Members of the Board, over the past few months, you’ve heard me speak frequently of the Odyssey to the Extraordinary—the odyssey on which we have embarked as a university. An odyssey powered by long standing excellence, sustainable public and private partnerships and a vision for a bold, sustainable and inspiring future.
After more than a decade of thoughtful discussions with students, faculty and staff across the University of Nebraska System—and after visits with partners, alumni and Nebraskans all over the state, particularly through the lens as the president of your university—we know what Nebraskans want and indeed expect from their university.
They want an extraordinary University of Nebraska. They want an accessible and affordable education for their children and grandchildren. They want a robust and effective statewide extension platform. They want a prepared workforce in critical areas including broadly across the technology, ag and rural and urban health and healthcare.
They also have not been shy about expressing that they want a bowl game this year and conference championship volleyball. I’m very proud of the student athletes and coaches who have made these achievements a reality.
We know where we are and where our greatest strengths lie. We also have a pretty good idea of many of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
And so, over the past months, we have begun building a roadmap to get us to from the excellent institution we are today, to one that is truly extraordinary.
That roadmap is in the form of a bold strategic plan.
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, I shared an email with faculty, staff and students asking them to take part in what will be an extremely collaborative strategic planning process. This plan will be built upon five foundational pillars:
- Extraordinary Teaching and Learning: Advancing innovative, inclusive and impactful educational experiences for all students.
- Extraordinary Research and Creative Activity: Fostering discovery and innovation that address critical challenges and unlock new opportunities.
- Extraordinary Partnerships and Engagement: Creating impacts across our state, nation and world that result in positive rural and urban outcomes.
- Extraordinary Culture and Environment: Cultivating a supportive, and dynamic community where every individual can thrive.
- Extraordinary Stewardship and Effectiveness: Leveraging our resources wisely to achieve sustainable and far-reaching impact.
These pillars will guide not only all of our campuses, institutes and centers but also each of our departments, programs and partnerships. Every member of our university community—faculty, staff, students, alumni, stakeholders and of course, the members of the Board of Regents—has an essential role in helping to shape and build upon this foundation.
This plan will also build upon some of the momentum that we’re already gaining across in the NU System.
Collectively, we have made it a goal for the University of Nebraska to achieve the very highest levels of academic excellence, to hopefully once again be invited as a member of the prestigious American Association of Universities.
And so, we have begun taking steps toward that goal.
The first step is beginning to report research expenditures of UNL and UNMC together, as UNL, when it was a member of the AAU, was one of the few flagship universities that wasn’t connected to a medical campus.
We are undertaking ongoing work to understand potential accreditation pathways to tighten the combined reporting and recognition of the far-reaching excellence of our campuses and our journey into the future.
As an example, in 2023, research expenditures for UNL, UNMC and the University of Nebraska Office of the President were reported to the National Science Foundation in aggregate for the first time.
We learned last week that the University of Nebraska Office of the President, Lincoln and Medical Center campuses together ranked 55th overall in total research expenditures for 2023, with research expenditures totaling $617 million.
This total ranks Nebraska 46th among the 71 AAU schools and 29th among public AAU institutions.
And by the way, total federal research expenditures for the University of Nebraska, Lincoln and Medical Center campuses in 2023 were up about 13 percent over 2022.
Our research momentum would not be possible without strong partnerships locally, nationally and globally. I could point to hundreds of examples of incredible work that is made possible through strong, strategic partnerships, but today I’d like to highlight just one.
A year ago, this board approved moving forward with planning for an infectious diseases air transport training facility at UNMC as a key part of our military training partnerships of which we have many.
We are now in the planning phase for this $20 million facility, which builds upon an existing partnership with United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. This project will establish biocontainment patient transport training to safely and effectively care for patients with high-consequence infectious diseases. It will be the only one like it, and it will improve outcomes for patients exposed to devastating disease, national security and global health.
Another step we have already taken in our odyssey to extraordinary is our expansion of the Presidential Scholars program.
Starting with the entering class this past fall and beginning in the fall of 2025, the University of Nebraska will provide a full-ride academic scholarship—plus a $5,000 stipend—to every Nebraska high school senior who scores a perfect 36 on the ACT, as well as to a number of high achieving students who score 32-35.
The spots for the students who score 32-35 will be awarded through a competitive application process, and I’ve already heard from many bright and hardworking Nebraska high school seniors who are eager to apply.
In all, we will welcome a cohort of 50 Presidential Scholars to NU campuses this fall. These are 50 students who will hopefully begin their careers in Nebraska, start families here, and eventually, become leaders here in Nebraska.
At the same time, we are continuing our work to grow enrollment across all of our programs on all of our campuses.
Our work to grow our research programs, our partnerships, our recruitment and enrollment efforts and our ideas about what is possible when we dream big will contribute to another kind of growth, too. And that is sustainable economic growth for Nebraska.
Earlier today, you heard from Dr. Paul Umbach. Paul founded Tripp Umbach in Pittsburgh in 1990 with Simon Tripp, and he currently serves as the sole owner overseeing a skilled team that works in a number of areas, including measuring economic impact. And that is what Paul is doing for the University of Nebraska.
Paul has centered his life’s work on transforming ideas into action to create growth and improve lives. Today, he shared a preview of the report he and his team are preparing to release early next year on the economic impact of the University of Nebraska System.
The University of Nebraska is a critically important and rapidly growing economic force in our state. It’s a major contributor to our workforce. The ripples it creates reach further than we often realize. And as we design our strategic plan, we will examine how we can make those ripples reach even further.
On our journey from the excellent to the extraordinary, the University of Nebraska’s impact will grow like ripples in a pond—ever-expanding ripples based on our research and creative activity, our partnerships, our enrollment and our community impact. And as all of those grow, the ripples they create will grow, too. Our work will impact more students, more alumni, more communities in Nebraska, across the United States and, frankly, around the world.
The advancements that begin as ideas in a lab or classroom will save lives, improve the sustainability of our food and water supply, safeguard our national security and make Nebraska a better place to work, live and raise a family.
Regent Schafer, thank you for the opportunity to share these updates.