Good morning, members of the Board of Regents, colleagues, and guests. As always, it is a privilege to address this board, and everyone who has joined us today.
It is an honor to welcome you to the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus. Yesterday, members of the Board had the opportunity to see firsthand some of the exciting work underway here — from UNK’s growing health sciences programs and the new Loper Flight Academy to plans for future of Bruner Hall. For me, it was particularly meaningful to see the new Health Sciences Education Complex II complete and in use by students, faculty and staff.
I want to thank Chancellor Neal Schnoor and his entire for their hospitality and for sharing about the momentum we see across this campus. What we have heard and seen reflects UNK’s distinctive role in our university system: preparing students for meaningful careers, responding directly to Nebraska’s workforce needs and strengthening communities across the state.
That work continues to earn national recognition. In the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, UNK was once again recognized among the Midwest’s top public regional universities and best values. UNK ranks No. 7 among public regional universities in the Midwest and No. 27 overall in the category. It has now ranked among the Midwest’s top public regional universities for 19 consecutive years, which speaks to the campus’s sustained record of excellence.
I also want to thank the UNMC transplant team for joining us today and sharing more about their incredibly important work.
UNMC has been a leader in both bone marrow and solid organ transplantation for decades. Countless lives have been saved and transformed because of the expertise, innovation and extraordinary care of our physicians, nurses, researchers and health care professionals. Their work exemplifies what academic medicine means for the people of Nebraska, both now and for thousands of individuals and their families in the years and generations to come.
The future of health care in Nebraska is among the most significant topics the Regents will consider today. Later in this meeting, the Board will consider a revised program statement for Project Health. Working closely with Nebraska Medicine’s clinical leadership, it has become clear that additional space will be necessary to accommodate future patient volumes and learner enrollment, as well as to provide the inpatient, surgical, laboratory, research and educational capacity Nebraska will need in the decades ahead.
The revised program statement calls for a 1.5 million-square-foot facility, compared with the 1.25 million square feet originally envisioned. Combined with rising construction costs, the expanded scope represents an anticipated additional investment of approximately $500 million beyond the original estimate.
This investment is certainly significant. But so too is the Project Health itself. This project is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand access to world-class medical care, modernize how we educate and train the next generation of health care professionals, and create a clinical platform capable of serving Nebraska long into the future.
Notably, the action before the Board today comes at a truly transformational moment for health care in Nebraska.
Last month, this Board approved a new governance structure for Nebraska Medicine, adding the Omaha Community Foundation as a governing member alongside the University of Nebraska. Later in September, the Board approved four individuals to represent the university on the Nebraska Medicine Board. And on Oct. 1, we officially closed on that new structure.
That is an incredible accomplishment and the result of a great deal of thoughtful work by many people. I am grateful to the Regents, our university and Nebraska Medicine leadership, the Omaha Community Foundation, Nebraska’s philanthropic community and everyone who helped bring this effort to completion.
Together, this new governance structure and Project Health represent significant steps toward securing the future of academic medicine in Nebraska. Both are long-term investments in our people, our communities and our state, and both have the potential to improve and save lives for generations.
That same focus on building for the future extends across our university. An important part of that work is the joint accreditation of our Lincoln and medical center campuses.
Earlier this week, representatives from the Higher Learning Commission visited the Lincoln and Medical Center campuses as part of the follow-up to the joint accreditation approved earlier this year. During the visit, HLC representatives met with faculty and staff and discussed topics including experiential learning, statewide partnerships and engagement, and stewardship of resources. Think of it like a very early course check by our academic accrediting body, the Higher Learning Comission.
Our singular accreditation allows us to tell a more accurate story about the extraordinary scale and impact of these two campuses — from student success and faculty excellence to research, discovery and engagement. Combined research expenditures alone would place the unified institution 55th nationally, illustrating the tremendous strength that becomes visible when we look at these institutions together.
But joint accreditation is about much more than how we tell our story. It creates new opportunities to work together in ways that better serve our students, faculty and the people of Nebraska. By reducing barriers between the campuses, we can create more opportunities for students to learn across disciplines, make collaboration among faculty and staff more seamless, and bring together expertise in ways that lead to even more ambitious and impactful research. In short, this is work that allows us to take yet one more big step forward on our Odyssey to the Extraordinary.
We are seeing that same momentum at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Last month, UNO celebrated the groundbreaking of two new athletics facilities — the Howard L. Hawks Training Center and the Maverick Park Clubhouse — representing a $67.5 million privately funded investment in Omaha Athletics and the student-athlete experience. The new training center also honors the legacy of Regent Emeritus Howard Hawks, whose leadership, service and commitment to this university continue to make a lasting impact.
This work, and so many other successes we’ve had already this year, were on my mind as we celebrated homecoming last week at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Campus, during which the Office of the President and the Office of the Chancellor hosted a tailgate for university leaders, alumni, members of our philanthropic community, students, families and friends.
As I looked across that room, I was struck by the remarkable range of people who believe deeply in this university and its future and who have contributed so much to the success we enjoy now. The room was filled with a tremendous sense of optimism for each of our campuses and for the University of Nebraska System as a whole.
That optimism is reflected in what we have seen here in Kearney. It is reflected in the lifesaving work happening every day at UNMC. It is reflected in the investments we are making in the future of academic medicine, in the opportunities created through joint accreditation and in the extraordinary work happening across our campuses every day.
Let me close by letting you know how grateful I am to each of those who helps us with that work, who supports our mission and who will has contributed to the strong and growing sense of optimism I have for our University of Nebraska System and the state it serves.
Thank you for the privilege of serving as your University president. There is no place like Nebraska!