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Steve Willborn, dean of the
College of Law, stands in a new
study area overlooking the fields
of East Campus in Ross McCollum
Hall, the home of the college. The
building just received a refurbishing,
which will be celebrated at
an open house at 2:30 p.m. April
11. Photo by
Richard Wright.
Willborn seizes opportunities
College of Law dean focuses on plans and
long-term goals
By Dave Fitzgibbon, University
Communications
Steve Willborn's career could easily have
turned out very
different from that of law school dean.
He grew up living in a southwest Wisconsin cheese factory.
Willborn's father, who ran the dairy farmer's cooperative, instilled
in his son both the importance of an education and the knowledge
to
create giant slabs of aged Swiss.
Willborn still knows the
recipe and, given 2,000 pounds of
milk and an 8-foot kettle, says
he could even now whip up a tasty
200-pound wheel of his favorite
food.
But as it turned out, it was education that became
his recipe
for success, as a student, a lawyer, a professor and now
an administrator.
So the high school basketball star - who
averaged 30 points
per game - earned a college basketball
scholarship, though Willborn
acknowledges he spent a good deal of
time on the college bench.
"It didn't take me long for
me to realize that I was
5-foot-7 and it mattered a lot," he
said.
An ambitious course of study resulted in a bachelor's
degree
from Northland College in Ashland, Wis., a master's from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a law degree from the University
of Wisconsin Law School - all in just six years.
The young
attorney practiced labor law with a private firm
in Cleveland for
about three years, attending chiefly to labor
negotiations with
school district clients, when veteran attorney
and Willborn-mentor
John Lewis bestowed some advice while traveling
to a client
meeting. Willborn relates how his mentor, while reflecting
on a
satisfying career, mused about how quickly a career can
pass and
said, "I looked up and 30 years had passed by and
I had never
looked up to think about what I wanted to do. My
advice to you is
every couple of years look up, think about what
you want to
do."
The words haunt Willborn to this day.
"So every couple of years, I looked up," he said.
What he saw was opportunity at the University of Nebraska
College of Law. He joined the faculty in 1979, ultimately to
be
named the Schmoker Professor of Law. Willborn is known by
colleagues as an accomplished teacher and legal scholar. Among
many
honors: visiting at Oxford University, earning a Fulbright
to
University of London and undertaking research fellowships
in Canada
and Australia.
Two decades later, he looked up again.
Dean Nancy Rapoport had just left her position, and Willborn
was
asked to fill in as interim dean during the search. He threw
his
name in the pool, emerged as a top candidate, was offered
the job,
and became dean of the NU College of Law on July 1,
2001.
"To be dean when you've been here so long has special
benefits because I know the place quite well, but also challenges
because relationships change a bit, some for the better, some
worse. But on the whole it's been a good move," Willborn
said.
"The way I describe it, being dean is just so
completely
different from being a faculty member, so the pluses are
different,
the negatives are different. There's a legal term
'incommensurability'
- it's hard to compare."
His new job did have one unintended consequence, Willborn
jokes.
"The reason Harvey (Perlman) is chancellor is
that he
couldn't bear not to be my boss anymore. He was my boss for
15
years as dean here. So when I became dean, he had to become
chancellor.
I'm to blame."
Willborn deals with
the stresses of the law college's top
job (and the demands of
raising three teenage girls) by remaining
active. In the early
1980s he ran the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon
in a darn good 2 hours,
38 minutes. Still today, he easily bikes
or runs from his home in
Lincoln's Country Club neighborhood
to his East Campus office. (He
once spearheaded the installation
of a shower in the college's
Welpton Courtroom basement.)
But the deanship means more
frequently abandoning the running
shoes in lieu of car trips to a
multitude of meetings.
"I ran eight miles on
Sunday," he said. "I
can't run that far anymore, I
discovered the next day."
Willborn is proud of the
college's progress. On April 11,
the college officially opens a
substantial addition and renovation
after more than a year of
construction disruptions.
"It was dirty and loud and
most of the library was closed
off to students and most of the
books were gone. But it's nice
and worth the wait," he
said.
He points out applications for admission were up 45
percent
last year over the previous year, allowing the college to
admit
top students (the median GPA is 3.6). He's excited about a
grant
that will enhance minority student recruitment. And he's
pleased
that the college has hosted significant conferences on
issues
important to Nebraskans: ethics, the death penalty and rural
school finance.
He points with pride to the college's
alumni, leaders in business
and government.
And
toward his future, Willborn continues to frequently look
up.
He also looks back. Recently, feeling nostalgic, he asked
his
home state to reissue his faded and expired cheese-making
license.
When he goes home, he stays with his mother in the decommissioned
cheese factory with its vast cold-cellar carved in the hillside.
Aged Swiss remains his cheese of choice. And in Nebraska, where
many youngsters grow up on Velveeta, he relishes his top job.
"I'm the local cheese expert. Of course, it doesn't take
much to be the local expert on cheese around here."
Law College to dedicate
renewed McCollum Hall
After more than a year of work
and reconstruction, Ross McCollum
Hall's renovation project
is finished. The College of Law will
dedicate the new
building at a ceremony at 2:30 p.m. April 11.
The public is
invited to attend.
The $8 million project, funded by
private donations, began
in late 2001. About 27,000 square
feet have been added to the
building, and another 53,000
square feet were refurbished. Some
of the changes to the
building include a library renovation,
new entrances to the
building, addition of faculty office space
and a rehaul of
the building's heating and cooling system. The
project also
added the Governors' Room and other seminar and
meeting rooms
named for distinguished alumni of the college.
The
dedication also will include tours of the building and
refreshments. For more information, call 472-2161.
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2nd round of budget ideas to
be released
on April 16
Announcement of the second phase of budget
reduction recommendations
has been delayed, according to an e-mail
sent March 26 to all
faculty and staff by Chancellor Harvey
Perlman. The chancellor
now plans to announce his second round of
proposals on April
16.
Also in the March 26 e-mail,
Perlman said any funds from pledges
made over a two-year period to
the Budget Impact Fund for faculty
and staff affected by these
budget reductions would be available
for use immediately, according
to the University of Nebraska
Foundation.
For more
information about the fund or to make a donation,
call the
Foundation at 472-2151.
Discussions of budget proposals
continue
UNL
Chancellor Harvey Perlman addresses the audience during
a public
listening session on the budget-reduction plans on March
28 in the
Nebraska Union. Three hearings and discussions on the
budget
proposals before the Academic Planning Committee remain:
From
2-5:55 p.m. April 7 at L.W. Chase Hall, an APC hearing will
focus
on elimination of state funding for the Nebraska Statewide
Arboretum, the Nebraska Forest Service and the Veterinary Student
Contract Program. From 2-5 p.m. April 9 at the Nebraska East
Union,
a discussion session will focus on the elimination of
the research
division of the University of Nebraska State Museum
and the museum
studies master's program. From 9 a.m. to noon
April 11 at the Wick
Alumni Center, a discussion session will
address budget reductions
planned in the divisions of Business
and Finance, and Student
Affairs. Photo by Richard
Wright.
Honors Convocations celebrate
achievements
UNL will honor student scholars and
outstanding faculty at
two Honors Convocations April 6. Both
ceremonies will be in the
Lied Center for Performing Arts, and
Chancellor Harvey Perlman
will preside at both ceremonies.
The Rising Scholars Convocation will begin at 1 p.m., and
the
University Scholars Convocation will begin at 4 p.m. The
Lied
Center's doors will open one hour before each ceremony.
The
Rising Scholars Convocation will honor freshmen and sophomore
scholars who have attained a 4.0 grade-point average and freshmen
with a 3.6 to 3.99 cumulative GPA. Faculty receiving the Annis
Chaikin Sorensen Award, College Distinguished Teaching awards,
the
Chancellor's Exemplary Service to Students Award and the
Student
Foundation/Builders Award for Outstanding Advising will
be
recognized during this ceremony.
The University Scholars
Convocation will recognize 31 Chancellor's
Scholars, Superior
Scholars, graduating seniors who have attained
GPAs of 3.6 or
higher, are in the upper 3 percent of their college's
senior class
or have been on the honors convocation list each
year since
matriculating as freshmen. Also being honored are
4.0 seniors who
will not graduate this year and 4.0 juniors.
Faculty awards
presented at this ceremony will include the
Outstanding Research
and Creative Activity Award, Outstanding
Teaching and Instructional
Creativity Award, Charles Bessey and
Willa Cather professorships,
Academy of Distinguished Teachers,
George Howard-Louise Pound
distinguished career award, Harold
and Esther Edgerton Junior
Faculty award, Donald R. and Mary
Lee Swanson award for Teaching
Excellence, Distinguished Educational
Service award, and the
Nebraska Alumni Association's Doc Elliott
Award.
Honors Convocation
faculty awards
These awards will be given to faculty at
the Rising Scholars
Convocation, beginning at 1 p.m. April 6:
Annis Chaikin Sorensen Award: Venetria K. Patton, associate
professor of English.
Chancellor's Exemplary Service to
Students Award: William
H. Lyons, professor of law.
Student Foundation/Builders Award for Outstanding Advising:
John L. Ballard, associate dean, College of Engineering and Technology
and professor of industrial and management systems engineering.
UNL College Distinguished Teaching Awards:
- Leon D. Caldwell, assistant professor of educational psychology,
Teachers College;
- Timothy P. Carr, associate professor of
nutritional science
and dietetics, College of Human Resources and
Family Sciences;
- Dean E. Eisenhauer, professor of biological
systems engineering,
College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources;
- Ronald D. Hampton, associate professor of
marketing, College
of Business Administration;
- Kevin
W. Houser, assistant professor of architectural engineering,
College of Engineering and Technology;
- Carl Matthews,
associate professor of architecture/interior
design, College of
Architecture;
- Julia McQuillan, assistant professor of
sociology, College
of Arts and Sciences;
- John C.
Osterman, associate professor of biological sciences,
College of
Arts and Sciences;
- Venetria K. Patton, associate professor of
English, College
of Arts and Sciences;
- Moham-mad A.
Rammaha, professor of mathematics and statistics,
College of Arts
and Sciences;
- Barry T. Rosson, associate professor of civil
engineering,
College of Engineering and Technology;
- Mark E. Walker, associate professor of mathematics and statistics,
College of Arts and Sciences;
- Laura M. White, associate
professor of English, College of
Arts and Sciences;
- Susan A. Wunder, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction,
Teachers College.
The following faculty members
will receive these honors at
the University Scholars ceremony, at 4
p.m. April 6:
Outstanding Research and Creative Activity
Award (conferred
by the University of Nebraska system): Stephen
W. Ragsdale, Charles
Bessey professor and professor of
biochemistry; and John D. Turner,
professor of classics and Cotner
professor of religious studies.
Outstanding Teaching and
Instructional Creativity Award
(conferred by the University of
Nebraska system): W. James Lewis,
chair and professor of
mathematics and statistics.
 Cahan |
 Crews |
 Dickman |
 Edwards |
 Kunc |
New Cather and Bessey professors
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Olds
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Ragsdale
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Sheridan
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Spreitzer
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Charles Bessey and Willa Cather
Professorships:
- David Cahan, Charles
Bessey professor and professor of history;
- Patricia Crews,
Willa Cather professor, director of the International
Quilt Study
Center and professor of textiles, clothing and design;
- Martin
Dickman, Charles Bessey professor, professor of plant
pathology;
- Carolyn Edwards, Willa Cather professor and professor of
psychology, and family and consumer sciences;
- Karen Kunc,
Willa Cather professor and professor of art;
- Marshall Olds,
Willa Cather professor and professor of modern
languages and
literatures;
- Stephen Ragsdale, Charles Bessey professor and
professor
of biochemistry;
- Susan Sheridan, Willa
Cather professor and professor of educational
psychology;
- Robert Spreitzer, Charles Bessey professor and professor
of
biochemistry.
Academy of Distinguished
Teachers: Calvin Garbin, associate
professor of psychology; and
James Lewis, chair and professor
of mathematics and statistics.
George Howard-Louise Pound Award Distinguished Career Award:
Roger W. Mandigo, professor of animal science.
Harold
and Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award: Walter
C. Rucker,
assistant professor of history and ethnic studies.
Donald R. and Mary Lee Swanson Award for Teaching Excellence:
Christine A. Marvin, associate professor of special education
and
communication disorders.
Distinguished Educational
Service Award: James G. Emal,
professor and director of
Strategic Technologies.
Doc Elliott Award: Ted H.
Doane, professor emeritus
of animal science.
Other college celebrations
In addition to Honors Convocations, several colleges plan
additional celebrations honoring student achievements:
- College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural
Resources:
5 p.m. April 6, Nebraska East Union.
- College of Architecture: 2:30 p.m. April 6, Architecture
Hall Gallery.
- College of Arts & Sciences: 3 p.m.
April 11, Nebraska
Union Ballroom. All eligible sophomores,
juniors and seniors
with 3.6-3.99 GPA are invited to
attend.
- College of Business Administration: 2-3:30 p.m.
April 6,
CBA first floor atrium. All eligible students and
parents are
invited.
- Hixson-Lied College
of Fine and Performing Arts: (three events):
art and art
history, April 7, time TBA, 120 Richards Hall; School
of
Music, 2 p.m. May 1, Kimball Hall; theatre arts, May 3, time
and place TBA.
- College of Human Resources & Family
Sciences: May 2,
time and place TBA.
- College of Journalism & Mass Communications: "J-Days,"
7:30 p.m. April 10, Nebraska Union ballroom. All eligible students
and parents are invited.
- Division of General Studies:
2:30 p.m. April 6, 33 Canfield
Administration Building.
- College of Nursing (UNMC): 11 a.m. April 14, Fairfield Hall.
All students not recognized as Superior Scholars are invited.
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