Big Ten Academic Alliance
Academic Leadership Program
Each year, up to six Nebraska faculty members are selected as ALP Fellows and participate in the Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program. The Academic Leadership Program is one of the most successful leadership initiatives of the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Established in 1989, the program develops the academic leadership and managerial skills of nominated faculty who have demonstrated exceptional ability and academic promise. The program addresses the challenges of academic administration at major research universities while helping faculty members prepare to meet those challenges.
ALP Fellows from across the Big Ten attend two three 3-day seminars, each at a different Big Ten campus, a three-part virtual seminar, and a few shorter virtual meetings throughout the academic year. Nebraska’s ALP Fellows also participate in on-campus meetings throughout the academic year with members of our university's academic leadership.
Learn more about the Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program.
2023-24 ALP Fellows
Cory Armstrong
Lawrence L. and Ruth E. Pike Professor in Journalism, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications
Cory Armstrong is a Lawrence L. and Ruth E. Pike Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. She has secured grants totaling more than $230,000 to study media messaging and severe weather in both the mid-south and southeastern U.S. Her research combines traditional and emerging media and focuses on how individuals use media to make decisions during weather events. Her studies highlight the often unmet evacuation and safety needs of vulnerable populations during weather emergencies — specifically floods, hurricanes and tornados. She has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications appearing in such journals as Journalism & Mass Communications Quarterly, Digital Journalism, Communication Research, and the Journal of Risk Research, among others. Prior to UNL, Armstrong was professor and chair of Journalism and Creative Media at the University of Alabama; professor and director of the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas; and associate professor and graduate coordinator in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. Armstrong holds a bachelor’s degree from Miami University and a master’s degree and doctorate in mass communications from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She also worked as a journalist for 10 years before returning to academics.
Armstrong has been selected as the Nebraska ALP-Mellon Fellow for 2023-24 and will participate in an enhanced two-year experience, made possible by a Mellon Foundation grant to the BTAA, with additional academic leadership programming in the humanities and a mentored project within the EVC Office.
Nick Brozović
Professor of Agricultural Economics, Director of Policy at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute
Nick Brozović is Professor of Agricultural Economics and Director of Policy at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. He works to ensure that the institute’s worldwide programs inform public and private sector needs around agricultural water management. He leads strategic programs at the intersection of policy, technology, and entrepreneurship. These include supporting irrigation entrepreneurs in the U.S., Sub-Saharan Africa, and elsewhere; collaborating with multiple agtech incubator programs; and advising corporate water strategy related to water use in agriculture. Brozović's current research focuses on topics related to water risk; estimation of the value of water in agriculture; evaluation of policies and governance structures for water management; and assessment of agricultural technology innovations and business models. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Oxford University, a master’s degree in geology from the University of Southern California, and master’s and doctoral degrees in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California–Berkeley.
Lisa Franzen-Castle
Professor and Extension Nutrition Specialist, Nutrition and Health Sciences
Lisa Franzen-Castle is a Professor and Extension Nutrition Specialist in Nutrition and Health Sciences. Her research is in the area of nutrition education and nutritional behavioral changes for adults. Drawing from quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, her research activities are directed by applied collaborative approaches and psychological models of behavior theories. As an Extension Nutrition Specialist, Franzen-Castle has statewide responsibilities and plans, markets, teaches, conducts, and evaluates educational programs and martials related to nutrition, health, and wellness education for adults. Many of her Extension efforts are integrated with her research, with extramural support reflecting multi-state work and local, state, and regional projects from non-profit, foundation, financial cooperative, government, and federal sources. Through these projects, she has addressed issues surrounding young adults through membership in the NC-1193 multi-state research group, parents, primary meal preparers,and childcare providers through childhood obesity prevention-related funding, and rural and urban adults and communities with food security/access-related funding. Individual awards include the Gold Author Recognition Award (Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior), the Early Professional Achievement Award (Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior), the Omtvedt Innovation Award for Extension (IANR), and the Emerging Dietetic Leader Award (Nebraska Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics). She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from UNL and received her doctorate from the University of Minnesota — Twin Cities with a major in nutrition and minor in anthropology. She is a also a Registered Dietitian.
Christine Kelley
Professor of Mathematics
Christine Kelley is a Professor of Mathematics specializing in error-correcting codes. Her research focuses on graph-based codes and iterative decoding algorithms. Kelley is currently serving as the Mathematical Association of America's Director of Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching), a professional development program for junior faculty in mathematics. Kelley is active in promoting diversity and inclusion, has co-chaired the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics for over 10 years, and has chaired and continues to serve on the College of Arts and Sciences' Inclusion Diversity Equity and Access committee. She has won several campus awards including the Harold and Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award in 2010, a College of Arts and Sciences' Distinguished Teaching Award in 2012, and the Roger Wiegand Award in the Department of Mathematics in 2021 for contributions to graduate students. Kelley received her bachelor's degree in mathematics at the University of Puget Sound, her masters and doctorate in mathematics at the University of Notre Dame, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Fields Institute in Toronto and The Ohio State University.
Laurie Miller
Associate Professor of Practice of Economics, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Curriculum in the College of Business
Laurie Miller is Associate Professor of Practice of Economics and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Curriculum in the College of Business. Her research investigates the impact of flexible working arrangements on the U.S. workforce, as well as student performance in introductory economics courses. As a Seacrest Teaching Fellow, she also researched student effort in introductory economics courses. The recipient of multiple teaching awards, Miller received the UNL College of Business Excellence in Teaching Award and earned recognition for her contributions to students from the Parent’s Association Friends and Family Recognition Award. In 2017, Miller founded the college’s Career Closet, which provides clean, gently used professional dress items for all university students, with operational assistance from the Alpha Delta Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi. In 2023, she lead her fifth summer study abroad for students to Barcelona, Spain. She oversees the college’s signature study abroad programs of Nebraska at Oxford and Senshu University Exchange program, among other new offerings. Miller received her master's degree and doctorate in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
Witawas Srisa-an
Professor of Computer Science, Director of the School of Computing
Witawas (Witty) Srisa-an is a Professor of Computer Science. His research interests lie in programming languages, runtime systems, software engineering, and cyber security with a particular focus on leveraging programming language concepts and runtime properties to ensure complex software systems' dependability, safety, and security. He received two Distinguished Teaching Awards from the College of Engineering in 2006 and 2018. He also received the Faculty Service Award in 2020 and is a Faculty Fellow for Student Success. Srisa-an received his bachelor's degree in science and technology in context, and master's degree and doctorate in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology.