Jodie Rasmussen Named Student Employee of the Year 2008

Jodie Rasmussen was chosen as 2008 Student Employee of the Year at the annual reception, April 7, 2008, in honor of her many contributions to her department, Campus Recreation. Jodie was selected from a pool of 15 deserving nominees for her work with UNO’s Intramurals Program. In his nomination letter, Mike Kult, Jodie’s supervisor in Campus Rec, wrote that “In the past, there have been many winners who have developed software programs, or materials that have benefited departments, but what Jodie has accomplished has directly benefited thousands of UNO students. Because of Jodie’s hard work and dedication, students at UNO were able to participate in Intramural Sport Programs this year.” She was presented with a certificate, and a monetary award underwritten by the UNO Alumni Association.

The reception kicks off National Student Employment Week which is April 13-19th. Please take this opportunity to honor the many contributions of UNO’s student employees.

Student Employee of the Year: Keynote Speaker

Monday, April 7th the Student Employment Office will host the Student Employee of the Year Program in the Ballrooom of the Milo Bail Student Center. The Student Employment Office is gracious to have Lee Denker, President of the UNO Alumni Association.

Denker became part of the UNO staff in July of 2006 after long-time President Jim Leslie retired. Denker was born and raised in Papillion, Neb. and was excited to return to his native area. Prior to his commitment here to UNO, he spent five years with the Boise State Alumni Association. While there, he redesigned its dues-paying membership program and established a lifetime membership endowment fund. He also completed fundraising on the association's alumni center campaign, which is a student relations program launched under his direction that earned national recognition from the Association of Student Advancement Programs.

During college, Denker took some undergraduate courses here at UNO but completed his degree in Journalism from the University of Nebraska Lincoln where his also got his master's in Communication.

Lee Denker has already made many contributions to the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the short time he has been here. His acheivements and contributions are why he has been chosen as the speaker for the Student Employee of the Year Program.

The experiences of an international student

I came to UNO last Fall on a partial scholarship from the UNO international office for a Master of Science Degree in Management Information Systems. In this article, I share some little experiences from a personal perspective as an international student at UNO, (who also has the privilege of serving in the UNO Students Employment Advisory Board) and later weigh in on the contrasts between the British system of education (which I went through in my country, Kenya) and the American system of Education.

The British colonized Kenya after the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference, held in Berlin Germany under Otto Von Bismarck, divided Africa into territories and “spheres of influence.” By the time Kenya achieved her independence in 1963, the British bequeathed to Kenya, among other things, its system of education, mode of dressing and English as the official language of communication.

But first things first. At the time of my arrival in Omaha, Nebraska, when the plane touched down at the airfield, I was treated to a humid summer evening than I had envisioned.
Earlier on, at the JFK airport in New York City, the close proximity of the airport to the Atlantic Ocean had relived memories of two books I had read while in Kenya.

The first book is titled The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities of our Time. It is a 2005 book written by Columbia University professor of macro-economics Jeffrey Sachs. The major thesis in the book is that if concerted efforts are put by all world leaders, poverty in the world’s most distressed regions can be halved by 2015 and eventually wiped out by year 2025. He also tells that over the years, all the countries that have climbed through the ladder to become economic powerhouses have had access to sea ports and oceans. Apparently, these ports and oceans have opened up the borders of these countries for trade with the rest of the world.

The other book is by the American biologist Jared Diamond aptly titled Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Professor Diamond is resoundingly right that the economic fate of nations or nation-states over the years has been defined, inter alia, by their geographical locations.

What the knowledge from these two books and the proximity of JFK to the Atlantic Ocean opened my mind to, was that America’s sparkling economic turnaround has been defined not only by its geographical location, but also by its state of the art infrastructure.



The British System and the American System.

By and large, the British system is a very elitist one. It selects the very top, what I would call the crème de la crème to proceed to universities. It emphasizes, in my view, I stand corrected, on breadth rather than depth. While it produces top scholars, it also closes down, even crashes the window of opportunity for talented students who though cannot make it among the very top.

The American system tends to create room for everybody. But it is also elitist to some extent. It selects the very top to Ivy League institutions, the Nobel Laureate candidates if you may. But it also does create room for all to exploit their potential than would have been possible in a closed society.

The American system tests what you understand and how you can apply it in industry. Its goal seems to be to prepare a student for a position in industry or academia, but less so as an entrepreneur. It stresses on team building and hands on understanding. Replete with much homework, it truly prepares a student to have a complete and competent grasp of the subject matter. The state of the art IT infrastructure no doubt augments the students’ efforts in producing quality term papers and discussion slides.

Conclusion

I find American a very open society which gives opportunities for everyone to excel. It is also a society that follows and respects both the spirits and letters of the law.

To some Americans, the world “ends” at the end of our street. Only what is of interest to us is what we should know. It is understandable that when a country is so big and powerful, one may not need an outward focus.

I would argue that there is need to know more and learn about other cultures. After all, New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman powerfully reminds us in his scintillating book The World Is Flat that globalization has ushered in a breathtaking era in which the economic ( and by and large, cultural) playfield is being flattened.

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Finals week stressing you out? Here are some helpful tips to get you through.

Well, for UNO students finals week is here. Every student gets stressed in some way during this time of year. Though everyone handles stress in different ways, here are some helpful tips that everyone can benefit from.

The key to effective studying in a short amount of time is prioritizing.

Prioritizing doesn't mean making yourself a schedule of 24 hours in a day and then placing times for when you will study for each individual test. When trying to set up a study schedule for the finals that you will be undertaking it is important to remember these 3 things.

1. Don't try and study every hour of the day. Instead, set up 2 to 3 hours at a time to study one subject and give yourself at least a half hour between each study session. During that half hour break, do something completely opposite of studying, such as watching TV, cooking, napping, or even showering. Studies have shown that if you study for up to 3 hours and shower or take a bath before you begin your next subject, you feel clean and refreshed and ready to take on a new subject, putting the material you learned in your last study session in your brains memory box.

2. Don't study instead of sleep. Some people wait to the last minute to begin studying for their tests, for them this rule does not apply. Plan ahead in your studying but don't study all day and study all night. If you body doesn't have adequate amounts of sleep then you won't be able to hold all of the knowledge you are trying to learn. You will be left with an empty brain and an exhausted body.

3. Don't study instead of eat, and don't eat junk foods because you think you don't have enough time to eat. Part of your study habits should be to break for a half hour. That is plenty of time to trek to the kitchen and find yourself something to eat that is healthy and will help in your studies. Fruits, vegetables, sports drinks with enzymes, and green tea drinks are the material that your brain needs to keep working and not get fried in your studying frenzy. Fast food will only make your studying worse along with making your body feel worse.

Avoid Procrastinating

If you procrastinate studying for final exams your stress level will have no choice but to shoot up when crunch time comes and you begin cramming. It is the end of the semester, and students as well as teachers are ready to call it a break, but you must teach yourself that you are not over until the last exam is handed in. Don't wait to finish the semester until the last minute, study ahead of time and finish the semester conifident, not worn out.

Avoid Temptation

While studying or finishing papers on your computer, don't stray to websites, facebook, or myspace. If you stay on the task you have at hand you will be much more successful as you study and finish papers. Stick to what needs to be done and it will be done that much faster.

Good luck to all UNO students as they finish their semester. Take the helpful hints and put them into your studying habits. You never know, they could end up being what makes your semester end smoothly.

December Student Employee of the Month: Stacey Grafel

Stacey Grafel, a student worker in the Biology Department has been chosen as December's Student Employee of the Month. She was nominated by Jennifer Mullin, the Secretary of her Department and has been chosen by the Student Employment Office's Selection Committee.

Stacey has shown professionalism in her job in many ways. She always concerned about doing her job correctly and graciously and efficiently handles all the projects she is assigned and learns quickly.

Jennifer Mullin stated that "Stacey is always polite, and communicates effectively with both students and with faculty."

Stacey is available to assist with faculty projects in addition to helping support the entire department with our general office needs. She is detailed to support the Staff Assistant with organizing and filing complex budget documents and also in organizing data for our primary department advisor. She is a capable self-starter who can jump into a task if supervisors are away from their desks when she arrives.

Stacey was chosen for the honor of Student Employee of the Month because she was shown to demonstrate the main core characteristics that are important for student workers on campus. Congratulations to Stacey Grafel for being chosen as December's Student Employee of the Month.

Handling Confrontation in the Workplace

Conflict in the workplace can be an uncomfortable situation for employees. It usually begins with a lack of information or misunderstandings, stressful working conditions, unresolved prior conflicts, and power structure within the organization.

Handling these conflicts can be even more uncomfortable. Though sometimes it is hard to approach someone with whom you are having the conflict, this seems to be the only true way to resolve the miscommunication and continue in a healthy work environment. Compromise and collaboration are the best ways to disolve a conflict and make the situation as a whole better.

Leaders within a business should step up when seeing conflict occur within their workplace. Effective leadership is leadership which is adaptive. Leaders that are able to adapt to varying conflict situations and manage them accordingly will be highly acclaimed by their co-workers.

When handling conflict, always stay composed and respectful in the manner that you bring up and discuss the problem. Hostility and tension are two things that you should try to avoid when talking out a conflict.

For any more helpful hints or answers on how to handle a conflict occuring in your workplace, leave a comment. Help is always there for those who seek it.