Women's basketball vs. MSU

Rodney Bennett Author

12/11/2023 Added

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Chancellor Rodney Bennett talks about a recent opportunity to speak with members of the Legislature about UNL's commitment to its land-grant mission, particularly how that relates to agriculture and natural resources, and to enrolling students and elevating the state through economic development and workforce development.

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[00:00:00.480]Welcome back, half-time,
[00:00:01.380]while the Huskers matchup today against Michigan State
[00:00:03.660]in East Lanson.
[00:00:04.493]I'm back in Lincoln, Greg Sharp, delighted to be joined
[00:00:06.360]by the Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:00:08.570]Rodney Bennett, is unbelievable to think
[00:00:11.250]that we're just a week away from a commencement ceremony.
[00:00:14.700]This semester has just flown by,
[00:00:16.682]Chancellor. Yes, yes, Greg.
[00:00:17.940]I'm telling you what, it has flown by,
[00:00:20.700]and it's hard to imagine for an old southern boy like me,
[00:00:24.240]that we're in Nebraska,
[00:00:25.890]because we have had temperatures,
[00:00:27.690]Yeah. That really reflect
[00:00:29.010]what it's like living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
[00:00:32.430]And so for all Nebraskans, you're welcome.
[00:00:35.880]That winter has not arrived in fulls,
[00:00:38.430]in all of its glory yet.
[00:00:39.660]But we are certainly taking credit
[00:00:42.000]for the weather right now in January and February.
[00:00:44.760]Maybe not so much.
[00:00:45.870]Yeah, you'll push that off on us
[00:00:47.263]to those who have been here for a while.
[00:00:49.050]Let kind of just reflect back on the semester
[00:00:51.810]and the commencement ceremony coming up next week.
[00:00:53.670]Yeah. Your thoughts.
[00:00:54.503]Yeah, really, really good semester.
[00:00:56.640]Very proud of sort of where we are.
[00:00:58.380]Certainly we've had our challenges as we've gone through
[00:01:01.620]this first semester,
[00:01:03.150]but I think all things considered we're gonna end
[00:01:06.150]the semester at a pretty good place.
[00:01:08.460]One of the things I'm really proud of,
[00:01:10.530]and I know we don't have a lot of time today
[00:01:12.750]with this interview, but on yesterday, December 7th,
[00:01:17.010]I had the opportunity to meet with members
[00:01:18.510]of the legislature as part of their annual meeting
[00:01:21.750]out at our innovation campus
[00:01:24.210]and I was very pleased to have an opportunity
[00:01:26.250]to be in front of the legislature
[00:01:28.170]and I shared with them some points that I wanna share
[00:01:30.240]with you and perhaps with people listening
[00:01:32.850]to the interview today.
[00:01:34.440]First and foremost, it's really important
[00:01:36.660]for the legislature to have heard the chancellor at UNL say
[00:01:40.830]how important it is for us to do things the right way here.
[00:01:45.240]I really believe that and have really tried to build
[00:01:47.580]my career on doing things the right way.
[00:01:51.660]I also shared with the legislature our commitment
[00:01:55.500]to embracing our land grant mission,
[00:01:58.740]particularly as that relates to agriculture
[00:02:01.590]and natural resources
[00:02:03.600]and I shared with them that our focus going forward will be
[00:02:06.827]really a commitment to enrollment
[00:02:09.000]and what enrollment looks like, and stabilizing enrollment.
[00:02:12.270]I spent some time with the legislature talking about
[00:02:14.760]our budget shortfall
[00:02:16.050]and making sure that UNL is living within our means,
[00:02:19.950]that we're not leveraging our future
[00:02:22.560]because of our inability to be disciplined
[00:02:25.170]and make hard budgetary decisions.
[00:02:28.590]And I said to them yesterday that it was really important
[00:02:31.290]that the university be a good community partner
[00:02:34.350]and a good community member.
[00:02:35.940]You know, we bring a lot to the communities
[00:02:38.190]where we have a footprint.
[00:02:39.930]And I think recognizing that there are other people
[00:02:42.270]in those communities that are impacted by our activities
[00:02:45.810]is very important.
[00:02:47.400]And then finally, I shared with them the importance
[00:02:49.980]of the university being focused
[00:02:52.200]on elevating the state of Nebraska.
[00:02:55.590]And through that, I shared with them elevation as it relates
[00:02:59.490]to economic development.
[00:03:02.130]As it relates to workforce development.
[00:03:05.040]As it relates to ensuring that all of our graduates
[00:03:09.690]are job ready on day one.
[00:03:12.510]As I talk to employers across the state
[00:03:14.940]and the region, they all say,
[00:03:16.657]"Mr. Chancellor, do everything that you can to make sure
[00:03:19.267]"that when your graduates show up day one at work,
[00:03:23.257]"that they're ready to do that."
[00:03:25.440]And so when you think about commencement next week
[00:03:28.680]and the fact that we're gonna have a little more than
[00:03:31.260]1100 degrees that will be conferred,
[00:03:34.740]we believe that we have sort of met those goals
[00:03:37.920]of preparing our students to take their rightful place
[00:03:41.460]in their careers all across the state and across the region
[00:03:45.450]and I will be happy to confer those degrees
[00:03:48.330]and congratulate those students
[00:03:49.890]and their families who play a very important role
[00:03:53.130]in helping a student get through four or five years
[00:03:56.250]of university rigorous coursework and study.
[00:03:59.640]It's quite an accomplishment to be able to do that
[00:04:01.047]and we congratulate all of them.
[00:04:02.460]We wish all the students best of luck on finals week,
[00:04:04.710]which are coming up here in just a couple days,
[00:04:06.030]can be a high stressful time in a student's life.
[00:04:08.190]Very stressful time.
[00:04:10.020]I think that we have enough activities on campus
[00:04:12.660]designed to sort of give them a little bit of break.
[00:04:15.090]I have not seen this yet,
[00:04:16.590]but at other institutions, this is a really good time
[00:04:19.440]of the year for us to bring our therapy dogs out
[00:04:23.460]because it's amazing what having an animal just sort of
[00:04:27.180]walk by that you can pet and love on a little bit.
[00:04:30.060]What that does to relieve stress.
[00:04:31.920]You know, there's lots of research
[00:04:33.210]and data about the use of therapy animals.
[00:04:36.510]Right. And that reference,
[00:04:37.440]I refer to dogs, but really therapy animals
[00:04:40.590]that students could really benefit from
[00:04:42.660]during this time of year.
[00:04:43.590]So I'm hopeful that some of those animals will show up
[00:04:46.860]on our campus and help our students sort of get across
[00:04:49.260]the finish line. Very good, good to see you.
[00:04:51.090]Thank you, Greg.
[00:04:51.990]Chancellor Bennett with us here at halftime.
[00:04:53.550]Back with more of our halftime festivities coming up next.

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Women's basketball vs. MSU

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