Select Page
Oceanic Thinking

Oceanic Thinking

by | Jul 25, 2019 | About

Oceanic Thinking

The other day I got the chance to catch up with a good friend of mine from college. You know how with some friendships it takes a while to catch up and with others you can pick up immediately where you left off? Well this was the latter, but we didn’t just pick up from the last time we’d seen each other – we ended up going back over memories from forty years before. It got me thinking a lot about my Dad.

He and I butted heads a lot growing up. He was an attorney and so it was pretty much a guarantee that he was going to win just about any argument. He was always able to organize his thoughts and points with startling efficiency, whereas my mind tends to wander in and out of all things big and small. There’s nothing wrong with that – he used to call it “oceanic thinking” – but it is helpful to be able to harness it at different points. That hasn’t always been easy for me. My Dad had ideas on how to help me with that.

The thing I didn’t admit to him then (or even to myself for a number of years) is that he was right most of the time.

For one thing, he was right about how I should use high school to prepare for the next several stages of my life – college, then work, and everything in between.

He made me take typing classes, which I hated. It’s obvious how that ended up coming in handy. Other classes paid off in ways though that weren’t immediately clear. Take debate. I hated debate. I didn’t feel like I was any good at it, and especially with an attorney for a father, I sure didn’t feel like I “won” at all. But it taught me about organization. Concentration. How research is priceless.

As much as I detested debating, it prepared me for campaigning, for speaking in public and being able to get my point across clearly. It also took the fear out of speaking up in meetings or in public when I felt there was an important point to be made.

Speed-reading was another skill he emphasized. The ability to process information at a rapid rate, to budget a limited amount of time carefully and efficiently – that’s incredibly valuable to anyone, but I’m especially appreciative now that I’m a Regent.

I mean, I love reading and I naturally read fast, but trying to keep up with the reading required for Regents (upwards of 600 pages in a week) is pretty daunting.

I’m reminded of the value of that speed-reading course on a weekly basis.

I wish I could tell my Dad how the skills and courses he insisted on in high school – the very same ones I hated and tried to reject – have come to serve me so well in my adult life, with this special and important responsibility I have. Although I think he knew it all along.

 

 

*Barbara’s thoughts as written by Kate based on weekly (fascinating) conversations.

 

about    blog     contact

The Presidential Search: Step by Step

The Presidential Search: Step by Step

by | Jul 15, 2019 | Regent Firsts

The Presidential Search: Step by Step

It has begun. The search for the new University of Nebraska President is on. And here’s how it works.

No one person chooses the next President. Instead, an Advisory Committee is formed that then recommends a few carefully chosen candidates to the board. But how do we determine who those candidates should be?

It was recommended to us that we hire a firm that specializes in these kinds of searches. So we did.

When there are professionals who make it their business to find the right fit, why not make use of their talent? The first thing they did was to interview a range of people across all four campuses in order to put together a profile of what we wanted in our next university President.

After a lot of listening, they went over their summary with us, which included a list of what they understood to be our priorities.

This sort of back and forth – listening, processing, repeating – has been really helpful and I feel like we’re on the right track.

Another benefit of this professional search team is that they have connections across the country and not only do they know who’s actively looking for a new position, they have an excellent sense of people who might be a great fit but haven’t actively thrown their hat in the ring. Other than this educational matchmaking, this firm also offers training sessions for academic positions and issues, working all the time to understand and communicate what’s happening in the academic world. This is why they need to get to know us really well, through and through.

But ours aren’t the only voices they want to hear, and rightly so.

They told us they wanted to go to each campus and invite students, faculty, and community members for opening listening sessions.

We’ve conducted a first round and a second round is coming up soon. The first of those sessions was enlightening to say the least. But that’s another story…

 

*Barbara’s thoughts as written by Kate based on weekly (fascinating) conversations.

about    blog     contact

Fireworks, Family, Philosophy

Fireworks, Family, Philosophy

by | Jul 4, 2019 | Uncategorized

Fireworks, Family, Philosophy

The 4th of July was all about the fireworks for me growing up.  

I remember all the colors, the screeches and pops of the smaller fireworks, the thud and boom of the bigger ones, their light trailing across the sky before fading into faint smoke trails. It was like big, beautiful, collective dream. It brought us all together – friends and family and strangers alike – under one sky, in awe. I loved it.

When my husband Wally and I were raising our young children, we didn’t have a lot of birth family around, so there weren’t any big family gatherings for us on the 4th. However when we moved to Omaha in 1973 we were able to find families with whom we became friends. Our children were similar ages, we got along really well, and we were all in major kid/young family life stages. I’m pretty sure most parents out there know the exquisite kind of chaos I’m talking about.  

Over the years, this became our family.

And our extended family. The family we chose, that we made. We took turns hosting family cookouts, potluck barbecues, and Fourth of July celebrations. The holiday took on a new but familiar cadence: kids with sparklers, lively conversations, grilling on the BBQ, and watching fireworks together.

One of my favorite July 4ths came when I traveled to Chicago with our oldest daughter, Katie. She and her friend were competing for a national award from a high school organization, Future Business Leaders of America. We were staying in a hotel across from a park on Lake Michigan and from our balcony that evening we heard the Chicago Symphony was playing the 1812 Overture while the fireworks danced over the lake. It was spectacular.

As I thought about the reason we were there – an incredible educational opportunity for my daughter – I felt incredibly proud and overwhelmed by how blessed I was to be in this country.

Today, there’s much to think about. I think about the risk the writers of the Declaration of Independence accepted. I think about how immense their dream was and how amazing their ability to inspire the whole country to risk it all.

I hope we understand how important it is that we educate all our citizens to be an active part of a country that started as a beautiful and wild dream. A country that is built on the principles of justice, equality, and freedom for all. As I watch the fireworks tonight, in that brief period of collective awe, I will be thinking about how we can all walk a path together that lives up to the declaration written on that July 4th long ago. 

 

 

*Barbara’s thoughts as written by Kate based on weekly (fascinating) conversations.

*Photo Cred: Jim DeVleeschouwer, Jr

about    blog     contact

A Search of Presidential Proportion

A Search of Presidential Proportion

by | Jul 2, 2019 | School Uniqueness

A Search of Presidential Proportion

On June 20 and 21, we held open listening sessions to hear your thoughts on what we should be looking for in the selection process for a new President for the University of Nebraska. Maybe you were there. Maybe you couldn’t make it. Maybe you didn’t even know about it. Either way, I’m here now asking you – what do you think?

What qualities do you think will best benefit the university, the community and the state as a whole? Someone business-minded? Someone philosophical? Someone who will focus on the curriculum? Or maybe you think what’s needed is a more general approach?

 

This whole selection process is an intensive one. It’s thorough. It’s careful. Not every piece of it is entirely public. I’ll explain.

There are good reasons for this. Where I typically go for a total transparency approach, I can understand why that doesn’t necessarily apply to the selection process for our new President. For example, the nature of these kinds of searches has changed over the years. They tend to be conducted in a shorter time frame and often candidates won’t declare themselves because they may be in a position where doing so openly would imperil their work (should they not be selected).

Even though I can’t share every part of this selection process with you, I’m taking you on this journey with me and will share when I can and explain when I can’t. Plus, I can share my thoughts, the questions I think we need to ask ourselves, and the invitation for your input.

Personally, I think we need someone who is really good at collaborative efforts.

At any given point, regarding any decision to be made about the university, there are lots and lots of people who are involved. Once you start thinking about the bigger picture – the community, the state, the legislature – the ability to work effectively with people to find common ground with the people’s best interest in mind, that’s a major skill. One I think we would all benefit from.

Those are my two cents. But I’m more interested in hearing yours. I want you to think about the future of the university – where do you see it going, and how do you think we should get there? We have another open listening session coming up that I’ll tell you all about as soon as I can, but in the meantime, I’m listening…

 

 

*Barbara’s thoughts as written by Kate based on weekly (fascinating) conversations.

about    blog     contact