Christine Jackson, vice chancellor for business and finance, right, visits with Scott Lewis, associate vice chancellor for business and finance, during a meeting Feb. 8 in Jackson's office.

You Think Your Gas Bill Was High? Ask Chris Jackson About UNL's

Teamwork Is Jackson's Management Theme

By Kelly Bartling, Public Relations

Six months ago, Christine Jackson walked onto the UNL campuses with a set of challenges, a fresh perspective, and the enthusiasm to fuel excitement and generate change.

The feeling of excitement that Jackson, vice chancellor of business and finance, brought with her in August is still there, as is her passion to propel her division and the institution to a higher level.

Business and Finance, and hence Jackson herself, is responsible for oversight of $800 million for the university. That covers everything from employee paychecks to utility bills to lawnmower purchases and parking lot development. Jackson says the division of business and finance is improving, meeting its challenges and growing stronger in its supporting role to an even greater university.

Positive change, teamwork, communication, customer service, credibility and building on existing strengths are the themes Jackson uses to characterize her vice chancellorship.

"When I interviewed here I took the impression back from the people here that there were changes and new directions that they wanted this division to go in," Jackson said during a recent interview. "And when there needs to be decisions made, the question becomes 'is this campus really serious about this?' I learned that the campus was serious. And we have strengths that we want to build on."

Jackson's plans for making a difference at UNL range from creating a mission statement to improving the department's image to making personnel changes if needed. She says her approach revolves around teamwork and that she's goal- and deadline-oriented. She would rather to sit down and work through solutions with an affected team and have the team make plans and follow through, instead of Jackson telling them what to do.

"I am very deadline driven," said Jackson. "My former staff at my former institution would say that I ask quite often: 'What's your plan?' I'm concerned that we have a sense of urgency, that we've got an actual plan, and are doing it."

Jackson's appointment filled a void left by the untimely death of Melvin Jones in September 1999. Arriving from Cleveland State University last fall she gathered her troops to hear about fiscal year goals. She learned quickly that things weren't broken; she praised the work of Scott Lewis, who served for a year as interim vice chancellor and has returned to the position of associate vice chancellor.

"What you have to do is celebrate the successes that Melvin had," Jackson said. "He put his stamp on his office, and you can never step in those shoes. But you try to build on the strengths that the staff developed. Scott did a remarkable job during his tenure, and just keeping the place organized and moving forward. We're trying to build on those things that have been started, and developing new initiatives."

Jackson said she is solidly rooted in her position, surrounded by a "great staff," and she has rolled up her sleeves to take on the challenges.

"First, we're putting a great deal of emphasis on the good work of the division. We need to let it be known to the campus that we believe we do a good job," she said. "We need to see the campus as a student would see our campus, or as a faculty member would see our campus. So what we're trying to move from is a mode of 'when you call me, I'll respond' to one of being much more anticipatory in how we approach you."

"Teamwork" is a word to characterize her management style.

"Instead of me saying 'what a great deal we have for you...' and 'you'll like this, won't you', our approach is much more 'we've got some good ideas we think will work at UNL. We'd like to sit down with you and talk about if this might work for you.' It's about sitting around a table and talking about opportunities.

"Another thing we're trying to do is work very hard on technology." Jackson mentioned web policies and a greater and more consistent web presence by the division as an immediate goal. "This campus operates 24 hours a day and if you need information from us, you may be on the web getting that information, trying to find a form... we need to incorporate more technology with things."

Aside from drafting missions and goals, she is also dealing with an immediate crisis: a budget shortfall caused by high oil prices.

"We're having real concerns over our fuel," she said. "Prior to the recent storm we were approximately $3 million over budget. Universitywide, we were $4 million. We've asked for half of that in additional appropriations from the legislature. We'll have to watch this situation carefully because we don't think that it's a one-time problem. We may have the same situation next year."

Jackson says she has been very busy and is getting to know Lincoln and her new surroundings. She said she is pleased with what she's seen so far. She talks about her excitement about the direction of the university and its efforts to improve. She wants to be a part of that.

"When I interviewed here and received literally hundreds of pages of materials, I thought that the most interesting thing I read was the 2020 report," she said. "It wasn't because of what the report generated. It was the fact that this university was willing to lay out where its faults were. That's mind-boggling."

She says she's also been here long enough to know her first impressions were correct and that she will like it here.

"Many of my impressions as a candidate have been borne out. The division has a very well-qualified and hardworking staff. That is our biggest asset."

"It's an exciting time to be at UNL. I think I've been very fortunate because I've been at institutions where it's been exciting times at those institutions as well. This place is going to go places and do wonderful things and I think Business and Finance can be there as a very strong supporter to make sure that happens."

Watching What You Eat: Jeffrey Musil, executive chef at the Nebraska Union, graduated from the New England Culinary Institute in 1989. He hopes to improve food quality and selection for UNL.

Union's Executive Chef Dishes Up Banquet Fare

By Scott Franzen, Public Relations Intern

From ice carving to fried noodles, the Nebraska Union's new executive chef Jeffrey Musil brings a variety of skills to the table.

Musil began his new position on Dec. 5 and on his plate are all the food production for food services, including catering for the Nebraska Union, the Nebraska East Union, the Wick Alumni Center and many off-premises functions. Additionally, Musil is in charge of banquets given by the chancellor and other campus dignitaries and visitors.

In his first month and a half at the university he has done a number banquets seating as few as 60 and as many as 300 people.

"It takes a lot of organizing and long hours to produce a large banquet," he said. That includes ensuring quality foods and delegating duties. He stands by at every banquet to over see presentation and quality control.

Musil is a 1989 graduate of the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vt.. He began in food service washing dishes when he was 14; years later, he still enjoys the profession because of the immediate satisfaction he gets from creating a high-quality product and providing top quality service. And it allows him to combine his art talent with speed, he said.

Originally from Omaha, Musil returned to Nebraska in 1995 to spend more time with his family. He took as a position as a fine dining chef at the Ameristar Casino's Waterfront Grill in Council Bluffs. Previously he had worked as a fine-dining chef at a five-star restaurant in Atlanta. Just after earning his culinary degree, he worked as part of Atlanta's Hotel Nikko start-up team.

Musil hopes to improve the food quality in East Union Café as well as the food provided at catered functions, he said. He wants to streamline production and service, add new menu items and spice up current selections.

Musil also hopes to incorporate his Garde Manger (garnishing art) skills to make the food more aesthetically pleasing. Some of the garnishes that have appeared with his banquets are onion flowers and turnip roses. Making the onion flowers is easy, he said, but turnip roses are more of a challenge. Among his favorite easy garnishes: Deep-fried rice noodles, which add height and body to any dish from salads to hot foods. The noodles expand to five times their size in seconds when dropped in hot oil.

Musil also enjoys carving ice sculptures, a skill he taught himself. He established the first ice carving competition at Ameristar and just recently brought home an award from the Winterfest Ice Carving Competition, sponsored by the Iowa Chamber of Commerce.

Despite his skills, Musil doesn't do much cooking for his family.

"At home, I am banned from the kitchen by my wife, Lisa, because I make a big production out of something like soup," Musil said. The couple has one toddler son, Tajir, and expecting the birth of their second child in mid-February.

NU Officials Watchful, Hopeful on Legislative Outcomes

By Tom Simons, Public Relations

March 5 is an auspicious date for the University of Nebraska.

That's the day the Nebraska Legislature's Appropriations Committee has scheduled a hearing on the university's biennial budget. University officials say the outlook appears to be good for a substantial budget increase to boost faculty salaries and cover other university needs.

"We're very encouraged by Gov. (Mike) Johanns' mention in his State of the State address of his support of a $6.2 million increase for the university's budget in the first year of the biennium and $6.4 million in the second year," said Michelle Waite, assistant to the chancellor for community relations.

In addition to faculty salaries, Waite noted that an additional funding request in the capital construction budget would also allow Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery to replace its original climate-control system. Variance in temperature and moisture within the building have caused irreparable damage to some pieces of the Sheldon's world-renowned collection.

Waite said another important hearing will be Feb. 14, when the legislature considers LB615. The bill was introduced by Speaker Doug Kristensen at Johanns' behest and would direct a portion of Nebraska's tobacco settlement funds to biomedical research in a public-private partnership among UNL, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Creighton University and the Boys Town National Research Institute.

Two other pieces of legislation that bear watching are LB588, which requests funding for a rural initiative partnership drawing on the strengths of all four NU campuses, and LB657, the Antelope Valley project in Lincoln.

The rural initiative would focus on developing and coordinating service in rural areas of the state in areas such as business development, use of e-commerce, expansion of distance education, telehealth and telemedicine, and value-added and niche crops.

The Joint Antelope Valley Authority will seek funds for the Antelope Valley project. The project will assist the city of Lincoln in surviving a major flood, provide economic development and neighborhood revitalization opportunities and allow the university to expand its research infrastructure on the east side of City Campus.

"The governor is also supportive of redirecting revenue that is already received from the cigarette tax for the Antelope Valley project, which he initiated when he was mayor of Lincoln," Waite said. "We obviously still have to convince a majority of the legislature."

The hearing date for the Antelope Valley project is Feb. 20.