UNK College of Arts and Sciences

10/01/2026

Calling all high schoolers! What are you doing Oct 9?

Discover where creativity, communication, and critical thinking can take you at UNK's Arts & Humanities Day! Explore academic programs in English, History, Theatre, and Modern Languages while connecting with faculty, current students, and fellow prospective Lopers. Experience interactive activities, tour campus, and learn how an Arts & Humanities degree can open doors to careers in education, law, business, media, public service, the arts, and beyond.

Whether you're passionate about writing, performing, history, languages, or simply exploring your options, this event offers an inside look at the opportunities waiting for you at UNK.

Space is limited. Parents and guests are welcome to attend. Register at the link in the pinned post!

09/30/2026

Last week, the Department of Modern Languages hosted more than 100 local high school language learners and their teachers for the 2nd annual World Language Day. Faculty and students gave presentations over the many different language learning opportunities they provide here on campus. 📚

09/23/2026

Klaire Lockheart, Professor in Art and Design, had several paintings from her Brodalisque series feature in a duo exhibition at the William Havu Gallery in Denver, CO.

"Klaire Lockheart’s “Brodalisque” series combines a “bro” with an “odalisque,” depicting reclining dudes in man caves. Detailed oil on canvas figure paintings of passive masculine forms lounging in mysterious and unknowable environments purposefully invoke a historic and academic style of art to challenge the traditional patriarchal values of Western civilization. Even though Lockheart’s paintings feature men, they’re not about men, but art history’s endless parade of undressed women’s bodies rendered by cis-men artists to satiate the male gaze. To counterbalance these arbitrary gender roles, Lockheart painstakingly paints masculine men in the same languid poses of flaccid odalisques, writhing Venuses, and other allegories represented by feminine bodies in countless famous works. Lockheart hopes that when viewers chuckle at her paintings of reclining men, this encourages them to notice the absurd ways women are usually treated in the art world.

"Lockheart is grateful to have received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, and the South Dakota Arts Council. Her subversive brodalisque paintings have been published in New American Paintings, DailyArt Magazine, and Bird in Flight. The Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City, SD; the Norfolk Arts Center in Norfolk, NE; and the Sioux City Art Center in Sioux City, IA have hosted her recent solo exhibitions. Lockheart is also thankful to be a recipient of the Rural Regenerator Fellowship from Springboard for the Arts so she can continue to work in Vermillion, SD." - William Havu Gallery

09/21/2026

Dr. Jeremy Armstrong recently had his paper, “Scissors Mode in generalized Gross-Pitaevskii Equations” published in the Ukrainian/American journal Fizyka Nyzkykh Temperatur/Low Temperature Physics in the special issue “Opening the Second Quantum Century with the Kharkiv Quantum Seminar,” Volume 52, Issue 9 (September 2026). This work was also presented at the 11th Frontiers of Quantum Mesoscopic Thermodynamics Conference in Prague, Czechia.

“The origin story of the article is kind of interesting. It was originally planned as what’s called a conference proceeding, which means there’s a conference, and people who spoke in the conference can publish a paper, but we couldn’t get it finished in time with that deadline. But my coauthors, two of them are Ukrainian and from the university in Kharkiv, which has been sort of under the siege from Russia since 2022. And in fact, the physics building in their university was probably one of the first buildings to be hit because it’s on the outside of the city on the Russian side. So anyway, they said that there’s a special edition in this low temperature physics journal dedicated for their physics department in Kharkiv University. And so I thought, that sounds like a worthy thing to appear in. So, that’s how we ended up in this journal. And then the article itself has a very sort of esoteric title. Scissors Mode and Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations. But to tell you about the system we studied, you take a very, very cold gas near absolute zero, and you put it in a trap. Lasers confine it, and you just slightly turn that trap. Then inside we are checking if these atoms kind of oscillate back and forth, which is the so-called scissors mode. And according to our calculations, they do. And they do that depending on just how big of an initial kick you give it. If it’s too big, then other things start happening.” - Dr. Jeremy Armstrong

09/21/2026

09/21/2026

09/18/2026

Last Saturday, the Kearney Public Library hosted a Japanese Story Time with UNK’s Modern Languages and International Studies Department. Guests enjoyed Japanese-themed stories, songs, and interactive activities while learning about the language and culture of Japan. 🇯🇵

Interested in learning more about languages and cultures from around the world with your child? Stop by the library and join them for their next Story Time!

🇪🇸 Spanish Story Time — Saturday, October 10th 10am
🇫🇷 French Story Time — Saturday, November 14th 10am

"At UNK Modern Languages & International Studies, we believe there is no better time to learn a language than the present. However, we also agree with the experts who say that it's best to start learning a language as young as possible to maximize learning time and to learn more "naturally." We hope this will inspire the kids and their families to pursue additional language and cultural learning opportunities now and in the future." - Dr. Chris (CJ) Jacobs, Department of Modern Languages

09/15/2026

09/15/2026

Congratulations! 🎉

Four UNK faculty members will join colleagues from across the University of Nebraska System in a program that aims to develop the next generation of higher education leaders.

Kristy Kounovsky-Shafer, Joel Berrier, Daniel Chaffin and Bryce Abbey were selected for the NU System’s Developing Excellence in Academic Leaders (NU DEAL) program, which offers an intensive two-year curriculum that helps participants develop their leadership skills, expand their networks and explore key issues and challenges facing the University of Nebraska and higher education.

𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿 𝙈𝙊𝙍𝙀: https://unknews.unk.edu/2026/09/10/unk-faculty-members-selected-for-nu-deal-leadership-program/

09/13/2026

Caleb Rother had the opportunity to write, direct, and edit a student-made short film over the past year. He has worked with students to build a professional film crew and overcome many challenges along the way. Rother is one of the first UNK students to create a short film and have it presented at the World Theatre in Downtown Kearney.