Associate Director
Cedar Point Biological Station
“Jon Garbisch, in his position as Associate Director of Cedar Point Biological Station, is incredibly deserving of an Applause Award. During the summer, when the station is hosting a myriad of people, including high school student groups, UNL students, researchers, and artists, Jon is the heart and soul of the operation. He spends a seemingly endless well of energy training student workers, maintaining the station, working with architects to develop new spaces for housing and work, and more. His duties are myriad, from academic to maintenance. One day, he might be digging up a lawn to fix a broken pipe, and the next, repairing a cattle guard or delivering a toothbrush to an ill-prepared instructor at 12:00 AM (me…).
And while forever busy he is always available to students and faculty alike for a smile and a supportive conversation. He problem-solves organismal trapping and care techniques, helping develop new bird feeders and bird boxes for the ornithology class while juggling ordering and facilities maintenance for the whole station. His boundless love and care for the station extends to his time back on campus too, working tirelessly to advocate for additional funding for the station, recruit students for classes, and recruit new student workers. Year after year, I see the same young students returning to the station until they have to graduate, and I think that retention is in no small way a result of Jon’s presence at the station. Jon deserves to be recognized by the university for his outstanding performance that goes above and beyond the call of duty. I can’t think of anyone more worthy of an Applause!”
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“I have been teaching and conducting research at Cedar Point Biological Stations for over 20 years at some capacity. From the time Jon Garbisch was hired as CPBS site director I have witnessed a great improvement in all the operations. His abilities both to manage the operations and physically maintain the property are amazing. He is able to keep students & student interns happy and productive while satisfying all the demands of the faculty.”
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“Jon consistently goes above and beyond his duties and works tirelessly to make Cedar Point the truly spectacular research station, learning community, and interdisciplinary hub that it is. Jon works on a very limited budget to welcome students, researchers, artists, architects, teachers, adult learners, administrators, and members of the public to the station each summer with a smile. He handles the various crises - large and small - that pop up each day, while also cultivating an expansive vision for what a biological research station can be. Under his leadership, Cedar Point has expanded its artist-in-residence program; grown the course listing to include literature, language, and ethnic studies courses; and fostered an ongoing collaboration with a design-build studio in the College of Architecture. At the same time, the station hosts classes in the sciences, writing retreats for graduate students, master naturalist and high school sessions, and multiple ongoing grant-funded research projects. Jon also works hard to provide the many users of the station with temporary homes, meeting the needs of every person who comes through the campus and creating an inclusive and welcoming community.
The station has been so meaningful to the many people who have stayed there over the past fifty years that Cedar Point hosted a well-attended celebration of the anniversary, welcoming a large group of alumni, current teachers, and former artists-in-residence, as well as the dean, directors, and administrators who oversee the station. This event included numerous meaningful testaments to Jon's truly measureless role in making the station the magical place that it is. He is deserving of this recognition and many others.”
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“Job Garbisch deserves our applause for his work as Associate Director to advance experiential learning and build an interdisciplinary space for inclusive excellence at Cedar Point Biological Station. Over many years and uncountable hours, Jon has built and maintained infrastructure and community at CPBS that supports student education in a research and outdoor setting, student and faculty engagement in research and creative activity, and the professional development of countless people many of whom have had their lives forever changed by their time at CPBS. Every Fall in my classroom I hear students share what a formative experience they have had the past summer at CPBS and it would be a rare moment when the name Jon Garbisch does not come up in this narrative. For my personal experience, Jon has completely and whole-heartedly supported the development of the SBS and CAS writing retreats, as well as our more recent Theory-data workshop. He is full of ideas for advancing my future engagement at the station that includes involving students from our NSF-supported STEM-POWER undergraduate research program. His enthusiasm and positive approach to what can sometimes be difficult challenges at the station is catching and inspiring. Every time I leave, I think about how and when I will come back and Jon is a big part of fostering this kind of welcoming community; he makes CPBS feel like home to me. He loves that space and he fosters that feeling in everyone who comes there to immerse themselves in learning in the environment, and his hard day-to-day and future-looking work makes sure that the station continues to be a place in which we can do this. Please give him an Applause!”
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“It is a great pleasure to nominate Jon Garbisch for an Applause Award. As an associate professor in the architecture department, I can truly say that Jon has been central to the development of my teaching and creative work through our collaborations with the Cedar Point Bio Station. My pedagogy and research in architecture, forestry production, and engineered lumber have greatly benefited from its application to the buildings we have completed at Cedar Point. This teaching methodology, known within architectural education as design-build, is based on students' direct engagement with real architectural projects. Over the years, students have designed and constructed several new buildings, including the Baxa Cabin, the Mizer’s Ruin, and the Prairie Observation Blind. All of these buildings have relied upon John's steady and consistent encouragement and incredible investment of his own time. Jon is a craftsman, a critic, a collaborator and a client, all wrapped in a relentless work ethic. Over the eight years we have been working together, Jon has helped raise funds for construction and support our students through a welcoming and collaborative environment. This has resulted in several national awards, peer-reviewed papers and invitations to publish our work….I cannot imagine anyone more deserving than Jon for this award.”
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“Jon has helped transform the curriculum at the Station by engaging artists in residence and art professors and literature professors to teach courses at the traditionally-biology-focused Station. Jon has also transformed the grounds of the Station by developing grants to support removal of encroaching cedar trees (too much of a good thing!) and worked with Architecture on cabin-building projects. Cedar Point is stronger and more diverse today because of Jon's ability to partner with unique partners. Kudos to Jon!”
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“Jon Garbisch’s work as the Associate Director of Cedar Point Biological Station (CPBS) has long been central to fulfilling the mission of the School of Biological Sciences to generate new scientific knowledge, prepare a new generation of citizens to become leaders in life sciences, foster a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment, and to engage with stakeholders to confront local and global challenges. Jon has been remarkably innovative and consistently outstanding in his work, and he clearly goes ‘above and beyond’ in numerous ways.”
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“Jon Garbisch has been the enduring presence that has sustained the energy and impact of CPBS for a long time. At the same time, he has been an engine of innovation by pushing the development of new, interdisciplinary experiential learning opportunities for students. Jon was critical in attracting and acquiring funds for a new art program at CPBS. Jon has also had a hand in promoting a new architecture design-build course, which resulted in two new buildings that are now in full use every summer. Jon also masterminded the reshaping of the kitchen and facilities maintenance into a hospitality program with a more hotel-level approach, which not only dramatically elevated the service provided to students, but it simultaneously served as an exceptional experiential learning opportunity for hospitality majors.
Year after year, summer sessions at CPBS runs smoothly because of Jon. He manages to carryout the job of multiple people by being an amazing mentor.
Jon trains a cohort of undergraduate students through an internship program, where they gain valuable experience in skills such as landscaping, maintenance, and hospitality. Finally, everyone who has worked, conducted research, or taken a class at CPBS knows that Jon goes above and beyond the call of duty. He is always around, all hours of the day, seemingly everywhere. He is very well deserving of this applause.”
Jon Garbisch is indispensable to the functions of the station. He is a "jack of all trades" and is overly generous with his time. The station benefits from his vast field station experience and vision for what a field station should be. Under his guidance, the number of course and program offerings have consistently increased. He has been instrumental in developing interdisciplinary programs at CPBS. These include the Art at CPBS program, Literature at CPBS courses as well as partnerships with UNL Architecture faculty and students to facilitate practical design-build courses. The latter have contributed to at least 2 different state of the art buildings on the station (The Baxa House and Miser's Ruin).
His dedication is incredible. While at the station, which is most of the summer, his day often starts before sunrise and ends after sunset. Over any given day, he can be found facilitating materials for the various courses, overseeing a cohort of 6-10 undergraduate students each year in a wide range of landscaping, maintenance, and hospitality skills as part of our larger Cedar Point Works internship, or moving earth to shore up roads and paths. Among many other activities. When funding for the caretaker position was eliminated, Jon has filled the gaps when and where he can. I could go on, but won't. Simply put, CPBS doesn't run except for his efforts. His recognition with a CAS Applause Award is long overdue.”
Jon is the person most responsible for the day-to-day running of the Cedar Point station, and the overall student experience. His job is challenging - serving as a surrogate parent for dozens of undergraduate students, many of whom are having their first experience in a rural setting far from home, without many of the comforts and support structures they are used to. The fact that CPBS is consistently cited by students as one of the most rewarding and memorable experiences of their time at UNL is a testament to Jon's skill and dedication. I depend on him for countless things each summer - everything from student lists to TA recruitment to advice about windshield repair after a sandhills hailstorm. His support is one of the reasons I am able to spend 3 weeks away from Omaha, teaching the class each year. His experience and institutional memory makes it possible for ongoing success of the unusual UNL/UNMC collaboration that is the Field Epidemiology course. He is certainly deserving of this Applause award.”
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“Jon Garbisch’s work has been remarkably innovative and consistently outstanding. He clearly goes ‘above and beyond’ in numerous ways as both the on-the-ground point person at Cedar Point and as a supporting resource for the many varied users of Cedar Point, from undergraduates to attendees at the CAS writing retreat. Jon Garbisch has been in his role at Cedar Point for a while. His work is a marvel of consistency and endurance, handling an intense open season in the summer and fall and then prepping for the next open season in the winter and spring. Jon Garbisch has been highly innovative over the years. His innovations are in the form of 1) expanding the disciplinary scope of CPBS and 2) developing experiential learning opportunities for students in the management of the station. For the first, Jon has played a key role in getting the Art at CPBS program going, making sure to coordinate with art faculty to acquire funds and keep the courses running. Jon has also had a hand in promoting the English course and the architecture design-build course; the latter resulted in two student-built residential cabins. For the second, Jon is behind the exceptional advance of involving the hospitality program for running the kitchen and managing the station with a more hotel-level approach. This is not just innovative, it provides an exceptional experiential learning opportunity for hospitality majors while dramatically improving the way in which people are cared for while at the station. Jon’s performance also has been consistently outstanding. Year in and year out, the Cedar Point summer session runs smoothly. Since I've been out there, the station has been in good hands with Jon. He is the one to make sure that things work, and he's always on it if they don't. This has been even truer in recent years, as our normal full-time facilities manager retired, so he is now doing the work of two full time people. Jon trains a cohort of 6-10 undergraduate students each year in a wide range of landscaping, maintenance, and hospitality skills as part of our larger Cedar Point Works internship.
Finally, Jon displays service above and beyond the call of duty. Jon puts in very long hours during the summer, and continues to help everyone from 7 am till 10 pm nearly every day for four months, consistently with a smile. In the off season, Jon has worked to help us rebuild our administrative machine, adding efficiency to our operations. And he continues to be highly responsive to my many requests for improvements to how we conduct station business. In short, Jon makes my job easier, and he is overdue for some applause.”