Today, UNMC again honors faculty members with extraordinary service records. Some will be recognized for their exceptional teaching, mentoring and community service records. Others will be applauded for their long-standing tenure at UNMC.
The campus is invited to celebrate the accomplishments of its faculty members at today’s Annual Faculty Meeting, which begins at 4 p.m. in the Durham Research Center auditorium. A reception immediately follows in the Durham Research Center atrium.
UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., will present his annual address. Awards will be presented to the following six faculty members:
- Luis Marky, Ph.D. — UNMC Outstanding Mentor of Graduate Students Award.
- Linda Jensen, Ph.D. — Spirit of Community Service Award.
- Mary Lynn Froeschle, D.D.S., Pete Iwen, Ph.D., Louise LaFramboise, Ph.D., and Gordon Todd, Ph.D. – 2006 Outstanding Teacher Awards.
Profiles of the award recipients can be found in the UNMC Today online archives.
In addition, faculty of the Division of Physical Therapy Education will be recognized for receiving the University-wide Departmental Teaching Award, earlier this spring.
Faculty members who have worked at UNMC for 30, 20 and 10 years also will be recognized. Seven faculty members will be recognized for 30 years of service. They are: Gwen Hlava, Agnes Natale, Audrey Nelson, Ph.D., Eleanor Rogan, Ph.D., James Salhany, Ph.D., Bonnie Shearer and Rowen Zetterman, M.D.
The names of faculty members who have served at UNMC for 20, 10 and 5 years are listed near the end of this article.
Gwen Hlava
Gwen Hlava is associate professor and chairperson of the Department of Dental Hygiene in the College of Dentistry. A graduate of the College of Dentistry’s dental hygiene program, Hlava received her master’s degree in dental hygiene from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. A Lincoln native, she taught at the University of Minnesota for a short time before “returning home” to teach at UNMC. Since 1985, she has chaired the Department of Dental Hygiene, the only department of its kind in Nebraska to offer a baccalaureate degree. Each year, the department accepts 24 students – 20 in Lincoln and four in Scottsbluff.
Agnes Natale
Agnes Natale is an assistant professor in the UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division, in the Gerontological, Psychosocial and Community Health Department. She received her bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1971, and received a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University in 1975. She earned a master of science in nursing (MSN) degree in 1989 from UNMC.
Audrey Nelson, Ph.D.
Audrey Nelson Ph.D, is a tenured associate professor at the College of Nursing and a courtesy associate professor in the UNMC College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. She teaches pediatric nursing to undergraduate and graduate students. She has funded research for families of children with chronic illness-childhood cancer or type1 diabetes. Dr. Nelson is a member of numerous nursing and other professional organizations and has served on national committees or boards. Also she has served on numerous College of Nursing committees and UNMC/University of Nebraska at Omaha/The Nebraska Medical Center IRB committees. Dr. Nelson received the UNMC CONAA Distinguish Alumnus Award in 2003, was nominated by students for the Alvin Earle Outstanding Health Science Educator Award in 2005, and received a CON performance award in 2005.
Eleanor Rogan, Ph.D.
Eleanor Rogan, Ph.D., began at UNMC as a research associate in 1973 and joined the Eppley Institute faculty in 1976 as an assistant professor. In 1980 she was promoted to associate professor and in 1990 to full professor, having received tenure in 1989. Dr. Rogan’s research has been in chemical carcinogenesis, dealing particularly with the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in smoke and the endogenous estrogen metabolites found in everyone. She has contributed to the UNMC community in many ways, serving as Faculty Senate President from 1979-1981 and as chairwoman of the UNMC Safety Committee since 1987. Her scientific career is dedicated to prevention of breast and other types of human cancer.
James Salhany, Ph.D.
James Salhany, Ph.D., is a professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. He also is a research scientist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Omaha. Dr. Salhany earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. He joined the faculty at UNMC as an assistant professor in 1975 and was elevated to associate professor in 1979 and to full professor in 1989.
Bonnie Shearer
Bonnie Shearer is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and holds a courtesy assistant professor appointment in the Physician Assistant Program. She has taught physician assistant, medical, nursing and physical therapy students in the classroom as well as in the pediatrics clinics over the past 30 years. In 1984, she was honored with the Amoco Award for outstanding undergraduate teaching. She has provided medical care in several of The Nebraska Medical Center clinics over the past three decades. She remains active in the Nebraska Academy of Physician Assistants, having held several board and committee chair positions. She earned her physician assistant degree in 1976, master’s in educational administration in 1986 and master’s in physician assistant studies in 1996.
Rowen Zetterman, M.D.
Rowen Zetterman, M.D., has held several positions in the UNMC College of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs medical staff over the past 30 years. Currently, he is the chief of staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, is associate dean for Veterans Affairs in the UNMC College of Medicine and is the compliance officer in the Department of Internal Medicine at UNMC. Active in many professional organizations, Dr. Zetterman was president of the Metro Omaha Medical Society in 2002-2003 and is president-elect this year of the Nebraska Medical Association. Among his national leadership roles were serving as the chairman of the Board of Regents for the American College of Physicians and as president of the American College of Gastroenterology, positions that he held in 2000-2001.
Other faculty members who will be recognized for their service include:
20 years
College of Nursing
Louise M. LaFramboise, Ph.D.
College of Medicine
Joseph Evans, Ph.D.
George Rozanski, Ph.D.
James Stageman, M.D.
Thomas Tape, M.D.
William West, M.D.
10 years
College of Dentistry
Laura Iwasaki, D.D.S., Ph.D.
Jeffrey Nickel, D.M.D., Ph.D.
College of Nursing
Gail Hille
Barbara Piper, D.N.Sc.
College of Medicine
Elisabeth Backer, M.D.
Pi-Wan Cheng, Ph.D.
Suzanne Cornwall, M.D.
Helen Lovell, M.D.
Rakesh Singh, Ph.D.
Michael Wadman, M.D.
Five years
College of Dentistry
Myung Chang, D.D.S.
Keith Johnson, Ph.D.
James Wahl, Ph.D.
Margaret Wheelock, Ph.D.
College of Nursing
Lynne Buchanan, Ph.D.
Barbara Head, Ph.D.
Nancy Meier
Jill Reed
Myra Schmaderer
Cheryl Bagley Thompson, Ph.D.
Eppley Institute
David Lee Kelly, Ph.D.
School of Allied Health
Grace Johnson
Connie Mitchell
College of Medicine
N. Jean Amoura, M.D.
Anthony Adelson, M.D.
K. C. Balaji, M.D.
Leslie Bruch, M.D.
John Davis, Ph.D.
Vijay Dewan, M.D.
Mark Edwards, M.D.
Pierre Fayad, M.D.
John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D.
Jordan Hankins, M.D.
Lance Hoffman, M.D.
William Ingram, M.D.
Marilynn Larson, Ph.D.
Richard Lutz, M.D.
James McClay, M.D.
Parmender Mehta, Ph.D.
Jane Meza, Ph.D.
Michael Miloro M.D., DMD
Charles Morris, M.D.
Sandeep Mukherjee, M.D.
Peter Murphy, M.D.
Barbara O’Kane Murphy, Ph.D.
Babu Padanilam, Ph.D.
Gabriela Pavlinkova, Ph.D.
Iraklis Pipinos, M.D.
David Poage, M.D.
Larisa Poluektova, M.D., Ph.D.
Shashi Srinivasan, M.D.
Julie Stoner, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Thompson, M.D.
Susan Wilczynski, Ph.D.