Awards and Recognition
2020 Student Employee of the Year
UNO Human Resources has announced the nominees for 2020 Student Employee of the Year, including the Service Learning Academy student worker, Jackson Hardin.
Joining the team in 2018, Jackson is one of the SLA’s most senior student workers and has consistently demonstrated high integrity and thoughtfulness in his role ever since, making him incredibly deserving of this honor.
In his nomination, the SLA team said, “He has been a supportive, thoughtful, and committed team member full of character and integrity. Jackson identifies solutions to problems, coordinates efforts to support all staff members, and creates strategies that elevate the quality of SLA’s work. He demonstrates selflessness in assisting others.”
Read more about Jackson's nomination and others here.
James R. Schumacher Ethics Chair
The Service Learning Academy is seeking applications for two James R. Schumacher Chairs of Ethics. The Schumacher Chair of Ethics was established in 2008. Joseph Brown, Psychology department, was the inaugural recipient; Amy Rodie from the College of Business most recently held the role.
The James R. Schumacher Chair of Ethics is designed to recognize outstanding faculty member(s) committed to increasing knowledge, awareness, and application of the principles of ethics, tolerance, and understanding. The Schumacher Chair is awarded based on the following criteria:
• Recipients will have an established record of excellence with an instructional and scholarly focus on ethics generally and/or within their discipline (e.g. business, public administration, education, etc.)
• Recipients will have a commitment to increasing student understanding and application of ethical principles within a service learning context.
The Schumacher Chair is open to associate or full professors from all UNO colleges. The two recipients will each teach one Schumacher Seminar each year. The students enrolled in the Schumacher Seminar (maximum of 20) will be awarded scholarships (usually $500 each). This seminar and the scholarships are specifically designed to:
• Increase knowledge and application of ethical principles and systems;
• Increase awareness, appreciation, and knowledge of diverse cultures, people, and ideas and foster increased inclusion and equity;
• Engage students in their learning and community through service learning and experiential teaching and learning techniques to better understand course content.
The Schumacher Chairs will include an annual supplemental salary stipend (approximately $10,000) and an annual professional and program development stipend (approximately $10,000). The stipends are used by the Schumacher Chairs to support their professional teaching, scholarly, and engagement activities as well as promote campus programming related to the goals and criteria for the chair and seminars. Specific dollar amounts are dependent upon fund availability.
Applications will be reviewed by a committee constituted by Academic Affairs, led by the Director of the UNO Service Learning Academy. The Chair shall be for a 3-year term and renewable for a second term. Recipients may not hold another professorship or chair simultaneously.
Applications for the James R. Schumacher Chair should consist of the following:
1. Letter of nomination by the departmental chairperson or Director.
2. Seconding letter from a colleague in the nominee’s department or another department at UNO.
3. Letter of support from the dean.
4. Three letters from outside references knowledgeable about the applicant’s instructional and/or scholarly expertise.
5. Supplemental information prepared by the nominee as suggested below.
Outline of Suggested Supplemental Application Materials for the James R. Schumacher Chair of Ethics
• Letter of application from nominee addressing teaching/instructional philosophy and focus, contextual framework for research/creative activity focused on ethics, and commitment to increasing student understanding and application of ethical principles within a service-learning context.
• Curriculum Vitae
• Narrative Summary/Highlights of Instructional Activity relevant to the criteria for the James R. Schumacher Chair of Ethics such as:
° Curriculum Development, especially related to service learning
° Development of innovative instructional techniques and materials
° Achievements of present and former students
° Student evaluations of teaching
° Peer evaluations of teaching
° Funded instructional grants
° Other activities related to teaching (e.g. pedagogical presentation, publications, advising, mentoring, participation in teaching enrichment activities, etc.)
° Honors and distinctions pertaining to teaching
• Narrative Summary/Highlights of Research/Creative Activity relevant to the criteria for the James R. Schumacher Chair of Ethics such as:
° Books, monographs, or parts thereof published or accepted for publication
° Articles published or accepted for publication
° Papers presented
° Other creative activity (e.g. work of art, artistic performances, shows, etc.)
° Funded research grants
° Other activities related to research/creative activity (e.g., chairing professional panels, book reviews, etc.)
° Honors and distinctions related to research/creative activity
° Relevant community engagement/service learning-related research/creative activity
Applicants should submit materials as a single package PDF to Julie Dierberger, Paul Sather Distinguished Director, Service Learning Academy, to jdierberger@unomaha.edu. The deadline for nominations and all supporting material is March 1st, 2020. Please refer questions to jdierberger@unomaha.edu or via telephone at 402.554.6019.
Additional information about UNO awards can be found here https://www.unomaha.edu/academic-affairs/honors-and-awards/named-professorships-chairs.php.
2020-2023 Awardees
Call for Nominations
The Service Learning Academy will open the nomination process for our 2020 Outstanding Faculty and Student Service Learning Awards soon. Future applicants interested in applying should view our Call for Nominations page for requirements and deadlines. Please contact Kirsten Case if you have any questions.
Service Learning Awards
Each year, the Service Learning Academy recognizes one UNO faculty member who exemplifies excellence in the practice of service learning in his or her work, and an undergraduate and graduate student who has excelled in the understanding/integration of course objectives through the collaboration, planning, and implementation of a community service learning course project. Awards carry monetary honorariums and are presented at the end of the academic semester at the Faculty Honors Convocation and Student Honors Convocation, respectively.
Faculty Service Learning Award
The Faculty Service Learning Award recognizes a UNO faculty member with three years or more experience with service learning, who has been supportive of service learning and who has a thorough understanding and appreciation of community issues.
2020 Outstanding Faculty Recipient
Sachin S. Pawaskar, Ph.D, MBA, MS
Senior Research Associate. ISQA
Dr. Sachin Pawaskar of the University of Nebraska at Omaha College of Information Science and Technology describes his philosophy and experience in service learning.
Dr. Pawaskar has been deeply involved with service learning since he began teaching at UNO in 2016. Having worked with a diverse group of community-based organizations and government departments, his service learning projects provide students with community-identified IT issues and challenges that allow his student's real-world experiences to develop not only solutions but also a ready, tested, and experienced resource pool. His philosophy of teaching is to create, promote, and nurture critical thinkers.
Student Service Learning Award
The Service Learning Award recognizes students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate service learning courses who demonstrate a thorough understanding of reflective practice techniques in coursework, provides service for a community agency in an outstanding manner, establishes and maintains an excellent relationship with the community agency, and embraces the philosophy of service learning and community service. For any questions, please contact Kirsten Case at kcase2@unomaha.edu.
2020 Outstanding Student Recipient
Jabin Moore
Graduate Student
College of Business Administration - Entrepreneurship
Undergraduate Student
College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media - Bass Performance
Faculty Fellows
The UNO Service Learning Academy (SLA) Faculty Fellows program is a critical component in the University's efforts to accomplish its strategic plan and metropolitan mission. The program has been designed to empower service learning faculty to cultivate an interest in service learning in their fellow faculty members.
Full-time faculty members from all UNO colleges that have taught 3 semesters of service learning instruction are encouraged to apply. Priority will be given to applicants who have completed Service Learning 101, the Service Learning Seminar and/or other service learning training. For more information please contact the Service Learning Academy.
The application for our 2020 UNO Service Learning Academy Faculty Fellows will be available in Spring 2020.
2019 Faculty Fellows
Ramazan Kilinc, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Political Science
Director of the Islamic Studies Program
Ramazan Kilinc an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Islamic Studies Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He teaches courses on comparative politics and international relations of the Middle East. He received his Ph.D. (2008) from Arizona State University and M.A. (2001) and B.A. (1999) from Bilkent University, Turkey. He previously taught in James Madison College at Michigan State University. He is the author of Alien Citizens: State and Religious Minorities in Turkey and France (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and a co-author of Generating Generosity in Catholicism and Islam: Beliefs, Institutions and Public Goods Provision (Cambridge University Press, 2018). His most recent articles appeared in Comparative Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Politics and Religion, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and Turkish Studies.
Peter Szto, Ph.D.Professor
Grace Abbott School of Social Work
Dr. Szto is Professor of Social Work at the Grace Abbott School of Social Work, at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Before teaching, he worked for 12-years in various inpatient and community mental health settings in Michigan and Philadelphia. His current research and area of publication focus on documentary photography as a tool of social research, social welfare development in China, and international social work. His documentary/research projects include a visual study of China's mass internal migration from rural to urban areas and stigma and persons with a severe and persistent mental illness in rural Iowa. Since 1996, he has brought over 120 social work students on travel courses to China. He has earned degrees from Calvin College, Michigan State University, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Szto was born and raised in New York City to Chinese refugee/immigrant parents.
2018 Faculty Fellows
Rose Strasser, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program
Dr. Strasser is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology. She is also the Director of the Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program. Her primary areas of interests include how changes in the environment, including early hormonal environment, influence brain organization and behavior. She is interested in comparing differences both within and between species to further understand the role hormones play in a variety of social behaviors, as well as learning and cognition.
Dr. Strasser is interested in applied animal behavior research involving companion animal in a shelter environment or animals housed in a zoological park. This interests her both as a behavioral scientist seeking interesting comparative questions and also as an instructor who wishes to include community engagement in her teaching practices.
Dr. Strasser earned her B.A. in Psychobiology and Psychology with a minor in Environmental Studies from Hiram College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University in Psychology.
Sachin Pawaskar, Ph.D.
Senior Research Technology Fellow
Information Systems & Quantitative Analysis
Dr. Pawaskar is a Senior Research Technology Fellow in the Department of Information Systems & Quantitative Analysis. His primary areas of research and creative interest include sustainability, energy awareness, big data analytics, and cloud computing. His teaching interests include big data analytics, cloud computing, business intelligence, data structures, algorithms, and object-oriented programming.
Dr. Pawaskar earned his M.S. in Computer Science from University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) in 2001, an MBA from University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) in 2004, and a Ph.D. in Information Technology from University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) in 2013.