The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Department of English hosted its 18th annual English Honoring Ceremony in May, recognizing the academic, creative and professional achievements of students, faculty and staff over the past academic year. The event brought together graduating seniors, master’s candidates, award recipients and their supporters to celebrate a thriving community of scholars and writers.
Department of English graduate program chair and associate professor Dr. Ramón Guerra delivered the 2024–25 keynote address, entitled “Puros meetings y tomando café” (“Pure meetings and drinking coffee”).
This year, the department honored 16 English majors graduating with Bachelor of Arts degrees, 10 graduating English minors and 13 English Master of Arts graduates.
Students in the English department also completed an impressive range of academic work during the year. Thirteen senior papers were written, five theses were defended, and seven students passed their comprehensive exams. 10 undergraduate TESOL certificates, seven Advanced Writing (ADWR) certificates, and two Literature and Culture certificates were awarded.
Student Accomplishments and Awards
Throughout the 2024–25 academic year, English students showcased their work at a range of national and regional conferences.
Two student groups presented at the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing. Anna Miller, Natalie Pearson, Kat Manning and Marcus Pennell presented “Supporting the People Who Support People: How Writing Centers Can Cultivate Healthy Workplace Environments.” Iona Newman, Jaz Cruz and Melanie Seitzer presented “Leveraging Writing Center Partnerships for Graduate Writing Support.”
Izzy Martin presented “Immoral Art: The Intersections of Gender and Pre-Raphaelite Artwork in The Picture of Dorian Gray” at the Undergraduate Communication Studies and English Conference, and “Maternal Monstrosities: The Intersections of Femininity, Motherhood, and Horror in Ovid’s Metamorphoses” at the No Limits! Conference.
Deanna Oudelha also presented at No Limits! with her piece, “When Silence Is My Voice: Interviewing Enstatued Women.” She later presented “Creative Nonfiction for Educators of English Language Learners” at Nonfiction Now.
Korryn Plantenberg presented “The Ecosystem of the Home: The Domestic Versus the Wild Spaces in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights” at both the Midwest Conference on British Studies and the Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature.
Amy Crawford presented “X-Men’s Rogue, Skin Hunger, and Loneliness in America” at the Comic Arts Conference during San Diego Comic-Con.
Christina Frazell presented “Adaptive and Maladaptive Applications of Religious Thought in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower” at the American Literature Association conference.
Students also celebrated success in publication. Deanna Oudelha’s “I Am Humming, a Living Thing Woven into Countless Lives Among Many” appeared in Washington Square Review; and Kassidy Hoffman’s poem “I Wore Your Pearl Earrings to My High School Graduation” was published in the spring 2025 edition of The Thirteenth Floor Magazine, where it received second place Editor's Choice.
Korina Roberts’ nonfiction piece “40 Years of Second Chances” appeared in Omaha Magazine. Aaron Scobie was recognized with Outstanding Graduate Performance at UNO’s Student Research and Creative Activity Fair for his work “Sun and Dust Through the Blinds.”
Outstanding students within the major were recognized by concentration. Kyley Bishop was named Outstanding Overall Major. Other honorees included Chance Dunn (American Literature), Kat Manning (British, Irish and Anglophone Literature), Moo Law Eh Soe (Creative Nonfiction), and Maren Evans (Language Studies).
Bishop also received the Helen Basler Anderson Award for Excellence in the Major. The Marion Basler Award for Outstanding Writing in the Major was presented to Brenna Dostal. The James C. Horejs Award for Distinction in the Major was presented to Joni Beauchamp, Bryce Coulton, Maren Evans, Azumi Kuchma, Isa Manhart, Kat Manning, Lucy Mason, Marcus Pennell and Moo Law Eh Soe.
Kassidy Hoffman earned the Susan Naramore Maher Award for Best Undergraduate Research Essay for “Polyamory and Power in Dracula and the Victorian Era,” as well as the John J. McKenna Award for Best Undergraduate Creative Nonfiction Essay for “La Migra on the POS.”
At the graduate level, Mike Catron received the Susan Naramore Maher Award for Best Graduate Research Essay for “At the End of the Anthropocene.” JoAnne Young won the John J. McKenna Award for Best Graduate Creative Nonfiction Essay for “Hauntings, Light and Dark.”
Jake Snyder and Marie Severin were awarded the Wardle, Spire, and Lane English Graduate Fellowship for outstanding work in the graduate program.
Several graduates were also recognized for accomplishments beyond UNO. Kyley Bishop was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship through the Austrian Ministry of Education. Korryn Plantenberg was accepted into the Ph.D. program at Texas Tech University and received the Distinguished Graduate Award.
Students selected as ambassadors for the 2025–2026 academic year were: Azumi Kuchma, Brenna Dostal, Bryce Coulton, Isa Manhart, Joni Beauchamp, Kat Manning, Kylie Bishop, Lucy Mason, Marcus Pennell, Maren Evans, Moo Law Eh Soe and Summer Dingman.
Faculty and Staff Recognitions
Faculty and staff achievements were also celebrated.
Dr. Jody Keisner was recognized for her promotion to full professor; Melanie Seitzer and Jen Lambert for being promoted to lecturer.
Sarah Mason was recognized as having been a nominee for Nebraska State Poet (2025–2029), Jill Sutton was named UNO Employee of the Year, Joe Luther received the Dual Enrollment English Teacher of the Year Award, and Dustin Pendley received the UNO Advisor of the Month award and the College of Arts and Sciences’ Janine Brooks Memorial Staff Award.
Dr. Owen Mordaunt was named professor emeritus of English.
You can look at photos from the event: Honoring Ceremony 2025 in pictures.
