Dean says UNL’s advising sound,
despite dissatisfaction elsewhere
By Cns Wildhagen
Staff Reporter
Although some American univer
sities are questioning the value of
doctoral advisers, there have been
few complaints about the quality of
UNL advisers, one UNL official said.
“I’d like to believe that the quality
of advising is excellent at the univer
sity,” said Merlin Lawson, associate
dean for graduate studies and assis
tant vice chancellor for research at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
According to a study of disserta
tion practices at 40 U.S. universities
by the Council of Graduate Schools,
advising for graduate students is in
poor shape.
The report’s conclusions, published
in a Jan. 16 Chronicle of Higher
Education story, stated that many
graduate students surveyed were dis
satisfied with their advisers.
The report recommended that stu
dents be given better guidance in
choosing advisers and that they meet
regularly with advisers.
Recommendations for improve
ment also included providing peri
odic review of advisers and better
adviser training.
At UNL, there are about 770 gradu
ate faculty Fellows. Fellows can chair
the supervisory committees that ad
vise doctoral students. Normally four
Fellows serve on each committee,
with 340 graduate members on com
mittees in all.
The committees advise about 1,350
doctoral-degree candidates.- Each
committee advises from one to seven
students, depending on their doctoral
program progress.
One UNL committee adviser did
not agree with Lawson about the quality
of doctoral advising.
Robert Brown, an educational
psychology professor, said the com
mittees could use some improvement.
“Generally, the advisers are inter
ested in the students’ welfare, but the
faculty may not be good at advising,”
he said. “Just because you can do
research does not mean you can ad
vise students.”
The Fellows counsel much the same
way they were advised while doing
their dissertations, Brown said, but
each student has a different back
ground. This means different con
sulting methods arc needed, he said.
Lawson said the graduate Fellows
are strictly reviewed before being
chosen. Each person is nominated to
serve on the graduate faculty. Nomi
nees must have published a research
topic of quality, possess scholarship
and creativity and be a positive men
tor to graduate students, he said.
After the review process, two-thirds
of the graduate faculty in the nomi
nee’s field must approve the appoint
ment, he said.
Brown said there should be some
kind of proper training so the advisers
can counsel the students adequately.
The committee usually meets only
three times with the doctoral student,
Brown said. The first meeting is to
approve the course study for the stu
dent. It next meets to approve the
dissertation topic, and it may not meet
again to until the student has finished
the dissertation, he said.
During the period in which the
student is working on the disserta
tion, the student meets one-on-one
with a main adviser, who is on the
committee, Brown said.
Lawson said the main purpose of
requiring a dissertation is to demon
strate that the student is able to com
plete research of a topic. It usually
lakes two to three years for a student
to complete a dissertation, he said.
It can be a frightening and awe
some task that some students find
difficult to complete, Lawson said.
Brown suggested that the commit
tees get students involved in doing
research before they begin their dis
sertation to make the task easier.
Hispanic enrollment targeted
By Julie Skar
Staff Reporter
A national report indicates His
panics are “grossly underrepresented”
at U.S. colleges and universities, but
the president of the Mexican Ameri
can Student Association says the group
is doing all it can to raise those num
ters UNL
For the 1990-91 school year, 280
of about 24,000 students who attended
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
were Hispanic.
That number is up slightly from
255 Hispanic students in 1989-90.
Although Hispanics arc underrepre
sented numerically, MAS A President
Blanca Ramirez said the group is
working to encourage more Hispanic
students to attend UNL and to help
them become involved on campus.
Recently group members went to
South Sioux City to speak with high
school students about coming to UNL.
“The idea is to have them come
and visit the campus and help them
prepare for college life,” she said.
The recent national report, authored
by the American Council of Educa
tion, revealed that although Hispanic
college enrollment rose from 417,000
in 1978 to 680,000 in 1988, the in
crease is not in proportion to the fast
growth of the Hispanic population.
The findings, which were included
in a Chronicle of Higher Education
story, stated that among ail Hispanics
aged 18 to 24, only 16 percent were
enrolled in college in 1989.
Ramirez said Hispanic students
need to realize that college is not as
difficult as they may think, and stu
dents must be encouraged by their
parents, teachers and school counsel
ors.
MASA hopes to create a positive
atmosphere at UNL by helping others
learn about the Hispanic culture, she
said.
Chicano Awareness Week is one
of those introductions to the Hispanic
way of life, she said. The awareness
week, April 15-20, will provide stu
dents with the opportunity to dis
cover positive aspects of the culture,
Ramirez said. The week will include
a luncheon, a dance, a fun run and
possibly a book and craft sale.
Ramirez said that although the group
is working toward more representa
tion for Hispanic students at UNL,
there still is much to be done.
The university needs to work with
the administration and the educational
department to produce teachers who
are not only bilingual but who also
are sensitive to the Hispanic students’
and parents’ needs, she said.
Gulf
Continued from Page 1
sions than were flown against Japan
in the final 14 months of World War
II.
Most major bridges in the Kuwait
region now have been destroyed or
badly damaged, the command said,
and the Iraqis have had to throw
makeshift pontoon spans across riv
ers — new easy targets, said com
mand spokesman Marine Maj. Gen.
Robert Johnston.
Air strikes Sunday rocked Iraqi
targets from Kuwait to Baghdad. Late
in the afternoon, a missile — proba
bly a U.S. cruise missile — slammed
into downtown Baghdad, sending up
a column of white smoke, according
to an Associated Press report from the
Iraqi capital.
Fresh reports came in of air attacks
on civilian vehicles on the road from
Baghdad to Jordan. Egyptians arriv
ing in Jordan said their bus was the
only vehicle on the road when it was
repeatedly machine-gunned by war
planes. One of their group was killed,
they said.
Since early in the 18-day-old war,
the rumble of distant B-52 strikes has
been heard from across die Saudi
Kuwaiti border. The huge bombers
have zeroed in particularly on the
dug-in positions of the Republican
Guard, the core of Iraq’s defense of
occupied Kuwait.
One of the eight-engine, S55-mil
lion “Stratofortresscs,” headed back
from a bombing mission, crashed into
the Indian Ocean late Saturday on its
way to its base at Diego Garcia, a tiny
atoll 2,000 miles southcastof the gulf.
The U.S. command <!id not say
where the crash occurred or give de
tails of the rescue of three crewmen.
It said there was“noevidcncc that the
aircraft went down as a result of hos
tile fire.” Twenty-seven Americans
are now missing in action in the gulf
war.
American military sources say the
Air Force has begun mounting
“countcr-Scud patrols,” warplanes
flying over areas where Iraq’s ballis
tic missiles arc believed based, ready
to swoop down when a launch is
detected on radar. One of the patrols
apparently scored on Sunday.
,-POLICE REPORT--1
Beginning midnight Thursday,
Jan. 31
10:45 a.m. — Non-injury auto
accident. 16th and W streets, S5 50.
5:44 p.m. — UNL identification
card stolen, Abel Residence Hall,
$7.
5:49 p.m. — Windshield wiper
damaged, Abel Residence Hall fire
lane, $35.
7:41 p.m. — Bicycle stolen, Ha
milton Residence Hall, $535.
Beginning midnight Friday,
Feb. 1
12:42 a.m. — Fire alarm glass
broken, Abel Residence Hall, $8.
10:34 a.m. — Construction site
tampered with, Walter Scott Engi
neering Center.
3:19 p.m. — Man taken to detoxi
fication, 721 K St.
3:46 p.m. — Two-car non-injury
accident, parking lot west of Sclleck
Residence Hall, S500.
5:18 p.m. — Bicycle stolen. Col
lege of Business Administration,
S85
10:45 p.m. — Stolen vehicle re
covered, lot north of Military and
Naval Science Building.
Beginning midnight Saturday,
Feb. 2
12:17 a.m. — Motorcycle acci
dent, man scraped hand, Sandoz
Residence Hall parking lot.
2:08 a.m. — Man ticketed, reck
less driving, 17th and O streets.
12:14 p.m. — Car scraped with
key, 1548 Vine St., $50.
12:14 p.m. — Car scraped with
key, 1548 Vine St., S30.
1:06 pjn. — Bicycle stolen, Hen/.lik
Hall, $105.
3:31 p.m. — Non-injury auto acci
dent, Harper-Schramm-Smith
complex parking lot, $50.
4:47 p.m. — Stereo and amplifier
stolen, 19th and R streets, $770.
4:49 p.m. — Man arrested for in
decent exposure, Love Library.
6:37 p.m. — Two hoagies, a half
hoagie, two bowls of soup, pasta
and a garlic roll stolen from auto,
$21.
-NEWS BRIEFS_
UNL, UNMC professors get awards
Dr. James Armitage, a profes
sor of medicine at the University of
Nebraska Medical Center, and
Robert Audi, a professor of phi
losophy at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln, were named win
ners of the NU Award for Out
standing Research and Creative
Activity.
The award is the highest honor
the university gives to recognize
faculty members’ scholarship, re
search and artistic achievements.
The awards carry $3,500 stipends.
Biologists to give presentation
Wildlife biologists Stuart Pechek
and Marta McWhorter will address
the Nebraska Wesleyan University
Forum on Tuesday at 7 p.m, in
Lecture Hall B of the 01 in Hall of
Science, 50th Street and Saint Paul
Avenue.
The presentation, sponsored by
Environmental Action, a Wesleyan
student organization, is free and
open to the public.
The speakers will use a multi
media slide show to explore the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Physics seminar set tor I hursday
Professor Dennis Alexander will
give the third 1991 Department of
Physics and Astronomy spring
semester seminar on “Non-Linear
Interactions Willi Aerosol Drop
lets.”
The seminar will be presented
in UNL’s Brace Laboratory Audi
torium at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Chemistry conference at Hamilton Hall
John Connolly of the Solar
Energy Research Institute will
present a chemistry department
seminar on Friday at 3:30 p.m. Fri
day in Room 112 of Hamilton Hall.
Connolly’s topic is “Attempts
to Mimic Photosynthetic Energy
Transfer.”
:S-20
I Sessions
i$19.95
I __
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| Valid with this coupon only. Valid only at Hair Express-Gunny Complex.
Package expires 60 days from purchase date. Expires March 4, 1991. j
a. ) Comprehensive science, reasoning, reading and
writing review for the New MCA'I
b. ) Test-taking strategies to fit the new' format
c. ) Live classroom prep with the experts
d. ) Personal attention
e. ) Practice tests which review hundreds of questions
and explanations on self-paced audio tapes
f. ) Individual review 7 days a week
g. ) New home study materials
h. ) Or all of the above from someone who has helped
thousands get into medical school every year
Call Stanley H. Kaplan today to reserve a place in class.
Everyone else has.
Classes begin 3/3/91 to prepare for the 4/27/91 exam.
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or visit our Lincoln office at
216 N. 11th #102
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