Warm temps now may not mean we'll pay later

By Sandi Alswager, IANR News and Publishing

Yes, Virginia, there will be winter - and perhaps even a white Christmas - in Nebraska.

After last month went on record as the warmest November ever in many parts of Nebraska and December got off to a similarly balmy start, Nebraskans are torn between two impulses: Is this mildness an indicator of the winter to come, or will we all somehow pay for this unseasonable enjoyment later?

From studying past weather patterns, Ken Dewey, University of Nebraska regional climatologist, hedges his bets a bit, but he assures us that we will see winter weather sooner or later.

November 2001 was one for the history books. Lincoln and Omaha, among other cities, saw their highest average temperatures - 48.4 and 49.4 degrees respectively - in more than 100 years of records. In both cities' cases, that was about 10 degrees above the November norm.

So far, December, too, has been unusually mild in much of the state. Computer forecast models indicate warmer-than-normal temperatures may hang on through mid-month.

For those who like their winters mild, some good news turned up in recently completed research by Dewey and some of his students. Studying 111 years of Nebraska data, they found that when it's unseasonably warm - or, for that matter, unseasonably cold - it's twice as likely to stay that way as a general trend through a season than to reverse itself.

"Statistically it says it will stay warmer than normal," he said of winter 2001. "We're looking at a start to winter that is delayed and also similar to that of 1999 and winters of the last decade."

But not similar to last year, of course. November 2000 was the one of the coldest on record in many parts of Nebraska, a harbinger of one of the harshest winters in many years. Currently, there are no strong El Nino or La Nina weather patterns affecting our weather; that makes it harder to predict what the season has in store, Dewey said.

The state sits in the middle of two long-range weather forecast patterns: one, across Canada and the Great Lakes states, promises even colder and wetter than normal conditions; the other, in the Southwest, will mean even warmer and drier conditions than normal, according to the National Weather Service.

"This leaves Nebraska in the middle and subject to increased variability as the cold and the warm battle for supremacy," Dewey said. "Ultimately, as the cold continues to build to our north and push south, we will see winter conditions here. When we start out warm, the odds are it will remain warm, but it will have to switch sometime."

"We will not escape winter; it's just how much winter we'll get," Dewey added.

Long-range forecasts suggest normal to colder-than-normal conditions should settle into Nebraska later this month and into January.

A word of advice for everyone: "This is Nebraska, things can change very quickly and the one constant about our climate is change," Dewey said.

Meantime, those dreaming of a white Christmas who fear those dreams may be dashed this year should know that the probability of snow on the ground Dec. 25 ranges from 11 percent to 60 percent across Nebraska, with pockets of northern Nebraska as high as 75 percent. That's according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's "Probability of a White Christmas" map. (Find the map on the Web at http://www.h prcc.unl.edu/nebraska/whitechristmas.html.

For more information and long and short-term forecasts from across the state, check out http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebras ka/. The High Plains Regional Climate Center is affiliated with the School of Natural Resource Sciences within NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Stephen Buhler, associate professor of English, has published his first book, Shakespeare in the Cinema: Ocular Proof.

Professor's book examines the Bard on the big screen

By Kim Hachiya, University Communications

Steve Buhler has been fascinated by filmed adaptations of Shakespeare's works since, as he puts it, an "absurdly early age." He remembers seeing a 1950s MGM version of Julius Caesar, starring Marlon Brando and James Mason, on late-night TV when he was teen-ager. And as a high school teacher in California, he liked using films to enhance his teaching.

That fascination with Shakespeare on film has led to the publication of Buhler's first book, Shakespeare in the Cinema: Ocular Proof, by the State University of New York Press. The book is part of the SUNY Series Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video, edited by Wheeler Winston Dixon, Ryan Professor of Film Studies at UNL.

In the book, Buhler, an associate professor of English, looks at a few of the more than 2,000 known films of Shakespeare's works with an eye toward how filmmakers have approached the task of adapting works to film and how those decisions affected the films.

This is an unusual approach, he notes, because most studies of Shakespeare on film look at how "truthful" the adaptations are to the plays' scripts, examine the actors' performances or analyze how much the films reveal or obscure Shakespeare's original intentions.

"Shakespeare in one of the most adapted writers," Buhler said. "He was grandly unoriginal himself, often borrowing plots. What's ingenious is how he brings them all together, the juxtapositioning of characters, the creation of language that allows all these elements to come together."

Buhler, who's been known to grace the stages performing in local Shakespearean productions, notes that plays are very intimate performances with actors relating to the audiences. A play is a verbally dominated performance art, he said, and a movie is visually dominated. When filmmakers adapt the plays, they need to find ways to replace that lost intimacy between the stage performer and the audience, he said.

"Lots (of filmmakers) have made the transition brilliantly and created very powerful experiences for audiences," he said. "It's a difference experience than that felt in a theater, but still powerful."

Buhler said he also tries in the book to place Shakespeare films in a cultural context that shaped their production. For example, two Soviet-era films made in the 1950s were laden with overtones of political thawing that had occurred with the death of Stalin. Integrating films into historical context help illumine understanding of the filmmaker's vision, Buhler said.

Looking at the social, political, economic and historical factors that affected filmmakers help enrich the context for teaching beyond reading and understand the text as a script or piece of literature, Buhler said.

Buhler hopes the book has appeal to people who teach Shakespeare because it offers a fresh way of presenting material. He also thinks it might appeal to filmmakers who are interested in how other filmmakers approach screen adaptations. And he hopes it appeals to a general audience of readers interested in Shakespeare and movies and the conjunctions between then.

This book, for the most part, looks at straight-forward adaptations of the plays to screen. Buhler is mulling another book that would look at films, such as Disney's The Lion King, which take some themes from Shakespeare (in this case, Hamlet), but are not direct adaptations.

And he also has a book in progress on the role of music in the poetry of John Milton.

Perlman announces first round of budget reductions

Note: UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman sent the following email message to the university community Dec. 7.

Dear Colleagues:

I have placed on the Web site the temporary expenditure reductions we are taking in this fiscal year to respond to the revenue shortfall.

Again, these reductions are only temporary. The more challenging effort lies ahead as we reduce the base budget of the university by 2.5 percent for the next fiscal year. A summary of the reductions this year is as follows:

• The Chancellor's Office will delay replacement of the Director of Integrated Marketing, one office/service position, and an assistant curatorial position as well as reduce operating expenditures. In light of the budget situation, our office has canceled or scaled back events as well as a general reduction in operating expenses, including reduction of telephone service.
• In Academic Affairs, the summer sessions budget will be reduced by increasing the threshold for canceling low enrollment courses. However,efforts will be made to assure that such courses will not affect student progress. Most courses will be ones that are also offered in the spring semester of this year or the fall semester of next year and are not critical to completion of an academic program.
• Academic Affairs will also significantly reduce, for one year, a grant program to faculty members to develop courses using technology for either residential or distance education. Reductions will also be applied to the purchase of library materials and information technology equipment. In addition the academic Colleges will contribute $200,000 to the reduction; the specific impact of these reductions are as yet unknown, although it is anticipated that 12 vacant faculty appointments will be delayed as will the replacement of some equipment.
• The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources was assigned a reduction proportionate to its proportion of the UNL budget. It will reduce expenditures by delaying the appointment of eight positions, mostly at the Research and Extension Centers and in the Cooperative Extension Division and the Agricultural Research Division. This will delay for one year active implementation of the rural revitalization initiative, and will reduce the ability of cooperative extension units to serve their regions. In addition, the Institute will delay replacement of out-dated equipment.
• The Division of Business & Finance will reduce its annual equipment replacement budget by 20 percent. With current minimal funding and an equipment inventory of about $14 million, equipment is "recycled" within the Division until it can no longer be repaired. Vehicles with 100,000 miles or equipment that is 10+ years old are common. Planned computer and software enhancements to allow the Division to take advantage of new cost-saving technologies must be deferred.
• Because Student Affairs and Research receive proportionately smaller amounts of their fund from General Funds, they will not contribute to the temporary budget reduction. However, they will participate on the same basis as all other units in the permanent budget reduction process that recently commenced.

I recognize that these reductions do not fully describe the consequences of the budget reduction we face. Many units have wisely cancelled or delayed searches that do not appear on this list and have otherwise started to make budget adjustments in preparation for the base budget reduction next year.

Finally, I apologize that the budget reductions were reported in the press before I was able to share the plan directly with you. Our plan was to release the budget reductions first to the Board of Regents, next to faculty and staff and third to the media. Obviously, that plan went awry.

Details of budget cuts

There will be a budget reduction of $1.8 million at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There will be a delay in filling about 20 positions, elimination of some summer school courses, a $150,000 reduction in library expenditures, and additional college-based reductions that include hiring temporary instructors in place of regular faculty, reducing travel and eliminating other expenditures.

Budget cuts

Chancellor's Office

Delay filling two academic administrators, one managerial/professional, and one office/service position		$135,769
Office Expenses		$ 50,684
	Subtotal	$186,453

Academic Affairs

Summer Session, 2002 - reduction of about 40 courses		$275,000
Library Materials		$150,000
Information Services - delay replacement of equipment		$150,000
Extended Education Grants and one-time academic program enhancements		$245,000
Delay filling 12 vacant positions and equipment replacement in colleges		$200,000
	Subtotal	$1,020,000

Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Delay filling eight vacant positions		$430,000
Delay replacement of equipment		$ 77,000
	Subtotal	$507,000

Business and Finance

Delay building maintenance and equipment replacement		$100,000
	Subtotal	$100,000

TOTAL BUDGET CUTS $1,813,453

Central Administration announces reduction list

Budget cuts of $8.26 million in FY2001-2002 will be shared across the University of Nebraska's four campuses and central administration, according to L. Dennis Smith, NU president. The list was presented in a news release issued Dec. 5 by central administration.

The bulk of the cuts - $4.77 million - will come from universitywide funds that were held back earlier in the year when Gov. Mike Johanns advised the university to be prepared for budget reductions.

Had these funds remained available they would have been used as follows:

• $3 million for the Excellence Fund, to support priority educational programs identified on each campus; the academic prioritization process has not been completed as yet on all campuses;
• $850,000 in one-time funds that had not yet been allocated to fund research through the Nebraska Research Institute;
• $425,000 to design new facilities for UNO's College of Public Affairs and Community Services, a nationally recognized program; and
• $500,000 from the operating reserve maintained as part of good business practices.

"There is no question that these reductions, coupled with cuts made on each of the four campuses, will slow the university's momentum in building top-quality programs that attract the best students and faculty," Smith said in the release. "In addition, they will reduce educational opportunities and resources available to students, delay significant services, including health services, to rural Nebraskans, and delay needed repairs and replacement of equipment."

Smith said that cuts for FY 2001-2002 will be handled primarily by delaying planned programs and using one-time sources. Cuts for FY 2002-2003 will go much deeper and have much further-reaching effects at the campus level.

"We cannot afford to sacrifice the Excellence Fund a second year; the effect on our priority programs would be difficult to overcome. In addition, we will not take funding away from need-based aid or diversity programs. The burden, therefore, will fall to the campuses."

He added, "Managers on all four campuses are already delaying future commitments to prepare for the base budget reduction for FY 2003, including postponing dozens of position searches."

Each campus will be asked to trim at least three times as much in 2002-2003 as they've been asked to cut this year - more than $11 million total.

Specific impacts of the 2001-2002 cuts include:

• UNL will take the largest share of the cuts among the four campuses, with reductions exceeding $1.8 million. Primary impacts include a delay in filling about 20 faculty and staff positions, elimination of some summer school courses, a $150,000 reduction in library expenditures and additional college-based reductions that include hiring temporary instructors in place of regular faculty, reducing travel and eliminating other expenditures.
• UNMC will cut more than $739,000 including $255,000 in support for community partnerships, health informatics, graduate master's programs and faculty development. Personnel impacts include almost 10 full-time equivalent positions that will go unfilled.
• At UNO, cuts of more than $550,000 will result in 10 positions remaining unfilled, fewer summer school course offerings, reductions in repair and maintenance funds, and a $140,000 cut in funds for the acquisition of scientific equipment.
• UNK will cut $288,000, primarily by not filling or eliminating the equivalent of four full-time faculty positions and one staff position, and reducing undergraduate summer courses.
• NU Central Administration will not fill an internal auditor position.

"These cuts are short-term decisions, not permanent reductions in the base budget," Smith said. "Over the next three months we will be seeking faculty and staff input and working through the shared governance process to determine exactly where cuts will be made for the next fiscal year. Those recommendations will be made to the Board of Regents in April as part of our annual budgeting process."