|
 NU President
L.
Dennis Smith said his retirement announcement on Sept. 8 was
in
part a birthday gift to his wife, Suzanne. Photo
by
David Fitzgibbon.
NU President Smith to retire
Central Administration leader will teach in School of Biological
Sciences
University of Nebraska President L. Dennis Smith
announced
on Sept. 8 that he would step down from that position
effective
June 30.
Smith has served as president of
the four-campus University
of Nebraska system since March 1, 1994.
Smith will take professional
development leave and will prepare to
return to the classroom
in the fall of 2005. He will teach in the
UNL School of Biological
Sciences.
"I believe I
am leaving a university that is better today
than it was a decade
ago," Smith said. "We have weathered
many storms. But I
am proud of the accomplishments of the past
decade - the university
is solidly on the right course."
Smith said that his
No. 1 goal throughout his tenure has been
quality and the quest to
make the University of Nebraska one
of the best public universities
in the country. He detailed several
accomplishments that have
helped move NU toward that goal, including,
he said, excellent
leadership at each of NU's campuses.
"We have a team
of chancellors and vice presidents who
have dedicated themselves to
hiring outstanding faculty and running
the university efficiently.
This is an extremely well managed
university with some of the best
faculty and staff in the United
States."
Also,
the success of the University of Nebraska Foundation's
$727 million
Campaign Nebraska and a steady increase in federal
grants and
contracts - now nearly $150 million annually - are
examples of NU's
recent accomplishments, he said.
During Smith's tenure,
more than 5 million square feet of
facilities have been renovated
and constructed, including residence
halls, classrooms and research
laboratories. Among the new facilities
are Othmer Hall at UNL and
buildings at each of the other NU
campuses: UNO, UNK and UNMC.
In accepting Smith's decision to step down, Randy Ferlic,
chairman of the Board of Regents said, "Dennis Smith has
refocused the University of Nebraska and made it a stronger academic
institution. His emphasis on quality, his passion for research,
his
relationships with the business community, and his demand
for more
efficiency have served the university and the state
of Nebraska
exceptionally well."
A search to replace Smith will
begin this fall, Ferlic said.
Starting the new school year with
awards, an address and a picnic
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With the beginning of a new academic year comes
the annual State of the University Address by Chancellor Harvey
Perlman (above) and the All-University Picnic (at left), held
Aug. 29. In addition, this year the annual Service Awards were
also given on Aug. 29, honoring all employees who reached an
anniversary year of employment at UNL during 2003. This year's
picnic featured a wider assortment of food choices, including
sweets such as funnel cakes, caramel apples and snowcones, thanks
to the donations of several vendors and businesses. Photos
by Tom Slocum and Kelly
Bartling. |
Scientists gain $1.8
million grant
to study Sandhills
IANR News
Service
NORTH PLATTE - Weather, water, wind, sand and grass
have shaped
and reshaped Nebraska's Sandhills over thousands of
years. UNL
scientists are launching research to understand these
and other
complex interactions that drive this rare ecosystem.
The National Science Foundation has awarded university scientists
$1.8 million for a four-year comprehensive study of this
20,000-square-mile
region. While expanding knowledge of the
Sandhills is a primary
goal, researchers believe results also could
help expand understanding
of broader potential impacts of global
climate change.
"This is a study of sand, grass and
water and how they
interact to stabilize the Sandhills. We want to
know how climate
interacts with processes like overgrazing and fire
to devegetate
and destabilize this massive sand dune system, and,
on the other
hand, how vegetation returns to bare, moving sand to
stabilize
the system," said David Wedin, an Institute of
Agriculture
and Natural Resources ecosystems ecologist. He will
head the
15-member team for this Sandhills Biocomplexity Project
along
with co-leaders Geoffrey Henebry, a School of Natural
Resources
landscape ecologist, and David Loope, a geologist in the
geosciences
department.
"This grant is an
example of the impressive interdisciplinary
expertise UNL can bring
to research on complex environmental
systems," said Prem Paul,
UNL vice chancellor for research
and graduate studies.
"Studying and understanding the Sandhills
and the immense
water resources that lie beneath them is a major
research focus for
UNL and one that is critically important to
Nebraska."
Today a protective cover of native grasses stabilize the Sandhills,
but the dunes have gone from grass-covered to barren several
times
over the millennium. This large-scale study will focus
on the links
between the region's grass cover, wetlands, groundwater
and
regional climate. Ultimately, the UNL team hopes to develop
a
better overall picture of how climate and environment interact
to
create and maintain this fragile ecosystem.
"Today the
dunes are covered by grasses that anchor or
stabilize them, but
even the smallest wind blowout on a ranch
is a reminder that under
that short vegetation lies the largest
sand dune area in the
Western Hemisphere ... a desert in disguise,"
Loope said.
The grant officially begins in September and builds on years
of
Sandhills research by team members and other UNL scientists.
Next
spring, scientists will establish research plots at the
university's Barta Brothers Ranch near Rose and the Gudmundsen
Sandhills Laboratory near Whitman.
Some research plots will
help researchers study what happens
to the system when vegetative
cover disappears. Other researchers
will map dune movement over the
past 2,500 years and examine
lake sediments to chart the timing of
past droughts.
The team has many questions, and they're
all inter-related.
For example, researchers want to know whether
water evaporating
from wetlands and wet meadows might reduce
impacts of short-term
drought by altering local climate.
Conversely, they hope to learn
whether loss of grass cover and
wetlands can intensify a drought,
leave sand bare and destabilize
dunes.
From climate and water to drought and range ecology,
the research
team features diverse expertise. This range of
expertise and
the university's extensive Sandhills research
facilities are
an ideal combination for this project, Wedin
said.
He and many scientists who will work on the this
project have
experience with research in the Sandhills, but this is
the first
time they've teamed up to develop an integrated,
interdisciplinary
understanding of what keeps the Sandhills from
turning into a
barren desert.
"The funding marks
an important commitment and beginning.
We perceive this as a very
long-term research project with many
additional possibilities to
explore," he said.
The project features a key
educational component, Wedin said.
Coordinated through UNL's
Nebraska Earth Science Education Network,
it will involve
elementary and high school teachers, undergraduate
science majors
and others who can learn from the project and
share information
with students.
As part of this project, the UNL team is
building partnerships
with Sandhills groups such as the Sandhills
Discovery Foundation
and the Sandhills Task Force, Wedin said.
This research is conducted in cooperation with IANR's Agricultural
Research Division and the College of Arts and Sciences at UNL.
Act would
help fight drought
By Dan Moser, IANR News Service
In the midst of a multi-year drought that has gripped large
parts of the nation, new federal legislation aims to better position
the U.S. government to monitor, mitigate and respond to future
droughts.
The National Drought Preparedness Act of 2003,
introduced
in July, has been referred to U.S. House and Senate
committees,
which are expected to start discussing the legislation
this fall.
Don Wilhite, director of the National Drought Mitigation
Center
at UNL, said the bill would implement several policies long
endorsed
by the drought mitigation center.
"It
really focuses on moving this nation toward planning
for
drought," instead of reacting to it, Wilhite said.
The
bill would create a National Office of Drought Preparedness
and a
National Drought Council within the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
The office of drought preparedness would help the
council develop a
comprehensive national drought policy action
plan, coordinate and
prioritize a nationally integrated drought
system, encourage
development of state drought preparedness plans
and coordinate
public awareness activities.
Members would include the
secretaries of agriculture, interior,
commerce and the army;
director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency; four
governors; and representatives of National Association
of Counties,
tribal governments, soil and water conservation
districts and the
U.S. Conference of Mayors.
The legislation also would
establish a drought assistance
fund to be used for technical and
financial aid to states, tribes,
local governments, watershed
groups and other entities to develop
and implement drought
preparedness plans. Assistance would be
granted on a 25-75 percent
local-federal cost-sharing agreement.
The drought
council would devise and publish guidelines to
help states, tribes,
local governments and others develop, implement
and maintain
drought preparedness plans.
The drought legislation first
was introduced in 2002 but languished.
Several changes have been
made since then, including shifting
the new office and council's
home from FEMA to USDA. It comes
five years after passage of the
National Drought Policy Act,
which created a commission that
developed some of the recommendations
now outlined in the new
legislation.
The drought assistance fund is particularly
welcome, Wilhite
said.
"The fact that the
Drought Mitigation Center already
has planning and other tools
available should facilitate the
implementation of some of these
elements of the bill when and
if it passes," he said. "We
can play a major role in
the implementation of the components of
this legislation."
The drought mitigation center is
headquartered in the university's
Institute of Agriculture and
Natural Resources in the School
of Natural Resources.
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