KRVN Chat with the Chancellor

Ronnie Green Author

03/26/2019 Added

3 Plays

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Ronnie Green talks about UNL's response to statewide blizzard and flooding last week and how they are supporting students, his reflection on the N150 celebration activities and where the N150 initiative goes from here and a recent recognition of UNL’s top online programs.

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[00:00:00.220]Brandon Benitz with the Rural Radio Network
[00:00:02.170]and our weekly Chat With the Chancellor
[00:00:03.730]here in the spring 2019 semester.
[00:00:05.890]This week we're once again joined by a special guest,
[00:00:07.970]the chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:00:10.050]Dr. Ronnie Green.
[00:00:11.130]Dr. Green, within the last week or so
[00:00:13.080]Nebraska has seen some historic weather
[00:00:15.410]because of the bomb cyclone
[00:00:16.660]leading to blizzards in part of the state,
[00:00:18.990]and the historic flooding in other parts of the state,
[00:00:21.430]what is the UNL campus doing to mobilize and respond?
[00:00:25.990]Well Brandon, obviously this past week has been
[00:00:28.926]a very, very challenging one for many across our state
[00:00:32.073]and across the region with, as you mentioned,
[00:00:34.910]the blizzard conditions further west in the state,
[00:00:38.370]heavy rainfall conditions on top of a lot
[00:00:40.960]of moisture already on the ground,
[00:00:42.640]the frozen ground that led to the historic flooding
[00:00:45.220]that we've seen across a wide swath of Nebraska
[00:00:48.910]and downstream.
[00:00:50.020]So first obviously, our thoughts have been
[00:00:53.140]with all of the individuals who are facing
[00:00:57.150]this kind of recovery period
[00:00:59.170]across a lot of communities and areas in our state,
[00:01:02.507]but we are working with UNL Extension,
[00:01:05.930]with Nebraska Extension to coordinate
[00:01:08.930]and assist in the disaster recovery
[00:01:11.700]with both individual citizens and with communities.
[00:01:15.180]We also know that a significant number of our students
[00:01:19.620]are in affected communities.
[00:01:21.810]Many of them also directly impacted,
[00:01:24.560]themselves personally, and their families.
[00:01:26.980]And so we are working very hard
[00:01:29.900]as we have students coming back
[00:01:32.250]from spring break here this weekend,
[00:01:34.600]and starting back into classes on campus on Monday,
[00:01:39.100]reaching out and working with students
[00:01:41.250]to help minimize any disruption for them
[00:01:44.640]in returning to their studies,
[00:01:46.290]realizing that that may not be possible for some of them,
[00:01:49.250]and trying to work to assure that they can stay on track
[00:01:53.250]in completing their studies,
[00:01:54.680]while also dealing with what is major disruption
[00:01:58.140]for many of them and their families
[00:01:59.780]and their communities.
[00:02:01.080]So certainly a big disaster for the state,
[00:02:04.700]no matter how you slice it,
[00:02:05.990]and the university is committed
[00:02:07.893]to stepping up and helping in every way that we can.
[00:02:11.810]Dr. Green, the last time that you and I talked,
[00:02:13.970]it was in advance of the Rural Radio Network's
[00:02:16.790]Rural Radio Forum,
[00:02:18.010]where we celebrated 150 years of the University of Nebraska.
[00:02:21.750]Now that the big date of February 15th has passed,
[00:02:24.790]I have a couple followup questions.
[00:02:26.460]First, as you reflect on those celebration activities,
[00:02:30.030]what stood out to you the most?
[00:02:32.300]And then where does the N150 initiative go from here?
[00:02:36.130]Well Brandon, this is our 150th anniversary year,
[00:02:38.670]and I think we've talked about before,
[00:02:41.600]it's a big exciting year for the university
[00:02:44.180]in marking that milestone in our history,
[00:02:47.210]and I did have the opportunity, and the campus,
[00:02:50.440]and the greater University of Nebraska Community
[00:02:53.240]had the opportunity just this past month
[00:02:55.640]in the middle of February
[00:02:56.900]to have a lot of events and celebration
[00:02:59.870]around that February 15th actual anniversary date,
[00:03:03.900]of the chartering
[00:03:04.733]of the University of Nebraska date in 1869.
[00:03:07.780]And I would say that the most profound thing that we've seen
[00:03:12.220]is just the huge amount of sense of pride,
[00:03:14.920]sense of accomplishment, sense of impact of the university
[00:03:18.820]through those 15 decades of history
[00:03:21.770]as the state's leading institution of higher education,
[00:03:25.300]and that's been in and of itself a really cool thing
[00:03:28.510]to experience and to be part of that community celebration,
[00:03:32.300]but certainly during the charter week itself,
[00:03:35.440]the activities that happened both on campus
[00:03:38.220]and outside of campus,
[00:03:40.170]including the Glow Big Red of lighting the campus up red
[00:03:43.830]and celebrating the campus,
[00:03:45.500]the emphasis on understanding and kind of learning
[00:03:49.350]from the history of the university
[00:03:51.760]with the great lecture we had on campus that week
[00:03:55.010]about the university hall
[00:03:56.500]and the original founding part of the university in Lincoln,
[00:04:00.080]big celebration event on Friday at the Lied Center
[00:04:03.570]that celebrated the history and the accomplishments
[00:04:06.890]of the university through music,
[00:04:08.910]and through performance, and through reading.
[00:04:11.220]And it was just a wonderful, wonderful event as well.
[00:04:15.360]And then we have a book that has been published,
[00:04:18.170]The Dear Old Nebraska U, Celebrating 150 Years,
[00:04:21.840]book that came out during charter week
[00:04:24.060]and was made available to the greater public,
[00:04:26.250]but kind of tells the story again
[00:04:28.360]of the 15 decades of history of the university
[00:04:31.450]through 150 objects that kind of helped to tell that story,
[00:04:35.610]so a great kind of book to tell that history as well.
[00:04:39.690]And then, again, we have a series of activities
[00:04:42.400]that are occurring throughout the year,
[00:04:44.430]while we're using the entire year of 2019
[00:04:47.490]to celebrate the university,
[00:04:49.130]and we have things like a traveling exhibit
[00:04:52.190]that started on campus in Lincoln,
[00:04:55.160]then moved to the state capital for several weeks
[00:04:57.690]where it was on display there in the rotunda of the capital.
[00:05:00.810]It's now moving out into the state.
[00:05:03.250]It was originally designed
[00:05:05.100]to be launched in O'Neill last week,
[00:05:08.220]actually right in the middle of when the floods hit
[00:05:11.020]on Thursday and Friday.
[00:05:12.880]It now is in place there, and will be throughout the state
[00:05:16.610]for the remainder of the year
[00:05:18.070]in various communities around the state
[00:05:20.250]that tells again the story of the university's history.
[00:05:23.410]So just a huge milestone of time, if you will,
[00:05:27.090]in marking the impact of the university,
[00:05:29.300]and a lot celebration around that,
[00:05:31.460]and just remembering that we stand
[00:05:33.120]on very strong shoulders of the university
[00:05:36.137]and the way it's been stood up
[00:05:37.800]that is now, of course, a four campus university system
[00:05:42.110]that serves the needs of the state of Nebraska
[00:05:44.480]as a leading institution of higher education in the world.
[00:05:48.100]Brandon BenitZ with the Rural Radio Network
[00:05:50.070]and our weekly Chat With the Chancellor
[00:05:51.450]here in the spring 2019 semester.
[00:05:53.550]Once again, joined by a special guest,
[00:05:55.180]Dr. Ronnie Green, the chancellor
[00:05:56.490]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:05:58.570]Dr. Green, back in the January 15th issue
[00:06:01.040]of U.S. News & World Report
[00:06:02.900]three of UNL's top online education programs
[00:06:05.690]gained increased recognition in those rankings.
[00:06:08.540]The MBA program jumped 16 places to 26th,
[00:06:11.870]placing into the top 10%.
[00:06:13.570]The graduate programs in education cracked the top 10,
[00:06:16.550]as compared to a 12th place ranking last year,
[00:06:19.090]and the masters in engineering management degree
[00:06:21.250]moved to the 28th place, that's up from the year before.
[00:06:24.450]That seems like great news for UNL
[00:06:26.200]in a number of growing fields.
[00:06:28.010]Yeah, it sure does Brandon.
[00:06:29.980]As you know, I think we continued to see a growth
[00:06:32.979]in online education,
[00:06:34.760]distance education through online courses
[00:06:38.110]and online programs.
[00:06:39.620]In fact, like we're referring to here
[00:06:41.470]where you can do an entire program or degree
[00:06:45.010]online to receive that degree.
[00:06:47.770]And we are very excited about the quality
[00:06:50.420]of programs across the university
[00:06:52.470]in a number of areas and fields,
[00:06:54.360]delivered in this way that makes education
[00:06:56.950]so much more accessible for the greater public,
[00:07:00.170]and the three that you point out we're very proud of,
[00:07:02.700]that hearing the continued elevation in their stature
[00:07:06.410]as a success nationally
[00:07:08.160]by U.S. News & World Report,
[00:07:10.160]all three of these graduate education programs,
[00:07:13.440]our MBA, as you refer to,
[00:07:16.060]online masters of business administration,
[00:07:18.570]we continue to be a leader nationally in that arena.
[00:07:22.410]Now jumping those 16 spots, as you mentioned,
[00:07:26.310]exemplifies, I think, the investment that we have made
[00:07:29.340]in this program over time,
[00:07:31.080]to grow it into the stature that it has.
[00:07:33.940]It also is one of several rankings for that program.
[00:07:37.420]Last spring we were named number 13 in the world
[00:07:40.620]by Financial Times, with our online MBA.
[00:07:43.430]And this past fall in 2018,
[00:07:45.560]Poets & Quants ranked us number eight in the nation.
[00:07:48.640]So certainly amongst that top tier,
[00:07:51.010]top 10% of MBA programs online nationally.
[00:07:55.090]And our College of Education and Human Sciences,
[00:07:57.590]our faculty there are very skillful
[00:07:59.840]in using cutting edge distance technology
[00:08:02.030]to help build these online courses
[00:08:04.480]and experiences that are highly engaging,
[00:08:06.810]and rigorous, and high quality, and thought provoking,
[00:08:09.448]and immediately relevant to our students lives,
[00:08:12.380]and as you said, now in the top 10
[00:08:14.920]in that masters program, and very excited about that.
[00:08:18.330]And then the master of engineering management,
[00:08:20.920]as you referenced, very pleased
[00:08:22.930]that that degree program continues to be recognized
[00:08:25.820]amongst the best in the nation,
[00:08:27.720]an area that University of Nebraska
[00:08:29.630]has been known for historically,
[00:08:31.610]and it's designed and there to help practicing engineers,
[00:08:35.380]people in the field, working in the field,
[00:08:37.660]to enhance their leadership
[00:08:39.130]and their strategic planning skills in that profession.
[00:08:42.410]So very pleased to see continued growth
[00:08:45.440]of our programs online,
[00:08:47.160]both at the undergrad and grad levels,
[00:08:48.810]and certainly the increased level
[00:08:50.880]of national and international ranking
[00:08:52.530]for these three particular graduate programs.
[00:08:55.380]Dr. Green, the last word is yours.
[00:08:57.950]What's coming across your desk
[00:08:59.280]here at the end of spring break on campus?
[00:09:01.750]Well, as I mentioned earlier, Brandon,
[00:09:03.660]we certainly, our thoughts our actions,
[00:09:05.720]and our activities are heavily focused
[00:09:08.710]in the immediate future ahead here
[00:09:10.790]on helping to assist and make sure
[00:09:12.830]that we're as successful as possible
[00:09:15.160]with our students who may be impacted
[00:09:17.660]by the recent flooding that we've seen in the state,
[00:09:21.310]as well as helping communities that are out there,
[00:09:23.410]and I just tagged that first and foremost
[00:09:25.560]as being on our minds in the near term.
[00:09:28.750]Earlier this week we had a climate summit on campus
[00:09:33.030]sponsored by the Nebraska State Climate Office
[00:09:35.630]and our School of Natural Resources,
[00:09:37.260]as well as Nebraska Extension,
[00:09:39.220]and the Northern Plains Climate Network,
[00:09:41.510]and a lot of conversation about the flooding
[00:09:45.070]and extreme weather events,
[00:09:46.550]of course associated with continued adaptation
[00:09:49.920]to changes in the climate and the weather
[00:09:53.210]as we know over time.
[00:09:55.350]We happen to be a world leader in that arena
[00:09:58.280]at the University of Nebraska,
[00:09:59.880]and it makes sense that we would be,
[00:10:01.450]given where we are and who we serve
[00:10:04.000]here in the Great Plains,
[00:10:05.481]and the environment that we live in.
[00:10:08.440]We're on record this year, it looks like,
[00:10:10.760]from recent data that we have been studying,
[00:10:13.900]to look like we're going to have another record year
[00:10:16.450]in terms of research for the university
[00:10:18.900]as part of our land grant mission,
[00:10:20.780]and we're on track to set new records there
[00:10:23.220]across the board.
[00:10:24.460]A couple of big things in the research arena,
[00:10:27.410]just in the last couple of weeks.
[00:10:29.210]Our own James Schnable, who is an associate professor
[00:10:32.320]in our department of agronomy and horticulture,
[00:10:34.580]he and his colleagues just recently announced
[00:10:37.250]and published more than 90%
[00:10:39.010]of the genetic DNA sequence of proso millet,
[00:10:42.440]an important cereal grain crop
[00:10:44.270]in the Nebraska panhandle and Eastern Colorado
[00:10:47.000]for a lot of our folks in the Ag community.
[00:10:49.940]And that kind of insight into the genetic code of a species
[00:10:54.530]helps us to really move forward in a much faster way
[00:10:58.310]in development of new varieties
[00:11:00.940]that are better able to withstand
[00:11:03.300]drought resistance or stress in the natural environment.
[00:11:06.930]So, very excited about that publication this past week.
[00:11:10.250]And then Rebecca Roston,
[00:11:11.560]who is one of our Nebraska biochemists
[00:11:13.540]in the Department of Biochemistry
[00:11:14.900]just learned that she's earned a five year,
[00:11:17.210]nearly $850,000 Faculty Early Career Development Award
[00:11:21.250]from the National Science Foundation.
[00:11:22.900]This is a very prestigious award,
[00:11:25.910]only offered to a few people nationally each year.
[00:11:29.460]And Dr. Roston in this particular case
[00:11:31.670]is going to be, again, working on identifying
[00:11:34.640]plants' ability to withstand environmental stress,
[00:11:38.540]whether that's cold stress or whether it's heat stress,
[00:11:41.740]to be able to engineer stress resistant crops in the future.
[00:11:45.550]So, very excited about what's happening in research
[00:11:47.670]and certainly looking forward to having
[00:11:49.910]our students back on campus,
[00:11:51.430]but also assisting those who may have been impacted
[00:11:54.170]in the disaster recovery ahead.
[00:11:56.620]That was Dr. Ronnie Green,
[00:11:57.770]chancellor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln,
[00:11:59.820]joining us once again here
[00:12:01.010]on our weekly Chat With the Chancellor.
[00:12:02.910]With the Rural Radio Network, this is Brandon Benitz.

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