Twenty-five University of Nebraska Medical Center nursing students, and graduate students studying cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, recently were honored with scholarships from Norman Harris, an Omaha native who lives in San Diego. Harris began establishing funds in 1999 through the University of Nebraska Foundation in memory of his late wife, Bernice Harris.
The awards were presented recently during a luncheon held at UNMC in his honor. Since 1999, $73,500 in scholarship awards have been distributed to 142 students through the foundation.
Both Norman and his late wife battled cancer. Bernice Harris also was afflicted with Lewy Body, a rare form of dementia. Through it all, Harris said they received excellent nursing care.
Originally from Omaha, the Harris family moved to San Diego in 1965. Norman Harris earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from UNL in 1941. Until his retirement in 1973, he was a manager for a chain of retail discount stores. He then embarked on entrepreneurial adventures in real estate, franchising, accounting, tax preparation, banking and finance. His wife was an artist and decorative consultant.
Below is a list of award recipients and their hometowns.
Bernice Harris Nursing Scholarship Award
Clearwater – Cassandra Thiele
Hartington — Staci Burbach
Lincoln – Marinda Kolar
Norfolk — Jennifer Boyle
O’Neill – Stephanie Miller
Papillion – Chelsey Leiting
Raymond – Roseanna Schmidt
Seward – Karra Higgins
Valentine — Kimberly Klein
Jerome, Idaho — Janet Vogel
Bernice and Norman Harris Graduate Student Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body Research Fellowship Award
Columbus – Nicholas Whitney
Hastings — Ari Nowacek
Omaha – Jessica Hutter
Butte, Mont. — Theodore Bartoletti
Haikou, Hainan, China – Jiqing Xu
Norman and Bernice Harris Graduate Student Cancer Research Fellowship Award
Omaha – Jennifer Bailey
Prairie Village, Kan. – Laura Simone
New Town, N.D. – Heidi Johnson
Puyallup, Wash. — Bradley Creamer
Bikaner, Rajasthan, India — Sangeeta Bafna
Jagatsinghpur, Orissa, India – Shantibhusan Senapati
Mysore, Karnataka, India — Sunil Mallanna
Palamaner, Andhra Pradesh, India – Kalyan Nannuru
New Delhi, India — Amit Tuli
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India — Subhankar Chakraborty
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $82 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,600 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
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