Sports Nightly interview

Ronnie Green Author

08/22/2017 Added

5 Plays

Description

Donde Plowman and Kathy Farrell join the chancellor in talking about the opening of the new College of Business building and what it means for students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.241]Two of my favorite times of the year
[00:00:01.654]is the beginning of school and the graduation.
[00:00:03.976]The other end, and so about four or five days ago,
[00:00:07.836]when we started here and the various lines of the band
[00:00:11.594]working on campus and the drumbeats around campus
[00:00:14.683]and the traffic picking up, that's a good thing.
[00:00:17.485]And we're excited about our students rolling back into town
[00:00:20.549]and get sorority rush going this week,
[00:00:22.871]so next week's big deal.
[00:00:24.954]It's not only the solar eclipse,
[00:00:26.695]it's also our first day of class,
[00:00:28.865]so we are eagerly anticipating that we're gonna break
[00:00:32.395]our all-time enrollment record again.
[00:00:34.884]We know we're gonna be up, excited about that,
[00:00:37.563]so exciting time at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:00:40.827]You mentioned the eclipse,
[00:00:41.690]is there a chancellor edict about class?
[00:00:44.750]Are you decided that?
[00:00:45.969]Or are you still, you've got some time to debate.
[00:00:48.283]One of our special guests today
[00:00:49.552]has been thinking a lot about that and how we can use this
[00:00:53.438]as an educational moment for our students and our faculty
[00:00:57.161]and our staff and our community.
[00:00:58.727]So pleased today to have the opportunity for your listeners
[00:01:02.877]to hear about exciting things in our college of business
[00:01:06.498]that is firing on all pistons and all cylinders,
[00:01:10.141]and have Donde Plowman here today,
[00:01:12.757]who's previously served as the dean of the college
[00:01:15.753]until she decided to extend her reach across the campus,
[00:01:19.995]now is the executive vice chancellor
[00:01:22.153]and chief academic officer of the university.
[00:01:24.832]And she's got a special guest with her, our now current
[00:01:29.101]dean of the college of business, Kathy Farrell.
[00:01:31.677]So exciting things going on there,
[00:01:33.137]and pleased to have them join us this guest time.
[00:01:36.935]No doubt, and Chancellor,
[00:01:38.066]I always talk a lot about recruitment of students
[00:01:41.113]and trying to add to the enrollment
[00:01:42.571]and a lot of things, Donde,
[00:01:44.222]that people look at are facilities.
[00:01:45.684]And you have just a gorgeous new facility
[00:01:47.854]that is opening up.
[00:01:49.149]This has to be really rewarding for you
[00:01:51.119]because you were the visionary for all this.
[00:01:53.405]What's this feel like right now?
[00:01:55.269]It is beyond words, we're so excited.
[00:01:57.985]We've worked on this project really for almost seven years.
[00:02:02.102]From the very first idea to now students moving in,
[00:02:05.900]faculty have already moved in,
[00:02:07.610]and they're making it their new home.
[00:02:09.811]For the last six years, this is,
[00:02:12.097]by the way I'm very proud of the fact,
[00:02:13.773]it's completely privately funded $84 million building.
[00:02:16.972]Every single dollar funded by alums
[00:02:20.274]and partners to this university.
[00:02:22.419]Over 1,300 individual gifts.
[00:02:25.862]That's amazing.
[00:02:26.852]We're calling it Hawk's Hall,
[00:02:28.260]because of the leadership of Howard Hawks.
[00:02:29.962]Howard and Rhonda stepped forward
[00:02:31.272]and made an amazing gift to help us do this.
[00:02:36.403]But for several years, I said repeatedly
[00:02:38.796]as I would talk to alums throughout the country,
[00:02:40.993]across the state, this really isn't about a building.
[00:02:44.601]It's about building a college.
[00:02:46.175]And that's the part I'm the proudest of,
[00:02:48.443]is that what's going on inside that building
[00:02:51.204]and what Kathy is leading now as the dean,
[00:02:53.816]all these new faculty, soaring enrollments,
[00:02:57.375]amazing programs, and now a beautiful building
[00:03:00.601]to house it all in.
[00:03:01.870]It's gonna make this the place
[00:03:03.470]to come be an undergraduate in business in the big ten.
[00:03:06.227]Well congratulations.
[00:03:07.519]It is absolutely gorgeous.
[00:03:08.619]And Kathy, I'm gonna turn to you because now it's you job
[00:03:11.483]to get the building going and get some activity happening
[00:03:14.556]inside there and teaching and all those.
[00:03:16.751]Let us in on it.
[00:03:18.010]What's going on right now?
[00:03:19.256]Sure.
[00:03:20.139]Basically, we just finished moving in
[00:03:22.323]the faculty and staff on Friday.
[00:03:24.304]And then a week from this past Monday,
[00:03:26.500]we are gonna be welcoming all of our new students in.
[00:03:29.651]So a lot has been happening behind the scenes.
[00:03:31.974]We're still getting furniture delivered right now,
[00:03:34.808]but things are really coming together
[00:03:36.738]and the building itself is evolving
[00:03:38.880]into just an amazing space.
[00:03:41.157]And it gives us a unique opportunity
[00:03:43.200]to house all of our programs under one roof,
[00:03:47.183]which we haven't been able to do over the past few years.
[00:03:49.650]We've been spread out across three locations on campus.
[00:03:52.364]It gives us the opportunity to offer all of our classes
[00:03:55.074]in one building, which we've not been able to do,
[00:03:57.650]and so that gives you an opportunity to create
[00:03:59.682]a culture and a cohesiveness amongst your faculty, staff,
[00:04:05.386]students, alumni and business partners
[00:04:07.747]that we haven't been able to do in the past.
[00:04:09.652]And that's really exciting.
[00:04:11.020]And it's also enabled us to start some new programs
[00:04:15.276]that we've actually already started
[00:04:16.844]that we're bringing into the new building.
[00:04:18.484]But I think those programs are going to be energized
[00:04:22.255]by this culture and community that we're creating right now.
[00:04:26.599]It is a beautiful addition to this campus,
[00:04:29.153]and Donde, I know the students probably haven't had a chance
[00:04:31.017]to really get in and see it,
[00:04:32.716]but I know you've had some people get tours of it.
[00:04:35.259]What feedback have you gotten?
[00:04:36.986]It's actually an emotional experience.
[00:04:38.635]We took Howard and Rhonda through it yesterday,
[00:04:40.516]and it was really, it's moving.
[00:04:42.460]And the students, we would introduce them,
[00:04:44.732]students came up, thanked him, students are so excited.
[00:04:47.820]I saw a senior over there today who said,
[00:04:49.481]"I'm taking every class in here this fall. I'm so excited!"
[00:04:53.339]But you know, when you build a new building,
[00:04:55.487]this is something I learned.
[00:04:57.024]Kathy was part of the planning and designing of the building
[00:05:00.605]with the architects and I, and you imagine
[00:05:03.494]that a building is going to,
[00:05:08.391]it's a place to house your programs.
[00:05:10.548]But the other thing that happens
[00:05:11.602]is when you're starting to build a building,
[00:05:13.507]it gives rise to new programs and new ideas.
[00:05:16.110]And here's one example.
[00:05:17.458]In the new building, we now have a space
[00:05:19.972]that is gonna be essentially a retail learning lab
[00:05:23.052]that we're calling the College of Business Husker Shop.
[00:05:27.475]And this is a joint partnership
[00:05:29.039]with the athletic department.
[00:05:30.740]It was Shawn Eichorst's idea.
[00:05:32.199]He called me three years ago and said,
[00:05:34.408]"Would you have any space for a little store
[00:05:36.897]"to sell athletic wear? We're shutting down a space.
[00:05:39.742]"We would be happy for the students to maybe run this store,
[00:05:42.778]"keep the profits from it."
[00:05:44.210]Now Kathy, being a finance person, says,
[00:05:45.938]"First they gotta learn they gotta make some profits,
[00:05:48.391]"before they keep any profits."
[00:05:50.586]You know, she's got that rep.
[00:05:52.643]But that's an idea that wouldn't have happened.
[00:05:55.615]And so now, we put a marketing professor in charge of that.
[00:05:58.154]Marketing students have been designing the layout of it.
[00:06:00.607]There's gonna be a student corporate board of directors.
[00:06:03.070]We will use the data from the sales in that store,
[00:06:06.738]and through all of the online sales
[00:06:08.734]for the athletic wear in there,
[00:06:10.595]to teach almost everything we teach in the college.
[00:06:12.899]Business Analytics, Finance, Accounting.
[00:06:14.803]So creating a new building gave rise to an opportunity
[00:06:18.410]we would never have dreamed of.
[00:06:19.858]So that part has been really exciting.
[00:06:22.883]Faculty have to be thrilled,
[00:06:24.819]getting their offices over there.
[00:06:26.572]I'm sure you want some alumni to come back
[00:06:28.974]and take a look at it as well,
[00:06:30.167]wouldn't you over the coming months?
[00:06:31.310]Oh, absolutely.
[00:06:32.335]And quite frankly, we've already had lot of people
[00:06:34.365]coming through the building.
[00:06:35.612]So now we're expecting a lot of foot traffic,
[00:06:39.056]we're encouraging a lot of foot traffic,
[00:06:41.469]we have our ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday,
[00:06:44.299]and we've invited all of our alumni
[00:06:47.619]that we're in contact with,
[00:06:49.028]as well as university dignitaries
[00:06:52.166]and our parents and students
[00:06:54.121]that will be returning to campus as well.
[00:06:57.727]So we're very excited about that,
[00:06:59.199]and we're opening it up to the community as a whole.
[00:07:02.096]Chancellor, this is exciting.
[00:07:03.289]It's, as I said, a gorgeous addition to this campus.
[00:07:07.350]Well there's been a phenomenal amount
[00:07:09.044]of vision and planning and foresight to get here.
[00:07:12.508]Donde was a big part of that, Kathy,
[00:07:15.520]and their leadership team, but the alumni support
[00:07:19.202]and the business community's support
[00:07:21.256]behind getting this done,
[00:07:23.113]as Donde said, 1,300 individual doners
[00:07:26.034]for a project that is the largest project ever completed
[00:07:29.285]on our campus, is a huge deal,
[00:07:32.612]and a huge investment for the state of Nebraska
[00:07:35.543]and our university for a long time to come.
[00:07:38.275]And I'll just give one shout out here.
[00:07:40.419]It takes a whole village to make something like this happen,
[00:07:45.928]including the planners and the architects
[00:07:48.179]and the designers and the construction team.
[00:07:51.228]The Hausmann Construction that built this building
[00:07:53.981]and did it on time, and to deliver
[00:07:56.612]such a high quality product,
[00:08:00.159]it's a phenomenal thing to watch,
[00:08:02.525]that we're very very proud of at UNL.
[00:08:04.453]Well congratulations to all of you.
[00:08:05.867]Kathy, now all the other deans on campus,
[00:08:07.645]you are the envy of them.
[00:08:08.925]They're all gonna be coming over there
[00:08:10.173]and wanting to come have a cup of coffee
[00:08:12.049]and just see the place.
[00:08:13.014]But congratulations all of you, well deserved.
[00:08:14.730]Thank you. Thank you.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

Sports Nightly interview

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments