Rosado, 2020), this consensual qualitative research (CQR; Hill, 2006) explored how women of color in the …

The Tree That Would Not Fall: An Educator’S Autoethnographic Journey Of Healing Through Words, Raeanna Marie Carlson

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

To say the world has changed since the 2020 COVID-19 shut down is to minimize the micro and macro social changes that infiltrated the school system. In the wake of it all, we find a landscape marred by a both rising teacher attrition and struggling student motivation. This autoethnographic dissertation explores the deeply personal experience tethered to a deeply problematic system that contributes to not only teacher burnout but what I came to know as teacher demoralization. Personal traumas of teachers profoundly impact their experience in the classroom, and as I examined my own near departure from the classroom, I …

Understanding The Dynamics Of Formal Mentoring In Professional Identity Development Of Early Career Extension Professionals: A Phenomenological Approach, Anuradha Choudhary

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Formal mentoring plays a crucial role in shaping the professional identity of early-career extension professionals; however, limited research has explored how these dynamics affect professional identity development within formal mentorship structures. This study uses a transcendental phenomenological approach to understand how mentees and mentors perceive the impact of formal mentoring on professional identity development within the Nebraska Extension system. Using criteria-based random sampling and snowball sampling, the study engaged 10 mentees and 10 mentors, employing semi-structured interviews, focus groups utilizing ripple effect mapping, and document analysis of mentoring agreements, program guidelines, and mentoring checklists. Following Moustakas' (1994) transcendental phenomenology framework, …

Between Two Worlds: A Case Study Of Third Culture Identity And Reentry For Unl International Students, John S. Tessalee

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and international students share many commonalities, such as their globalized nature, adaptability, and the adoption of cultural components from their host country versus their home country. However, they contain enough differences to be considered separate groups. Traditionally, people need to be immersed in a culture different from their parents’ culture between the ages of 0 and 18 to be considered a TCK, whereas international students are typically between 18 and 24 years old by the time they attend universities overseas. The cultural absorption of TCKs in their formative years is usually greater than that of international …

Educating The New Generation Of Food Scientists Through Innovative Learning Experiences, Karen Andrea Nieto Flores

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Food science provides an opportunity to engage high school students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) by connecting classroom concepts to real-world applications. Despite the field’s relevance to public health, food safety, sustainability, and innovation, food science remains largely absent from high school curricula, and few students recognize it as a viable STEM pathway. This research addressed this gap by evaluating immersive summer camp experiences and teacher-focused curriculum review as strategies to increase food science awareness and interest among students and educators. A literature review traced the historical development and current landscape of K–12 food science education, identifying barriers …

Characterization Of Undergraduate Biology Instructors’ Goals And Strategies For Implementing Quantitative Reasoning, Anum Khushal

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Quantitative reasoning (QR) is the application of mathematics and statistics to real-life and scientific contexts. It is essential for understanding complex biological phenomena and analyzing large datasets in both academic and professional settings. In response to the growing demand for QR skills, biology educators and researchers have engaged in curricular reforms and education research. This qualitative study explores how undergraduate biology instructors integrate QR into their teaching using a framework informed by pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and QR. The study involved 21 biology faculty from various U.S. institutions who intentionally incorporated QR in their instruction. Data was collected through semi-structured …

The Earliest University Of Nebraska Graduate Degrees, 1886-1909, Mark A. Griep

Mark A. Griep Publications

This list of the earliest graduate degrees awarded by the University of Nebraska (NU) in Lincoln was assembled to learn about the university’s research activity that preceded its admission to the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) in 1909.

Carrying Light In The Shadows: Four Portraits Of Critical Literacy Teacher Agency In Unlikely Contexts, Cassandra Schroeder

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This qualitative study utilizes portraiture methodology to explore how educators in politically conservative and predominantly White schools enact critical literacy teacher agency. Using a theoretical lens of critical literacy and second-wave Whiteness studies, this research examines the lived experiences and instructional moves of four veteran English/language arts teachers. Through cross-case analysis, the study traces how teacher agency is contextually responsive and dependent on their professional identity, awareness of sociopolitical issues, and traditional school curricular expectations. The findings highlight how educators assess risk, navigate community norms, and maintain critical literacy through dialogic pedagogy and strategic adaptation. The four teachers in the …

Rhetorics Of Encounter: Toward A Biocentric Theory Of Discourse, Matthew D. Whitaker

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Encounters with more-than-human identities are transformative moments that stand to affect dispositional and bodily change in individuals. From close brushes with wild animals in National Parks to everyday interactions with local ecologies, encounters invite us to feel and think differently about the nature of our realities. In Rhetorics of Encounter: Toward a Biocentric Theory of Discourse, I draw from interdisciplinary perspectives to disrupt the idea of rhetoric as a representational medium, arguing that rhetoric occurs not just through textual exchanges of words and symbols, but through embodied moments of contact with other responsive beings. Invoking George Kennedy’s theory …

From Classroom To Content Creator: Leadership Practices And Identities Of Female Science Teachers On Tiktok, Rachel M. Benzoni

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This qualitative multiple case study investigates how four secondary science teachers use TikTok to advocate for science education and how content creation shapes their professional identities as leaders. Using interviews and video content with a framework integrating constructivist leadership, Leader Identity Construction Theory (LICT), and the Social Change Model (SCM), findings show participants enacted leadership outside formal roles through distributed and relational practices leveraging social media's affordances. Five themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Reconceptualizing Teacher Leadership on Social Media, (2) Leadership Through Equity-Driven Practice, (3) Constructing and Leading in Online Professional Learning Communities, (4) Forming and Negotiating Identities in …

Questioning In Contested Spaces And Cultural Currents In Popular Culture And Pedagogy: Book Bans, Music, Horror And Poetry, Anna Cohenmiller

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Questioning in contested spaces and cultural currents in popular culture and pedagogy: Book bans, music, horror and poetry

How do the texts we encounter affect, and reflect, the cultures in which we live? How about the educational spaces and the communities we inhabit? How might we engage with popular culture texts to better understand today, and create more inclusive futures?

Exploring And Characterizing Organic Chemistry Students’ Meaningful Engagement In Science Practices, John Zhou

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Undergraduate organic chemistry frequently engages students in key science practices such as analyzing and interpreting spectroscopic data and constructing explanations through reaction mechanisms. However, these activities are often framed as procedural tasks rather than as tools for constructing knowledge. As a result, students may develop incomplete understanding of these practices, making it harder for them to see how scientific knowledge is generated and to use them meaningfully as tools for sensemaking. To better understand how students take up these practices as epistemic tools, three qualitative studies were conducted in this dissertation to investigate how undergraduate organic chemistry students reason with …

The Lived Experience Of Religious Trauma Among Transgender And Gender Diverse People: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Patrick T. Meyer

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Religion has served as a framework to support the psychological well-being of people across cultures throughout human history, yet there is growing scholarly and public interest in how religious institutions and people inflict harm on members through spiritual means. Extant literature demonstrated that transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people experience gendered microaggressions in religious spaces, and their social position within the church likely holds unique insights into the subjective experience of religious trauma. Even though research with people who have had adverse religious experiences has increased over time, little is known about TGD people who experience lasting psychological damage due …

Extracting From The Extracurriculum: Using Extracurricular Composition Practices To Bring Purpose, Voice, And Engagement Back To The English Classroom, Grace N. Ellis

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis explores how principles and practices from extracurricular literacy spaces and the extracurriculum as a whole can inform and revitalize the secondary English classroom. In response to growing student disengagement, apathy, and disconnection, particularly within highly standardized and product-focused classrooms, this argument investigates how programs such as the Nebraska Writers Collective’s All Writes Reserved program and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Young Writer Camp model authentic engagement, identity exploration and development, and rhetorical agency through creative, student-centered writing practices. Drawing from composition theory, educational research, and experiential data from Nebraska-based writing initiatives, the thesis argues that incorporating choice, safe-risk taking, …

The Enigmatic Samuel Aughey: Nebraska’S Pastor Naturalist, Hugh H. Genoways, Margaret R. Bolick, Mary Anne Andrei

Zea E-Books Collection

Samuel Aughey at age 39 became the first Professor of Natural Science at the new University of Nebraska in Lincoln, serving from 1871 to 1883. He was an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, with an addendum degree from Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg College) in 1856 and an A.M. degree two years later. His early pastoral work was in Pennsylvania, but in 1864 he became a home missionary to a church in Dakota City, Nebraska. Aughey’s career at the university was marked with successes and honors, but also criticism and questions about his basic knowledge of the sciences. While …

Science Communication Through Cool Critters: An Informal Learning Experience For Youth, Jamila L. Bajelan, Mary J. Harner

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

There are numerous ways to communicate science and assess the effectiveness of that communication. One approach focuses on increasing awareness, enjoyment, interest, opinion, and/or understanding of science. For this study, we created an informal learning experience for youth to communicate the science of animals in Nebraska. We developed Cool Critters, a weeklong summer camp for elementary school-aged students, to increase participants' enjoyment, interest, and opinion of Nebraska animals. In 2023, Cool Critters was led in three educational settings in central Nebraska and reached sixty-six participants. Surveys were used to determine the camp's success in effective science communication and whether …

The Current 'Ban-Demic': School Book Bans In The U.S., Barbara Perez, Jane Caputi

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay examines the alarming rise of U.S book. Our stance is grounded in our experiences as educators and academics in Florida, the state with the highest number of book bans and legislation that has significantly impacted education. Book bans infringe on freedom of expression, right to access information, = students’ right to education, and real harm to targeted communities (i.e., LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities), as the bans contribute to the ongoing marginalization and stigmatization of these communities. Diverse representation is key in literature and education. Banning popular culture texts from the classroom stifles critical thinking, social dialogue, and, ultimately, …

Nebraska National Agri-Marketing Association (Nama), Marissa Davis, Rosalee A. Swartz

Cornhusker Economics

NAMA PALOOZA, the 2025 Agri-Marketing Conference, was held April 9-11 in Kansas City, Missouri. The conference is an annual event that brings together National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) professional and student members. There are 27 professional chapters and 32 student chapters from across the United States and Canada. The conference is a great opportunity to foster connections between students and professionals in marketing, advertising, communications, promotion, sales, and public relations.

Creation Of An Open Access Textbook, Sue Ann Gardner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

Slide presented during the PRCA Research Celebration, June 3, 2025, in the University Libraries, University of Nebraska-Lincoln titled Creation of an Open Access Textbook, about the development and publication of Concepts in Animal Parasitology, co-edited by Scott L. Gardner and Sue Ann Gardner and published by Zea Books (Lincoln, Nebraska, USA) in 2024.

Nebline, June/July 2025

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

4-H embryology will crack 50 years of chicks hatching in local classrooms, Vicki Jedlicka

Simple ways to eat more fruits and veggies every day, Alyssa Havlovic

Recipe of the month: Crunchy veggie wraps

Annual flowers for sunny locations, Mary Jane Frogge

Garden guide: Things to do this month, Mary Jane Frogge

2025 Gro Big Red

It’s time for private well maintenance, Becky Schuerman

Monitoring pastures for improving management and productivity, John Nelson

Why play is your child's most important work, Hayley Jackson Perez

Keep an eye out for some common caterpillars, Kait Chapman

Lancaster County Super Fair

Upcoming babysitting trainings …