KRVN Chat with the Chancellor

Ronnie Green Author

04/10/2023 Added

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Ronnie Green recalls returning to UNL in 2010 to lead IANR and his experience in that role.

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[00:00:00.570]Bryce Doeschot here on the Rural Radio Network,
[00:00:02.580]and it is time for our weekly
[00:00:03.690]Chat with the Chancellor program,
[00:00:05.130]this week joined by the chancellor
[00:00:06.510]from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:00:08.040]That is Dr. Ronnie Green.
[00:00:09.330]Good to see you, chancellor.
[00:00:10.230]Good to see you, Bryce.
[00:00:11.520]We are continuing our series as we look back
[00:00:13.500]on your career at the university
[00:00:15.270]as you have announced your retirement.
[00:00:16.800]We spent some time doing that leading up to the moment
[00:00:19.410]where you took the helm within IANR in the last episode.
[00:00:22.230]So we'll pick that up today.
[00:00:23.970]Take us back to year 2010.
[00:00:26.700]I believe that was when things became official.
[00:00:29.580]Remind us what brought you to the university,
[00:00:31.350]how that happened.
[00:00:32.220]Yeah, well, actually, I came back to UNL in July of 2010.
[00:00:38.580]I had been recruited to come back to lead
[00:00:42.270]the Institute of Ag and National Resources
[00:00:44.280]as the vice chancellor of IANR
[00:00:47.190]and came into that role in July of 2010.
[00:00:50.970]At the time, I kinda recall that that wasn't
[00:00:53.880]in my career plan.
[00:00:55.230]I was actually an executive with Pfizer at the time.
[00:00:58.170]We were standing up a new animal genomics business,
[00:01:01.500]now Zoetis, their genomics business.
[00:01:06.060]And I got recruited pretty hard by a number of people
[00:01:09.150]at the university and in the ag industry
[00:01:11.370]and the state to come back and lead IANR,
[00:01:14.097]and I ended up making that decision to do that
[00:01:18.423]and it was one of the greater decisions in my life, I think.
[00:01:20.850]I really enjoyed that role.
[00:01:24.450]What were some of the key challenges you had to overcome
[00:01:27.030]going from industry to the public sector?
[00:01:29.580]Well, I was in academia for 13 years
[00:01:34.530]earlier in my career.
[00:01:35.520]I was on the faculty of Colorado State
[00:01:37.620]and at Texas Tech in the animal science programs there.
[00:01:41.100]So I certainly had been in academia
[00:01:45.300]and at land-grant universities before,
[00:01:48.390]but I had been out for 10 years.
[00:01:51.360]I left Colorado State in 1999/2000
[00:01:54.390]to go into private industry
[00:01:57.540]and then was in the government for a number of years
[00:02:00.330]with the ag research service
[00:02:01.680]and then with, as I mentioned, Pfizer at the time,
[00:02:05.070]and it was a little bit of a transition.
[00:02:07.830]I was going from standing up a new business unit
[00:02:11.310]in animal health in Pfizer
[00:02:13.410]and doing that really globally and around the world
[00:02:16.980]and building teams to do that to coming in
[00:02:19.890]and leading the program here at UNL,
[00:02:23.280]which is, as I like to always remind people,
[00:02:26.460]one of the best in the world
[00:02:28.530]in the field of ag and natural resources.
[00:02:31.470]So it was a little bit of a transition,
[00:02:33.450]but it was pretty easy at the same time to come back
[00:02:37.680]and make that transition into that role.
[00:02:41.430]I went back to May 26th of 2010
[00:02:44.187]and the announcement that you were gonna become
[00:02:45.990]the new IANR-
[00:02:46.823]Wow, you're doing some homework.
[00:02:47.656]Yeah, the vice chancellor,
[00:02:49.290]the vice president of the university, as well.
[00:02:51.540]Wow.
[00:02:52.373]You were quoted at the time talking about a couple of
[00:02:54.607]the big possibilities you saw then at the institute,
[00:02:57.090]talking about what is now
[00:02:58.230]the Doherty Global Water for Food Institute.
[00:02:59.831]Right, right.
[00:03:00.664]As well as Nebraska Innovation Campus.
[00:03:02.490]Right. Where you and I sit today.
[00:03:03.990]Right.
[00:03:04.823]I mention just two of those facilities you're walking into
[00:03:08.730]be able to manage and obviously hopefully grow,
[00:03:11.340]but tell our listeners and myself,
[00:03:13.320]what was the institute when you walked into it?
[00:03:15.690]Yeah, well, I'm an alum of UNL,
[00:03:19.580]so I actually did my PhD work
[00:03:21.420]in the Institute of Ag and Natural Resources
[00:03:23.400]in the animal science department.
[00:03:24.570]So I had previous history
[00:03:26.880]and knew the programs here reasonably well
[00:03:30.270]and kept abreast of them.
[00:03:33.090]I would say that IANR
[00:03:34.800]when I came back in 2010 was,
[00:03:38.340]had been at a point of kind of walking in place.
[00:03:44.010]I'll just put it that way.
[00:03:46.590]They had not grown for some time.
[00:03:49.650]The College of Ag Sciences and Natural Resources
[00:03:52.920]had begun to grow and begun to rebuild,
[00:03:55.800]but it had been,
[00:03:57.090]it had reached one of its lowest points of enrollment
[00:03:59.790]a few years before that in the institution's history.
[00:04:04.560]And I just saw a great opportunity
[00:04:07.110]for the Institute to grow
[00:04:09.720]and to grow in its impact
[00:04:12.330]and grow in its stature.
[00:04:15.450]And we were successful in doing that.
[00:04:19.020]I'm really proud of the fact that over those,
[00:04:21.870]I think, six years I was in that role,
[00:04:25.290]we grew our faculty by nearly 30%.
[00:04:28.860]That was one of our big goals was to do that
[00:04:31.800]and to grow the faculty in areas that were important,
[00:04:35.040]really important from both an education
[00:04:37.650]and a research perspective.
[00:04:41.130]And I kinda look back
[00:04:44.460]and reflect a little bit now these years later
[00:04:48.540]and I see those faculty that we hired
[00:04:51.630]during that period of time
[00:04:52.950]and the success that they've had.
[00:04:56.370]It's kind of a cool thing to see that
[00:04:59.220]and observe that they've now matured
[00:05:00.750]into some of the leaders
[00:05:02.190]and the faculty at the university (indistinct).
[00:05:06.030]We also grew our research program substantially
[00:05:09.510]during that point in time.
[00:05:10.710]I think we hit $125 million in research expenditures in ag
[00:05:15.240]and led the university in all respects
[00:05:19.320]for a number of years and continuing to do that.
[00:05:22.650]And that's continued to grow.
[00:05:25.170]You mentioned Innovation Campus.
[00:05:28.148]That was, I'll describe it as
[00:05:31.680]it was a figment of the imagination.
[00:05:33.874](Bryce laughs)
[00:05:35.400]At the time, in 2010,
[00:05:37.200]the state fair was actually moving that year.
[00:05:40.200]If you go back and look at the history of,
[00:05:41.940]there were, I remember traveling the state
[00:05:45.330]in that July of 2010 period
[00:05:47.550]and they were trying to get,
[00:05:48.720]frantically trying to get the new fairgrounds finished
[00:05:52.050]for the fair to open in that August of that year,
[00:05:55.020]which happened, as you recall.
[00:05:58.320]And Innovation Campus was a dream at that time,
[00:06:03.240]an idea and a dream of what would happen
[00:06:06.330]on the former state fairgrounds in Lincoln.
[00:06:10.410]And today, 10 years later,
[00:06:12.810]11 years later into that,
[00:06:15.060]its history since the first buildings went up here,
[00:06:18.660]over 70 partners on the campus,
[00:06:22.740]and has developed into a real thriving piece
[00:06:25.680]of the university, as well.
[00:06:28.170]Some other things that were happening at that time,
[00:06:30.300]and I remember this really well,
[00:06:33.330]again, some anniversaries that have
[00:06:35.520]just recently been happening.
[00:06:37.500]The Engler program,
[00:06:38.730]the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program.
[00:06:40.860]Paul Engler had announced his huge gift to the university
[00:06:46.200]to help establish that program actually
[00:06:48.540]in April of 2010.
[00:06:50.640]That happened then.
[00:06:51.660]So we were building that program
[00:06:54.900]and starting that program in those early years.
[00:06:58.440]That's gone on to do such great things,
[00:07:01.170]and now in its second decade, as well.
[00:07:04.800]The Water for Food Institute, same deal.
[00:07:07.410]I mean, if I recall correctly,
[00:07:11.005]the gift from the Robert B. Doherty Foundation happened also
[00:07:16.260]in the spring of 2010 that was to establish
[00:07:19.687]that it's now the Doherty Water for Food Global Institute.
[00:07:22.950]And I remember many of those early years in that position
[00:07:27.750]spending a lot of time all over the world, actually,
[00:07:30.630]and building partnerships that have developed now
[00:07:34.020]into what is the Doherty Water for Food Global Institute.
[00:07:36.720]So just, I am, I guess,
[00:07:40.800]immensely proud of the time at IANR
[00:07:44.430]and what has happened
[00:07:47.190]and what happened during that time
[00:07:50.261]and to build it into the world-leading force
[00:07:54.000]that it really is.
[00:07:55.410]We often to talk about within the institute
[00:07:57.030]kind of the three elements of it.
[00:07:58.980]There's teaching, research, and extension.
[00:08:00.437]Right, right. All very important.
[00:08:02.790]That's just scratching the surface though, I think,
[00:08:04.470]of the diversity of IANR
[00:08:06.023]and the things that you were tasked with
[00:08:07.830]as the vice chancellor.
[00:08:09.540]As you go back to that time,
[00:08:11.190]do you look back on any particular elements of that job
[00:08:13.980]that you really appreciated?
[00:08:16.260]Is there any of those in particular, I guess,
[00:08:18.240]that come to your mind?
[00:08:19.073]Well, I'm an ag guy at heart, right?
[00:08:24.300]And so I tremendously enjoyed the working with the students
[00:08:30.690]and the institute and getting the College of Ag Sciences
[00:08:33.240]and Natural Resources tremendously valued
[00:08:37.050]and working with the agricultural industry
[00:08:39.990]across the state of Nebraska
[00:08:42.240]and during that time, as well.
[00:08:44.250]And sometimes you look back on
[00:08:47.850]and I'm in this reflective part of life now
[00:08:50.760]as I look out into our transition to retirement,
[00:08:55.320]and I will, I think, always say that my time at IANR
[00:09:01.530]and being able to serve in that role,
[00:09:04.170]I'll look back fondly as one of the very best times
[00:09:07.560]and part of my career, honestly.
[00:09:10.020]I really, really, really enjoyed it.
[00:09:12.330]Tremendously enjoyed it.
[00:09:13.740]You and I had a little bit of overlap
[00:09:15.150]as I attended the university, the College of Agriculture-
[00:09:17.790]I remember Bryce Doeschot as an FFA kid.
[00:09:20.610]I remember you well.
[00:09:22.080]And as we were sitting down to do this interview,
[00:09:25.380]I was reminded myself of when you started
[00:09:28.620]at the university as a student
[00:09:30.510]and getting to know you and watch you grow up
[00:09:32.910]through the College of Ag Sciences
[00:09:34.320]and Natural Resources, as well, so-
[00:09:36.150]You were a frequent guest, thankfully,
[00:09:37.800]of the Justin Smith Scholars program I was involved with.
[00:09:40.677]Yeah, oh, wow, yeah.
[00:09:42.360]Lot of fun to- Absolutely.
[00:09:43.770]Look back on that. Yeah.
[00:09:44.820]I bring that up, obviously during my time there,
[00:09:47.550]I remember some of the key people that were on campus
[00:09:50.700]and some of the leaders that were around.
[00:09:51.960]I think Clayton Yeutter- Yeah. Right.
[00:09:53.301]A lot of our listeners are familiar with.
[00:09:54.399]Right, right.
[00:09:55.260]Any stories or experiences you wanna share
[00:09:57.240]from some of the leaders you had?
[00:09:58.530]Yeah, well, certainly Clayton was a dear friend
[00:10:01.620]and I had the good fortune of getting to know Clayton
[00:10:05.010]very, very well in the latter part of his life
[00:10:07.590]and revered him as a leader.
[00:10:11.010]And we were able to work to establish
[00:10:14.760]what's now the Clayton Yeutter Institute
[00:10:16.560]of International Trade and Finance.
[00:10:18.180]That was a dream of his
[00:10:19.710]and a dream of he and his family.
[00:10:22.410]And it coincidentally, this is,
[00:10:26.640]I just remembered this,
[00:10:28.200]and in talking today, actually,
[00:10:31.950]April 6th, we're recording this interview,
[00:10:34.290]it is the seven year anniversary
[00:10:37.320]of when I was announced to become the chancellor of UNL.
[00:10:40.740]It happened on April 6th, 2016.
[00:10:43.350]And it's also the day I was installed a year later
[00:10:46.337]in the kind of formal, what they call,
[00:10:48.210]I call it the Grand Poobah ceremony,
[00:10:49.860]the investiture and inauguration of the chancellor.
[00:10:54.240]And Clayton had passed away that spring.
[00:10:58.140]He had fought cancer through the latter few years
[00:11:02.310]of his life.
[00:11:04.140]And I had asked him if he would be the keynote speaker
[00:11:07.170]at my installation as chancellor,
[00:11:09.090]and he agreed to do that.
[00:11:11.010]We were able to get that recorded
[00:11:13.350]with him literally two weeks before he passed away
[00:11:17.550]in February of that year.
[00:11:19.380]And I have this vivid memory around
[00:11:22.500]that investiture ceremony because his funeral was
[00:11:27.480]in Washington, DC two days after my investiture,
[00:11:31.560]and his family had asked me to sing at his funeral.
[00:11:35.610]One of my hobbies and vocations is music.
[00:11:41.310]And it was one of the greatest honors
[00:11:43.650]of my life to have the opportunity
[00:11:45.450]to celebrate him at his funeral.
[00:11:48.660]So it brings back a wash of a lot of memories.
[00:11:52.320]Well, coming up on the next Chat with the Chancellor
[00:11:54.360]with University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor
[00:11:56.580]Dr. Ronnie Green,
[00:11:57.413]we'll look at his time in his current role
[00:11:59.700]as Chancellor of the University here at Lincoln.
[00:12:02.220]But a minute or so left of this week's recording.
[00:12:05.040]Final thoughts with your time at the institute?
[00:12:08.130]Well, as you heard me say,
[00:12:11.880]I thoroughly enjoyed that time in working with our faculty
[00:12:16.920]and tremendous team of talent that we have here
[00:12:20.130]at the institution and our students and the industry
[00:12:24.360]and have so much respect
[00:12:27.081]for the Institute of Ag and Natural Resources
[00:12:29.250]and what it does.
[00:12:31.410]It actually this year,
[00:12:33.210]I know Mike Bain, the current vice chancellor,
[00:12:35.640]and his team are celebrating this through the year,
[00:12:38.730]is the 50th anniversary of the founding
[00:12:41.160]of what is today the Institute of Ag and Natural Resources
[00:12:45.210]for the university.
[00:12:46.440]And there's a lot of celebration going on about that
[00:12:50.790]and with people who were instrumental
[00:12:53.130]in the development of it
[00:12:55.200]and with the Ag Builders of Nebraska and so forth.
[00:12:58.860]So yeah, just a tremendous part
[00:13:02.220]of the University of Nebraska Institution
[00:13:04.650]and something that I'm very, very proud of.
[00:13:07.170]I teed up what's coming next
[00:13:08.370]on our next Chat with the Chancellor,
[00:13:10.110]and we'll hit a pausing point today as we wrap up
[00:13:12.690]our time today catching up with the chancellor
[00:13:13.937]of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dr. Ronnie Green,
[00:13:16.860]here on the Rural Radio Network.
[00:13:18.570]I'm Bryce Doeschot with this week's
[00:13:20.100]Chat with the Chancellor.

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