Sports Nightly

Ronnie Green Author

04/08/2022 Added

0 Plays

Description

Ronnie Green talks about turning the corner in spring sports, May commencement again in Memorial Stadium, global reach of the university, and experiential learning.

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.370]Welcome back SportsCenter
[00:00:01.230]here on the Huskers Radio Network.
[00:00:02.650]A real treat for us tonight
[00:00:03.483]as we're joined by the Chancellor
[00:00:04.860]of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Ronnie Green.
[00:00:07.030]Always great to have him in studio with us here.
[00:00:09.040]We got a big week Spring Game Week.
[00:00:11.040]Gotta gonna have a lot of people visiting us this weekend
[00:00:13.810]to watch Husker football wrap up Spring practice.
[00:00:16.060]What's your take on some of the end
[00:00:18.550]of the winter sports season.
[00:00:19.643]Now we're into the East Spring Sports?
[00:00:21.700]It's kind of hard to believe.
[00:00:22.640]It's the first week of April,
[00:00:23.851]and that we're coming up here in a couple of days
[00:00:27.120]on the spring game,
[00:00:27.970]the red-white game
[00:00:28.920]and an opportunity to see our football team
[00:00:31.680]and the progress there.
[00:00:32.870]And what's happening around some of the changes there
[00:00:36.140]but we've had kind of a crazy winter season
[00:00:40.020]in a lot of ways, right?
[00:00:41.960]The excitement of our wrestling team finishing up
[00:00:44.360]like they did,
[00:00:45.193]and the NCAA's finishing fifth this year
[00:00:47.450]with five All Americans coming out of that competition
[00:00:51.340]was really happy for Ridge and Peyton and Mikey
[00:00:54.120]and Eric and Christian who in their weight classes
[00:00:58.500]made All-American status and Ridge kind of took us for a run
[00:01:01.350]to the championship round.
[00:01:02.771]So, congratulations to them on their success.
[00:01:05.955]For Amy and the women's basketball team
[00:01:08.580]and making it into the NCAA.
[00:01:10.410]And I enjoyed going to Louisville
[00:01:12.330]and not the result we'd wanted,
[00:01:14.370]then that first round we'd hope to have gone further
[00:01:17.090]but great season for our women in basketball
[00:01:20.200]and coming out of that season
[00:01:21.430]and looking forward to the year ahead.
[00:01:23.406]Men's basketball got interesting at the end, right?
[00:01:26.770]So we had three pretty interesting games in the end
[00:01:30.756]of the conference season.
[00:01:32.660]And particularly that Wisconsin game
[00:01:34.520]was a lot of fun to watch.
[00:01:36.350]So, looking forward to them coming back next year.
[00:01:39.610]Softball I mean,
[00:01:40.770]women's softball off to a great start this year
[00:01:43.744]and seeing the success that they're having
[00:01:46.059]and most recently in Michigan.
[00:01:48.060]We're thinking about Michigan last week.
[00:01:50.462]So just a lot of excitement about the softball team.
[00:01:54.160]Baseball now well into their year
[00:01:55.732]and the conference season we've got golf
[00:01:58.640]and tennis finishing up their seasons.
[00:02:00.950]Gymnastics, finishing their season.
[00:02:02.840]Our win men gymnastics team still at play
[00:02:06.000]and track and field, of course.
[00:02:08.026]So a huge amount of opportunity in Husker athletics.
[00:02:11.450]Our athletes continue to work hard
[00:02:13.494]to compete at the highest levels
[00:02:15.720]and just an exciting time to be able to get out
[00:02:18.570]and see a lot of Huskers sports.
[00:02:20.600]When we think of Memorial Stadium this time of year
[00:02:22.310]we think of the spring game
[00:02:23.340]but you you've started
[00:02:24.173]to kind of start a new tradition in Nebraska
[00:02:26.330]because you're gonna bring commencement back
[00:02:28.240]to the stadium for the second man a row.
[00:02:30.570]Yeah, so Greg,
[00:02:31.403]last year granted we were still kind of operating
[00:02:34.890]in the COVID world, right?
[00:02:36.864]We had the opportunity to bring commencement.
[00:02:40.070]It was the first live commencement
[00:02:41.810]that we had since the pandemic had started a year earlier.
[00:02:45.848]And to bring that to Memorial Stadium
[00:02:48.250]for the first time in our history
[00:02:49.724]we had our Undergraduate commencement exercises
[00:02:52.382]in Memorial last year.
[00:02:53.950]It was a record graduating class at the same time for us.
[00:02:57.858]We had to do it distanced.
[00:02:59.940]We had to spread people out.
[00:03:01.260]We were still in that mode of social distancing
[00:03:03.426]and taking care of everybody in that way
[00:03:06.500]and had two ceremonies as a result
[00:03:08.286]of that in order to be able to accommodate it.
[00:03:11.530]It was great to do that.
[00:03:13.060]T.O was our commencement speaker.
[00:03:16.040]That was kind of iconic to have Tom Osborne
[00:03:19.030]speaking to our graduates for the first time
[00:03:21.070]in our history in Memorial Stadium.
[00:03:22.900]And I'll remember that for a long, long time to come.
[00:03:25.980]Well this year,
[00:03:27.160]we are now instituting that as our regular practice.
[00:03:30.560]So the university moving forward is planning to have
[00:03:33.580]all of it's Undergraduates Spring Commencements in May,
[00:03:37.048]in Memorial Stadium, as a practice.
[00:03:40.670]We're looking forward to that.
[00:03:42.350]We're we're doing a little turf replacement
[00:03:43.950]in Memorial Stadium.
[00:03:45.080]Some events may know about that.
[00:03:46.849]So I'm breathing every day to make sure that gets done.
[00:03:50.820]The Monday before that commencement in middle of May.
[00:03:54.146]So, we'll graduate our undergraduates there
[00:03:57.440]on that Saturday the second Saturday in May,
[00:04:01.000]as one ceremony.
[00:04:02.460]All of our undergraduates there together
[00:04:05.300]will have our Graduate Commencement in PBA
[00:04:08.400]as it always is the day before.
[00:04:10.710]And we'll have our Law Commencement that afternoon
[00:04:13.270]as well over on campus in the Lied Center.
[00:04:16.330]Looking forward to,
[00:04:17.720]we won't know till the last song, I guess,
[00:04:23.390]of the day as to what the final number is,
[00:04:26.130]but our initial numbers are looking like
[00:04:29.060]we may have another record graduating class again,
[00:04:32.470]for the second year in a row.
[00:04:34.250]And the three of the last four years in a row.
[00:04:37.680]So, exciting to see that and that culmination come in
[00:04:41.080]for all of our graduates here
[00:04:42.850]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:04:44.510]What an amazing day it will be,
[00:04:46.300]and congrats on starting
[00:04:47.720]a brand new tradition here in Nebraska.
[00:04:49.950]We're wrap it up Spring Football here in a couple days
[00:04:52.010]and then we're all looking forward
[00:04:53.130]to going to Ireland for that game in August 27th,
[00:04:55.900]but it's not the first time
[00:04:56.860]that Nebraska's played outside the United States.
[00:04:58.780]And it's only not the only example
[00:05:00.400]of Huskers doing work around the world.
[00:05:03.210]Can you give us some recent examples of that?
[00:05:05.520]Yeah, well, I'm really looking forward
[00:05:06.630]to being in Dublin in August.
[00:05:08.900]This is now our third year in planning that,
[00:05:11.200]we all remember back to prior to the pandemic
[00:05:14.320]and the plan that we were gonna play.
[00:05:16.680]There last year we were all geared up
[00:05:18.860]for that of course didn't happen and the pandemic.
[00:05:22.010]So, it'll be able to be over there
[00:05:23.650]with Northwestern this fall.
[00:05:25.290]It's our opening game for the season.
[00:05:28.140]Everyone's anticipating that we're really looking forward
[00:05:30.750]to that opportunity.
[00:05:32.173]Jane and I are gonna be leading a tour of alumni
[00:05:34.800]the week before that in the UK as well.
[00:05:37.460]So we're all just really looking forward
[00:05:39.480]to a great time there.
[00:05:41.060]And we have so much activity
[00:05:43.420]of the university occurring around the world every day.
[00:05:47.230]Research partnerships that we have students
[00:05:49.970]that work across borders
[00:05:52.300]and around the world and their experiences.
[00:05:55.340]We actually been able to get back into
[00:05:57.280]the study abroad, arena.
[00:05:59.360]Just this semester has been our first kind of step back
[00:06:02.430]into students being abroad
[00:06:04.620]and being able to participate a number of things
[00:06:06.680]during spring break happened that way for our students
[00:06:09.440]in various parts of the world.
[00:06:11.850]A couple examples of big research projects
[00:06:14.740]that we have internationally as Steve Thomas
[00:06:17.270]and our School of Natural Resources.
[00:06:19.560]He's one of our professors studying River and Stream Ecology
[00:06:22.830]in the Fish and Wildlife Arena
[00:06:24.895]is part of a big international interdisciplinary
[00:06:27.660]research team that has spent four years working
[00:06:30.410]to understand how strategic planning
[00:06:32.960]can impact the hydropower development in the entire Amazon,
[00:06:36.930]based in region in South America.
[00:06:38.780]A big example of a big project
[00:06:41.800]that affects over 2.5 million square miles,
[00:06:45.290]in that part of the world 25 academic
[00:06:48.660]and non-academic institutions
[00:06:50.800]from across the world or involved in that work with Steve.
[00:06:54.519]We also have tremendous work that occurs on an ongoing basis
[00:06:59.150]with our Global Yield Gap Atlas Work.
[00:07:01.950]That's efforts from
[00:07:03.910]the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture,
[00:07:06.720]in our Institute of Agrinatural Resources.
[00:07:09.050]Patricio Grassini, is the leader of that effort
[00:07:12.810]on our faculty there that looks at major crops.
[00:07:17.830]So then corn, wheat, rice around the world
[00:07:23.040]in the production environments in the the world.
[00:07:25.710]What their production capacity is
[00:07:28.600]relative to what is being achieved in that part.
[00:07:31.470]So, we're identifying gaps in yield
[00:07:34.860]that exists and why that's the case.
[00:07:37.283]So now 70 countries around the world
[00:07:39.980]that Patricio is working in with partners
[00:07:42.150]all over the world in terms of crop and water productivity
[00:07:47.280]that is so important as well.
[00:07:48.770]So just so much happening internationally.
[00:07:50.800]I know we're gonna be in Dublin
[00:07:51.900]and we're gonna be celebrating with our football team
[00:07:55.230]there on the Emerald Aisle so to speak,
[00:07:58.760]but we have so much going on around the world
[00:08:01.790]from this Land Grant University.
[00:08:03.320]Well, that is amazing.
[00:08:04.153]And visit with chancellor Ronnie Green,
[00:08:05.600]here on SportsCenter on the Huskers Radio Network.
[00:08:07.630]We've talked about unique experiences like commencement
[00:08:10.500]at Memorial Stadium International Collaborations.
[00:08:13.070]But I know the university's really big
[00:08:14.420]on experiential learning.
[00:08:16.010]What are some examples of how students
[00:08:17.980]are learning in hands on ways?
[00:08:21.350]Yeah, so Greg,
[00:08:22.297]we have a point of pride here at the university
[00:08:25.680]that we have always had experiential learning
[00:08:28.230]as an important part of what we do
[00:08:30.830]at the University of Nebraska.
[00:08:32.750]We actually now are in the process
[00:08:35.430]within our current strategic plan for UNL,
[00:08:38.740]of having every student at the university
[00:08:41.560]that will graduate with an experiential portfolio
[00:08:45.182]in their graduation.
[00:08:48.010]So paid internship work, international experience,
[00:08:52.570]undergraduate research experience.
[00:08:54.750]And we are well into that happening with the classes
[00:08:58.500]that we're are graduating across the board.
[00:09:00.950]Our goal is to have every student do that by 2025.
[00:09:04.160]We're already a vast majority of our students
[00:09:07.440]are in that category.
[00:09:08.850]So it's an important value to us
[00:09:10.920]and the important value of that,
[00:09:12.420]what that brings to our students
[00:09:14.080]in their educational experience.
[00:09:15.910]But we have so much of that happening around the campus.
[00:09:19.800]We have for a couple of examples,
[00:09:23.209]our architecture students as a regular part of their program
[00:09:27.840]are involved in direct design work
[00:09:30.270]with communities and communities
[00:09:32.907]and laboratories across the state
[00:09:35.840]as a normal part of their process.
[00:09:37.630]Just one example of experiential work.
[00:09:40.960]We have experiential work of our students
[00:09:43.550]in the Raikes School who are currently working
[00:09:46.540]in their senior design projects with a collectively
[00:09:50.630]with the School of Computing and the Nebraska Water Center.
[00:09:53.400]That's part of our Daugherty Water
[00:09:54.740]for Food Global Institute.
[00:09:56.600]They're in the process of revamping Nebraska's,
[00:09:59.290]what's known as Nebraska's Vadose Zone Program,
[00:10:02.130]current data systems that helps to analyze
[00:10:05.709]what the layer is the water between the crop zone
[00:10:09.990]and the crop root zone and the groundwater table
[00:10:14.540]and so important to us and Nebraska
[00:10:16.890]because of the importance
[00:10:18.130]of underground water and irrigation as we know.
[00:10:21.520]They're getting direct experiential experience
[00:10:24.070]and this multi-year process of updating that effort.
[00:10:29.153]Our forensic science students over on East Campus.
[00:10:33.260]We have a experiential learning
[00:10:35.260]for them in a field lab on our campus
[00:10:40.210]that is understanding forensic science
[00:10:42.880]and application of forensic science on the ground,
[00:10:45.890]where they participate in that field lab
[00:10:48.419]on an ongoing basis.
[00:10:50.150]I could go on and on and on with examples
[00:10:53.035]of this kind of hands on learning
[00:10:55.360]that our students are doing across the campus every day.
[00:10:58.650]It's amazing.
[00:10:59.483]That is fantastic.
[00:11:00.610]Well, thank you so much.
[00:11:01.530]You've updated us on a lot of different things here.
[00:11:03.220]I know during the fall and football season
[00:11:05.190]you have a big tailgate party.
[00:11:06.130]Do you do much of a tailgate thing
[00:11:07.490]before spring games or not?
[00:11:08.904]We don't have that as a tradition as much
[00:11:12.090]but this year we actually are...
[00:11:14.828]Oh, okay.
[00:11:15.661]Doing a pregame tailgate,
[00:11:17.370]Ted Carter, our first system president
[00:11:19.559]is hosting kind of a pregame,
[00:11:21.882]social event tailgated the Week Center on Saturday
[00:11:25.412]for a group of folks.
[00:11:27.080]We're looking forward to that kind of as a new tradition
[00:11:29.323]and looking forward to him hosting that with us.
[00:11:33.460]Enjoy that, I know you're gonna join us again
[00:11:34.970]on pregame on Saturday.
[00:11:36.110]Great to see you. You bet.
[00:11:36.943]Thanks you so much.
[00:11:37.776]Yeah, go big Red.
[00:11:38.609]Ronnie Green with us here on SportsCenter.
[00:11:39.790]We've got more of the show,
[00:11:40.700]coming up next.

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

Sports Nightly

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments