University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds to engage with North Omaha stakeholders

University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds will make several stops in North Omaha on Monday, Nov. 2, to engage with community members and share the university’s story. Bounds’ agenda includes a visit to a local high school to talk with students about the importance of higher education; a luncheon with community leaders that will provide opportunities for university updates, dialogue and ideas; and a stop at an area elementary school that is a partner with NU’s Buffett Early Childhood Institute.

Members of the media are welcome to attend any of the following community events on Monday:

• 10:30 a.m.: Omaha North High School, 4410 N. 36th St.

Bounds, a former high school teacher and principal, will speak to students about the power of higher education and its potential to change their lives.

• 11:30 a.m.: Community Luncheon, Metropolitan Community College, 5300 N. 30th St.

The luncheon will be held in Room 201A of the Institute of Culinary Arts on MCC’s Fort Street Campus. Bounds will review his first six months as NU president and discuss goals moving forward, providing an opportunity for dialogue about Nebraskans’ hopes and dreams for their university.

• 2:30 p.m.: Mount View Elementary School, 5322 N. 52nd St.

Bounds will participate in a tour of Mount View Elementary School arranged by Sam Meisels, founding executive director of the University of Nebraska’s Buffett Early Childhood Institute. Mount View is one of 12 Omaha-area elementary schools participating in the Superintendents’ Early Childhood Plan, which was developed by district superintendents in conjunction with the Buffett Institute. The plan was mandated by the Nebraska Legislature in 2013 with the purpose of eliminating achievement gaps among young children.

• 4:30-6 p.m.: University of Nebraska Medical Center Mind and Brain Health Labs Grand Opening, 4242 Farnam St.

The open house event will be held on the first floor of Clarkson Doctors Building North. Remarks will begin at 5 p.m. and will feature Bounds and UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey Gold, M.D., among others. As part of the Mind and Brain Health Initiative at UNMC, the new labs will further establish UNMC and Nebraska Medicine’s reputation in neurological sciences. The labs study human behavior and physiology, with a focus on improving mind and brain health, mobility and quality of life across the lifespan.

ABOUT PRESIDENT HANK BOUNDS

On April 13, 2015, Dr. Hank M. Bounds became the seventh president of the University of Nebraska. Dr. Bounds has spent his career working to change students’ lives in the same way education transformed his own life. He began as a high school teacher, then rose to principal, superintendent and state superintendent before becoming Mississippi’s commissioner of higher education, where he oversaw a complex system of eight public universities enrolling about 85,000 students. Dr. Bounds earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and a doctorate from the University of Mississippi. He and his wife, Susie, are the parents of a son, Will, and daughter, Caroline.