Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1989)
WEATHER: INDEX and cool, 50 percent chance of i the low- to mid-40s, northwest miles per hour. Monday night, 50 News Digest.2 percent chance of light rain, decreasing doudi- Editorial 4 ness, low in the upper-20s to low-30s Tuesday, Sports 5 mostly sunny and warmer, high in the low-50s. Arts & Entertainment.9 Wednesday through Friday, colder with a chance Classifieds.11 of rain Thursday and Friday. ~ Vol. 89 No~jg H i gUNL institute officials ■draft ‘aggressive’ plan | for budget priorities I By Jerry Guenther - Senior Reporter A plan released Friday that di rects the future of the Institute -*• of Agriculture and Natural Resources will keep Nebraska on the “vanguard of agriculture, the state director of agriculture said. George Beattie said officials from the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln institute have chosen a “very aggres sive course” in their plan, which identifies seven budget and program ming priority areas in the next three years. Beattie spoke at a luncheon during the institute’s open house Fri The seven target areas that insti tute officials have emphasized in the plan are the following: •Agriculture and agribusiness profitability I •Biotechnology and other basic research •Human resources development •Nutrition and health •Rural revitalization • Value -added processing of agri cultural commodities. • Water and environment Beattie said Nebraska must de velop its human resources. The youth f arc the stale’s greatest asset, he said. Martin Masscngale, UNL chan cellor and NU interim president, said it is crucial for Nebraska to have citizens who can make strong, solid decisions. Masscngale said students with a broad-based education arc a key component in the stale’s future suc cess. One way institute officials said they hope to develop human re sources in Nebraska is to enhance education for both traditional and non-traditional students. Irv Omivedt, vice chancellor of the institute, said Nebraska must develop and expand the processing industry in the state. Although Nebraska ranks fourth nationally in agricultural production, Omtvedt said, the state ranks 20th in processing. Strengthening programs at the' UNL Food Processing Center, Agri culture Marketing Center and Indus trial Agricultural Products Center is a high priority of the institute, Omtvedt said. Institute officials also are con cerned about environmental issues, Omtvedt said. Nebraska has a well-deveiopcd irrigation system, Omtvedt said, but water contamination increasingly has become a problem. Omtvedt said the institute also has set a goal of being recognized as one of the top five agricultural and natural resources institutes by the year 2000. Because agriculture is so impor tant to the state, Masscngale said, having the institute reach the lop five is a very important goal. A strong agriculture program also contributes to the overall educational excellence of UNL, he said. Robert Weber, president of Agri cultural Builders of Nebraska Inc., said the institute’s current goal of ranking in the top five by the year 2000 is comparable to where the uni versity’s football program was 20 years ago. Weber said Nebraska did not de velop an excellent football program because of one great player or coach, but because of a strong commitment from everyone in the program. Nebraskans will benefit in the fu ture from the commitment of every one involved in achieving the insti tute’s goals, Weber said. UNL political science professor Ivan Volgyes Professor aims to captivate audience By Lisa Donovan Senior Editor Ivan Volgyes teaches class like a one-act play. He’s animated. He’s dramatic. And he has a captivated audience. Volgyes knows he’s a good actor. ‘‘I think I’m a good teacher for one reason - that is I prepare for every lecture,” says the UNL political science professor. And he has his lines memo rized. ‘‘I memorize my notes... I tell (students) dirty jokes if needed. I use anything I can, any technique to keep them interested and alive,” he says. Volgyes says a captivated audi ence keeps him alive. When students ask questions and discuss policy, professors know they are reaching them, he says. ‘‘You see, teaching is about the worst occupation because we re ally don’t get any feedback,” he says. Actors get response by getting applause, he says, “but a teacher never gets that type of applause.’’ “Occasionally somebody will say ‘Gee prof, I enjoyed this...’ or Thank you,’ but that’s all,” he says. Volgyes says the applause he gets takes another form. “I get the greatest joy out of students coming back to visit.” Volgyes says he has had gradu ates come back to visit since he started leaching at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the fall of 1966. To see how the Hungarian immigrant arrived, one must go backstage to see where he began -- before his arrival at UNL. Volgyes came to the United States in 1956 after the Hungarian revolution. He says he came to the United States because it was a “chance of a lifetime.” At age 20, Volgyes set off for “the land of opportunity” with nothing but a close friend, a few of his favorite books and many ex pectations. Volgyes says the learning be gan the day he landed in the United Slates. After a short stint at the Univdr sity of South Dakota at Vermillion, Volgyes continued his education at American University in Wash ington, D.C., from August 1958 to August 1961, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in international politics, a master’s in Soviet and East European studies and a doc torate in comparative and interna tional politics; Volgyes’ description of his col lege experiences is similar to that of many college students — he did odd jobs to make ends meet. “In the meanwhile 1 worked at various places — slinging hash ... I also worked as a cleaning person at an office building." But that all changed in 1959 when Volgyes went from custo dian to speech writer for one of the most famous Americans in the 20lh century. “I landed a job as one of the literally dozens of speech writers for President Kennedy’s ... cam paign.” In 1965 he taught at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, a See VOLGYES on 2 . .ill... I ... . i. ■ ... I A money-saver for students Customized textbooks to be future option for professors * By Roger Price Suff RspoOer I T1 eginning next year, McGraw-Hill K will offer professors an opportunity to design their own textbooks. Robert Lynch, executive editor of | McGraw-Hill’s college division, said pro fessors will be able to customize textbooks for their classes using material from a computerized database. Lynch said the database will include the £ original text, study guides, and other sup plementary material and related journal articles. Professors also will be able to add their syllabus add class notes to the text. Any of the material in the database can be included or deleted from the textbook allowing students to purchase just one book, 100 percent of which will be used, Lynch said. He said the new system will save stu dents money because they will only have to purchase one textbook, which will be priced S about the same as regular textbooks. • ‘With this system, you don’t have to buy the extras. You’re paying for exactly what is used,” Lynch said. Next year, only one accounting book will be available in the database, but Lynch said he envisions the database growing ‘ ‘monthly, weekly or even daily. ” By the fall of *1991, Lynch said, the database will include texts fee calculus, algebra, social science readings and addi tional accounting texts. Because each textbook will be custom ized to a particular class, Lynch said, the national book warehouses most likely will not buy the books once they have been used. Local buyback of the books is still a possibility if professors continue to use the books they have designed, he said. Lynch said H is not McGraw-Hill’s in tention to compete with local copy shops, but he said the customized textbooks offer many advantages over photocopies. The main difference between the cus tomized book and the photocopied packet, Lynch said, is that the book will be profes sionally typeset, paginated, have a table of contents, and all materials used in the class will be bound in one textbook. Lynch said the customized textbooks will be offered to professors beginning in January for the fall of 1990. Prolessors who choose to use a custom ized textbook will select items to be in cluded in the book from a list of all related materials in the database, Lynch said. The only limitation to what can be in cluded in the customized bodes is obtaining the permission of the authors for their work to be included in the books. Authors of materials included in the customized books will pe paid royalties in about the same way they are now, Lynch said. Each work included in the customized book will lie considered a unit, and authors will be paid based on the number of times their tmit is includedin the books. Students compete in modified events at 7th annual UNL rodeo By Jerry Guenther Senior Reporter About 40 students braved cool tempera tures and a half-dozen rodeo events at the seventh annual University of Ne braska-Lincoln rodeo Sunday afternoon. George Pfeiffer, associate professor of agri cultural economics and faculty adviser to the UNL rodeo club, said the event gives students an opportunity to compete in an actual rodeo, although the events are modified to make them safer. The rodeo, which was at the rodeo practice arena north of East Campus, featured events ranging from wild cow riding to dummy-calf roping. Melanie Macfee.a human development and special education major, competed in the women’s steer-riding event. Although she has ridden steers in the rodeo during the past two years, Macfce said, that experience did not help her much Sunday. “I was afraid of going over the top and falling into the horns,” Macfee said. Macfce took first place in the event. Rhonda Hansen, a junior majoring in natu ral resources, said she had fun, even though she was nervous during her ride. “You don’t really see anything,” Hansen said. “You just want to get off.’’ Chandra Plate, a junior majoring in agricul tural education, said she was not nervous, even though Sunday was the first time she had ridden a steer. “Once you get on them, you lose your nervousness,” she said. Plate, who said she is more accustomed to riding horses, ended up taking second place in the event. Keith Carter, a senior majoring in animal science, said he enjoyed competing in the men’s wild cow riding event. “It was more fun than my last date,” Carter said. Peter Schram, a senior majoring in agribusi ness, wore a friend’s motorcycle helmet during his ride. Schram ended up getting thrown off the cow after a couple of seconds, but said he wasn’t discouraged by his first ride. ”1 was just trying to hang on,” he said. Jason Pieper, an undeclared freshman, and Todd Ballentine, a senior majoring in animal science, teamed up to earn second place in chute dogging, an event where one contestant grabs a steer by the horns and wrestles it down while the other contestant pulls on the tail to slow it down. Pieper ended up tossing the steer over after it dragged him and Ballentine about fifteen yards. “I didn’t think it would be that hard to keep my feet in front of me,” Pieper said. Pfeiffer said he was pleased with how the rodeo events turned out and said he was happy and that nobody got hurt. ‘‘I’m always glad when the girl’s steer riding is over,” Pfeiffei said. “That’s the most dangerous event in the entire rodeo. They seem to forget to let go.” I ^