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April Awardee
Martha Karlstad | Senior English
Employed by the School of Biological Sciences

Our Ovation for April goes out to Martha Karlstad, Senior English major working in the School of Biological Sciences. As her nominations say, "Martha Karlstad has been the head teaching assistant for Nursing Anatomy for the last four semesters. During this time she has amply demonstrated her commitment to making herself a truly exceptional instructor and one who has encouraged an esprit de corp amongst other TA's that facilitated a commitment to excellence in instruction. The head TA plays a very important role in ensuring that TA's are performing their tasks while also maintaining grades and dealing with the many technical and operational questions that emerge from her co-workers or from students. Martha has reveled this role and her efforts have been contagious. She enjoys her role in the laboratory and makes her enthusiasm clearly visible. This, and her usual joie de vivre, creates an atmosphere in the laboratory meetings where learning and achievement are encouraged and expected. In addition to all that is expected of her, Martha has organized activities outside the laboratory to foster friendship and fun. All of this in addition to being an excellent student who, as an English major, maintained a superb GPA, achieved an great score on the MCAT, and has also been accepted to medical school...

I am constantly amazed at all that Martha has accomplished throughout her life. She has experienced many facets of life and this has expanded her knowledge, her interests and the intelligence and maturity she displays constantly. She maintains a full class load, is in charge of the Anatomy TAs, attends Anatomy lecture so she can better help students during her weekly study session, has been accepted into Medical School at UNMC and still finds a balance outside of UNL. Having been a non-traditional student and a TA I watched Martha deal with sensitive situations with diplomacy and fairness while getting a strict point across. This she can do and still maintain a friendly approachability. She's positive, warm, caring and will someday make a superb Doctor. Her organizational skills keep TAs on track along with labs running smoothly and cohesively..."