Education

UNO’s Athletic Department recently received a leadership gift from Brian and Carey Hamilton. 

Trev Alberts, UNO’s Athletic Director, says the money will be used for a student academic success center.  

He says the department’s focus right now is to look programmatically at how they can help students and coaches be successful at Division 1. 

Alberts says the university’s move to Division 1 means more competition and accountability.  He says that’s why it’s important that the department administratively supports the student-athletes and coaches.

The video board from Omaha’s landmark Rosenblatt Stadium will soon have a new home.

Burke High School will have the video board in time for the Nebraska state track meet May 18th. Bob Danenhauer, supervisor of athletics for the Omaha Public Schools,  says it’ll cost $400,000 to locate the video board at Burke, which will be paid for with donations.

Danenhauer says the current Burke scoreboard will move to Central High School. Central High School's scoreboard will move to Burke West.  Danenhauer says OPS and the city of Omaha began discussing the future of Rosenblatt’s video board two years ago. Those discussions led to an agreement to move the video board to Burke if private donations paid for it.

Creighton University’s new president says long-term strategic and financial planning are important to the school’s success.

Father Timothy Lannon gave his first convocation address earlier this week. He’s the first Creighton University alumnus to serve as the school’s president. He says 25 percent of this year’s freshman class at Creighton University are first-generation college students. They’re fron all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and 38 countries.

Project Interfaith is offering children’s story time and show and tell Sundays at 3:00 at the Bookworm through March 4th. 

Each week of the story time features a different religion.  Beth Katz, Executive Director for Project Interfaith, says more than 60 people attended the first event last Sunday.

She says the events offer a great opportunity for parents and children to learn more about the diversity of beliefs and cultures present in our community and the world.

UNO is celebrating Black History Month with three public events.

Helen Kang is the Assistant Director for Cultural Programming at UNO.  She says the process of choosing events begins with reaching out to student and community groups.  After the Black History Month committee is formed, the brainstorming session begins. 

This year, Kang says the group came up with 14 different event options.  Kang says once all ideas have been offered, members vote for the top three programs they want to see.  The first event takes place on February 14th and is a public forum discussion called “The Beauty of Blackness.”

Omaha, NE – A State Senator from Omaha says his bill cutting the size of the Omaha Public Schools board to five members is about accountability and efficiency. Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh's bill had its first hearing Wednesday in Lincoln. The OPS board is opposed to the legislation.