KRVN Chat with the Chancellor

Rodney Bennett Author

03/25/2024 Added

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Chancellor Bennett talks about addressing budget challenges, efforts to keep the best students in the state in alignment with priorities of Governor Pillen, and the ongoing importance of agriculture and natural resources in the work of the university and the state.

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[00:00:00.240]Bryce Doeschot on the Rural Radio Network.
[00:00:02.250]And it is time for our chat with the Chancellor Program.
[00:00:04.560]This week we're visiting with Chancellor Bennett
[00:00:06.210]from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
[00:00:08.640]Chancellor Bennett, good to see you.
[00:00:10.110]Welcome back to the studio.
[00:00:11.280]Bryce, always good to be with you.
[00:00:13.244]Always good to have an opportunity to talk
[00:00:16.260]to our good Nebraskans all across this great state,
[00:00:18.870]and give them an update of what's going on at their state's
[00:00:21.500]land-grant flagship, R1, Big 10 university.
[00:00:26.250]So thank you for having me.
[00:00:27.480]A lot of exciting events have happened,
[00:00:29.190]particularly on the sports scene.
[00:00:30.420]Nebraska women's basketball, man,
[00:00:31.830]they made national news knockoff the number two team
[00:00:34.260]in the nation.
[00:00:35.093]That's pretty exciting stuff.
[00:00:35.926]I wanna tell you one thing.
[00:00:37.290]I was so excited about that win over Iowa.
[00:00:41.790]I mean, that was so incredible
[00:00:43.740]and I was so tempted to run out on the court
[00:00:46.650]and then I thought, "Eh, maybe I ought not do that."
[00:00:48.990]But I was so close to doing it
[00:00:51.000]and I was so glad that our women had an opportunity
[00:00:54.390]to beat the number two team in the country
[00:00:56.865]earlier in the week.
[00:00:58.350]Our sports programs are doing exactly
[00:01:01.182]what we need for them to do and want them to do.
[00:01:04.020]And of course our athletic director, Trev,
[00:01:06.240]is doing a fine job, leading and directing those programs,
[00:01:10.200]and working with stakeholders across the state and beyond.
[00:01:12.660]So, as chancellor, I just could not be more pleased
[00:01:15.450]with where we are athletically and academically.
[00:01:19.020]As we'll get to the academic front.
[00:01:20.520]As I've heard the Director of Athletics, Trev Alberts talk,
[00:01:23.730]he talks about creating synergy
[00:01:25.380]within the athletic department,
[00:01:26.820]and the different coaches all supporting each other.
[00:01:28.620]It sounds like we've seen that over the winter months.
[00:01:30.840]Coach Rhule making an appearance
[00:01:31.920]at several of those basketball games.
[00:01:33.720]I bring that up to tie into creating synergy
[00:01:36.270]within the work you do, not only in athletics,
[00:01:38.790]but looking at the state approach.
[00:01:40.980]Right now, of course the Nebraska legislatures
[00:01:43.080]meeting a lot of news coming out on that front.
[00:01:44.910]What do you hear from the Nebraska legislature,
[00:01:47.340]but also the governor,
[00:01:48.180]in terms of what do they wanna see
[00:01:50.130]from the land-grant institution here in Nebraska?
[00:01:51.990]Well, one thing Bryce, I'd start with,
[00:01:53.970]is that we are very grateful for the support
[00:01:56.760]that we receive at the university
[00:01:58.440]from the legislature and from the governor.
[00:02:01.980]The governor and I have a longstanding relationship now,
[00:02:04.950]of I'd say eight or nine years.
[00:02:07.440]And I have deep respect for him and his leadership
[00:02:10.440]and his vision for the state of Nebraska.
[00:02:13.320]And I believe that he has the same for me.
[00:02:16.800]As I'm here longer,
[00:02:19.170]I'm meeting more members of the legislature,
[00:02:21.390]and developing really solid relationships
[00:02:24.060]with each of the members.
[00:02:25.230]I have deep respect for them and how hard their work is.
[00:02:28.710]And I think that they have the same level of respect for me
[00:02:31.320]and for the institution.
[00:02:33.330]One of the things that I've been talking
[00:02:34.650]to our leadership team about
[00:02:36.780]is how important it is for us to be in alignment
[00:02:40.410]with the governor and with the legislature.
[00:02:43.620]And for us to be good stewards of the resources
[00:02:46.770]that are appropriated to us.
[00:02:49.770]I believe strongly, strongly,
[00:02:51.720]that we need to live within our means.
[00:02:53.670]We need to make hard decisions.
[00:02:56.160]We need to be disciplined and focused
[00:02:57.890]in how we assign our budget.
[00:03:01.102]We need to recognize that we are no longer at a place
[00:03:04.650]where we can be all things to all people.
[00:03:07.110]That the world has changed,
[00:03:08.670]the needs of students and their families have changed.
[00:03:11.550]And as much as we'd like to continue to do all the things
[00:03:14.070]that we've done for 155 years,
[00:03:17.970]we just are no longer at a point where we can do that.
[00:03:21.240]So I like to use a very fiscally conservative approach
[00:03:25.557]to budgeting, to management and oversight of the university,
[00:03:30.330]and to ensure that we are doing that in accordance
[00:03:33.060]with the governor's expectations for the state
[00:03:36.750]and those members of the legislature.
[00:03:39.450]So I heard one of the things the governors talked about
[00:03:41.370]recently is trying to keep our best and brightest.
[00:03:43.260]We have to, going on the theme of athletics, try to work,
[00:03:45.450]make sure you get the high-caliber athletes
[00:03:48.480]to come to play football, basketball, whatever it might be,
[00:03:51.660]here at the University of Nebraska Lincoln,
[00:03:53.940]but also, some of those top achieving students.
[00:03:56.250]We wanna keep 'em in Nebraska, don't we?
[00:03:57.780]We do. We wanna keep 'em in Nebraska.
[00:03:59.610]We want them to raise their families here.
[00:04:01.320]We want them to create businesses here.
[00:04:03.150]We want 'em to be good citizens of the state,
[00:04:05.940]both in letter and in spirit.
[00:04:07.890]And I was so proud of the governor
[00:04:09.960]and of the System President, or Interim President,
[00:04:12.750]Chris Kabourek, a week or so ago,
[00:04:15.510]holding a press conference down at the Capitol
[00:04:18.180]to really announce a new level of support for students
[00:04:21.180]who's earned a perfect score on the ACT.
[00:04:24.540]That would obviously be a 36.
[00:04:27.090]But in addition to that,
[00:04:28.410]the governor has made it very clear
[00:04:30.240]to the higher education community in the state,
[00:04:33.300]and I support it 100%,
[00:04:35.280]that as much as we're focused on enrollment numbers,
[00:04:38.820]which are important,
[00:04:40.200]completion and graduation rates are equally important.
[00:04:44.100]And I was so glad to hear him say that,
[00:04:45.900]because that gives us a slightly different type of roadmap
[00:04:50.129]to the things that we ought to be thinking about,
[00:04:52.800]and focused on, with regard to student success,
[00:04:56.070]availability of courses, mentoring, internships,
[00:05:00.960]experiential learning opportunities.
[00:05:03.210]Because as the governor has said,
[00:05:05.370]making sure that our students are ready for work on day one
[00:05:09.383]is really important.
[00:05:11.310]And as we think about the economic impact
[00:05:13.470]and as we think about workforce development,
[00:05:15.900]making sure that we are partnering with community colleges
[00:05:19.560]and technical schools across the state,
[00:05:21.840]making sure that we are in partnership
[00:05:23.940]with the state colleges,
[00:05:26.040]really thinking about in Nebraska,
[00:05:28.590]the idea and the concept of one Nebraska
[00:05:31.590]is important and critical.
[00:05:32.970]And I think when all of those components come together,
[00:05:36.060]we really get closer to the idea
[00:05:38.790]that the governor has set forth,
[00:05:41.040]in terms of keeping the best and the brightest students
[00:05:44.370]here in our state.
[00:05:45.569]One of the first chances you and I had to do our chat
[00:05:49.740]with the chancellor was coming off your trip
[00:05:51.870]as you tour the entire state with
[00:05:53.610]some of the new faculty within the Institute of Agriculture
[00:05:56.910]and Natural Resources.
[00:05:58.050]I'm sure since then you've had plenty of opportunities
[00:06:00.330]to engage with Nebraskans.
[00:06:02.070]As you do so, what do you hear from them?
[00:06:03.900]What do they want to see
[00:06:05.190]from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln?
[00:06:07.050]Well, I think what they want to hear, what they wanna see,
[00:06:09.780]and they expect from their state's flagship university,
[00:06:12.750]is for us to be bold and courageous
[00:06:15.690]and disciplined in our approach to running the state's
[00:06:18.690]and managing the state's flagship university,
[00:06:21.630]and land-grant university, which is very important.
[00:06:25.470]To be bold and take risk,
[00:06:27.420]but to think about a return on the investment
[00:06:30.750]and to think about keeping the main thing, the main thing.
[00:06:35.190]And obviously Bryce, as you know,
[00:06:36.900]the main thing for the University of Nebraska
[00:06:39.690]is our ongoing commitment to the land grant mission,
[00:06:44.730]which gives us a clear sort of direction
[00:06:48.103]with regard to Ag and natural resources.
[00:06:52.200]Ag and natural resources has been the foundation
[00:06:55.743]and the hallmark for this university since our founding.
[00:06:59.880]And without the University of Nebraska being in this space
[00:07:03.240]as one of our country's most important universities
[00:07:06.360]in agriculture and natural resources,
[00:07:08.900]I think we would be having a very different conversation.
[00:07:12.630]So I have assured them that under my chancellorship,
[00:07:15.870]which I hope will be a long and prosperous chancellorship,
[00:07:20.100]that the commitment to the land grant mission
[00:07:23.430]to agriculture, natural resources,
[00:07:25.500]all of the components that make that up
[00:07:27.930]is something that continues to be how my list of priorities.
[00:07:30.840]I think that that's what they expect from the university.
[00:07:34.560]They were excited to hear me say that.
[00:07:37.080]And it wasn't just talking points from the chancellor.
[00:07:39.750]I have a conviction for this work.
[00:07:43.170]And as I transition from my previous presidentship
[00:07:47.310]down in the south to here,
[00:07:49.380]it was one of the reasons that I wanted to come to Nebraska
[00:07:52.050]to be in this space and to provide oversight and leadership
[00:07:56.019]in this body of work.
[00:07:58.080]Well, it's always great to hear your vision
[00:07:59.490]for how you wanna see the university continue
[00:08:01.320]to progress here at the Lincoln campus.
[00:08:04.170]As we wrap up our time today,
[00:08:05.820]gonna be a couple of months
[00:08:06.653]before we catch up with you again,
[00:08:07.830]I'm sure you're in the midst of another semester here,
[00:08:10.470]students back on campus, that's always a good feeling.
[00:08:12.330]But what should we expect from the university here
[00:08:14.633]before we chat again?
[00:08:16.110]Well, I think you should expect consistency
[00:08:19.500]and just sort of discipline.
[00:08:21.660]I think you should expect for us to continue
[00:08:23.610]to make really hard decisions
[00:08:25.650]for the betterment of the state of Nebraska
[00:08:28.770]and for our university system.
[00:08:31.650]I think you should expect for us to be focused
[00:08:34.740]and serious about alignment.
[00:08:37.050]I think our future is gonna depend on the extent
[00:08:40.170]to which we are aligned with the governor's office,
[00:08:43.740]with the legislature, with the business community,
[00:08:47.520]with our alumni and donors and other stakeholders,
[00:08:50.610]with our athletics programs,
[00:08:52.230]which are very important to the university and to the state.
[00:08:55.440]So I think you should see
[00:08:57.270]and expect the university to be a true partner
[00:09:00.286]as we go about our work,
[00:09:02.220]taking into consideration all the moving pieces
[00:09:04.740]and parts of it
[00:09:06.030]and making sure that no Nebraskan is left behind,
[00:09:09.390]or no Nebraskan would not be able to see themselves
[00:09:12.930]represented in their state's flagship land-grant university.
[00:09:16.890]Dr. Rodney Bennett,
[00:09:17.723]the Chancellor of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln,
[00:09:19.560]our guest this week,
[00:09:20.460]on our "Chat with the Chancellor" series,
[00:09:22.050]here on the Rural Radio Network.
[00:09:23.880]I'm Bryce Doeschot, reporting.

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KRVN Chat with the Chancellor

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