Professor honored for research
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
A college night class in communi
cations opened David Beukelman’s
eyes toward a career of helping others.
“1 was a sophomore in college and
didn’t know what I wanted to do,”
Beukelman said. “I was looking for
some extra classes, so I took a night
class in communications disorders.”
That one class, along with an inter
est in medicine, led him to want to help
people who had speech disorders, such
as those caused by multiple sclerosis,
cerebral palsy and Lou Gehrig’s dis
ease.
Beukelman is now in his 11th year
at the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln,
and he spends most of his time re
searching the outcomes of different
techniques to help people with speech
disorders.
For his research, Beukelman re
ceived the University of Nebraska
Award for Outstanding Research and
Creative Activity, one of the highest
awards given to a faculty member for
scholarship, research and artistic
achievements.
He said he was glad he received the
award, but just doing research and
helpingothers offered enough reward.
“My own personal mission has been
to assist people with the most severe
communication disorders,” Beukelman
said. “I want to help them communi
cate more effectively so they can live
independently.”
He does most ofliis research through
the University of Nebraska Medical
Center and the Madonna Rehabilita
tion Center in Lincoln. Much of his
research has focused on how people
use devices to communicate better, he
said.
“I focus on what makes them suc
cessful and what could be done di (Ter
entiy,” Beukelman said.
For example, he said, at UNMC, he
is making updates on 40 patients with
cancer on the roofs of their mouths.
These patients had to have a special
prosthesis built for their mouths,
Beukelman said, and he has been fol
lowing their progress for the past year.
I
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
David Beukelman, professor of special education and
communication disorders, won the University of Nebraska
Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity for his
work in researching speech disorders
lor the past year.
“Year after year, we find what is
successful and what isn’t,” he said.
“We continue to look at the people for
a couple of years as their bodies get
over the surgery.”
Beukelman also studies how people
of different ages communicate in dif
ferent situations.
For example, he said, he tapes chil
dren and adults and listens to the way
they talk. He then uses the information
for machines to assi st people who can’t
talk.
“We record what they say for a
week so we know what type of vocabu
lary is used and what is talked about,”
Beukelman said.
When he’snot conducting research
at UNL or UNMC, Beukelman can be
found teaching graduate seminars and
classes in augmentative communica
tion and motor speech disorders.
He also has written or co-written
more than 100 books about speech
disorders, he said, most of which have
been textbooks.
For the past three years, Bcukclman
has been the editor of the International
Journal for Augmentative and Alter
native Communications.
When he’s away from the class
room, Bcukclman said, he enjoys
spending time with his family and play
ing tennis and basketball.
As for his award, Bcukclman said,
it’s just part of his job.
“I came here to do research and to
write,” he said. “The award just hap
pened as part of my mission to help
others.”
Police errors made
conviction difficult
OMAHA (AP) — Prosecutors
who won a first-degree murder con
viction in the case of a slain Omaha
police officer said police errors in
the investigation made a conviction
uncertain.
The Omaha Police Department
originally charged one man, Quincy
Hughes, 21, with shooting Officer
Jimmy Wilson Jr., on Aug. 20. Four
months later, the state dropped the
charges against Hughes and charged
Kevin Allen, 18, with the murder.
Allen wasconvicted Friday of first
degree murder.
Douglas County Attorney Jim
Jansen said the prosecutors had a
tough job of gaining a conviction.
“It became, in some respects, a
defense attorney’s dream,” Jansen
said. “We had serious concerns
about whether we were able to ob
tain a conviction against anybody.”
Jansen said he had no doubt that
the right man was paying the price
for Wilson’s death; itjust took some
time to piece it all together.
Police officers and prosecutors
initially put a lot of faith in what
eyewitnesses thought they saw: a
man who looked like Hughes pull
ing the trigger.
Authorities had thought two of
the witnesses were 10 feet from the
gunman. It took them three months
to determine that all four teen-agers
were at least 80 feet away. And then
authorities discovered that the eye
witnesses were so nearsighted that
they couldn’t read the blackboard
at school.
Police officials acknowledge
that they made mistakes. A routine
post-verdict review will explore
whether changes in police tactics
need to be made, said Deputy Chief
Charles Circo, who oversaw much
of the investigation.
Chief Jim Skinner said the re
view was not a fault-finding mis
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L Brown Bag Diversity Series /
r CITY CAMPUS EAST CAMPUS j
(Monday, April 1, 1996
11:00 am-12:30 pm
"Affirmative Action: Has Its
Time Ran Oat?"
Presenter: Rev. Andrew Rollins
Quinn Chapel A. M.E. Church
Tuesday, April 2, 1996
11:30 am-1:00 pm
"Coalition Building and the
Value of Diversity"
Presenter: Madeline Popa
International Students Organization
Wednesday, April 3, 1996
11:30-1:00 pm
"Multkulturism: Fact or
Fiction?"
Presenter: Dr. Kunle Ojikutu
Assistant Vice Chancellor for
Student Affairs
Thursday, April 4, 1996
11:30 am-1:00 pm
"Diversity: Toward a Better
Understanding"
This session involves cultural
exercises and group interaction.
Presenter: John L. Harris
Special Assistant to the Vice
Clumcellor for Student Affairs
Friday, April 3, 1996
11:30 am-1:00 pm
"Homophobia, Heterosexism,
Racism: Common Enemies?"
Presenter: Dr. Vem Williams
Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual Student
Services
Monday, April 8, 1996
11:30 am-1:00 pm
"Homophobia, Heterosexl
Racism: Common Enemi
Presenter: Dr. Vem Williai
Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual
Student Services
Tuesday, April 9,1996
11:30 am-1:00 pm
"Diversity: Toward a
Better Understanding"
This session involves cultural
exercises and group mteractio
Presenter: John L. Harris
Special Assistant to the Vic
Chancellor for Student Affi
Wednesday, April 10, 1996
1130 am-1:00 pm
"IMniticnltnralism: Fact
Fiction?"
Presenter Dr. Kunle Ojikt
Assistant Vice Chancellor J
Student Affairs
All brown bag sessions a
open to everyone and wi
be held in die Nebraska
Union. Feel free to brinj
your lunch, beverages wi
be provided.
Any questions,
call John L. Harris
at 472-3755
*
^ Sponsored by m J
the Racial Pluralism Action Team and the
Office of the 'Vice Chancellor for Student AfTaiVs^^0H|yf0r
“It became, in some
respects, a defense
attorney’s dream. We
had serious concerns
about whether we were
able to obtain a
conviction against
anybody. ”
JIM JANSEN
Douglas County attorney
sion. He said he believed his offic
ers did what they could to find the
person responsible for Wilson’s
death, and their search ended suc
cessfully with Allen’s conviction.
“What we’re looking for here is
the truth,” Skinner said. “The po
lice department never pressured
someone to identify a suspect that
we knew to be innocent.”
Wilson was gunned down in his
police car at 40th and Blondo streets
after he pulled over a brown
Chevrolet van with license plates
registered to a blue Mazda. A jury
decided that Allen stepped out of
the van with a high-powered rifle
and fired 11 shots.
Jansen said that the problems
started within 24 hours of the crime
as police officers began to question
members of the South Family
Bloods gang — a group linked to
South Side Terrace Homes.
Two witnesses, Otis Simmons
and Ronncy Perry, then 14, initially
named Allen as the shooter but
changed their stories after several
hours of high-pressure questioning.
They then named Hughes as the
shooter and said Allen also stepped
out of the van with a gun.
