Art isn't about fame or fortune. That's the message of The Nobodies 2010 Art Collective, an exhibition in the McClelland Art Gallery running from Feb. 15-24. Reprising of a show last year by Abner Aguilar and Chris Smith, this year they are joined by Bob Fraser, Ed Mejia, and Scott Cushman. 

Fernando Ortega, contemporary Christian singer-songwriter, will be performing a free concert at Union College at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 19. A musician since the age of eight, Ortega perfected his unique sounds at the University of New Mexico before releasing his first album in 1994. This will be his third performance at Union College.

Todd Huston doesn’t let a little thing like death or an amputated limb get in the way of fulfilling dreams. On Feb. 16, Huston will speak at Union College’s chapel service about his experience overcoming challenges.

For Justin Gibson, an invitation to one banquet led to an award at another.

Gibson’s poster for the spring 2009 Associated Student Body banquet won a student silver ADDY at this year’s Nebraska ADDY Awards. The ADDY awards are presented annually by the American Advertising Federation for creativity in advertising. The competition is a three-tiered process, starting at the state level then winning designs go on to compete at regional and national competitions.

 Bruce Forbes, chair of Union’s Division of Fine Arts, is taking visitors in new Directions with his McClelland Art Gallery display. Running through Feb. 13, his 25 gallery pieces include platinum and palladium prints, toned silver gelatin prints and color digital prints.

Art is a commodity. Young girls are not. Union College's Peace and Social Justice Club, in conjunction with Union's chapter of Amnesty International, invites the Lincoln community to help put an end to slavery by buying art on Sunday, Dec. 6 from 1-3 p.m. Held in the lobby of Engel Hall on the Union College campus, the Tiny Hands, Big Hearts sale will benefit Tiny Hands International, a Lincoln-based organization dedicated to stopping human trafficking.

The students were inspired to support Tiny Hands after representatives spoke about the organization's mission to help enslaved girls during a chapel service at the college. Amanda Clark, president of the Peace and Social Justice club, said seeing photos of just a few of the thousands of little girls sold to brothels each year made the cause personal.

“I thought of my new nieces. I thought of my little sister,” said Clark, a senior graphic design major. “I started to think of all of the young women I know and about them being forced into something like that.” She knew she had to do something. Unsure what sort of impact a single college student could make, inspiration struck during a conversation with a friend and fellow artist.

When eight students in Union College's Event Planning class started brainstorming about their class project, they found they were passionate about two things: the BackPack Program and fashion. The combination of these interests will culminate in Fashion for Food, a benefit fashion show featuring designers and boutiques from Lincoln and Omaha on Sunday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Campus Life North (map). 

Live streaming video of college events had been a wish of many Union parents, alumni and employees for a long time. However, due to the expense of the necessary Internet bandwidth, it wasn't until last spring that Tom Becker, director of Information Systems, was able to find a solution. 

Working with the local Time Warner Cable office in Lincoln, Becker was able to negotiate a new contract that quadrupled the connection speed on campus. The results of their collaboration can be seen at uclive.ucollege.edu, which provides streaming video of select athletic, social, and artistic events.  

“It got started because a lot of parents and grandparents of students like to see what their children and friends are doing,” said Becker. “But we had limited bandwidth to our campus, not enough to stream video.” 

Becker asked the local Time Warner Cable office for some additional bandwidth for a few days during the Mid-America Union Basketball Tournament last spring so that he could try broadcasting the games on the Internet.

Union College was awarded the Grower Designation of the Governor's Excellence in Wellness Award on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at the WorkWell annual awards banquet held at the Rococo Theatre. 

Union College was one of 28 award recipients out of the 130 WorkWell member companies. The criteria for the award was a company that offers a health and wellness program for their employees with varied programs to encourage annual health assessments, annual cholesterol screening, exercise and healthy food choices and the program is deemed a successful wellness program by having more than 50 percent active participation numbers and is supported by upper management.

"More and more companies are creating Wellness programs because they improve productivity and job satisfaction," said Nancy Petta, professor of human performance and chair of Union's Wellness Committee. "At Union, it's even more important because we really care about each other not only as colleagues, but as friends."

While the award is based on last year's performance, the Wellness Committee is continuing to provide opportunities for personal improvement this year based on the NEWSTART program. Each month, a different element of NEWSTART is emphasized:

N= Nutrition (September)
E= Exercise  (October)
W= Water  (November)
S= Sunshine  (December)
T= Temperance  (January)
A= Air  (February)
R= Rest  (March)
T= Trust in Divine Power  (April)