CAMPUS DIGEST

Music, Music & More Music

Dana College will team up with the National Anti-Defamation League and the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa, to present the first national Tribute to the Danes and Other Rescuers Essay Contest for high school students this spring. The contest, planned to be an annual event, is designed to encourage Omaha-area students in grades 9 through 12 to take the lessons of World War II and the Holocaust and apply them to their lives.

During her winter break from classes at Dana, sophomore Shannon Ford-Jefferson picked up some skills to help empower herself and those around her at the Impact 2002 Conference in Washington, D.C. The conference brought together 4,000 African-American students, teachers and ministers, including nine from Nebraska, to help students learn to be better leaders in their communities and the world.

Fifteen members of Dana’s Campus Crusade for Christ organization traveled to Crusade’s interdenominational collegiate conference in Denver, Colo., over winter break. Students attending the conference interacted with hundreds of other college students from Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.

Dana Registrar Michelle Kempke Eppler has been appointed chairwoman of the Diversity & Multiculturalism Committee for the Nebraska Association of Collegiate Registrars & Admission Officers (NACROA). The committee’s main purpose is to keep members of NACROA informed on topics such as affirmative action, especially during sessions at NACROA’s annual conference.

Three Dana College faculty members performed a special holiday recital for Dana’s annual Sights & Sounds of Christmas celebration. Professors Jeanmarie A. Nielsen and Michael Anderson and Dr. Claire Bushong combined for two performances in Trinity Chapel on Sunday, Dec. 8.

Dana College Theater presented “A Long Way from Home,” an original play by Dr. Paul Schneider, professor of English and director of theater, during Sights & Sounds of Christmas. The play centered around a family’s struggle to cope with a member’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The cast included juniors Mara Bartlett, Emily Neve and Jeremy Stoll; freshman Maureen Annett and sophomore Eric Grant-Leanna.

Dana College received first place in the 2002 Blair Downtown Holiday Window Decorating Contest, Hometown for the Holidays. The decorated window was located at Nannen’s Physical Therapy on Washington Street. The contest was sponsored by the Blair Area Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. John Lyden attended the American Academy of Religion annual meeting in Toronto, Canada, Nov. 23-26. He presided over a discussion dealing with the religious implications of the Harry Potter books and films.

Dr. Therese Michels, Dr. Richard Palmer, and Dr. Mark Sand have been recognized for educational excellence in the latest edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers 2002. These teachers have been chosen by their community as influential educators.

Patti Nielsen, R.N., had a short piece published in October’s Nursing 2002. It concerned instructing caregivers on proper injection techniques and creating a peaceful environment for the same.

Professor Michael Anderson is a featured columnist for the International Trumpet Guild Journal beginning with the October 2002 issue. His column, “Web Site Reviews” appears in the quarterly journal and highlights leading technological and pedagogical resources available for trumpet players online. Anderson was also selected to the ITG Journal Editorial Committee and has been instrumental in helping the Journal become a peer-reviewed publication for the first time in its 27-year history.

Erik Nielsen, a sociology and psychology major at Dana, recently was awarded first place in the Student Paper Competition at the 35th Annual Conference of the Nebraska Undergraduate Sociological Symposium.

Lori Nielsen, Learning Center Director, attended the 35th Annual Conference of the College Reading & Learning Association in Minneapolis, Minn., in November.