Dr. Bruce Baker, a titan in the history of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and its English Department, passed away earlier this summer, on May 18. He was 90 years old. For almost forty years, from 1958 through 1997, Baker taught classes and shaped the UNO Department of English, serving as both a professor and the chair of the department.
For University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) alumnus Chad Jorgensen, a love of storytelling and self-expression led him to study English. Now, as the associate dean of English and Humanities at Metropolitan Community College, he helps pass that passion on to a new generation of students.
When Annie Johnson, a University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) English instructor and the new editor of The Linden Review, took her first job within the University of Nebraska system, she didn’t know the decision would shape the rest of her life.
For Isa Manhart, who will begin their senior year at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) this fall, college has been about more than preparing for a career. It’s been a place to build community, amplify voices, and fight for justice. Born and raised in Omaha and a proud graduate of Central High School, Manhart is pursuing degrees in secondary education English language arts and English creative nonfiction (CNF).
For Dual Enrollment Educator Dr. Beth Rips, the path to the classroom wasn’t a straight line. But life, she’s since realized, was always leading her there.
What Are You Reading?
One of the most interesting books I read this summer was Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando (1928). I had read a number of her works before, and my favorite had been Mrs. Dalloway (1925), with its restrained, introspective style that offers a number of incisive character studies. Orlando is nothing like that! Instead, it's a delightful, fast-paced fantasy / satire that follows the main character, Orlando — whom we first see as a courtier to Queen Elizabeth I around 1500 — all the way to the day in 1928 when Woolf's novel was originally published. We are introduced to Orlando as a man greatly desired by the Queen but also an aspiring poet who falls in love with a Russian noblewoman. About a hundred years after his failed romance with her, Orlando is appointed to be King Charles's ambassador to Constantinople. One day, though, he wakes up and finds himself biologically female. At first she is shocked at her transformation, but then she gradually adapts to it, eventually returning to England, where she regains her family's estates and engages in affairs with people of various gender identities and sexual orientations. Along the way, Woolf offers all kinds of interesting observations about how people regard and deal with men and women differently solely on the basis of their perceived gender. This was definitely a novel far ahead of its time!
-- Dr. Charles Johanningsmeier
Give to the UNO English Department Fund for Excellence
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