Class of 2010: Kostelnik addresses CEHS community

18 May 2011    

Dear Colleagues,

Today is graduation day for master’s and doctoral students at UNL.  Out of 135 doctoral degrees awarded this afternoon, 35 will be to CEHS graduates.  Thus, CEHS will account for approximately 1 out of 4 new doctoral grads at the University this spring. A significant number of CEHS master’s students also will achieve their goal of attaining an advanced degree. One may wonder what is the quality of these graduates – do our high numbers also produce high quality? That answer is a resounding ‘yes’. For proof, I urge you to read the abstracts of these students’ research (check out our website and the UNL Digital Commons). They constitute an incredible array of excellent studies with some profound results. This body of work reflects a long and proud history of post-bachelor’s education that stretches back to the founding colleges and approximately 100 years of effort.

Of course we will have a large cadre of undergraduate students commencing on Saturday as well. In fact, we expect one of the largest graduating classes ever. CEHS will have 443 degrees conferred at UNL and 5 at UNO. Among them will be 69 students graduating with honors. We can be proud of all the graduates we sign off on – they move into the community ready to enhance people’s lives through their professional efforts. They are bright, eager and enthusiastic.

To give you a sense of graduates we produce, we can point to Bojan Lazarevic, from the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, who was awarded the CEHS Graduate Student Research and Creativity Award at the CEHS Awards Celebration last week. Likewise, Amanda Bleck, from Educational Psychology, was recognized with the CEHS Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award. I attended the NU Alumni Association dinner where Kiersten Runnels, ’03, textiles, clothing and design major was awarded an Early Achiever Award, and Jenna Busboom, senior speech-language pathology major, received the Jack Miller Scholarship.

It always feels good to learn that ‘one of our own’ has been recognized for superior work.  However, whether singled out for an award or not, CEHS graduates are testimony to the important work you do each day. I hope that you will take time to celebrate today as we usher the next generation of students onto the world stage. What our faculty and staff do matters a great deal. Congratulations on a job well done!

Dean Marjorie Kostelnik, College of Education and Human Sciences

Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communications