May 2023Cali Biaggi planned the Nebraska Library Association College & University Section spring meeting as the C&U Chair. The meeting was held at Central Community College in Columbus, NE on May 19, 2023.
March 2024Jen led a workshop titled, "Hand in Hand" for I've Got A Name, an organization that fights sex trafficking in Nebraska. The purpose of the workshop was to raise awareness and let people know what they can do to help.
October - November 2023Dan Clanton recently taught a 4-week class at First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln, titled "Peace, Love and Religion in the 1960s." Clanton has been offering two adult education classes every year at First-Plymouth since 2010.
After attending the Interfaith Leadership Summit in Chicago and completing online coursework, Dan Clanton earned a professional certificate in Interfaith Leadership from Interfaith America, in partnership with ReligionAndPublicLife.org.
The certificate and its description can be found at this link.
April 2024Doane Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) students completed their second year of preparing tax returns under the guidance of Assistant Professor of Practice in Accounting Tracy Corr. The Doane site is staffed by students who receive internship credit. This filing season, three student volunteers assisted 65 taxpayers that resulted in over 95 thousand dollars being brought back into the local Crete community. The earned income tax credit represented $22,000 of that total. The site served an additional 20 clients this year compared to last year. VITA student preparers served the community Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between 3 and 6 p.m. at the Crete Public Library during tax season. The Doane VITA team thanks the Crete Public Library staff for providing space, computers, printers, and paper, as well as administrative support for the VITA site every year. VITA is a program offered through the IRS that offers free basic tax return preparation to qualified individuals. Generally, these are people who make less than $64,000 a year, have disabilities or have limited English-speaking skills. All VITA volunteers who prepare returns must take and pass tax law training that meets or exceeds IRS standards. In addition, the IRS requires a quality review check for every return prepared at a VITA site prior to filing.
October 2023Dr. Erin Doyle was the conference chair for the Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas Women in Computing (MINK-WIC) conference, held October 27-28, 2023, in Lenexa, KS. The conference theme was "Community, Computing, Connections". The conference brought together approximately 200 students, faculty, and industry leaders from the four state area for panels, workshops, research presentations, and a career/graduate school fair. The goal of the conference is to discuss the experiences of women in technology and computing fields, to explore the issues and challenges these women face, and to celebrate and support each other. Dr. Doyle also served as a panel moderator for the panel "Is grad school right for me?" and was a panelist on the panel "Bioinformatics".
Public Performance - November 2023Dr. Andrew Feyes and the members of the Doane Concert Band performed at Lincoln's Lied Center in conjunction with the Nebraska Music Education Association's annual professional development concert. The Doane Concert Band was one of only two collegiate bands across Nebraska to be selected to perform via peer review of previous concert recordings.
Dr. Andrew Feyes was elected to the Nebraska Music Education Association's (NMEA) Board of Directors and will serve a three-year term as the statewide Director of College & University Affairs. In this capacity, Dr. Feyes will oversee the College and University student tracks at the annual NMEA convention and will work closely with the various Collegiate chapters of the National Association for Music Education across our state.
Dr. Andrew Feyes served as an adjudicator and clinician at Kansas State University's Central States Marching Festival. The event featured 40 high school bands from Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. In addition, 23 Doane University Music Education students also participated as observers of practicing music educators and as managers of the event, providing much needed logistical assistance to a festival that saw over 10,000 attendees.
Dr. Andrew Feyes represented Doane University as the Music Performance - Ensemble judge for the Nebraska State Bandmaster's Association's State Marching Band Contest held at Kearney High School on Saturday, October 21st. In this role, Feyes adjudicated and provided critical feedback to 24 high school marching bands from Nebraska at the culmination of their performance season.
October 2023 Panelist, October 2023 Peggy Hart served on the "Data Science" panel at the Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas Women in Computing (MINK-WIC) conference, held October 27-28, 2023, in Lenexa, KS. The goal of the conference is to discuss the experiences of women in technology and computing fields, to explore the issues and challenges these women face, and to celebrate and support each other. Peggy also organized the travel for three students to attend, two of whom presented posters.
March 2024Rachel Jank presented "Financial Empowerment: a Path to Success" to the Inspire Girls Conference in Lincoln, NE
June 2024Reverend Dr. Karla J Cooper was the guest clinician for Hastings College Compelling Preaching Initiative.
Reverend Dr Karla J Cooper currently serves as Presiding Elder of the Midwest South District in the Midwest Annual Conference with 22 congregations in her district.
Reverend Dr. Karla J Cooper currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Eden Theological Seminary and chairs its faculty and curriculum committee.
Reverend Dr. Karla J Cooper was Hastings College’s 2024 Dr Martin Luther King Jr keynote speaker.
November 2023For 2023, Jared List has served as the president of the Nebraska International Languages Association (NILA). On November 3rd and 4th, NILA held its annual conference for world language teachers and professors at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
April 2024Dr. Mark Orsag has been chosen to serve on the Scientific Committee of the international scholarly organization RAIS (Research Association of Interdisciplinary Studies) for 2024-2025.
Dr. Mark Orsag is one of nine academics chosen to serve in the Philosophy [planning] Group of the international scholarship and advocacy organization PLAN (Planetary Limits Academic Network).
March 2024Dr. Russ Souchek, Professor of Environmental Science, has been reappointed to another three year term as Vice-President for Administration of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation.
Dr. Russ Souchek, Professor of Environmental Science, has completed Climate Interactive’s En-ROADS Climate Ambassador training. This training qualifies Ambassadors to teach with En-ROADS online climate simulation software, developed in collaboration with the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, and experienced by over 200,000 participants worldwide. En-ROADS training spans topics of climate science, systems thinking, climate equity, and climate solutions. Ambassador status must be renewed each year. Renewal consists of attending two En-ROADS continuing education sessions and teaching at least two En-ROADS events.
December 2023Scholarship of Application (Evaluation) William Whipple, music department, was invited to adjudicate the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Northwest Division Performance Competitions (Junior, Senior, and College/Young Artist categories). State piano winners from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming will be competing to represent the NW Division at the MTNA National Competitions. The latter will be held in March, 2024 at the MTNA National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
Scholarship of Application (Evaluation) William Whipple, music department, was invited to adjudicate the Manhattan Area Music Teachers Association Pre-College District Auditions (Manhattan, KS). Students who received a “1” score advanced to the Kansas Music Teacher Association State Audition.
As the '23-'24 National Speech Tournament Director for the American Forensic Association (AFA), Nathaniel successfully organized, coordinated, and executed the AFA's 2024 national collegiate speech tournament in Eau Claire, WI. The event brought ≈60 schools, with 1,150 individual speech event entries.