MAKING AN IMPACT

The UNO Service Learning Academy combines classroom instruction with meaningful, community-identified service. This form of instruction allows students to use critical thinking to connect course content with real-world experiences. Service learning provides an experiential opportunity for students to learn valuable skills that contribute to the University's workforce development initiative. Students learn skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and leadership.

Over its lifetime, the Service Learning Academy has supported over 2,000 service learning courses at UNO. The Academy has built collaborative partnerships between UNO faculty and students, and community organizations to promote academic learning while meeting the needs of the community. 

Seib to Headline the 2023 Chuck Hagel Forum in Global Leadership

The Chuck Hagel Forum in Global Leadership explores critical issues with global leaders in search of solutions to today’s global challenges. Former Washington Executive Editor of the Wall Street Journal, Gerald F. Seib and former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, a UNO alumnus, will discuss the role of U.S. leadership in a changing world in the fifth annual event on April 6 at 7 P.M. CST. 

Future of Work Symposium: Disruption and Automation

Register to attend the next event in the Future of Work Symposium Series. With a focus on "Disruption + Automation," the event will feature distinguished panelists and a keynote address professor Arun Rai, Ph.D.; April 21.

Lutte Speaks to Congressional Committee on Strengthening the Aviation Workforce

Breaking down barriers keeping women out of the field of aviation can be the industry’s best bet for expanding its talent pipeline and meeting workforce needs, according to testimony shared before a Congressional committee by Becky Lutte, Ph.D., distinguished professor of aviation within UNO’s Aviation Institute.

Omaha World Herald

Putting a bow on an emotional, successful run for Omaha hockey 

The OWH recaps the 2023 UNO hockey season as the Mavericks not only met, but exceeded, expectations.  

WOWT

New Boeing 737 Flight Simulator Gives UNO Aviation Students First-Class Experience

UNO's aviation department will receive a new Boeing 737 flight simulator due to a gift by the Ethel S. Abbott Foundation to the University of Nebraska Foundation.

WOWT

QR Codes Growing in Popularity in Omaha

WOWT interviewed Lei Guo, Ph.D., assistant professor in UNO’s School of Communication, about QR codes, where they originated, and how they have been adopted by businesses since the beginning of the pandemic.

The faculty at UNO conduct groundbreaking research across a wide range of disciplines. Through their work, they contribute to the development of new knowledge and advance our understanding of critical issues facing society today. See below for a highlight on some of the latest research conducted by UNO faculty. 

Featured Research:

In this article, Dr. Chris Decker discusses the impact of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to stem inflation amid stubbornly rising consumer prices, the job market, and jitters over banking following the Silicon Valley Bank crash

UNO Service Learning Academy: Celebrating 25 Years

By Julie Dierberger, Ph.D.

Service Learning Academy Director

UNO is a proud metropolitan institution whose charge is to transform lives locally, nationally, and globally. At UNO, one of the highest impact ways for which this metropolitan mission is articulated is through service learning. Service learning courses are a type of experiential learning where faculty members create real world opportunities for students to apply course concepts while also increasing the capacity of community partners. These courses provide a “stickiness” to learning for students who have a better context for the concepts they are learning and can communicate it to others. For example, when students work with data from a community partner in a data visualization class or create a mural for a local nonprofit organization in a color theory course, the application of learning becomes more clear and contextualized than other courses. 

Service learning courses build workforce skills and uniquely prepare students for their professional lives. Data collected from UNO students indicated students enrolled in service learning courses practiced workforce skills such as critical thinking (98%), teamwork (97%), problem solving (98%), leadership (98%), and public speaking (90%) at extremely high rates. We know employers are looking for well-rounded team members that not only have these skills, but also have practiced them and can articulate that thoughtfully and passionately in an interview.  

In addition to preparing students for their professional lives, service learning courses also prepare students to be active and engaged residents of their community. Through mutually beneficial community partnerships, students engage with community partners and contribute to their capacity, often in the absence of funds or ability at the organization to do so. As a result, students are exposed to new and diverse partners, build references for their resumes, and better understand the complex issues and abundant opportunities facing our community. We know UNO students often continue to contribute to the organizations on their own time after the course is over. 

In 1997, UNO had seven service courses listed; 25 years later UNO has almost 250 service learning courses taught annually and engage over 3000 students in the community. In every academic college students have the opportunity to take service learning courses and to try out different career opportunities and engage with different people, places, and contexts. Whether it is testing spices for lead, investing in redlined spaces, hosting a community concert, building a web application, practicing philanthropic giving, or training dogs to be more adoptable, UNO students are uniquely qualified to be the future leaders we need because of the service learning opportunities to which they have been exposed.  

Want to visit campus to better understand UNO, our impact on the state, and our faculty's varied areas of expertise? Schedule a visit.