UNO Department of Management Wins Universitywide Teaching Award

University of Nebraska System President Ted Carter announced Wednesday that the Department of Management at the University of Nebraska at Omaha is the recipient of the 2021 Universitywide Departmental Teaching Award (UDTA).

The UDTA, one of the President’s Excellence Awards, is the NU system’s most prestigious honor for departmental excellence in teaching. Since 1993, the UDTA has recognized departments or units within the university that have made unique and significant contributions to NU’s teaching efforts and demonstrated outstanding commitment to the education of students at the undergraduate, graduate or professional levels.

Honored departments are selected by a committee of faculty members from across the university system. The Department of Management will be honored at an event hosted by Carter this spring.

“At the University of Nebraska, everything we do is about our students. The faculty and staff of the UNO Department of Management bring that commitment to life every day,” Carter said. “The department is a model of excellence and collaboration in preparing the future leaders of Nebraska. These colleagues bring great benefit to our university, our communities and the entire state, and I am honored to recognize their extraordinary achievements.”

Chaired by Associate Professor John Erickson and housed in the College of Business Administration under the leadership of Dean Michelle Trawick, Ph.D., the Department of Management teaches undergraduate, graduate and executive education courses in organization management, human resources management and supply chain management.

As of the fall semester, more than 500 undergraduate students were pursuing a concentration in one of those areas. The department’s faculty also play a key role in teaching core courses required for all UNO business students.

“I am truly humbled and appreciative for our department to be recognized as this year’s departmental teaching award winner," Erickson said. "It is one of the true pleasures in my career to work alongside such committed, passionate colleagues who are not just educating our students, but engaging them in experiences, research, and opportunities that are second to none.”

The department’s achievements include:

• Faculty and instructors in the department contribute to the “Capstone Cup,” a semester-long competition for UNO business students that places them in the role of a consulting firm and asks them to develop recommendations for complex business problems.

• Faculty collaborate within and beyond their department to expand opportunities for students and meet workforce needs. For example, recognizing the high demand for students with supply chain management expertise, the department has worked with UNO’s Division of Continuing Studies and College of Public Affairs and Community Service to develop logistics concentrations.

• Management faculty are widely published and are successful in receiving grant funding. For example, faculty have earned grants to support the USSTRATCOM Strategic Leadership Fellows Program, which trains civilian leaders at USSTRATCOM.

• Faculty are highly engaged in the College of Business Administration’s outreach efforts, contributing to non-credit courses and leadership development training for companies like Union Pacific and HDR. Faculty also provide non-credit education to clients of the UNO-based Nebraska Business Development Center, which provides services to businesses and entrepreneurs across the state.

• Management faculty member Gina Ligon, Ph.D., leads the National Counterterrorism, Innovation, Technology and Education (NCITE) Center, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security center headquartered at UNO that was established in 2020 with a $36 million, 10-year federal grant. The center works to understand, prevent and counteract terrorist violence.
  
  

"We are so grateful for the faculty and staff in our Department of Management as they are always finding innovative ways to create high quality, applied learning experiences for our undergraduate and graduate students," Trawick said. "The award winning Capstone Cup, which has teams of graduating business students compete on real world consulting projects for local firms, is just one example of making business education come to life. Our Department of Management provides a model for building the business leaders of the future."