Football vs. Colorado

Rodney Bennett Author

09/11/2023 Added

2 Plays

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Dr. Rodney Bennett talks about meeting with Colorado area alumni, fall 2023 enrollment news, excitement around the new Kiewit Hall under construction and UNL's $2.9 billion annual economic impact on the state.

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[00:00:03.060]Welcome back Canada Kickoff, Huskers in Buffaloes.
[00:00:05.550]11:05 Central 10:05 out here in Mountain time.
[00:00:09.390]And as we do each and every week,
[00:00:10.470]a chance to sit down with the Chancellor
[00:00:11.850]at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Rodney Bennett.
[00:00:14.910]Great to see you again today.
[00:00:16.680]Big game today.
[00:00:17.730]A lot of attention around the country on this one.
[00:00:19.650]Oh my gosh, all eyes, brother Greg.
[00:00:22.740]All eyes are focused on the Huskers out in Boulder.
[00:00:27.000]So we are definitely gonna get it done today
[00:00:30.060]and then bring this thing back home to Memorial Stadium,
[00:00:33.240]and keep it rolling.
[00:00:34.650]I'm excited about the ballgame,
[00:00:36.360]excited about our kids,
[00:00:37.770]excited about our coaching staff.
[00:00:39.960]I know they're pumped and ready to go.
[00:00:41.700]So what a great day to be a Husker.
[00:00:44.040]This game means so much to Husker fans
[00:00:46.080]because a lot of fans live around the Denver area
[00:00:48.720]obviously our western Nebraska folks
[00:00:50.400]it's a pretty close campus proximity to them.
[00:00:53.370]And I know you had a chance to visit with some of our alums.
[00:00:56.130]I did.
[00:00:57.180]We've got plus or minus about 5,700 proud Husker alums
[00:01:02.430]that live in this area, in this region.
[00:01:04.290]And those good alums are sending lots of students our way,
[00:01:08.070]which we need.
[00:01:09.450]I know that you are aware
[00:01:10.500]that we reported our enrollment numbers earlier this week
[00:01:14.220]and certainly it's not exactly where I want it to be,
[00:01:17.520]but I think we're on the right road to sort of recovering
[00:01:20.670]from the very large graduating class we had not long ago,
[00:01:24.480]and really getting sort of the numbers back up
[00:01:26.820]where we need to be
[00:01:27.653]to sort of be the university that we want to be
[00:01:30.390]in terms of enrollment and the preparation of our kids,
[00:01:33.630]and obviously helping those kids to persist on to graduation
[00:01:37.860]in a four year time cycle.
[00:01:39.690]Let's dive into that more
[00:01:40.710]because I knew those were coming out.
[00:01:41.850]They came out midweek.
[00:01:43.230]It was basically a flat line, which isn't bad,
[00:01:45.810]but inside those numbers, there were some nice little bumps
[00:01:48.900]in some of your enrollment in some of your colleges.
[00:01:50.640]Well, and I think the ones that I'm the most proud of
[00:01:53.160]and I think this speaks a lot to our flagship
[00:01:56.190]and our land grant designation,
[00:01:59.070]the numbers reflected a 3.6% increase
[00:02:02.700]in first time freshmen from the state of Nebraska.
[00:02:06.360]And our land grant mission sort of ask us and directs us
[00:02:10.410]to really focus on how we provide
[00:02:12.690]high quality education and elevation
[00:02:15.660]for students and families right here in the state.
[00:02:18.510]So I was very happy with those numbers.
[00:02:21.510]I was also happy with about 5,500 plus or minus
[00:02:26.640]of those students
[00:02:27.870]coming from a homegrown sort of first year Huskers
[00:02:35.010]first time, full-time freshman as it were.
[00:02:38.250]So I think our message is getting out across the state
[00:02:40.800]that we're here, that we want you,
[00:02:42.390]that we're gonna meet you where you are.
[00:02:45.120]If you're the first in your family to go to college,
[00:02:47.280]no big deal,
[00:02:48.113]we have a lot of programs and services here
[00:02:50.880]to make you feel right at home
[00:02:52.560]and to get you through those programs on schedule.
[00:02:55.710]So I think we're moving in the right direction.
[00:02:58.140]One of the things that we're talking about on campus
[00:03:00.480]is how large do we want to be?
[00:03:02.790]If you think about our Big Ten peer institutions
[00:03:06.750]they are all across the board in terms of size.
[00:03:09.750]So I have been talking to the leadership of the campus
[00:03:12.750]and obviously the system office to try to figure out
[00:03:15.990]what should enrollment really look like for us
[00:03:18.540]in terms of numbers.
[00:03:20.190]But I'll take a flat enrollment this year
[00:03:24.960]based on where we have been
[00:03:26.550]and sort of all the challenges that are out there,
[00:03:29.070]with regard to recruitment and retention
[00:03:31.560]of really good high quality students.
[00:03:33.480]We're visiting Chancellor Bennett here
[00:03:35.190]on Canada in the kickoff, Huskers in Buffaloes today.
[00:03:37.740]You talked about land grant university.
[00:03:40.122]A big part of that is research and development
[00:03:43.500]for the economics of the state as well.
[00:03:46.200]And I know you have some numbers
[00:03:47.280]that relate to that as well.
[00:03:48.360]I do. These numbers are really impressive
[00:03:50.460]and I'm not sure
[00:03:51.293]that people who are not in it every day
[00:03:53.940]really understand or maybe are aware
[00:03:56.460]of what our numbers look like.
[00:03:58.890]In 2022,
[00:04:00.270]not to get too heavily involved with statistics,
[00:04:02.820]and, you know, all these stats.
[00:04:03.960]I mean, it's ball game Saturday,
[00:04:06.450]so I wanna, (interviewer chuckles)
[00:04:07.290]I want to keep the main thing, the main thing,
[00:04:09.420]and that's winning a ball game here in just a little bit.
[00:04:12.060]But I do think it's important for our listeners to know
[00:04:14.730]that last year we had 200, I'm sorry
[00:04:18.330]we had $340 million in research expenditures.
[00:04:23.220]Those are catastrophic, you know,
[00:04:24.930]just astronomical numbers.
[00:04:27.930]And we are projected in 2023 to break that record.
[00:04:32.820]That's really impressive, and something
[00:04:34.530]that all Huskers ought to be really excited about.
[00:04:39.480]I'm also excited about our new engineering building
[00:04:44.430]and supported through the lead gift
[00:04:46.560]by the Kiewit Corporation, Dean Lance Perez.
[00:04:50.190]And I spent last Friday afternoon
[00:04:53.037]doing a tour of the facility.
[00:04:55.830]And I think that that's gonna really help us
[00:04:57.870]with our commitment to engineering
[00:05:00.690]and all the disciplines that are a part
[00:05:03.060]of the major over there.
[00:05:05.310]And so we've got just numbers
[00:05:08.190]that will just blow the the minds of a lot of people.
[00:05:11.820]Let me end with this.
[00:05:13.560]Our statewide economic impact,
[00:05:16.470]now, this is the University of Nebraska, Lincoln
[00:05:19.500]is $2.9 billion annually
[00:05:23.160]in economic impact across the state.
[00:05:26.220]And for every $11,
[00:05:30.330]I'm sorry for every dollar
[00:05:31.860]that the state of Nebraska invest in us,
[00:05:34.950]we turn that around to an $11 impact.
[00:05:39.480]I mean, that's just pretty impressive
[00:05:40.890]when you think about what we're able to do
[00:05:43.080]with the resources that we've been given.
[00:05:45.600]My boss Ted Carter,
[00:05:48.420]System president said to me
[00:05:50.700]when I was a candidate for the position,
[00:05:53.220]and then ultimately the priority candidate
[00:05:55.260]and then the chancellor,
[00:05:56.790]was that the state of Nebraska
[00:05:58.830]has done a really good job of funding the university,
[00:06:02.460]that we don't have a funding issue.
[00:06:04.650]And as I've been here,
[00:06:06.240]I see that we have to make some strategic priorities
[00:06:09.300]about what we're going to invest in,
[00:06:11.610]and what the best return on those investments
[00:06:14.910]are going to be.
[00:06:16.080]But I'm really grateful to the system office
[00:06:18.300]and grateful to the legislature
[00:06:20.640]for the appropriations that they provide
[00:06:22.650]the public higher education in the state of Nebraska.
[00:06:25.560]And I hope that they will see
[00:06:27.690]that we're doing our part to turn that money around
[00:06:30.960]and reinvest it in the state at the tune of $2.9 billion.
[00:06:36.390]And for every dollar that they're giving us
[00:06:38.700]to generate $11 worth of impact across the state.
[00:06:43.440]I think our listeners need to know that.
[00:06:45.120]I think they want to know that,
[00:06:46.017]and I think that makes them proud
[00:06:48.360]as taxpayers of the state of Nebraska
[00:06:50.490]to see what we're doing
[00:06:51.540]with the resources that we have been given.
[00:06:53.820]Absolutely. Great information.
[00:06:55.057]Thank you for sharing all of that with us here today.
[00:06:57.690]Enjoy the game today.
[00:06:58.890]I cannot wait for you to enjoy a home game next week.
[00:07:03.150]I cannot wait to do it myself.
[00:07:05.340]I'm fired up about the ball game today.
[00:07:07.320]Go big red.
[00:07:08.370]What a great day to be a Husker.
[00:07:10.170]It's time to bring home a W.
[00:07:11.910]Chancellor Bennett with us here on Canada Kickoff.
[00:07:14.010]Matt Coatney is up next with a Big Ten Blitz.
[00:07:16.470]You're li...

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Football vs. Colorado

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