Dynamic Discussion Panel Discussion

Rural Futures Institute Author

11/06/2017 Added

7 Plays

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Panel discussion

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[00:00:01.667](laughter)
[00:00:04.039]Now, one two three, is that better?
[00:00:06.862]Okay.
[00:00:08.336]The acoustics in here are always a little wacko anyway.
[00:00:13.060]Anyway, I think it's sort of fun to know
[00:00:17.373]that in addition to their senior administrative roles
[00:00:22.300]within the academy, these guys actually have
[00:00:25.668]some really cool interests that drove their careers
[00:00:29.140]coming up to this point.
[00:00:31.402]Mike Boehm, a plant pathologist,
[00:00:34.914]and particular administrative expertise
[00:00:40.009]and strategic planning is really a passion for him.
[00:00:43.373]But anyway he brings a very interesting area of science.
[00:00:48.342]Dele Davies, a recognized expert
[00:00:50.799]in pediatric infectious diseases,
[00:00:53.587]as well as being a leader in community health,
[00:00:56.952]which we do know.
[00:00:58.654]This is a place where we've engaged with Dele a good bit
[00:01:03.010]from the Rural Futures Institute standpoint.
[00:01:05.574]Mike Boehm, you all know, is the Harlan Vice Chancellor
[00:01:08.830]for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
[00:01:11.648]and the Vice President for Ag and Natural Resources
[00:01:14.407]at the system level.
[00:01:15.870]Dele is Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
[00:01:19.323]and Dean of Graduate Studies, correct?
[00:01:23.272]BJ Reed, who's been around nearly forever,
[00:01:27.496]but for every good reason.
[00:01:29.898]He is the Senior Vice Chancellor at UNO
[00:01:32.620]for Academic and Student Affairs.
[00:01:35.197]BJ's background, a Master's in Political Science
[00:01:39.577]which is sort of fun, a PhD in Public Administration,
[00:01:43.735]and the Public Administration side
[00:01:45.897]was a heavy part of your academic development
[00:01:50.012]and advancement in his long-standing roles at UNO.
[00:01:55.081]Charlie Bisek, who I learn something more interesting about,
[00:01:58.183]I believe, every time I look it up,
[00:02:01.950]Charlie also Senior Vice Chancellor
[00:02:04.559]for Academic and Student Affairs
[00:02:06.234]at the University of Nebraska, Kearney,
[00:02:08.018]but is a rain scientist!
[00:02:10.137]He shows up at rain science meetings
[00:02:13.901]and is really interested in what they have to say!
[00:02:16.485]Yeah!
[00:02:17.781]So anyway, you have four gentlemen here
[00:02:21.695]who obviously provide very important guidance
[00:02:26.120]to our four campuses of the University of Nebraska,
[00:02:31.596]who have all been friends of the Rural Futures Institute
[00:02:34.761]from the outset.
[00:02:37.051]Mike is new to the game, but certainly
[00:02:40.351]a key player with us, so you really have folks here
[00:02:43.948]who make a difference in the institution
[00:02:47.051]and we are really inviting you
[00:02:49.533]and providing the opportunity today
[00:02:51.352]for you to mix it up with them, hear from them
[00:02:53.687]on some of the key questions that are before us.
[00:02:56.131]But also to get into some of those barriers
[00:02:58.410]that you wrestle with within the academy,
[00:03:01.778]that keep you from having the kind of impact
[00:03:05.603]that you envision as part of the Rural Futures Institute.
[00:03:09.568]So, I'm going to ask our fellows
[00:03:12.072]if they would introduce themselves,
[00:03:13.756]and starting with Jeff.
[00:03:15.192]Who you are, who you represent, your field,
[00:03:19.364]and we'll just go around real quick just so they know.
[00:03:25.347](coughing)
[00:03:28.648](speakers are drowned out)
[00:05:00.292]And he's hung out with radicals.
[00:05:01.700]I mean, he's hung out with absolute radicals.
[00:05:07.630](speakers are drowned out)
[00:05:34.992]Close enough!
[00:05:37.967]Jess, yeah, please.
[00:05:39.436](speakers are drowned out)
[00:06:24.980]Thank you.
[00:06:26.285]Oh, yes, Rachelle!
[00:06:27.789](speaker is drowned out)
[00:06:32.133]Thank you, I'm sorry, yeah.
[00:06:34.025]Listen, so as you see, we have a pretty diverse group.
[00:06:39.557]And this afternoon is not going to be a series
[00:06:43.908]of lengthy speeches, we're going to have some conversations.
[00:06:46.860]I thought we might start, quite honestly,
[00:06:49.096]with giving each of you a chance for a minute
[00:06:52.167]to essentially say a word or two
[00:06:55.632]about the complexity of Rural as you see
[00:06:58.365]from your institutional perspectives,
[00:07:01.390]and a bit of how you see RFI's role there, if you will.
[00:07:07.348]Because we have a little different relationship
[00:07:08.990]on every one of your campuses.
[00:07:12.234]Just say a word or two about that perspective, if you would.
[00:07:16.193]Charlie, would you want to start?
[00:07:18.287]You want to start with me? Yeah.
[00:07:21.842]Are we on? Yes.
[00:07:24.024]Well, I'll either set the tone or be atonal,
[00:07:26.927]Chuck, depends on how one looks at this.
[00:07:29.626]You know my expectations. (Charlie laughs)
[00:07:31.850]You know, it seems to me that complexity
[00:07:35.720]is the operative word when I think
[00:07:38.517]about rural successes and rural challenges.
[00:07:43.048]I'll tell a little story and I'll be brief, Chuck.
[00:07:46.068]I was thinking about this driving from Kearney.
[00:07:49.231]And I was thinking about a fellow named JW Forrester.
[00:07:52.226]Some of you probably know his name.
[00:07:54.177]He was a native of the Anselmo, Nebraska area,
[00:07:57.053]born in 1918, died just last year at 98 in 2016.
[00:08:02.611]He was born on a farm without electricity,
[00:08:05.496]a very bright young man.
[00:08:07.157]Became very interested in power
[00:08:10.855]and so he rigged a battery system
[00:08:13.156]that allowed for electrical operation
[00:08:15.574]or service on the farm.
[00:08:17.186]That led after many years to his
[00:08:19.929]essentially becoming the founder of System Dynamics.
[00:08:25.239]And I think it's really about systems
[00:08:27.022]that allows us entrees to thinking
[00:08:28.883]about contending with the complexities
[00:08:30.715]of the world around us, notably rural.
[00:08:33.085]And I would say that it's about the connections
[00:08:35.988]that occur and the flows that exist within
[00:08:38.848]and out of rural communities,
[00:08:42.731]the corridors and patches that connect
[00:08:44.692]those rural communities, where the patches
[00:08:46.957]are maybe corn fields and soybean fields.
[00:08:49.594]The corridors may be I-80, they may be gravel roads,
[00:08:52.187]they may be canals, they may be natural kinds
[00:08:55.381]of conduits or connectors but I think
[00:08:58.962]it's all about thinking in terms of systems
[00:09:01.185]as a connecting way of viewing the world.
[00:09:04.525]Thinking about sources and sinks,
[00:09:06.661]regulators on flows in and out of communities,
[00:09:09.373]regulators of flows in and out of cities
[00:09:12.007]and in and out of farms.
[00:09:13.627]So my watch word is systems in System Dynamics, to begin.
[00:09:17.648]Beautiful.
[00:09:19.165]Charlie, having spent the last two weeks in Alaska,
[00:09:23.171]you make me think of conversations that I had
[00:09:27.565]with a cultural interpreter from the Athabascans
[00:09:33.123]who, when we asked, how does your society
[00:09:38.077]survive for 12,000 years in absolutely
[00:09:40.322]such an uncompromising environment?
[00:09:43.458]And her response was, "We believe
[00:09:45.249]"in the connectedness of all things.
[00:09:47.799]"We recognize, we are trained from the time
[00:09:50.348]"we are very small children that our actions
[00:09:53.936]"have other implications, and so we try
[00:09:56.846]"to think constantly about those connections."
[00:10:00.425]I'm glad for you to bring that up.
[00:10:02.018]I think it's absolutely appropriate to our work.
[00:10:05.311]BJ, go ahead.
[00:10:06.547]He's just trying to show us up.
[00:10:08.584]I'm in among all these scientists,
[00:10:10.526]so it makes me a little bit nervous.
[00:10:12.619]But yeah, complexity is the watch word.
[00:10:17.312]I grew up in Western Kansas.
[00:10:19.227]All my family are still in Western Kansas.
[00:10:23.526]Some of them farm, so I've had a long history
[00:10:27.401]on the rural side, and as Chuck knows
[00:10:30.639]and a number of you in the audience know,
[00:10:33.357]my early life here in Nebraska and at UNO
[00:10:37.442]was almost all about rural economic development.
[00:10:40.257]And working with many of the communities
[00:10:44.275]in Greater Nebraska and those challenges
[00:10:48.759]haven't gone away, so I think part of the issue
[00:10:53.395]around complexity is how do we manage
[00:10:57.049]strategically, especially in terms of higher education,
[00:11:02.749]to add value to the needs in the communities in rural areas?
[00:11:09.323]What universities do pretty well,
[00:11:12.926]they obviously educate students
[00:11:16.047]and they educate community members.
[00:11:20.468]They also do research, particularly my interest
[00:11:24.735]is translational research and that focus.
[00:11:27.983]We also can be pretty good at piloting things,
[00:11:32.127]testing the waters, looking at proof of concepts,
[00:11:35.946]those sort of things.
[00:11:37.294]And there are a lot of things we're not really good at.
[00:11:40.765]The goal for higher education is to stay away
[00:11:43.496]from things that we're not particularly good at
[00:11:46.228]and try to focus on where we can add value.
[00:11:49.737]So that complexity component is one
[00:11:52.639]that we need to produce workforce
[00:11:55.456]that can address those issues effectively.
[00:11:59.245]We need to do translational research
[00:12:01.589]that actually are relevant to rural communities.
[00:12:04.599]And we really have to look at
[00:12:07.747]how can we test out and pilot things
[00:12:11.151]that the communities in rural areas can benefit from?
[00:12:14.933]And if we can do those things really well,
[00:12:17.178]then I would say the University of Nebraska will add value.
[00:12:21.649]Thank you. So from the point of view
[00:12:25.424]of the Med Center, we've always viewed ourselves
[00:12:28.047]as a 500-mile-wide campus.
[00:12:30.444]We have branches throughout the state
[00:12:32.616]in of course Scottsbluff, Norfolk, Kearney, Lincoln.
[00:12:37.132]And we have students rotate throughout the state
[00:12:40.123]in pretty much every county.
[00:12:42.130]And we view our role at the Med Center
[00:12:44.795]to really help with economic development
[00:12:47.114]throughout the sate of Nebraska.
[00:12:49.057]And I think from the point of view of the RFI,
[00:12:52.508]we see our role as being an enabler,
[00:12:58.267]enabling sustainability of those communities
[00:13:01.130]by allowing students, first of all,
[00:13:04.757]to go to school as close to their home as possible,
[00:13:08.022]and more importantly, to give these communities
[00:13:12.045]the maximum opportunity of having those students
[00:13:14.891]go back as professionals one day
[00:13:17.179]and help to stir economic development.
[00:13:19.323]We actually have a lot of data on the impact of RHOP.
[00:13:23.160]Maybe we can talk about that at some point.
[00:13:25.650]In rural Nebraska several programs, KHOP similarly,
[00:13:31.031]we've had strong long-lasting partnerships with Kearney
[00:13:33.519]that has led to significant economic development,
[00:13:37.139]I would say, with Kearney.
[00:13:41.054]We talk about potential for looking at systems,
[00:13:44.529]but I think leadership is very important,
[00:13:46.494]and I also think that ability to reinvigorate
[00:13:51.886]and rethink what we consider a community.
[00:13:54.494]So rather than thinking of the community
[00:13:57.192]as the small town that you grew up in,
[00:14:00.930]maybe you start to think about
[00:14:02.558]a community of neighborhoods.
[00:14:04.821]Because the reality is that your competitor
[00:14:09.218]is not the small town that's 50 miles away from you.
[00:14:14.070]Your competitor is a city or a small town.
[00:14:19.168]By the way, if you go to China and you meet somebody
[00:14:21.767]who will say, "I'm from a small town of 1 million people."
[00:14:24.213](laughs)
[00:14:25.402]That's how they view small towns.
[00:14:29.509]We've got to really rethink how
[00:14:31.416]we consider small towns, and if we truly want
[00:14:34.044]to compete, it's going to be about working together,
[00:14:37.504]partnerships, and by the way this is true
[00:14:39.797](mumbles) this is true for us at the Med Center.
[00:14:41.269]It's true for anybody.
[00:14:42.102]I think communities will have to learn
[00:14:43.797]to think of the survival as being integrated,
[00:14:49.253]as being joined, as opposed to thinking
[00:14:51.855]that they need to sort of compete with each other.
[00:14:54.678]And I have my friend here from the art college.
[00:14:57.963]Another is to look at how we use extension.
[00:15:00.513]The whole idea of extension and maybe
[00:15:03.201]rethink how we can integrate some health
[00:15:05.546]into those extension centers throughout the state,
[00:15:08.302]and I know that's been going on
[00:15:09.815]in some other states very, very effectively,
[00:15:11.806]and use that as another mechanism of economic development.
[00:15:15.157]So I'll hand over to Mike. Wow.
[00:15:19.073]I first want to say I want Dele's socks and Charlie's tie.
[00:15:23.360]They look pretty snazzy together, fellas.
[00:15:26.493]Sorry, it doesn't match Dele's socks, BJ.
[00:15:31.201]A couple of thoughts here, a little bit disjointed.
[00:15:35.901]One, there are a lot of Y chromosomes
[00:15:37.879]sitting here in front of you,
[00:15:39.970]and every time I see this I think for me,
[00:15:43.060]this is a connection back to the inclusive excellence
[00:15:45.590]and to diversity and inclusion.
[00:15:48.310]I think we're the products of a beautiful,
[00:15:51.717]wonderful system here in Nebraska.
[00:15:53.994]I guess if Donde Plowman were able to join us today,
[00:15:56.712]we would have 20% of the Senior Academic Leadership Team
[00:16:00.553]show gender diversity.
[00:16:03.646]So I think kudos to you, chuck, and to the team
[00:16:06.650]for having a more gender balanced group of fellows
[00:16:11.745]than what's represented here.
[00:16:13.930]I think that is inherently a complexity,
[00:16:17.709]an element of the ecosystem
[00:16:20.115]or the integrated system of rural communities.
[00:16:22.581]And I think that's thought number one.
[00:16:25.806]Thought number two, I think it's pooling in my head.
[00:16:29.471]I'm liberal arts trained even though I'm a biologist,
[00:16:32.740]and that is the ability to hold
[00:16:34.774]two diametrically opposed views
[00:16:36.688]in your noggin at the same time.
[00:16:39.442]And I think while we think about rural America,
[00:16:42.685]the Great Plains, I was attracted, no question about it.
[00:16:46.922]I grew up in Cleveland, so I don't know
[00:16:48.403]how I became an ag person, but Go Tribe.
[00:16:52.344]The situation is the values of the Great Plains,
[00:16:58.218]the values of Nebraska are beautiful.
[00:17:00.388]It's a beautiful set of values, and it's attractive.
[00:17:04.995]But I do think we have to really look
[00:17:07.468]at our cultural fabric, our societies,
[00:17:10.924]what we value, whose voices are heard,
[00:17:13.867]whose voices aren't heard.
[00:17:15.433]And in a state like a Nebraska,
[00:17:17.335]a third statement I would make is I've been so impressed.
[00:17:20.990]I just started here literally nine months ago,
[00:17:22.899]didn't know much about Nebraska.
[00:17:24.727]I've never been in a state where people introduce themselves
[00:17:27.675]as a fifth- or sixth-generation Nebraskan.
[00:17:30.539]And that is awesome.
[00:17:32.824]But I've also been engaged with our four tribal nations,
[00:17:36.684]and in fact people tell me, "I was a Nebraskan
[00:17:38.560]"before there was a Nebraska."
[00:17:41.420]Wow, right?
[00:17:43.414]And even if you go back, those folks migrated
[00:17:46.368]10,000 years ago over the Bering Strait.
[00:17:49.453]So this is a place of migration,
[00:17:51.711]it's a place where community like Scottsbluff
[00:17:54.285]engages Germans from Russia, or Mexicans,
[00:18:00.007]or Stromsburg is the sweet capital, so be it,
[00:18:03.447]of Nebraska, to the chuck capital,
[00:18:06.118]to the new migration that we see in Lincoln
[00:18:08.581]and in other parts of the state.
[00:18:12.112]Some of our communities really struggle with this.
[00:18:14.471]Others are embracing this.
[00:18:16.626]And so I have no doubt that that's connected
[00:18:19.239]to growing Nebraska and the vitality
[00:18:21.993]of our communities, both rural and urban.
[00:18:24.611]And then the last thought is this notion
[00:18:27.658]of a number of issues, whether it's leadership,
[00:18:32.037]I think Dele mentioned it, leadership is critical
[00:18:34.722]to the vitality of our communities.
[00:18:37.064]We have to think about access to safe
[00:18:39.227]and nutritious food, so food deserts kind of a concept.
[00:18:42.790]245 public school districts in the state,
[00:18:47.323]so access to quality education
[00:18:49.617]that leads to the University of Nebraska
[00:18:52.462]or a community college or Peru or Chadron State.
[00:18:56.925]We have to think about logistics,
[00:18:59.202]rail heads, highways, broadband access,
[00:19:03.175]that's really pretty critical.
[00:19:04.822]And so you pull, of course health care,
[00:19:08.910]which we kind of talked about health care
[00:19:10.897]and access to health care.
[00:19:12.841]Those are at least five elements that are critical
[00:19:15.499]to the vitality of our communities
[00:19:18.097]and then just to leave you with a provocative thought,
[00:19:20.463]I was in Japan with the Governor's Trade Mission
[00:19:23.025]a couple weeks ago and I learned
[00:19:25.425]two facts about Japan and the US.
[00:19:30.208]So if you add up the population of Japan
[00:19:32.326]and the United States of America,
[00:19:34.390]we will stay constant over the next 50 years.
[00:19:37.021]The two together, hear me,
[00:19:41.241]the two together will stay constant.
[00:19:43.661]That's because we'll increase about 30 million people
[00:19:46.122]and Japan is scheduled to decrease
[00:19:48.902]their population by 1/3.
[00:19:51.093]They'll go from 127 million people
[00:19:53.324]to 88 million, give or take.
[00:19:56.460]So when you think about Japan
[00:19:59.208]and you think about their demographics,
[00:20:01.331]the rest of the world will increase a net 2 billion.
[00:20:04.705]So we really need to be thinking about,
[00:20:08.547]and there are some parallels I think
[00:20:09.978]between Nebraska and Japan to be honest with you.
[00:20:12.883]And we need to figure that out.
[00:20:14.590]I'll end by just saying thank you so much
[00:20:17.178]for investing time in the Rural Futures Institute,
[00:20:19.839]bringing that intellectual capacity and perspective.
[00:20:22.811]We can't make Nebraska a better place without your help.
[00:20:27.865]Thank you Mike.
[00:20:29.463]Listen, this is about your opportunity
[00:20:32.522]to mix it up with these guys.
[00:20:34.622]So you have some questions that were raised
[00:20:38.690]through conversations with you.
[00:20:40.716]These guys have seen those four major questions.
[00:20:43.327]You're not limited to those, but who'd like
[00:20:47.017]to raise a question to get the conversation started?
[00:20:50.622]And I will pick on you because
[00:20:51.865]I've been listening to you all morning
[00:20:53.432]if there's not a volunteer and I know
[00:20:57.076]that Todd Martin would love to volunteer.
[00:21:00.621]Todd, you raised a very important issue
[00:21:03.302]just as we were wrapping up a, by the way,
[00:21:08.012]really dynamic morning, fellows, of input from these folks.
[00:21:11.685]But really a key issue within the academy
[00:21:16.151]as to how folks like you and your colleagues
[00:21:21.823]do this work and be credited appropriately,
[00:21:26.603]encouraged appropriately.
[00:21:27.902]Talk a little bit about that, because I know
[00:21:30.154]some of these guys have some interest in it.
[00:21:34.695]Well yeah, so we said that (speaker is drowned out)
[00:21:49.125]Let me respond.
[00:21:52.421]I'm not sure I buy the argument.
[00:21:55.692]Let me tell you why.
[00:21:58.480]I think we impose on ourselves a siloed way
[00:22:03.342]of looking at the academy and what it does.
[00:22:06.655]So engagement should inform teaching,
[00:22:10.346]engagement should inform research.
[00:22:13.677]Teaching should link what we gain in our research,
[00:22:17.070]and engage research back into the classroom.
[00:22:21.253]The system is not set up to do that,
[00:22:24.115]so you have to figure out how to make that work.
[00:22:30.193]Almost all my research in the first 20 years
[00:22:36.074]of my career was doing exactly that.
[00:22:39.152]Just figuring out, how do I leverage my engagement
[00:22:42.920]with publications, how do I leverage
[00:22:47.639]my publications in the classroom?
[00:22:50.191]How do I keep that loop going
[00:22:52.400]over an extended period of time?
[00:22:54.781]And if you don't do that, you fall
[00:22:58.027]into the traditional academic mindset.
[00:23:01.612]"My research is separate from my engagement
[00:23:04.037]"is separate from my teaching."
[00:23:07.769]Because that's what reinforced in us
[00:23:10.675]from the day we went into our doctoral programs
[00:23:12.998]or whatever it might be.
[00:23:15.163]That services takes away from your research mission.
[00:23:19.813]Teaching takes away from your research mission.
[00:23:23.041]If you're a really good researcher,
[00:23:24.939]then you're not going to spend
[00:23:26.036]as much time in the classroom.
[00:23:29.078]Now it's easier for professional programs,
[00:23:32.034]frankly, to do this.
[00:23:34.409]Social work, public administration, education, business.
[00:23:39.927]But it's got to be a consciousness of effort,
[00:23:42.558]and then you have to have your chair,
[00:23:44.301]the RPT committees understand the value added
[00:23:48.694]of integrating all three of those things
[00:23:51.910]in terms of measuring the productivity
[00:23:56.090]that you have to do that.
[00:23:58.151]Because if you have a dean or a chair or a committee
[00:24:01.857]that doesn't value that integrated approach,
[00:24:04.381]you're a dead duck and you probably
[00:24:05.778]ought to be in a different program someplace else.
[00:24:10.156]But I find that exhilarating.
[00:24:14.499]I found that really fun, I found that the way
[00:24:18.296]to take all my passions and put them
[00:24:20.301]in a bucket of three different things
[00:24:24.919]and make it work effectively.
[00:24:26.970]But it's not going to happen unless you
[00:24:29.226]go out and figure out how to make that work
[00:24:33.126]because the system is not set up that way.
[00:24:35.576]So you have to figure out how to make it happen
[00:24:39.743]within that structure, that's just my two cents.
[00:24:43.133]Dele, I know you have thoughts on this.
[00:24:45.991]I hear you, and I think that this
[00:24:48.113]is really the challenge of committee engagement
[00:24:51.078]as scholarly work.
[00:24:53.233]And I think it all begins with,
[00:24:54.851]we talked about leadership earlier,
[00:24:56.473]I think it's important when you're going
[00:24:58.350]to a new organization, you have tenured faculty.
[00:25:01.840]Truly understand the culture of that organization,
[00:25:04.201]understand how they view what you are doing.
[00:25:08.027]I think there's increasing and growing recognition
[00:25:12.025]of committee engagement as totally credible scholarly work.
[00:25:17.123]We have the cutting edge right now,
[00:25:19.243]so there's still a lot more work to be done,
[00:25:21.872]a lot more PRT committees that need to be convinced
[00:25:24.781]about this, but I would say that the way to convince them
[00:25:28.315]is by starting to really create a very careful portfolio.
[00:25:32.794]So I work at an institution where traditionally,
[00:25:36.818]it's very very difficult.
[00:25:38.474]What you are supposed to do in academia,
[00:25:40.259]you're supposed to teach right?
[00:25:42.095]Well trying to get promoted is
[00:25:44.125]in a teaching portfolio's tradition, very difficult
[00:25:46.765]at the Med Center as it is in many major universities.
[00:25:49.597]You get promoted primarily when you bring in
[00:25:52.257]all the big dollars and you publish papers.
[00:25:55.410]But we can slowly, it's like a big ocean liner,
[00:25:58.941]you've got to do a lot of work
[00:26:00.723]to move it one nautical mile.
[00:26:03.085]But we've been slowly convincing the different colleges
[00:26:07.163]and the different PNT committees to understand
[00:26:10.253]the importance of teaching and a credible
[00:26:14.042]teaching portfolio is an important contribution
[00:26:17.068]towards promotion.
[00:26:19.171]So I agree with BJ that the key thing
[00:26:21.328]is to try and see how you can integrate what you're doing.
[00:26:23.467]Think of the work that you're doing
[00:26:25.622]in the community, when you're working
[00:26:27.763]with different agencies, different groups, different towns.
[00:26:30.814]How can you tell your story of what you're doing?
[00:26:33.762]Part of telling that story is quality work,
[00:26:36.294]writing it up, writing what you're doing,
[00:26:38.237]and then making sure that everybody understands
[00:26:41.848]that that's a legitimate product.
[00:26:44.441]So if you think about every single type of program
[00:26:47.953]that we have, humanities, we have for example music,
[00:26:52.213]you get promoted mainly by producing CD's.
[00:26:56.763]In some specialties, it's more important to publish books
[00:27:00.478]than to publish papers, and in others,
[00:27:02.922]the papers are more important than the books.
[00:27:05.298]And think that what we have to figure out
[00:27:08.027]for committee engagement is,
[00:27:10.735]what are the real tangible products
[00:27:14.100]that would be accepted as credible proof
[00:27:17.626]of scholarly work that you can showcase?
[00:27:20.592]And I think that I see it as an opportunity
[00:27:22.747]as well, Todd, in terms of maybe if we can do this
[00:27:28.295]through RFI, and come up with what we believe
[00:27:31.927]are cogent, concrete products
[00:27:35.244]that could be evidence that you've
[00:27:38.338]actually made an impact on a community at some level,
[00:27:43.767]then it's about now going back and education
[00:27:46.272]PRT committees that they should accept that.
[00:27:49.213]For example, I know Michigan State for several years
[00:27:51.760]has considered committee engagement scholarly work
[00:27:55.397]as an important aspect of our PRT.
[00:27:58.711]That took time but that's because leadership
[00:28:00.901]that bought into it early, (mumbles)
[00:28:04.128]and then I think we have the leadership here now
[00:28:07.127]that if we decided that this is the way
[00:28:09.151]we want it to go, I'm not saying
[00:28:10.219]it's going to happen tomorrow because
[00:28:11.742]even after you quote-unquote "try to do it,"
[00:28:15.008]there's still going to be some resistance there.
[00:28:18.319]But at least it's a beginning.
[00:28:20.077]And I think if we can figure out what those products are,
[00:28:23.142]then we can start to educate the PRT committees
[00:28:26.176]that this is credible scholarly work.
[00:28:28.723]That was a perfect challenge to this group, Dele.
[00:28:31.353]Thank you.
[00:28:33.619]Gosh, I agree with everything BJ said.
[00:28:37.249]And is it Todd or Tom?
[00:28:38.640]Todd. Todd.
[00:28:40.030]What rank are you? Full.
[00:28:42.463]Full?
[00:28:43.477]Yeah, so I'm going to pick on you for a little bit.
[00:28:46.021]We're all in this together so it's a team sport.
[00:28:48.842]There's no more powerful position in the academy
[00:28:53.066]than a full professor in a unit.
[00:28:56.840]Because you have made it through and you get a choice
[00:29:01.110]to influence your colleagues about stretching
[00:29:04.554]in a way that the PNT committee in your culture,
[00:29:08.119]you're a culture shaper, a cultural broker.
[00:29:11.067]So I would empower you, not that you need my empowerment,
[00:29:15.173]but I would say please, I'm counting on you
[00:29:17.651]to actually stretch the system.
[00:29:20.222]So I would just say that I think, to BJ's point,
[00:29:23.976]I come out of agriculture and out of liberal arts training
[00:29:27.115]and then into ag and then I went
[00:29:28.866]to a liberal arts college as a professor
[00:29:30.741]and then back to Ohio State on the faculty.
[00:29:33.436]I would say in agriculture, we've grown up
[00:29:35.911]on a diet of three-way, two-way,
[00:29:38.900]we're used to talking in that way.
[00:29:41.258]So my entire career I had a three-way appointment,
[00:29:43.747]teaching, research, and extension.
[00:29:45.518]And it was all embodied in this one person
[00:29:47.982]and I was lucky enough to be in a community
[00:29:50.321]of senior colleagues that valued
[00:29:53.184]and looked at each of us distinctly
[00:29:55.656]as individuals with individual splits.
[00:29:58.685]My department was really careful about,
[00:30:00.666]excellence in this area looks like this,
[00:30:03.731]and the PNT documents followed that.
[00:30:07.145]But I've worked with lots of disciplines,
[00:30:11.201]105 disciplines at Ohio State, 54 here at UNO.
[00:30:16.561]There's a normal distribution curve
[00:30:19.035]on where people and where communities are on that spectrum.
[00:30:22.351]So that's where administration has a role,
[00:30:25.538]to also be partners with the faculty,
[00:30:28.128]to really put incentives and disincentives
[00:30:33.013]out on the table, and one way we have is to say no.
[00:30:36.907]We can override PNT decisions,
[00:30:40.655]so we can make statements that way.
[00:30:42.449]We ultimately control resources,
[00:30:45.132]so recharging faculty lines and behavior
[00:30:50.293]that's working in the spirit of collaboration
[00:30:53.336]and moving things forward, we can incentivize.
[00:30:55.659]Behaviors that go counter to that, we have some tools.
[00:30:59.071]Now we might not last very long as administrators
[00:31:01.714]and if you're worried about that,
[00:31:03.424]then that could be an issue, but if you're not,
[00:31:06.490]you're interested in driving cultural change
[00:31:09.328]and brokering positive change for the impact
[00:31:12.311]and the success of communities,
[00:31:13.935]then it's a pretty important key toolbox.
[00:31:18.591]That's what I would add.
[00:31:21.615]As I'm listening, I picked up multiple themes
[00:31:24.982]in each of my three colleagues.
[00:31:26.692]Mike mentions empowerment in terms
[00:31:29.610]of that full professor status,
[00:31:32.099]Dele mentions integration, BJ mentioned systems again.
[00:31:37.714]And it seems to me that the RFI,
[00:31:40.592]there's never been a great (audio drops)
[00:32:01.757](speaker is drowned out)
[00:32:06.937]You can build that into the structure.
[00:32:09.634]So we have built, it's college decisions
[00:32:12.769]and faculty decisions but I think four
[00:32:14.511]of our six colleges now have scholarship of engagement
[00:32:19.416]built into their RPT guidelines.
[00:32:21.905]So now you don't have to hide from it
[00:32:24.014]and justify it, it now counts as part
[00:32:27.146]of your reappointment, promotion, and tenure criteria.
[00:32:30.097]We institutionalized it and that takes a lot of work.
[00:32:33.503]Michigan State was our role model for that
[00:32:36.061]because they did research and found
[00:32:38.328]that 80% of their students were doing
[00:32:40.151]engagement research, they just never called it that
[00:32:42.494]and they never recognized it.
[00:32:44.156]So I think if you can institutionalize it,
[00:32:47.776]then it's built into the system.
[00:32:53.004]If you're going to go talk to your chairs,
[00:32:55.478]you should probably come up with some solutions.
[00:32:57.724]In other words, I would think it probably
[00:33:00.109]would be much more powerful for you
[00:33:01.714]to get together with a group of your peers,
[00:33:03.599]think about what constitutes real outcomes
[00:33:07.400]that are acceptable for committee engaged research,
[00:33:10.740]quality work I guess if you want to be that way.
[00:33:14.173]So when you go to them, you're not just going
[00:33:15.521]and saying, I think, or this is what I would like.
[00:33:18.631]But you can say, this is what the literature shows,
[00:33:21.976]has what's been done, also this is what I believe
[00:33:24.424]constitutes things that we should consider
[00:33:27.834]when we look at portfolio of faculty members
[00:33:30.898]who are doing this type of work.
[00:33:33.150]So you just want to come in a bit more engaged
[00:33:35.776]and prepared and able to not only
[00:33:37.500]just give one quick anecdote.
[00:33:38.864]There's a guy by the name of William Osler.
[00:33:42.022]Some of you might have heard that name.
[00:33:43.763]He's considered the father of modern medicine.
[00:33:46.026]When this guy started off at McGill University,
[00:33:49.062]medicine looked totally different
[00:33:51.042]than it did when he finished his career.
[00:33:53.049]So before he started, all the teaching in med school
[00:33:56.208]was all done by people going to lectures.
[00:33:58.912]He was the first one to introduce
[00:34:00.473]the notion of rounds, and then he was the first one
[00:34:04.235]to introduce residency training programs and observation.
[00:34:08.122]The whole thing was observation, observation, observation.
[00:34:11.262]But it was not something that he woke up
[00:34:12.831]and everybody said, yay, let's go!
[00:34:14.712]It was an uphill battle, but today it's recognized
[00:34:18.376]as having changed the whole system,
[00:34:20.287]and we're all following what it does.
[00:34:22.125]I guess I'm just saying there's an opportunity for you
[00:34:23.973]to be a pioneer if you do it within the context
[00:34:27.659]of working with your peers. I think one of
[00:34:30.950]the interesting things about in the power of this group,
[00:34:34.145]we've got Don Mackie, Jeff stepped out.
[00:34:37.967]We've got folks who have worked closely with the academy
[00:34:41.179]but are outside in communities.
[00:34:43.140]When we start talking about measuring impacts
[00:34:46.116]on communities, and I think (mumbles),
[00:34:48.006]with the Heartland Center, we have folks that do that.
[00:34:51.604]And Don, you might weigh in here.
[00:34:53.469]I just want to (mumbles) the conversation
[00:34:56.368]because BJ, when I first met you,
[00:34:59.757](speaker is drowned out)
[00:35:05.209]It's hard.
[00:35:06.194]And so what I wanted to hear in this conversation is,
[00:35:09.598]everything you said made sense by me.
[00:35:12.448]But in this era where we are extending
[00:35:15.518](speaker is drowned out)
[00:36:23.349]I've got a bit of a thought on that.
[00:36:24.976]I think you really nailed a critical point.
[00:36:29.229]I think state funding of these things
[00:36:31.495]are going to continue to stagnate or decline.
[00:36:34.357]I think research is going to struggle
[00:36:37.401]if you're not in NIH or NSF, frankly,
[00:36:40.778]because a lot of the money where we did
[00:36:43.319]translational research and criminology and criminal justice
[00:36:46.437]and other fields is gone.
[00:36:48.281]So I think the revenue model has to shift a couple ways.
[00:36:52.379]One is contract research.
[00:36:57.974]Bob knows this, we do a lot of that.
[00:37:00.350]There's not a ton of money but if you
[00:37:02.778]can get to work with counties, cities,
[00:37:06.210]even state agencies, to begin to do
[00:37:10.160]some contact research for them,
[00:37:12.994]it's translational research, and then think about
[00:37:16.067]how you can get added to a publishable environment.
[00:37:19.254]I think that's one.
[00:37:20.796]The other that we've found is now foundations.
[00:37:24.674]That we're increasingly seeing foundations care
[00:37:28.552]about a number of the issues that we care about,
[00:37:31.709]and that they're willing to both do donor-based support
[00:37:36.830]and contract, not necessarily donor,
[00:37:40.333]we're going to give you the money, have a good time.
[00:37:42.473]We'd love to have you do research for us
[00:37:46.643]on a particular area of focus, of need
[00:37:49.843]for the populations that you're interested in serving.
[00:37:53.859]So will it replace the decline?
[00:37:57.052]I certainly can't guarantee that,
[00:37:59.143]but I do think alternative revenue sources like that
[00:38:02.236]have to be explored and aggressively sought out.
[00:38:05.985]Because if we don't, I think you're right,
[00:38:08.786]you're going to have a real struggle
[00:38:10.256]within the academy to get it supported.
[00:38:12.941](audience member is drowned out)
[00:38:42.206]I don't think we have any choice.
[00:38:44.220]I think that's exactly what we have to do.
[00:38:47.292]We have to do a better job of communicating
[00:38:49.709]the value of the kinds of engagement and research we do.
[00:38:53.392]With that group, I think we don't tell our story very well.
[00:38:58.638]I don't think we necessarily evaluate
[00:39:01.091]and assess the impact of what our work is.
[00:39:04.322]Everybody thinks, well, if you don't move
[00:39:06.373]from X to Y, it's a failure.
[00:39:08.240]If you don't move from X to Z
[00:39:10.074]going the other direction, it's a success.
[00:39:13.196]So I think we have a responsibility
[00:39:18.013]to go out and proselytize around why that's
[00:39:22.727]a huge ROI investment, why that's value added to the state.
[00:39:27.148]The state thinks about this but
[00:39:29.508]they don't necessarily fund it,
[00:39:31.432]and so we have to figure out a way
[00:39:34.794]to get that message through to our legislators
[00:39:37.302]and the governor, to the county boards,
[00:39:39.398]to whoever it might be, and to the donors who exist.
[00:39:42.338]This is what Jeff spends his life doing.
[00:39:44.853]So I really think it is the alternative
[00:39:49.835]that we have to explore because if we don't,
[00:39:52.184]we're missing a huge opportunity
[00:39:54.416]and the impact may not be what we want.
[00:39:58.920]This doesn't add very much other than
[00:40:00.762]underscore what you've just suggested as essential
[00:40:03.305]and what BJ has underscored.
[00:40:06.590]There was a film that came out last year,
[00:40:09.037]the producer was a fellow named Ben Banowsky,
[00:40:11.119]called Starving the Beast, some of you may know it.
[00:40:13.702]It really dates across my entire career,
[00:40:17.102]35 years or so in higher education
[00:40:19.117]and the inevitable and continuous decline
[00:40:21.759]in state-aided support.
[00:40:23.630]And it's compelling, so if you haven't seen it
[00:40:25.454]or are interested, Bill Banowsky's
[00:40:27.993]Starving the Beast says this is what we have to do.
[00:40:33.135]I think we have the enviable land grant
[00:40:38.673]university system that other parts of the world
[00:40:41.489]are trying to, and yet you don't know
[00:40:44.292]what you have until it's gone.
[00:40:46.915]And so it pains me to watch the marginalization
[00:40:51.265]of this system across the world
[00:40:55.007]that is trying to be emulated,
[00:40:56.740]and yet we don't know what we have until it's lost.
[00:41:00.795]I absolutely think we have to think
[00:41:03.127]about where our funding sources come from.
[00:41:05.981]I think we have to challenge the status quo.
[00:41:09.702]I wake up every day wondering,
[00:41:11.579]who are the faculty and who are the students of tomorrow?
[00:41:17.828]Stanford's d.school took a look at,
[00:41:20.809]who are the students of tomorrow
[00:41:23.099]and why do we think that when you're 18-22 years old
[00:41:26.508]you come to the place called the university
[00:41:28.507]and you get everything you need
[00:41:29.893]for the next 80 years of your life?
[00:41:32.163]When we know that the people who graduate today
[00:41:34.737]will have four to six careers
[00:41:36.917]and they'll pivot left and right?
[00:41:39.482]And oh by the way, 40-50% of those jobs,
[00:41:42.453]we don't even know what they are.
[00:41:44.690]So how do we flip the model a little bit,
[00:41:49.039]and at least my part of the organization,
[00:41:52.642]we've done a pretty good job at being respectful
[00:41:56.086]of non-PhD, non-terminal degree folks
[00:42:01.050]who have actually worked in the field for 20, 30 years
[00:42:04.555]and they're called professors of practice.
[00:42:06.880]Unlike other institutions I've been at,
[00:42:09.390]where the hierarchical pecking order of the academy
[00:42:12.984]really plays out hard, it seems more wholesome here.
[00:42:17.930]And we have to really think about
[00:42:20.086]who are the faculty and who are the students
[00:42:22.387]and I think we need to turn the models on their heads.
[00:42:27.475]I think we ought to, for example, just throw out,
[00:42:29.832]I think we ought to offer educational futures.
[00:42:32.745]When a student graduates from the University of Nebraska,
[00:42:36.396]point blank, we say to them, we value your success
[00:42:39.894]and given the changes that are going to happen
[00:42:41.714]in your lifetime, we know you'll need to come back.
[00:42:44.244]So an inverse student loan.
[00:42:46.812]We will lock you in, Rachel, to today's credit.
[00:42:50.223]You can pay for it over the next 10-15 years
[00:42:53.375]in small increments, and whenever you need to come back,
[00:42:56.824]virtually, whether it's my campus, this campus,
[00:42:59.054]that campus, you have access.
[00:43:01.540]That's a different way of funding higher education.
[00:43:05.681]Other models, I think affinity partnerships.
[00:43:08.735]Costco is a great example.
[00:43:10.858]Came to the state, net $1.2 billion positive impact.
[00:43:17.692]So how can we really leverage?
[00:43:19.416]We have 455,000 living alumni, faculty, students,
[00:43:23.631]and staff amongst our institutions.
[00:43:26.417]For a company like Costco, maybe they don't care
[00:43:29.047]about another half a million customers,
[00:43:31.454]but those half a million customers
[00:43:33.592]touch three other people's lives.
[00:43:35.582]That's 1.5-2 million people that all of a sudden
[00:43:39.852]are potential customers, potential clients.
[00:43:42.726]You've got to think about that.
[00:43:44.525]We have to forge partnerships between governments
[00:43:47.144]and universities and industry
[00:43:49.977]in ways that we've not done this.
[00:43:53.272]How do we get somebody to actually hire
[00:43:56.321]our students at the end of year three
[00:43:57.848]because they've taken them as a test ride?
[00:44:00.253]They pay, the company, a multi-national company pays
[00:44:04.406]for year four, and oh by the way, year four
[00:44:07.123]might not be get done in four years.
[00:44:09.092]Year four might be, you go and work for the company
[00:44:11.788]in Shanghai and then you're going to pivot back
[00:44:15.005]to UNK and you're going to finish your degree,
[00:44:17.833]but it's on the company's dime.
[00:44:19.648]These strategic partnerships really need to be explored
[00:44:23.410]so it's a completely different paradigm
[00:44:25.895]than what we're used to thinking about.
[00:44:28.221]And those are the cutting edge types of things
[00:44:30.768]that I think we need to explore.
[00:44:34.900](audience member is drowned out)
[00:45:18.545]Kim, thanks, I was going to let Dele answer the question.
[00:45:23.960](speaker is drowned out) I'm just going to be candid
[00:45:29.624]here, I think Ronnie, when he took over as chancellor,
[00:45:32.632]absolutely had the vision of trying to bring
[00:45:35.329]some of the strategic thinking and planning
[00:45:37.682]that he was able to impart during his time at IANR
[00:45:40.944]to the university level and through
[00:45:43.401]his partnership with Hank and the other chancellors
[00:45:45.790]to the system level, and while I still think
[00:45:47.975]that is a possibility, the external context
[00:45:51.116]has changed dramatically.
[00:45:53.768]And there are some strong external forces
[00:45:57.470]that are pushing even on the best of intentions.
[00:46:01.930]So to be honest with you, a strategic planning exercise
[00:46:06.302]has been consumed by a $49 million
[00:46:10.269]permanent cut across our institutions
[00:46:15.881]and it has the potential to tear at the fabric.
[00:46:18.767]Our trick in this, is how do you still bring
[00:46:22.253]these meaningful conversations to the forefront
[00:46:25.477]in a way that doesn't erode, vaporize,
[00:46:29.600]the momentum that we've got?
[00:46:31.652]And I think Todd, you said this a little bit.
[00:46:33.934]Part of what we have to rethink here a little bit,
[00:46:36.379]we're an academy.
[00:46:38.086]If the academy isn't free to do the objective,
[00:46:41.223]creative works and discovery, and that we don't
[00:46:44.428]do some of what academies have done
[00:46:46.738]for thousands of years, we're missing the boat.
[00:46:49.085]At the same time, I think this is the struggle.
[00:46:51.893]There are short-term, mid-term, and long-term impacts
[00:46:55.410]and outcomes, we're very impatient.
[00:46:58.472]The turnstile on administrators or some of us is too short.
[00:47:04.085]Politicians that took the bright,
[00:47:06.624]shiny object that we're all attracted to,
[00:47:09.122]these are real tensions.
[00:47:11.433]Somehow we have to find a system
[00:47:13.865]that allows us to settle into,
[00:47:16.600]what are those long-term impacts?
[00:47:19.748]How do we measure the work that you're doing?
[00:47:23.043]How do we truly measure the work that you've done
[00:47:26.349]in Scottsbluff or in Kearney?
[00:47:28.327]How do we measure those true impacts
[00:47:31.016]that have to be durable from administration
[00:47:33.703]to administration or from leader to leader
[00:47:35.762]or from faculty generation to faculty generation?
[00:47:39.422]I think this is where I personally,
[00:47:41.371]UNO and beyond, this is where I need help.
[00:47:44.514]I need the likes of Jeff and others in the room
[00:47:48.200]that can really help us identify impacts.
[00:47:50.957]And then we need to do enough of the short-term stuff
[00:47:54.268]to keep people off our cases, off our backs,
[00:47:57.197]while we do the good work that we all need to know.
[00:48:00.497]And I'll go one step further.
[00:48:02.288]The University of Nebraska at large,
[00:48:05.494]I absolutely think because of our nimbleness,
[00:48:08.079]our agility, the 1.25 degrees of freedom in Nebraska,
[00:48:12.236]we know what's important, back to the values.
[00:48:15.515]We haven't lost our way.
[00:48:17.670]There are a number of other big-time schools
[00:48:20.277]that are chasing a bright, shiny object.
[00:48:22.935]In fact we just saw, Wall Street Journal
[00:48:24.956]put out Top 500 Universities, another ranking yesterday.
[00:48:30.180]UNL didn't fare very well in there.
[00:48:32.440]If we start paying attention to that,
[00:48:35.215]we're missing the boat.
[00:48:37.366]And I think this takes longer than five years,
[00:48:40.620]longer than 10 in some cases,
[00:48:42.522]and we have to be steady enough to really,
[00:48:46.495]as a community, top-down, bottom-up, sideways,
[00:48:49.718]what is important and identify those measures,
[00:48:53.261]those lagging and leading indicators of success
[00:48:56.840]and then we need to tell the story
[00:48:58.804]over and over and over and over
[00:49:00.544]using all different media.
[00:49:02.627]And I don't know how to do that,
[00:49:04.149]except I'm confident together we'll figure out some ways.
[00:49:09.280]I just want to add that I think
[00:49:11.237]it goes back to how we tell a story.
[00:49:13.347]We as an organization, the whole system,
[00:49:17.050]the economic impact of Nebraska and Nebraska University
[00:49:21.632]to the state of Nebraska is,
[00:49:23.709]I think $3.9 billion is the number.
[00:49:26.724]We get $500 million from the state every year.
[00:49:31.549]And I think part of the message we need
[00:49:33.112]to be able to tell is, where else can you go
[00:49:35.082]and guarantee very year that if you give $1,
[00:49:37.518]you're going to get $6 back?
[00:49:39.121]But that's all good on paper.
[00:49:41.904]But it still means we have to talk
[00:49:43.855]about community engagement.
[00:49:46.006]That can actually translate to something
[00:49:47.599]tangible for those communities.
[00:49:49.405]So when we go to Scottsbluff, we go to Kearney,
[00:49:52.568]we go to Norfolk, we can actually say
[00:49:57.353]because of RHOP our whatever program,
[00:50:00.173]we now have all these people who are working
[00:50:02.103]and living here.
[00:50:03.541]That's the story we can tell.
[00:50:05.027]And that can become (mumbles)
[00:50:06.921]to a direct tangible economic impact.
[00:50:08.735]Why is that important?
[00:50:10.379]It becomes crucial because those become our advocates,
[00:50:13.667]they should be our advocates.
[00:50:15.517]People can tell us straight to the legislature
[00:50:17.965]when they decide they're going to cut another $49 million.
[00:50:21.307]Because if they don't recognize that this
[00:50:22.913]can actually come back to hurt the programs
[00:50:25.392]that we establish and all the good work you're doing
[00:50:27.672]are going to be negatively impacted.
[00:50:29.975]If these cuts continue, these cuts that are allowing
[00:50:34.144]a stable source of revenue to be given back to us,
[00:50:37.905]then I think we're going to lose out.
[00:50:40.657]So I guess one of my comments is that
[00:50:42.276]we really strongly need your advocacy.
[00:50:45.068]Recognize the economic impact because,
[00:50:47.257]at the end of the day, it's all about
[00:50:51.330]the survivability of the university.
[00:50:55.317]And we've got to be able to make people recognize
[00:50:57.523]that when you cut, that $6 return
[00:51:01.633]is going to go down proportionately.
[00:51:03.810]And if we can tell our story well,
[00:51:05.839]it's one thing for us to say in Omaha,
[00:51:08.708]well, that's great if you're raising money that's helping.
[00:51:11.800]People may think that $6 return is in Omaha.
[00:51:14.571]But it's the work that you're doing
[00:51:16.766]that will demonstrate that it's not just Omaha.
[00:51:19.476]It's all the small communities across the state
[00:51:21.350]of Nebraska that are benefiting
[00:51:22.700]from the economic impact of having the Nebraska system.
[00:51:29.390]To follow up on both Mike and Dele a little bit, Kim,
[00:51:33.285]25+ years ago I came to the UNK campus
[00:51:36.519]from another institution as a tenured full professor,
[00:51:39.224]ran and was elected and served on an NRD board.
[00:51:43.030]Rachel knows that whatever forum I'm in,
[00:51:45.553]I say something about NRD's, I can't help it.
[00:51:48.867]But the natural resources district system
[00:51:50.938]in the state of Nebraska is like no other
[00:51:53.135]governing complex in terms of resources.
[00:51:57.154]The 23 resource districts that cover our state
[00:52:00.041]follow natural ecological lines, watersheds,
[00:52:03.521]in ways that other states envy, other countries envy.
[00:52:07.945]So my service on that board at that time
[00:52:10.619]was looked on in this way, Charlie that's nice,
[00:52:13.513]but make sure that you continue that rhythm
[00:52:16.900]of scholarly activity, research, and publication.
[00:52:20.068]Today, I would tell you that if someone
[00:52:22.625]were indeed on the faculty, to run for that kind
[00:52:25.260]of elected position where they make
[00:52:26.883]a translational contribution and difference, so to speak,
[00:52:31.193]it would be looked at differently.
[00:52:32.700]And I think that just trying to underscore
[00:52:34.769]the importance of looking in breadth,
[00:52:36.732]top-down, sideways, bottom, however we do it.
[00:52:39.819]That's crucial.
[00:52:42.406]I want to take us in a little bit different direction.
[00:52:44.363]We have some really interesting players here.
[00:52:48.462]I want to talk about service learning just a little bit,
[00:52:51.339]which has been an area where I think RFI
[00:52:52.981]has provided some leadership, some measurable impact
[00:52:56.442]in communities.
[00:52:57.720]Rachelle and Mylan were both part of the original team
[00:53:00.869]that envisioned our rural serviceship program.
[00:53:05.044]And you might say a word or two about that
[00:53:10.506]and its real world impacts, and then I'd like to tie,
[00:53:13.448]Eric, I'd like for you to say a word or two.
[00:53:16.680]Our conversation earlier about starting
[00:53:19.135]to involve the students that we have
[00:53:21.698]in the serviceship program in some research,
[00:53:24.715]connecting them with faculty,
[00:53:26.177]having a research component related thereto
[00:53:29.045]that I think might take it to another level.
[00:53:31.609]This is something that can touch all of our campuses.
[00:53:36.185]So anyway.
[00:53:38.384]Anybody want to comment along that line,
[00:53:41.025]I think it's an important part of what we're doing here.
[00:53:43.480](audience member is drowned out)
[00:53:46.262]...about the partnership with the Heartland Center
[00:53:48.821]at the University here is so important,
[00:53:51.468]because the Heartland Center's years and years
[00:53:54.301]of research in working in small towns and small communities
[00:53:57.912]is across the nation and the world.
[00:54:02.328]And so, to be able to partner our students
[00:54:05.411]with the Heartland Center (speaker is drowned out)
[00:54:11.173]Many of our students come from the state of Nebraska.
[00:54:14.643]Many of them want to go back to either
[00:54:17.586]their own community or a community very similar
[00:54:21.098]to where they've grown up.
[00:54:23.345]So a lot of the students have, (speaker is drowned out)
[00:54:26.166]Who's talking to them during that four-year period
[00:54:30.088]of time while they're with us about
[00:54:34.023](speaker is drowned out)
[00:54:37.980]What are the opportunities, what are the benefits,
[00:54:41.188]how can I begin (mumbles) about that now
[00:54:44.744]so as our students have gone back
[00:54:47.768]into the communities, (speaker is drowned out)
[00:54:51.657]is five or six years in and it is just
[00:54:56.075](speaker is drowned out)
[00:55:22.183]We have an opportunity to make that connection
[00:55:26.371](speaker is drowned out)
[00:55:55.201]Bob, anything you want to add?
[00:55:57.565]Well, I thought about the earlier references
[00:55:59.696]return on investment.
[00:56:01.939]It seems to be the sort of (mumbles) program
[00:56:04.694]that could almost be considered modeling
[00:56:07.690]for how it's possible with a relatively
[00:56:11.483]small investment, to get a return
[00:56:15.281]that are geometrically related.
[00:56:20.283]When Sean had first started talking about this idea,
[00:56:23.930]what, 10 years go Sean?
[00:56:28.121]We thought it was a clever idea
[00:56:30.041]but I had no imagination at the time
[00:56:35.587]that it would have such an impact.
[00:56:37.825]And (mumbles) tell you, service learning
[00:56:42.188]and engagement of students in committees
[00:56:46.249]that have impact that it's had
[00:56:49.374]in a very short period of time.
[00:56:52.393](speaker is drowned out)
[00:56:59.462]Sure.
[00:57:00.295]So Eric, talk just a little bit about your thought,
[00:57:03.905]because this is something we've been kicking around
[00:57:05.627]as we think about growing this program
[00:57:08.690]with student fellows.
[00:57:12.843]So obviously summer is the time to be away from campus
[00:57:17.515]in the communities, but what Chuck and I talked about
[00:57:21.968](speaker is drowned out)
[00:57:26.235]was the idea of helping them continue their project
[00:57:30.967]back on campus during the school year.
[00:57:34.425]So during the school year, bump the research project
[00:57:37.694]integrated with the service learning
[00:57:40.971]during the summer would be a good match.
[00:57:44.917]It would also build other career skills,
[00:57:47.434]job skills for later on.
[00:57:49.196]I think also it might attract a few more students
[00:57:52.325]to the program (speaker is drowned out)
[00:57:57.741]So a lot of faculty are hiring graduates to work with them.
[00:58:02.037](speaker is drowned out)
[00:58:18.035]So, response from you big guys.
[00:58:21.068]We think this is a fun idea, and I will tell you
[00:58:24.174]that it was part of the conversation this morning
[00:58:26.417]also led to, in 40 years, students may not
[00:58:29.704]be coming to Lincoln, Omaha, Kearney for classes anymore.
[00:58:34.654]It may be a completely different learning model
[00:58:37.681]and it also led to discussions about
[00:58:41.267]these service learning students being in a community.
[00:58:46.130]A community might become a learning center
[00:58:48.510]and have students that cycle through
[00:58:50.872]over a long period of time, a year at a time.
[00:58:53.560]So anyway, (speaker is drowned out)
[00:58:54.918]This is something we're very comfortable with
[00:58:56.985]at the Med Center, this is something we've done for years.
[00:58:59.104]This is actually what we do.
[00:59:01.806]We have students on staff in Omaha, Kearney, elsewhere,
[00:59:07.039]but then we expect them to go
[00:59:09.625]throughout the state of Nebraska.
[00:59:12.447]They go there, they work in hospitals,
[00:59:14.957]they work in clinics, they participate in care.
[00:59:18.009]They're learning but they're also providing a service.
[00:59:20.513]That's the interesting thing about health students
[00:59:22.515]is that they're providing a service
[00:59:24.755]while at the same time, they're learning.
[00:59:26.561]And a big part of why we have such a big success
[00:59:30.107]in sending a lot of the students back
[00:59:31.653]to rural communities, many of them fall in love
[00:59:34.523]with a community they've never seen before.
[00:59:37.343]I think somebody said, it might be somebody from urban.
[00:59:40.302]I think you were the one who said that
[00:59:41.782]the first time somebody from Omaha
[00:59:44.052]has ever stepped into Scottsbluff or Norfolk
[00:59:48.884]or any of the smaller communities,
[00:59:50.914](mumbles) in-between, so we are totally
[00:59:54.689]not only seeing the benefit of this, we believe in it.
[00:59:58.736]And as I said, because we believe that the whole state
[01:00:02.118]is our campus, for us it's an integral part
[01:00:05.064]of what we've done and what we'll continue to do.
[01:00:07.827]So for us it's really not something
[01:00:10.993]that is a radical idea, it's something
[01:00:13.252]that we want to continue to grow.
[01:00:15.055]We have embraced this for a long time
[01:00:17.201]and we have several people who are living,
[01:00:21.759]in fact, we just had a conversation earlier.
[01:00:24.428]I was talking to Charlie about somebody who
[01:00:26.704]is a faculty member now at Kearney,
[01:00:30.118]who is from Kearney I believe, came to the Med Center.
[01:00:33.125]And I was saying I'd love to have that person
[01:00:35.321]come back and talk about how that whole experience
[01:00:38.569]of leaving Kearney, coming to do their training
[01:00:40.973]at the Med Center, then going back there.
[01:00:43.114]So that's really our model, and I think
[01:00:45.520]we totally get it and buy into it.
[01:00:49.561]Just to follow up on that with regard
[01:00:52.931]to the breadth of service learning.
[01:00:56.127]We have a Health Science Education Complex
[01:00:58.684]on the University of Nebraska Kearney campus.
[01:01:01.195]It opened two years ago.
[01:01:02.807]It houses nursing which we've long had at UNK,
[01:01:06.490]but graduate now along with undergraduate.
[01:01:08.674]And half a dozen areas of the College of Allied Health
[01:01:11.703]programs, PT, PA, MLS, Sonography, Radiography,
[01:01:16.845]Medical Nutrition Education.
[01:01:18.805]In the summer of 2013, after we got an estate
[01:01:23.525]from the legislature and spoke
[01:01:25.793]to the appropriations committee,
[01:01:27.810]three of Dele's deans and I made a nine-city
[01:01:30.501]three-day tour and those cities were Lexington,
[01:01:33.845]KRVN radio and the hospital,
[01:01:36.072]North Platte, rotary and hospital,
[01:01:38.351]Scottsbluff, alumni in the hospital.
[01:01:41.200]And then back through Sidney, Ogallala, (mumbles)
[01:01:46.429]You can tell it's seared into my memory.
[01:01:48.789]Hastings, Kearney, and (mumbles) but the point was
[01:01:50.765]that at every place along the way,
[01:01:52.786]we got a pledge and a promise that yes,
[01:01:54.803]we will assist and participate with regard
[01:01:57.397]to internships and preceptorships
[01:01:59.491]and those requirements for the completion
[01:02:01.521]of the professional degree.
[01:02:02.962]But also, those folks recognizing the benefits
[01:02:05.378]to the hospital but also to the greater community.
[01:02:09.012]And to me that's an indication of that value
[01:02:12.477]and outreach in the service learning.
[01:02:17.350]You might think, well gee, Omaha
[01:02:18.901]doesn't have any angle here.
[01:02:20.664]And 87% of our students come from the metro area.
[01:02:25.173]But I will tell you that our service learning programs
[01:02:31.157]are incredible, we have over 200 courses
[01:02:35.014]a semester that are service learning courses
[01:02:37.851]across every discipline in the field.
[01:02:40.824]We have service days that are 10,000 students involved.
[01:02:45.808]Our next one will be in October during fall break.
[01:02:48.796]And then we've created in the last two years
[01:02:53.236]basically a co-curricular service learning.
[01:02:56.902]They don't get course credit for it,
[01:02:58.735]and the number of students flocking to that
[01:03:01.287]across four or five different areas of focus is amazing.
[01:03:06.663]It helps to have staffing to support those efforts.
[01:03:09.617]Let me throw out an idea which I think,
[01:03:14.514]because you mentioned the fact that
[01:03:16.740]a lot of the technology is going to allow us
[01:03:19.702]to deliver our coursework across the state
[01:03:23.318]in a much more efficient way.
[01:03:28.866]We've been working on this, we have an undergraduate
[01:03:31.768]Master's degree in multidisciplinary studies
[01:03:34.938]that's online, and we have relationships
[01:03:38.063]with most of the community colleges in the state
[01:03:40.916]starting with Scottsbluff and Western Community College
[01:03:44.083]all the way over to actually Iowa.
[01:03:47.819]Community College could be a key partner in this effort.
[01:03:54.004]They're in the communities, they are the ones
[01:03:59.068]that are working with students but in a way
[01:04:02.888]that a four-year institution can partner with
[01:04:06.847]and benefit from, even if those students
[01:04:09.467]don't then transfer into a four-year institution.
[01:04:13.354]I think we ought to look at partnerships.
[01:04:15.114]State colleges clearly are that as well.
[01:04:18.074]And we need to figure out a higher education approach
[01:04:22.333]to service learning and engagement of our students
[01:04:25.529]across the state that could effectively harness that
[01:04:30.834]to mutual benefit of the communities they serve,
[01:04:34.218]but to the benefit of the students themselves.
[01:04:37.350]We just need to think conceptually,
[01:04:39.714]maybe outside that box a little bit
[01:04:43.058]about how we might do that.
[01:04:45.325]And I think we've got some models
[01:04:47.183]that work extremely well.
[01:04:49.005]I'm sure the other campuses have as well.
[01:04:51.477]But how are we thinking about this?
[01:04:53.697]And RFI could be the key linchpin
[01:04:56.016]to think through how we'll make that happen.
[01:04:58.467]Thank you.
[01:04:59.456]I think the service learning program at RFI,
[01:05:02.312]in fact just this morning I had my all hands meeting
[01:05:05.571]with all of the faculty and staff at INR,
[01:05:09.043]about 1,700 people and I highlighted
[01:05:12.624]RFI's program this morning.
[01:05:14.909]So Chuck and Connie, yes ma'am, yes sir.
[01:05:17.992]I think that it's great, a couple of thoughts,
[01:05:20.277]keep doing more of it, thank you for
[01:05:21.927]your vision that you had, I think it's amazing.
[01:05:24.549]I was up in Wheeler and Boone counties yesterday
[01:05:27.230]and little towns like Genoa and Barnett
[01:05:30.338]and Albion and I talked a lot
[01:05:33.875]with a board of supervisors and commissioners.
[01:05:37.398]They have already identified our students
[01:05:40.684]from multiple campuses represented here
[01:05:43.545]to pull back into their communities.
[01:05:45.748]They already have projects, they've already started
[01:05:49.634]thinking about reintegrating their citizens
[01:05:53.223]who have gone off to the university and engaged.
[01:05:55.878]I think I say this to Connie and Chuck,
[01:05:58.734]they get tired of it because RFI formally reports it
[01:06:01.241]to me as the vice president of the system.
[01:06:04.263]They come in with a very focused agenda
[01:06:07.802]and leave confused because of me,
[01:06:10.233]but I will say I think we need to do a better job
[01:06:13.425]of integrating across the systems that we have.
[01:06:16.753]And I said this to Paul Engler.
[01:06:18.573]I had the chance to visit
[01:06:20.265]and have coffee with Paul this morning.
[01:06:21.812]Paul Engler gave $20 million to kick off
[01:06:24.411]the Engler Entrepreneurship Program.
[01:06:26.553]I will just say when you're listening, talk about humble.
[01:06:30.740]"When I first came to the university 60 years ago,"
[01:06:35.038]I'm like holy smokes, right, what do I know?
[01:06:38.519]But I'm sitting there listening to Paul
[01:06:41.511]and to Tom Field and I know that Paul
[01:06:44.749]and Chuck and Tom are all friends,
[01:06:46.865]but I keep saying it over and over.
[01:06:48.943]This isn't a race, it's not versus them, it's us and them.
[01:06:52.593]And we have to do a better job
[01:06:54.816]of horizontally integrating with these
[01:06:57.752]entrepreneurial engagement programs.
[01:07:00.183]We are not talking to each other as much as we need to.
[01:07:05.276]And we're too small, resources are extremely tight,
[01:07:09.655]and we need to just roll up and look at the win-wins
[01:07:13.053]and figure out how we do this more effectively
[01:07:16.611]and leverage every ounce, every iota of contact
[01:07:21.691]and context that we can, and that would be
[01:07:24.633]my plea to the group.
[01:07:27.269]And I think the other side is where
[01:07:29.665]politics gets in the way.
[01:07:31.396]In Ohio again, I'm just going to use that
[01:07:33.625]so I don't have to pick on Nebraska,
[01:07:35.485]we had 56 brick-and-mortar campuses
[01:07:39.465]that were public institutions and we had another 50
[01:07:42.761]private institutions, we had 103 universities
[01:07:46.267]or colleges in Ohio that you can choose.
[01:07:48.959]Six times the population of Nebraska
[01:07:52.424]but my point here is the world's changing dramatically
[01:07:56.375]and I think we really, really, really
[01:07:58.834]at local politics level need to ask some hard questions,
[01:08:02.440]whether that's consolidation,
[01:08:05.635]everybody's upset about property taxes in Nebraska,
[01:08:09.099]but yet in Boone County there are three
[01:08:11.633]public schools systems, they're all D2 schools.
[01:08:14.509]If you put all three D2 schools together,
[01:08:17.482]guess what, you're still classified as a D2 school.
[01:08:21.128]So why do we need three geometry teachers
[01:08:23.623]and three biology professors and so forth?
[01:08:25.850]It's because they feel, this is where we cross,
[01:08:28.714]they feel that if they lose their school districts,
[01:08:31.565]there's a loss and that leads to the demise
[01:08:34.415]of the vitality of their community.
[01:08:36.861]This is where I think you all and we all
[01:08:39.912]have a real opportunity to neutralize
[01:08:42.713]that sense of loss and help paint a different picture.
[01:08:46.699]And these are really tricky, complex
[01:08:49.519]integrated systems kinds of questions, Charlie.
[01:08:53.224]But I would say that a really neat program
[01:08:55.781]are these getting our students back
[01:08:57.745]into these communities, so kudos, thanks,
[01:09:00.349]and just a plea to work more collaboratively
[01:09:03.697]across different stove pipes.
[01:09:06.246]Thank you Mike, and part of our conversation
[01:09:08.339]this morning, and I know we're within moments
[01:09:10.859]of out of time, but Jeff, you have really looked
[01:09:13.340]at this with us.
[01:09:16.303]You and your organization work in as many
[01:09:19.806]or more communities than anybody in Nebraska.
[01:09:21.719]Do you have a comment or two along this line?
[01:09:25.703](speaker is drowned out)
[01:10:15.918]Let me mention,
[01:10:19.848]one of the key issues is to get a uniform mechanism
[01:10:25.372]across community colleges and four-year institutions
[01:10:31.102]around transfer of credit.
[01:10:34.599]Gabriel Manek who works in the systems office,
[01:10:37.533]that's one of her primary functions
[01:10:40.011]is to figure out how to make that happen.
[01:10:42.346]There's been a lot of progress in that area.
[01:10:44.839]We're not quite there yet but we have arrangements now
[01:10:49.519]with a number of community colleges
[01:10:51.997]where if they get Associate of Arts degree,
[01:10:54.607]all of that transfers into the university,
[01:10:58.759]and they basically are automatically admitted to UNO.
[01:11:03.459]So it can be done, but there's structural barriers.
[01:11:09.526]We also have found in community colleges
[01:11:12.413]in the western part of the state,
[01:11:13.970]they are way far away from the Gen Ed requirements,
[01:11:17.085]General Education requirements
[01:11:18.510]that the University of Nebraska expects to transfer in.
[01:11:22.136]There's work to be done.
[01:11:24.455]But if we can get that done, now we have an opportunity
[01:11:29.328]to take that nursing example or take the example
[01:11:32.590]that we're doing in aviation for example,
[01:11:35.571]or whatever that discipline is,
[01:11:37.538]and now time to degree drops dramatically.
[01:11:40.752]If in fact they wanted to move from a two-year degree
[01:11:43.242]to a four-year degree, they can move in
[01:11:46.891]to the system, not take 180 hours to be able
[01:11:50.910]to get an undergraduate degree but get it at 120
[01:11:53.766]or slightly above that, then we're really taking
[01:11:58.828]the value added of our workforce,
[01:12:01.945]the human capital of the state,
[01:12:04.666]and we're providing the opportunities for them to do that.
[01:12:07.870]If we can then take distance education
[01:12:09.378]and online education and add it to that mix
[01:12:13.146]so that they can stay in their home communities,
[01:12:16.000]so they can get that degree and work
[01:12:18.452]in their home communities, and not have them have
[01:12:21.239]to come to Lincoln or even Kearney or Omaha,
[01:12:25.037]and I'll tell you we had conversations
[01:12:27.672]with (mumbles) and we're working very closely with him
[01:12:33.284]to try and figure out how to get
[01:12:35.384]early childhood education workforce built.
[01:12:38.632]Because the hospital and other industries
[01:12:41.674]in Northeast Nebraska are afraid
[01:12:45.213]if they come to UNO, they'll never come back.
[01:12:48.047]And so how do we provide the opportunity
[01:12:51.412]to provide that early childhood education
[01:12:53.977]through the community colleges
[01:12:55.840]and then maybe actually deliver the rest
[01:12:58.248]of the four-year degree in Norfolk or Columbus
[01:13:01.989]or wherever it might be so that those individuals
[01:13:04.593]stay in the communities?
[01:13:07.243]I think all of that is possible,
[01:13:09.694]but I think we have to be strategic and intentional,
[01:13:13.521]and the University of Nebraska
[01:13:15.154]has a responsibility here to be able to make that work.
[01:13:19.097]So I think that's very feasible.
[01:13:22.376]We've done some work, but we're not there yet.
[01:13:25.334](speaker is drowned out)
[01:13:38.921]I think RFI again can work in those home communities
[01:13:43.008]with Central Community College
[01:13:45.370]and Northeast Community College
[01:13:46.792]and Western Community College and Plains Community College
[01:13:51.813]and say, how can we help you work
[01:13:54.508]with the university to be able to speed up,
[01:13:58.459]to simplify in an efficient way,
[01:14:01.439]how can we help get online education
[01:14:04.192]into your communities, especially
[01:14:07.498]at the undergraduate level?
[01:14:09.535]How can we use the university high school
[01:14:12.683]in a way that effectively gives that online support
[01:14:16.819]out where you don't have three geometry teachers?
[01:14:20.148]In fact, you might not have one geometry teacher
[01:14:22.241]or one Russian teacher or one physics teacher.
[01:14:26.894]And how do we use the university's resources
[01:14:29.368]to help the high schools get those students to the point,
[01:14:32.669]and if they go to the community college that's great.
[01:14:34.667]No problem.
[01:14:35.675]Any post-secondary experience, that's the issue.
[01:14:37.859]And then if they decide a four-year institution,
[01:14:40.061]how do we help them do that?
[01:14:41.382]I think RFI could be a really key factor.
[01:14:44.136]And I think the issue is this.
[01:14:46.226]Once the infrastructure gets sorted out,
[01:14:48.566]which may be really mixed up right now,
[01:14:50.596]in terms of broadband, width, et cetera,
[01:14:52.204]and I think that's where advocacy comes in.
[01:14:56.207]I think this has been said.
[01:14:58.059]The competition is no longer going to be
[01:15:00.865]UNO, UNL, UNK.
[01:15:04.421]Everybody in the world is going to go
[01:15:06.067]to offer degrees that anybody in the world can take.
[01:15:09.580]And I think if we don't take advantage of the fact
[01:15:13.110]that we're the Nebraska system University,
[01:15:16.125]I think 10 years from now, you'll be able
[01:15:19.363]to take a seat in your house and take a degree
[01:15:21.798]literally from anybody.
[01:15:23.961]That's the way things are going.
[01:15:25.221]A lot of the big schools already
[01:15:26.514]are testing MOOC's, they're refining them.
[01:15:29.386]They're offering mini degrees right now
[01:15:32.276]they give in little doses.
[01:15:33.826]There's an online MOOC right now
[01:15:35.926]that University of Georgia Tech,
[01:15:37.236]which is one of the top schools in the country
[01:15:39.439]for engineering, they have a new Master's
[01:15:42.941]in Computing Science degree.
[01:15:45.530]That's $6,000, the whole degree.
[01:15:48.542]It's all online.
[01:15:49.785]It's exactly the same degree that's offered
[01:15:51.254]for today's $42,000, whatever it is on campus.
[01:15:54.281]So I only bring that up just to say that
[01:15:56.822](mumbles) their students are from all over the world.
[01:16:00.260]And think we have a responsibility again,
[01:16:03.147]it's the whole idea of making sure
[01:16:04.519]that we don't think that the competition
[01:16:06.864]is your next community or is the university beside you.
[01:16:10.264]We've got to figure out how we work together
[01:16:12.048]to preserve the whole.
[01:16:14.224]And I think that's where RFI comes into play,
[01:16:16.637]is by helping to identify how we
[01:16:19.187]can create those linkages, opportunities
[01:16:21.137]where we can actually deliver content.
[01:16:24.309]We're building this whole virtual reality center
[01:16:26.839]at the Med Center as you probably have heard.
[01:16:28.537]And that's one of the goals is to be able
[01:16:30.234]to beam information right into communities
[01:16:33.314]and make sure that we know that we're part
[01:16:34.888]of that community.
[01:16:36.042]So if Mayo Clinic decides they want to set up shop,
[01:16:38.368]they'll say well, we don't know who you are
[01:16:40.161]but we're working with the Med Center.
[01:16:42.652]So that's really why we've got to make sure
[01:16:44.284]that every single community understands the value
[01:16:46.975]of the NU system.
[01:16:48.599]And I think RFI, with the work you guys are doing Chuck,
[01:16:52.951]is a great opportunity to help
[01:16:54.819]make sure that that happens.
[01:16:56.746]I think it's important to note that because
[01:16:59.444]of the regional rural forums that we've had,
[01:17:02.087]we have relationships with the presidents
[01:17:04.037]of almost every community college in Nebraska
[01:17:06.254]as well as our relationship with Greg Adams
[01:17:08.566]and their association.
[01:17:10.448]Just to be honest, I think Southeast Community College
[01:17:13.219]is the only one that we didn't work with,
[01:17:14.840]so really I go away pretty energized
[01:17:18.303]about taking advantage of those relationships
[01:17:21.424]and I appreciate your saying that.
[01:17:23.847]There is a place to play.
[01:17:27.250]To me, relationships are what it's all about,
[01:17:29.195]those personal relationships.
[01:17:30.771]I had a colleague many years ago
[01:17:32.675]from the Czech Republic who would come here
[01:17:34.632]and work and go back and forth.
[01:17:36.081]And he'd say, Charlie, if I tried to do something
[01:17:38.034]with your university or, frankly, any in the US,
[01:17:40.732]routinely the response is no problem,
[01:17:43.111]meaning, we can figure this out.
[01:17:44.866]He had colleagues in the Soviet Union at that time.
[01:17:47.201]And he said, you know if I approach them
[01:17:49.584]with an idea, they'd say no, problem.
[01:17:52.320]Meaning it's a problem.
[01:17:53.721]So we need to take advantage of that can-do spirit,
[01:17:56.850]no question about that.
[01:17:58.440]In terms of the personal relationships,
[01:18:00.701]there's no doubt in my mind that we
[01:18:02.376]would not be doing the kinds of things we are
[01:18:04.098]in healthcare professional preparation in Kearney
[01:18:06.926]if the communication originally hadn't been
[01:18:09.039]between Kyle Meyer and myself, to give Kyle credit
[01:18:11.847]as Dean of College of Allied Health Professions.
[01:18:14.867]If it had been someone else, if it had been
[01:18:16.477]slightly different circumstance,
[01:18:18.041]it wouldn't have come to pass.
[01:18:19.494]So the point is that when we presented
[01:18:22.068]to the appropriations committee of the legislature,
[01:18:24.815](audience member is drowned out)
[01:18:26.440](laughs) He had a fine mentor.
[01:18:31.561]But when we were able to get some state funding
[01:18:34.551]for this project, the majority of the state funding
[01:18:36.743]in the spring of 2012, testifying
[01:18:39.188]before the appropriations committee,
[01:18:41.008]I spoke, others spoke, and I think maybe
[01:18:43.188]that helped a little bit.
[01:18:44.544]But the compelling story was told
[01:18:46.130]by the CEO of the hospital in Brown County in Ainsworth.
[01:18:49.887]It was told by the CEO of the hospital
[01:18:52.039]of Harlan County, Elba, Nebraska,
[01:18:54.412]from South Dakota to Kansas,
[01:18:56.123]demonstrating what we need and why it's so important.
[01:18:59.334]So it's about the people and the relationships.
[01:19:01.251]Absolutely.
[01:19:03.775]These guys know more about Nebraska than I.
[01:19:07.721]They've forgotten more than I know
[01:19:09.210]at this point in the game but I would say
[01:19:10.789]we need to work collaboratively on the gradient,
[01:19:13.203]really PK-16.
[01:19:15.210]Plus we're competing too much.
[01:19:19.832]I think the incentive models for how state funding
[01:19:22.416]is distributed is just crazy,
[01:19:24.853]or for the community colleges, the local taxing authority.
[01:19:28.092]So again, this is a complex, tricky situation
[01:19:32.351]but I think we have some (mumbles) on this, Jeff,
[01:19:35.414]to actually moving.
[01:19:37.085]I would love RFI and the fellows in RFI
[01:19:40.262]who understand higher education or PK-16,
[01:19:44.102]that gradient, to really think about the disincentives
[01:19:47.684]and maybe look at the scholarship of models
[01:19:50.719]around the US where there are elements
[01:19:53.068]that maybe we could pick up on.
[01:19:55.508]So you could help by giving the legislature,
[01:19:57.717]the politicians a little bit of an idea
[01:20:00.851]of alternative models, that would be very helpful.
[01:20:03.465]Second, I would ask RFI personally
[01:20:05.556]not to get too far out of your zone.
[01:20:09.295]You can't be everything to everyone
[01:20:10.940]so the power that you have are connections.
[01:20:14.596]You create opportunities for collisions
[01:20:18.650]around entrepreneurship and students and value.
[01:20:21.989]I think those are really powerful.
[01:20:23.848]Some of this has to come down to us,
[01:20:25.946]and candidly, the presidents of the community colleges
[01:20:29.554]in ag, I think it's not even co-opetition.
[01:20:33.234]It's just kind of, people are trying to fix problems
[01:20:35.847]and I'm not even sure what the problems are.
[01:20:38.082]And we're stepping on each other,
[01:20:40.293]so what I would love to see is a program
[01:20:43.666]straight out of the chute where every student,
[01:20:47.120]for example, that's at a four-year school,
[01:20:49.863]I don't care if it's Peru or Chadron or UNO,
[01:20:52.754]once you accomplish two years worth of college,
[01:20:55.489]I would love to see an Associate's degree
[01:20:58.334]be granted to a student from one
[01:21:01.974]of our community colleges.
[01:21:03.867]So we increase degree completion immediately
[01:21:07.990]and the community colleges get the credit,
[01:21:11.109]even if our students never stepped foot at Northeast.
[01:21:15.405]All of a sudden, our degree completion rate
[01:21:18.175]in the state of Nebraska goes (mumbles)
[01:21:21.368]way towards that 60% attainment goal,
[01:21:24.757]gives our students that don't finish
[01:21:27.253]a four-year degree a safety net,
[01:21:29.064]and all it does is it reinforces the importance
[01:21:32.249]of higher education and that PK-16.
[01:21:35.488]There are simple ideas that if we could get out
[01:21:38.288]of the competition mode, we I think actually could
[01:21:41.029]advance Nebraska in creative ways
[01:21:43.474]and anything that RFI could do to helps us on that one,
[01:21:46.253]let's get on with it and try some experiments.
[01:21:49.233]The worst it can be is we learn something.
[01:21:53.066]Sure.
[01:21:54.176]Listen, I have violated the cardinal rule
[01:21:56.413]of MC-ing these things in that I've run us 10 minutes over.
[01:22:00.419]There is no way to summarize all that we have covered
[01:22:04.059]with these guys today and I would like you
[01:22:06.553]to join me in a round of thanks
[01:22:08.774](applause) for some pretty crazy
[01:22:11.643]important folks joining us.
[01:22:14.196]And I would just like to say to the four of you,
[01:22:17.108]if you'd be willing we'd like to have you back.
[01:22:19.718]And we'll start on the next list of questions.
[01:22:22.610](audience member is drowned out)
[01:22:23.705](laughter)
[01:22:25.120]Well this has been very valuable for us, thank you.
[01:22:28.154]What I really wanted to do was give you a chance
[01:22:30.139]to ask them questions.
[01:22:31.973](audience member is drowned out)
[01:22:33.831]Yeah.
[01:22:34.664]So anyway, thank you very, very much.
[01:22:36.660]We really appreciate you participating with us.
[01:22:39.492](audience member is drowned out)
[01:22:45.392]Oh, good idea.

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