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.

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 4^th 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.

It’s funny to think about what we consider to be a standard part of life these days, thanks to the pandemic. Masks, quarantine, sanitizer stashes everywhere. COVID-19 certainly demands attention in so many aspects of our lives. One of the saving graces was the emergence of Zoom to increase our capacity for remote communication.

You know how I feel about being in digital meetings all day, but I can still appreciate what it’s done for us, and for education.

Most of you know that we shifted our classes to an online format most people could take advantage of at the end of Spring semester.

This online format not only allowed us to finish courses but also got us thinking about how best to address the issue in the new year. It was amazing for me to learn that 36,000 students took at least one course online and 8,000 went to remote learning for 2019 and 2020. Graduations of online students increased 10.5% over the previous year.

Our campuses now offer 30 new online courses in 16 different areas of study. And we’ve also been about to increase the number of certificate courses in both graduate and undergraduate programs.

Another thing I’ve discovered is that online programs drawn an interesting demographic of students. A recent publication by the university breaks them down this way: 

The average age of online students is 33-years-old, 64% are women, and 68% are Nebraskans. We also serve international students from more than 100 countries.  Our university reach truly is worldwide

The benefits (and drawbacks) of this form of study are still being discovered, but our students tell us that the freedom of scheduling allows them the flexibility they need to manage classes and all the other responsibilities in their lives.

There are all sorts of exciting possibilities here, if we embrace them. Hybrid schedules (some in-person and some online classes), fast-tracking, or even shifting out semester start and end time to add two sessions of course/certificate work between fall and spring.

But one big thing has to happen to make this effective. We must bring this technology to the whole state. Every Nebraskan should have the ability to access the internet for health and safety, as well as education.

As the pandemic has thrown us into an era of IT, it seems wise to me to open ourselves to big ideas and new innovative ways of teaching, researching and learning. As always, we have a lot to learn… and that’s not a bad thing.

I look forward to continue exploring curiosity with you in the new year, and in the meantime, I hope you have safe and happy holidays!

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

The long wait is over. The Big Ten has spoken. For many, the emotional rollercoaster has ended in a disappointing conclusion, which is that the fall football season is postponed.

I appreciate that a number of you have shared with me your thoughts on the big question: to play or not to play?

Personally, I was impressed with the efforts of Coach Frost – with the assistance of UNMC – to keep our players and staff as protected as possible.

Alas, the Big Ten commissioners felt it was too risky to move forward with a fall football season due to the pandemic. Regents do not have any decision-making capability on this front, except to express our opinions to the conference committee members. Their decision is the result of a vote, primarily based on consultations with AD’s, coaches, and university Presidents. There were a number of concerns about issues of travel and the risk of exposure via teams that could not or did not establish enough effective safety protocols.

So, what are we looking at now? Well, when it comes to football, the season is postponed and there are ongoing discussions about a shortened spring season followed by a full fall season in 2021.

I understand that players and parents are all terribly disappointed and continuing to press for a season starting later this fall, perhaps. It is painful for all of us who know how hard our student athletes and their families work for a chance to play.

While we grapple with this decision to postpone football, we should also be mindful of our other athletes who are being affected by this pandemic. Women’s volleyball immediately comes to mind. I love the sport and our team. The hope for this season was immense and could have ended with them playing in the Final Four, originally scheduled to be played right here in Omaha. I don’t mention this to be a downer, I mention this in solidarity with all our student athletes and coaches.

But we also have to keep in mind that our participation in the Big Ten has ramifications beyond athletics.

Joining the conference has numerous commitments including research, access to resources, and learning opportunities, not to mention the financial impact. I’ve heard the idea of leaving the Big Ten floated by some, but if we did that in order to play other teams, we would be walking away from our rights to our own media contracts and invaluable resources for our academics. Painful as it is, we have to wait and see how this all moves forward.

The biggest question we should focus on now, is what can we do to change this?  

We can wear masks. We can socially distance. We can wash our hands. If enough of us commit to these CDC-recommended guidelines, we can change the statistics of infection rates, save physical harm the virus threatens us with long after initial infection, and avoid more deaths.

Help in the ways that you can and know that everyone at the university is doing everything we can to ensure the success, health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff.

Our university has an incredible future. We’ll find our way there together.

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