State of the University Address 2016

Ronnie Green Author

09/22/2016 Added

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University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie Green delivered his inaugural State of the University address to faculty, staff, students and the community at 2 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St.

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[00:00:21.172](mysterious music)
[00:00:50.603](maniacal laughter)
[00:01:55.995](cheering)
[00:02:08.394]Ladies and gentlemen,
[00:02:09.598]please welcome the 20th chancellor
[00:02:11.050]of our university, Ronnie Green.
[00:02:14.620](applause)
[00:02:23.969]Well good afternoon ladies and gentlemen
[00:02:25.791]and welcome to the Lied Center for the Performing Arts
[00:02:28.580]here at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
[00:02:31.490]It's a real privilege that we have every year
[00:02:34.180]at the beginning of our year as we settle
[00:02:36.790]in to the 2016-17 year for us here,
[00:02:41.260]to take a breath, to step back, to assess,
[00:02:45.540]to take stock of the progress of our university
[00:02:48.517]in the past year and this year in particular
[00:02:52.100]I would say perhaps equally importantly,
[00:02:54.798]to look out to the future of our great university
[00:02:58.340]in the years ahead.
[00:03:00.679]When I assumed the role of chancellor
[00:03:03.591]over the last few months, I have to tell you that
[00:03:07.890]this is an opportunity that I didn't ever dream
[00:03:11.340]that I would have the chance to have.
[00:03:14.139]To be able to give back to a great university
[00:03:17.770]who has given so much to me personally, to my family,
[00:03:22.191]to literally hundreds of thousands of alumni
[00:03:24.770]around the world and indeed as we'll talk about today,
[00:03:29.151]to all of the over 1.8 million people
[00:03:31.730]of the state of Nebraska as we speak.
[00:03:35.170]And while I won't talk to you today very much
[00:03:38.008]about leadership philosophy or about how I plan
[00:03:40.959]to approach the role of the chancellor's position,
[00:03:44.439]I'd much rather let our leadership teams' actions
[00:03:47.678]speak louder than any words might.
[00:03:50.490]I will tell you that I like to approach leadership
[00:03:54.168]as a servant, one who operates as a servant leader
[00:03:58.208]who believes that I lead with you and for you
[00:04:03.289]with you being all of our faculty, our staff, our students,
[00:04:06.620]our stakeholders, and indeed our state that we represent.
[00:04:11.119]And I look forward to a great journey ahead
[00:04:14.018]as we launch down this path.
[00:04:16.711]Now I thought it might be really helpful today
[00:04:19.730]to couch our conversation a bit
[00:04:23.208]in the terms of the history of our university.
[00:04:26.559]Who we are as a university,
[00:04:28.970]from whence we have come as a university.
[00:04:32.599]All of you will recognize the image on the screen.
[00:04:37.037]One of the greatest US presidents in our history,
[00:04:40.471]a president who served at a time of great civil discord
[00:04:45.020]in our country during the Civil War,
[00:04:46.948]during the expansion to the West,
[00:04:49.591]over top of us literally here at Nebraska.
[00:04:53.140]The development of the Transcontinental Railroad,
[00:04:55.938]the Homestead Act that meant so much
[00:04:58.279]and has continued to mean so much to the Great Plains
[00:05:01.399]region of the US.
[00:05:03.198]And then there was this little thing that President Lincoln
[00:05:05.850]signed in 1862 which I believe history will count
[00:05:11.151]long term as one of the most profound pieces of policy
[00:05:15.620]for our federal government to have ever enacted
[00:05:18.420]called the Morrill Act that established and set up
[00:05:21.751]the system of public land grant universities
[00:05:25.119]across the US to help a growing nation succeed.
[00:05:29.031]To give access to higher education,
[00:05:31.690]not just to the elite but to the masses.
[00:05:34.450]To do applied research that mattered to the regions
[00:05:38.465]where those universities would be located as they developed.
[00:05:42.740]And as you know, our land grand university,
[00:05:46.629]the University of Nebraska that was first established here
[00:05:50.231]in the fledgling community that was eventually
[00:05:52.709]to bear the name of President Lincoln,
[00:05:55.700]in 1869 is our origin.
[00:05:59.831]And I would wager to bet and believe
[00:06:03.671]that the founders of our university,
[00:06:05.791]the leaders, the previous 19 chancellors even
[00:06:08.517]who I stand on the shoulders of here today
[00:06:11.210]as previous leaders for our university would never have
[00:06:15.259]envisioned that in the near 15 decades since
[00:06:19.779]that we would have become the university that we are today.
[00:06:24.679]I doubt that they would recognize the campus
[00:06:28.029]that we have here and the physical infrastructure
[00:06:31.490]and capacity that we have on our main campus
[00:06:34.511]in downtown Lincoln, our City Campus, our East Campus
[00:06:38.260]in Lincoln, our Development of New Innovation Campus
[00:06:41.910]on the former state fairgrounds here and to our north.
[00:06:44.958]And indeed, they probably would never have been able
[00:06:48.170]to envision that in fact, our university is a statewide
[00:06:52.138]campus through our efforts in extension and research
[00:06:56.860]that reach to every one of the 93 counties
[00:07:00.111]of the state of Nebraska that we serve.
[00:07:03.319]I doubt that they would have been able to envision
[00:07:06.539]the economic impact that our university has
[00:07:09.779]on an annual basis.
[00:07:11.751]Now a university that's made up of four campuses
[00:07:15.119]spread throughout our state plus
[00:07:17.231]the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture at Curtis,
[00:07:20.710]the UNL campus alone contributing over two billion dollars
[00:07:24.860]in economic activity and impact to the state of Nebraska
[00:07:28.050]annually from our most recent estimates,
[00:07:30.300]and if you put together our sister campuses at UNO
[00:07:33.759]and UNMC and UNK and NCTA, that number is closer
[00:07:38.700]to four billion dollars in economic impact
[00:07:41.559]from public education in our state.
[00:07:44.450]I doubt that they would have been able to envision
[00:07:46.620]the record enrollment that we're enjoying
[00:07:49.397]this academic year as we set a new enrollment record
[00:07:53.790]for the University of Nebraska, Lincoln
[00:07:55.719]in our 147 year history of nearly 26,000 students
[00:08:01.529]studying with us here in our great university.
[00:08:05.199]I doubt that they would have been able to envision
[00:08:08.391]that we would have the largest freshman class
[00:08:11.031]in our history nearing 4900 new students
[00:08:15.479]who have come to us and represent
[00:08:17.607]the most diverse student body that we have ever had.
[00:08:21.606]Diverse in where they come from,
[00:08:23.588]diverse in geographic identity, diverse in ethnic
[00:08:27.108]and cultural and racial background,
[00:08:29.656]diverse in socioeconomic status.
[00:08:32.858]I doubt that they would have been able to imagine
[00:08:35.378]the academic credentials and capabilities of the students
[00:08:38.207]and their intellectual curiosity that they come
[00:08:41.196]to study with us through.
[00:08:43.836]As evidence this past year by a record number of 11
[00:08:47.967]Fulbright student awards received by our students
[00:08:51.247]to go and spread their impact abroad post study.
[00:08:55.138]I doubt that they would have been able to recognize
[00:08:58.105]the extracurricular success of our students.
[00:09:01.436]Academic extracurricular success,
[00:09:04.226]athletic academic success.
[00:09:07.178]The fact that Husker athletics continues to lead
[00:09:10.946]the United States in being the best place
[00:09:13.753]to be a student athlete in the NCAA
[00:09:16.666]with 325 academic all-Americans leading the country
[00:09:20.935]by over 100 over our nearest competitor.
[00:09:24.394]And they certainly would have never been able to envision
[00:09:27.524]the excitement of the competition on the field
[00:09:30.964]as evidenced this past year by the success and the pinnacle
[00:09:34.564]of our women's volleyball team and their success
[00:09:37.335]in winning the NCAA National Championship in that sport
[00:09:41.874]and excellence across the other 23 sports
[00:09:44.706]that we compete in through Husker athletics.
[00:09:48.674]I doubt that they would have been able to recognize
[00:09:51.604]the new faculty that we have been able to add
[00:09:55.204]to our ranks over time and the research
[00:09:58.033]and the creative activity that once again we broke
[00:10:01.794]an all time record this past year at UNL
[00:10:04.895]with 285 million dollars in research expenditures
[00:10:08.295]of our faculty, our staff, and our students
[00:10:11.146]working together to create and develop new scholarship.
[00:10:15.735]Now one thing that I will say here, and I'll repeat this
[00:10:17.964]later in the presentation this afternoon.
[00:10:20.884]When we report research expenditures in this way,
[00:10:24.455]we actually under report the impact of our scholarship
[00:10:28.394]and our creative activity because we don't include
[00:10:31.633]so much of the breadth and depth of our research
[00:10:35.274]and creative activity, especially in the arts and humanities
[00:10:38.653]and in the social sciences that grace our campus.
[00:10:42.906]Evidence of our faculty continuing to reach new heights
[00:10:46.152]and level of excellence and in level
[00:10:48.324]of international stature.
[00:10:50.444]This past year, we were very pleased
[00:10:53.485]that eight of our faculty members,
[00:10:55.583]a record number, were inducted as fellows
[00:10:59.103]of the premier science organization in the world, known as
[00:11:02.714]the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
[00:11:06.392]Out of the over 90 institutions boasting a new inductee
[00:11:11.204]as a fellow in a AAAS around the country,
[00:11:14.294]we were ranked second in the United States
[00:11:17.343]in the number of new AAAS fellows tied with the likes
[00:11:21.175]of Stanford University and only bested by our colleagues
[00:11:25.964]at Duke University.
[00:11:28.433]I doubt that they would have been able to imagine
[00:11:31.922]the new faculty and the level of expertise
[00:11:34.713]that we've been able to bring to our campus.
[00:11:38.460]The fact that we draw diverse faculty from throughout
[00:11:42.243]the world to us and see them
[00:11:46.386]be able to excel and succeed.
[00:11:49.086]I doubt that they would have imagined the level
[00:11:52.514]of support that we enjoy from donors, from alumni,
[00:11:57.496]from stakeholders of the university and indeed,
[00:12:00.937]from our very own state of Nebraska.
[00:12:03.396]And the fact that we are amongst the very best
[00:12:06.177]supported institutions of public education in the country
[00:12:10.577]from our state and the citizens here.
[00:12:13.896]I had the pleasure this morning of attending
[00:12:17.567]the funeral services of one of the greats here in Lincoln.
[00:12:20.847]Wayne Ackley, the founder and developer
[00:12:23.356]of Precarrier Corporation who exemplifies
[00:12:27.007]in so many ways through his life,
[00:12:29.375]the service of giving back to the university.
[00:12:32.548]We lost him this year, we lost Jim Seacrest,
[00:12:35.367]we lost Dick Holland, long time supporters
[00:12:38.536]of our university that as servant leaders
[00:12:40.767]have given so much back to our academic programs over time.
[00:12:46.047]As I mentioned a moment ago, we welcomed 162 new faculty
[00:12:52.007]in our new faculty orientation just a few weeks ago
[00:12:55.866]put on by Academic Affairs and as this slide depicts
[00:12:59.388]for you, a richness of diversity and background
[00:13:03.537]in terms of disciplines and expertise
[00:13:05.967]and where these new faculty are coming to us from
[00:13:09.027]to increase the excellence of our work
[00:13:11.604]here at the university for decades to come.
[00:13:16.308]And of course, we are very blessed here
[00:13:20.276]to have a very large UNL family,
[00:13:23.596]a family that is made up of faculty,
[00:13:26.228]a family that is made up of staff,
[00:13:28.777]a family that is made up of students.
[00:13:31.297]Faculty and staff alone, we have a family of 6427 of us
[00:13:37.415]reaching for the highest levels of excellence
[00:13:40.196]in beating our tripartite mission of teaching, research,
[00:13:43.944]and outreach in service to our state, region, and world.
[00:13:48.876]And as you know, in recent years, our tradition has been
[00:13:54.043]that tied to the State of the University address,
[00:13:57.415]we have recognized the five year marks of service
[00:14:01.356]for our faculty and staff, a tie to or a prelude
[00:14:05.495]if you will to this conversation and dialogue
[00:14:08.575]of the state of the university,
[00:14:09.996]we decided this year to do that a bit differently
[00:14:12.625]and to localize that down into the academic colleges,
[00:14:16.196]into the divisions and the units of the university
[00:14:19.695]so that it would be more personal and we could go out
[00:14:22.244]and spend time in those colleges with our servant leaders.
[00:14:26.402]But I do want to take some time today to recognize
[00:14:29.836]a very elite group of servants
[00:14:33.324]to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
[00:14:36.145]Those who have hit their 40, their 45, their 50,
[00:14:41.055]and indeed in the case of one, 55 years of service
[00:14:45.293]to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
[00:14:47.756]And as I ask them to join me onstage for you to thank them
[00:14:51.276]for their service, please enjoy this video tribute to them.
[00:14:59.276](energetic instrumental music)
[00:19:04.990](applause)
[00:19:08.092]Please join me in thanking,
[00:19:10.683](applause)
[00:19:13.061]please join me in thanking over 1170 years of service
[00:19:18.073]represented by these servant leaders
[00:19:20.593]at the University of Nebraska.
[00:19:22.321](applause)
[00:19:44.085]Thank you, thank you.
[00:19:53.824]Also wanted to do one other shout out
[00:19:56.363]before we move forward.
[00:19:58.335]In thanking a team of faculty and staff
[00:20:02.278]who have worked now for a couple of years
[00:20:05.358]in preparing us for our reaccreditation
[00:20:07.827]with the Higher Education Learning Commission.
[00:20:10.507]As you probably know, our university is accredited
[00:20:13.998]on a 10 year rolling basis by the HLC.
[00:20:16.918]Our last accreditation was in 2006
[00:20:20.166]and we have a very important side visit coming up
[00:20:22.798]the week of October 24th, just about a month from now
[00:20:26.456]of the reaccreditation evaluation team from HLC
[00:20:30.227]that will be working with us in this process moving forward.
[00:20:33.603]It has been a huge amount of love and labor
[00:20:36.518]on the part of a team that has been led
[00:20:39.616]by Laurie Bellows, our acting Dean of Graduate Studies,
[00:20:43.907]Amy Goodburn, Associate Vice Chancellor in Academic Affairs,
[00:20:47.786]and interim Dean of ASEM And Renee Batman,
[00:20:50.246]Associate Vice Chancellor in Academic Affairs.
[00:20:53.067]They've led a team of 80, and over 300 of our faculty
[00:20:57.475]and staff have been involved in developing
[00:21:00.115]the documentation and the insurance statements
[00:21:02.406]and working for this reaccreditation process.
[00:21:05.166]So I would ask any of you in the audience
[00:21:07.486]who have been part of that process, please stand,
[00:21:09.867]take a bow and accept our thanks for your work
[00:21:12.886]in our reaccreditation.
[00:21:14.635]I know you're here, stand up.
[00:21:16.347](applause)
[00:21:30.477]Now in the remainder of our time this afternoon,
[00:21:32.987]I want to shift gears a little bit
[00:21:34.379]and talk about the future.
[00:21:36.627]And as the slide behind me shows, I believe,
[00:21:40.267]as I said the day that President Bounds
[00:21:43.147]announced the appointment of the chancellor's position,
[00:21:45.717]hard to believe now five months ago,
[00:21:48.607]that I believe the best days of the
[00:21:50.387]University of Nebraska, Lincoln lie ahead.
[00:21:53.397]Three years from now as I indicated earlier to you
[00:21:55.888]we'll celebrate our 150th anniversary,
[00:21:58.546]on February 15th, 2019.
[00:22:01.917]But I believe the best days are ahead of us
[00:22:04.659]rather than behind us.
[00:22:06.667]And the best analogy that I can provide to you for that
[00:22:09.978]and pardon me for using this analogy,
[00:22:12.757]but I think you'll all be able to relate to it.
[00:22:16.245]Is if you had the opportunity to be in the stadium
[00:22:20.707]on Saturday, or if you had the opportunity to be plugged
[00:22:24.307]in to the stadium in some way on Saturday,
[00:22:28.504]you could sense the eagerness, the expectation,
[00:22:32.168]the enthusiasm, the hope, the desire that was there
[00:22:35.947]on the part of the accordance of that athletic competition
[00:22:39.019]for our football team.
[00:22:41.547]And the anticipation that was associated with that.
[00:22:44.227]Ladies and gentlemen, that's the way I feel
[00:22:45.648]every day when I get up about the University of Nebraska
[00:22:49.947]and about the future that we have ahead here at UNL.
[00:22:55.547]I want to start by reminding us of what President Bounds
[00:23:00.248]said in his investiture speech when he was installed
[00:23:03.419]as our 7th University of Nebraska President this spring
[00:23:07.600]in the Kimball next door.
[00:23:10.000]And he referred to four pillars of strength
[00:23:13.368]that the University of Nebraska should aspire to
[00:23:15.979]as a system.
[00:23:17.459]He talked about the University of Nebraska
[00:23:19.179]being the best place in the nation to be a student.
[00:23:22.448]He talked about the importance of transforming lives
[00:23:25.099]through research and innovation that is done
[00:23:27.520]by the University of Nebraska.
[00:23:29.859]He talked about the University of Nebraska doing that
[00:23:32.679]and achieving our mission by working together
[00:23:34.829]with our partners.
[00:23:37.360]And then lastly he talked about how we would eventually win
[00:23:41.229]in our mission by the quality of the people
[00:23:44.037]that we have on our team, including the students
[00:23:47.978]who we have in our principal mission.
[00:23:50.247]I couldn't agree more with those four pillars
[00:23:52.899]that Hank has laid out so well for us.
[00:23:56.469]And as the flagship university of the University of Nebraska
[00:24:01.179]perhaps a historical image to go with that.
[00:24:04.699]But it's the flagship university of our university system,
[00:24:08.429]the comprehensive doctoral granting,
[00:24:10.349]research intensive land grant university that we are,
[00:24:14.557]we have a responsibility to lead.
[00:24:17.629]And we have a responsibility to move to higher levels
[00:24:21.659]as we move forward and I believe that in those days
[00:24:25.836]that are ahead for us, as we think out
[00:24:28.888]to the quarter century mark that is ahead
[00:24:31.379]and I frame most of my comments here in the remainder
[00:24:33.717]of the presentation in that kind of context,
[00:24:36.829]thinking about 2025, thinking about
[00:24:39.407]that quarter century mark that is ahead of us.
[00:24:42.680]That while we are a global leader today in many respects
[00:24:45.408]at our university, that we should seek to become
[00:24:47.749]a global leader on the global stage of higher education
[00:24:51.709]and scholarship in ways that have been unsurpassed
[00:24:54.608]by us previously.
[00:24:56.357]And I believe we will see that happen in the future.
[00:25:00.979]There has also been much made about our maturity
[00:25:03.968]into the Big 10 athletic and academic alliance.
[00:25:08.488]I can remember because I was a brand new administrator
[00:25:12.088]here at the university in 2010 when we had the opportunity
[00:25:16.408]to become a part of this great collection
[00:25:20.077]of universities, most of them public
[00:25:23.229]across an 11 state now footprint that makes up the Big 10.
[00:25:27.349]14 of America's greatest universities,
[00:25:30.317]the flagship and/or comprehensive university
[00:25:33.728]in each one of those states, and/or land grant
[00:25:36.619]in those 11 is part of this Big 10 academic alliance.
[00:25:41.597]And we've talked a lot about how while we might be
[00:25:44.419]the smallest university in size and scope,
[00:25:47.477]excepting Northwestern in that group
[00:25:50.768]and we have catch up to do there in size
[00:25:53.437]and that we have to strive to become bigger and better
[00:25:56.707]in business and in engineering and in agricultural sciences
[00:25:59.658]and in natural resources and in law and in education
[00:26:01.797]and human sciences and finding performing arts.
[00:26:04.397]All of our nine academic colleges, I would submit to you
[00:26:09.526]that our challenge should be to be a distinctive
[00:26:12.317]Big 10 university and to be distinctive in the way
[00:26:16.168]that we serve our students,
[00:26:18.139]and to be distinctive in the value
[00:26:19.997]of a University of Nebraska, Lincoln degree.
[00:26:22.928]As our students leave and go into society
[00:26:25.677]and serve through their lives.
[00:26:28.117]And distinctive in research and scholarship
[00:26:30.677]and creative activity that matters to Nebraska,
[00:26:34.459]matters to the challenges that we face in the world
[00:26:38.086]as we move forward and I think we're making great strides
[00:26:41.288]in seeing that happen.
[00:26:42.938]Evidence most recently of our
[00:26:45.019]College of Business Administration
[00:26:46.707]jumping significantly in the rankings nationally
[00:26:50.077]that we're so proud of and glad to see.
[00:26:52.728]And we'll see those same kinds of things happen
[00:26:55.819]in a number of our colleges in the future.
[00:26:58.307]Now I want to speak a little bit to growth
[00:27:01.733]and how we anticipate looking when we hit that 2025 mark.
[00:27:05.824]And I'm gonna qualify my statements here right up front
[00:27:09.208]and say the numbers that I'm going to show you
[00:27:11.579]are targets, they're not refined numbers at this point.
[00:27:15.448]We have a lot of work to do ahead of us
[00:27:17.517]to strategize and refine these numbers
[00:27:20.328]but I want you to feel the direction.
[00:27:23.539]And the direction that we feel we should be moving
[00:27:26.027]as we move forward.
[00:27:28.019]Enrollment, we celebrated this record enrollment
[00:27:31.768]for our university campus a few weeks ago.
[00:27:34.837]We've already talked about that, 25,897 students
[00:27:38.387]this graph shows you that trend since 2000.
[00:27:41.397]So the beginning of the line there is the year 2000,
[00:27:44.927]and you can see that we are beginning to trend up
[00:27:47.707]a goal that we have had now for a number of years
[00:27:50.448]as you know, as Chancellor Perlman laid out five years ago,
[00:27:54.107]a goal seeking to have a 30,000 student campus
[00:27:57.768]here at UNL and you'll see that as I think about 2025,
[00:28:03.277]nine years out in advance, I think that number
[00:28:06.566]is probably too low and we have the opportunity
[00:28:11.217]to become a bigger campus in terms of student impact
[00:28:14.667]and through student success that I'll talk a bit about
[00:28:17.667]here in a moment, closer to the 35,000 student mark.
[00:28:22.768]If we look at the demographics and the change
[00:28:26.266]in our student body over the last number of years,
[00:28:29.597]we know that we already are changing
[00:28:32.080]in very positive and successful ways.
[00:28:34.947]And I'll show you a few of those statistics here
[00:28:37.459]in these slides.
[00:28:39.328]Non resident students to Nebraska that have come
[00:28:42.139]to our campus in recent years.
[00:28:44.229]These numbers that you'll see reflect 2007 in the lower
[00:28:48.728]number, 2016 today in the upper number.
[00:28:52.179]So the previous nine years of time,
[00:28:54.960]you want to think about it that way
[00:28:56.538]as we're thinking about the next nine years ahead of us.
[00:29:00.789]22.4% of our students in 2007 came from outside Nebraska.
[00:29:05.669]This year we hit 31.4%.
[00:29:08.307]It is our expectation that that number will continue
[00:29:10.880]to trend up as we bring more talent to Nebraska
[00:29:14.749]from around the country and outside the country indeed,
[00:29:18.520]in our international enrollment.
[00:29:19.858]That's a win for the state of Nebraska.
[00:29:22.459]That's a win for bringing talent here
[00:29:25.200]and bringing high capability students
[00:29:27.989]to come here and study and then hopefully stay in Nebraska.
[00:29:32.789]We need to find creative ways in our state
[00:29:35.760]for that to be the case.
[00:29:37.499]International enrollment, 5.9% nine years ago
[00:29:42.379]currently bumping 11% of our student enrollment
[00:29:46.160]and we know that we continue to see that increase.
[00:29:48.988]Our expectation is that it will continue to increase.
[00:29:52.059]I would wager to you that perhaps we need to diversify
[00:29:55.008]it further as we're very concentrated in a relatively few
[00:29:59.339]countries of origin in our international student population
[00:30:03.349]today.
[00:30:04.189]I could not be more pleased that Sonia Feigenbaum
[00:30:07.909]has joined us just recently as a new Associate
[00:30:10.538]Vice Chancellor for International Engagement
[00:30:12.768]and Global Strategies.
[00:30:13.960]She came to us from Brown University
[00:30:16.051]and we welcome Sonia to our leadership team
[00:30:18.579]to help us strategize and think
[00:30:19.979]about this international enrollment as we move forward
[00:30:23.280]as well as international engagement of our students abroad
[00:30:27.291]as well as engagement in our research programs abroad.
[00:30:32.469]Our minority student enrollment,
[00:30:34.627]underrepresented minorities made up just 8.6%
[00:30:37.659]of our enrollment nine years ago in 2007.
[00:30:42.440]Today, we're at 13.4% minority enrollment.
[00:30:47.491]That is a number we will work to continue to increase
[00:30:51.781]which I hope will hit at least 20% in that nine years
[00:30:55.970]that we have ahead.
[00:30:57.891]I couldn't have been more pleased,
[00:30:59.301]just a little over a week ago when this very venue here
[00:31:01.509]at the Lied Center where we hosted two groups
[00:31:04.429]of our freshman students for the Husker dialogues
[00:31:07.460]put on by over 300 volunteers from our faculty
[00:31:10.381]and our staff to have small group discussions
[00:31:13.371]amongst our freshman students.
[00:31:15.360]The majority of our freshman class in attendance
[00:31:17.840]between those two sessions, to talk about the meaning
[00:31:20.960]of diversity and inclusion and how to relate
[00:31:24.499]to a diverse environment.
[00:31:26.439]And to have those conversations in ways that are rigorous,
[00:31:30.397]that welcome all perspectives, and that allow us
[00:31:33.789]to expand our horizons from the richness and diversity
[00:31:36.949]of the background of all of our people
[00:31:39.960]here at the university.
[00:31:42.100]We also have work to do ahead, and this is an area
[00:31:45.000]that I'm going to point to very heavily
[00:31:47.440]in the time period ahead for us in student success.
[00:31:52.069]Recruitment has been very successful,
[00:31:54.600]we're raising our enrollment.
[00:31:56.238]We're going to continue to see that happen
[00:31:58.461]following the trend of this year and recent years.
[00:32:01.541]But we also have work to do to enhance the success
[00:32:04.680]of our students once they arrive here on our campus.
[00:32:08.717]And if we look at our retention rate for first time freshmen
[00:32:11.440]to their sophomore year, we have hovered in that low 80
[00:32:15.091]percentile range for some time.
[00:32:17.389]Last year that number was around 83%.
[00:32:20.780]We should commit ourselves to that number
[00:32:23.709]exceeding 90% of that success of first time
[00:32:28.440]to second year students.
[00:32:31.149]I would hope that as we grow our enrollment
[00:32:35.259]that this problem that we have of already having
[00:32:37.629]outgrown Pinnacle Bank Arena for our commencement
[00:32:41.040]in May will be a real problem.
[00:32:44.440]And it will need multiple commencement exercises
[00:32:47.989]for the venue that we have because we will have
[00:32:51.309]worked very hard to increase our graduation
[00:32:54.640]and matriculation success of our students.
[00:32:57.781]Currently today, we're at 67%
[00:33:02.071]in six year graduation rate as reported federally
[00:33:05.772]and if you know that statistic
[00:33:07.791]the way we report federally is the number or percentage
[00:33:11.429]of our incoming, first time freshmen who graduate
[00:33:15.161]within six years from UNL who start at UNL
[00:33:18.658]and who graduate UNL.
[00:33:21.411]If you roll together the students who graduate
[00:33:23.780]with a four year degree who start in that cohort,
[00:33:26.841]we're well over 80% which is much better
[00:33:30.481]in terms of thinking about it from that perspective.
[00:33:34.161]I would wager to you though, and I know I'll hear some gasps
[00:33:37.652]when I say this but I believe it in the depths of my heart
[00:33:41.140]that we should shoot for an 80% graduation rate
[00:33:45.231]not only in six years but culturally in four years.
[00:33:49.391]And that we need to uncover in our campus,
[00:33:53.321]everything that we can do or any impediment
[00:33:56.420]that stands in the way of that kind of success
[00:33:59.900]for a student who puts forth the effort that is required
[00:34:03.231]to meet the requirements for our degrees.
[00:34:07.772]We also recognize as we talk about enhanced enrollment,
[00:34:12.400]that we need to place greater emphasis in the future
[00:34:15.149]on not only undergraduate enrollment,
[00:34:19.161]but graduate enrollment as well.
[00:34:22.031]And if you study our history over the last decade,
[00:34:25.540]our graduate enrollment's been relatively stable.
[00:34:29.271]It's been relatively flat over that period of time
[00:34:32.689]if you look at Masters students, doctoral candidates,
[00:34:35.168]professional degree students that make up
[00:34:37.881]those graduate students and their success.
[00:34:41.729]I believe that we need to take the cover off of that
[00:34:45.327]and look hard at how we should grow in targeted areas
[00:34:49.351]for our graduate enrollment that make sense for us,
[00:34:52.729]where there is a demand for those doctoral candidates,
[00:34:56.140]those professional degree holders, as we move forward.
[00:35:00.431]And this last roll together enrollment discussion here
[00:35:06.121]is that if you think about where we are today,
[00:35:09.700]graduating somewhere in the worth of 5200 students
[00:35:13.240]in total per year from UNL, where about 450
[00:35:18.860]of those graduates are doctoral, about 300 doctoral
[00:35:22.569]degree candidates graduate per year,
[00:35:26.151]about 150 professional degree students.
[00:35:29.409]I would wager to you that that number should escalate
[00:35:32.288]at a rapid rate, more to the 8500
[00:35:36.751]to 9000 level nine years from now and that proportionately
[00:35:42.092]a greater percentage of that growth over the base
[00:35:44.583]that we have today, should be in graduate students
[00:35:47.669]as compared to undergraduate students
[00:35:50.151]to further our research mission.
[00:35:53.463]Now I wanna stop here before I move to research
[00:35:56.741]and scholarship and creative activity
[00:35:59.172]and just say to you that we recognize
[00:36:02.972]that we have work to do to define the strategies
[00:36:06.532]for this kind of goal in enrollment.
[00:36:09.751]I mentioned that we had the 5000 student increase
[00:36:12.471]go for a number of years here and what we have done
[00:36:17.081]is gone out and trying to recruit more undergraduate
[00:36:20.561]students principally to our campus.
[00:36:23.479]We need to define a real strategic framework
[00:36:26.581]for where that growth needs to be,
[00:36:28.921]how that growth needs to be funded,
[00:36:31.660]how we need to fund it in areas of demand and interest
[00:36:34.743]that are going to be important to our university
[00:36:37.441]and to our state and this relativity of graduate
[00:36:41.240]to undergraduate enrollment is a big part of that.
[00:36:44.241]So we have significant work to do ahead
[00:36:46.212]in defining that strategy and that plan
[00:36:49.652]as we seek to move to become a bigger enrollment campus.
[00:36:55.823]Now I wanna shift to research and creative activity
[00:36:58.191]and scholarship briefly and talk about our aspirations
[00:37:01.532]and goals there as well.
[00:37:04.641]It hasn't escaped any of us that we lost a dear colleague
[00:37:08.200]and friend and leader, transformational leader
[00:37:12.772]for our campus this month with the passing of Prem Paul.
[00:37:18.621]And I can't begin to say enough that will categorize
[00:37:23.711]and will characterize the impact that his leadership
[00:37:27.588]since he came here in 2001 as the Vice Chancellor
[00:37:31.131]for Research originally, ultimately having
[00:37:34.423]Economic Development added to his remitted title
[00:37:38.431]in the latter half of his tenure.
[00:37:42.120]Prem was known as the person who thought big,
[00:37:45.303]who always wanted to think about how we could be bigger
[00:37:48.372]in research and creative activity and scholarship.
[00:37:52.110]Some would refer to him as the Vice Chancellor of Enthusiasm
[00:37:54.863]as you may have heard in our tribute to him on Saturday
[00:37:59.103]during the football game.
[00:38:00.680]And I could not be more pleased that our Board of Regents
[00:38:04.183]from the University of Nebraska formally approved
[00:38:07.071]last Friday in their board meeting that we will rename
[00:38:11.831]the Whittier building on our campus
[00:38:13.911]which as many of you know, was Prem's project
[00:38:17.743]that he desired to bring that into the university
[00:38:20.881]as additional infrastructure, now the home of much,
[00:38:24.761]the Prem S. Paul Research Center at Whittier School.
[00:38:29.561]And I'm so glad about that, so happy about that
[00:38:33.692]for the legacy that he leaves here on our campus.
[00:38:36.892]Please give our dear friend and colleague Prem Paul
[00:38:39.892]a huge round of applause for everything he has done.
[00:38:44.501](audience applause)
[00:39:11.074]And the numbers bear witness to Prem's transformational
[00:39:14.514]ability for our campus.
[00:39:16.433]I mentioned the 285 million research expenditures
[00:39:19.106]record number that we currently have at the university
[00:39:22.404]this past year and you will see that we started
[00:39:25.945]from a number about half that level when Prem
[00:39:28.954]became Vice Chancellor for Research.
[00:39:32.146]We have aspirations to become a top 35 public research
[00:39:35.882]university which means that proportionally,
[00:39:39.674]we will increase that level of research expenditures
[00:39:42.506]over time and as I mentioned earlier,
[00:39:44.824]not including much of the impact of a number
[00:39:47.746]of our research areas across campus
[00:39:50.135]and the way these numbers get reported.
[00:39:53.314]That will be done by building on areas of excellence,
[00:39:58.335]building on focal points that are important and relevant
[00:40:01.356]to our state, our region, to the challenges
[00:40:03.783]that we face ahead.
[00:40:05.784]Certainly we have emphasis and international expertise
[00:40:10.194]on water and food security that continues to lead
[00:40:13.535]in many respects in those fields around our campus.
[00:40:17.974]We have work in early childhood education
[00:40:21.204]and international leadership in that area
[00:40:23.266]and early childhood education and development.
[00:40:26.655]The Buffett Early Childhood Institute
[00:40:28.436]is added to that recently in our capacity.
[00:40:31.205]Social sciences and behavioral research,
[00:40:34.346]the arts and the humanities, we have so much leadership
[00:40:37.236]in those areas across a number of our disciplines
[00:40:39.898]on our campus.
[00:40:41.986]In the engineering and the physics area,
[00:40:43.796]material science and in energy development
[00:40:47.338]and certainly in the life sciences we have opportunity
[00:40:50.626]to grow even bigger in the future.
[00:40:53.795]And I am particularly excited and interested
[00:40:57.036]in the opportunities that we will have ahead
[00:41:00.026]in the areas of national defense,
[00:41:02.436]the contributions in our physics areas you know
[00:41:05.338]are immense and huge, in brain biology and behavior
[00:41:09.298]and the CB3 that's now building and further developing
[00:41:13.138]into world class area of expertise.
[00:41:16.196]And then we have this opportunity I believe,
[00:41:19.935]to link better with our partners
[00:41:22.395]in the University of Nebraska system.
[00:41:25.087]To leverage synergies that we have together,
[00:41:28.346]particularly at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
[00:41:31.577]And I could not be more excited to be able to link arms
[00:41:35.346]with Jeff Gold, the chancellor at UNMC
[00:41:37.807]and we've begun doing this.
[00:41:39.056]We've begun having discussions about how we can tie
[00:41:42.636]our research enterprises in a more meaningful
[00:41:45.986]and impactful way as well as our education mission
[00:41:50.426]as well as our partners at UNO and our partners at UNK
[00:41:54.666]in areas of strategic importance where we can partner
[00:41:57.458]to move forward in the future.
[00:42:00.036]We have this opportunity as well to develop
[00:42:02.207]our now third campus at UNL, Nebraska Innovation Campus
[00:42:08.057]that extends our ability to do public-private partnership
[00:42:11.136]work and extend our scholarship and research
[00:42:13.876]out into the private sector faster and more meaningfully.
[00:42:17.746]We had a great year this past year.
[00:42:19.986]Six years into the development of a 25 year plan
[00:42:23.253]for Nebraska Innovation Campus to dedicate Phase One
[00:42:27.253]of our facilities that now make up a world class
[00:42:30.556]food innovation center.
[00:42:31.956]A conference center that I came from at a luncheon
[00:42:33.946]earlier today that has exceeded our expectations
[00:42:37.047]in it's first two years of use,
[00:42:38.986]an innovation commons housing a number of our
[00:42:41.036]university partners and private partners,
[00:42:44.116]and a greenhouse innovation center
[00:42:46.135]that will allow us to link arms with industry
[00:42:49.026]in an important developing area
[00:42:50.796]of automated plant phenotyping.
[00:42:53.156]And today, we already have 20 partners
[00:42:56.287]working with us together in Innovation Campus,
[00:43:00.186]not only in food, fuel, and water,
[00:43:02.104]the emphasis originally of the campus,
[00:43:04.465]but extending now into healthcare,
[00:43:06.666]extending into bio sciences, extending into emerging media,
[00:43:10.756]and the digital world as we move ahead.
[00:43:13.674]Couldn't be more excited about Phase Two
[00:43:15.906]that we are now planning for Innovation Campus
[00:43:18.586]with groundbreaking of our first facility
[00:43:20.505]coming up very soon.
[00:43:23.564]We had the plan over that 25 year period
[00:43:26.604]for Nebraska Innovation Campus that ultimately
[00:43:29.374]we would have a million and a half square feet
[00:43:32.724]of space that would house our public-private partnerships
[00:43:35.735]on that campus, that's 19 years
[00:43:40.122]from now ahead of us.
[00:43:41.722]Today we're at 380 thousand square feet
[00:43:44.612]in that initial Phase One plan.
[00:43:47.613]Where about 75% of the activity there today
[00:43:51.383]is with the university, 25% with our partners,
[00:43:55.042]ultimately we will see that flip for a third
[00:43:58.333]of the activity ultimately to the university,
[00:44:01.762]and two thirds to become private industry supported
[00:44:05.842]and private sector.
[00:44:07.551]We could have never gotten this started
[00:44:09.869]without the 25 million dollars of support
[00:44:12.642]that was provided to us by the state of Nebraska
[00:44:15.361]to enable us to develop and get this first phase
[00:44:18.652]of Nebraska Innovation Campus under way.
[00:44:22.810]And then we have this opportunity ahead of us
[00:44:27.402]to unleash the talent that we have on our campus
[00:44:30.760]and that we will be bringing as we assemble
[00:44:33.172]a new leadership team.
[00:44:35.402]I'm sure it hasn't escaped you that
[00:44:39.451]in order for us to grow
[00:44:42.071]at the levels that we aspire to in the years ahead
[00:44:45.392]that that community of 6427 will be bigger in the future.
[00:44:49.782]I don't know if 9000 is the right number,
[00:44:52.422]but it certainly will have to be bigger to deliver
[00:44:56.051]on our tripartite mission in faculty and in staff.
[00:44:59.862]And we have strategy to develop for how to make that happen
[00:45:03.792]and tactics that we will have to use
[00:45:05.980]to move forward in that way.
[00:45:09.243]We couldn't be more fortunate to be led
[00:45:10.942]by a talented group of academic leaders.
[00:45:13.081]These are the deans of the nine academic colleges
[00:45:16.141]and other units of our campus and you will recognize
[00:45:19.451]a number of new faces on that slide.
[00:45:23.062]We welcomed Kathy Ankerson as the new dean
[00:45:25.192]of the College of Architecture this summer
[00:45:27.603]to come and lead that college into it's next year
[00:45:30.182]of development.
[00:45:31.731]We've welcomed Lance Perez as the interim
[00:45:33.624]Dean of the College of Engineering
[00:45:35.774]on a two or three year appointment to work with the college
[00:45:38.603]to develop it's plan for elevating it's stature
[00:45:41.704]and moving forward in the future.
[00:45:44.422]Richard Moberly, who stepped into the role
[00:45:46.329]as interim dean of our College of Law earlier this year
[00:45:49.120]and is doing a wonderful job for us
[00:45:51.371]as we move through transition of leadership in that college.
[00:45:54.902]Beth Doll who stepped in as acting dean
[00:45:57.643]of our College of Education and Human Sciences
[00:46:00.363]following Marjorie Kostelnik's service,
[00:46:03.180]being willing to serve in an interim capacity
[00:46:05.720]as she's doing as Senior Vice Chancellor
[00:46:08.040]of Academic Affairs.
[00:46:10.902]So we've got a wonderful group of leaders here,
[00:46:13.742]also I should mention Laurie Bellows as acting Dean
[00:46:16.192]of Graduate Studies that you see in that picture
[00:46:19.643]who we're going to be asking to step up to leadership roles
[00:46:25.054]as part of our senior leadership in the university,
[00:46:27.882]to envision this future with us and to, oh by the way,
[00:46:31.822]do a lot of planning as we move forward.
[00:46:35.472]I know that you saw the announcement
[00:46:37.168]in the last couple of days earlier this week
[00:46:40.081]that we have been successful in attracting finalists
[00:46:42.683]for our two chief academic officer positions
[00:46:44.941]for the university, the first two big pieces
[00:46:47.923]of assembling that future leadership team
[00:46:50.294]for the university as we move forward.
[00:46:52.902]I could not be more excited about the four finalists
[00:46:55.552]you see on the screen for the Executive Vice Chancellor
[00:46:57.990]position that what we know now as
[00:47:00.532]the Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs.
[00:47:03.603]That title is being changed to reflect some difference
[00:47:06.272]in remit of that position as we move forward
[00:47:09.294]in that the Vice Chancellor for Research
[00:47:11.822]as we bring our next leader in that area
[00:47:14.643]following Steve Goddard's willingness to serve
[00:47:16.934]as the interim leader at this time and place
[00:47:20.342]will report to the Executive Vice Chancellor
[00:47:23.712]as well as our Dean of Student Affairs
[00:47:26.443]will move to reporting in an integrative fashion
[00:47:29.083]with Academic Affairs to whoever we select
[00:47:32.912]amongst these finalists.
[00:47:35.072]I also am very pleased that we will start on Sunday,
[00:47:38.723]just in a few days, with the interviews
[00:47:41.243]for the Vice Chancellor of the Institute of Ag
[00:47:43.283]and Natural Resources.
[00:47:44.352]Our other chief academic officer on the campus
[00:47:47.583]and Vice President of Agriculture and Natural Resources
[00:47:50.166]for the University of Nebraska system
[00:47:52.544]and we've attracted four exceptional candidates
[00:47:55.614]for that position as well.
[00:47:58.675]I would be remiss if I didn't say that we are
[00:48:03.039]very fortunate to have had two exceptional search committees
[00:48:07.201]working these positions.
[00:48:09.660]Led in the Executive Vice Chancellor search
[00:48:12.992]by Dean Joe Francisco over at College of Arts and Sciences
[00:48:16.281]and Sherri Jones, department head
[00:48:18.311]from the College of Education and Human Sciences,
[00:48:20.911]and on the INR search, Tiffany Heng-Moss,
[00:48:22.881]Associate Dean of CASNR,
[00:48:24.801]and former Senator and Governor Mike Johanns
[00:48:28.121]and what I'm so pleased about is that those searches
[00:48:31.657]didn't start until Memorial Day week of this year
[00:48:35.721]and for us to be bringing four exceptional finalist
[00:48:39.487]candidates to campus for both of those positions
[00:48:43.017]in a matter of a mere three and a half months
[00:48:46.108]is light speed work as you know and I'd like
[00:48:49.697]to do a huge shout out and thanks to the 25 members
[00:48:53.156]of each of those committees who have worked so hard
[00:48:55.327]over the summer to bring those candidates to our campus.
[00:48:57.948]Give them a round of applause.
[00:48:59.057](audience applauding)
[00:49:07.002]As we bring our new Executive Vice Chancellor
[00:49:09.382]and Vice Chancellor are on board,
[00:49:12.311]they'll have a lot of work ahead of them
[00:49:14.033]to fill out their teams as you know.
[00:49:16.742]A fair amount of succession is in place
[00:49:19.523]for a number of our positions as we move forward,
[00:49:22.593]and I would say to you that the calendar year 2017
[00:49:28.054]as we move past January 1st and New Year's
[00:49:31.393]and the year ahead and we have these two new
[00:49:33.953]chief academic officers with us is the plan by then,
[00:49:38.054]that we will have a year of planning to do on our campus.
[00:49:42.294]If you're aware, our last strategic planning exercise
[00:49:47.044]for the University of Nebraska, Lincoln
[00:49:49.934]was about the turn of the previous decade
[00:49:53.174]resulting in the strategic compasses we refer to
[00:49:55.814]for our campus that we've operated under
[00:49:58.894]for those period of 15 or 16 years.
[00:50:03.022]I think the time is ripe for us as we move forward
[00:50:06.302]to develop a living, breathing, working, accountable,
[00:50:08.924]strategic plan.
[00:50:10.294]You might tell I kind of like those, I do.
[00:50:14.013]I believe they're valuable and they're important
[00:50:16.622]and that we need to develop a living strategic plan
[00:50:19.284]for our campus to achieve these goals that we have ahead
[00:50:23.174]and 2017 will be an important seminal year for us to do that
[00:50:27.862]led by the academic leadership, but engaging the campus
[00:50:31.953]community of faculty and staff in that process
[00:50:35.044]to develop that plan so I ask for your help
[00:50:38.393]as we unfold that when our new leaders come into place
[00:50:42.341]this winter and spring and it will be a busy year ahead
[00:50:45.822]of us as we seek to look at things like
[00:50:48.852]is our budget model optimized for the university
[00:50:52.134]to be able to facilitate the kind of growth
[00:50:54.593]that we have and we choose and want to have ahead?
[00:50:58.862]How can we diversify the funding of our university
[00:51:02.534]based to be able to become a bigger and bolder university
[00:51:06.422]as we move forward?
[00:51:08.193]How will we become a more ever diverse and inclusive
[00:51:11.564]community as we move forward?
[00:51:13.945]I'm so pleased that Milani and Associates are coming,
[00:51:16.804]a leading consulting firm in that area,
[00:51:19.592]be helped by our Diversity Council chaired by Lance Perez
[00:51:23.801]as they work with us this year in mapping our campus
[00:51:27.793]in terms of diversity and inclusion and identifying for us
[00:51:31.452]ways that we can move the ball in that area moving forward.
[00:51:36.841]And then lastly, there's a tremendous amount
[00:51:40.033]of building growth that we have been blessed with
[00:51:43.753]on our statewide campus.
[00:51:46.092]Since 2000 some 1.3 billion dollars in enhancements
[00:51:51.391]to our physical plant, our physical campus have occurred.
[00:51:56.481]You know what many of those are, I don't need to reiterate.
[00:51:59.422]The beautiful new facilities, relatively new facilities
[00:52:03.342]that have come online for us across our campus
[00:52:06.501]that had been completed.
[00:52:08.332]We have a number of important construction projects
[00:52:11.492]that are under way, certainly anchored
[00:52:14.673]by the new College of Business Administration building
[00:52:17.721]anchoring or book ending if you will Memorial Mall
[00:52:21.491]here on City Campus would be such a huge move
[00:52:24.249]for our College of Business Administration.
[00:52:26.660]84 million dollar project completely privately fundraised
[00:52:31.230]with the leadership of the University of Nebraska Foundation
[00:52:33.990]and the leadership of our college.
[00:52:36.459]A huge advancement moving them forward as well as
[00:52:39.969]a number of projects on East Campus.
[00:52:41.809]The Veterinary Diagnostics Facility,
[00:52:43.470]the new Residence Hall there on East Campus,
[00:52:46.247]renovation of the Behlen Facility for
[00:52:48.648]the Department of Defense related research
[00:52:51.508]through our National Strategic Research initiative.
[00:52:55.557]In addition to the College of Law,
[00:52:57.219]and the McCallum Clinic to house the clinics
[00:52:59.749]for College of Law that is now under construction.
[00:53:03.189]All of these to come online prior to
[00:53:05.909]our next academic year, a year from now.
[00:53:10.090]And we have a number of projects that are under discussion
[00:53:13.149]or about to begin construction, anchored of course
[00:53:17.218]most notably by the final plans that were approved
[00:53:21.178]by our Board of Regents this past week
[00:53:23.509]for our new Student Health Center
[00:53:25.330]jointly with the Lincoln division
[00:53:27.039]of the College of Nursing of
[00:53:28.189]the University of Nebraska Medical Center
[00:53:30.639]that will be constructed south of the Beadle Center
[00:53:34.010]to our east here on City Campus as a beautiful,
[00:53:37.578]new facility that will anchor that part of our campus
[00:53:41.399]and another beautiful part of that is the fact
[00:53:44.058]that it is a working partnership between UNMC and UNL
[00:53:49.727]in that Nebraska Medicine is now managing and delivering
[00:53:53.378]our student healthcare and our Student Health Center.
[00:53:56.716]And a partnership of tying to the College of Nursing
[00:53:59.458]in ways as I mentioned before, we will see more of
[00:54:03.285]in the future.
[00:54:05.109]Discussion about the East Union on the East Campus
[00:54:07.949]and the needs for a new dining facility
[00:54:09.938]tied to that residence hall that's under construction
[00:54:12.338]there currently, in addition to our lab repository
[00:54:16.618]and table facility on East Campus that's underway
[00:54:20.087]and then to complement the Adele Hall Learning Commons
[00:54:24.109]here on City Campus that's been such a huge success
[00:54:27.429]in addition to the learning spaces for our students
[00:54:30.218]this past year, the same process and the same idea
[00:54:34.367]for East Campus and the C. Y. Thompson Facility
[00:54:37.749]that we expect to start construction on
[00:54:41.349]after first of the year in 2017.
[00:54:46.606]And then the most exciting developments that we have
[00:54:49.178]lying ahead are renovation and renewal projects
[00:54:52.605]for two of our major facilities on City Campus.
[00:54:56.517]The College of Engineering complex has received
[00:55:00.469]70 million dollars in state support
[00:55:03.429]to go into the redevelopment and renewal
[00:55:06.607]of that complex of facilities for our
[00:55:08.709]Nebraska Engineering Program here
[00:55:11.717]that we're now in the front end of planning
[00:55:14.218]for what that will look like and what those needs
[00:55:16.607]will be and how we'll meet them in addition to
[00:55:19.736]a major fundraising effort that will be launched
[00:55:22.607]to match those funds for the full development
[00:55:26.188]of that complex.
[00:55:27.738]And then for the College of Education and Human Sciences,
[00:55:31.037]the Mabel Lee facility that is part of that complex there
[00:55:34.457]with Henzlik Teacher's College on City Campus
[00:55:37.839]just across the street from the new CBA building as you know
[00:55:41.727]that was the former Health, Physical Education,
[00:55:43.807]and Recreation facility on campus includes
[00:55:47.159]a swimming pool, a dance studio, gymnastics studio,
[00:55:52.839]amongst a College of Education and Human Sciences.
[00:55:56.818]So the opportunity now to repurpose that facility
[00:56:00.189]and to relocate those units elsewhere on campus
[00:56:03.828]in a 35 million dollar project with 25 million dollars
[00:56:07.315]of support being provided by our state of Nebraska.
[00:56:12.738]And then lastly, we're very excited about thinking about,
[00:56:17.138]we're still very much in the thinking mode here,
[00:56:20.268]of proposals for how to develop Memorial Mall,
[00:56:24.757]that iconic central part of our campus.
[00:56:28.186]As I mentioned earlier now book ended by East Stadium
[00:56:31.469]and by the new CBA facility and renovated Elephant Hall,
[00:56:35.316]Morrell Hall that's underway as well.
[00:56:38.989]Also anchored by our new Athletics Hall of Fame
[00:56:42.607]on that northwest side.
[00:56:44.926]Every Big 10 campus in our peers,
[00:56:48.797]every Big 10 campus has an iconic space like this.
[00:56:53.157]Most of them have been developed to be contemporary
[00:56:56.317]and as you know, we haven't been able to do a lot
[00:57:00.127]with this space in recent years and we're thinking
[00:57:02.277]about how to do that and we'll be bringing proposals
[00:57:05.205]forward in the coming year in that exciting project as well.
[00:57:11.757]Now I hope you get the impression
[00:57:13.978]that we have bold, bright days ahead of us
[00:57:18.469]at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
[00:57:21.247]We already are a global leader in many ways.
[00:57:24.727]We are going to become an ever more global leader
[00:57:27.469]in higher education as we move forward
[00:57:30.115]and as I said earlier, I could not be more excited
[00:57:32.927]about what we see lying ahead.
[00:57:35.058]I could not be more excited about having the opportunity
[00:57:37.429]to work with you as your chancellor in thinking about
[00:57:40.869]how we grow our impact of the university moving forward.
[00:57:45.229]And I thought perhaps the best way I could close
[00:57:48.498]my comments today was just to use the words
[00:57:52.607]of our friend, Sam Foltz who we lost so tragically
[00:57:57.087]this summer.
[00:58:00.269]A Nebraska kid, a student
[00:58:03.886]who came here to study agronomy
[00:58:05.829]at the University of Nebraska and happened to be
[00:58:08.688]a pretty dang good football player.
[00:58:11.497]And if you remember the tribute during our opening football
[00:58:15.680]game to him, to his family, on the part of his teammates,
[00:58:20.658]on the part of his coaches, and indeed,
[00:58:23.480]the state of Nebraska and all Husker nation,
[00:58:27.279]you remember that the students held up the words
[00:58:30.285]that he was often known for saying to his teammates.
[00:58:34.668]To stay humble, to work exceptionally hard,
[00:58:38.949]and most importantly, to dream big.
[00:58:41.448]And that's what we're doing at the University of Nebraska.
[00:58:44.143]Go Big Red.
[00:58:45.012](applause)

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State of the University Address 2016

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