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A Nebraska Wesleyan political science professor has been honored with the university’s top teaching award.

Kelly Clancy, assistant professor of political science, has been awarded the Margaret J. Prouty Faculty Teaching Award. The award recognizes and rewards faculty for the pursuit of excellence in teaching and who has made a distinct difference in the intellectual lives of students. 

A Nebraska Wesleyan University communication studies professor has been honored for her work in helping students explore study abroad experiences.

Rachel Pokora, professor of communication studies, was named this year’s winner of the White Award for Internationalization. The award recognizes individuals who have furthered the internationalization of NWU, its curriculum, students and faculty.

Pokora was celebrated for using her own international experiences in helping NWU students to become globally-minded. 

Two Nebraska Wesleyan University students are studying in Rwanda this summer thanks to a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

Kerry Worley, a junior social work major from Omaha, and Rachel Konvalin, a first-year global studies and modern language studies major from Boise, Idaho, have each been awarded the prestigious scholarship.

Two Nebraska Wesleyan students have been selected for the Fulbright Summer Institute to the United Kingdom. Emma Peterson, a sophomore athletic training and Spanish major, will participate in the US-UK Fulbright Summer Institute at the University of Bristol. Hunter Smith, a junior history major, will participate in the US-UK Fulbright Summer Institute at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland.

When Dalton Polivka walked across the stage at commencement in May, he not only earned his degree in acting but he continued a family tradition of earning a Nebraska Wesleyan University diploma.

The tradition began with Dalton’s father, Marion. 

“When I was in high school, I didn’t see the benefits of getting an education after high school, but after working in corporate America, I started to see the necessity of it,” said Marion.

Chance Kennicutt came to Nebraska Wesleyan intending to major in business. He thought law school might be in his future but wasn’t certain. But a class taught in an Old Main classroom became his window to the world. 

He vividly recalls his first semester when he was enrolled in Kelly Bauer’s comparative politics class.  

“Dr. Bauer’s course opened my eyes to a whole new world,” he fondly remembers.

Let dreamers dream what worlds they please
Those edens can't be found
The sweetest flowers
The fairest trees
Are grown in solid ground
We're neither pure nor wise nor good
We'll do the best we know
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow
And make our garden grow

The dynamic lyrics to Leonard Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow” convey to the listener that life if nonsensical and unpredictable … but we experience it together.

Last year when Anna Sell studied abroad in London she made a visit to a local bookstore where she skimmed through plays hoping to find inspiration for the play she would direct the following year. 

She came upon the play, “Tribes,” and never looked back. 

“I read through it and knew that was it,” said the junior directing major from Kansas City, Mo. “I wanted a show that was going to challenge me.”

Nebraska Wesleyan University will confer degrees to over 500 students during its 130thcommencement on Saturday, May 11.

Commencement begins at 1 p.m. on Taylor Commons, located on the NWU campus.

Christine Olson had dreams of a trip to Australia someday. Like many, the thought of seeing the Sydney Opera House, koalas and kangaroos seemed fascinating. 

When the opportunity arose to travel there over her semester break, she couldn’t turn it down. 

The opportunity was made possible through a three-week course called “Sustainable Australia: Environment, Agriculture and Culture.” The course was the perfect academic combination to fuel the biology major’s passion for outdoors and travel.