Lori Rausch
Student Services Associate/Graduate Coordinator
Nutrition and Health Sciences 

One of Lori Rausch’s biggest assets to the Department of Human Sciences is the knowledge she has acquired after serving on the office staff for 37 years. In addition to an eagerness to meet the needs of faculty, staff and students, she is described as competent, organized, personable, even-tempered and calm under pressure. For the 1,300 students in the Nutrition and Health Sciences, Lori is the face of the department and is well known to most of them. She also coordinates the application process for the dietetic internship program and serves as graduate secretary for two programs.

Cindy DeRyke
Graduate Secretary
Educational Administration

Cindy DeRyke has a genuine care for the Department of Educational Administration and the people in it. In her role managing graduate student enrollment, she is considered by many as an advocate for students. If she can find a way to improve a process, she’s not afraid to speak up. That’s what she did when she reorganized the process for tracking student progress toward their degrees. It has resulted in a better understanding of the active students in the department and assists in managing advising loads.

Dipra Jha
Assistant Professor of Practice
Nutrition and Health Sciences 

Recognized as an expert in the hospitality industry, Dipra Jha has the respect of his academic colleagues, students and industry professionals. In the classroom, he is known for outstanding teaching abilities reflected in his consistently high course evaluations. His communication style draws in students and engages them in discussion. He is motivated by student success and goes the extra mile to open doors for his students and provide them with every opportunity to learn and experience the hospitality industry at a high level.

Lorraine Males
Assistant Professor
Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

Lorraine Males focuses on the bottom line when she evaluates her own teaching abilities. Are her students learning what they’re supposed to? What do students say about her classes and teaching when filling out course evaluations? Are students successful when they are on their own? Typically, the responses are very positive. Her students are encouraged to think outside the box and to apply classroom learning to their own future classroom teaching. Lorraine’s respect for her students inspired one to write, “I felt like I was being treated as a young professional.”

Linda Young
Associate Professor of Practice
Nutrition and Health Sciences 

Questioning the status quo is part of Linda Young’s strategy to get her nutrition students thinking critically and independently. She stays on top of an ever-changing field by avidly reading professional publications and research. Newly gained knowledge then gets transferred to her course materials that are always well prepared, organized and made available to students on Blackboard. Linda realizes that not all students learn the same way so she presents her instruction in various learning styles to accommodate all students. She cares greatly about her students and their success.

Wayne Babchuk
Assistant Professor of Practice
Educational Psychology 

Continual self-examination and reflection define Wayne Babchuk’s approach to teaching. He is never satisfied with past success and seeks ways to continually improve and refine his classes. Another characteristic that makes him so successful is his genuine concern for students and his dedication to assure that all are successful. His high level of intellectual challenge and engagement results in students actively thinking and engaging in their learning. He is passionate about teaching and about developing students who are independent and life-long learners.

Mary Beth Lehmanowsky
Assistant Professor of Practice
Educational Administration 

Mary Beth Lehmanowsky exemplifies the kind of teaching that distinguishes UNL’s Educational Administration Department from other programs in the state. She excels in linking her teaching to outreach activities that benefit both students and the program’s constituencies in the P-12 education arena. Mary Beth is involved with students as they participate in field activities. She often leads group debriefings about faculty and staff appraisal. Her hands on approach receives high marks from students and helps them to be better prepared to take on the challenges of school leadership.

Michael James
Ardis James Professor and Chair
Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design 

Considering that Michael James has the varied and often all-consuming responsibilities of running an academic department, it’s remarkable that he has the time to be so prolific in his creative activity. A world-renowned quilt artist, he is widely credited with elevating studio quilt art to international recognition as an art form. His work appears in distinguished venues across the globe including the Smithsonian. He has authored more than two dozen publications and is the subject of many more. He is in demand as an artist and speaker, and still finds time to give back to the field by sharing his talents and knowledge with aspiring artists and scholars.

Theresa Catalano
Assistant Professor
Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

In her five years as an assistant professor at UNL, Theresa Catalano has been a prolific publisher of research. She has been published or has pending 19 journal articles, three books, three peer-reviewed book chapters, three peer-reviewed conference papers and additional relevant publications. Her scholarship is of exceptional quality, appears in top tier journals and is downloaded and cited extensively. She has an international reach with invitations to present abroad and has been recognized in international award programs and conference papers. She is considered a model for novice faculty to emulate and is broadly respected by her more senior colleagues.

Janos Zempleni
Willa Cather Professor of Molecular Nutrition and Director of the Nebraska Center for the Prevention of Obesity Diseases (NPOD)
Nutrition and Health Sciences 

An accomplished scientist, researcher and grant writer, Janos Zempleni also excels at mentoring. Since 2001, he has mentored undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and even high school students—85 in total. He takes a hands-on approach and gets students involved in laboratory research. He personally invests his time and talents with these students. His mentoring provides résumé-building experience that makes a real impact on future opportunities for students. Many of his students have won national research awards and have gone on to impressive graduate positions and career opportunities across the world.

Aileen Garcia
Ph.D. student
Child, Youth and Family Studies

Aileen Garcia’s research examines how adverse and non-normative life events, such as poverty and migration, impacts family dynamics through parenting practices. Specifically she focuses on outcomes of children’s socioemotional and literacy development. Aileen has participated in numerous research activities with UNL faculty and has presented many times at local, national and international conferences. She has served as a reviewer for UNL’s UCARE research program for undergraduate students and has worked with Nebraska Extension to publish a peer-reviewed NebGuide on the topic of microaggression. 

Nathaniel D. M. Jenkins
Ph.D. candidate
Nutrition and Health Sciences 

Nathaniel D. M. Jenkins has been teaching at the collegiate level since he was a master’s degree student. As he completes his Ph.D. requirements this spring, he will already have six years of teaching experience in exercise physiology and nutrition. He earns consistently high student evaluation scores and receives many positive comments from his students. In addition to his outstanding qualities as a teacher, Nathaniel is already an accomplished scholar having authored or co-authored 29 published, peer-reviewed manuscripts. He has also been a co-investigator on four successfully funded grants totaling nearly $1 million.

Scott Napolitano
Assistant Professor of Practice
Educational Psychology 

Students are appreciative of and thrive in Scott Napolitano’s hands-on, relaxed atmosphere of his classroom. One of his nominator’s said, “Some of us can only aspire to be as good as he is in the classroom.” His use of technology, such as iPods, helps students experience memorable and engaging learning. Dr. Napolitano inspires his students to go beyond the acquisition of a grade and reach for their best effort in their studies. His instruction helps establish the foundational concepts that are essential to their academic, clinical and career success. One student said that he has become “a better person and better professional” due to Dr. Napolitano’s influence.

Ed Daly
Professor
Educational Psychology 

Ed Daly takes “great delight” in training future school psychologists who will help schools address their many challenges educating children. In describing his teaching, students use words such as kind, motivating, hard working, excellent, committed, experienced, amazing, confident, helpful, passionate and dedicated. They value his balance of teaching conceptual theory and practical application. In addition, students benefit from the way Dr. Daly influences their ability to succeed and develop their own theories and ideas.

Elizabeth Lewis
Associate Professor
Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education 

Despite her focus on preparing students for careers teaching science, Elizabeth Lewis provided an English teaching major with a “heightened curiosity” in research and “a new appreciation” for research literature. Her ability to engage students brings “content to life” and helps them discover the “real-world applications” in their learning. Students find Dr. Lewis “gifted in balancing the explanation of theory against practical knowledge” and call her “the ideal hybrid of academic researcher and educator.” She is credited with thoroughly knowing the literature and conveying the knowledge effectively.

William Lopez
Professor of Practice
Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education 

Bill Lopez says relationships are the “lynchpin” of his teaching today and forms the basis of everything he does in the classroom. It was a discovery he made as a young middle school social studies teacher in Colorado. Without developing relationships with students first, he could not be successful. Dr. Lopez uses technology to help engage students and to bring their creativity to the surface. When he found social studies texts lacking, he created his own customized iBooks to share a variety of online resources—many which his students go on to use in their own classrooms.