Speaker Date Topic
Meghan Russo, Pour Decisions Jan 23, 2025
The Love of Wine
The Love of Wine

Meghan, owner and founder of Pour Decisions began her wine journey while living in NYC and taking classes at the culinary institute. After moving to omaha she began her wine career by working with wine distributors and wine shops around town. After receiving her title of Certified Specialist of Wine in 2021, she began to help others feel more confident by spreading her love and knowledge of wine to the

Dr. Lisabeth Buchelt Feb 20, 2025
“Patrick and now Brigit: Celebrating the Most Famous Irish Saints Across the Pond”
“Patrick and now Brigit: Celebrating the Most Famous Irish Saints Across the Pond”

Professor Lisabeth C. Buchelt specializes in medieval and nineteenth-century British and Irish literary and cultural studies at the University of Nebraska—Omaha and is the former Albert W. and Helen J. Jefferis Chair of English Literature.  She has published on tenth-century Old English poetry; gospel book design in ninth-century Ireland; early medieval Hiberno-Latin poetry; modern Irish visual arts and animated film; nineteenth-century vampire narratives; and occult imagery in the drama of W.B. Yeats. Her article, “‘Delicate Fantasy’ and ‘Vulgar Reality’: Undermining Romance and Complicating Identity in Bram Stoker’s The Snake’s Pass” won New Hibernia Review’s Roger McHugh Award for Outstanding Article in 2012 and her research on twelfth-century Irish monastic intellectual culture won a fellowship from the National University of Ireland—Galway Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Her latest publication, ““One Beetle Recognizes Another”: translation, transformation, transgression in Cartoon Saloon’s film The Secret of Kells,” is in the essay collection Screening Contemporary Irish Fiction and Drama, from Palgrave Macmillan. She is currently at work on a monograph examining the intersection of Irish literary narratives and the Neoplatonic philosophic revival of the twelfth century, as well as a study of animation studio Cartoon Saloon’s Irish Folklore trilogy of films.

Erik Omar, Rose Margrave Feb 27, 2025 12:00 PM
Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement
Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement

A conversation on the important work of the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement.

Jeremy Bouman Mar 06, 2025
RISE: An Innovative Non-Profit Breaking Generational Cycles of Incarceration One Nebraskan at a Time
RISE: An Innovative Non-Profit Breaking Generational Cycles of Incarceration One Nebraskan at a Time
Nearly 700,000 people are released from prison each year and are locked out of the job market. High unemployment and recidivism rates for returning citizens suggest that the first step in beating the odds is helping these men and women find gainful and steady employment. 89% of people that recidivate don't have a job at the time they re-arrest. 1 in 3 Nebraskans go back to prison once they get out within 3 years. Unemployment in Nebraska is at an all-time low. RISE works with system-impacted people pre- and post-release to successfully transition back to the community and into liveable wage jobs. 
 

Jeremy Bouman is the Founder and CEO of RISE, a Nebraska non-profit with a mission to break generational cycles of incarceration. RISE offers programming in 7 Nebraska prisons focused on intensive character development, employment readiness, reentry planning and entrepreneurship. RISE support continues post-release through case management, family programming, a business accelerator and employment placement. RISE is also active in policy and advocacy work in Nebraska's unicameral focused on criminal justice reform. 

 

Prior to starting RISE, he served for 7 years as Associate Vice President of Development at Creighton University. Jeremy has 23 years of leadership experience in higher education and non-profit organizations in New York City, Baltimore and Omaha. He earned a BA in Communications from Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania and a Masters of Science in Leadership from Creighton University.

Shannon Harner, Ex Dir, NE Investment Finance Auth Apr 10, 2025
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