Changes in Carnegie Classifications Redesignate UNL

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has revised its classification system of colleges and universities, increasing the number of categories and changing UNL's designation.

Listed as a "Carnegie Research University I" in the 1994 classification, UNL now falls under the category "Doctoral/Research University-Extensive." UNL is among 152 institutions categorized as Doctoral/Research-Extensive. These institutions typically offer a wide range of baccalaureate programs, and they are committed to graduate education through the doctorate. During the period studied, they awarded 50 or more doctoral degrees per year across at least 15 disciplines.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports Carnegie's revamp seeks to broaden its classification system's emphasis beyond research funds and discourage its use as a way to rank colleges. U.S. News and World Report has traditionally used the Carnegie classification as a starting point for its annual college rankings. The new system includes 3,941 colleges and universities.

IANR Team Earns $2.5 Million Grant to Help Enhance Small Farm Profitability

By Monica Norby, Office of Research

A $2.5 million grant awarded to two UNL faculty will fund an initiative to boost profitability for small and mid-sized farmers and ranchers.

The three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems will fund the North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability. The four-state, multi-institutional, farm-to-fork initiative combines research and Cooperative Extension efforts to improve profitability and competitiveness of small and mid-size farms and ranches. It's headed by NU Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources faculty John Allen, director of the university's Center for Applied Rural Innovation, and Steve Taylor, head of the department of food science and technology and director of NU's Food Processing Center.

Small and mid-sized farms throughout the Midwest struggle to survive, hit hard by low prices for their traditional commodities and market domination of seed-to-shelf food conglomerates. As farms fail, the entire countryside suffers - non-farm jobs vanish along with each farm that disappears, Allen said.

"The question is: are we serious about changing the economy in the Great Plains? That's what this project is about," he said.

By analyzing successful smaller farms and developing case studies of strategies that work, the team hopes to give farmers and ranchers opportunities to earn acceptable incomes and to stem the tide of people leaving rural areas.

Key to the initiative are producer clusters, which are groups of farmers and ranchers committed to exploring and applying innovative strategies. The 20 clusters, organized in the participating states of Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, will work with researchers to put findings into action in their communities and will provide input on future research.

"We want to be engaged with the farmers so they will trust our research," said Allen, a rural sociologist.

Alternative high-value products and markets are key areas of study, with emphasis on market analysis research.

"I think a lot of the decisions about alternative crops should be market-driven and they often aren't," Taylor said. "My favorite story is the guy who came into my office with an ice chest full of fish and said, 'Now where can I sell these?' Producers often get into alternative crops without thinking about whether or not there is a market for it." The Food Processing Center's marketing group will head market analysis work.

Alternative crops/products to be studied in the grant's first two years are pastured poultry, specialty cheeses and specialty barley. A steering committee, including representatives from all producer clusters, will determine second- and third-year research topics.

"We're interested in seeing what the impediments are for some of these crops. The main impediment for some may be lack of processing facilities. Then we have to solve that problem," Taylor said.

The initiative will form a consortium that joins university researchers with farm-based, non-profit organizations. Consortium members are: UNL, Iowa State University, University of Missouri, University of Wisconsin, the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska, Practical Farmers of Iowa and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in Wisconsin.

"We're building a consortium, and part of why it's working is that we have a consensus about the value of this work and the importance of small and mid-size farms and ranches to rural life across the country," Allen said. "We look at this grant as seed money for the consortium."

Bernstein, Edwards Co-authors of Chronicle Op-Ed

Dan Bernstein, professor of psychology, and Rick Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, are the co-authors of an opinion article published in the Jan. 5 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

In it, they discuss efforts regarding the peer review of teaching and argue that while the concept has been visible in the academic world for at least five years, it has not made a great impact on academic life. They argue that to give the efforts legitimacy, campuses should share and exchange expertise among different institutions by creating a network of faculty who can offer competent reviews of teaching. They cite a pilot project involving UNL, the University of Michigan, Indiana University, Kansas State University and Texas A&M whereby faculty at each university met, then representatives met to share collective findings.

Ford Retires From University Libraries

Ruth Ford, library specialist, Geology Library, retires Jan. 11 after 30 years with the University Libraries. Ford joined the university in 1970 as a support staff member for the Electrical Engineering Department. In 1972 she managed the Engineering Reading Room, a precursor of the Engineering Library. In 1973 she joined the library working in the Biology Library which at that time was housed in Bessey Hall. In 1974 Ford moved to the Geology Library, first in Morrill Hall and after 1985 in Bessey Hall.

A reception was held Jan. 10 at the Wick Center. Friends and colleagues still wishing to contribute to a memory book may send letters to the Dean of Libraries Office, 318 Love South, 0410.