Football vs. Michigan

Rodney Bennett Author

10/02/2023 Added

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Chancellor Rodney Bennett talks about what it means to be a Big Ten university and one of the country's most important institutions.

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[00:00:00.900]Back here in Countdown to Kickoff, today,
[00:00:02.400]the Huskers set to take on the Michigan Wolverines,
[00:00:04.740]the number-two ranked team in the country.
[00:00:06.600]As we do every week,
[00:00:07.470]a chance to sit down with the chancellor
[00:00:09.390]from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Rodney Bennett.
[00:00:12.060]Boy, this is gonna be fun.
[00:00:13.410]Big name Michigan, big name Nebraska.
[00:00:15.510]I bet you're excited for this one.
[00:00:16.740]Greg, I'm here to tell you,
[00:00:18.270]I am so excited about this matchup,
[00:00:21.750]number-two Michigan in Memorial Stadium against Nebraska,
[00:00:26.460]I could not be more excited about this game.
[00:00:31.110]I want your perspective, you're fairly new to Lincoln
[00:00:33.900]and Nebraska and the Big 10.
[00:00:36.090]How about being a member of the Big 10 conference?
[00:00:38.370]What does that mean?
[00:00:39.203]Well, I think it's just a good demonstration
[00:00:41.850]of excellence, you know?
[00:00:43.170]I was thinking about that over the last couple of days.
[00:00:45.570]Obviously a demonstration of excellence
[00:00:48.360]for our athletic programs,
[00:00:51.240]but also the company that we keep, you know,
[00:00:53.760]sort of growing up as a kid,
[00:00:55.500]mom and daddy would always talk about, you know,
[00:00:57.870]you are who you hang around,
[00:00:59.820]you are the company that you keep,
[00:01:02.070]and I think when you think about the institutions
[00:01:04.710]that make up the Big 10 conference, you know,
[00:01:08.040]it puts us and puts them,
[00:01:10.260]it puts all of us sort of in the company
[00:01:12.960]of institutions that are pulling in the same direction,
[00:01:16.380]that are interested in meeting students where they are,
[00:01:19.560]helping those students to be successful,
[00:01:21.990]using the resources that we have to elevate
[00:01:24.990]and improve communities, both locally and around the world,
[00:01:29.220]and so that sort of that spirit of excellence,
[00:01:36.000]and the pursuit of excellence,
[00:01:37.710]and this idea of doing really big things is very exciting
[00:01:42.240]and something I'm very proud that we are affiliated with.
[00:01:45.660]Are there advantages for being a faculty member
[00:01:48.030]at a Big 10 institution?
[00:01:49.830]Absolutely, I think a top among 'em
[00:01:53.310]would be the access to resources.
[00:01:56.670]A lot of what we want to do in the classroom,
[00:01:58.890]a lot of what we wanna do in the laboratories,
[00:02:00.840]a lot of what we want to do through our interactions
[00:02:03.570]with students requires access to resources,
[00:02:09.000]and I think Big 10 affiliation certainly allows you
[00:02:13.560]to have access to those resources.
[00:02:16.020]The other thing that's really important
[00:02:17.550]that some of our listeners may not know about
[00:02:21.450]is that there's an alliance
[00:02:23.580]between academic leadership programs
[00:02:25.740]among Big 10 institutions, which allows our students
[00:02:29.940]to utilize, and faculty and staff,
[00:02:33.330]to have access to resources
[00:02:34.920]that those other member institutions have as well,
[00:02:38.640]and I think that that just continues to expose
[00:02:41.250]and to elevate what we're doing here in Lincoln
[00:02:44.130]really across the enterprise.
[00:02:46.290]I wanna bring it to you personal for you.
[00:02:48.330]You were going through the process of interviewing here
[00:02:50.940]the last six, seven months.
[00:02:52.920]Did the Big 10 mark have a bit of an influence
[00:02:55.560]on your decision to take the job
[00:02:56.910]at the University of Nebraska?
[00:02:57.930]I think I would not be telling the truth
[00:03:00.390]if I didn't say that, yeah, I thought about it,
[00:03:03.510]but I think what was at the forefront of my mind,
[00:03:07.350]and I'm very sincere when I think about this for myself
[00:03:10.980]and when I say it, is the equity and the history of Nebraska
[00:03:16.950]and the equity that is inherent in the big, red N.
[00:03:21.360]I have said repeatedly
[00:03:23.190]that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:03:25.680]is one of our country's most important institutions.
[00:03:29.040]And it really is.
[00:03:30.300]I mean, if you think about what we do from soup to nuts,
[00:03:33.810]a lot of what happens around the world really is impacted
[00:03:39.420]by what we do at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:03:43.290]I think our land grant designation,
[00:03:46.530]our flagship designation, our affiliation with the Big 10,
[00:03:51.480]our relationship with our sister institutions
[00:03:54.750]in Omaha and Kearney and the Med Center,
[00:03:57.450]all working together in lockstep
[00:04:00.900]really aligns us in a way that makes us unique,
[00:04:03.810]and while the Big 10 Athletic Conference
[00:04:06.420]was an important consideration, I think for me,
[00:04:10.560]being able to provide leadership and work with people
[00:04:14.280]who appreciate what it means to be in Nebraska
[00:04:18.510]and really wanting to do what's right for Nebraskans
[00:04:22.620]is what led me to come here.
[00:04:24.330]Chancellor, today's the last day
[00:04:25.350]of the month of September.
[00:04:26.280]I don't know about you, time's just flying by.
[00:04:29.280]Your first semester's over almost.
[00:04:31.680]It has flown by,
[00:04:32.940]and I'll just share with our listeners,
[00:04:34.410]it might be under the category of too much information,
[00:04:37.260]but we just, a couple of days ago,
[00:04:39.330]received our moving truck items from Mississippi,
[00:04:42.630]so for the last three months,
[00:04:44.100]yours truly has been living in the basement.
[00:04:47.130]Started out sleeping on the floor, then got a mattress
[00:04:49.620]without a box spring, which is what happens when your wife
[00:04:52.800]isn't there to help you sort of connect the dots,
[00:04:56.130]but thank goodness our truck arrived
[00:04:58.800]and I can now rotate through more than two dress shirts.
[00:05:02.160]And so I'm very happy that she's here, my wife is here,
[00:05:06.060]and very happy that our truck
[00:05:07.290]and our belongings have arrived.
[00:05:08.700]Things will now get back in order
[00:05:10.590]with the wife in town, right?
[00:05:12.360]Things are back in order.
[00:05:14.220]Life is good, I'm no longer going through the drive through.
[00:05:17.880]She has gotten me back on an eating pattern
[00:05:19.920]that I need to be on.
[00:05:20.820]Oh, that's great.
[00:05:21.653]Well, enjoy the game today. Enjoyed our chat.
[00:05:23.250]We'll talk again next week.
[00:05:24.300]Thank you, Greg.
[00:05:25.140]Chancellor Bennett with us here on Countdown to Kickoff.
[00:05:27.390]Matt Coatney is back with a Big 10 Blitz, coming up next.
[00:05:30.390]You're listening to-

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Football vs. Michigan

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