KEARNEY – John Falconer, senior advisor to the chancellor for executive affairs at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, is the featured speaker for this year’s Last Lecture presentation.
Falconer will present “Community as Culture: Organizational Theory and Collective Well-being” at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Copeland Hall Room 142 on the UNK campus. His presentation focuses on how individually held views, personal relationships and community culture impact our collective well-being.
Sponsored by UNK’s Xi Phi chapter of Mortar Board, the event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be available.
The Last Lecture series honors members of the UNK faculty, staff or administration by inviting them to give a lecture on a topic of their choosing. Lecturers are asked to think about insights and wisdom they would share if they had one final opportunity to address an audience.
A Kearney native, Falconer joined UNK in 1999 as director of sponsored programs. He was named director of the UNK Honors Program in 2013 and served as director of undergraduate research and creative activity.
In those positions, he generated and increased faculty and student interest in undergraduate student research, establishing UNK as a model for successfully engaging students in experiential learning and creative activity alongside and under the mentorship of faculty. He has published scholarly articles and chapters on undergraduate research, access to education, criminal justice and honors education, and taught courses on American government, introduction to research and health policy.
As senior advisor to the chancellor for executive affairs, a position he’s held since summer 2019, Falconer supervises the Office of Equity and Compliance, serves on the administrative Cabinet and provides counsel and assistance to UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen, among other key duties.
Falconer earned bachelor’s degrees from UNK in political science and sociology and a master’s degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia. He holds a doctorate in higher education administration, curriculum and instruction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Falconer previously worked in Washington, D.C., as a program manager at the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation and director of development at American Forests.
Established in 1918, Mortar Board is a national honor society recognizing college seniors for their exemplary scholarship, leadership and service. UNK’s Xi Phi chapter is one of 232 chartered chapters nationwide.
