‘Play Your Part’: Honoring a UNO Community Chair and Early Childhood Champion

Debora Wisneski, the University of Nebraska at Omaha Community Chair, speaks at a reception on Oct. 22, 2025.

Debora Wisneski has a go-to piece of advice: “Play your part.”

“We each have a perspective, a talent, a gift, a resource, that matters,” she said.

It’s a fitting motto for a teacher education professor who’s spent much of her career championing the power of play-based learning for young children.

Wisneski, the John T. Langan Community Chair in Early Childhood Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, was honored at a community chair reception in Omaha on Oct. 22.

More than 100 people attended, including nearly 30 staff and faculty from the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences at UNO.

“Even before I came here, I knew about Professor Wisneski’s work,” said Walter Gilliam, the executive director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska. “She's a giant in the field of early childhood play, and I've long admired the work that she did reminding us that all learning comes from play, especially with young children.”

There are four endowed community chairs at the Buffett Institute. Wisneski became the first in 2013, modeling how community chairs can collaborate with the Institute as well as early educators, families, and community organizations.

Open to professors from the four campuses of the University of Nebraska System, the chairs provide campus leadership and connect with communities, serving, as NU President Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., said, “to bridge the gap between academia and Nebraskans.”

In addition to Wisneski, the Institute’s community chairs are:

• Julia Torquati, Community Chair in Infant and Child Mental Health, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
• Paula Thompson, Cille and Ron Williams Community Chair for Early Childhood Education, University of Nebraska at Kearney
• Philip Lai, Cille and Ron Williams Community Chair for Early Childhood Education, UNK

A reception was held for Thompson and Lai, the newest community chairs, on Oct. 17 in Kearney.

Gilliam said the community chair positions demonstrate the University of Nebraska’s strong support of early childhood education and its care for children, “18 years before they even set foot on campus.”

At the UNO reception, speakers praised Wisneski’s leadership in the early childhood field, mentorship of college students and aspiring teachers, and extensive community engagement. Wisneski has served as the president of Childhood Education International, the Association for the Study of Play, and the Education Rights Counsel.

“She is a key liaison between dedicated faculty and community partners who share a deep interest in supporting early childhood,” said UNO Chancellor Joanne Li.

Wisneski has worked on play-based projects like Omaha Urban Thinkscapes, the redesign of infant and toddler playscapes with Educare, RDG and BCI Burke playgrounds, the creation of the UNO PLAY Lab, and the Playful Learning and Community Engagement (PLACE) faculty group.

Recently, Wisneski has worked with philanthropists and developers Paul and Annette Smith to design a community child care center at Millwork Commons, the new development in north downtown Omaha.

“In working with Debora, we found her to be truly special,” the Smiths said. “She is keenly focused on what is best for children. She has a rare combination of deep expertise, an earnest interest in others, and a determination to get things done, and she does it all with a thoughtful, kind, and generous spirit. She brings joy and passion to the work in a way that delights and inspires those who have the lucky opportunity to work with her. Debora is a true treasure.”

Walter Gilliam speaks at the UNO community chair event.

She has also partnered with the Buffett Institute in many capacities.

More than a decade ago, she helped develop what would become the Superintendents’ Early Childhood Plan. An ongoing collaboration between the 11 school districts in the Omaha metro, the Institute, and the Learning Community of Douglas and Sarpy Counties, the plan aims to strengthen early learning and close achievement gaps for students living in poverty.

“Her ability to bridge research and practice helped shape the School as Hub framework that continues to guide our work,” said Amy Schmidtke, the Buffett Institute’s director of educational practice and the lead on the Superintendents’ Plan work.

Itzel Lopez, the CEO of the Latino Economic Development Council in Omaha, collaborated with Wisneski on the Urban Thinkscapes project, which created two public play spaces, including one in South Omaha, that encourage learning and early literacy.

“Working with Dr. Debora Wisneski and UNO on the Omaha Urban Thinkscapes project has been a model example of what authentic, community partnership looks like,” Lopez said. “This partnership shows what can happen when the University partners with neighborhoods and community members to strengthen Omaha beyond campus.”

Wisneski was a deciding factor when UNO alumna Mila Herszbaum-Harding was weighing which college to attend.

“When completing research for a paper on the benefits of play in early childhood education, some of the most compelling papers I found were written by Dr. Wisneski—so compelling, in fact, that when choosing between UNO and some of the far-away institutes around the United States, I chose to stay close to home and learn from an expert who understood the community I aimed to serve,” Herszbaum-Harding said.

At the reception, Wisneski noted the importance of centering the needs of children, especially during times of war and social upheaval, and the impact early childhood education has had on her own life.

“My whole life I have worked for and with children,” she said. “I found it required me to become more healthy and whole, and braver and kind. By committing ourselves to early childhood education, we may discover that the lives we are saving may be our own.”

Erin Duffy is the managing editor at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska and writes about early childhood issues that affect children, families, educators, and communities. Previously, she spent more than a decade covering education stories and more for daily newspapers.