Nine faculty honored in 24th year of teaching award
The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Alumni Association celebrates the 24th year of its Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award program when it presents the honor to nine faculty members during the UNO Faculty Honors Convocation Oct. 15.
The awards were established in 1997 to honor distinguished teaching in the classroom. Peer committees in UNO colleges chose recipients, each of whom receives a $1,000 award and commemorative plaque. With the 2020 awards the association will have issued $212,000 through the program. Synopses of recipients follow below.
The convocation will be presented live online at 5:30 p.m. For more information click here.
Recipients
Alecia Anderson, Sociology & Anthropology, Arts and Sciences
Samantha Clinkinbeard, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Public Affairs & Community Service
Michelle Eble-Hankins, Architectural Engineering and Construction, Engineering
Kristin Girten, English, Arts and Sciences
Kelly Gomez-Johnson, Teacher Education, Education, Health and Human Sciences
Jennifer Harbour, Black Studies, Arts and Sciences
Howard Paine, Art & Art History, Communication, Fine Arts and Media
Ryan Schuetzler, Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis, Information Science & Technology
Angelika Stout, Marketing & Entrepreneurship, Business Administration
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Alecia Anderson
Alecia Anderson is an associate professor of sociology whose primary academic focus is racial justice and political inclusion. Anderson’s teaching and research centers on race and ethnicity in media, political access for minority groups, and the causes and impacts of political insurgency. She has published studies that investigate media interpretations of minority characters in films in the U.S. and that investigate the intersection of gender and social experiences of transgender people. She joined the UNO faculty in 2014 after receiving her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. back to top
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Samantha Clinkinbeard
Samantha Clinkinbeard is an associate professor and the undergraduate program coordinator in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Lincoln & Omaha campus). Most of her research has focused on motivation, self-control, and health as related to delinquency and risky behavior. Her more recent work is focused on gendered self-concept and the recruitment and work experiences of women in policing. She most often teaches some form of research methods. Outside the classroom, Clinkinbeard has served as a a student groups advisor; has worked with colleagues to expand student access to a variety of career speakers and panels; and, regularly publishes with graduate students. She oversees program assessment and recently led a significant undergraduate curriculum revision in her school. Clinkinbeard joined the UNO faculty in 2007.
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Michelle Eble-Hankins
An assistant professor of practice, Michelle Eble-Hankins's primary focus is the design of lighting and power systems in the built environment within architectural engineering at the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction. She teaches courses to both architectural engineering and construction students within the school. She also works with an Omaha engineering firm to design lighting systems in buildings. Working both as a faculty member and as a practitioner allows her to bring real-life examples into the classroom. She teaches at UNO on the Scott Campus. She earned her Ph.D. in architectural engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2008 and joined the college’s faculty in 2012. back to top
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Kristin Girten
Kristin Girten is an associate professor of English and women’s and gender studies. Her research focuses on British literature and science of the Enlightenment era. She is currently working on a book that theorizes feminist literary expressions of the sublime with an eye to their ecological, psychological and political implications. Girten teaches upper-level and graduate courses in Restoration, 18th Century, and Romantic Literature and Culture; Women’s Literary History; Aesthetic Theory; and the Philosophy of Science. She also is committed to sparking students’ love of literature, cultural studies, and writing in introductory courses, where she regularly teaches contemporary works that provoke curiosity and debate. She joined UNO’s faculty in 2006. back to top
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Kelly Gomez-Johnson
Assistant professor Kelly Gomez-Johnson’s teaching and research focus is K-16 mathematics education, particularly teaching, learning, and equity practices for pre-service and in-service teachers and leaders. She teaches courses in general teaching methods, secondary mathematics methods, and data-driven decision making. She also serves as an educational researcher and/or evaluator on four federal and local grants focused on pre-K-16 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) teaching and learning. These projects include inquiry-based learning for higher education math faculty, multi-layered support mechanisms for underrepresented students in STEM, and recruitment and retention of highly qualified STEM teachers. She began teaching at UNO in 2011. back to top
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Jennifer Harbour
An associate professor, Jennifer Harbour is a 19th Century social historian who specializes in black women, slavery and emancipation. Her new book on African-American activism, “Organizing Freedom,” was published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2020. Harbour teaches courses on African-American history, Modern African history and genocide. Her teaching interests include human rights law, pedagogies of kindness and black feminisms. She also is part of the women's and gender studies department and an affiliated faculty member in the Goldstein Center for Human Rights. She joined UNO’s faculty in 2013. back to top
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Howard Paine
Howard Paine is an associate professor whose primary research interests are large-format digital prints and traditional forms of printmaking. Thematically, his work investigates the ideas of mortality, memory and the physical body that is left at the end of life. The physical body is a part of a process or a cycle, not only in a spiritual sense, but in a biological sense, as well. Botanical and insect forms as proxies about the passing from life to death and what remains. These forms are observed over a period of months and years, drawing and photographing them again and again, watching them change, decay and transform. He joined UNO’s faculty in 2016. back to top
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Ryan Schuetzler
Months after being selected for the UNO Alumni Teaching Award, Schuetzler joined the Marriott School of Business at BYU as an assistant professor. At UNO his research work furthered understanding of how people interact with conversational technology like Alexa or Siri. He also served three years as chair of the Information Systems Undergraduate Program Committee. back to top
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Angelika Stout
Angelika Stout is a full-time instructor of business communications whose principal aim as an educator is to create and nurture an inclusive classroom environment across any modality. She seeks service and professional development opportunities in support of this pedagogical goal and has been previously recognized with the CBA Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Teaching Award, the Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship Distinguished Instructor Award, and with awards for Outstanding Student Engagement from the UNO Office of Institutional Effectiveness. She has been in her present role since 2015. back to top
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