KRVN Chat with the Chancellor

Ronnie Green Author

04/27/2020 Added

4 Plays

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Ronnie Green talks about the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the UNL campus, including the response, how things evolved, how things stand now, and potential future planning ahead.

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[00:00:00.160]Brandon Benitz with the Rural Radio Network
[00:00:02.190]in our weekly chat with the chancellor here
[00:00:03.900]in the spring 2020 semester.
[00:00:05.820]This week, once again joined by a special guest,
[00:00:07.770]Dr. Ronnie Green, chancellor
[00:00:09.170]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:00:10.970]Chancellor Green, the impact of COVID-19 seems ubiquitous
[00:00:15.670]across many lives, especially within the university system.
[00:00:19.140]Walk us through the response,
[00:00:21.770]the process of how things have evolved,
[00:00:23.700]and how things stand now on the UNL campus,
[00:00:26.700]and any potential future planning as you're looking ahead.
[00:00:30.180]Well, Brandon, you use the word ubiquitous.
[00:00:33.090]COVID-19 certainly is impacting everyone all over the world.
[00:00:37.850]Certainly all of us have been impacted by the onset,
[00:00:41.480]and now experience in this global pandemic,
[00:00:44.260]of the COVID-19 situation, and we're consciously aware
[00:00:49.750]that everybody is dealing with the disruption that,
[00:00:52.550]that has made to people's lives.
[00:00:55.653]At the university, we actually starting talking seriously
[00:01:00.140]about what has now become COVID-19 back in February,
[00:01:04.780]in the mid-part of February, when we began to see
[00:01:08.410]some of the very first data in North America
[00:01:11.970]in concert with the University of Nebraska Medical Center,
[00:01:15.030]as you know, that's been in a leading position
[00:01:17.840]around the North American response to this,
[00:01:21.170]and were involved very early on
[00:01:23.210]in some of the quarantine efforts here in the US.
[00:01:26.870]And we started contingency planning
[00:01:30.130]for what that might mean for our students,
[00:01:33.140]and for our faculty and staff,
[00:01:34.850]and the university across the board at that time.
[00:01:38.550]Fast-forward to second week of March
[00:01:41.920]when it was clear that there was a need
[00:01:44.850]to move into a social distancing kind of framework
[00:01:48.340]to protect our health system and our ability to respond
[00:01:51.660]to the transmission of the virus,
[00:01:53.830]and made that decision to go to remote education
[00:01:57.330]for the remainder of the spring semester,
[00:02:00.040]which we've done starting on March 30th,
[00:02:03.390]and are now almost to the last week of classes here
[00:02:07.630]as we speak, and it's gone very, very well
[00:02:10.180]with that pivot to that new form of remote access
[00:02:13.530]for all of our student population at UNL.
[00:02:15.930]All of our 25,000-plus students
[00:02:18.710]who are now spread remotely themselves.
[00:02:21.660]Many of them in their home communities.
[00:02:24.390]We depopulated our campus at UNL,
[00:02:27.290]beginning the third week of March.
[00:02:29.370]We would normally have over 25,000 students
[00:02:33.000]engaged with us on a regular basis.
[00:02:35.240]5,700 of our students were living on campus in Lincoln
[00:02:39.860]at the beginning of the spring semester.
[00:02:42.070]We now are down to about 750
[00:02:45.210]who are still with us on campus.
[00:02:47.810]Many international students from around the world,
[00:02:50.410]as well as students in the US that were not able to relocate
[00:02:54.490]to their permanent residence, and are safe here with us,
[00:02:57.110]and continuing to be supported by the university.
[00:03:01.420]So, a very different level of operations that we pivoted to.
[00:03:05.493]Research operations are being continued
[00:03:08.510]in a remote way as much as possible,
[00:03:10.960]and in core ways, individuals on our campus
[00:03:13.790]continuing to take care of animals,
[00:03:15.600]and plants, and continuing operations
[00:03:17.710]that are very wide across our state
[00:03:19.740]for our research enterprise.
[00:03:21.620]I'll tell you though, Brandon,
[00:03:23.150]the thing that I have been amazed to see
[00:03:26.530]that even under such an extreme level of disruption,
[00:03:29.930]I think all of us that are alive today,
[00:03:32.470]even the very most senior members of our society today
[00:03:37.000]would not have seen anything like this in their lifetime.
[00:03:40.120]Very, very few of our living population would have seen
[00:03:44.050]this kinda thing in their lifetime.
[00:03:46.420]Even with that level of disruption,
[00:03:48.900]that the leadership that has been exhibited by our faculty,
[00:03:53.970]by our students, by our staff
[00:03:56.300]to be able to move to this different level of operations
[00:03:59.610]and still continue to deliver on our mission of education,
[00:04:03.590]and of research, and innovation,
[00:04:05.430]and of engagement across the state
[00:04:07.600]under these kinds of circumstances
[00:04:09.470]has been pretty humbling to watch and to see happen,
[00:04:13.180]that the university is still open.
[00:04:15.060]The university is still working every day
[00:04:17.337]and still delivering on that mission.
[00:04:20.130]I'd also point out that our students come to us
[00:04:23.380]from all over the US, all over Nebraska,
[00:04:26.340]all over the world at UNL.
[00:04:29.760]Our students are in a severe level of disruption as well,
[00:04:34.550]and their families are disrupted, they're disrupted,
[00:04:38.730]they're in an environment they didn't anticipate being in.
[00:04:41.870]Our students that are preparing to graduate here shortly
[00:04:45.300]in a couple of weeks are facing an environment for them
[00:04:50.530]moving forward that's certainly very uncertain
[00:04:54.620]in so many ways that they have stepped up,
[00:04:57.080]and they have been very resilient,
[00:04:59.680]and worked to continue, and be successful
[00:05:02.105]in their educational pursuits.
[00:05:04.680]I just can't tell you how proud I am
[00:05:07.090]of our whole community for being able to handle this
[00:05:11.340]at a level that is just really heartening to see.
[00:05:14.650]So, we're open.
[00:05:16.180]We're obviously in a different level of operation.
[00:05:19.120]We now are planning for the sessions that are ahead for us.
[00:05:24.450]We have moved very heavily in the last few weeks
[00:05:28.190]toward planning for an expanded summer session at UNL.
[00:05:32.790]We doubled down on our summer session,
[00:05:35.340]and we're seeing enhanced enrollment as a result of that.
[00:05:38.900]Our enrollment is up almost 25% already
[00:05:41.850]over what it was a year ago, and in previous years.
[00:05:46.090]We're expecting that number to be up to doubling
[00:05:48.800]of our summer enrollment for our students to continue
[00:05:52.100]pursuing their education on the campus
[00:05:55.270]in a remote access way, as we'll need to continue doing
[00:05:58.850]through the summer months ahead,
[00:06:00.900]under the health guidance that we have.
[00:06:03.160]But we're expanding our offerings,
[00:06:05.140]expanding the opportunities for students
[00:06:07.410]who we know most of their plans have been disrupted
[00:06:10.640]from what the summer looks like ahead for them,
[00:06:13.690]and the opportunity for them
[00:06:15.180]to continue pursuing and being successful,
[00:06:18.100]and pursuing their degree requirements.
[00:06:20.970]And then, we have just started seriously planning
[00:06:24.720]toward our reopening in the fall,
[00:06:27.420]where we are fully expecting to be in session
[00:06:30.400]with an upcoming fall term.
[00:06:33.060]We don't know fully what the adaptations
[00:06:36.140]we may need to make to be safe in that environment,
[00:06:39.670]but we intend for that to be in-person.
[00:06:42.290]We intend for that to be on our campus.
[00:06:45.360]It may mean we have classes all days of the week.
[00:06:49.030]It may mean we spread our classes out in ways
[00:06:51.820]that we have not routinely done before.
[00:06:54.430]We may use venues that we wouldn't normally use
[00:06:57.480]for academic instruction,
[00:06:59.350]so you might think about the Devaney Center,
[00:07:01.420]you might think about Memorial Stadium,
[00:07:03.160]you might think about Pinnacle Bank Arena,
[00:07:05.100]you might think about venues that we wouldn't normally use
[00:07:08.890]for academic purposes that will now be deployed
[00:07:12.210]to academic purposes to be able to deliver for our students
[00:07:16.410]as our first mission in the fall
[00:07:18.670]with what we believe will be a robust semester,
[00:07:21.930]even if we need to adapt in the way
[00:07:24.360]that we deliver that curriculum for our student body
[00:07:27.960]and for incoming students that we have coming to UNL.
[00:07:31.160]So, disruptive times, certainly.
[00:07:33.820]None of us would've anticipated here in April of 2020
[00:07:38.080]to be operating in the environment in the way that we are,
[00:07:42.870]but I'm so proud of the way that the institution
[00:07:45.810]and our people have really refocused,
[00:07:48.750]and are delivering still on that mission,
[00:07:51.699]and moving forward.
[00:07:53.350]Dr. Green, last year, with the flooding
[00:07:55.920]that much of Nebraska experienced,
[00:07:57.830]I saw the word grit appear throughout the state,
[00:08:01.010]but especially, within the positioning of UNL.
[00:08:05.420]Especially in the (people speaking over each other).
[00:08:08.270]I would imagine right now
[00:08:10.130]across the University of Nebraska community,
[00:08:12.690]but especially the campus at Lincoln,
[00:08:14.230]there's never been a more pressing time
[00:08:17.270]where we've seen the demonstration
[00:08:18.980]and the success of that grit.
[00:08:22.170]Brandon, I appreciate you saying it that way.
[00:08:25.360]We're Nebraskans, right?
[00:08:27.180]And the institution here is Nebraska, as well.
[00:08:31.640]I mentioned earlier about seeing our people pivot
[00:08:34.740]and be able to respond to do what needs to be done,
[00:08:38.310]and to deliver on that mission
[00:08:40.740]under the most extreme of circumstances
[00:08:43.860]in so many different ways, and that's grit, absolutely.
[00:08:47.910]There is a lot of grit to that.
[00:08:50.140]When I was mentioning earlier,
[00:08:52.090]talking about planning for fall semester
[00:08:54.930]under uncertainty of what that fall's going to look like
[00:08:58.600]for our operating environment.
[00:09:00.380]Operating environment go in society in general.
[00:09:04.340]We can do it in Nebraska.
[00:09:05.904]We can.
[00:09:06.737]We can step up and make things work,
[00:09:09.570]and make them happen to still be able
[00:09:11.780]to deliver on that mission.
[00:09:13.830]So, there is a lot of grit that we're seeing exhibited.
[00:09:17.290]There also is tremendous stories
[00:09:20.150]that are being built around the response
[00:09:22.990]that is happening within the university, as well.
[00:09:27.310]So, stories of the way that our faculty
[00:09:31.310]have adapted their instruction, and their curriculums
[00:09:34.210]that still deliver that in a very high quality way
[00:09:37.840]incurring outcomes for our students.
[00:09:39.870]We have story, after story, after story
[00:09:42.120]of how that's happening across the institution
[00:09:44.900]in the adaptation that has occurred.
[00:09:47.430]We have faculty and staff who have stepped up
[00:09:50.920]to be able to change our operations
[00:09:53.700]in ways that operate under the directed health guidance
[00:09:57.840]that we are being careful to make sure
[00:10:00.350]that we're protecting all of those in our environment,
[00:10:03.750]and associated with it.
[00:10:05.390]We have innovation that has occurred,
[00:10:07.790]and people that have stepped up to do everything
[00:10:10.530]from engineering faculty at the university
[00:10:13.730]who have worked to put together ways to develop
[00:10:17.090]personal protective equipment for our healthcare
[00:10:20.180]and first responders in the region and the area,
[00:10:23.400]as well as at the university.
[00:10:25.900]Innovation campus has developed, and made now,
[00:10:29.520]well over 10,000 face shields.
[00:10:31.900]Engineered, prototyped, developed,
[00:10:34.100]and now manufacturing face shields for protection
[00:10:38.320]in our healthcare sector,
[00:10:39.940]and within work environments as well,
[00:10:43.130]and continuing the produce those.
[00:10:45.440]Development of hand sanitizer.
[00:10:48.100]Now well over 20,000 gallons of hand sanitizer
[00:10:51.445]that's been produced at innovation campus
[00:10:54.400]by our food processing center and by engineering faculty,
[00:10:58.070]together with the Nebraska ethanol industry
[00:11:01.320]providing inputs in order for us to do that.
[00:11:04.130]Again, for primarily, the healthcare sector
[00:11:08.120]in our state and region, and to provide assistance.
[00:11:11.570]Well, I could go on and on with the selfless acts of service
[00:11:15.500]and innovations that are happening
[00:11:17.680]under this environment that we're in
[00:11:19.710]for the university and its people to respond
[00:11:23.500]to the current environment that we're in.
[00:11:26.130]So, yeah, there's a lot of grit.
[00:11:28.770]Absolutely a lot of grit, and I anticipate that,
[00:11:31.950]that will only increase as we move further now
[00:11:36.460]into the next time period ahead,
[00:11:39.640]and see that being a very strong part of the fabric
[00:11:42.640]that we have here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:11:46.090]Brandon Benitz with the Rural Radio Network
[00:11:48.030]in our weekly chat with the chancellor
[00:11:49.770]here in the spring 2020 semester.
[00:11:51.870]This week, we're once again joined by a special guest,
[00:11:54.220]Dr. Ronnie Green, the chancellor
[00:11:55.820]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:11:57.910]Dr. Green, as the largest campus in the NU system,
[00:12:00.550]I would imagine that UNL has had probably,
[00:12:02.490]the greatest number of challenges.
[00:12:03.890]But in addition to those success stories
[00:12:06.280]that you've already mentioned,
[00:12:07.680]what other key aspects of grit and overcoming
[00:12:11.540]have you seen for some other success stories?
[00:12:14.220]Well, Brandon, that would include things like April
[00:12:17.640]is typically, one of the busiest months
[00:12:20.380]on our campus in a lot of ways,
[00:12:22.600]including the preparation for the incoming new class
[00:12:26.770]of freshman to come in the fall.
[00:12:29.400]New admitted students, students completing their visits
[00:12:33.100]to the campus for preparation
[00:12:35.620]for that incoming freshman class.
[00:12:38.310]We've had to go virtual with everything,
[00:12:40.070]like most institutions have.
[00:12:42.400]We've been able to do that very successfully.
[00:12:45.510]Our new student admitted day,
[00:12:47.350]that's usually a big event in April on campus.
[00:12:50.500]Typically, we'll have about 500 students involved
[00:12:53.230]in that new student admitted day.
[00:12:55.570]And this year, we did it virtually,
[00:12:57.440]with 92 different rooms in that virtual environment,
[00:13:01.300]and had nearly 1,000 students who participated with us
[00:13:05.650]in that new student admitted day.
[00:13:08.000]We're very pleased about that.
[00:13:10.110]We're pivoting our graduation celebration.
[00:13:13.440]Normally would happen on May 8th and 9th for us
[00:13:16.440]in graduate and undergraduate professional degrees.
[00:13:19.790]We obviously, can't do that in-person due to COVID-19,
[00:13:24.680]but we have devised a new way to celebrate
[00:13:27.690]with our students from around the world during that day,
[00:13:31.320]for them to still hear from John Cook,
[00:13:33.500]who is our commencement speaker.
[00:13:36.100]Won't be a commencement ceremony,
[00:13:37.450]but they'll hear from John Cook in a very unique way.
[00:13:41.200]They're having an opportunity
[00:13:42.510]to celebrate themselves collectively together
[00:13:45.530]throughout the full day of May 9th online
[00:13:48.560]in what they're thinking, and what their experience
[00:13:51.760]has been at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:13:54.700]They're receiving a box from us with special mementos
[00:13:58.680]about the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:14:00.760]Special to them individually
[00:14:03.280]that we're in the process now of getting to them in the mail
[00:14:06.550]for celebrating May the 9th across the world.
[00:14:09.810]And there's some very notable Nebraskans
[00:14:12.020]who are going to be speaking out to them.
[00:14:14.250]Notable alumni.
[00:14:15.731]Think of people like Warren Buffet, for example,
[00:14:19.020]who will be talking with our students
[00:14:21.090]during that celebration day.
[00:14:23.510]So, those are examples of things
[00:14:25.940]that have continued to be ways
[00:14:29.248]we're just pivoting, and pivoting successfully.
[00:14:32.870]Our housing, I mentioned earlier
[00:14:35.330]that we've had most of our students return
[00:14:38.040]to their permanent residences.
[00:14:39.880]Our housing inventory on the campuses in Lincoln
[00:14:43.150]is being offered to and used as a resource
[00:14:46.790]for the State of Nebraska, as our sister campuses are doing
[00:14:50.670]across the university system, at UNK and UNO
[00:14:54.160]for first responders, for quarantine needs,
[00:14:57.410]for housing needs that may exist
[00:15:00.520]in that way due to COVID-19.
[00:15:03.630]We've had students develop apps
[00:15:05.950]for helping to move food delivery
[00:15:09.590]in ways that are different.
[00:15:11.030]Our students in our Raikes School
[00:15:13.120]of Computer Science and Management have developed apps
[00:15:15.830]that are now being widely used.
[00:15:18.170]We have faculty who have adapted
[00:15:20.480]and made new platforms available to the K-12 system
[00:15:24.870]for their pivot to online instruction
[00:15:28.070]for the remainder of the year.
[00:15:29.520]Our museums, I've been so impressed
[00:15:32.140]with what the state museum has done,
[00:15:34.420]where they have moved so much of their programming.
[00:15:36.950]They would normally in April have 37,000 school children
[00:15:40.920]visit the state museum all here on the main campus at UNL.
[00:15:46.180]They have adapted that online
[00:15:48.660]so that those students can still be in the museums,
[00:15:52.060]still be with that opportunity to learn in that way,
[00:15:55.900]and are doing some really innovative approaches
[00:15:58.370]in ways that will live on, I think,
[00:16:00.260]for a long time, in terms of educational resources
[00:16:03.760]that are being developed for that purpose.
[00:16:06.720]So, I just could go on and on.
[00:16:08.490]There's just so many different success stories
[00:16:11.070]that are evolving from this disruptive time,
[00:16:14.100]but innovative time in how we can continue to deliver
[00:16:18.790]on that educational mission.
[00:16:21.210]Dr. Green, the last word is yours.
[00:16:23.960]In addition to everything we've talked about,
[00:16:26.240]what else is going on, on campus at UNL?
[00:16:29.820]I guess my last word, Brandon,
[00:16:31.817]would be that I am so immensely proud
[00:16:34.890]of the people of this institution.
[00:16:37.400]Under unprecedented conditions,
[00:16:39.810]under unprecedented challenges that we're operating under,
[00:16:43.373]that we're all facing individually and as families,
[00:16:46.920]in our economy, and in all sectors of our society,
[00:16:50.420]currently all of us are operating in ways
[00:16:52.680]that we never have, or we've never been challenged
[00:16:55.670]to operate under with a huge amount of uncertainty.
[00:16:58.950]Therefore, I talked to our different sectors
[00:17:01.860]of our faculty every day, and our faculty and our staff,
[00:17:05.530]they're no different than everyone else.
[00:17:07.450]They have families.
[00:17:09.210]They're in their homes, for the most part,
[00:17:12.310]and they have children around them
[00:17:14.300]that they're working to educate
[00:17:16.210]or be part of their education.
[00:17:18.400]Everyone is experiencing this,
[00:17:20.280]and has different levels of challenge,
[00:17:22.960]and unique challenges that they have in this time.
[00:17:26.340]And so, just to be able to see
[00:17:29.180]how we're able to continue our mission
[00:17:32.950]under those circumstances to deliver on that mission,
[00:17:35.917]and the selfless service that our people
[00:17:38.790]are giving in this time is just phenomenal to see.
[00:17:42.690]And so, I'm so appreciative of that.
[00:17:45.340]That defines the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:17:48.280]in so many ways that, that's my last word.
[00:17:51.200]I'm immensely proud of our people.
[00:17:52.950]I'm immensely hopeful that we're going to be
[00:17:55.310]at a different place and in an even stronger place here
[00:17:59.500]over the months to come, as we try to get on the other side
[00:18:03.080]of this COVID-19 challenge.
[00:18:05.850]That was Dr. Ronnie Green, the chancellor
[00:18:07.540]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:18:09.100]joining us once again, as a special guest
[00:18:10.930]on our chat with the chancellor
[00:18:12.530]here in the spring 2020 semester.
[00:18:14.860]With the Rural Radio Network, this is Brandon Benitz.

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