July 11, 1997

Diversity And Outreach Targeted For More Support

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will reallocate $6.9 million of its existing state-funded budget to its top academic priorities in its 1997-99 biennial budget in a plan announced by Chancellor James Moeser.

The reallocation plan was supported by the university's Academic Planning Committee, which reviewed the proposal in April, and will fund $6.2 million in academic enhancements and $673,000 for support and service enhancements.

Moeser said the areas that will receive the largest funding boosts are distance education and outreach ($781,000) and enhancement of diversity programs ($709,000). The university also will reallocate more than one-half million dollars to the honors program and recruitment of high-ability students ($620,000) and enhancement of information technology ($604,000).

"There are several areas on campus where the university is poised to take major steps forward," Moeser said. "In order to do that, we have identified funds to enhance major priorities such as the honors program, diversifying the campus and targeted academic programs. These areas were not receiving a level of funding that matched their importance to the institution. Since we hope to generate substantial private support for many of these same initiatives through Campaign Nebraska, we believe this initial investment of state funds will demonstrate our seriousness of purpose."

Last year, Moeser formed a budget advisory committee composed of members of the university administration; Eric Marintzer, then-president of student government; John Wunder, chair of the Academic Planning Committee; and Peter Bleed, president of the Academic Senate.

At the request of the chancellor, each unit on campus prepared a 1997-99 budget reduced to 96 percent of its current state funding. The units submitted their reduced budgets to the budget advisory committee, which accepted each of the proposals after conducting a series of hearings in the fall of 1996. The campuswide reductions resulted in the identification of $6.9 million of existing funds for redistribution to priority programs. The budget advisory committee then considered two additional budget proposals from each unit, one requesting enhancements of 4 percent of its original budget and one requesting enhancements of 8 percent of its original budget. Only some units were granted reallocated funds for varying levels of enhancements.

The largest investment in initiatives that affect all campus units will be the enhancement of diversity programs, including $400,000 for a Targets of Opportunity Fund that will help the university be more competitive with its peer institutions in recruiting minorities and senior women for faculty and administrative positions. The campuswide initiatives also include the honors program and recruitment of high-ability students and enhancement of information technology.

"I was particularly pleased with the committee's commitment to diversity enhancement," Moeser said. "Building a more diverse campus is not an empty slogan - it is a critical component of the excellence we seek. If we do not achieve our aspirations in this area, we will not fulfill our destiny to be an institution of the first rank. When the process began last fall, we sensed a strong commitment from the campus community to put money on the table to support diversity."

Of the $6.2 million earmarked for academic enhancements, $2.4 million, will go to collaborative programs between the university's colleges and departments. In addition to the enhancements in distance education and outreach, $444,000 will go to the Plant Science Initiative, a cooperative venture between the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the College of Arts and Sciences. The initiative is designed to help Nebraska achieve international recognition in this emerging area of science.

Other reallocated funding for collaborative programs includes $393,000 for the new School of Natural Resource Sciences; $375,000 for programs in mathematics, sciences, literature and the humanities; and $311,000 for the agribusiness program, a partnership between IANR and the College of Business Administration.

"I was gratified by the number of inter-departmental and inter-college proposals that were stimulated by the process," Moeser said. "Softening the boundaries between units is another critical factor in achieving excellence."

Another $1.3 million will go toward enhancing individual academic programs, including $303,000 for additional faculty in the College of Engineering and Technology.

"I was greatly impressed by the collegiality that marked our deliberations," Moeser said. "Everyone involved represented his or her constituency well, but our discussions never pitted one sector of the university against another. From my perspective, it is fair to say that this process was one of the most effective examples of shared governance in action that I have experienced.

"While I'm convinced that this reallocation process is critical to the long-term strength of the university, the reallocations were not accomplished without making difficult reductions in funding. There was clear agreement in the budget advisory committee and the Academic Planning Committee that those areas that received enhancement funds will be held accountable for implementing the proposals they put forward. We will monitor each situation carefully and we are prepared to be flexible to make further changes if we see they are necessary."

In the first year of the biennial budget, four full-time-equivalent staff positions were eliminated. In addition, 41 vacant positions were eliminated. The bulk of the cuts in the first year of the budget came in reductions in operating expenditures and administrative costs, primarily in nonacademic areas. Projections for the second year of the budget will eliminate 35 current positions and an additional 10 vacant positions. Moeser said the university will work through its human resources office to find appropriate alternatives for those whose employment is affected.

1997-99 UNL Budget Reallocation Enhancement Summary: $6,910,904

I. Academic Enhancements: $6,237,493
A. Campuswide Initiatives: $2,221,435
1. Enhancement of recruitment and instruction of high-ability students: $619,900
a. Recruitment initiatives: $215,646
b. Honors program: $404,254
2. Enhancement of diversity: $708,760
3. Enhancement of information technologies: $604,194
4. Protection of library acquisitions budget: $288,581
B. Inter-college programs: $2,402,874
1. Agribusiness: $311,000
2. Animal molecular biology: $100,000
3. Distance education/outreach: $781,251
4. Humanities research center: $100,000
5. Math/science education programs: $150,000
6. Plant science initiative: $444,000
7. School of Natural Resource Sciences: $393,123
8. Visual literacy center: $123,500
C. Individual academic program enhancements: $1,293,184
1. Grants and contracts support/Journalism: $17,053
2. Technical writing program/Journalism: $125,000
3. Additional faculty/Engineering: $303,000
4. Quilting Center/Human Resources & Family Sciences: $50,000
5. School psychology program/Teachers: $87,996
6. Program enhancement proposals/Fine & Performing Arts: $119,635
7. Areas of strength proposal/Arts & Sciences: $168,500
8. Comprehensive Education Program/Arts & Sciences: $174,000
9. Learning outcomes assessment/Arts & Sciences: $50,000
10. Faculties in areas of strength/Arts & Sciences: $158,000
11. Family/law-psychology forensic studies/Arts & Sciences: $40,000
D. Nebraska Research Initiative assumptions: $320,000

II. Support and Service Enhancements: $673,411
A. Academic support: $217,402
B. Campuswide support and service: $456,009

University and Pepsi Forge Long-Term Alliance

The choice of Generation Next is the choice of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, officials announced today.

Pepsi has been awarded an exclusive contract to sell or provide its beverage products to UNL through its local franchise bottler, the LinPepCo Partnership, pending approval by the university's board of regents at its June 21 meeting.

This agreement helps forge one of the largest campus alliances of its kind. In exchange for the exclusive right to sell Pepsi products, the university will receive $1 million a year for 12 years. The money will be used for scholarships, enhanced academic and student life programs, diversity commitments, community service and other university initiatives. In addition, Pepsi will donate $100,000 a year for 12 years in accordance with a charitable agreement.

Chancellor James Moeser said the agreement between Pepsi and Nebraska will benefit students significantly.

"These are times when we must strive to do more with less," Moeser said, "a time to maximize our ability to leverage a partnership in the private sector to augment state support. Pepsi's generous offer allows us to make some needed academic and student service enhancements without going back to the taxpayers. It's a great way to help position this university as an outstanding environment for outstanding students."

Moeser said more specific information regarding which programs will be supported by the contract money will be announced this fall.

Melvin W. Jones, vice chancellor for business and finance, said the Pepsi-university alliance will be good for the university.

"Based on my knowledge of other financial packages proposed by the leading soft-drink makers to other institutions, this is by far the biggest ever offered for a campus our size," he said. "This alliance with Pepsi will help the university to compete more effectively for students and faculty as we re-position ourselves to provide higher education in Nebraska for the 21st century."

Pepsi was awarded the contract for several reasons, Jones said.

"We chose Pepsi because of its worldwide reputation and because its product Mountain Dew is very popular among our students," he said. "Pepsi was very responsive to our request for proposal, and we both agree that our students are our most cherished asset."

Pepsi officials are likewise excited by the alliance.

"Our enthusiasm about this alliance is bigger than Nebraska's offensive line," said Brenda Barnes, president and chief executive officer of Pepsi-Cola North America. "UNL is clearly a crown jewel among the nation's state university systems, and it continues to grow in stature in all aspects of student life. This alliance provides us with an important opportunity to connect with our Generation Next consumers in this region."

Under the contract, LinPepCo will own and maintain all vending and fountain equipment, as well as some ice-making and storage machines.

In a separate agreement, Pepsi will donate $11 million to the University of Nebraska Foundation for a quasi-endowment to support more academic and student programs.

Pepsi-Cola Co. is headquartered in Somers, N.Y., and is a division of PepsiCo Inc. The company's brands include Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lipton Brisk Iced Tea and All Sport.

A celebration to kickoff the alliance between the university and Pepsi is in the works for fall, Moeser said.

UNL Student Affairs Office Reassigns Leadership Roles

When the 1997-98 academic year begins at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in August, students will find some familiar administrative faces in new leadership roles in the university's student affairs office.

The reassignments - and one new hire - announced by James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs are:

Peg Blake, named associate vice chancellor for student affairs and director of admissions. Previously an assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, Blake has served as director of the University Health Center the last two years.

Linda Herrmann, M.D., named director of the University Health Center. Herrmann has been associate director for clinical services/medical director since Sept. 1, 1996.

Jayne Wade Anderson, retiring from the position of director of Greek affairs July 16, following 31 years of leadership in the student affairs division. Linda Schwartzkopf, former director of student judicial affairs, has been designated the successor to Anderson. Griesen said he anticipates that Schwartzkopf's appointment will be made final in July following the completion of confirmation interviews with undergraduate and alumni Greek leaders.

Barbara Wright-Chollet, named director of special projects within the student affairs office. Previously she was an assistant to the vice chancellor.

Charles Greene, named director of student judicial affairs. Greene, an NU alumnus, was director of summer sports for Special Olympics International in Washington, D.C., from 1989-96 following a 20-year career as as officer in the U.S. Army.

Earl Hawkey, director of registration and records, will also serve as interim director of scholarships and financial aid until a new director is appointed. John Beacon, director of scholarships and financial aid, will leave Nebraska at the end of July to become dean of enrollment management at the University of Maine.

As associate vice chancellor, Blake will be the second highest administrator within the student affairs office. She will be responsible for personnel management within the division of student affairs in addition to duties as admissions director.

Blake has been affiliated with the university since 1986 when she joined the student affairs office as a graduate intern while she pursued a Ph.D. in educational administration, which she earned in 1988. Prior to joining UNL, she was registrar and admissions officer at Central Community College in Hastings.

Blake earned her undergraduate degree from UNL in 1978 and a master's in business administration from UNL in 1980.

Herrmann, whose medical specialty is internal medicine, came to Nebraska from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, where she was a faculty member. Prior to that, she was director of Student Health Services at the College of William and Mary.

As a military officer, Greene was chief of the race relations program for the West Berlin Brigade in Germany, chief of protocol at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and chief of military personnel at Fort Meade, Md., before retiring with the rank of major in 1989. He earned his bachelor's degree in physical education at Nebraska (1967), then earned two master's degrees, in physical education from Nebraska (1977) and in guidance and counseling (1978) from Long Island University.

Greene dominated collegiate sprinting as an undergraduate at Nebraska, sweeping the NCAA indoor 60-yard dash and outdoor 100-yard dash titles in 1965, 1966 and 1967. His 10.1-second 100 meters in 1967 stood as the NU record for 27 years. He won two medals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, getting the bronze in the 100-meter dash and a gold in the 400-meter relay. He provided team support for the U.S. Olympic Committee at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was assistant manager and relay coach for the U.S. men's track and field team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Schwartzkopf is a 1976 graduate of the university. She has been affiliated with the student affairs office since 1984 and has worked with student recruitment and pre-admissions activities as well as judicial affairs duties, which she supervised from 1991 to 1997.

Wright-Chollet, who has earned bachelor's and master's degrees from UNL, began her career at UNL in 1978 when she joined the UNL Alumni Association as director of student programs and coordinator of the Scarlet and Cream Singers. She joined the office of student affairs in September 1996 as an assistant to the vice chancellor.

Northwestern's Paquette To Direct NU Alumni

When offered the post of executive director of the UNL Alumni Association, Ed Paquette said he didn't hesitate in deciding to accept.

"I didn't want to make the same mistake twice," Paquette said, explaining that late Nebraska football coach Bob Devaney had tried to recruit him out of Superior (Wis.) High School in the mid-1960s. Paquette instead opted to attend Northwestern University, where he lettered three times as a defensive end and earned academic All-Big Ten honors as a senior in 1968.

"The University of Nebraska is a wonderful university and it has a real balance between academics and other facets of campus life that I really like," he said. "We have a chance to build the best alumni organization in the nation. I hope to get all alumni involved."

Paquette's selection was announced by UNL Chancellor James Moeser and Alumni Association President Dan Bahensky, a Kearney attorney. Paquette will join the Nebraska staff July 1 after four years as executive director of the Northwestern Alumni Association.

"I have both professional and personal reasons for coming to Nebraska," Paquette said. "From a professional standpoint, when I interviewed I had a chance to observe the chancellor closely, and the more I saw of him, the more I liked him. The fact that a chancellor at a public university cares as much as he does about alumni affairs is important. He had a lot to do with my decision. And in my discussions with other people on campus, I saw that they all want to tell the university's story - and that story is a lot more than football.

"At the personal level, my wife and I are both from small towns and we have a 13-year-old daughter. We live in a gated community in the northern suburbs of Chicago. It's not a friendly place and we were looking for a place with heartland values. When we visited Lincoln, people we didn't know said 'hi' to us. That doesn't happen in Chicago. We're really excited about being involved in a civic-minded community where the university is a big part of the community."

As chief executive officer of the 23,000-member Nebraska Alumni Association, Paquette will work closely with the university administration, deans, faculty, the athletics department, the NU Foundation, Nebraska communities, alumni chapters and constituent groups to promote alumni membership and generate alumni support for the university.

"Ed Paquette is a dynamic individual who understands the Midwest and has a great deal of experience in building strong alumni programs," Moeser said. "As executive director of the alumni association at a first-class institution like Northwestern, he has developed some wonderful ideas that will help us build an alumni program at Nebraska that will be second to none."

Paquette earned his bachelor's degree (1969) in education at Northwestern, where he also lettered in track and field as a sprinter, long jumper and shot putter. He then earned two master's degrees at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., the first (1975) in guidance and counseling, the second (1977) in educational administration.

From 1969-71, he worked in sales and management for the A.B. Dick Co. in Chicago, then taught for six years at the Nichols School in Buffalo, where he also was dean of students, college counselor, coach and assistant to the headmaster. From 1977-86, he was headmaster and chief executive officer of Lake Forest (Ill.) Academy. He then spent seven years as president and headmaster at the Leelanau Center for Education in Glen Arbor, Mich., before going to Northwestern.

Paquette also served with the U.S. Army Reserve in Buffalo (1969-75) and was an adjunct professor at Canisius (1974-77). In 1981, he founded Educational Placement Associates Inc., a comprehensive educational counseling service in Northfield, Ill., which he sold in 1984.

He won a Phi Delta Kappa Achievement Award in 1983, a Northwestern Alumni Achievement Recognition Award in 1984, was named to Who's Who in the Midwest in 1986 and won a University of Chicago Outstanding Teacher Recognition Award in 1990.

Protein Complex Discovered at UNL May Be Effective Antiviral Agent

By Robert Sheldon, Public Relations

A tiny complex of proteins and carbohydrates, which stands guard over the production of proteins in animal cells, "raises intriguing possibilities" for its use as an antiviral agent, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientist has found.

Naba Gupta, W.W. Marshall Professor of Biotechnology, and his research team summarized their research and its applications as a means of overcoming viral infections in two papers to be published June 15 in Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. In these articles, Gupta and his associates describe in detail their research involving the glycoprotein complex, labeled p67 on the basis of its weight in kilodaltons (one dalton is approximately equal to the weight of a hydrogen atom).

First, they recap how p67 is regulated in normal animal cells and then summarize their observations of the glycoprotein's behavior in cells infected with a virus, where they found that the level of p67 correlates directly with the cells' resistance to the virus.

Gupta discovered p67 more than a decade ago while studying a peptide initiation factor known as eIF-2. In 1972, Gupta's laboratory recognized eIF-2 as the initiator of protein synthesis in animal cells. When allowed to carry out this function, the specific genes needed to produce a hormone, a certain tissue or a specific organ are assembled and synthesis is carried out.

Protein synthesis is a highly regulated process in which phosphorylation, or inactivation of eIF-2 is a key regulatory mechanism. The breakup of the peptide chain is not, however, a single, isolated operation. A number of conditions, all with their own regulatory mechanisms, must be present for eIF-2 to start protein synthesis. Likewise, a number of things must happen to shut the process down. Much effort by Gupta's team was aimed at determining the conditions under which eIF-2 is allowed to initiate protein synthesis and the conditions that prevail when protein synthesis is forced to a halt.

When he began his studies, Gupta already knew that there were certain enzymes in cells called kinases that had the potential to "phosphorylate" eIF-2, rendering it inactive and thereby inhibiting protein synthesis. Accepted thinking was that the eIF-2 kinases were inactive in cells until it was time for protein synthesis to stop. Then the heretofore dormant kinases were activated somehow.

Gupta found that the kinases were never inactive. Instead, it was found, another substance, the p67 discovered in Gupta's laboratory, held the kinases in check while eIF-2 played out its initiating role in the protein synthesis process.

Much of Gupta's research team's efforts over the past decade have been devoted to providing evidence that p67 binds to eIF-2 to prevent phosphorylation by the kinases, thereby promoting protein synthesis. In so doing, they also found that the converse was true - when protein synthesis slowed, the kinases gained an upper hand and began phosphorylating eIF-2.

The process is much like a battle between two armies, in which first one of the combatants, p67, has the upper hand but eventually the tide turns. Somehow, p67 loses numerical superiority as its phosphorylating opponent gains the upper hand. Thus, p67's defensive perimeter is breached, and eIF-2 kinases fall upon the eIF-2 initiation factor, deactivating it and forcing protein synthesis to a halt.

It was this activity that led Gupta to suspect that if p67's effectiveness was due to a numerical superiority in the battle with kinases, then wouldn't p67 also serve as a biological means of combating viral infections?

In cells infected with a virus, he said, the virus tends to increase the activity of the eIF-2 inhibiting kinases. As these kinases carry out their inhibiting function, the virus is able to take over a cell's reproductive machinery and put it to work reproducing the virus itself. Therefore, Gupta speculated, wouldn't encouraging the growth of p67 to hold eIF-2 kinases in check be a useful means of preventing the virus from taking over the cell's reproductive machinery?

Establishing p67 as an anti-viral agent as been a long, arduous process carried out over the past several years in Gupta's laboratory.

First, as he described in the papers, he followed two distinct mechanisms by which p67 activity is regulated in animal cells.

One regulatory mechanism is at the gene transcription level, where, at the resting level, cells shut off transcription of p67. At this level, Gupta said it doesn't take much to alter the protein synthesis rate in a cell. To restore p67 synthesis in resting cells, he added a mitogen, a substance that stimulates p67 transcription and subsequent protein synthesis.

Gupta said this finding was of great importance, for it "illustrates one of the most unique characteristics of any reported protein." Alteration of a single protein such as p67 alters the total protein synthesis rate in cells."

The other regulatory mechanism that Gupta said animal cells "apparently use for irreversible loss of cellular protein synthesis activity" is through activation of a protein that Gupta labeled p67-DG, short for p67-deglycosylase. This protein acts on p67 and deglycosolates it. This inactivates p67, leading the way to eIF-2 phosphorylation and inhibition of proteinsynthesis.

The p67-DG is activated "under certain physiological conditions," Gupta said. "In our laboratory, we have found that this mechanism is operative during viral infection and is responsible for shut-off of host-protein synthesis."

Gupta used two different viruses in his studies. One was a vaccinia virus and the other a baculovirus. Studies elsewhere have shown that in vaccinia virus infections, these viruses increase eIF-2 phosphorylation and inhibit host protein synthesis. In Gupta's laboratory, it was observed that after either vaccinia or baculovirus infection, a p67 deglycosolase is activated, and p67 can no longer protect eIF-2 from eIF-2 kinases. Cellular protein synthesis is thereby inhibited.

"An important observation to be made," Gupta said, "is that the p67 level in cells competes with viral concentrations. One of the cell lines we studied, (KRC-7, a human hepatoma cell line), contains unusually high levels of p67 compared to several other cell lines.

"While all of the cell lines are resistant to vaccinia viral infection at low viral concentrations," Gupta said, "the p67 level can be altered by growing the cells under different physiological conditions. This raises the intriguing possibility that p67 can be used as an antiviral agent."
Gupta's research team, in addition to showing p67 to be an antiviral agent, also showed that p67 level inhibits deglycosylation of p67 by p67-DG.

The researchers found that genetic expression of the p67 gene could be "significantly enhanced" by the addition of the blood crystal hemin to virus-infected insect cells. "We suggest," the researchers said, "that hemin prevents the conversion of an active p67-DG into an active form."

And, with p67-DG remaining inactive and p67 gene expression enhanced, the level of p67 in a cell increases, thereby increasing its ability to act as an anti-viral agent.


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