McGoogan News

A sensory room will be open for exploration in the McGoogan Health Sciences Library October 3-7. Developed in response to a Student Senate proposal, the sensory room is a place for library users to explore all five senses. The goals of the sensory room are to:  

• Create a welcoming and immersive environment for students to experience sensory learning 
• Promote a space where students can decompress before, after, or between study sessions 
• Identify different learning needs of the student body 

• Provide a comforting space for de-escalation and self-regulation 
• Introduce a failure-free environment where the mind can explore activities and relax 
• Encourage UNMC to continue to promote a culture where learners of all abilities are celebrated 

Located in WH classroom 6032, the room is open to students and the campus community.  

Engage the senses through art supplies, floor pillows, a variety of soothing lights, online visual experiences, kinetic sand, scratch-and-sniff stickers, and various snacks. Sensory room users are encouraged to adjust lights and white noise machines to their comfort levels. 

This sensory room pop-up will return to McGoogan Library November 14-18. 

The McGoogan Health Sciences Library is hosting an author talk on October 7, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m., with Loren A. Olson, MD, in support of his book No More Neckties: A Memoir in Essays. The presentation will be held on Zoom and requires registration.  

Dr. Olson will discuss life in Nebraska in the 1950-60s and how that delayed his coming to terms with his sexuality. He will discuss how family, religion, and culture continue to create a predicament for those who question their sexuality. 

Dr. Olson is the award-winning author of Finally Out: Letting Go of Living Straight and a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. A physician for over 50 years, he served as a flight surgeon in the US Navy and continues to practice psychiatry. A well-regarded essayist and popular speaker on mental health and LGBTQ issues, he has been interviewed on regional and national television, national and international radio, and in multiple print and online publications. Dr. Olson is the father of two daughters and a proud grandfather. A native of Wakefield, Nebraska, and a graduate of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, he lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with Doug Mortimer, his husband and life partner of 35 years. 

Copies of Dr. Olson’s book will be available via a drawing. Entries can be made online.  

For students – Study Rooms

Study rooms can be reserved within two weeks of your desired date and have a four-hour maximum time limit within a 24-hour period.

Reserve a room here: https://unmcscheduling.nebraska.edu/.

You can find the study room information and reservation instructions on the library website: https://www.unmc.edu/library/spaces/study-spaces.html. QR codes to the campus room reservation site are available throughout the library.

Study rooms need to be reserved. If you are in a study room you have not reserved, you may be asked to vacate the room to honor another student’s reservation. Study room reservations are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For UNMC faculty, staff, students, and Nebraska Medicine employees – Open Study Spaces.

Open study spaces are available on the 6th and 7th levels of the library. The library space is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• The 6th level provides open study spaces and flexible and fixed spaces for quiet study.
  • Available on this floor: two conference rooms, Faculty Commons (faculty only), Writing Center, Safe Space and Brave Space in the Inclusion Corner, and one library classroom (6032).
• The 7th level is the designated quiet level and provides open study spaces and flexible and fixed spaces for quiet study
  • Available on this floor: Brody workstation, individual booths with privacy screens, Linder Reading Room, and Sievers Technology Commons.

A variety of seating options are available on levels 6 and 7.

UNMC has been educating allied health professionals since the early 1930s. In October 1972, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents officially created the School of Allied Health Professions. In 2015, it became the sixth college at UNMC. Today, UNMC’s College of Allied Health Professions (CAHP) offers 15 health profession education programs, two interprofessional master’s degree programs, and four degree-advancement programs, with an average annual enrollment of over 750 students. 

To commemorate the past 50 years of growth and achievement, CAHP and the McGoogan Health Sciences Library partnered to produce an exhibition within the Wigton Heritage Center. This panel exhibition highlights the present programs, past and present leadership, and future growth plans of the college. The exhibition is open on both the Omaha and University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) campuses. 

The physical exhibition at UNMC is located near the Bennett/Sorrell/Wittson Hall skywalks on Level 4 of Wittson Hall. The Kearney exhibition is in the Health Science Education Complex. Accompanying these physical installations is an online exhibition accessible to a global audience at https://wigton.unmc.edu/CAHP. 

Anece McCloud will present an author talk on her book, “Seeking Personal Validation: The Life and Times of an African American, Female, Academic,” on Sept. 16 at noon. The event will be held in the UNMC College of Nursing Omaha Division room CON 2018 and via Zoom.  

McCloud served as the first director of minority affairs at UNMC. She also held the position of associate dean of students for minority affairs at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. She will speak on elements of history, sociology and psychology, as well as describing the effect that being involved in a newly developing role in academia had on her and others. 

From the book’s synopsis: “Entering the academic profession, being appointed the first director of Minority Student Affairs at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and later the first Black, female administrator at Washington and Lee University stabilized my feelings of high self-esteem. The positions also gave me the privilege of working with individuals whom society considered subordinate humans. That was how I had defined myself. Being an academic enhanced my understanding of human relationships, society and myself.” 

A drawing for copies of McCloud’s book will be held. Entries can be made online.