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Board Archives
2003
Board Profiles
NHC elects
seven new members
The Nebraska
Humanities Council and the Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities have elected
seven new members. Some will serve on both boards.
Newly elected
board members include Mary Abel of Lincoln, Trish Davidson of Omaha, Kim Robak
of Lincoln, Thompson (Tom) Rogers of Omaha, Clay Smith of Lincoln and Harriett
S. Turner of Lincoln. Eric Brown of Lexington was appointed earlier to fill
a vacancy on the board.
Mary Abel,
a lifelong Lincoln resident, was with Union Bank for 17 years, retiring as
vice president in the commercial loan department. She is on the Union Bank
Private Banking Board, the NEBCO Board, the Abel Foundation, the LPS Foundation
Board of Trustees and the UNL Foundation Board of Trustees.
Trish Davidson
is a long-time advocate for non-profits in Omaha. She was head of Union Pacific's
Omaha-based foundation for many years, and worked with the NHC on several
projects, including bringing Ken Burns to Omaha in the early 1990s. She has
served on boards of many Omaha cultural organizations, including the Omaha
Children's Museum.
Kim Robak,
a native of Columbus, was a speech and drama teacher before becoming an attorney
with Rembolt, Ludtke & Berger in Lincoln. She served in the administration
of Gov. Ben Nelson. She was elected lieutenant governor in 1994. She is vice
president for external affairs and corporate secretary for the University
of Nebraska. She currently chairs Lincoln's United Way.
Thompson
(Tom) Rogers, a native of Omaha and a graduate of Hastings College, is
a principal with Stone Pine Capitol and Odin Capitol Group. He has been active
in Omaha's cultural organizations including Opera Omaha, the Bemis Foundation
and the Omaha Children's Museum, and he is founder of Omaha's summer festival,
Arts on the Green.
Clay Smith
is general partner of B&J Partnership and co-owner and managing director
of Speedway Motors in Lincoln. He is a trustee for Lincoln's Community Health
Endowment and serves on the boards of Bryan-LGH Medical Centers, Cedars Home
for Children Foundation and the Southwest Lincoln Business and Civic Association.
He has served on the boards of numerous cultural organizations.
Harriet S.
Turner is director of international affairs and global programs at UNL,
where she has also chaired the department of modern languages and literature.
The author and editor of five books, she also has written more than 40 published
essays and chapters on major Spanish writers, Central and South American
writers, as well as international language and literature organizations.
Eric Brown,
a native of Lexington, was for 10 years director of educational media at South
Dakota State, returning to Nebraska in 1979 to become general manager of
KRVN Radio, which covers most of Nebraska and half of Kansas. Brown serves
on the boards of the Nebraska Information Technology Commission, Tri-County
Hospital and Lexington Community Foundation.
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2002 Board
Profiles
New board
members elected
Sept. 24, 2002
The Nebraska
Humanities Council and the Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities have elected
five new members to the NHC board and five new members to the foundation.
Elected to the NHC board are Timothy Austin of Omaha, Kim West Dinsdale of
Grand Island, Don Pederson of North Platte, Deb Trowbridge of Elkhorn and
Mary Vaughan of Broken Bow. Elected to the foundation are Mimi Ernst of Columbus,
Carey Hamilton of Grand Island, Helen Krause of Fremont, Roger Lewis of Omaha
and Teresa “Trixie” Schmidt of Lincoln.
Timothy
Austin is dean of the college of arts and sciences at Creighton University.
His major publications include “Poetic Voices: Discourse Linguistics and
the Poetic Text.” He previously was chair of the English department at Loyola
University in Chicago.
Kim West Dinsdale has been involved in numerous community activities,
including the Grand Island Community Foundation, the Crane Meadows Nature
Center, Leadership Tomorrow and Heartland United Way.
Don Pederson is an attorney and has been state senator representing District
42 since his appointment and later election in 1996. He serves on the Legislature’s
appropriations committee. His wife, Virginia L. Pederson, served on the NHC
board until her death earlier this year.
Deb Trowbridge is a Realtor with NP Dodge Real Estate. For four years
she was director of communications and development for Durham Western Heritage
Museum. Her volunteerism includes work with United Way of the Midlands, Joslyn
Art Museum and the Henry Doorly Zoo.
Mary Vaughan is a substitute teacher in the Broken Bow Public Schools.
She has served on numerous volunteer boards, including Parents as Teachers,
Custer County Friends of the Arts, the Nebraska Foundation for Children’s
Vision and the Central Plains Center for Services.
Mimi Ernst teaches sixth grade language arts at Columbus Middle School.
She was the first executive director of the Columbus Area Arts Council, from
1983 to 1995. She coordinated artist-in-residence grants for ESU No. 7 from
1990 to 1995 and has served on the board of directors of the Museum of Nebraska
Art. She has a B.A. in English education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
and an M.A. in secondary reading from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Carey Hamilton is president of Hamilton Chevrolet Cadillac in Grand Island
and Omaha and has served on many state boards and commissions, including the
Nebraska State Board of Education.
Helen Krause recently sold the Carey Cottage restaurant and tearoom in
Fremont, a business she owned and operated for nine years. She is the immediate
past chair of the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce and recently retired from
the Fremont Area Community Foundation.
Roger Lewis is senior vice president and director of corporate marketing
for Commercial Federal Bank. He previously was vice president and communications
director for Omaha National Bank. Before that, he was the business reporter
for the Omaha World-Herald. He serves on numerous state and local boards,
including Midland Lutheran College and the Child Saving Institute.
Teresa "Trixie" Schmidt is on leave as director of public engagement for
the Lincoln Public Schools Foundation. She previously was grant coordinator
for the State Museum of Natural History and taught for more than 20 years
for LPS. She is on the boards of the Folsom Children’s Zoo and Bright Lights.
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2001 Board Profiles
New board
members
have
wealth of experience
The NHC
and the Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities elected six new board members
at their Sept. 21 meeting who bring a wealth of community and non-profit
experience to the humanities.
New foundation members include Colleen Adam, co-owner and treasurer
of Adam and Sons Cattle in Hastings, who serves on the Hastings Museum Foundation,
the Hastings College Community Campaign, the Ak-Sar-Ben Friendship Circle
and has just completed her national presidency of the American Medical Association
Alliance.
Howard Hahn
is an attorney with Gross and Welch and active in Omaha’s City Planning Board,
Metro Chamber of Commerce, Community Commission on Race Relations and Opera
Omaha.
Scott Moore
is director of government affairs with Union Pacific and formerly served
as Nebraska Secretary of State and a state senator and recently has been
elected to the Nebraska State Fair Board.
Dan Semrad
is an investment broker with A.G. Edwards and Sons in Lincoln and holds leadership
positions with Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation and the Conservation
Alliance of the Great Plains.
Judy Ueda
is an infection control nurse at Alegent Mercy Care Center in Omaha and serves
on the boards of directors of the United Way of the Midlands, Nebraska Women’s
Health Council, and Make-A-Wish Friends Council.
Peter Suzuki
is the Frederick W. Kayser Professor of Urban Studies at the University of
Nebraska-Omaha and coordinator of the UNO Urban Studies Program, where he
is also a graduate faculty fellow and a faculty research associate of the
NASA Nebraska Space Grant Consortium.
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Tom Rogers |
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“Personally, I think the humanities'
biggest problem should be the phones ringing off the hook with calls from
every county and town begging to be sponsors!”
-- Tom Rogers |
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July 2001
Tom Rogers
urges NHC financial
commitment
"The importance
of the Nebraska Humanities Council is that it provides enrichment in culture
and history beyond what educational institutions provide, although they are
also great partners with us. Chautauqua, for example, provides an interactive
opportunity to learn the history of our country.
Personally, I think the humanities biggest problem should be the phones ringing
off the hook with calls from every county and town begging to be sponsors!”
Omaha native Tom Rogers, a partner in the Odin Capital Group and a Nebraska
Humanities Council and Foundation member since 1991, shares his passion for
the humanities and the arts with everyone he meets.
Tom earned his BA at Hastings College and now serves on the college’s Board
of Trustees. He also serves on the Nebraska Arts Council and the boards of
many other cultural organizations.
Tom is the kind of board member who makes things happen, and he has been critical
to the success of such innovative cultural organizations as the Bemis Project,
Opera Omaha, and the new Arts-on-the-Green end-of-summer festival.
Tom believes that good board members must make a financial commitment to the
organizations they serve. He and his wife, Jane, have made two matching grants
to the Nebraska Humanities Council, challenging the Council and Foundation
members to give and/or to raise $37,500 in matching monies.
This year’s challenge grant extended that matching offer to Council and Foundation
alumni, so that former board members will stay involved with the institution
they helped develop.
“I’m very proud of our legislature for providing a public-private partnership
with the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Nebraska Arts Council through
the Nebraska Cultural Endowment to help expand their programs,” Tom recently
observed. “Now it’s time for the private sector to step up with its money
to support these exciting programs.”
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Bryan LeBeau |
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“We academics have grown too distant from our
constituencies, the general public, not just our students. We have learned
so much and communicated so little. The NHC allows me to re-establish that
communication and to do my job as an educator in the humanities.”
-- Bryan LeBeau |
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April 2001
Bryan
LeBeau brings
the humanities
to life
The humanities
are at the core of everything Bryan LeBeau does, from his work as professor
of history at Creighton University in Omaha to his public radio program,
“Talking History,” to his very active membership on the NHC board.
LeBeau wants no less for his students and for Nebraskans in general.
“The best preparation for any career is to learn critical reading and thinking
skills, effective communication and the substance of the culture in which
we live. An education in the humanities provides that.”
Even the pleasures of leisure time are enhanced by a better understanding
of literature, philosophy and history, the "stuff" of the humanities, he said.
Holder of the John C. Kenefick Chair in the Humanities and coordinator of
American Studies at Creighton, LeBeau plays a integral role on the NHC board.
“Because I am an academically trained humanist, I hope I represent the interests
of the humanities in a manner possible only by those formally trained in
the field,” he said.
But LeBeau says he also has a lot to gain from his experience on the board.
“We academics have grown too distant from our constituencies, the general
public, not just our students. We have learned so much and communicated so
little. The NHC allows me to re-establish that communication and to do my
job as an educator in the humanities.”
LeBeau said the council’s mission is to serve as a bridge between professional
humanists and the general public, to provide excellent programming and to
bring the latest and best scholarship to Nebraskans in as attractive and
entertaining a manner as possible.
“Talking History,” is a weekly, half-hour radio show hosted by LeBeau and
originating from KIOS-FM in Omaha. LeBeau wants to see more public radio affiliates
outside Omaha pick up the history-based show.
LeBeau has a book coming out this summer on the 19th century popular lithographers,
Currier and Ives. "Currier and Ives: America Imagined" will be published by
Smithsonian Institution Press.
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 Bob Nefsky |
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“The work of the Nebraska Humanities Council
not only enhances our state’s education systems, but it adds an essential
independent component, creating a true public-private partnership.”
--Bob Nefsky |
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January 2001
Bob Nefsky
helps preserve state’s
cultural heritage
"My first
attraction to the humanities is a love of history and culture and the connections
we discover by sharing our stories," says Bob Nefsky, an attorney and partner
with Rembolt, Ludtke and Berger.
“Through my work on the council I’ve developed a great respect for the council’s
ability to effectively and efficiently deliver humanities programming throughout
the state.”
Bob has chaired both the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Nebraska Foundation
for the Humanities and is vice president of the new Nebraska Cultural Endowment.
A native Nebraskan whose grandfather once served as a bodyguard for William
Jennings Bryan during a presidential campaign, Bob’s commitment to the council’s
work began even before he was elected to the board.
In 1992, when the Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities was reorganized to
meet changing financial needs, Bob volunteered to draft the bylaws restructuring
the Foundation. Bob’s early work with the NFH illustrates his legacy to Nebraska’s
cultural life: His ability to create nonprofit structures that endure.
His work as founding president of Lincoln Fine Arts Radio facilitated the
creation of the Nebraska Public Radio Network, and his care in drafting the
Nebraska Cultural Endowment’s founding legislation and bylaws has created
a public-private trust that will assure stability for both the arts and the
humanities in Nebraska.
As Bob recently observed, “The work of the Nebraska Humanities Council not
only enhances our state’s education systems, but it adds an essential independent
component, creating a true public-private partnership.”
Bob is married to Mary Nefsky and has four stepchildren and two grandchildren.
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Bette Anne Thaut |
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“Volunteering has always been a rewarding experience
for me and a wonderful way to meet some great people. This has been especially
true of my association with staff and board members of the NHC and NFH.”
-- Bette Anne Thaut |
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October 2000
Bette
Anne Thaut exemplifies
the value
of volunteerism
Alexis de
Tocqueville, the astute French observer of our nation in its early decades,
would have recognized Bette Anne Thaut as an exemplar of the uniquely American
virtue of volunteer association to achieve public goals.
The Beatrice resident was named to the Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities
in 1996 and now serves as president after chairing both the annual campaign
committee and the major gifts committee.
In 1999, she was elected to the Nebraska Humanities Council and serves on
its executive committee.
A former high school English teacher, Bette Anne provides leadership to a
long list of community and state organizations. She is secretary of the board
of directors for the Gage County Historical Society, vice president for Beatrice
Meals on Wheels, board secretary for the Beatrice Humane Society and a member
of the board for the Beatrice Educational Foundation.
Bette Anne is an elder in the First Presbyterian Church and newsletter editor
for Presbyterian Women of Homestead Presbytery.
She also coordinates a summer reading program, “Reading Buddies,” and volunteers
for the United Way.
Bette Anne is quick to claim that she benefits as much from her activities
as her beneficiaries do.
“Volunteering has always been a rewarding experience for me and a wonderful
way to meet some great people. This has been especially true of my association
with staff and board members of the NHC and NFH.”
Bette Anne and her husband, Dr. Hal Thaut, medical director of the Beatrice
State Developmental Center, have two grown daughters, Sarah and Jessie.
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Pamela H. Snow |
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“What really excites me is when a group of individuals
with a common cause gathers together and a constructive dialogue ensues,
one that weighs all the options, deliberately and respectfully, and that
dialogue results in a plan of action."
-- Pamela Hilton
Snow |
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July 2000
Pam Snow
offers leadership skills and
dedication
Pamela Hilton
Snow brings a wealth of experience to her role as chairperson of the Nebraska
Humanities Council.
Co-owner of Snow’s Floral Company Inc. with her husband, Mark, since 1978,
Pam combines her business acumen with a long and impressive record of community
service.
She serves on the board of directors of the Grand Island Community Foundation
and Moonshell Arts and Humanities Council. She is a past board member of the
Friends of Lied; the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce, where she chaired
the transportation committee; and the Quarter Horse Association of Nebraska.
For 10 years, Pam served on the board of directors of Saint Francis Medical
Center, chairing the board from 1994-1996 and chairing both its finance committee
and its quality assurance committee.
A member of her church choir at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Pam also enjoys
writing, reading poetry and literature, music, tennis, photography, spending
time with her two sons and “pausing with my husband to watch a good sunset.”
Pam looks forward to the challenges she faces as chairperson of the Nebraska
Humanities Council because she knows that she is working with a dedicated
group of volunteers.
“I am routinely humbled by their insight, sensitivity to detail, and their
unselfish interest in furthering the mission of the Council.”
Asked for her philosophy of leadership, Snow said she is more likely to facilitate
than to dictate.
“What really excites me is when a group of individuals with a common cause
gathers together and a constructive dialogue ensues, one that weighs all the
options, deliberately and respectfully, and that dialogue results in a plan
of action. The fun part is down the road when everyone looks back on the
action taken and there is the realization that ‘Wow, we did a great job.’”
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