Academic Success provides resources for student achievement at UNK and beyond. To that end, Academic Success houses services that can help students earn better grades, graduate on-time, and become life-long learners. Resources include the Learning Commons which includes Subject Tutoring, the Writing Center and Supplemental Instruction (group tutoring): Student Support Services, a federal TRIO program; Disability Services; University Foundations classes; Study Skills classes; the Kearney Bound Program; a Computer Lab. Academic Success urges students to register for support services, enroll in transition classes, develop an accommodations plan, and/or sign-up for subject tutoring as early as possible. It is never too early to start planning for success. Moreover, taking full advantage of the available resources not only helps students perform academically, but also connects them with a diverse group of fun, interesting and engaged peers and staff.

The mission of the Center for Teaching Excellence is to enhance undergraduate education by providing services and resources to encourage and support excellent teaching. The Center coordinates teaching and learning workshops, symposia, and small group discussions designed to assist faculty in promoting active learning, understanding learning styles, and assessing student learning. In addition to offering individual and confidential consulting services for instructors, the Center also disseminates instructional information.

eCampus at UNK has been meeting the educational needs of placebound, nontraditional adults for more than three decades by offering quality, affordable programs. UNK offers the same quality distance and online degree programs and courses that are offered on the campus. The majority of the eCampus courses are taught by credentialed faculty with Ph.D.s who are committed to teaching excellence. eCampus supports faculty and students with numerous support services to ensure that online offerings provide students with a quality educational experience. These include training for online faculty, course consultations, test proctoring, as well as a wide range of resources to help students succeed with their online education.

As part of the eCampus unit, Video Services provides a wide range of video related services to the UNK community. Among these are interactive videoconferencing, desktop videoconferencing, streaming video, taping, and duplicating. In addition, Video Services oversees the delivery of Cable TV services to the campus.

To view UNK's online programs, courses, and resources, go to http://ecampus.unk.edu.

Information Technology provides administrative and academic technology-based services to the campus and provides support for the campus network. Available services include technical assistance and desktop support for faculty and staff; training for faculty, staff and students using a wide variety of computing resources; Internet access; hardware and software configuration and purchasing assistance; server support; web development, instructional design, and multimedia services; and administrative application development.

A variety of platforms support administrative, instructional and research functions for faculty, staff and students. All students have UNK email accounts. BlackBoard is utilized for development and management of web-based courses.

Computer labs are maintained in each residence hall. Two general-purpose labs are located in the Calvin T. Ryan Library. General-purpose labs provide access to a standard suite of software, including browsers, word processing, and spreadsheets. There are student computer labs, some with Macintosh computers and some with Windows-based computers, located in each of the academic buildings, maintained by individual departments.

A wireless data network is available to students, faculty and staff in all campus buildings.

Students with disabilities and special needs should contact the Office of Academic Success for information regarding accommodations.

A computer store in Room 115, Otto Olsen Building, offers full retail services for those wishing to buy computer equipment, including configuration advice and demo units. Contracts with major vendors provide attractive educational discounts, with sales limited to faculty, staff, and students of UNK.

The Help Desk, located in Room 115, Otto Olsen Building, is available to answer questions, resolve problems and provide information about computer use and network services at UNK. Training sessions and hands-on assistance are offered for faculty, staff, and students wishing to learn more about many aspects of technology. The Help Desk is staffed from 8 am to 5 pm on Monday through Friday, but assistance is available 24x7. After hours phone calls are routed to an answering service, which also responds to emails and offers live chat. (See the Helpdesk link at http://its.unk.edu).

All of the residence halls offer network access to students in each room. With a wired or wireless connection to the UNK network, students who have their own computers can access campus computing resources and the Internet from their residence hall room.

Two sets of guidelines, the University of Nebraska Policy for Responsible Use of University Computers and Information Systems and Guidelines for the Use of Information Technology Resources at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, apply to faculty, staff and students at UNK.

The role of the University of Nebraska at Kearney Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to protect human subjects who participate in research and to ensure that research conducted by UNK students, faculty, and staff complies with federal regulations. The IRB is an independent committee comprised of faculty from a variety of academic divisions, individuals with medical expertise, and community members.

The three general ethical principles that underlie the regulations concerning human subject research are: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. These principles guide IRB review of research conducted at UNK:

Respect for Persons - Prospective participants in research must be given enough information about the nature of the research, what is required of them, and the potential benefits and risks of participating to allow them to make an informed decision about whether or not to participate.

Beneficence - Research involving human subjects must maintain a favorable balance between benefits and risks. Many types of risk must be considered, including physical harm, psychological harm, harm to one's reputation or employment status, and financial harm. In any risk-potential situation, the benefits should outweigh the potential risk. Subjects must be aware of potential risks before consenting to participate in the research.

Justice - Researchers should fairly select subjects for research participation. Fairness refers to the subjects as individuals as well as to subjects as members of any social, racial, sexual, or ethnic group.

At the individual level, subjects cannot be selected only because they are favored by the researcher or disliked by the researcher (for example, only those failing a class are invited to participate). Additionally, certain groups should not be more burdened than others with being research subjects. On the other hand, groups should not be excluded from research because of prior beliefs or because they are difficult to reach as research subjects.

Depending on the research method and subjects, IRB review is conducted at three levels: exempt, expedited, and full board. Researchers should submit their protocols to the IRB prior to data collection. Researchers also must complete a training program. The link to the training, submission guidelines, and forms for IRB review are available from the IRB website: www.unk.edu/irb.

The Calvin T. Ryan Library staff, in partnership with the classroom faculty, Academic Success staff and other members of the UNK community, provide students with opportunities to develop skills that support their current educational pursuits, further their career opportunities, enrich their personal lives, and, ultimately, prepare them for lifelong learning.

The library building was originally constructed in 1963, with an addition in 1983. It provides seating and services for more than 890 students, including group study rooms, lounge seating, individual study carrels, two computer labs, a coffee shop, and a multimedia production and practice room equipped with specialized production, presentation and website development software for student use. In recent years further changes have been made, including the addition of the first Learning Commons at a state college or university in Nebraska. The 4,800 square foot Learning Commons houses the UNK Writing Center, Subject Tutoring, additional group study rooms, and other services and activities focused on student academic success.

Numerous computers, printers and scanners are available throughout the library. Wireless computers can be used almost anywhere in the building, and resources also include two high-quality microform digitizers. Students may check out laptop computers at the circulation desk for in-library use.

The library provides access to a wide range of computer-based information resources, including the library's catalog, an electronic reserves system, 200-plus online databases, over 44,000 electronic books, and more than 82,000 full-text periodicals. Reference service is available in person and by telephone, e-mail or mobile phone during scheduled hours, along with 24/7 "chat" reference through a partnership with 430 other academic libraries worldwide. Several large online reference collections make reference information available to distance students as well as to those who use the library on-campus. The online portion of the library never closes, and these electronic resources are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to UNK students anywhere in the world who have a computer and Internet access. The library's homepage, http://library.unk.edu, provides general information about the library, as well as serving as a portal to all available print and digital resources.

The library's physical collections consist of over 285,000 print volumes and 94,000 non-print items encompassing a wide range of materials. The Library subscribes to approximately 600 current periodicals in print (magazines, journals, and newspapers), and maintains a collection of more than 117,000 bound periodical volumes. It is an official Federal Government Depository, and offers access to thousands of government documents in print and electronic form, in addition to documents from State of Nebraska agencies. A 2,400 item Special Collection includes titles on Nebraska history and the history of the American West. The library also houses the University Archives, comprised of print, non-print and online materials concerning the history of UNK and related information about its faculty, staff, administration, and students. The Curriculum Collections include an extensive pre-K through 12th grade textbook collection; lesson planning, curriculum development, classroom management and other practical teaching resources; games; kits; DVDs; and a spectacular juvenile literature collection.

The Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Division of the Library supports the research and instructional needs of the UNK community by providing access to materials not owned by the Library. This service is provided free of charge to UNK students, faculty, and staff.

The nine library faculty members, three managerial professionals, and thirteen support staff are dedicated to making the library an integral part of students' careers at UNK by acquiring and organizing information resources in a variety of formats, providing classroom and online instruction on the use of library resources, and consulting one-on-one with students in the library, via phone, and online.

The Museum of Nebraska Art is unique among art museums, dedicated exclusively to telling the story of Nebraska through the art of Nebraska. MONA exhibits the work of a distinguished and diverse collection of artists including pieces by Nebraska artists as well as artwork featuring Nebraska subjects by artists from all over the world. A Kearney landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places, MONA provides a fitting home for its collection of over 5,000 works. Located in downtown Kearney, MONA is a regional center for cultural activities where students enjoy opportunities to broaden their academic experiences through their association with the Museum and its collection. Visitors enjoy MONA by attending exhibitions, special educational workshops, lectures, and musical performances. Web and distance education programming provide connections to the Museum beyond central Nebraska as well. With no admission fee and convenient parking, MONA is an artistic treasure readily available to all. For more information, visit MONA's website: mona.unk.edu.

These facilities are operated by the Department of Physics and Physical Science. They exist for three reasons: (1) to be used in the teaching of classes for both astronomy/astrophysics majors and the general student body, (2) to be used for research, and (3) to be used as outreach tools to provide astronomy education to Kearney and the surrounding areas.

The UNK Planetarium is one of the most modern star theaters in the region. The lobby of the planetarium features Nebraska's only Foucault Pendulum. The pendulum provides a visual demonstration that the Earth rotates on its axis, as first used by Jean Bernard Leon Foucault at the Paris Observatory in 1851. The Zeiss ZKP4 projector provides a realistic view of the night sky, with the ability to move through time and move around the globe at will. Monthly scheduled shows are provided for the general public. The theater is also in frequent use providing shows for regional school classes and other public groups. Of course the theater is also used in teaching various science classes. The planetarium is handicap accessible.

The UNK Observatory is located on the roof of Bruner Hall. The roll-off roof installation provides access to the skies for the Meade 14” Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope, as well as various smaller telescopes. The observatory provides imaging, photometry, and spectroscopy capabilities that can be used for research, teaching, and outreach. The observatory's location on the roof means that it is not handicap accessible.

The Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic is the academic center for the B.S.Ed. degree program in Communication Disorders and the M.S.Ed. degree program in Speech/Language Pathology. It offers a site for the integration of professional coursework with extensive practical experience under direct faculty supervision for those students choosing this major.

The Clinic offers clinical services in consultation, evaluation, and treatment for students, faculty, and the general public. Services are available for both children and adults with communication disorders related to articulation/phonological problems, language delay, reading and writing challenges, stuttering, voice problems, hearing loss, cochlear implants, cleft palate, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, laryngectomy, and language disorders secondary to head injury and stroke. The Clinic is located in the west end of the College of Education Building. Clients may park in the lot coming directly off Hwy. 30 by the main doors to the clinic. The Clinic is open Monday through Thursday from 9am to 5pm, Friday from 9 to noon, and selected evenings.

The Testing Center, located in College of Education Building, provides Computer Based Testing and Paper/Pencil Testing for a wide array of areas. Our Computed Based Testing system delivers both linear exams (all items are presented in order) and adaptive tests (the computer uses the candidate's response to each item to deliver subsequent items and ends when the computer is able to make a pass/fail determination).

Computer Based testing is offered year round, Monday through Friday, by appointment only. Paper/Pencil testing is conducted on specific published dates with pre-registration required. Study materials are available for certain programs.

The Testing Center services are available to all University of Nebraska students as well as students from surrounding Colleges and the general public.

The following Computer Based Tests are currently available through the Testing Center:

The following paper/pencil tests are currently available through the Testing Center:

The Walker Art Gallery is dedicated to serving the students, faculty and staff of the Department of Art and Art History, the University campus community and the Kearney region, by presenting exhibitions of accomplished visual expression. Two such exhibitions are presented each academic year, drawn from regional as well as national sources. Each of these exhibitions is selected for its educational and inspirational value to the students, as well as artistic merit and intent. As a rule, exhibiting artists and designers lecture on their work, or offer gallery talks. In addition, one half of the standing permanent art faculty exhibits new work each year on a rotating basis.

The Walker Art Gallery devotes over half of its exhibition schedule to the UNK art students. There is an annual exhibition of student work deemed exceptional by the art faculty, and a series, each semester, of capstone senior exhibitions. The students are given the primary responsibility for the installation and deinstallation of their exhibitions, thus gaining invaluable practicum experience.