Staff Archives
August 2006
Yager named Humanities Council program officer
The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) has named Mary Yager program officer. She will work with grant applicants, the Humanities Resource Center, and the Smithsonian’s Institution’s Museum on Main Street (MOMS) initiative, among other responsibilities.
Yager began working with the council in 2005, after 21 years with the National Arbor Day Foundation, where she served as program director for more than a dozen years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Her appointment follows the departure of Raymond Screws, who has taken a position as assistant professor of history at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.
“We will all miss Raymond’s commitment to public humanities programming that was so evident during his five years with the council,” said NHC Executive Director Jane Renner Hood. “But we know how fortunate we are to have an individual with Mary Yager’s expertise on staff who can step into his shoes and take over with no disruption to our service to Nebraskans.”
February 2005
Humanities Council hires program officer
The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) has hired Erika Hamilton as program officer.
Hamilton will work with NHC Senior Program Officer Raymond Screws and with applicants seeking grants for literature, language, writing and storytelling projects. Screws will work with history-related projects and grants for the council’s new emphasis on immigrants and refugees in Nebraska.
Hamilton previously worked as a graduate assistant in the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also has worked as proclamation coordinator for the Nebraska governor’s office and administrative assistant in the lieutenant governor’s office.
“In my previous jobs, I worked closely with Nebraskans to help plan events for purposes of education, recognition and celebration. I love that kind of work,” Hamilton said. “I am excited about my new position with the Nebraska Humanities Council because it allows me to collaborate with fellow Nebraskans while advancing the council’s mission of cultivating an understanding of our state’s history, culture and literature.”
Hamilton is a Lincoln native currently pursuing her doctorate in American literature at UNL. She has a master of arts degree in creative writing from UNL and a bachelor of arts degree in English and secondary education from Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.
November 2004
Chris Sommerich joins Humanities Council staff
The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) has hired Chris Sommerich as development officer. Sommerich will be responsible for the NHC’s statewide fund-raising programs, generating financial support from individuals, foundations and corporations. He began work on Nov. 22.
Previously development associate for the National Audubon Society’s Nebraska programs, Sommerich has more than four years of fundraising experience, managing statewide annual giving programs and donor events.
“My previous experience enabled me to help generate support for Nebraska’s natural heritage,” Sommerich said. “Now I have the good fortune to work with fantastic people throughout the state to advance the Nebraska Humanities Council’s mission of cultivating an understanding of our history and culture—also very dear to my heart and very much in line with my academic background.”
Sommerich is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science. He served as undergraduate advisor and graduate teaching and research assistant in the UNL Department of Political Science, joining the Audubon Society staff in 2000.
As an undergraduate he studied abroad in Australia and had internships with the Nebraska State Legislature and the Lincoln Chapter of the United Nations Association.
For more information, contact the Nebraska Humanities Council.
Phone 402-474-2131 or e-mail nhc@nebraskahumanities.org
Return Home