Presentation - June 2024Jen Bossard and Pete Poppert presented at the annual Nebraska Career Education Conference held in Kearney, NE on June 6, 2024. Their presentation was titled, "Reshaping Higher Education for a New Generation."
https://nceconference2024.sched.com/event/1asta/reshaping-higher-education-for-a-new-generation
Publication - February 2025 Courtney Buchkoski published an essay, "Imagining a Northern Kansas" in Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains. Volume 47, no. 4 (Winter 2024-2025): 214-231.
https://www.kansashistory.gov/p/kansas-history-winter-2024-2025/21011
Publication - June 2024Dan Clanton's seventh book was published on 13 June 2024. Titled "God and the Little Grey Cells: Religion in Agatha Christie's Poirot Stories," the book examines the presence and use of religion and Bible in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels and stories, as well as their later interpretations in radio and film.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/god-and-the-little-grey-cells-9780567696076/
Dan Clanton recently attended the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion & Society of Biblical Literature, where he participated in two panel discussions. One was a book review session focused on his new book "God and the Little Grey Cells: Religion in Agatha Christie's Poirot Stories," in which three scholars offered critiques and Clanton responded. In the second session, Clanton presented his response to two chapters from the book "The Nordic Bible: Bible Reception in Contemporary Nordic Societies." His response, along with the responses of three other scholars, will be published in "Religious Studies News" in the coming months.
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion & Society of Biblical Literature - https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting.aspx God and the Little Grey Cells: Religion in Agatha Christie's Poirot Stories - https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/god-and-the-little-grey-cells The Nordic Bible: Bible Reception in Contemporary Nordic Societies - https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110686005/html
Dr. Dan Clanton and his recent book "God and the Little Grey Cells: Religion in Agatha Christie's Poirot Stories" were recently featured on the Christmas episode of the podcast "ABitOfAChristie." Host Hazel Jones interviewed Clanton about the book and his interest in Christie's work.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/god-and-the-little-grey-cells-9780567696076/
https://pod.link/1693117686/episode/7227
Dan Clanton recently published a chapter titled “Wait, Did Paul Know Homer? A Reflection on Reflecting on Paul’s Reflections,” in the book A New Era of Comparison in Biblical Studies: Case Studies in Applied Methodology (Lexington Books, 2025).
Dan Clanton was interviewed for and quoted in an Associated Press article titled "Is he Christ? Is he Moses? Superman’s religious and ethical undertones add to his mystique." The article was published ahead of the release of the new film "Superman," slated to be released on 11 July 2025. Clanton was asked about the various religious influences on Superman's creation, origins, and meanings based on his work in religion and popular culture, and on comics and graphic novels (including Superman) more specifically.
Presentation - October 2024 Dr. Terri Deems presented at the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum (SEAC) annual conference at Clemson University: Integrating Ethical Reasoning and Civil Discourse Through Immerse Role Play.
Terri Deems has two chapters--one on ethical leadership and one on coaching skills for leaders--in the recently released text, Workplace Leadership. This text examines core leadership constructs and provides students and emerging leaders with insight into practical leadership skills and capabilities. Chapters include applied exercises to enhance understanding and the practical adoption of leadership competencies. Lindbeck, R., & Nix, V. (Eds.). (2025). Workplace leadership. Cognella Academic Publishing.
Publication - June 2024Drs.Tessa Durham Brooks and Erin Doyle were coauthors on the publication "Voices from Graduate School and the Workforce: Identified Student Outcomes from Completing a Multi-Semester Undergraduate Research Experience Capstone." Colclasure, B.C.; Alai, A.; Quinn, K.; Granberry, T.; Doyle, E.L.; Durham Brooks, T. Educ. Sci. 2024, 14, 598. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14060598 The manuscript describes the experiences of 16 Doane STEM graduates and their perceptions of how participation in their required senior research capstone experiences have benefited them in graduate school or the workforce. Former Doane professor Dr. Blake Coclasure was the lead author on the publication and two Doane students were also included as authors.
Presentation - October 2024 Tessa Durham Brooks presented a poster entitled, "Plant phenotyping as computation by undergraduates in the DIVAS Alliance program" at the 8th International Plant Phenotyping Symposium. Raychelle Burks (American University), Erin Doyle, and Mark Meysenburg were co-authors.
Tessa Durham Brooks was a panelist in the session "From K-12 to College - A Conversation to Help Students Thrive" at the 2024 Fall Conference of the Nebraska Association of Teachers in Science meeting.
Public Performance - June 2024Dr. Andy Feyes led one of three bands of young musicians at the week long Kansas State University Summer Music Camp. As a part of the camp, Dr. Feyes conducted the combined summer camp musicians and Manhattan (KS) Municipal Band.
Dr. Feyes presented a clinic session at the Nebraska State Band Masters Association's annual conference entitled, "Rethinking Your Warm Up Routine" with over 50 band directors from the state in attendance.
https://nsbma.org/Content/Media/File/NSBA_Convention_Program_25_Ver__4.pdf
Dr. Feyes guest conducted the Central Conference Honor Band, hosted at Grand Island Northwest High School. The band was comprised by high school musicians from Crete, Seward, Lakeview, York, Adams Central, Schuyler, Northwest, Aurora, and Lexington High Schools.
Presentation - January 2025 Julianna Grabianowski presented a poster entitled "How to Make Good on the Promise of the Liberal Arts" at the 5th International Academic Forum Conference on Arts & Humanities.
Public Performance - November 2024Fall Guest Recital at Wayne State Featuring Art Song, Operatic, and Musical Theatre Repertoire in collaboration with Professors; Dr. Suna Gunther from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and pianist Shelly Armstrong from Wayne State.
https://www.wsc.edu/news/article/1031/fall_2024_guest_recital
Presentation - February 2025As part of the Boodlebox Collaborative AI Accelerator Series, Peggy presented "AIAI-Oh. Activity in a Proof-Writing Class" as part of the "Using AI to Support Students Preparing for Class" webinar.
Grant - September - December 2024 Kim Jarvis and Cali Biaggi received a Digital Preservation Grant from the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Humanities Research for the Public Good program for the Fall 2024 semester. This grant provided funding for two History majors, Erin Landkamer and Veronica Reynolds, to digitally preserve botanical watercolors painted by Mary Doane (1829-1894), sister of Doane University founder Thomas Doane. These watercolors are in Mary Doane's copy of the Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States (1867). This book is very fragile, so scanning the pages allows the watercolors to be preserved and accessible. The grant provided funding for supplies to organize and protect the book as well. This project completes the digital preservation of Mary Doane's botanical watercolors in the Doane University Archives.
For an overview of the Council of Independent Colleges Humanities Research for the Public Good program (2019-2023), see https://cic.edu/opportunity/public-humanities/.
Public Performance - June 2024Portrayed Andrew Carnegie, Richest Man in the World, on June 11, 2024 as part of events leading up to the Humanities Nebraska Chautauqua event in August at Norfolk Public Library Norfolk, Nebraska.
https://norfolk-ne.libcal.com/event/12387353
As part of the Enid, Oklahoma, Winter Chautauqua, 2025, at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Enid Campus, I presented as President Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States of America.
Podcast: PsychSessions: AI - Artificial "Intelligence"? An interview with Robert McEntarffer (S1E3) In this episode, Dr. Robert McEntarffer, a former high school teacher and current college educator, discusses the cognitive offloading potential offered by AI and on those types of thinking it would be wise not to let AI replace. Rob offers a critique of the term artificial “intelligence”, suggesting that “large language model” may be a more appropriate term given that AI doesn't truly understand or derive meaning from text. Rob highlights both the potential benefits and drawbacks of AI in education and the need for a deeper understanding of cognitive processes in learning. References: David, L., Vassena, E., & Bijleveld, E. (2024). The unpleasantness of thinking: A meta-analytic review of the association between mental effort and negative affect. Psychological Bulletin, 150(9), 1070–1093. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000443 Hicks, M. T., Humphries, J., & Slater, J. (2024). ChatGPT is bullshit. Ethics and Information Technology, 26(2), 38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-024-09775-5
Publication - July 2024 Mark Orsag has had the following co-authored article published... Mark Orsag and Amanda McKinney, “The Mother of All Collapses’: Complex Systems, Crises and Modern Analogues,” Journal of Applied History (Volume 6/Issue 1) July 2024, pp.66-105. A link to the article is here: https://brill.com/view/journals/joah/6/1/article-p66_3.xml
Mark Orsag will be a part of the following interdisciplinary conference presentation: Giovanni Meledandri, Mark Orsag, Amanda McKinney, Melissa Clouse, “A Long View of Infectious Disease–Contexts, Etiologies, Mitigations and Impacts: An Ancient/Modern Comparative Analysis (...with an Eye to the Future), Global Experts Conference on Infectious Disease (GECID), Paris, May 2025. (Scheduled)
Mark Orsag had the following recent publication... The 37th International RAIS Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities was held at The Erdman Center, 20 Library Place, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA, on August 8-9, 2024, and was organized by the Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies. RAIS Conference Proceedings are published with ISSN 2578-8574, and will be indexed in IDEAS/RePEc, Econpapers, Google Scholar, and CEEOL. Proceedings of the 37th International RAIS Conference, Volume 2 PDF It Is All Interconnected – A Brief, Comparative Planetary Limits and Lifestyle Medicine Analysis of Production, Diet and Lifestyle During Three Stages of Human History 13-22 Mark Orsag, Amanda E. McKinney.
https://rais.education/proceedings-of-the-37th-rais-conference-vol2/
Dr. Mark Orsag will be making a series of presentations as part of a course for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), January-March 2025 Public Presentation Series on the Role of Pandemics in History 1.Galen’s “Great Pestilence”; The Antonine Plague of the Second Century, CE 2.“More Intolerable Than Any Other Calamity”: The Third Century, CE Plague of Cyprian 3.“Near to Annihilating the Human Race”: The Justinianic Plague of the Sixth Century, CE 4.‘Martyrdom and Mercy”: The Fourteenth Century “Black Death” 5. “A Very Sudden and Very Marked Rise in the General Death Rate”; The Great Influenza [“Spanish Flu”] Epidemic of the Early Twentieth Century 6.“The Great Disruptor”: The Covid-19 Pandemic of the Globalized Twenty-First Century.
Mark Orsag has had an article published, "History, Science and Prophecy?” included in “What is Scholarship Today: 12 Historians Share How They Do History” [Article features a dozen nationally selected historians whose research is contributing to a broadening of the definition of historical scholarship in line with the relevant January 2023 American Historical Association (AHA) resolution on the subject.] Perspectives on History: The News Magazine of the American Historical Association, January 2025. Article is accessible below.
https://www.historians.org/perspectives-issue/january-2025/
Mark Orsag had the following published in April 2025 Giovanni Meledandri and Mark Orsag, “Clues to the Origins of the Latin Language: An Epigraphic and Cultural Approach” Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol 12, No 4. April 2025 pp.158-174.
https://journals.scholarpublishing.org/index.php/ASSRJ/article/view/18691
Griesch, E., Timmons, J., & Pettit, T. (2025). Building the Next Generation of Educators: Enhancing Recruitment Through Partnerships and Outreach. Presented at the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education Conference (AILACTE) in Long Beach, CA.
Pettit, T. & Timmons, J. (2025). Fostering Real-World Learning: Building School and Community Partnerships in Special Education. Presented at the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education Conference (AILACTE) in Long Beach, CA.
Publication - July 2024 Dr. Josh Pope, along with Dr. Melanie D'Amico of Indiana State University, wrote "Making the Most of Study Abroad: A Guide to a Top-Notch Experience" (Rowman & Littlefield/Bloomsbury Publishing). It is a guidebook written with any international traveler in mind, but particularly for undergraduate students studying abroad. It gives them things to consider to maximize their experiences during study abroad and other adventures.
Public Performance - October 2024The Blue River Arts Council commissioned Doane faculty member Dr. Kurt Runestad to arrange a piece for choir to be premiered at the Isis Theatre's grand opening on Saturday-Sunday, October 26-27, 2024. Doane's jazzchoir Jazz Unlimited (Missy Noonan, director) and singers from Crete HIgh School (Doane alum Alex Wooten, director) will collaborate in the performance of the world premiere, an acappella arrangement of the jazz standard "Centerpiece."
Presentation - October 2024 Tessa and Becca presented at the Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science (NATS) conference in Kearney. Their presentation, titled "Reimagining Learning Outcomes in Anatomy and Physiology "gave other educators feedback regarding choosing content relevant for student learning goals in the disciplines of anatomy and physiology. Being the most content-heavy courses students will take, long-term retention relies on applying content to relevant phenomena. Being prepared to navigate the sea of growing information requires developing relevant competencies. Therefore, they presented ways they have adjusted their courses at the introductory and advanced levels.
Grant - September 2024 Joel TerMaat (PI) and Chris Wentworth (co-PI) were awarded an NSF grant (Award 2407003) entitled “RUI: Research Initiation: Investigating the impact of the liberal arts on the ethical development of engineers.” The 2-year, $200K project will initiate research into the complex network of factors predominantly associated with a liberal arts education that promotes the ethical development of undergraduates. The grant supports the PI’s professional development in conducting educational research, and Joel TerMaat is supported by the mentoring team of Chris Wentworth, Kristopher Williams, Peggy Hart, Brian Pauwels, and Carla Zoltowski (Purdue). As part of the project, Joel TerMaat also attended the NSF’s Engineering Education Centers (EEC) Grantees Conference near Washington, DC in September 2024.
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2407003&HistoricalAwards=false
Presentation - February 2025Presentation at the International Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges (AILACTE) National Conference, Long Beach, CA with Dr. Trina Pettit titled, "Fostering Real-World Learning: Building School & Community Partnerships in Special Education.
Presentation at the International Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education National Conference, Long Beach, CA, with Dr. Griesch and Dr. Pettit, titled, "Building the Next Generation of Educators: Enhancing Recruitment Through Partnerships and Outreach. Presentation at International."
Presentation - February 2025 Together with J.L. Vertin and Quint Geis, Blake Tobey co-presented a session entitled "Leveraging Peer Mentors to Increase Sense of Belonging & Persistence" at the annual First Year Experience Conference in New Orleans, LA. The presentation outlined how strategic us of Tiger Peer Mentors, Peer Leaders, Orientation Leaders, and Directions Mentors provide overlapping supports for first year students through the first year and the resulting retention increase year after year. The presentation also highlighted how these programs will more purposefully overlap in training and coordination to provide an even stronger peer-mentorship support system moving forward.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1AdUSQYA_Ip6LRD5_u1-akPXNCjsiDzb-lisX8s7FTo8/edit?usp=sharing
Together with Ally Bray (CA) and Madison Niederhauser (OK), Blake Tobey co-wrote trauma-informed theatre curriculum that is being piloted at the Lincoln Youth Rehabilitation & Treatment Center and other juvenile justice schools across the country. Tobey was interviewed on the "Books over Bars" podcast to explore the question, "Can theatre-based practices help unlock the potential of confined youth? Discover how theatre-based therapeutic practices can be brought into the classroom, the impact it can have on students, and the valuable skills these activities foster."
You can listen to the podcast here: https://rss.com/podcasts/breakfree-ed/1995765/
Scott Vicroy, Doane Jazz Band director, will be performing in the pit orchestras for touring Broadway shows, “Back To The Future” at the Lied Center in Lincoln 10/8-10/13, “Funny Girl” 11/12-11/17, “Some Like It Hot” 3/25-3/30, and “MJ The Musical “ 6/10-6/15 at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha.
Presentation - June 2024William Whipple, music department, was invited to give a presentation alongside his wife, Christina Whipple (board certified music therapist) at the Iowa Music Teachers Association (IMTA) State Conference at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Their presentation topic was, “Neurodiversity Awareness: Multimodal Music Teaching for ALL Students.”