Dictionary
recognizes
‘Comhusker’
By Heather Heinisch
Staff Reporter
Last year, a cornhusker was just
one who husks com or a social gath
ering for husking com.
Now a cornhusker officially will
be recognized as a resident of Ne
braska or the Nebraska athletic teams,
according to the 1991 edition of the
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Diction
ary.
Leslie Manganaro, a publicist for
Merriam-Webster in Springfield,
Mass., said words are added to the
dictionary as they come into broad
usage.
Although editors tracked the first
usage of comhusker to 1948, she said,
it was not a widely known word out
side the region.
Nebraskans, however, were well
aware of (he term coined at the begin
ning of the century by Charles “Cy”
Sherman, a sports editor at The Ne
braska State Journal, in reference to
the University of Nebraska’s athletic
teams.
*-'uii -- .«». r>»ui iiiuw lumi nuiu a [uiit.j wmammu
corn*flow|er (-flouar) n. an annual plant (Centaurea cyanus) of
the composite family, with tiny, raylike, white, pink or blue
flowers forming a round head at the top of
the stem.
corndiusker (kom hus kar) n. 1 one who
husks com 2 a social gathering for husking
com. 3 a resident of Nebraska or the
Nebraska athletic teams
cor-nice (kor nis) n. [Fr<It<L coronis,
curved line, flourish in writing <GrIcoronis,
curved object: see CROWN] 1 ahorizontal
molding projecting along the top of a wall,
building, etc. 2 the top part of an entabla- CORNHUSKER
■Jturift ^ nrniartinn l tr'ir\ nk/\nA n .
Manganaro said a staff of lexicog
raphers scan published works such as
newspapers, magazines and adver
tisements for new words.
Once the staff finds a word and
tracks its meaning and usage, an edi
tor decides whether to include it in
the dictionary.
“It’s not a scientific process that
I’m aware of,” said Robert Haller, a
UNL English professor who is inter
ested in lexicography. “I think it’s a
decision made by the seat of the pants.”
William Long, a UNL associate
professor of English who also is inter
estcd in lexicography, said a diction
ary is open-ended and cannot include
every word because new words al
ways are being coined and dropped
from usage.
Haller said it is wrong for people
to think that dictionaries are a final
authority of the language, “as if God
handed down the meanings.”
Long agreed, saying there is often
an exaggerated view of the authority
of dictionaries. People who try to
prove a word doesn’t exist because
it’s not in the dictionary misconceive
dictionaries authority, he said.
Improving research standing
may hurt teaching, official says
By Michael Hannon
Staff Reporter
The emphasis on research at the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln is
threatening teaching, UNL officials
and instructors said at a program in
Scllcck Residence Hall Thursday.
Stan Liberty, interim vice chan
cellor for academic affairs, said UNL
has been attempting to improve its
standing as a research institution at
the risk of de-emphasizing leaching.
Sheldon Stick, a member of a Study
Group on Classroom Research, said
faculty members tend to be judged
more on research, but teaching should
be recognized as a large part of schol
arship. Stick is a UNL professor of
special education and communica
tion disorders.
Liberty said UNL should reward
good teaching in the same way it
rewards research, but added that ways
to measure teaching performance need
to be devised.
English Professor Robert Narveson,
co-director of the Fund for Improve
ment of Postsecondary Education
Project on Rewarding Education, said
the project is looking into other meth
ods of evaluating teaching because
studentevaluations, though effective,
arc not enough.
Narveson said the project is con
sidering peer evaluation, self-evalu
ation and evaluations by supervisors.
Speakers at the program, titled “The
Scholarship of Teaching,” also in
structed professors on how to become
more effective teachers.
Joy Ritchie, an assistant professor
of English, said instructors can bene
fit from classroom research that re
veals the values students hold and
how students’ lives outside the class
room affect their learning.
Robert Sorensen, a professor of
agronomy, said teaching can be im
proved by evaluating tests used to
measure students’ performance and
by using learning-style inventories to
determine what teaching methods are
best for particular students.
Robert Fuller, a professor of phys
ics and astronomy, said the most ef
fective way to evaluate teaching is to
ensure that students have learned
something by demanding feedback
from them.
Work at the _ r ,
NebraskaN
Positions are available for:
Features Reporters News Reporters
Columnists
Apply at the Daily Nebraskan office, Room 34,
Nebraska Union. Deadline for application is April
26. Interviews will be April 29 to May 1.
Applicants must be UNL students the spring,
summer or fall terms.
UNL docs not discriminate in its academic, admissions or employment pro
grams and abides by all Federal regulations pertaining to the same.
UPC”Chicano Special Events, j
Voices & UNL's Mexican
l American Student Assoc, on
a successful Chicano
Awareness Week & academic
year!
The Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs
Hispanic Student Counselor_|
POLICE REPORT
Beginning midnight Wednes
day, April 24
12:28 p.m. — Vehicle dam
aged by flying gravel, 17th and
Court streets, S400.
12:36 p.m. — Hood ornament
stolen, Harpcr-Schramm-Smith
complex parking lot, $25.
5:16 p.m. — Bicycle stolen,
Hcnzlik Hall, $750.
9:32 p.m. — Basketball back
board vandalized, East Campus
Recreation Field, $30.
*Any graduate will receive
1/2 price off lunch or dinner.
* Accepting reservations for
graduation parlies.
♦Full menu at affordable prices.
*the Jimmy Mack Show, live
music from the 50's & 60 s.
*Dancing under the stars in our
beer garden
Lunch 11-2 488-4299
Dinner 5-10 200 No 70th
” «§
NOTES
#For final exams...
Buy single lectures
or full subscriptions
Located in
Nebraska Bookstore
#13th & Q
Jon's Notes hours
9:00-5:00 M-F
Call 476-8006
—9
Nelson announces project
to research coal byproduct
By Dionne Searcey
Staff Reporter
Gov. Ben Nelson said Thursday
that an “extremely important” joint
research effort will help UNI. research
ers uncover more uses for a bypro
duct of coal, an effort that could help
the environment.
Nelson spoke at a press confer
ence in the Walter Scott Engineering
Center at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln to announce the $165,000
research project, which w ill focus on
finding more uses for fly ash, waste
material leftover when coal is burned
to create electric energy.
"We worry about how we’re going
to find ways to dispose of waste prod
ucts. We can be heartened by an ef
fort ... whose results will be benefi
cial for Nebraskans,” Nelson said.
The cooperative research effort is
sponsored by the Onaha Public Power
District, the Nebraska Public Power
District, the Nebraska Department of
Roads and the Charles Vrana & Son
Construction Co.
Ron Watkins, president of the
Nebraska Public Power District, said
about 200,000 tons of fly ash each
year are buried near power compa
nies in Nebraska. The material pol
lutes groundwater, he said.
Disposing of fly ash costs power
companies S3 pei ton, Watkins said.
But the power plants plan to sell
the fly ash to concrete companies that
currently use the material, he said.
Dalycc Ronnau, engineer of re
search and tests materials at the
Nebraska Department of Roads, said
fly ash can be used by organizations
such as the Department of Roads in
concrete and asphalt mixes.
Using fly ash as a filler in mixes
saves the department SI per cubic
yard, Ronnau said, but the depart
ment only can use a “relatively low”
amount of the material.
Maher Tadros, UNL interim di
rector of the Center for Infrastructure
Research, said the research effort will
focus on “higher volume utilization”
of fly ash.
Researchers will explore using fly
ash to insulate ground pipes, he said.
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