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mostly sunny and warmer, high in the low-50s. Arts & Entertainment.9
Wednesday through Friday, colder with a chance Classifieds.11
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~ 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 ^
