Chancellor's Pre-Game UNI

Curt Bright Author

09/16/2024 Added

3 Plays

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Chancellor Bennett talks about the Sheldon Museum of Art with Museum Director Susan Longhenry.

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[00:00:00.160]Welcome back. Countdown to kickoff. Huskers tonight against the Northern Iowa Panthers.
[00:00:03.640]We'll kick this game off tonight at 6:40. And as we do every week, a chance to sit down with the Chancellor
[00:00:07.660]from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Rodney Bennett. Always good to see you. Another Saturday
[00:00:11.600]of football. Brother Greg, can you believe we are back three games
[00:00:15.760]into the season? I mean, the semester is already off and running.
[00:00:18.800]Good stuff, too, going on here. Good stuff. Yeah, we're going to hear about that coming up here in just a minute.
[00:00:23.740]Also, you brought a wonderful guest with us today, Susan Longhenry, who's the Director of
[00:00:27.800]the Sheldon Museum of Art. Good to see you. Thank you for stopping by with us today.
[00:00:31.000]Honor to be here. Go Big Red. There you go. Chancellor, it's been a busy week on campus.
[00:00:35.200]They all are, but what are some of the highlights from your perspective? Well, we ended the second week of
[00:00:39.200]classes, so I'm very excited about that, and by all accounts, students
[00:00:43.200]are going to class, which has a lot to do with student success
[00:00:47.180]and really learning the material. I know that may be a novel concept for
[00:00:51.200]some, but you actually do have to go to class, and as I move around the campus,
[00:00:55.200]I see lots of activity in and out of our buildings, so
[00:00:59.220]happy about that. On Monday of this week, we released
[00:01:03.140]our Day of Census report, which indicates that we are up in
[00:01:07.080]enrollment. So we're nearly 24,000 students,
[00:01:11.160]which is a significant increase for us. In fact, it's
[00:01:15.200]the first time since 2017 that we have been
[00:01:19.140]able to report an increase in enrollment. I'm also very happy
[00:01:23.300]to report that we are up with the number of
[00:01:27.360]Nebraska students that are choosing their land-grant
[00:01:30.800]flagship institution. And so when you think about our mission
[00:01:34.400]as a land-grant, the ability to have access to public
[00:01:39.120]higher education is a key component of that land-grant mission.
[00:01:43.380]And so to have more Nebraska students come into Lincoln
[00:01:46.580]is something I'm very proud of. It's something that aligns us with all the things that
[00:01:51.320]we need to be aligned with.
[00:01:53.220]to including the governor's initiatives with regard to
[00:01:57.140]recruiting more students, having them complete their degrees
[00:02:01.100]here, and then ultimately stay in Nebraska, work, and
[00:02:05.160]raise their families. So it's been a good week for us in that regard. Fantastic. Great news here.
[00:02:08.980]We've talked in the past about teaching, research, creative activity, but another part of this
[00:02:13.260]university is the connection to the larger community. That includes the university's
[00:02:17.340]performing arts venues, museums that are so important, not only to
[00:02:21.220]UNL, but those in Lincoln across the state.
[00:02:23.180]Exactly, Greg. And really, we have so many world-class activities that go on on our campus
[00:02:29.980]every day. Obviously, in athletics, we're competing at the highest level, and we're
[00:02:34.120]proud of that. But we also have faculty and staff who are really moving the needle across
[00:02:40.160]every spectrum of the university community. And it was really important for me today to
[00:02:45.480]highlight Susan Long-Henry and her work in the Sheldon Museum of Art. It's a space that
[00:02:51.900]a lot of our students, faculty, and staff are really interested in. And it's a space
[00:02:52.900]that a lot of our students, faculty, and staff are really interested in. And it's a space
[00:02:52.920]that a lot of our students, faculty, and staff are really interested in. And it's a space
[00:02:52.940]that a lot of our students, faculty, and staff are really interested in. And it's a space
[00:02:52.960]that a lot of our students, faculty, and staff are really interested in. And it's a space
[00:03:22.740]that a lot of our students, faculty, and staff are really interested in. And it's a space
[00:03:52.520]that a lot of our students, faculty, and staff are really interested in. And it's a space
[00:04:17.880]art, put it on view here, and it's now in our collection. But that's been going on for,
[00:04:22.370]obviously, since 1888. We now have 13,000 objects in the collection. But the most important thing
[00:04:27.990]to me is the experience that people have in the museum. And I think that, pardon me, became much
[00:04:32.290]more intense in 1963 when we opened this Philip Johnson Design Building. He's a world-renowned
[00:04:38.490]architect. There were three architects invited to do designs for the museum. He was one of them.
[00:04:44.050]Marcel Breuer was another, and another who said, I don't do competitions. It's funny,
[00:04:48.750]the first design actually was rejected by the chancellor. So the design you see today
[00:04:53.530]looks like Lincoln Center was a second design. But it's a very inspiring space filled with
[00:04:58.030]incredible experiences with art. And so it's a place like no other on campus.
[00:05:03.150]It is gorgeous. What are some current exhibits that you have right now?
[00:05:06.130]Well, I will say that we're working hard to center community, both campus community,
[00:05:10.030]Lincoln, state of Nebraska, and to be socially relevant. So you may have heard,
[00:05:14.030]that we have an election this year. And so we have an exhibition up called Voting as People Power,
[00:05:18.930]obviously nonpartisan, but we talk about the Big Ten on this program quite a bit.
[00:05:23.290]The art museums at Big Ten universities are engaged in a collaborative effort towards civic
[00:05:28.110]engagement. Many of us are doing exhibitions that speak to that, and that is the case at Sheldon.
[00:05:32.750]We've got a show that is all work from our collection, but it's some works that depict
[00:05:37.630]Democratic and Republican conventions. There's a 1924 drawing that has to do with when the women
[00:05:44.010]got the right to vote. It went with a Saturday evening post. I think that's the name of the
[00:05:48.970]publication. Thank you. A story that was written about a woman who ran a boarding house and wasn't
[00:05:53.730]that into voting and then became very much an advocate. So it's a lot of dialogue that's
[00:05:58.590]happening around civic engagement and democracy. And we're doing several programs. We're doing one
[00:06:03.710]on September 19th that has to do with civil conversations. We know that that's an important
[00:06:10.090]part of democracy, the ability to disagree in a civil way. And so we're working on a
[00:06:13.990]program that has to do with that. We're also working with Civic Nebraska, and that's an
[00:06:18.050]event on October 12th. They're doing one of their Civic Saturdays at Sheldon Museum of
[00:06:22.010]Art. So it's really just a chance to engage in this important dialogue through art.
[00:06:26.330]Fantastic. When are you open? Let's get that out for folks.
[00:06:29.710]We are open every day except Monday. We need the Mondays to hang the art, et cetera. But
[00:06:33.430]we are open 10 until 5, and then we're open until 7 p.m. on Saturdays. We recently reopened
[00:06:38.370]on Sundays for a while. We were not open on Sunday. So if some listeners think we're not
[00:06:41.950]open on Sunday, that has changed.
[00:06:44.170]Good.
[00:06:44.310]So open every day except Monday and always free.
[00:06:46.830]Fantastic. Chancellor, I know you have taken advantage. You've decorated some of your office
[00:06:50.890]space with some art.
[00:06:52.130]I have beautiful pieces of art and sculpture, bronzes from the Sheldon Museum of Art. I'm
[00:06:58.630]very proud of the art that's on loan from the Sheldon to the Chancellor's Office, and
[00:07:03.790]I show it off proudly whenever visitors come to Canfield and to the Chancellor's Office.
[00:07:09.290]I'm really proud of the work that Susan Long-Henry is doing. We're very fortunate
[00:07:13.950]to have her as part of our university community, and I'm very proud of our students and faculty
[00:07:20.870]and staff in that regard who take advantage of the exhibits at the Sheldon Museum of Art.
[00:07:26.390]You know, Greg, in many ways, when people think about all that goes on in the world
[00:07:31.070]around us, athletic events and the appreciation for art and music and design and sculpture
[00:07:38.310]really gives us a nice separation from the insanity of the world sometimes.
[00:07:43.930]Sometimes it just gives us an opportunity to have peace and reflect and really get centered
[00:07:51.330]and think about the things that are really important to us.
[00:07:54.590]And I cannot think of an organization, the Sheldon Museum of Art, that does that any
[00:08:00.710]better than any place that I've ever been.
[00:08:03.310]It is a real treasure for the state of Nebraska.
[00:08:06.630]It's a real treasure for our campus community.
[00:08:09.170]And I hope that our listeners on the pre-game broadcast today,
[00:08:13.910]we'll make it a priority the next time that they're in Lincoln to stop by the
[00:08:19.390]Sheldon Museum of Art and really embrace and appreciate what is right here
[00:08:24.170]before them.
[00:08:24.790]Fantastic.
[00:08:25.770]Always good to see you.
[00:08:26.770]We'll talk again next week.
[00:08:27.970]Thank you, Greg.
[00:08:28.630]See you then.
[00:08:29.150]Susan, great to see you.
[00:08:30.010]Continued success to you and the museum.
[00:08:31.490]Thank you so much.
[00:08:32.310]Matt Coatney is back with our Big Ten Blitz coming up next.

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Chancellor's Pre-Game UNI

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