March 13, 2003

	The March 10 announcement of proposed budget reductions at all of the University of Nebraska campuses brought reaction from students. Left: UNL student body president Ryan Wilkins, in stocking cap, addresses students after a march to the State Capitol from the Nebraska Union to lobby state senators against cutting the university budget.
	Left: UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman speaks during a press conference about systemwide budget cuts on March 10. Looking on are Harold Maurer, chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Nancy Belck, chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Photos by Richard Wright.

First possible cuts for 2003-5 announced

This e-mail was sent to all faculty and staff on March 10 by Chancellor Harvey Perlman.

Colleagues:

There is no easy way to deliver the news of further budget reductions, especially ones that are as painful as the ones I am forced to announce today. Many of you will no doubt take issue with the choices I have made. I can only say that I have no choice but to make cuts and in doing so I am committed to preserving the strength and quality of this institution.

As you are aware, our university has been called upon to present a plan to reduce our state-aided budget by 10 percent. For this campus, the dollar amount is $21 million. Today we begin the process of proposing reductions in response to this pending reduction of state money as we go before the Legislature's Appropriations Committee to present the first phase of cuts.

Following is a summary of the reduction proposals being made public today. For our campus, these proposals total nearly $7.5 million. The reductions listed below would represent about 52 percent of IANR's share of the total cut and about 30 percent of city campus's share of the total cut. The remaining required cuts will be announced in the next two phases of reduction proposals - some on April 1 and the remainder on June 18.

I regret that, given the severity of previous cuts in state funding, we are no longer able to fully protect academic programs or tenured faculty positions. In all, these proposals have the potential to reduce the number of faculty and staff by 42.14 positions that are currently filled, and another 1.33 positions that are currently vacant, for a total reduction of 43.47 FTE. Including part- and full-time faculty and staff, 55 of our colleagues are adversely affected by these reductions in this plan. More will be affected as we finalize the plans within Student Affairs and Business and Finance.

I have not recommended the termination of tenured faculty lightly. Tenure is central to our understanding of a university. Yet, in every exercise we performed to develop a proposal that fully preserved tenure, the university that would remain would be so damaged that it would take us decades to recover. I cannot return us to the days of across-the-board reductions when departments were asking to have their phones removed, when examinations were being reproduced on the back of scratch paper, when students could not get the classes they needed, and when faculty had to personally pay to entertain faculty candidates. I am sensitive to our obligation to those tenured faculty adversely affected by these proposals. We will make every effort, within available resources, to attempt to integrate them back into the university in some other program or capacity. We will make such efforts for other categories of employees as well. But we must face the ugly reality that this will not be possible for everyone.

Accordingly, I have established the Faculty and Staff Budget Reduction Impact Fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation to help both faculty and staff who are adversely affected by these reductions. The fund will be administered by a faculty-staff committee. Susan and I have made an initial contribution of $10,000 to start the fund and you are all invited to contribute as you think appropriate. The terms of the fund agreement and how to make contributions will be placed on the Chancellor's website.

As you know, our budget reduction process calls for review of these proposals by the Academic Planning Committee. I encourage you to provide input on these proposals as we move through the process. I have also scheduled two separate listening sessions for faculty and staff. Vice Chancellor Owens and I will be present at the Nebraska East Union at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, and Senior Vice Chancellor Edwards and I will be available at 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 28, in the Nebraska Union. You are all invited to attend and to express your views.

Here is a summary of the proposed reductions for this phase.

Harvey

1. Eliminate the Research Divisions of the State Museum and Master's degree in Museum Studies ($1,103,614)(Eliminate eight tenured faculty positions, 12 managerial/professional positions and two clerical/technical/service positions)

Eliminate the research divisions of the State Museum and the Master's program in Museum Studies. The Museum would cease to have a research faculty, and eight tenured positions would be eliminated. The Museum would maintain (but possibly with reduced hours) most public and outreach programs, including those at Morrill Hall, Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park and Trailside Museum. Mueller Planetarium would be closed. The Museum would continue to maintain collections of particular distinction or Nebraska importance, including Vertebrate Paleontology, Invertebrate Paleontology, Parasitology, Botany and Entomology; these collections would continue to be available to support teaching and research by university faculty and others. Collections that will no longer be a focus for the Museum would be transferred responsibly to other museums through deaccessioning, long-term loan or outright transfer. Some tenured Museum faculty may be re-employed in academic departments. The Master's program in Museum Studies will no longer be available.

2. Eliminate the Bureau of Business Research ($455,310; 6.33 FTE including one administrator and 5.33 managerial/professional positions.)

Withdraw all state funding for the Bureau of Business Research in the College of Business Administration. The Bureau would cease functioning until and unless private or other sources of funding, as yet unknown, are secured. It would no longer provide information as a public service to Nebraskans on changing economic conditions in the state, demographic trends, economic impact analyses and business conditions, and it would cease doing special studies of economic problems and other research used by businesses, government agencies, news media, civic groups and other interested individuals. The monthly newsletter, "Business in Nebraska," and other contract publications of the Bureau would be discontinued. The director position would be eliminated and six staff positions terminated.

3. Eliminate funding for the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum ($213,959. 3.43 state-funded FTE; 4.72 FTE with all funding sources combined.)

The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum is a non-profit, tax-exempt membership organization with an executive board, a director and staff who are university employees. NSA is a designated administrative unit within the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Being a designated entity within the Institute provides for interaction with related activities in academic units as NSA works in cooperation with other entities external to the university. Eliminating state funding for the NSA will provide $213,959 of state funding dollars toward the budget cut required of IANR. Eliminating this funding means the elimination of 3.43 FTE state-funded positions. Overall, 4.72 FTE are affected because most positions are funded through state and non-state funds.

4. Eliminate state funding for the Nebraska Forest Service ($837,333; 11.41 state-funded FTE; 24.81 FTE with all funding sources combined.)

Eliminating state funding for the Nebraska Forest Service provides $837,333 toward UNL's state funding budget cut, and eliminates 11.41 state-funded FTE. Most NFS positions are funded by a combination of state and non-state funds, resulting in an additional loss of 13.4 FTE, for a 24.81 FTE total. Because state funds matched federal funds, federal funds will be lost unless another source of match can be found. Two faculty in the Nebraska Forest Service are tenured in the School of Natural Resources; they will be reassigned within that academic unit. One, the Nebraska State Forester, will retain that title. Ten filled faculty-equivalent positions (i.e. faculty-equivalent appointments that are neither tenured nor tenure-track) are among the affected FTE. Eliminating NFS state funding affects these programs valuable to Nebraska and available nowhere else in the state: 1) Rural Forestry Assistance; 2) Community Forestry Program; 3) Fire Control Section, with its wildfire suppression training, equipment, pre-suppression planning, wildfire prevention, fire danger rating, and aerial fire suppression; 4) Forest Pest Management; and 5) Nebraska Conservation Tree Program.

5. Eliminate the Dual Career Program ($119,100; .5FTE managerial/ professional)

Eliminate entire program, including funding for faculty fellowships and for the half-time coordinator position. The coordinator works with newly hired tenured/tenure track faculty and those the university is trying to recruit to find career opportunities for spouses and partners in the community or the university; this position would be terminated. The fellowship program, which provides a one-time temporary position at the university for qualified spouses or partners, would be eliminated. An average of approximately 45 clients per year would no longer have this service available. Hiring units will need to work actively to assist trailing spouses and partners in finding employment opportunities in Nebraska.

6. Eliminate Classroom Equipment Funds ($540,000)

Eliminate the instructional equipment fund in the senior vice chancellor's office. This fund has been distributed annually to colleges for the purchase of instructional equipment. Some of this fund may be replenished through grants, private support or other funds as possible.

7. Reduce the honors student book scholarship fund. ($450,000)

Currently UNL provides a full book scholarship to honors program students. Although a full book scholarship will still be provided, the program is being recast in two ways: to require that the books be returned to the book store at the end of the semester and credited to the university account and to require the use of used books when available. This is the same policy that currently applies to student athletes.

8. Reduce Funding for Activities and Offices of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs ($750,000)

Details of reductions are not final. Under consideration are the elimination of all state-aided support for student counseling, reducing operating budget for the Health Center and increasing student fees for health services; reducing Nebraska Union services in support of student organizations, leadership development and service learning; eliminating credential management services for graduates of the Teachers College in the Career Services Office; consolidating business operations; reducing the scope and distribution of the annual placement report and reorganizing selected functions in state-aided units.

9. Reduce support for the Marching Band. ($184,000)

This reduction may either require the reduction of the size of the band or a reduction or elimination of scholarships for band members. The resources being withdrawn have been provided by the Chancellor's Office. The band is jointly funded by the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and the Athletics Department and these two units will determine how this reduction will be implemented.

10. Eliminate Veterinary Student Contract Program ($1,799,915)

Terminate the current contract with Kansas State University for Veterinary Medical Education. This educational aid program, part of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources budget, pays the contractual fee for 100 Nebraska residents pursuing a professional program at KSU's four-year veterinary education program. Depending on the severity of the final cut, UNL hopes to continue to pay KSU for the students currently in the program, so they can complete their D.V.M. training as the current contractual program is phased out. Budget cuts required in the current round of budget reductions bring the choice for UNL to this: Continue to subsidize funding for 100 Nebraska residents pursuing a professional program at KSU, or eliminate academic programs in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

11. Division of Business & Finance ($1,029,560)

Details of reductions are not final. Areas being considered include elimination of minor maintenance repairs including furniture repair, lock replacements, interior painting; elimination of state support for landscaping surrounding residence halls, parking, and other auxiliary buildings; elimination of state-supported custodial services for the Lied Center and the Wick Center and state-supported utilities for the Wick Center; elimination of recycling program and implementation of an estimated 2.25 percent convenience fee for paying student tuition, room, board and fees by credit card.

On the web More on these budget-reduction proposals can be found at <www.unl.edu/pr/chancl lr/2003-5budget/>. Information about the UNL Faculty and Staff Budget Reduction Impact Fund can be found at <www.unl.edu/pr/chancllr/letterhead/20030310assistancefund.html> ;.

To submit responses to budget-reduction proposals

Responses to budget reduction proposals should be directed to the Academic Planning Committee. Indicate the Budget Reduction Item that is being addressed and the department or unit making the response. Also indicate the name and phone number of the department or unit head submitting the response. Twenty copies of each unit response are requested.

Responses are due in the office of Institutional Research and Planning, 332 Canfield Administration Building, by noon March 24.

Departments or units with a proposed budget reduction may submit a written response of no more than three pages. Departments or units that would be affected by a proposed reduction to another unit's budget may submit a written response of no more than one page.

The APC may request further information that will be due in the Office of Institutional Research and Planning by noon April 4.

The APC expects to schedule open discussion sessions with invited units from March 26 to April 10. During that same three-week period, one or more open general hearings will be scheduled for anyone wishing to share thoughts with the APC about the proposed reductions. The format, exact dates, times and locations will be announced after the APC has reviewed the budget reduction proposals and responses.

The APC plans to make its recommendations on Phase One to the chancellor by April 15. APC deliberations will be held in closed sessions.

For more information, visit <www.unl.edu/pr/chancl lr/2003-5budget/>.

Michelle Rupiper, left, director of the Child Develop-ment Lab on East Campus, helps Anna Qu and Myia Hamaker build a foam wall as Da-Ye Min and Kara Cirillo (foreground) work on the wall. The lab is now accepting new registrations. Photo by Richard Wright.

Ruth Staples Lab benefits children and UNL students

By Rachael Seravalli, Special to the Scarlet

While a corporation may be interested in keeping the key of its success a secret, the administration at Ruth Staples Child Development Laboratory is on a mission to get the word out about what makes it so exemplary.

The laboratory serves the children and families of UNL and the community of Lincoln with a full-time child-care and two groups of half-day preschool.

Michelle Rupiper, director of the laboratory, said that while the primary purpose of the lab was to train its teachers, the results benefit many people beyond just students.

"We provide a low child to teacher ratio," Rupiper said. "The children spend a lot of time one-on-one with teachers. They get a lot of individual attention."

The laboratory also provides quality care at a fair cost to parents, she said, though there are some issues to contend with being associated with an academic institution.

"One challenge is that we follow the academic calendar," she said. The lab is closed the first week of classes and spring break. "Parents also have to find alternate care during the summer, but it's nice for them to know there's quality child care on campus," she said.

All lead teachers at the lab have a master's degree or higher, she said, and many are working toward doctoral degrees. Highly educated staff means the lab is keeping abreast of all the latest literature and research, she said.

"You don't find that out there in the community," she said.

Other benefits include outreach and sharing of knowledge in the community. Rupiper said she travels frequently, especially locally, to talk about her research and to increase knowledge and skills among child-care workers and researchers.

Her biggest concern is the quality of child care in the Lincoln community and elsewhere in the country.

"The majority of (child) care is not what we consider high quality. State licensing is required, but the standards are very minimal," she said. "And the cost is the main reason we don't have highly trained people in the field. I don't believe parents can afford to pay more, but providers are paid so poorly. There should be a national move toward government and corporate-sponsored child care."

Rupiper said Title XX, a federal program that sponsors childcare for low-income families, is being cut, which means centers are getting less than it costs to provide care to a child.

"Some centers are saying no to parents with Title XX eligibility," she said. "Those parents can't put their kids in their first program of choice."

Despite the general problems she sees with child care outside the university, Rupiper said she continued to strive for elements in her program that would make the lab a model for both teachers and the community.

The laboratory works on a schedule, with 15 students rotating as teachers throughout the week. Lead teachers, however, stay the same, she said.

One of the earliest of its kind in the nation, the lab has been in existence since the 1930s.

Julie Jones-Branch, a lecturer and doctoral student, said the setting was unique in the community because of how teachers work to connect with children in the program.

The class of 20 children breaks up into groups comprising three teachers and four children to create what she called a "family unit." Together they are able to work on projects more closely and create a relationship that is more beneficial to the children, she said.

Jones-Branch agreed that professional development and outreach were also an important aspect of what the lab did.

One way is through the Kaleidoscope Conference, a conference held in Omaha that addresses child-care issues. She will be presenting some research there on April 15.

"The biggest impact is when the student teachers go out into the community," she said. There, she said, the students help model teaching techniques. Some also go into early-childhood classrooms within the Lincoln Public School system, she said.

Four students in the past year-and-a-half have become child life specialists, she said, becoming liaisons between doctors and the parents of sick children.

"Students can develop a relationship with the children," she said. "They also develop a good relationship with parents, too. It's pretty unique."

Open registration The Ruth Staples Child Development Laboratory is on East Campus. The full-day child-care program is open only to families affiliated with UNL. The part-day programs are open to the public. The Child Development Laboratory is now accepting registrations. For information, call 472-1675.

Projects to help ag producers manage risk

By Dan Moser, IANR News and Publishing

A series of interdisciplinary University of Nebraska research projects now under way aims to help agricultural producers better manage risk in their operations.

The five projects have earned grants totaling about $2.9 million. This includes two grants awarded in December by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. One is for $1.3 million to create Web-based tools that will allow producers nationwide to assess and manage risk more strategically; the other, for $95,000, funds a series of drought-risk management workshops in Nebraska.

The flurry of projects stems in part from congressional passage of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, which promoted a federal emphasis on ag risk management that goes beyond the traditional tool of crop insurance, said Bill Waltman, research coordinator with UNL's Department of Computer Science and Engineering and one of the researchers involved in several of the projects.

The law sees ag risk as "not something you just mitigate after the fact," said Don Wilhite, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center, based at NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Instead, the 2000 act asks, "What can we do up front to mitigate risk?"

This approach is more farmer and rural community friendly, less regulatory and perhaps a bit more holistic than earlier farm bills, Waltman said.

The various projects bring together researchers from the drought center, the UNL departments of computer science and engineering and agricultural economics, NU Cooperative Extension, the UNL-based High Plains Regional Climate Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Department of Geography-Geology with non-university partners such as the Center for Rural Affairs, USDA's Risk Management Agency and National Agricultural Statistics Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Especially potent is the application of cutting-edge computer science technologies to producers' age-old decision-making processes.

"What we're all about is trying to bring together data and information to improve decision making, particularly by producers in Nebraska" and, ultimately, nationwide, Wilhite said.

Steve Goddard, UNL assistant professor in computer science, leads the $1.3 million project titled "Risk Assessment and Exposure Analysis on the Agricultural Landscape" and a $1 million National Science Foundation Digital Government project titled "A Geospatial Decision Support System for Drought Risk Management." Over the next few years, he expects the research team to develop a set of tools to help producers assess a variety of risks.

Goddard's team is developing a Web-based tool to compute drought and flooding frequencies, durations and intensities at national, state and county levels. Next, researchers will develop a risk-rating system that captures and measures the impacts of natural hazards on crop production, including identifying regions at particularly high or low risk for various natural hazards.

The research also will identify "agro-ecozones" to define landscapes with similar soils and climates. It will couple climate indicators and significant weather events with historical data from the Census of Agriculture and National Agricultural Statistics Service to create maps that illustrate potential impacts of hazards on ag infrastructure. Also, the research will lead to a planting date guide that computes probabilities and extremes of frost dates and a crop development calendar based on growing degree days.

Later research will focus on range and fire danger indicators.

"Producers will be able to see some patterns" specific to their own farmland, Goddard said. They'll be able to decide their level of risk as they choose planting dates and make crop selections. They'll be able to ask questions like "'I've been growing corn for 20, 30 years. Can I grow grapes instead?'

"You could take a look at this and find out the risks of growing grapes," he said.

There are plans to incorporate data from Canada and Mexico into a monthly North American Drought Monitor map this spring, Wilhite added, and many producers have told him they'd welcome a map that tracked drought trends in China, Argentina and Brazil.

"If we can identify these kinds of tools, based on good science, people will use them," Wilhite said.

In addition to USDA, funding for the projects comes from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Each project focuses on a different piece of this puzzle," Wilhite said.

Drought mitigation workshops scheduled The University of Nebraska will conduct workshops titled "Drought Risks and Mitigation on the Agricultural Landscape" funded by a $95,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. The workshops include a discussion of patterns, trends and geography of natural hazards in agriculture; how to reduce drought risk; crop insurance basics; new tools for forecasting drought and documenting crop losses; mitigating drought risk through changing cropping practices; strategies for multi-year droughts; and more. Workshops can be attended in person, or viewed at extension offices via satellite. The remaining workshops will be from 9 a.m. to noon March 13 (Neb*sat Channel 107) and 1-4 p.m. (Neb*sat Channel 102), Conn Library, Wayne State College; and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 19 (Neb*sat Channel 107), Panhandle Research and Extension Center, Scottsbluff. To register for the workshops, call Ann Fiedler, 472-6707; or e-mail <afiedler1@unl.edu>. On-site registration is available from 8:30-9 a.m. the days of the workshops.