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Staff Archives
October 2007
NHC hires program officer for
two-state Chautauqua
The Nebraska
Humanities Council (NHC) has hired Beth McQueen as program officer in charge of
several programming areas, including the 2008 Kansas-Nebraska Chautauqua,
entitled “Bright Dreams, Hard Times: America in the Thirties.”
McQueen will be
project director for the two-state Chautauqua, as well as serving as community
coordinator for the Nebraska host cities. She also will coordinate the statewide
simulcast of the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues lecture series.
McQueen graduated
from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in English
literature and writing and a minor in French. She was in exchange programs in
Australia and on the island of Reunion near Madagascar. She worked in the
development and gift planning office of Nova Southeastern University in Florida
while finishing a master’s degree in cross-disciplinary studies, with an
emphasis in conflict analysis and resolution in culture and society.
The “Bright
Dreams, Hard Times” Chautauqua will explore critical changes in cultural and
political life in the 1930s through the lives of five historical figures:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Louisiana Gov. Huey Long, Pentecostal leader
Aimee Semple McPherson, Harlem Renaissance writer and folklorist Zora Neale
Hurston, and humorist Will Rogers.
“History provides
insight into the things that are happening today in our world,” McQueen said.
“Through Chautauqua, we have the opportunity to gain historical perspective and
relate it to our present and future. With this historical context, we can learn
how to deal with issues, both those that repeat throughout time and those that
seem new to us. My position at the NHC gives me the distinct opportunity to be
part of this educational process in many capacities.”
The National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded the NHC a $179,010 grant with an
additional federal match of $105,000 to support a new Chautauqua program that
will tour 12 communities in Nebraska and Kansas from 2008 through 2010, one of
two special projects funded by the NEH as part of its “We The People”
initiative.
Each host
community will offer nearly a week’s worth of educational programming, including
four evening presentations by scholars portraying the historical figures;
workshops offered by the Chautauqua scholars on topics related to America in the
1930s; a documentary project for high school students reminiscent of the WPA
photographic work of the ’30s; a Youth Chautauqua Camp for middle-school
students to recover their local history; and an accompanying exhibition on the
Dust Bowl. The grant also will support reading and discussion programs and a
1930s film series for each community before the arrival of Chautauqua next June.
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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.”
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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.
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February 2005
Humanities office houses
Chautauqua position
The Great Plains Chautauqua Society has hired Carolyn Nolte as project director,
with an office at the Nebraska Humanities Council in Lincoln. She will work with
Chautauqua scholars, project directors and communities throughout the five-state
area that plays host to the annual traveling event each summer.
Nolte has a master’s degree in English with an emphasis on Great Plains
literature from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Most recently she was a
part-time English professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University. She also has been
an adjunct English instructor and tutor at Southeast Community College and a
copy editor for American Sociological Association’s journal Teaching Sociology.
“When I think of the Chautauqua, I see sepia photos of the blurred faces of
pioneers, and a great white tent,” Nolte said. “The images capture a spirit of
community involvement, education and development, and traditional music and
arts. I see the same spirit fostered in today’s Great Plains Chautauqua
program.”
The 2005 Great Plains Chautauqua visits Sidney in the state’s southern Panhandle
July 1-5 and Lexington in south-central Nebraska July 8-12.
The regional Chautauqua continues with the theme “From Sea to Shining Sea,”
focusing on the period 1790-1850, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition and
the opening of the West. With emphasis on America’s continent-wide expansion,
the program addresses the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and its
larger themes of westward exploration and encounter with native peoples.
Among the historical characters featured are William Clark, York and Sacagawea
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Others are Dolley Madison, Tecumseh and John
Jacob Astor. Chautauqua scholars will portray these figures in historical garb,
participating in daily workshops, children's’ programs and evening stage
presentations.
In addition to its annual visit to Nebraska, the Great Plains Chautauqua also
makes stops in Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota and North Dakota.
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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.
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