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Let the Celebration Commence!

Let the Celebration Commence!

by | May 7, 2021 | Regent Firsts, School Uniqueness

Let the Celebration Commence!

Okay, I’m really excited for three reasons:

  1. Commencement is finally here. It actually arrived. It’s a week that many students have been looking forward to and it felt like it would never come. Yet here it is. And we get to witness all the students we watched grow in learning and maturity launched into the world.
  2. After a long, dark period dominated by COVID-19, we are able to celebrate the accomplishments of so many who have worked so hard… wait for it… in person! From the staff in admissions to professors, housekeepers, and administrators, we are all thrilled to be able to share such a special moment in the same general space.
  3. We get to play dress up. With robes. I mean, technically it’s called “academic regalia,” but yeah, we dress up in robes. And I can’t wait.

If you ask a number of people in higher education, Commencement is their favorite day of the academic year, and not just for the unique wardrobe opportunity. It’s an emotional time, a reward for all the hard work and tears (and I’m not just talking about the students). This is a wonderful moment of passage in many lives and merits much celebration.

So, how do we celebrate? For one, we put on the robe, hoods, cords, and trenchars (mortarboards), and form a procession full of color with the clever individual messages on students’ heads.

But this part of the pageantry wasn’t always so vivid.

Back in the 12th century, as universities were emerging primarily as an arm of the Roman Catholic Church, black robes became the required uniform of students and professors. The color black was chosen to indicate the seriousness of the studies and most who wore them were clergy and religious students.

Over time, brown robes appeared, and in the more recent past we have seen many new shades of robes, including blues and crimsons, often representing school colors. Nowadays universities dictate the color of the robes.

And what about those colored hoods, you may ask? As time passed, more and more disciplines were developed within colleges and universities, so what has evolved is a color system related to the discipline each hood represents.

For example, in my picture I wear mustard yellow (not my favorite) hood for social work. And for the inquiring feminists out there, there is a loop on the point of the hood in front that attaches to shirt buttons to hold the hood in place…it was designed for men’s shirts. I use a safety pin.

You’ll also see gold ropes with tassels around undergraduate students’ necks (referred to as cords). These identify special honors. Some departments have even developed sashes that hang down the front to identify their students.

The effect of all this is a colorful stream of faculty and students, a rainbow of celebration, as they process to the familiar Pomp and Circumstance march.

I wouldn’t want to miss it for anything.

 

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

 

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Come Meet our New Chancellor!

Come Meet our New Chancellor!

by | Apr 9, 2021 | Regent Firsts, School Uniqueness

Come Meet our New Chancellor!

Who would have guessed that UNO would wait four years for an independent chancellor? Don’t get me wrong, the campus was fortunate to have Dr. Jeff Gold to cover UNMC and UNO. But there is definitely something to be said about the benefits of being able to focus on UNMC and UNO individually.

It’s not terribly surprising that it took so long, especially given the uncertainty with changing the university President and facing the ongoing pandemic. The university’s own process of careful selection and extensive vetting also plays a significant role in the amount of time it takes to reach a decision, admittedly.

Now, as we are slowly emerging from these difficult months for so many Nebraskans, it feels good to be able to share that of the four qualified candidates recommended to President Carter, a priority candidate has been selected.

Allow me to introduce Dr. Joanne Li.

A first-generation college graduate who immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong, she borrowed $600 from a friend and from there earned scholarships to cover her all the way to her Ph.D. She comes to us from Florida International University (the 4th largest public university in the country), where she was dean and professor of Business. 

One thing that she made clear throughout the process: Dr. Li is all about students. 

When she arrived at FIU she found four-year graduation rates at a low 29% and managed to raise them to 70% as of last year. Her commitment to student success has led to new programs in mentoring and student support, and she is also working to increase the diversity of her faculty. 

Of the forty new faculty she hired, 25 were minorities and 12 were women. Her work demonstrates that she believes in collaboration to create community.

Now she starts a thirty-day period where she’ll meet with as many different constituencies as possible at UNO and our community. At the end of thirty days, President Carter will present her for the Board of Regents endorsement, and beginning July 1, 2021, she will become our new chancellor.

If you would like to meet her, she will be in the Thompson Alumni Center on:

Wednesday, April 7 at 5 pm
Thursday, April 8 at 10:30 am & 2:00 pm
Friday, April 9 at 9:30 am

Everyone in the community is warmly invited to attend. You’ll gain a first-hand understanding of why we are all thrilled at this prospect.

 

*Barbara’s thoughts as written by Kate based on weekly (fascinating) conversations.
*Photo credibility: University of Nebraska, Omaha

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You Spoke, We Listened

You Spoke, We Listened

by | Apr 2, 2021 | Education Budget

You Spoke, We Listened

It’s that time for everyone’s favorite topic: divestiture!

If you recall, I wrote a blog (a while ago) about how a number of our passionate, eco-minded students wanted the University of Nebraska to eliminate investment in fossil fuel stocks. They voiced their concerns and shared their thoughtful reasoning during the time allotted for public discussion at Board meetings.

They spoke. We heard them.

I am happy to tell you that President Carter and Chris Kabourek – the Vice President of Nebraska University who staffs the Business and Finance Committee – have completed a fifteen-month process to address students’ concerns.

The question was whether we had invested in the fossil fuel industry, and particularly the two hundred companies in the carbon underground. In a series of meetings, the issue was discussed with different constituency groups, university partners and students.

They did what we human beings find incredibly difficult: they listened to each other.

I honestly believe that sometimes this is the hardest thing to do. But that’s exactly what they did, they really listened.  There were meaningful dialogues and tireless work to find common ground. Together they created a vision of sustainability that reflects the common-sense beliefs and values of Nebraskans. The new policy will be presented at our Board of Regents meeting on April 9th.

While divestiture may not be your go-to Jeopardy category, this policy is definitely worth a read.

The new policy will apply to Fund N, which is the fund that contains all gifts made directly to the university. This fund is managed by the Board of Regents and University Endowments Committee. The policy will require that University Fund N will have no investments in energy companies that do not have clean energy plans in place. Plus, Fund N will not make any new investments in energy companies that do not have a sustainability plan.

It will also require consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in any new investments.

You can be sure that this is not the last discussion we will have about this. It’s important that as a university we live and operate ethically, and with a mind toward the future. This new policy would not have been possible without the leadership of the students and the process that has led to important change. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

 

 

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

 

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Curious Art

Curious Art

by | Mar 26, 2021 | School Uniqueness

Curious Art

In my many years of teaching, I’ve had the opportunity to work in many different buildings on the UNO campus.

I’ve seen a number of art installations in and around campus and I was always curious about them. And yet I never got around to asking about them.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I served on the committee to create a center for community engagement and I began to get answers as to how this art came to be.

As it turns out, some very forward-thinking state senators and campus leaders created regulations that required 1% of any building’s budget be set aside to acquire art for the building.

This funding requirement is also a way to support and encourage artists in our community.

To see the process in action first-hand with the engagement center was really exciting. When we got the funding, the advisory committee selected Ellie Archer to curate the selection of the art. Ellie – a talented artist herself – filled the building with wonderful works of Nebraskan artists. She also created a catalogue with background about each artist and their contribution.

With this free catalogue, people can do self-guided tours, turning any given building into a creative exploration on top of its many other functions. I love this.

I hope you will come and see it for yourself.

There are incredible tapestries, paintings, prints, sculptures, and so much more. For example, at the entrance to the UNMC off West Center Road you can see beautiful pieces from world-renowned artist Jun Kaneko. We hope that the art in and around our med center buildings offers hope and inspiration to all who work there and those who are working to heal.

This reminder of the importance of art in our culture and community is immeasurable.

 

 

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

*Photo credit: University of Nebraska, Omaha

 

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Safety First – Part II

Safety First – Part II

by | Mar 2, 2021 | Regent Firsts

Safety First – Part II

So, in the last blog we got into some background on Title IX and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Collaborative Committee to address Sexual Misconduct.

They’d been working diligently on a report when new Title IX guidelines were issued by the Department of Education.

By this time, the Collaborative had already been divided into six committees: three student committees and three faculty committees. They were assigned to address the following three topics: prevention and education; intervention; and policies and procedures. Their goal was to provide guidance and recommendations to the Chancellor that would ensure a safe, transparent, and trauma-informed approach to responding to sexual misconduct.

Basically, the committees were tasked with addressing legal and societal issues we have struggled with a long time. No pressure, right?

As the report was being prepared, the Board of Regents and the Chancellor were receiving letters expressing concern about UNL’s policies from women’s organizations in Lincoln. Understanding the need for change, we let them know about the upcoming report and asked for their patience in addressing their concerns.

For those of us regents who had heard the young women speak in the public portion of the Board’s public meeting, we decided to take it a step further. Jim Pillen, Elizabeth O’Connor, Ronni Miller (a UNL student regent and Collaborative committee member) and I set up a zoom meeting to listen to hear their perspective.

With something this important, we wanted to do our utmost to get it right.

Before I continue, I want to say that I appreciate everyone – Collaborative members, advocates, our University of Nebraska family and the public alike – who helped to create this report. Without the courageous and thoughtful testimony, without diligent research, we would not be able to improve our systems to better protect against and respond to sexual misconduct.

After the Chair of the Collaborative, Dr. Susan Swearer, circulated a final draft to all members for approval, she submitted the final report to the Chancellor this fall.

There’s a lot to it, and I encourage you to read the full report here. It’s a Roadmap for creating and maintaining a caring campus community.

The committee agreed on 35 recommendations, and provided resources. I won’t get into all of them here, but the good news is that of those recommendations, 15 are already done and 15 more are in process.

A few examples of the changes being made:

  • Creating a Sexual Misconduct Commission to oversee the applications of changes to meet with Chancellor on a regular basis and ensure accountability.
  • Remove gendered language in policy
  • Adopt affirmative consent policy
  • Review timelines for investigation & adjudication
  • Provide accommodation for disabilities
  • Include an amnesty policy provision
  • And others on training and trauma-informed Training

One recommendation I thought was a good start on educating the whole campus is: “Require a syllabus statement on sexual misconduct for every class.” We are also extending the university services and resources to issues that arise during university programs off campus and abroad.

So, what about the other five issues the committee raised?

This is where our world – and bureaucracy – get more complex. There are legal issues and Title IX complications that may make these impossible. However, we are examining all avenues to protect all our students.

After the report came out, we had a great conversation with the women from the Lincoln community. They liked the changes and offered their assistance in any of the education and training being implemented.

Here’s the bottom line: our work on this issue is not finished. We are on a journey together, an imperfect one, but one that holds safety and wellness as our highest priorities. It is a partnership that I believe brings the best to our students. It is a partnership that I hope brings out the best for all of us.

 

 

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

 

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