Three University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty and the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders have earned the University of Nebraska system’s most esteemed honors for research, creative activity, teaching and engagement.
Individual faculty earning the President’s Excellence Awards are Renee McFee, associate professor and coordinator for the professional program in veterinary medicine in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Timothy Schaffert, Adele Hall Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies; and Jay Storz, Willa Cather Professor in the School of Biological Sciences.
Announced Aug. 14, the awards recognize faculty and units across the NU system whose work embodies the highest ideals of a land-grant institution — excellence in teaching, research, service, innovation and engagement. Recipients have demonstrated a deep commitment to improving the lives of students, advancing knowledge, building strong communities and creating new opportunities for Nebraska and the world.
“Outstanding faculty are at the heart of a great university,” said Dr. Jeffrey P. Gold, president of the NU system. “Their dedication to teaching, discovery, innovation and service uplifts students, grows our economy and strengthens Nebraska’s communities. These awardees are helping drive the University of Nebraska toward an extraordinary future.”
A combined nine honors were awarded across the NU system’s four universities.
The Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders received the University-wide Departmental Teaching Award. The honor recognizes a department with an outstanding dedication to the education of students.
McFee received the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award. The OTICA recognizes faculty who have developed meritorious and sustained records of excellence and creativity in teaching.
Schaffert and Storz received the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity award. The ORCA recognizes faculty who have conducted outstanding research or creative activity of national or international significance.
Other NU faculty to earn the awards are:
OTICA — Becky Becker, professor and director of physical therapy education and chair of the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Innovation in Student Success Award — Goodrich Scholarship Program, University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Innovation, Development and Engagement Award — Gina Ligon, founder and director of the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center at UNO; and Károly Mirnics, director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at UNMC.
Faculty Intellectual Property Innovation and Commercialization Award — Thanh Nguyen, assistant professor of emergency medicine at UNMC.
Honorees are selected by system-wide committees of their peers and community leaders. They represent a wide range of disciplines and bring to their work not only academic rigor, but also vision, creativity and a drive to make a difference. Each award includes a monetary stipend—$10,000 for individual faculty recipients and $25,000 for departmental or programmatic honorees—and reflects a sustained record of achievement and influence.
Awardees were recognized during a public ceremony at the Board of Regents meeting on Aug. 14.
University-wide Departmental Teaching Award
Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders
The Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, which is part of the College of Education and Human Sciences, prepares students to serve individuals with diverse needs across the lifespan, including those with motor, sensory, communication, cognitive, and learning differences and challenges. Faculty and staff in special education and communication disorders prepare future educators, speech-language pathologists and audiologists through evidence-based instruction and rigorous academic, clinical and field experiences.
The department offers academic and pre-professional training at the undergraduate level, as well as advanced graduate and doctoral education, including both professional and research-focused pathways. The department places strong emphasis on applied and basic research, innovative instruction and interdisciplinary collaboration that directly inform clinical work, student learning and high-quality personnel preparation across Nebraska and the nation.
Learn more about the department.
Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award
Renee McFee
McFee serves as the coordinator for the professional program in veterinary medicine, a collaborative initiative between UNL and Iowa State University. In this capacity, she is responsible for the program’s academic standards, admissions processes, curriculum development, student affairs, scholarships and events.
McFee also coordinates and instructs Animal Physiology I and II, guiding veterinary and graduate students in integrating foundational scientific principles with clinical applications. Her teaching is grounded in evidence-based pedagogical practices, with an emphasis on active learning and assessment techniques that promote long-term knowledge retention. She is passionate about the scholarship of teaching and learning and supports faculty development as associate leader of the university’s Faculty-led Inquiry into Reflective and Scholarly Teaching program.
Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award
Timothy Schaffert
Schaffert is the author of seven novels, including a trilogy about war and culture: “The Swan Gondola,” set at a world’s fair in Omaha during the Spanish-American War; “The Perfume Thief,” set during the occupation of Paris; and the national bestseller “The Titanic Survivors Book Club,” set in a Paris bookshop during World War I.
His novels have been noted as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, an Oprah Book of the Week, and an LA Times Best Book of Summer, among other distinctions, and have been translated into multiple languages, including French and Italian.
Schaffert also serves as the Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner and is director of the Department of English’s creative writing program.
Jay Storz
Storz’s research in evolutionary biology centers on questions about physiological mechanisms of adaptation to extreme environments. In particular, a main goal of his research is to discover how high-elevation animals have evolved to survive and function in low-oxygen conditions. Storz organizes and leads mountaineering expeditions in the Andes of South America to survey the elevational limits of animal life, and he coordinates a large network of collaborators at research institutes in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.
His research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation since joining the faculty at UNL. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Geographic Explorer, an honorary professor of zoophysiology at Aarhus University, Denmark, and was a Fulbright Fellow at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
