Our stories

University of Nebraska Foundation announces leadership change

Peter J. Whitted, M.D., chair of the board of directors for the University of Nebraska Foundation announced today changes to the organization’s leadership. “The University of Nebraska Foundation has accomplished great things for students, the university and the state during its 75-year history,” Whitted said. “We are pleased to announce the position of president and chief executive officer of the foundation, held most recently by Clarence Castner, will be served on an interim basis by John Gottschalk, retired chief executive officer and publisher of the Omaha World-Herald and a longtime supporter of the University of Nebraska. We appreciate John’s ongoing commitment to the foundation and his support for the university.”

UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center Unveil Plans for a New Cancer Center

Leaders from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center announced today preliminary plans for a new cancer center at the medical center’s Omaha campus. The cancer center would house research facilities, an outpatient treatment center and clinic, and a new hospital tower. Medical center leaders call it the largest project ever proposed here.

WIN seeks winning ideas from Nebraska nonprofits

Nebraska nonprofit organizations striving to address critical community needs or wishing to make a significant local or state impact may now submit funding ideas to Women Investing in Nebraska (WIN).

For information and to submit an online letter of inquiry for consideration, go to womeninvestinginnebraska.org by March 1.

Thank you

Because of you, 2011 was a great year for the University of Nebraska.

We feel grateful to all of you who read this newsletter, forward stories to others, post a comment or make a gift. Because of you, amazing things happen at the university. Deserving students are receiving scholarships and advancements are being made in cancer research, agriculture, early-childhood education and other areas important to Nebraskans and the world. 

We feel thankful to work at a place that gives the opportunity to change lives every day. To start off 2012, we are sharing with you the stories of several people who are really, really thankful, too.

Happy New Year!

The sweetest voice he ever heard, again

By 2003, Eric Silvius had not heard his wife speak in 13 years.

Multiple sclerosis had taken her voice. It had taken her ability to swallow. Her arms. Her legs. Her clear vision. It had taken the job she loved as a psychologist. 

But her voice, which Penny lost around 1990, was the hardest test for the Silviuses because it affected the way they communicated as husband and wife.

The Silviuses, both Navy veterans, moved from California to Lincoln in 2002 when Eric took a job as an executive with Meyer Foods. In 2003, Penny had throat surgery in Omaha.

One morning a few days after the surgery, Eric took a phone call at work. The voice on the other end was hoarse.

But he knew it instantly.

I think my voice is coming back!

“It was like Christmas when you’re a kid,” Eric said. “After that, you couldn’t call our home phone because it was always busy – I think she called up everybody she knew.”

The thankful couple decided to give back.

Find out what they did and how yet another miracle came their way.  

Scholarship helps student secure future in computer security

He remembers his mom freaking out.

Scattered around the computer room of their Omaha home were the guts and parts of the family’s first desktop computer.

He was just 12. The computer, a Macintosh, had cost his parents about $3,000.

“I took it apart just to see if I could put back together,” says Ryan Grandgenett, who’s 21 now and a junior studying computer security at UNO’s College of Information Science and Technology.

And he did put it back together.

“Every since I was little, I’ve always been taking things apart and putting them back together,” he says. “As soon as I could use a computer, I was always playing with them, trying to figure out how they worked.

“I grew to really love them.”

Find out how Ryan is being rewarded for that love.

Donor who came from nothing gives a great deal to UNK

Robert Sahling says he came from “exactly nothing.”

He grew up in the Dust Bowl days on a farm near Kenesaw, Neb. His mother stuck rags into anything that resembled a crack to keep the dirt out.

I suppose I was 4 or 5 when the WPA (Works Progress Administration) came out with a program where if you needed a new outhouse they’d put one up for eight dollars – a two-holer on a concrete base with doors. I don’t know where my dad found the eight dollars, but I remember we got one.

That was a step up, believe me!

Sahling, who started the Sahling Kenworth Inc. truck dealership 40 years ago in Kearney, never went to college. Yet he’s made UNK and its student-athletes a focus of his giving, along with his Kearney church.

He gives back, he says, because he’s grateful for a great life – one he almost didn’t get to live.

Find out what almost killed him as a kid.

Non-traditional student appreciates the opportunity

For UNL student Dan Wiek, earning the John E. McCue Memorial Scholarship meant that he could go back to school and get a construction-management degree. 

But enrolling in college can be difficult at age 36.

Tack on the pressures of a family and finances, and the strain from college is even greater.

Scholarships like the John E. McCue Memorial Scholarship, Dan says, can take some pressure off of non-traditional students like him.

Scholarship fills financial hole for appreciative dental student

When UNMC dental student Jake Zitterkopf sat down to write a thank you letter to the people who gave him his scholarship, he never intended to go above and beyond the ordinary.

He simply was showing his gratitude.

In Jake’s letter to Dr. Tom and Bev Evans of Genesee, Colo., he did go above and beyond. He wrote a heart-filled appreciation note saying how thankful he is for the scholarship and how it will change his life.

The letter impressed us here at the NU Foundation, and we looked further into Jake’s story and found another reason he is so grateful for the good things that have come his way in life.

We found out how, not long ago, the 22-year-old had to face death.

Learn more about Jake’s amazing story.

Train the Brain Challenge Grant

Approximately 2.5 million people in the United States are affected by MS today.

The Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation (MMI) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha is ready to take an exciting new research program to the next level, but needs our support to do this.

The university is testing a radical new device not yet available to the public and not yet approved by the federal government. Preliminary tests have been extremely positive, so it’s important to keep the research moving forward so it’s made available just as soon as possible.

The university has been offered a $25,000 challenge grant if it can first raise $25,000 before December 31, 2011.

Cancer patient found the best care right next door

MaryAnn Fredrick of St. Paul, Neb., was alone at work when the phone rang.

It was her doctor.

Suddenly, she found herself overwhelmed by medical lingo about treatments, side effects and prognosis for a rare type of invasive breast cancer.

“I was scared to death.”

She worried about how treatments would disrupt her work and life. She searched for the best care and found it just 25 miles away at Grand Island’s Saint Francis Cancer Treatment Center.

Through a first-of-its-kind program, the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center works with
hospitals across Nebraska, including Saint Francis, to bring clinical trials to patients in their own communities.

Learn more about UNMC’s clinical trials network, and how it worked for Fredrick.

Phonathon caller employs super power of speech

Invisibility. Flight. Incredible strength.

If you could have any super power, which would it be?

For Danielle Archuleta, a junior biology major and soccer player at UNO, it would be the gift of speech. She’d choose the ability to speak in all languages so she could grasp people’s hearts and attention with her words.

You might speak with her on the phone some evening, if you’re on our phonathon list.

She’s one of our student callers – the students from all the University of Nebraska campuses who call you and ask you questions about your mailing address, if we have a correct e-mail address and if you would like to give a gift to support your college.

Learn more about Danielle – and the person she’d pick to be stranded with on a deserted island.

Student’s travel abroad trip turns into life-changing experience

The baby boys – twins – were born too early. Both needed oxygen, but the hospital had just one oxygen machine.

The parents had a choice:

Which son would get the machine and live, and which would not get it and die?

UNL student Ashley Schmidt witnessed this a few years ago when she worked at a hospital in Mali, West Africa. It shocked her. It shocked her when the baby who didn’t get the oxygen died a few days later.

She saw other scenes like that during her six months in Mali, where machines and things she took for granted as a kid in Omaha, Neb., were expensive and scarce and could mean the difference between life and death.

She saw that life without easy access to energy was precarious.

She saw a way she and other UNL students could help.

Find out what they did. 

Nursing scholarship honors mom who helped dad and others

Her father encouraged her to go to college, get an education and become successful.

Harriett J. Steele did just that, graduating as one of only a few female students from the Ohio State University in the 1940s.

And now her daughter has established a scholarship in her name, recognizing all the success she has had.

Read more about the new scholarship honoring this woman’s life.

UNK professor creates scholarship in honor of her mother’s life

Pre-nursing students at the University of Nebraska at Kearney benefit from a new permanently endowed scholarship fund created especially with them in mind.

Dr. Janet Steele, professor of biology at UNK, established the fund with a $25,000 gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation and named it in honor of her mother for the many accomplishments she made throughout her life.

Scholarship honors a life by supporting nontraditional engineering students at UNL

A new memorial scholarship provides support to nontraditional students who study construction or civil engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln while remembering the life of alumnus John E. McCue, who enjoyed a career in engineering.

In honor of John’s life, his family and friends established the John E. McCue Memorial Scholarship with gifts of nearly $60,000 to the University of Nebraska Foundation. Now permanently endowed, the fund enables the UNL College of Engineering to award annual scholarships to support nontraditional students with financial need.

NU’s favorite son comedian makes another serious gift

Heeeeere’s ... Johnny!

And yet another generous gift for his alma mater.

On Friday at UNL’s Temple Building, where legendary comedian Johnny Carson once honed his skills, the University of Nebraska Foundation announced a $1 million gift from the John W. Carson Foundation.

The money will create the Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship fund in honor of Carson, who died in 2005. The scholarships will help students in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts who – like Carson – graduated from high schools in Nebraska.

Carson grew up in Norfolk, Neb. After World War II, he enrolled at the University of Nebraska, graduating in 1949 with a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics.

He never forgot his Nebraska home, or how it contributed to his success.

Find out more about this gift and what it will mean to students.

Keeping dad’s music alive

He played by heart.

He serenaded his sweetheart with the harmonica. She became his wife. He filled their home with music, delighting their kids with tune after tune. And their grandkids.

He died five years ago and so did his music, except for recordings his grown children keep. Recently, they found a way to honor him while keeping his harmonica music alive for a new generation.

See, and hear, what they did for some Omaha kids in his memory.

Alumni Association scholarships help those who will someday help others

Have you ever had a dream, and the only thing standing in your way was how much it would cost?

What if you received a scholarship to help with this financial burden, and it allowed you to become one step closer to this dream?

For UNMC med student Mariah Smith-Miloff, who was raised on a Native American reservation in Montana, receiving a scholarship from the UNMC College of Medicine Alumni Association has allowed her to do just that.

Read more about how medical school alumni are helping her and other med students achieve their dreams.

Stars find Nebraska graduate’s invention illuminating

Alan Grow hitchhiked halfway across the country to attend the recent reunion of Raikes School grads. But not because he’s poor.

He just needed to decompress after hitting it big in Hollywood.

The start-up company he co-founded, iLuminiate, is creating a buzz in the entertainment biz.

“The past two years,” he says, “have been a pretty wild ride.”

Learn more about his wild ride, and why stars like Christina Aguilera and the Black Eyed Peas are hopping on board.

Players give back to honor coach who taught them more than just the game

Former UNK men’s basketball coach Jerry Hueser taught the game.

But that was just part of what he gave his players.

“He taught us about life and what to expect after basketball and college,” former guard Gregg Grubaugh says. “He was not all just basketball.

“He was a good man.”

Find out what Grubaugh and other former players did to honor their old coach.

University of Nebraska Foundation marks record year

Alumni and friends of the University of Nebraska demonstrated their generosity this year by giving the most private support in history.

Donors gave more than $172.1 million to the University of Nebraska Foundation during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, making it the best year ever in its 75-year history. More than $130.2 million was transferred to the university’s statewide system during the same period, also representing a record.

This is the sixth consecutive year annual gifts to the foundation exceeded $100 million. The previous best year was 2008 when $166.5 million was given.

UNL opens new biological engineering lab named for Swarts family

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln opened a new biological engineering teaching lab designed with undergraduate students in mind. Located in Chase Hall on East Campus, the lab gives students access to the latest science equipment and features found in many of today’s professional labs. 

The $300,000 lab was made possible with a private donation to the University of Nebraska Foundation and UNL allocations. In recognition of a $150,000 leadership gift toward its construction from Carol Swarts, M.D., of Seattle, Wash., the university named the lab the Swarts Family Biological Engineering Teaching Lab.

Roskens Hall new home of the College of Education

Now featuring state-of-the-art classroom facilities and outreach clinics focused on teaching, educational administration, counseling, learning disabilities and speech/hearing education, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) formally dedicated Roskens Hall as the new home of the College of Education with a ceremony on Friday, Sept. 23.

Involved student becomes involved donor

What would you do if a dear friend died and left you a quarter of a million dollars, with the stipulation you spend it all on charity?

This happened to Judith Henggeler Spohr, a 1963 Kearney State College graduate. (Her friend did this because he knew she had a charitable heart.)

Find out what she did with the money.

“Those who have and know, should share.”

Dr. Carol Swarts grew up “barefoot” in the Sandhills during the Depression.

Like many tenant farm families, we had nothing. You depended on each other in those days, and you looked after your family.

This Friday, Oct. 7, UNL will dedicate a new state-of-the-art lab in the basement of Chase Hall on East Campus, home of the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. It will be called The Swarts Family Biological Engineering Teaching Lab.

Carol, a UNL and UNMC alum, will be there. She donated much of the money needed to build the lab. She did this in honor of her family.

For me, it’s all about family. We were brought up with a work ethic and the altruism that goes along with it – looking after your neighbor and working for what you get. My parents never turned anyone away.

She also has supported UNMC throughout the years, sometimes in honor of her family. Without her family and the education she received at the University of Nebraska, she wouldn’t have had her rewarding career.

She has a dream for this lab. Find out what it is.

Caring professor leads to caring student

An aura surrounded the professor. Wisdom. Caring.

He was soft spoken. You almost had to strain to hear him. Yet he commanded respect.

In the summer of ’86, Jeff Parks, now a successful Florida dermatologist, took molecular biology from Professor Tom Weber at UNO right before enrolling in med school at UNMC. In his years in medicine, Jeff never forgot the professor or the lessons he instilled.

They’re still in his heart.

“He taught us that if you listen to a patient – if you just take some time and not be so full of yourself as a physician – the patient will make you seem like a genius because they’ll tell you what’s wrong,” Jeff says.

“He taught us to be passionate about anything you do, and to not overlook the small stuff.”

All these years later, Jeff found a “small” way to thank the professor.

Find out what he did, and how the professor reacted.

The power of the pearls

In her 20s, Tricia Raikes focused on her career, trying to put Microsoft into every home in the country.

In her 30s, she focused on raising her three kids.

In her 40s, she focused on supporting the soaring career of husband Jeff, who became a president at Microsoft and later CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“But now that I’m in my 50s, a key truth has emerged,” she told a group of women who joined her for lunch in Lincoln one recent day.

What is it? And why does she think a group of generous women, joined together, is like a string of pearls – and Larry the Cable Guy?

Lizard on the line

Liz, Lizzy, Lizard.

Those are her nicknames.

Liz Hubbard, a 22-year-old nursing major at UNMC College of Nursing’s Lincoln Division, grew up in Seward.

You might talk to her on the phone some evening, if you’re on our phonathon list. She’s one of our student callers – the students from all the University of Nebraska campuses who call you and ask you questions about your mailing address, if we have a correct e-mail address and if you would like to give a gift to support your college.

We thought it’d be fun to turn the tables and ask our own student callers some questions.

If you could have any super power what would it be?
Flying, so I could travel the world and see all of the sights of the places I want to go.

What was your favorite cartoon growing up?
“Rugrats” or “Roadrunner.” I actually had a pet rabbit that I named Lillian in honor of Lil on the “Rugrats.”

Read more about Liz, Lizzy, Lizard – and what annoys and disgusts her the most.

Nanoscience Research Center at UNL to be Named for Couple

Engineering alumnus Don Voelte and foundation board chair Nancy Keegan make $5 million gift to the Campaign for Nebraska

Lincoln, Neb.—University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Engineering alumnus Don Voelte and his wife, Nancy Keegan, chair of the University of Nebraska Foundation’s board of directors, have given a $5 million campaign gift to UNL. In recognition of their gift, UNL’s Nanoscience Metrology Facility will be named in their honor.  

UNMC names student plaza in honor of Ruth and Bill Scott

"The Scotts are the epitome of greatness," said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. "They couldn't care less about being in the limelight. They simply want to help others.

Over the past eight years, the Scotts have made multiple gifts to UNMC, including the lead gifts on new buildings for four UNMC colleges - medicine, nursing, public health and pharmacy.

Their work was honored on Sept. 13 when the UNMC student plaza was named on their behalf.

Studying abroad gives UNK graduate a broader perspective

Studying in the Czech Republic and China created experiences that Ben Cooney can’t describe using dollar signs.

It left him with lifelong, intangible benefits. It forced him to leave his comfort zone.

It exposed him for the first time ever to different cultures and people.

 “I saw, heard, smelled, and tasted what I had never before,” said the 2011 University of Nebraska at Kearney graduate from Clay Center.

Learn more about Ben’s journey, and how studying abroad changed his life.

MS patient’s success leads to Train The Brain Fund

Downhill.

That’s the direction Omahan Kurt Shafer was heading last summer.

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 2000s, the now 61-year-old would enter a room and rather than look for someone he knew, he’d look for a place to sit.

If he did attempt to walk, he’d use a stick or he would cling to his wife, Mary.

The Shafers, married for 37 years, prepared themselves for further decline. But, to their surprise, that’s not what happened.

Find out more about Kurt, and how a UNMC scientist is helping him pay it forward.

Solving for why students should teach math.

She was one of those kids in class who’d hide in the corner.

She liked math. She’d always finish the homework early. But math class bored her because her teachers bored her.

“Lots of my teachers just lectured at me.”

Angie Hodge grew up in northern Minnesota. (That wasn’t so long ago. She’s only 31.) In those days, she never would have pictured herself becoming a math teacher, let alone a math professor whose job now is to encourage students to become math teachers.

“I didn’t fall in love with the idea of teaching math right away,” says Hodge, who recently was named the first Dr. George Haddix Community Chair in Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “I’m a first-generation college student. My parents were just happy I was in school. I started out an elementary-education major, because I knew I wanted to teach.”

Learn how a few professors made all the difference for her, and how she now wants to do the same for students at UNO.

Who’s Calling You? Paul Francis

Paul Francis, a 22-year-old Spanish and International Business major at UNL, has traveled to many places in the world. He dreams of seeing every continent before he hits 25.

If he visits Antarctica in the next three years, he’ll meet his goal.

You might talk to him on the phone some evening, if you’re on our phonathon list. He’s one of our student callers – the students from all the University of Nebraska campuses who call you and ask you questions about your mailing address, if we have a correct e-mail address and if you would like to give a gift to support your college.

We thought it’d be fun to turn the tables and ask our own student callers some questions.

If you could only eat the same thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Chilaquiles, it’s a Mexican breakfast dish that consists of tortilla chips, salsa, eggs and meat. It’s delicious!

Would you rather go skydiving or bungee jumping?
I would go skydiving only because I have already tried bungee jumping.

If someone wrote a book about your life, what would they title it?
“Here and There: A Lifetime of Journeys.”

We’re starting a feature this month – “Who’s Calling You?” – about Paul and our other student callers. We think they’re pretty great.

We think you will, too.

Read more of our Q&A with Paul, and about one special phone conversation that led to a friendship.

Second $1 million gift advances STEM education at UNO

Omaha, Neb. - Dr. George Haddix of Omaha has made a $1 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to assist the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) in addressing an important issue in American education — STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and preparing the educators who teach in these disciplines.

The gift establishes the Dr. George Haddix Community Chair in Mathematics at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) in the College of Arts and Sciences. It is Haddix’s second gift focusing on STEM education.

Baenziger gift reflects career-long grain research interest

What started as a dream of helping to feed the world is now one step closer to reality for University of Nebraska–Lincoln crop researcher Stephen Baenziger.A Purdue University trained scientist, he joined UNL 25 years ago. He and fellow researchers have helped increase Nebraska’s annual wheat yields and have helped wheat growers provide food for millions more people each year.

To further support the university’s crop science work, Baenziger made a major gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation for the Nebraska Small Grains Fund, a permanently endowed fund Baenziger helped create some years ago. By request, the gift amount is not disclosed.

University of Nebraska Foundation announces campus grants

Lincoln, Neb., Aug. 23, 2011—The University of Nebraska Foundation’s board of directors awarded more than $1.1 million in grants to the University of Nebraska to support student study abroad opportunities and international partnerships.

The focus of this year’s awards was set by University of Nebraska President James. B Milliken, who tied the theme to the university’s current Campaign for Nebraska fundraising initiative and its goal to increase private support for global engagement activities and programs.

Gift enables teachers to do the math…and science

Imagine taking graduate level courses tuition-free.

This vision has become reality for 32 Nebraska teachers after State Farm Insurance of Nebraska gave $20,000 for fellowship awards to teachers seeking to improve their math and science teaching skills.

They take classes at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Nebraska Math and Science Summer Institutes in order to not only better their skills, but also to add to the knowledge of their students.

Kyle Royuk, a recipient of the State Farm fellowship award, teaches geometry, statistics and pre-college math at Crete High School. Royuk said the award has been a blessing to him and his family.

Learn more about Kyle and the State Farm awards.

Practice facility puts golf program on the upswing

Few golf teams have anything like what the Lopers now have.

The new UNK Golf Academy, an indoor-outdoor practice facility that opened last fall at Awarii Dunes Golf Club south of Kearney, is a world-class facility on a world-class golf course.

“It’s a dream come true,” Lopers Coach Chad Lydiatt says. “And for a Division II school to have it – it’s incredible.”

This past winter, his golfers worked on their short game, chipped and putted in warmth. They raised the doors of the facility’s three bays – like three garage doors – and watched their balls fly down the driving range.

This summer, his golfers have been practicing for six, seven hours a day on 100-degree days – practicing all aspects of their games with the air conditioner set at 68.

The academy, he says, will take the Lopers to another level of play.

34 consecutive years of giving. But who’s counting.

University of Nebraska at Omaha alum Roberta Williams has given to the UNO Annual Fund for each of the past 34 years. But she’s not counting.

She’s just giving back to the university that has given her so much.

“I graduated from Omaha University in 1968 and earned a master’s degree in secondary education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1976,” Williams said. “The excellent education I received has helped me achieve my goal of being a successful teacher for 30 years.”

Find out more about what motivates Roberta.

Students will long reap the harvest from Virginia’s Garden

The birds are loud this morning in May as Walt Bagley, 94, sits on a backyard bench.

Virginia’s Garden.

Those words are etched on the bench.

The retired forestry professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln still lives here at Prairie Pines Arboretum, the 145 acres of land just east of Lincoln that he and his late wife, Virginia, gave to the University of Nebraska in 1992.

Public health student hopes to do her best in areas that are the worst

The photo haunts Laura Hansen.

That’s why the 23-year-old framed it and hung it right above her desk – to remind her why she is studying at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health.

To remind her of that makeshift medical clinic in Haiti.

To remind her of those two little girls.

Scholarship makes it easier for students suffering hardships.

Milton E. Steinkruger’s 40-year career in the funeral business gave him the opportunity to help those who were grieving or struggling.

“Milton was a caring man throughout his life and eager to encourage and support others,” says his wife, Ilene Steinkruger.

While college is challenging enough for a young person, those who experience a family crisis or personal emergency may think the only solution is to drop out.

Find out what Ilene did to honor her husband and help students when perhaps it’s needed most.