Welcome to season 3 of Faculty 101, a podcast that offers a listen into the pursuits and perspectives of Husker faculty.

Hosted by Mary Jane Bruce, these stories explore how our faculty got here, what they’ve learned along the way, and why they do what they do at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Listen: Faculty 101 with Curt Tomasevicz

Our season 3 premiere pushes off with Curt Tomasevicz, an assistant professor of practice who won a gold medal as part of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Men’s Bobsled Team and walked on as a linebacker for the Husker football team in the early 2000s.

The native of Shelby, Nebraska, tells Bruce what it’s like to hurtle down an ice chute at 80 miles per hour — and how it feels when the bobsled doesn’t reach the bottom of the course. He also gives Bruce a tour of the Nebraska Athletic Performance Laboratory in Memorial Stadium, explaining what sets it apart from other sports science facilities and how the lab’s elite technology helps mold elite athletes.

Tomasevicz later talks about his upbringing in a town of 700 people who once raised $25,000 in a day to help fund his Olympic dreams. And he shares his thoughts on how becoming a student-athlete honed the focus needed to succeed in engineering classrooms at Nebraska.

The episode wraps with a brief clip of Tomsevicz’s band, the lessons he took from his unexpected turn into bobsledding, and the advice he imparts to students in biological systems engineering.

Faculty 101 episodes will be featured here on Nebraska Today, but you can also subscribe via iTunes and Stitcher. Additional podcast delivery systems will be announced as they come online.

As always, we welcome your feedback. If you like the podcast, please subscribe and share it via a favorite social media channel. You can also offer us feedback and story ideas by sending email to nebraskatoday@unl.edu or calling 402-472-8515.