I’m entering this year hopeful. That’s my resolution.

Will I work diligently? Yes. Will I face difficult issues head-on with compassion and pragmatism? Yes. Will I sometimes look at my stack of required reading and want to hide under the covers? Sure. But through it all, I will carry hope.

It may sound like a simple resolution, but I think hope is sometimes difficult to come by and tricky to hold onto.

That said, I remain steadfast in my belief in our community and what we can achieve when we work together. And in that spirit, here are a few things I’m hoping for out of this blog in 2021:

1. Connecting the dots. Access to higher education has a massive impact on the societal and economic health of our community and state. Decisions about education happen at the legislative level. Your vote and communication with your representatives matter, so I will do my best to discuss important issues affecting the university.
2. Shedding light. There are so many interesting and exciting things that the University of Nebraska does that few people ever hear about. On top of my campaign promise to provide as much transparency as possible, I will endeavor to continue highlighting the remarkable people and projects that are making waves big and small.
3. Building community. Sometimes I get the question, “why am I paying tax dollars for students to go to University of Nebraska?” The answer is pretty simple. A city (or state) needs qualified, intelligent people in order to function well. Whether that’s teachers, nurses, engineers, social workers, journalists, doctors, scientists, or entrepreneurs, investing in education means we’re investing in our own future. All of us.

2021 will be the year of the budget. It will be the year we hopefully are able to unite our IT systems across campuses. We are trying to create more meaningful internships to encourage talent to put down roots in Nebraska. Governance is a big issue this year as well.

The real question is: how is higher education going to come out of the pandemic? Are we going to make the big changes that create more opportunities for students? Are we going to face forward? Universities have essentially been doing the same thing since the 1700’s while the world keeps changing.

There’s so much potential. I’m hopeful that we won’t simply face the future, but that we’ll embrace it.

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