Nebraska
Six faculty earn professorships
![Six faculty earn professorships Six faculty earn professorships](https://news.unl.edu/sites/default/files/181008_Professorship%20Medal_041.jpeg)
Six College of Nebraska-Lincoln professors have been awarded professorships from the Workplace of the Government Vice Chancellor.
“These distinguished members of our college display the easiest of the college’s missions of instructing, analysis, and repair,” stated Katherine Ankerson, government vice chancellor. “We’re grateful to them for sharing their vibrant work and experience with us at Nebraska.”
Of the six awarded, one college member acquired a College Professorship, which acknowledges those that have proven a unprecedented stage of scholarly or inventive achievement and clear potential for persevering with accomplishments.
- Alexei Gruverman will likely be Charles J. Mach professor of physics and astronomy. Gruverman at the moment holds a Charles Bessey professorship and conducts analysis associated to ferroelectric supplies, that are crucial components of recent electronics. He pioneered using piezoresponse pressure microscopy for nondestructive imaging of ferroelectric domains and his methodology is now actively utilized in ferroelectric analysis worldwide. His analysis into functions of PFM has resulted in over 240 publications, many in journals of worldwide stature. The influence of Gruverman’s analysis spans greater than 15,000 citations of his work and quite a few invites to seminars. He has acquired many awards and honors, most notable being the Humboldt Analysis Award and being named an Worldwide Fellow of the Japan Society of Utilized Physics. Gruverman has gained, led, and took part in about 20 analysis tasks as PI or co-PI with complete funding of greater than $34 million ($3 million as principal investigator) over his profession. He performed a serious function within the success of the Nationwide Science Basis-funded Supplies Analysis Science and Engineering Middle, in addition to a number of different giant multi-investigator grants.
Two college members have been named Willa Cather/Charles Bessey professors. The professorship was established in 2001 to acknowledge college members with the rank of professor who’ve established distinctive information of distinguished scholarship or inventive exercise.
- Ronald Faller will likely be Willa Cather analysis professor within the Midwest Roadside Security Facility. Faller can be the director of the ability and conducts analysis on quite a lot of security measures, together with roadside obstacles, to make sure occupant security when autos are concerned in crashes. He has led the event of many units which have develop into U.S. requirements, saving quite a few lives and stopping numerous accidents. Faller and his crew obtain exterior analysis funding averaging greater than $5 million per 12 months. Their findings are revealed in prestigious journals and so they have acquired Greatest Paper awards 13 occasions. Most just lately, MwRSF acquired the Breakthrough Innovation of the Yr award from NUtech Ventures for its Delta Crash Cushion. Faller additionally helped to develop the primary nationwide “Transportation Pooled Fund” program, wherein state Departments of Transportation collectively mixed analysis funding collectively to handle difficult issues in security. Faller holds 14 patents, chaired the primary Worldwide Roadside Security Convention throughout the Transportation Analysis Board, and has acquired the distinguished Kenneth A. Stonex Roadside Security Award.
- Leen-Kiat Soh will likely be Charles Bessey professor within the Faculty of Computing. Soh conducts analysis on multiagent programs, clever information analytics, and laptop science training with a give attention to bettering instructing and studying, supporting on-line collaboration, and facilitating adaptive choice making. He additionally fashions good grids, human studying, and social unrest to discover emergent behaviors by means of computational simulations. Soh has revealed greater than 200 peer-reviewed technical papers. Whereas on the college, Soh has secured over $20 million in exterior funding as principal or co-principal investigator. Soh’s work in CS training has contributed to elementary analysis, courseware growth, skilled coaching, training, instruction and outreach within the self-discipline. Key findings embrace figuring out learner profiles and efficiency in post-secondary CS programs and establishing computational creativity as an efficient intervention to enhance pupil studying in CS programs for majors and non-majors. Extra outcomes embrace the event of recent programs for academics instructing CS and coaching of STEM academics to enhance their programming abilities, instantly impacting greater than 100 Ok-12 academics throughout Nebraska
Two college members have been named Susan J. Rosowski affiliate professors. The professorship acknowledges college on the affiliate professor stage who’ve achieved distinguished information of scholarship or inventive exercise and who present distinctive promise for future excellence.
- Rebecca Brock will likely be Susan J. Rosowski affiliate professor of psychology. Brock conducts analysis on the function of couple and household relationships in despair, nervousness, and associated facets of well being, with a specific curiosity in understanding these processes in underrepresented and at-risk populations. She has produced 84 peer-reviewed publications and 11 e-book chapters, and her crew science manuscript utilizing machine studying to foretell relationship high quality was revealed within the Proceedings of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences. She can be affiliate editor for the journal Household Course of. Brock has been designated a Rising Star by the Affiliation for Psychological Science and was invited to take part in an necessary analysis consortium centered on postpartum despair. She serves on quite a lot of graduate supervisory committees and has acquired the College of Nebraska-Lincoln Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Training.
- Rebecca Roston will likely be Susan J. Rosowski affiliate professor of biochemistry. Roston, a member of college Middle for Plant Science Innovation, conducts analysis on how membrane dynamics can contribute to plant well being through the use of a mix of genetics, molecular biology, protein biochemistry and biophysical approaches to review how plant species reply to temperature stress. She and her collaborative groups publish highly-referenced papers in high-profile journals such because the Proceedings of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences. Additionally they efficiently compete for funding from federal businesses together with the Nationwide Science Basis and Division of Vitality. Roston has acquired the Arthur C. Neish Younger Investigator Award from the Phytochemical Society of North America and a NSF CAREER Award. She has been named chair of the 2023 Gordon Convention on Plant Lipids.
One college member was named Aaron Douglas/John E. Weaver professor. The professorship was established in 2008 to acknowledge college members with the rank of full professor who display sustained and extraordinary ranges of instructing excellence and nationwide visibility for educational actions and observe.
- Eve Brank will likely be Aaron Douglas professor of psychology. Brank can be the director of the Middle on Youngsters, Households and the Regulation. She teaches and mentors on the intersection of psychology and the legislation utilizing an method described as student-centered, inclusive and efficient. Brank designs her programs in order that college students go away with sensible abilities or helpful merchandise resembling funding proposals or manuscripts. Brank additionally works with college as co-director of the College-led Inquiry into Reflective and Scholarly Educating (previously Peer Evaluation of Educating Venture). Brank has acquired departmental and nationwide awards for instructing and mentorship. Undergraduate and graduate college students are co-authors along with her on roughly 80% of her publications and her just lately revealed e-book, Psychology of Household Regulation, acquired a serious award from the American Psychology-Regulation Society. A primary-generation faculty graduate, Brank is dedicated to mentoring underrepresented graduate college students and college students from less-privileged backgrounds.
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Nebraska
Nebraska Football’s Dylan Raiola Era Begins with Methodical Touchdown Drive against UTEP
![Nebraska Football’s Dylan Raiola Era Begins with Methodical Touchdown Drive against UTEP Nebraska Football’s Dylan Raiola Era Begins with Methodical Touchdown Drive against UTEP](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4664,h_2623,x_0,y_81/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/all_huskers/01j6mzt5xdc3vb31fe00.jpg)
The Dylan Riola era of Nebraska football is officially here.
The true freshman led the Huskers on an opening drive touchdown to take an early lead against UTEP. The drive took nearly six minutes off of the clock.
Starting at the NU 28, the Huskers opened with a Rahmir Johnson run before the first completion of the game came by way of a short to Thomas Fidone. That set up the first of three third downs that Nebraska would convert on the drive.
The Huskers also had to battle penalties, including a false start and an offensive pass interference on consecutive snaps that turned into a second and 30, which was promptly converted in two plays on a pair of passes from Raiola.
Inside the UTEP 10, Raiola handed the ball off to Oregon transfer running back Dante Dowdell, who scored his first touchdown as a Husker.
Raiola was 5-of-7 passing for 54 yards to open the season, and his Husker career.
MORE: HuskerMax Predictions: Nebraska Football vs. UTEP
MORE: Watch: Husker Football Releases Hype Video Ahead of Season Opener
MORE: Stryker Pregame Perspective: One if by Land, Two if by Air
MORE: Availability Report: Nebraska Football vs. UTEP
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, following HuskerMax on X, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
Nebraska
Nebraska Supreme Court weighs felon voting law: How it could affect 2024 election
![Nebraska Supreme Court weighs felon voting law: How it could affect 2024 election Nebraska Supreme Court weighs felon voting law: How it could affect 2024 election](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/08/27/USAT/74973650007-usatsi-24062003.jpg?auto=webp&crop=5034,2832,x0,y0&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Minnesota Supreme Court upholds felons’ voting rights law
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously to uphold a law that restores the voting rights of convicted felons after they are out of prison.
Fox – Fox 9
Elections and politics suddenly became more real to Aaron Pettes this summer when he learned that for the first time in his life he was eligible to vote.
The 44-year-old former felon in Omaha is one of an estimated 7,000 Nebraskans who would become immediately eligible to vote just in time for the 2024 presidential election under a law passed by the legislature this spring.
Pettes, who was sentenced to 17 years for bank robbery but got out two years early for good behavior, began researching the candidates, excited to study their policy positions and accomplishments before making a choice.
Then two days before the law took effect in July, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, a Republican, issued an opinion declaring unconstitutional under the state constitution not only the new law, but also the 2005 law it was based on. That earlier law had already restored the right to vote to more than 90,000 felons over the past 19 years. Secretary of State Bob Evnen, a Republican, soon followed with an order instructing county election officials to reject the registration of any voter with a felony in their past.
“It felt almost like I was back in prison,” Pettes told USA TODAY. “When you’re in prison, the institution can do things just arbitrarily without any explanation at all. They do whatever they want, whenever they want, and there’s nothing that you can do about it, and so the decision to take my right to vote was almost traumatic. For one person to arbitrarily come in and snatch the legitimacy of my freedom without any type of hearing or discussion or challenge was just shocking to me.”
Now the Nebraska Supreme Court is weighing whether the state attorney general acted properly when he unilaterally declared that the two state laws were unconstitutional less than four months before Election Day. Advocates who have pushed to restore the vote for felons say they are worried that even if they win this disproportionately Black group of voters will not turn out this year out of fear of casting an illegal ballot.
The decision, which could come in the next month, could have major implications in the 2024 presidential election. Nebraska is one of just two states that divvies up its Electoral College votes. The statewide winner gets two Electoral College votes, and the rest are divided based on who wins each congressional district and some of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ potential paths to victory include winning Omaha and its suburbs in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which President Biden won in 2020. Democrats are also hoping to flip the Republican-held congressional seat in order to regain control of the narrowly divided House of Representatives.
A two-decade fight
In 2005, Nebraska enacted a law stipulating that people would become eligible to vote again two years after they completed their full criminal sentence — including parole, probation, and paying any fines, fees or restitution. The legislature overrode the governor’s veto.
An estimated 59,000 Nebraskans with felony convictions were immediately granted the right to vote under the 2005 law and another 38,000 have met the conditions to be eligible to vote again in the 19 years since, according to Civic Nebraska, one of the advocacy groups that lobbied for the measure and one of the plaintiffs in the ongoing suit.
In 2017, the legislature voted to remove the two year waiting period, but then-Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, vetoed it.
A coalition of advocacy groups kept bringing the bill back to the legislature and the bill became increasingly popular. It passed Nebraska’s one-house, Republican-led legislature as L.B. 20 in April by a bipartisan 38-6 vote. Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, let it become law without his signature.
Two days before it was set to become law, Hilgers issued a nonbinding opinion declaring that L.B. 20 violates the Nebraska Constitution. The opinion also declared the 2005 law unconstitutional and stated that no one convicted of a felony offense — no matter how old the conviction — can lawfully vote in Nebraska without a pardon from the Board of Pardons.
The secretary of state then ordered local election officials to reject voter registrations of Nebraskans with a prior felony conviction except those voters who had received a pardon from the Board of Pardons.
It isn’t clear how many of the 97,000 eligible felons are among the 1.2 million people the Secretary of State’s office says were registered to vote in Nebraska as of Aug. 1 and are ineligible to vote under the secretary’s order.
Whether thousands of felons currently registered would ultimately be stripped from voter rolls or would be expected to withdraw the registration themselves is unclear. Federal law prohibits removing people from voter rolls within 90 days of a federal election.
It is also unclear how aggressively the state would punish felons who — possibly unaware of the legal change — vote in 2024 amid the uncertainty.
Evnen initially told county election officials that he would bring before the Board of Pardons a motion to pardon people with felony convictions who had registered to vote under the 2005 law, but he has since reversed course, saying the Board should follow the court’s decision.
Civic Nebraska estimates that 7,000 felons, including Pettes, would have been immediately eligible to register if the law took effect. The group had to scuttle a mass turn-out-the-vote drive and instead begin warning felons not to vote until they could sue.
More: ACLU brings lawsuit after pause on restoration of voting rights to Nebraska felons
If the justices side with the attorney general and secretary of state and deem the laws unconstitutional, state law will revert back to a 1875 Nebraska policy that imposed blanket, lifetime disenfranchisement for all felons unless specifically pardoned by the state Board of Pardons.
“The Attorney General’s opinion was basically saying that the law since 2005 was unconstitutional, which then prompts the question of, why now? Why on the eve of a presidential election and after two decades of returning citizens relying on the law passed by the legislature to register to vote and to vote and to participate in our democracy, why so shortly before an election is there now this dramatic upheaval in the law?” ACLU attorney Jonathan Topaz told USA TODAY after the hearing.
The secretary of state and attorney general’s office declined to comment on the case while awaiting the court’s decision. However, Evnen and Hilgers explained their reasoning in an op-ed in the Lincoln Journal Star Monday, arguing the Nebraska Constitution gives the power to restore voting rights to the executive branch, not the legislature, and that the legislature cannot change the constitution. The piece does not address why the attorney general is raising concerns now rather than while the legislation was deliberating.
In the op-ed, they stressed that restoring the right to vote must be a case-by-case decision.
“By virtue of their convictions, felons have displayed a lack of respect for the law. It is not unreasonable to conclude that those who commit child sexual assault, engage in domestic abuse, or those convicted of election fraud, have forfeited their right to vote, hold public office or sit on a jury,” it states. “What separates felons who may show little intent to re-engage with civil society from those who have truly turned their lives around can be assessed only on an individualized basis.”
If the justices side with the attorney general and secretary of state, it would also put the state at odds with how all but two U.S. states handle allowing felons to vote. Many state restoration processes were set by the legislature, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Governor Jim Pillen have failed to enforce the laws that should restore voting rights to felons who have served their time,” L.B. 20 sponsor and Nebraska State Sen. Justin Wayne, a Democrat, said in a statement to USA Today. “This disregard for the law is a disservice to our democracy. Restoring these rights is not just about justice—it’s about strengthening our society by ensuring every citizen’s voice is heard in building a more inclusive and just Nebraska.”
The court’s ruling is expected to have a disproportionate impact on the state’s Black population. Nebraska’s Black imprisonment rate is almost 10 times higher than that of white residents and about 50 percent above the U.S. average, according to 2023 data from the Prison Policy Initiative.
Both presidential campaign are taking winning Nebraska’s 2nd District electoral vote seriously. Republican nominee Donald Trump’s campaign recently sent his pick for vice president JD Vance to campaign in Omaha.
Democrats have poured money into get out the vote efforts there over the past several months and sent high-profile surrogates like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Nebraska native, to Omaha on one of his first solo trips after being selected as Harris’ vice presidential pick.
Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said in a statement to USA Today that the Republican state officials were motivated by a desire to hurt Democrats’ chances.
“Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Governor Jim Pillen deny the voting rights of people who served their time because they fear who they will vote for at the ballot box,” Kleeb said. “A law was passed after years of coalition building by Senator Wayne, and because Hilgers and Pillen think there are no consequences to their radical behavior, they are making up their own rules at the expense of Nebraskans who want to exercise their right to vote and their right to have a voice in their elected representatives.”
‘A land of uncertainty’
In a 30-minute oral argument Wednesday, the seven members of the Nebraska Supreme Court asked why the attorney general didn’t bring his own suit questioning the constitutionality of the new law and quizzed attorneys on both sides about precedent, but didn’t send strong signals about leaning toward a particular ruling.
The court could choose to resolve just whether the attorney general and secretary of state followed the proper procedure in striking down the laws, or could also address whether the underlying laws are constitutional.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln assistant law professor Danielle Jefferis said she expects the court will address both in an attempt to avoid further confusion.
“Unless the court issues a clear, definitive ruling on the underlying constitutionality, I think we continue to live in a land of uncertainty, which is not good for the election,” she said.
The court prioritized hearing the case, and advocates hope that means a speedy decision as well, perhaps by mid to late September.
Vote-by-mail ballots are mailed by Sept. 30. In-person early voting begins in Nebraska Oct. 7. The deadline to register to vote in the general election is Oct. 18.
‘Not going to risk going to cast a vote’
Tommy Moore, 54, of Lincoln, said he won’t chance getting on the wrong side of the law again.
“I’m not going to risk going to cast a vote,” he said. “I would have to have clear and concrete evidence for me to feel comfortable enough to vote again. I’d rather not vote than be accused of doing something wrong knowingly and willingly.”
Moore served 11 years for driving while intoxicated and manslaughter. A registered Republican, he regained the right to vote in Florida in 2014 and has voted in Nebraska since moving there in 2021.
Moore, who has a doctorate in business administration and finance, teaches college business courses for Southeast Community College at Nebraska State Penitentiary and runs his own business.
Being told he could no longer vote made it feel like his success since he got out didn’t matter.
“It felt like everything that I’ve accomplished up to this point was null and void, and that the mistake that I made as a 29 year-old was still being held against me at 54 years-old,” Moore said.
Advocates worry that even if they win the court case, felons will be afraid to turn out to vote.
Pettes said he and his coworkers like Moore at Rise, a nonprofit that helps people transition from incarceration back to free society, have spent a lot of time working to convince recently released felons to be less cynical about politics and the justice system.
“We convinced them that their voice did matter,” he said. “Convinced them with a lot of work — and then to have this happen, you almost feel responsible for it. Here we are making these promises, how things are going to be different now you have your vote back and, you know, and now they don’t. How do you get those people reengaged?”
Nebraska
A measure to repeal a private school tuition funding law in Nebraska will make the November ballot
Public school advocates have collected enough signatures to ask voters to repeal a new law that uses taxpayer money to fund private school tuition., according to Nebraska’s top election official.
Organizers of Support Our Schools announced in July that they had gathered more than 86,000 signatures of registered voters — well over the nearly 62,000 needed to get the repeal on the ballot. Signatures also had to be collected from 5% of the registered voters in at least 38 of Nebraska’s 93 counties to qualify for the ballot.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen confirmed Friday that just more than 62,000 signatures had been verified and that the 5% threshold had been met in 57 counties.
It is the second time ahead of the November election that public school advocates have had to carry out a signature-gathering effort to try to reverse the use of public money for private school tuition. The first came last year, when Republicans who dominate the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature passed a bill to allow corporations and individuals to divert millions of dollars they owe in state income taxes to nonprofit organizations. Those organizations would, in turn, award that money as private school tuition scholarships.
Support Our Schools collected far more signatures last summer than was needed to ask voters to repeal that law. But the effort was thwarted by lawmakers who support the private school funding bill when they repealed the original law and replaced it earlier this year with another funding law. The new law dumped the tax credit funding system and simply funds private school scholarships directly from state coffers.
Because the move repealed the first law, it rendered last year’s successful petition effort moot, requiring organizers to again collect signatures to try to stop the funding scheme.
Nebraska’s new law follows several other conservative Republican states — including Arkansas, Iowa and South Carolina — in enacting some form of private school choice, from vouchers to education savings account programs.
Both opponents and supporters of the Nebraska private school funding measure have said they expect the fight to end up in court.
Evnen said county election officials are still in the process of verifying signatures on the petitions, and so the repeal measure has not yet been officially certified for the ballot. If the count reaches 110% of the total number of signatures needed, officials will stop verifying signatures and certify it.
The deadline to certify the November ballot is Sept. 13.
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