Professor teaches with alternative methods
ByRebeckaHyde
Staff Reporter
For Ann Mari May, teaching and learning
alternative viewpoints in education is like view
ing a sculpture.
‘To understand it, you have to view it from a
variety of angles,” said May, a UNL associate
professor of economics. Tth worth considering
even though it’s different and sometimes it's
uncomfortable.”
May spends each class day challenging her
students to think critically about economics in
history and its relationship with gender.
And University of Nebraska-Lincoln stu
dents rise to her challenge; not one student has
called her course “easy” on an evaluation, but
her upper-division classes always are full.
One alumna said the classes make students
desire to leam more.
As a result, May received the University of
Nebraska Outstanding Teaching and
Instructional Creativity Award this year.
But the recognition and its $3,500 stipend
haven’t slowed her pace. May’s enthusiasm for
academia is still going strong, both inside and
outside the classroom.
“In this freeze-dried culture where every
thing is presented to students in the easiest way
possible,” May said, “it’s not an easy task to get
students to think critically.”
That’s where her instructional creativity
comes in. May takes risks, she said, and isn’t
afraid to try something different to make stu
dents think.
May doesn’t think this is the secret to filling
her classes, though. The subject matter is just
interesting.
Economics is a very theoretical field. But
May teaches economic history, Which combines
theory with reality and is more captivating, she
said.
When she isn't teaching, she attends univer
sity committee meetings, works on reports for
the committees or tries to finish a scholarly
abstract or another type of paper - even when
she’s on vacation.
“I look forward to vacation because I get a
chance to get more work done," May said.
As part of her contribution to campus diver
sity, May developed a new course, Women and
Work in the U.S. Economy, which examines
women’s economic roles since the nation’s
founding. Students in the class complete both
traditional class assignments and undergraduate
research projects that apply facts and statistics
on gender and economy to die real world.
For instance, students first learn about occu
pational segregation- the traditional division of
labor along gender lines - in the classroom.
Then students must go to a
M- mechanic’s garage or call a bank and
_ , f interview employees on whether
Its not an easy task to get occupational segregation plays a
j f . i If ,, role in their workplaces. Suddenly,
StUCl€1ttS to think critically. the harsh reality of occupational
segregation and people’s aversion to
Ann Mari May dealing with it appear,
associate professor of economics “Often (students) get hung up
_—on, or people refuse to talk to them,”
May said. “Amazing things happen
when they get out there.”
Most days mere is noming mat l would ratner
be doing (than working), although I think I’d
like more opportunities to do more on campus.”
A lot of work lingers on campus in two very
important areas: encouraging faculty members’
talents and building diversity, she said.
The university needs to provide more incen
tives for faculty members to do well, and post
tenure review doesn’t do that, she said.
“The faculty are the heart of the university,”
she said. “We need to be more employee
friendly and build that into our management
structure.
“The trend is away from that”
May also said the university must make seri
ous changes in how it deals with diversity.
i ms Kina oi mgenuity m teaching has creat
ed a lasting impact on students, including
Milissa Johnson-Wiles, a UNL alumna and
Lincoln attorney.
“One of the things that impressed me the
most was her ability to connect to the students
and make them interested,” Johnson-Wiles said.
“In most classes you go in and information is
regurgitated for you, but she would point out
things to relate the whole picture.”
Johnson-Wiles said she almost changed her
major after taking three of May’s classes.
In the end, the desire to become a lawyer
won out. But Johnson-Wiles still remembers
May’s excitement and love of her field.
“You graduate college and there are profes
John Houghton/DN
AM| MAM MAY, uttflitt prsfesser if we*
nearics at IIML, stands beneath a campas
scalptare. May recently received the
ufiHForsny or morasxa utnstanmng isacniivg
and tastracttonal Creativity Awards.
sors who you remember more than others,”
Johnson-Wiles said. “She was one of those pro
fessors who had an impact”
I
Credit card scandal
Two people tried to defraud a
department , store out of more than
$2,000 in. gift certificates with two..
xr^fadce credit cards. * ^ JsK f- ?
' 'A man and a woman fried to use
questionable Hughes Aircraft
Employees Federal Credit Union
I - Visa cards to purchase thousands of
Si dollars of Sears gift certificates
Tuesday afternoon, Lincoln Police
Sgt. Ann Heermann said.
The couple split up and went to
different departments of the store
trying to buy the gift certificates.
The cards would not read when
swiped through credit card scanners.
However, when the account numbers
were punched in by hand, the
accounts were recognized but not
approved.
The man tried to buy $1,000 in
gift certificates in the computer
department before trying the same
thing, unsuccessfully, in the paint
department.
When an employee.started to
question the man, he fled the store ,
and was seen getting into a Chevrolet ;
minivan outside. r ^
He is described as a dark-haired
white male in his late 20s, 5 feet 7
inches tall and 150 pounds.
The woman fared about as well
with her card.
After trying unsuccessfully to
buy the gift certificates in two
departments, she also was confront
ed.
When asked for identification the
woman flashed a driver’s license and
left the store.
She was later seen entering the
same minivan as the man.
She is as 5 feet 5 inches tall, in
her mid 20s and 110 pounds.
No loss was reported by the store,
and both credit cards were seized.
Wednesday’s Page One story.
Though Forsythe stepped down as
__ chairman of the political science
department, he is still a professor
A reference to political science at the university and on leave in
professor David Forsythe may Europe this semester.
haveL been misinterpreted in
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