English department celebrates John Milton’s birthday

One of my favorite quotes of the semester would have to be “A poet only turns 400 once.”
Point.
I’ve never read Paradise Lost, but after covering this small and quirky event, it sounds cool.

Read it here: English department celebrates John Milton’s birthday

Econ professor Rosenbaum named ‘U.S. Professor of the Year’

The headline in this one is a little misleading, because Professor Rosenbaum was named Professor of the Year for the state of Nebraska. He was a really nice guy to interview and the dean of the college who nominated him was gracious enough to call me personally for an interview to talk about him. I can’t wait to have him as a professor.

read it here: Econ professor Rosenbaum named ‘U.S professor of the year’

Geography bee puts students to the test

Boring event coverage story maybe, but I had lots of fun at this geography bee. I was given some of the questions beforehand and the web editor was able to make an interactive quiz, which was neat too. I stayed the whole time and wrote down all the questions (and knew a bunch too).

I’m probably going to compete next year. =D

read it here: Geography bee puts students to the test

User-produced energy might benefit rec center

I read about this idea in Dec. 2008 of Marie Claire (quality, I know) and wanted to know if the UNL rec center was doing anything similar. It was really cool to find out they were. I also really enjoyed speaking to Mr. Adam Boesel, owner of The Green Microgym.

Read it here: User-produced energy might benefit rec center

Economic woes catch up with charities’ holiday fundraisers

This story idea was brainstormed in budget and more fully materialized when I spoke with several agencies in Lincoln. I was most struck by the Catch-22 presented: less people are donating and more people need the services.

read it here: Economic woes catch up with charities’ holiday fundraisers

Council develops credit program for non-traditional students

This story was picked up in a budget meeting. Some colleges are offering non-traditional students credit for prior learning done outside the classroom. It’s pretty boring, especially because UNL doesn’t participate and it was too complicated and editoral for me to find a student and compare class syllabuses to see if they matched up and could count as credit.

Read it here: Council develops credit program for non-traditional students

Ayers on short list of canceled speakers

I had an idea for a package of three stories that would run the day before Professor William Ayers’ scheduled speech (Nov. 15 is a Saturday). Unfortunately, one of stories didn’t materialize, so I combined the other two stories. I am proud of this story because I was able to get a voice from UIC, even if it wasn’t Ayers’ and I also included comments from NU President J.B. Milliken. And I learned UNL had some awesome speakers in the 1970s.

This story also ran in conjunction with Professor Ayers’ guest editorial, which was cool.

Read it here: Ayers on short list of canceled speakers

Edit: This story was picked up by CBSnews.com.