Big Ideas Webinar - Oct. 10, 2018

David Jackson Author

10/18/2018 Added

73 Plays

Description

A webinar describing the Big Ideas Initiative (recorded on Oct. 10, 2018).

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:02.010]Good afternoon, this is Susan Fritz,
[00:00:03.800]and I serve as your executive vice president in provost
[00:00:07.190]with the University of Nebraska system,
[00:00:09.620]and I'm delighted that you have joined us
[00:00:11.890]on our maiden voyage on an initiative
[00:00:14.780]that the University of Nebraska
[00:00:16.490]and the University of Nebraska Foundation are combining
[00:00:21.130]our efforts on.
[00:00:22.310]And so, I am joined here today by David Jackson.
[00:00:27.300]Dr, Jackson serves as vice provost
[00:00:30.270]for the University of Nebraska system
[00:00:32.550]and I am also pleased to welcome Lori Byrne,
[00:00:35.500]executive vice president of advancement
[00:00:38.130]and campaign director.
[00:00:39.960]You will hear from each of us during this webinar.
[00:00:44.440]But before we talk about content,
[00:00:47.550]I would like to ask each of you to
[00:00:51.090]be certain that you are aware that we are
[00:00:53.410]looking forward to receiving questions from you.
[00:00:56.540]Please enter these questions via the Zoom Chat function,
[00:01:02.490]that's the bottom menu, right side,
[00:01:05.920]and address questions to everyone.
[00:01:09.860]Your video and audio are muted.
[00:01:11.670]So to hear the webinar, connect your audio via computer,
[00:01:15.790]or select the option to dial in.
[00:01:19.670]With that, I'd like to invite Lori Byrne
[00:01:22.970]to give us an overview of this exciting initiative.
[00:01:25.470]Good afternoon.
[00:01:26.420]Thank you Susan.
[00:01:27.320]My name is Lori Byrne.
[00:01:28.400]I'm with the University of Nebraska Foundation,
[00:01:30.550]and I just wanna hit on a high level
[00:01:32.470]Big Ideas Initiative basics.
[00:01:34.710]First of all, this is a a collaboration
[00:01:36.610]between the University of Nebraska
[00:01:37.977]and the University of Nebraska Foundation.
[00:01:41.010]It's a new approach to help identify
[00:01:42.860]strategic areas of investment
[00:01:44.860]that build on the strengths of the University of Nebraska.
[00:01:48.210]We're looking for direct faculty participation
[00:01:51.150]and input to generate new Big Ideas.
[00:01:55.170]And it's also designed to generate transformational ideas,
[00:01:58.920]and I'll explain later a little bit more about
[00:02:01.850]what describes the transformational idea.
[00:02:04.570]First of all, faculty teams are invited to submit
[00:02:06.960]bold interdisciplinary ideas that would likely require
[00:02:10.870]an investment of approximately of 25 million.
[00:02:14.400]Again, this is just an approximate amount
[00:02:16.720]to target in terms of your Big Idea.
[00:02:19.030]We're really just looking for things that are bold,
[00:02:21.500]innovative, transformational,
[00:02:23.570]have cross-campus collaboration.
[00:02:26.310]And 25 million is just at target area.
[00:02:28.500]Don't use that as a hard stop
[00:02:30.910]on submitting a Big Idea or not.
[00:02:33.340]Proposals can cover a wide range of outcomes.
[00:02:35.870]It could be anything from student support,
[00:02:38.460]research-oriented, or community service oriented,
[00:02:41.140]or a combination of all three,
[00:02:42.820]or a combination of a couple of those.
[00:02:44.990]And again, the Big Ideas will transform
[00:02:48.070]and use positive impact on Nebraska
[00:02:50.680]and potentially the world.
[00:02:53.390]So what are and are not Big Ideas?
[00:02:56.110]Big Ideas are interdisciplinary
[00:02:57.950]and focus on areas where NU has a unique capacity
[00:03:01.350]and talent to lead,
[00:03:03.230]their bold visions of what a program
[00:03:05.220]or initiative can be or achieve,
[00:03:08.210]and then they leverage existing programs
[00:03:10.410]to dramatically change an approach
[00:03:12.450]or to create new levels of collaboration.
[00:03:15.920]Big Ideas are not simply bundling related ideas.
[00:03:20.370]They're also not capital projects
[00:03:22.450]that aren't critical to deliver on a core initiative.
[00:03:26.060]While space might be important
[00:03:28.180]or a capital building might be important,
[00:03:31.870]it's what happens inside that building,
[00:03:33.780]the interdisciplinary research or activity
[00:03:37.870]that potentially might drive capital project,
[00:03:40.100]but it's not the capital project that drive the activity.
[00:03:43.830]And finally, is not creating around a naming opportunity.
[00:03:48.110]So, while there could be an idea about naming a college,
[00:03:50.890]or a unit, or an institute,
[00:03:53.420]that is not a Big Idea.
[00:03:55.050]Again, it needs to be interdisciplinary.
[00:03:56.820]It needs to be very focused on outcomes,
[00:03:59.980]versus just the actual transaction of naming
[00:04:03.120]a particular unit or area.
[00:04:05.620]So, overall, those are the Big Ideas basics.
[00:04:08.400]And now I will hand it over to David Jackson.
[00:04:13.470]Thank you, Lori.
[00:04:15.080]Now I'm going to take a few minutes to talk about
[00:04:17.640]various proposal elements
[00:04:19.600]associated with the Big Ideas Initiative program,
[00:04:25.250]as well as the process for submitting your proposal.
[00:04:30.830]First and foremost, the RFA
[00:04:33.430]is available on our Big Ideas website.
[00:04:36.000]That's nebraska.edu/big-ideas.
[00:04:42.070]You'll see in the RFA
[00:04:43.170]that the proposal deadline is January 11th,
[00:04:46.583]5:00 p.m. Central time.
[00:04:49.990]It's an electronic submission process, all text-based.
[00:04:53.980]So you'll be pasting in text to various fields,
[00:04:57.930]as described in the RFA in words.
[00:05:00.690]And our awards and grants website
[00:05:03.150]is grants-awards.nebraska.edu.
[00:05:08.650]The proposal should all reflect multi-discipline,
[00:05:12.290]multi-college, and/or multi-team approach.
[00:05:17.720]And you'll be submitting conceptual high-level ideas.
[00:05:24.660]Bottom line is your Big Idea
[00:05:26.480]must help transform the University of Nebraska
[00:05:29.620]and make a positive impact.
[00:05:34.200]There are number of ways in which you can build your team
[00:05:39.870]and begin to work on your Big Idea.
[00:05:43.340]One of them is to attend
[00:05:44.950]the Collaboration Initiative Retreat on November 9th.
[00:05:48.540]It's not a requirement,
[00:05:49.770]but it's an opportunity to network, expand your team,
[00:05:54.350]and define the scope of your proposal.
[00:05:58.420]One of the the first thing you'll need to do
[00:06:00.310]when you think about your Big Idea is to
[00:06:02.600]determine a proposal scope.
[00:06:04.770]It may not be research-specific.
[00:06:08.490]So it could be student-oriented, research-oriented,
[00:06:12.120]and/or community service-oriented.
[00:06:15.220]Submitting proposals with two of those, one of those,
[00:06:18.550]or three of those elements
[00:06:21.220]would certainly be considered.
[00:06:23.670]When you begin thinking about that kind of impact,
[00:06:28.720]creating framework for your Big Idea would need to have,
[00:06:34.510]and think about transforming University of Nebraska
[00:06:37.800]as I've previously mentioned.
[00:06:39.920]But you also have to be able to capture
[00:06:42.040]the imagination of donors.
[00:06:46.490]The Big Idea proposal format
[00:06:50.270]has a number of different elements.
[00:06:52.220]You'll see those in the RFA.
[00:06:55.030]I'll discuss several of them now.
[00:06:57.150]The first is to really identify
[00:07:01.940]the multi-mission, multi-disciplinary, multi-college,
[00:07:05.320]multi-campus idea you have and
[00:07:09.820]identify an idea that is acutely focused
[00:07:13.730]on areas where NU has a unique capacity to lead.
[00:07:19.800]When you like that section,
[00:07:21.220]there are a number of elements you should consider
[00:07:25.470]and be able to answer.
[00:07:27.450]One of them is would be how was NU
[00:07:29.640]uniquely positioned to create and nurture this initiative.
[00:07:34.000]Does your Big Idea require a larger investment in this area,
[00:07:39.180]or NU will be regional, nation, and international leader,
[00:07:42.970]and the expectation is that yes it does,
[00:07:45.890]would require a larger investment?
[00:07:50.210]Also, if there are others working in this space
[00:07:52.900]across the nation and in the world,
[00:07:55.840]you should think about who is doing this very well,
[00:08:01.010]and be able to differentiate the new initiative,
[00:08:05.640]your Big Idea, from those others.
[00:08:10.220]One of the things that was done recently was
[00:08:13.970]a large group of University of Nebraska faculty
[00:08:18.610]from all campuses got together
[00:08:21.510]for an NU Visioning Day.
[00:08:24.420]During that NU Visioning Day,
[00:08:26.300]there were a lot of discussions,
[00:08:28.530]and at the end of the Visioning Day,
[00:08:31.740]the participants, the faculty participants,
[00:08:34.250]identified quite a few elements that
[00:08:37.135]they believed were characteristics of a great university.
[00:08:42.900]So, in creating your Big Idea proposals,
[00:08:45.630]we like you to identify
[00:08:48.530]how your Big Idea
[00:08:50.910]incorporates for a more of a key characteristics
[00:08:54.560]of a great university that were articulated
[00:08:57.280]by your faculty talents.
[00:08:59.910]This would be learner-focused and exponentially infused
[00:09:07.997]to have a relentless focus on student success
[00:09:12.500]that the university's research activities would be relevant,
[00:09:21.411]that the university promotes diversity,
[00:09:24.180]and encourages that diversity,
[00:09:28.840]that a great university, in our case,
[00:09:32.860]is able to leverage talent across the system,
[00:09:37.560]that the activities of the university
[00:09:39.810]and its impact have local and global relevance,
[00:09:44.950]and that the university has missions
[00:09:47.850]that are purposefully and creatively changing the world.
[00:09:52.000]Again, we'd expect your Big Idea proposal
[00:09:55.550]to incorporate at least four of these key characteristics.
[00:10:00.910]These characteristics are more fully described
[00:10:03.720]on our website and in the RFA.
[00:10:07.960]When you're thinking about answering the question
[00:10:11.699]in your proposal about how your Big Idea
[00:10:15.450]will benefit Nebraska and the world,
[00:10:17.640]you'll need to be able to articulate who will impact,
[00:10:22.830]you'll need to describe at least five intended outcomes.
[00:10:28.500]And really begin to explain why having
[00:10:31.740]your Big Idea Initiative,
[00:10:34.730]why your specific Big Idea matters.
[00:10:38.130]Each of the Big Ideas needs to represent
[00:10:40.550]a large scale initiative
[00:10:42.060]requiring that private philanthropy that we've talked about.
[00:10:46.370]So you'll need to be able to describe what resources
[00:10:49.240]it will take to make the initiative happen.
[00:10:52.810]And you'll also be able to,
[00:10:54.870]need to be able to describe what resources
[00:10:57.860]are only available at NU that you'll be leveraging
[00:11:02.050]in order to accomplish the goals
[00:11:04.750]that you've articulated in your Big Idea proposal.
[00:11:09.788]You won't worry about formal approvals
[00:11:12.570]for leverage and match at this point.
[00:11:15.170]But as your proposal moves forward in the process,
[00:11:18.420]that will be described shortly,
[00:11:20.540]you will need to be able to formally
[00:11:24.210]identify those resources and capture
[00:11:28.620]people approval for any kind of match.
[00:11:32.260]Now Dr. Fritz will talk about
[00:11:34.170]the evaluation and timeline.
[00:11:36.543]Well, thanks.
[00:11:37.376]As David mentioned, we had the privilege
[00:11:40.020]of working with about 40 of our faculty
[00:11:42.810]across our four campuses
[00:11:44.960]in an effort to identify the characteristics
[00:11:48.290]of a great university,
[00:11:49.340]and we did that last April.
[00:11:51.170]I'm pleased to report that many of those same faculty
[00:11:54.310]have agreed to serve as faculty panelist
[00:11:57.310]who will independently evaluate
[00:11:59.100]the proposals that we receive,
[00:12:01.760]and those proposals must be based upon the RFA requirements,
[00:12:06.670]and you can see that the RF can be found at
[00:12:10.520]the Big Ideas website.
[00:12:13.610]Now after our faculty panelist provide
[00:12:16.160]their independent evaluation,
[00:12:17.850]there will be a steering committee,
[00:12:19.760]faculty administrators who will look over those
[00:12:23.090]independent evaluations and coordinate them,
[00:12:27.220]help in combining those into single evaluations.
[00:12:31.190]And then from there, the stirring committee
[00:12:34.130]will then forward your proposals
[00:12:36.290]to the chief academic officers,
[00:12:39.680]senior vice chancellor on your campus,
[00:12:42.040]and chief research officers in your campuses
[00:12:45.650]who will also review the proposals and evaluations.
[00:12:50.960]They will likely inform their chancellors
[00:12:56.270]and the presidents.
[00:12:58.122]And the president, the chancellors
[00:12:59.750]will have the opportunity then to review
[00:13:02.840]the information that you provide as applicants,
[00:13:06.680]as well as the evaluations remarks
[00:13:08.870]that have come forward and prioritize those proposals.
[00:13:14.020]Then after the prioritization process,
[00:13:18.310]we would hope that we would be in a position to
[00:13:22.130]begin providing feedback.
[00:13:24.170]We also would hope that those top proposals,
[00:13:28.550]those prioritized proposals would then be
[00:13:32.470]given over to the NU Foundation,
[00:13:34.970]and then the NU Foundation would test
[00:13:37.260]the external stakeholder interest
[00:13:39.650]and the proposals that have moved through this process.
[00:13:44.100]Now I know that this is probably
[00:13:45.810]on the forefront of many of your minds,
[00:13:49.820]and that is what happens,
[00:13:52.200]what kind of timeline are we talking about.
[00:13:54.840]With the proposals due on January 11th,
[00:13:57.320]and again that's 5:00 p.m. Central Standard Time,
[00:14:00.900]the proposal review process will begin almost immediately.
[00:14:04.610]So we will have feedback to faculty
[00:14:08.480]on those proposals that are not prioritize
[00:14:10.820]by the president's council.
[00:14:14.213]Earlier in the spring, we envisioned there may be
[00:14:18.060]an opportunity for some rewrite
[00:14:20.130]or combining proposals that have common,
[00:14:23.770]let's say a common thread, or a common backdrop,
[00:14:26.840]or a common impact.
[00:14:29.520]The prioritized proposals we anticipate
[00:14:32.730]will move forward to the NU foundation
[00:14:35.070]by the end of the spring.
[00:14:37.680]And during the summer, the foundation will start looking at
[00:14:42.310]external feasibility.
[00:14:44.310]This is where they will start considering
[00:14:47.500]donor interest as it relates to the proposals
[00:14:50.710]that have been sent over.
[00:14:53.380]We would expect that proposal development
[00:14:56.020]and/or consideration by a campus or a unit
[00:14:59.760]for funding priority would be 2019 to 2021.
[00:15:02.950]So, that's out a bit.
[00:15:07.100]I would say very quickly when
[00:15:09.330]we talk about proposal develop and/or consideration
[00:15:12.950]at a campus and/or unit.
[00:15:15.440]It is possible that there will be proposals that
[00:15:18.490]come in through this pipeline
[00:15:20.740]that may be are better considered as a priority
[00:15:25.010]by a college or a campus, or maybe even a unit,
[00:15:28.640]rather than being a Big Idea.
[00:15:30.900]But at this point, we're not looking
[00:15:33.860]to shut down the pipeline.
[00:15:35.940]We're interested in seeing those proposals,
[00:15:38.680]and we will let our process work,
[00:15:41.330]and we'll try to shepherd those proposals
[00:15:44.610]in a way that is most helpful to get them to funding.
[00:15:48.050]So, when we talk about the review process,
[00:15:50.980]what we've tried to build in is peer review,
[00:15:54.200]maybe not from the perspective
[00:15:57.060]you're used to thinking peers in your discipline,
[00:15:59.820]but peer review as it relates to faculty
[00:16:03.980]within the NU system.
[00:16:06.610]Obviously, matching up these ideas with strategic plans
[00:16:10.920]for campuses and for the system
[00:16:13.650]will be part of the process,
[00:16:16.030]so we'll be very strategic about this.
[00:16:18.430]And of course then looking at the fundability.
[00:16:21.710]And so, we hope by being careful in our peer review,
[00:16:25.160]by being strategic,
[00:16:26.770]and by looking at fundable possibilities,
[00:16:29.580]we are off to a good start with these Big Ideas Initiative.
[00:16:35.510]Now, we are to the end of sharing information
[00:16:40.070]and are just about ready to move into a Q&A
[00:16:43.820]and are very grateful that you have
[00:16:45.490]chosen to spend your time with us today.
[00:16:48.141]Well, while waiting for questions to come in,
[00:16:50.930]again, I encourage you to go
[00:16:52.590]to the nebraska.edu/bigideas website.
[00:16:57.600]That will be the place where you can find
[00:17:00.500]additional information, as well as download the RFA
[00:17:05.060]which describes in considerable detail
[00:17:08.910]how you put together your proposal.
[00:17:13.930]The first question is,
[00:17:15.020]are these proposals for faculty only?
[00:17:18.160]And what about proposals from staff or other employees?
[00:17:23.300]Susan, would you like to address that?
[00:17:25.490]Well, I'm happy to do so.
[00:17:27.930]We are not looking to screen out proposals
[00:17:31.590]if they come for staff members.
[00:17:35.920]We expect that we'll have broader participation by faculty.
[00:17:40.190]But certainly if a staff member has a Big Idea
[00:17:43.080]and wants to be involved in a team or lead a proposal,
[00:17:45.690]we are open to receiving that proposal.
[00:17:48.500]Again, I'd like for the plugin,
[00:17:50.570]while attendance is not required on November 9,
[00:17:55.150]for the Big Ideas kickoff,
[00:17:57.830]wee would certainly welcome
[00:17:59.650]that being a priority for many of you,
[00:18:01.450]we'd like to have a chance to do a live Q&A.
[00:18:04.305]And November 9th would also be a great time
[00:18:07.550]to find like-minded individuals across the system
[00:18:10.500]who may wanna partner on a Big Idea with you.
[00:18:13.120]Another question is
[00:18:14.700]whether the idea can involve some kind of endowment.
[00:18:21.620]Lori and I might wanna answer that one together.
[00:18:24.750]I would say that certainly it could involve and endowment.
[00:18:29.250]Lori, what would you say beyond that?
[00:18:31.380]Yeah, absolutely.
[00:18:32.213]I don't think there's any specific parameters
[00:18:34.660]about what kind of funding you're looking for,
[00:18:36.960]endowment, expendable, combination of
[00:18:39.660]would all be possibilities for your Big Idea.
[00:18:42.880]I think you should propose
[00:18:44.310]what you feel like would work best,
[00:18:46.290]and we will evaluate that based on
[00:18:50.520]a peer review and donor feasibility.
[00:18:54.210]So, nothing is off the table.
[00:18:58.020]David, I'll ask you this question.
[00:18:59.450]Is the Big Ideas Initiative inclusive of the arts?
[00:19:03.980]Yes, it is definitely inclusive
[00:19:06.360]of all of the disciplines that are offered
[00:19:10.160]within the University of Nebraska
[00:19:12.740]that is not a STEM-related initiative
[00:19:16.910]by any stretch of the imagination.
[00:19:18.773]It certainly could be, but may not.
[00:19:23.260]One of the question, Susan, is where can we find
[00:19:26.250]more information about this strategic needs
[00:19:29.490]of the NU system and the NU foundation?
[00:19:33.910]Well, that's a really good question, David.
[00:19:37.570]We have a strategic metric framework
[00:19:41.660]that I would point individuals to.
[00:19:44.090]That would give an idea of the board's priorities,
[00:19:46.620]as well as the president's priorities.
[00:19:49.920]One other way of thinking about that is
[00:19:53.280]this particular initiative is really unique,
[00:19:56.190]and that we're asking faculty to identify
[00:20:01.320]what they believe the strategic direction of the university
[00:20:05.560]would really be, going into the future.
[00:20:10.810]This is a very different strategy
[00:20:12.430]than one that I am used to in the 25 years that I've been
[00:20:16.670]with the University of Nebraska.
[00:20:18.480]I'm very excited that we started with the faculty
[00:20:23.500]on that faithful April 6th day,
[00:20:26.180]and that we continue to have a grassroots
[00:20:28.880]or faculty driven initiative.
[00:20:31.180]And I think it will be
[00:20:32.420]we will all be able to look back at this
[00:20:34.080]and think of it as a legacy opportunity.
[00:20:38.170]When we talk about transformation,
[00:20:40.120]we really believe that within
[00:20:43.093]the minds and harts of our faculty
[00:20:44.870]exist some tremendous transformational ideas,
[00:20:47.960]and we're trying to create a process
[00:20:49.250]to bring that forward.
[00:20:51.300]Okay, the next question myself regarding
[00:20:54.140]what will the November meeting cover.
[00:20:57.560]The Big Idea session
[00:20:59.970]within the collaboration initiative retreat
[00:21:03.190]is designed to offer a face-to-face opportunity
[00:21:07.950]for faculty members to hear from leaders in the foundation
[00:21:12.640]and Dr. Fritz, more about the Big Ideas Initiative,
[00:21:17.150]and also to give that opportunity for
[00:21:19.970]face-to-face question and answers.
[00:21:23.240]The other advantage of participating
[00:21:27.240]in the retreat in November
[00:21:30.350]is that you will have an opportunity
[00:21:32.450]to get together with colleagues
[00:21:35.100]that may help form the nucleus of a team
[00:21:37.893]that is putting together Big Ideas.
[00:21:40.200]So you'll have some real opportunity to sit down with them
[00:21:44.047]and have that dialogue.
[00:21:46.520]If you've never been to a collaboration initiative retreat,
[00:21:49.750]those retreats are not really about
[00:21:52.400]listening to a bunch of speakers.
[00:21:54.170]They're about you sitting down with your colleagues
[00:21:57.610]and (mumbles) objectives
[00:22:01.200]for future proposal development.
[00:22:05.700]Another question has come in is,
[00:22:09.395]is it a requirement to include multiple NU campuses
[00:22:13.830]or multiple units within an NU campus?
[00:22:19.150]I think Lori can take that one.
[00:22:23.200]Right, so it is...
[00:22:24.680]We wanna put emphasis on interdisciplinary
[00:22:27.420]and the opportunity to collaborate across campuses
[00:22:31.180]and across units.
[00:22:33.210]Visioning Day I think was enlightening to us,
[00:22:35.640]and that we had a lot of conversation with
[00:22:39.180]folks from different campuses and ideas that had
[00:22:42.210]very complementary elements to them,
[00:22:45.130]could be leveraged to create something much broader in scope
[00:22:48.680]with more transformative impact.
[00:22:52.000]That would be favorable.
[00:22:53.490]We would look more favorably
[00:22:55.150]on those proposals that came in
[00:22:56.810]that had cross-campus, cross-unit collaboration.
[00:23:01.410]So, certainly, a Big Idea could involve
[00:23:05.320]multiple units within a single campus,
[00:23:08.410]but ideally could involve
[00:23:11.440]multiple units within multiple campus.
[00:23:14.140]Correct.
[00:23:15.160]And I think that we'll find too
[00:23:16.370]as the big proposals come in
[00:23:17.850]or even part of conversations
[00:23:19.450]that happen at the collaboration initiative
[00:23:22.040]is that we'll start to see some of these things percolate
[00:23:25.570]and understand where there's some complementary components
[00:23:28.570]that we can play matchmaker and bring folks together
[00:23:31.210]to start dragging some of those ideas together.
[00:23:35.840]I will say, too, Lori,
[00:23:37.200]that we know that this has been a very effective strategy
[00:23:40.950]resulting in some multidisciplinary projects that
[00:23:45.720]if we could turn back the hands of time.
[00:23:49.480]An excellent example of that would be Food for Health.
[00:23:53.300]And today we are absolutely delighted
[00:23:57.300]that we've been able to see
[00:24:01.530]this circle of talent
[00:24:03.650]that are our faculty bring to deal with
[00:24:06.970]the subject area of food for health,
[00:24:09.410]and involving multiple disciplines, multiple campuses,
[00:24:15.420]leveraging significant investments
[00:24:17.930]that the university has made for years and years,
[00:24:21.070]and pulling that talent together in ways
[00:24:23.790]that have not been imagined before.
[00:24:26.670]But collectively, it's a transformative area,
[00:24:32.030]it attracts external funding.
[00:24:33.630]And some of that external funding has been in the form
[00:24:36.530]of gifts to the foundation donors who've gotten behind
[00:24:39.960]the idea of this being such an opportunity
[00:24:43.250]for the university.
[00:24:44.650]So when we think about,
[00:24:45.700]I see we have a question about it, about
[00:24:49.090]an example, I would say Food for Health
[00:24:51.170]would be one of those that I would point to,
[00:24:53.617]but that is one of many.
[00:24:56.760]So here's a question
[00:24:57.603]that I'm gonna reword a little bit,
[00:24:59.700]but really gets to
[00:25:01.320]how much detail are you really working at,
[00:25:03.820]because this question is a little concerned about
[00:25:08.370]do they need to figure out the nuts and bolts
[00:25:10.580]around shared space or resources for
[00:25:15.970]their ideas around public health initiatives
[00:25:19.130]for agricultural workers,
[00:25:21.820]and wondering, there might be really good linkages
[00:25:25.160]between UNMC, and UNK, and UNL.
[00:25:29.730]Do they have to figure all that out
[00:25:31.540]in their initial proposal?
[00:25:34.713]I would say that what we're very interested in
[00:25:39.550]at the conceptual level,
[00:25:41.980]the questions that, David, that you talked about
[00:25:45.040]really comprised the RFA,
[00:25:47.630]and that we are very much interested
[00:25:49.920]in the Big Idea being the driver.
[00:25:52.790]And as time goes by
[00:25:55.360]and a proposal moves through this process,
[00:25:59.270]if we get to the point where this is a proposal
[00:26:02.390]that would be put before a funder,
[00:26:06.050]we'll work out those details,
[00:26:07.810]but please know that along the way
[00:26:10.840]we have built in the opportunity
[00:26:12.580]for the chief academic officers,
[00:26:14.360]the chief research officers,
[00:26:16.110]chancellors, and the president,
[00:26:18.590]to look a these proposals,
[00:26:20.670]so they would have an idea of some of the commitment
[00:26:24.020]on the nuts and bolts part of what we're really trying to do
[00:26:27.620]is drive the asks based on,
[00:26:31.540]on the Big Idea
[00:26:33.170]at a conceptual level.
[00:26:34.800]And then you already talked about
[00:26:36.190]the Food for Health initiative as one example
[00:26:41.060]of something that if came up today
[00:26:44.050]might be considered a Big Idea.
[00:26:45.630]Do you have some other examples
[00:26:47.590]of what might be considered Big Ideas?
[00:26:51.940]I might throw outs,
[00:26:53.860]and you can build on this, Susan,
[00:26:55.560]is that at Visioning Day
[00:26:57.080]there was a lot of conversation
[00:26:58.780]that came at it from different angles
[00:27:00.530]around human movement.
[00:27:02.500]So, maybe you could talk about some of those pieces.
[00:27:05.320]Absolutely.
[00:27:07.050]We had a faculty member from UNMC who mentioned
[00:27:11.030]that she had thought about
[00:27:13.627]the various opportunities around the system
[00:27:17.870]to leverage the talent
[00:27:20.480]that kind of comes together at
[00:27:22.900]this nexus called human movement.
[00:27:25.090]And so, in fact, I think we're looking to have
[00:27:28.010]a breakout session.
[00:27:29.080]It's been put forward as one of the topic areas
[00:27:33.627]for the November 9th meeting.
[00:27:35.460]So those individuals interested in human movement
[00:27:38.860]would obviously gravitate together
[00:27:40.510]and have a conversation about
[00:27:42.410]what do we have, what do we need, what could this be.
[00:27:45.659]I think that could be a very powerful discussion.
[00:27:49.900]Here's an interesting question, Susan.
[00:27:51.720]Can collaborators from outside of the NU system
[00:27:55.560]be included on the proposals?
[00:28:00.040]Well, I think they could be
[00:28:00.960]included on the proposal,
[00:28:02.250]but we'd have to define
[00:28:03.550]what included on the proposal means.
[00:28:05.340]If leveraging a national network,
[00:28:08.370]regional, national, or international network,
[00:28:11.710]that makes sense related to whatever
[00:28:14.440]the theme of the Big Idea would be sure,
[00:28:17.980]we wouldn't look to raise donor funds though
[00:28:20.900]to invest outside of the University of Nebraska's
[00:28:24.460]four campuses.
[00:28:25.810]Yes, Lori, I am assuming
[00:28:27.363]that the University of Nebraska Foundation
[00:28:29.860]is really,
[00:28:31.770]it's mission is to help the University of Nebraska.
[00:28:34.908]Isn't that correct?
[00:28:35.743]That is correct.
[00:28:36.750]However, there could be Big Ideas that
[00:28:40.270]have such broad impact
[00:28:41.890]that they would have other community partners,
[00:28:44.710]state partners, other entities that might be
[00:28:47.610]part of the concept.
[00:28:48.770]However, the funding would benefit those
[00:28:51.720]entities associated to the University of Nebraska.
[00:28:54.790]That's not again to say that we wouldn't have some
[00:28:58.470]collaborative, or coalition, or something
[00:29:00.750]that would garner other support for that Big Idea
[00:29:03.250]to have a broader impact not only on the state,
[00:29:05.550]but even globally.
[00:29:07.856]David, we have a question
[00:29:10.100]that's come to us about core competencies.
[00:29:15.470]And sometimes the biggest ideas require
[00:29:18.310]a large core competencies of multiple fields.
[00:29:21.320]Could a Big Idea include
[00:29:22.950]the formation of a core UNL competitive competency,
[00:29:27.990]that's one.
[00:29:28.980]Two, collaboration with other universities,
[00:29:31.770]even other related core facilities at other institutions.
[00:29:35.170]And three, formation of a competitive multi-university,
[00:29:38.020]multi-state Big Idea.
[00:29:39.900]I think indirectly, we've answered pieces of that,
[00:29:42.530]but could you give kind of the conclusive response?
[00:29:47.550]Yeah, so I think as both Lori and Susan
[00:29:50.630]mentioned previously,
[00:29:52.720]the Big Idea is really about changing
[00:29:56.700]the University of Nebraska
[00:29:58.950]and having an impact not only on the state,
[00:30:02.363]but in the university, its students,
[00:30:05.070]but also more probably on the world.
[00:30:09.490]But if in doing that,
[00:30:12.770]being able to achieve
[00:30:15.570]that impact really have to be network
[00:30:18.920]or engage other partners,
[00:30:21.570]whether they are within the state
[00:30:23.220]or even external partners.
[00:30:26.750]That's going to be something
[00:30:28.270]that you'll need to describe in your Big Idea.
[00:30:31.210]But I think if you really put together
[00:30:33.350]a convincing argument about how that network
[00:30:37.300]would really serve, for example,
[00:30:39.830]a country as a whole, or the world
[00:30:41.840]and addressing particular problem,
[00:30:44.320]then I think we'd be really perceptive
[00:30:46.190]to listening to that kind of concept.
[00:30:50.300]Thanks, David.
[00:30:51.133]I think I'll take the next one,
[00:30:52.370]and I'd certainly welcome you and Lori
[00:30:56.280]to chime in on that.
[00:30:57.530]So the question is,
[00:30:58.740]how many Big Ideas will you consider?
[00:31:00.480]Could there be three to four Big Ideas
[00:31:02.280]that could require the 25 million?
[00:31:05.660]Well, indeed we are hoping that we have
[00:31:09.690]a lot of Big Idea proposals that come forward.
[00:31:14.680]Would it be difficult for us to handle if we had 100?
[00:31:18.230]Maybe.
[00:31:19.470]We've never done this before.
[00:31:20.810]This is our first, our maiden voyage,
[00:31:23.190]in this kind of grassroots effort
[00:31:27.150]to transform the university
[00:31:29.037]through a Big Ideas process.
[00:31:31.820]We are certainly hoping that
[00:31:34.150]we have many Big Ideas.
[00:31:36.490]Obviously, if we're only looking for three or four,
[00:31:40.652]we would probably have not cast the net so broadly,
[00:31:44.310]but we want to create space
[00:31:46.750]for anybody who has a Big Idea
[00:31:49.280]to come forward, to find like-minded individuals
[00:31:52.180]to form a team
[00:31:53.660]and to provide those proposals to move through the process.
[00:31:58.260]And what we would like to do is
[00:32:02.360]have as many of those come through
[00:32:04.700]that you all want to submit.
[00:32:07.380]I think the challenge becomes
[00:32:09.880]let's make sure they really are a Big Idea,
[00:32:12.020]because this is an opportunity for us
[00:32:17.650]to really create a legacy situation for the university.
[00:32:21.430]Now, Susan, it's my understanding
[00:32:23.250]that we've got no prohibition against
[00:32:27.180]a particular individual submitting
[00:32:30.460]more than one Big Idea.
[00:32:33.650]But on the other hand,
[00:32:36.350]because these Big Ideas involve teams of people
[00:32:40.880]putting forth ideas,
[00:32:42.683]it's really not one individual
[00:32:45.100]that's ever gonna put an idea together.
[00:32:49.580]Absolutely.
[00:32:51.250]The reality is I kind of think of this
[00:32:54.110]as concentric circles.
[00:32:55.920]And I can see a circumstance where we'd have
[00:32:58.580]somebody that might be leading a team,
[00:33:01.130]but also might be a team member on another proposal.
[00:33:06.750]And so, this isn't an all-or-nothing situation.
[00:33:10.494]Again, we're more driven
[00:33:12.840]by getting as many Big Ideas, great Big Ideas,
[00:33:17.450]rather than creating restrictions.
[00:33:20.870]So another question that came through was,
[00:33:23.120]is there anyone else out there doing this?
[00:33:26.030]And we just wanted to share that
[00:33:29.830]we took UC Davis as a model,
[00:33:32.260]and they've gone through a Big Ideas process
[00:33:34.360]and we've been in communication with them,
[00:33:36.110]and reflected on them what worked, what didn't work,
[00:33:39.930]and some of the things we wanted to incorporate,
[00:33:43.420]and some of those things that we wanted to customize
[00:33:45.310]and personalize for Nebraska.
[00:33:47.750]If anyone is interested,
[00:33:49.610]you could go to UC Davis's website.
[00:33:51.900]They have the whole page on their Big Ideas.
[00:33:54.710]A number of those Big Ideas haven't been
[00:33:57.550]identified as key themes and initiatives
[00:33:59.580]for their upcoming campaign.
[00:34:01.540]It might just give you a flavor around
[00:34:03.220]some of those other Big Ideas
[00:34:04.440]that have been out there.
[00:34:11.520]In fact, Lori, we've just received word from
[00:34:15.990]someone who's written it
[00:34:17.560]that to look at those UC Davis ideas,
[00:34:21.260]they can go to https://bigideas.ucdavis.edu/.
[00:34:34.710]There are a couple of things you could do
[00:34:38.130]if you do have questions while you're
[00:34:42.730]developing your Big Ideas.
[00:34:44.650]First of all, again, we encourage you attend
[00:34:47.850]collaboration initiative retreat on November 9,
[00:34:52.020]and registration information for that
[00:34:54.490]is on the Big Ideas website,
[00:34:56.500]which is, again, nebraska.edu/bigideas.
[00:35:01.370]Also, you can email us your questions
[00:35:04.040]at bigideas, all one word,
[00:35:07.453]@Nebraska.edu.
[00:35:10.580]Again, that's bigideas,
[00:35:12.810]all one word, no hyphen in the middle, @nebraska.edu.
[00:35:21.480]Thank you all very much for
[00:35:23.970]participating in this webinar,
[00:35:26.850]and we look forward to a great future with Big Ideas.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

Big Ideas Webinar - Oct. 10, 2018

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments