Final Presentation Introduction

Tristan Powell Author

08/23/2019 Added

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Introduction to the Fellows Final Presentation

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[00:00:01.805]All right, welcome everyone,
[00:00:04.210]thanks for being here.
[00:00:05.043]My name is Katelyn Ideus,
[00:00:06.580]I'm the director of communications
[00:00:07.950]and PR for the Rural Futures Institute.
[00:00:10.330]And on behalf of the RFI team,
[00:00:12.380]we just couldn't be more proud of the students
[00:00:14.610]and the community innovators that
[00:00:16.090]are here to present to you today.
[00:00:18.467]It has been quite the summer
[00:00:20.420]and we are really looking forward to seeing
[00:00:22.930]what they have to share with you.
[00:00:24.520]So, it is my pleasure to introduce Heath Mellow,
[00:00:28.530]he's the interim vice president for University Affairs,
[00:00:31.290]and he is going to provide our welcome.
[00:00:34.090]Heath.
[00:00:34.923](clapping)
[00:00:38.580]Well thank you Katelyn and thank you
[00:00:41.060]to all of our friends at the Rural Futures Institute
[00:00:43.460]for the opportunity to spend a little bit of time today
[00:00:45.960]with some great students to learn more about
[00:00:48.370]fellowship projects over the summer.
[00:00:50.210]And, I can tell you, I spent a little bit of time
[00:00:52.750]reading over some biographies and some of the statements
[00:00:56.670]that some of you wrote at the beginning of the summer,
[00:00:59.520]in respects to what you wanted to try to accomplish
[00:01:02.430]through the RFI Fellows Program,
[00:01:04.190]and I normally don't read remarks,
[00:01:06.550]everyone knows that about me,
[00:01:07.590]but I want to read a couple items,
[00:01:09.120]that I just want to highlight to you.
[00:01:10.300]So, these were remarks that really,
[00:01:13.560]I thought, spoke to some of you
[00:01:14.980]talking about what it meant to be a leader.
[00:01:16.670]And so, one quote, quote, "Nebraska is a state that depends
[00:01:19.827]"on neighbors working with each other."
[00:01:21.790]End quote.
[00:01:22.623]"One of the most important qualities
[00:01:24.827]"of a leader is to know when to be a teacher
[00:01:27.277]"and when to be the student."
[00:01:29.387]"It is difficult to be an effective leader
[00:01:31.357]"without personally connecting
[00:01:33.187]"with the members of the community."
[00:01:36.087]"Many of us are hoping to have a more inclusive nation.
[00:01:39.277]"If we start at a smaller level,
[00:01:41.457]"we could work to make it nationwide."
[00:01:45.570]And I think, listening and hearing those four quotes,
[00:01:48.230]that the students put out, I think speaks volumes,
[00:01:52.040]particularly in regard to some very common themes.
[00:01:54.170]Common themes that the Rural Futures Institute holds,
[00:01:57.110]the University of Nebraska holds, and that's inclusiveness,
[00:02:00.730]that's partnership, that's humility, and that's service.
[00:02:04.055]And I would be willing to tell you those are values
[00:02:06.760]that are embodied by great leaders
[00:02:08.540]for centuries acrossed our state and acrossed our country.
[00:02:12.980]And I think those of you who are able to participate
[00:02:15.470]in this fellows program and hold those values dear
[00:02:18.880]and want to see those values expanded upon,
[00:02:21.680]I think that speaks volumes in regards to
[00:02:24.150]realizing that our future is in really good hands.
[00:02:26.750]Our future of the university, our future of our state,
[00:02:28.950]and more importantly, right now, the future of our country.
[00:02:32.730]I would also be remiss though not to say,
[00:02:34.520]so in my unique role at the university,
[00:02:37.560]I'm able to work with a variety of different partners,
[00:02:41.810]colleagues, from across the four campuses,
[00:02:44.380]the institutes, in a myriad of projects,
[00:02:47.340]and the Rural Fortunes Institute
[00:02:48.930]is one institute I've been fortunate enough
[00:02:50.710]to learn a lot more about over the last 20 months,
[00:02:53.630]particularly around a couple new initiatives,
[00:02:55.420]that really, I think some of you may have been able
[00:02:57.390]to engaged in in part of your fellowship,
[00:03:00.260]which is really trying to focus on the future
[00:03:02.400]of rural economic development in Nebraska.
[00:03:04.870]And the RFI's Thriving Index that is out and about
[00:03:10.410]and will be broadcasting more loudly
[00:03:12.500]across the state and the state policy makers,
[00:03:15.150]local economic developers and the like.
[00:03:17.400]I think that is just, from a purely university
[00:03:20.095]and frankly, as purely just a Nebraskan,
[00:03:22.720]it is an amazing tool, but more so an amazing testament
[00:03:27.080]to what RFI tries to live every single day,
[00:03:29.920]which is trying to emphasize the importance,
[00:03:32.320]of not just rural Nebraska and rural America,
[00:03:34.980]but trying to provide, what I would say is,
[00:03:37.690]the critical data and information needed,
[00:03:39.750]to leaders in the communities to help them
[00:03:42.770]identify their own future.
[00:03:44.690]It's not a, "We're coming in to save you," approach,
[00:03:48.520]it's more of, "We are your partners,
[00:03:50.447]"we're here to serve and we wanna give you the tools
[00:03:53.547]"for you to determine your own destiny, your own future.
[00:03:56.697]"We wanna be there every step of the way."
[00:03:58.270]And I think, just for someone who's been
[00:04:00.060]to see that project and see some of the work
[00:04:03.420]that the fellows programs have done, year over year,
[00:04:05.670]in light of different classes,
[00:04:07.530]I think that's a unique marriage, so to speak,
[00:04:10.610]between the fellows program and the Thriving Index
[00:04:13.164]that's out and about.
[00:04:14.450]So, that being said, I don't wanna take up too much time.
[00:04:18.090]I just wanna, more importantly to the students,
[00:04:21.120]thank you for your service.
[00:04:22.780]Thank you for your commitment.
[00:04:24.600]And more importantly, thank you
[00:04:25.670]for what you're going to do in the future.
[00:04:28.330]If anything, hopefully you took from this experience
[00:04:31.480]with RFI, in a variety of communities,
[00:04:34.420]is that you've identified that value of service
[00:04:37.410]deeper in your being.
[00:04:39.910]Right now, more than ever, public service,
[00:04:42.450]as I always remind everyone, public service
[00:04:44.370]is a very, very noble calling.
[00:04:46.470]Sometimes, despite against all odds,
[00:04:48.690]despite against what we may read or see on a daily basis,
[00:04:52.050]that people who want to go back out
[00:04:53.990]and serve their communities in some capacity or another,
[00:04:56.860]are needed now more than ever.
[00:04:58.450]And hopefully you'll take from this RFI fellowship program,
[00:05:02.210]that continued desire to go back to a Broken Bow,
[00:05:05.120]to a McCook, a Benkeleman, a Scottsbluff, an O'neill
[00:05:08.840]or a South Sioux city, and every other community in between,
[00:05:12.030]to wanna give back in some capacity or another,
[00:05:14.750]as you leave the university and start your own career.
[00:05:17.440]So that being said, thank you for the opportunity
[00:05:19.440]to spend a little bit of time with you today.
[00:05:21.160]It's my distinct pleasure to get to introduce
[00:05:23.020]Dr. Helen Fagan, who will also do a little welcome.
[00:05:26.270]Dr. Fagan.
[00:05:27.204](clapping)
[00:05:32.870]Thank you everybody who's here physically
[00:05:35.340]and those of you who couldn't join us physically,
[00:05:37.520]but are here joining us via live stream,
[00:05:39.890]we're excited to have all of you be a part
[00:05:42.810]of what's happening here at University of Nebraska
[00:05:46.350]through the work of the Rural Futures Institute,
[00:05:48.610]our fellows, our community fellows,
[00:05:51.100]as well as our student fellows.
[00:05:53.390]So, all of this, the fellows program,
[00:05:55.900]would not happen without a dedicated,
[00:05:59.210]passionate group of employees.
[00:06:02.550]Rural Futures Institute staff
[00:06:04.590]are tiny but mighty, we say.
[00:06:08.250]So, at this point, what I'd like to ask is
[00:06:11.140]to have the RFI staff, if you would please stand up
[00:06:15.370]and we'd like to give you a hand and recognize you.
[00:06:18.270]And I'm just gonna say a few words about each of you.
[00:06:20.470]If you wouldn't mind just standing.
[00:06:22.700]Okay, so, to my left is Samantha Guenther.
[00:06:27.110]For you that don't know her, Samantha
[00:06:29.750]was our senior fellow this year.
[00:06:31.290]She was actually a serviceship student last year
[00:06:35.320]and did so well, and did such great job,
[00:06:39.030]in my class, that I invited her to be a senior fellow
[00:06:42.510]and she has enjoyed this experience so much,
[00:06:45.720]that she enrolled in the graduate program
[00:06:47.980]in leadership and will be starting this fall
[00:06:50.200]at University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:06:51.688](clapping) in the graduate program.
[00:06:54.560]She has overseen everything to do with the student fellows,
[00:06:58.810]from logistics, from communicating with them,
[00:07:01.950]and nothing would've happened, on my end,
[00:07:05.910]if it hadn't been for the support of Samantha.
[00:07:08.270]So thank you Samantha.
[00:07:10.440]Our community engagement extraordinaire is Theresa Klien.
[00:07:16.550]She is the person that brings positivity
[00:07:19.380]and energy and connects everybody together.
[00:07:21.560]So if you're around her for any amount of time,
[00:07:24.310]you're going to feel, loved, heard, and cared about,
[00:07:28.360]in multiple ways and that's Theresa.
[00:07:32.060]Thank you so much for everything you've done this summer.
[00:07:34.705](clapping) Thank you.
[00:07:37.960]Kim Peterson.
[00:07:39.400]She is like the caulking to a building,
[00:07:41.940]if you know what I mean.
[00:07:43.130]There are structures, but then there's caulking
[00:07:45.540]that holds everything together.
[00:07:47.580]So literally she watched us dot our Is and cross our Ts.
[00:07:52.350]She helped us with the financial side of things
[00:07:55.360]and she's handled, everything from the academy details
[00:07:59.410]to the details for today.
[00:08:01.330]So, thank you Kim and thank you
[00:08:04.230]for coming back from your knee surgery
[00:08:07.210]and therapy and everything to join us.
[00:08:09.030]We're excited that you're a part of our team.
[00:08:12.197](clapping)
[00:08:15.370]Back there we have Katelyn Ideus.
[00:08:17.290]Katelyn, you met her already,
[00:08:19.630]she's our director of Comm and PR.
[00:08:22.780]But Katelyn provides a unique set of skills,
[00:08:25.770]she is very strategic.
[00:08:27.820]She creates this amazing strategic communication plan
[00:08:30.810]that then becomes the road map for all of us
[00:08:33.290]to be able to do everything that we do.
[00:08:35.700]So, thank you for the strategy that you add
[00:08:38.070]and for everything that you bring to the RFI team.
[00:08:40.700]Thank you.
[00:08:41.544](clapping)
[00:08:43.653]And the newest member of our team is Brooke Manny.
[00:08:46.220]She hasn't even started.
[00:08:47.760]She is a new graduate student at
[00:08:50.100]University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:08:51.710]She just graduated from Washburn University
[00:08:54.090]in the spring and she's moved to Nebraska
[00:08:56.340]and she's gonna be one of our graduate assistants,
[00:08:58.550]conducting research and supporting the fellows program.
[00:09:01.840]Welcome, thank you for being here.
[00:09:03.463](clapping)
[00:09:05.667]Thank you all.
[00:09:07.880]So, a little bit about the background,
[00:09:09.850]for those of you that don't know,
[00:09:11.280]just a couple minutes to tell you.
[00:09:13.330]We had serviceships, for those of you who know,
[00:09:16.640]that morphed into this fellowship.
[00:09:19.310]Last year, as I came on board,
[00:09:21.890]I traveled to all the 11 communities
[00:09:23.960]and talked to all the leaders and talked to the students.
[00:09:27.130]Wanted to know what is working,
[00:09:28.520]how can we enhance what's happening?
[00:09:30.370]And what I heard from everyone,
[00:09:32.850]the community leaders specifically, is,
[00:09:35.007]"I wish we got the same level of development
[00:09:37.327]"that the students get."
[00:09:38.850]So, we created the Community Innovation Fellows.
[00:09:41.810]We bring them in, and we do development with them,
[00:09:44.660]while we're doing development with the students,
[00:09:47.410]and while they're working on a project.
[00:09:49.860]So we're giving back to rural community
[00:09:51.830]in that way, as well.
[00:09:53.300]Another thing that we've done
[00:09:54.730]is we've focused it on inclusive leadership.
[00:09:56.970]You might say, "Why inclusive leadership?"
[00:09:59.290]Well, I don't know if you're familiar
[00:10:01.020]with the University of Nebraska-Omaha Public Policy Office,
[00:10:06.360]where they've done research and they've said
[00:10:08.360]the two major factors affecting Nebraska right now,
[00:10:12.120]Nebraska populations is, we're getting older,
[00:10:14.840]and we're becoming more diverse.
[00:10:16.400]And when we look at the counties
[00:10:18.200]that have had the greatest amount of diversity growing,
[00:10:20.930]we see the greatest amount of white people leaving.
[00:10:24.560]That is concerning.
[00:10:26.230]Would you agree?
[00:10:27.520]That shouldn't happen.
[00:10:28.920]That shouldn't happen in Nebraska,
[00:10:31.110]that shouldn't happen anywhere in the world,
[00:10:32.990]but realistically what can we do about that?
[00:10:35.430]How do we create communities where people
[00:10:38.400]from all walks of life feel valued,
[00:10:40.520]heard, and like they belong?
[00:10:42.210]How do we then, help leaders who are
[00:10:44.790]remaining in those communities, have that capacity?
[00:10:47.540]How do we help emerging leaders,
[00:10:49.240]our students who are graduating
[00:10:50.750]and going into those communities, have that capacity?
[00:10:54.040]And thus was born the RFI Fellows Program
[00:10:57.330]and that's what we're here to do.
[00:10:59.110]And in the process, we're conducting research.
[00:11:01.360]And I'm excited that one of our faculty fellows,
[00:11:04.150]Dr. Gina Matkin, who's also with
[00:11:06.310]the Ag Leadership Education Communication department
[00:11:09.210]has joined us here today.
[00:11:10.880]Our other two faculty fellows couldn't be here,
[00:11:13.260]but thank you for being here.
[00:11:14.600]And she's helping us with the research that we're doing
[00:11:17.320]in that whole are of inclusive leadership.
[00:11:20.280]And so, this is research based,
[00:11:22.240]it's impacting communities, it's impacting student lives,
[00:11:25.030]and we want it to be a transformative experience.
[00:11:27.860]That's what I keep telling the students.
[00:11:29.770]Whenever they were have challenges,
[00:11:31.210]during the coaching sessions I would say,
[00:11:33.327]"If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you.
[00:11:35.577]"How are you growing?
[00:11:36.867]"How are you becoming a better leader?"
[00:11:38.690]And so those kinds of conversations are what we had
[00:11:42.040]and I'm excited for you all to hear from them about today.
[00:11:45.460]And I'm excited for 2020.
[00:11:47.530]So please be listening, thinking about ways
[00:11:50.950]that we can continue to grow this opportunity.
[00:11:54.060]Thank you and at this time,
[00:11:56.250]I believe our Communication Fellows are the first to present
[00:12:00.090]and they're gonna go ahead and come up.

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Final Presentation Introduction

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