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from the issue of August 21, 2008
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Chancellor Perlman issues welcome, prepares for epic table tennis match
Verbatem - Chancellor Harvey Perlman issued this Aug. 18 e-mail about the start of the new academic year.
One can feel the campus beginning to revive from its summer mellow phase. Although I know most faculty and staff continue their hard work over the summer it's the student invasion in the fall that renews and energizes the campus. If you can't get excited about the start of school, you can't get excited about anything.
Though we don't yet have the final count, we are expecting an incoming class that is approximately the size of last year's, which was a 25-year high. New Student Convocation is scheduled for this Friday, Aug. 22, followed by a picnic, a marching band concert, and a chance for new students to participate in the Tunnel Walk in Memorial Stadium.
There are many other activities planned this coming weekend for both new and returning students. Big Red Welcome, an annual street fair for all students, is scheduled for Sunday beginning at 6 p.m. on the loop east of the stadium. I hope you will encourage students to attend these events.
We also have many new faculty and staff on campus this fall. We have been very successful in adding considerable talent to our community and we should all make certain we welcome them and provide the support they need to meet our high expectations of them.
Your administration has also been hard at work over the summer to find ways to disrupt the otherwise calm of campus life. While we completed the Don and Lorena Meier Commons project on the green north of the Nebraska Union, you won't have to contend with that construction, but we started the new physics building in order to bring noise and grime to the north end of the campus and after we lull you into a sense of relief, we'll start the multicultural center just east of the Nebraska Union! If you're on East Campus, the quilt center and the Morrison building are behind us, but there is more to come!
Seriously, to all of you, my deepest appreciation for what you do for the university, our students, and the state of Nebraska. You all make my job fulfilling as I unabashedly accept, on your behalf, the admiration of others for what you have accomplished.
If you should notice a deeper level of concern on my face during the next two months, you should know that I have made a significant blunder. We have established a relationship with Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an China. When their president, Nanning Zhen, visited us last year I had a moment of rash exuberance and challenged him to a table tennis match when I visit Xi'an this fall. Who was to know it's the national pastime of China and he is an accomplished player?? Not withstanding my crash effort at rekindling my high school skills, I fear we are in for a major international embarrassment and I want to apologize in advance.
I keep hearing rumors that I am about to retire, and I can't tell whether that is just wishful thinking on someone else's part or whether I look that old. In any event, unless there are forces at work beyond my knowledge, you're stuck with me for a while longer.
Have a good year. If there are ways I can help you advance the missions of the university please let me know.
Harvey
GO TO: ISSUE OF AUGUST 21
NEWS HEADLINES FOR AUGUST 21
Research funding a record $105.7M
Borneo trip melds biology, math research
Faculty help focus colloquium
Parking lots to shift after move-in
19 Huskers involved in Beijing Olympics
Chancellor Perlman issues welcome, prepares for epic table tennis match
College Prep Academy partners with Omaha North
First Strategic Discussions magazine examines immigration in Nebraska
Gergin to open Thompson series with Sept. 18 lecture
University shows progress in female, minority hires
UNL technology, food featured at state fair
Web-based study
733275S38336X
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