A relatively new group to campus has made possible a long-time dream: the installation of a grand entrance to the UNL gardens. Two pairs of gates, one old and a newly minted duplicate, will be dedicated in the gardens on the south lawn of Love Library at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 23.
The gates project has been a dream held by Bud Dasenbrock, director of UNL Landscape Services, ever since he found the old gates in a trash heap on East Campus some 17 years ago. A self-described "saver," Dasenbrock said he put the ornate wrought iron gates into safekeeping, figuring he could use them somewhere, someday.
It was a long wait. While UNL lacked some sort of formal entrance, it also lacked the funding to restore the old gates. And a grander plan, to duplicate the original and set the pair by Love Library, was far out of reach.
To the rescue came UNL Garden Friends, a group that supports UNL's gardens through tours, educational outreach and publicity and fundraising.
It was that last function that proved key to the gates project, said Kim Todd, UNL landscape architect. The group was offered a list of possible projects to tackle at its annual meeting in January, Todd said. The gates project was chosen, and in short order, the $20,000 needed to restore, duplicate and reset the gates was raised.
"We absolutely wouldn't be doing this project if they hadn't raised the money," Todd said.
Dottie Kuester, a board member for UNL Garden Friends, said the group exists to support and encourage the gardens and arboreta on the campus. "Lots of people in Lincoln are interested in gardens and the university's gardens are spectacular," Kuester said. A small core of individuals organized the group three years ago and it has grown to more than 200 members, primarily by word-of-mouth, she said.
The Friends sponsor monthly brown-bag luncheon lectures and tours and its members also lead tours of the gardens. On Sept. 23, members will lead tours at 9, 10, 10:30, 11, 11:30 a.m., leaving from the Wick Center. The tours are free and open to the public.
It was first believed that the Garden Gates may have come from a fence installed around the campus in the 1890s. That fence now surrounds Lincoln's Wyuka Cemetery and two of the original gates hang at the Columns near Memorial Stadium. The Garden Gates, however, probably were from a fence near Neihardt Residence Complex. A window grate near the complex shows a similar wrought iron pattern. An extensive search of UNL's photo archives did not turn up any photos of the gates nor any clues to the gates' origin.
Local artisans Mike and Richard Pleskac were commissioned to restore and duplicate the gates.
The gates will be set so they are permanently open, to welcome all to
the campus.
Faculty should be leading the discussions as university officials ponder the future and set policy for the institution, according to the chair of the university's regents. Nancy O'Brien spoke before the UNL Academic Senate at its first meeting of the year Sept. 12.
"You may not always be asked to come to the table, but you have a definite responsibility and a right to express your opinions," O'Brien said.
She praised the senate's executive committee for its response to a resolution introduced in July by NU Regent Drew Miller. The resolution would, in O'Brien's words, "limit or affect the kind of research done at the university."
The resolution calls for university research to be "relevant" to the lives of Nebraskans and for the most part be limited to research that would enhance economic development in Nebraska. Some say the resolution would place basic research off limits and would restrict research to the hard sciences and engineering.
O'Brien said a letter drafted by the committee was "absolutely top notch" because it pointed out the role of all types of research to Nebraskans.
The regent said she believes that higher education is "our greatest export product" because foreign governments almost exclusively encourage their students to attend U.S. universities. "We need to capitalize on that," she said.
O'Brien said she believes the university as a whole needs to become better at predicting future needs and shifting earlier, rather than responding to current needs. She said the role of the university is more than a four-year vocational school training students for specific jobs. Rather, she said, the university needs to train people to adapt to and take advantage of change and to teach people how to think and learn in new ways.
In other action, Interim Chancellor Joan Leitzel encouraged faculty to offer up ideas on finding space to accommodate classes during the renovation of Burnett Hall.
The shifting of classes from the 16 general purpose classrooms in Burnett will be a huge inconvenience, she said, but well worth the temporary angst.
She also announced that she has asked the senate's athletics committee to meet with Athletic Director Bill Byrne. Leitzel said that to her knowledge, reports in the media regarding the assault charges against two football players have been "congruent" with her understanding of the issue.
The senate re-elected Leo Chouinard, math and statistics, as
parliamentarian. A resolution that would make a grade appeals committee
available prior to each commencement was introduced. In accordance with
senate rules, action on the resolution will occur at its next meeting.
Four finalists for the position of vice chancellor for business and finance at UNL have been announced by Interim Chancellor Joan Leitzel. The four candidates are being invited to campus for interviews.
The four candidates are Penny J. Berger, partner in the Lincoln law firm of Rembolt Ludtke Parker and Berger; Eugene A. Gilchrist, vice chancellor for administrative affairs at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn.; Melvin W. Jones, vice president for financial affairs/treasurer, at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis.; and David R. Larson, vice president for business and finance at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.
Berger, (pronounced ber-zhay), who was managing partner of Rembolt Ludtke Parker and Berger from 1989-91, earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard College in New York City in 1966, her master's degree from Columbia University in New York in 1967 and her juris doctorate degree with honors from UNL in 1975. She also did work toward a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.
Gilchrist, who has been vice chancellor for administrative affairs at St. Cloud State since 1992, spent most of his early career in the State University of New York system. He earned his bachelor's degree from SUNY-Plattsburgh in 1972, then earned his educational doctorate from SUNY-Albany in 1989.
Jones has been vice president for financial affairs/treasurer at Marquette since 1992, following five years as vice president for business and fiscal affairs and treasurer at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He served in several capacities for the government of the District of Columbia from 1981-87, the last three years as director of the Department of Finance and Revenue. Jones earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Iowa, his master's at the University of Tennessee and his doctorate at George Washington University.
Larson has been vice president for business and finance at Clemson since 1986. Before that, he served at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1967-86. He was named vice chancellor for business and finance at UTC in 1975. Larson earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1967, his master's degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee in 1969 and a certified professional accountant degree from Tennessee in 1971.
The candidates were recommended to Leitzel by a search committee chaired by Irv Omtvedt, vice chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The search has sought a replacement for John Goebel, who left the vice chancellorship Jan. 1 to become dean of UNL's College of Business Administration. Paul Carlson, associate vice chancellor for business and finance, has served as interim vice chancellor since Goebel's departure.
The vice chancellor for business and finance oversees all of UNL's
accounting functions, including payroll and student accounts, the budget,
internal audits, UNL police, facilities management, human resources and
transportation services, plus auxiliary services such as printing
services, mail services, telecommunications and the University Bookstore.
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