WNCC 2010 Self-Study Report - Western Nebraska Community ...

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues series offered via satellite transmission through the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln addresses relevant, timely topics and world issues, providing an
example of how the College promotes lifelong learning. Programs are advertised internally through
the Outlook system and externally by the Humanities Council so that College employees, students,
and community members are aware of upcoming topics.
Although the distinguished lecture series has been offered since the 2007-2008 academic year,
students do not attend. A few staff or faculty members attend on occasion, but community
members primarily come to the presentations, based upon interest in the theme for the year. The
Associate Dean of Student Services is actively seeking ways to engage students, including the
encouragement of faculty members to grant credit opportunities linked to students attending a
lecture and then completing a report or summary based on the topic or the presentation.
This year’s series focuses upon China, and offerings in the past have explored the people,
resources, and economies of foreign countries, along with features on human rights, national
security, infectious disease, and world food systems. The instructional team at WNCC also intends
to explore ways to engage students in accessing such credible and important information about the
world in which they live.
Another example of community and student opportunities for involvement occurred with the official
unveiling of The Eiseley Reader at Scottsbluff on August 20, 2009, by the Loren Eiseley Board of
Directors. A copy of the Eiseley Reader has been provided to every school and public library in
Nebraska, and a complete classroom set has been given to each Educational Service Unit in the
state. WNCC has also received 25 copies because of support given to the project. Additionally,
The Eiseley Reader has been nominated by an administrator at WNCC for both a non-fiction award
and the One Book One Nebraska designation by the Nebraska Center for the Book, a state
organization linked to the Library of Congress. Were the Eiseley Reader to be selected, numerous
discussion groups and study sessions would be organized, and teaching-aid supplemental
materials would be produced and distributed during the one-year period when the prize-winning
book is read and discussed across the state.
The importance of Dr. Loren Eiseley, who was born and educated at Lincoln, Nebraska, as a
naturalist, environmentalist, and humanist writer is further reinforced by links to the Nebraska
Panhandle, the setting for some of his essays. A poem and a volume of essays bearing the name
“The Innocent Assassins” recalls Eiseley’s discovery of a unique fossilized specimen, the remains
of a Smilodon (saber-toothed Tiger) whose jaw remained locked into the clavicle of another cat,
both animals inexorably entwined until they died. The poem is included in the new Eiseley Reader,
as are two other Panhandle-based essays, and a cast of the saber-tooth bones resides in an
important local venue called The Nature Center located in the Wildcat Hills State Park just eleven
miles south of Scottsbluff/Gering.
A proposed 8,000-square foot addition to the Nature Center will be designated as a Loren Eiseley
Center, which will connect with one already designated at the Allwine Prairie Preserve in Omaha
and another planned to be constructed at the site of the new fairgrounds for the Nebraska State
Fair in Grand Island. All of these locations highlight alternative energy, and the Eiseley Center at
Scottsbluff is projected to offer education in environmental studies via cybertechnology to all public
schools in Nebraska, as well as to colleges and universities. Along with a boost in tourism and
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Western Nebraska Community College