 |
Workers move a scoreboard into the Stadium Drive Parking Garage across from Memorial Stadium last week. The garage will open Sept. 2. (Photo by Richard Wright) |
UNL Chancellor James Moeser will deliver his annual State of the University Address at 11 a.m. Aug. 22 in the Lied Center for Performing Arts. The address will be followed by an all-university picnic on the Lied Plaza.
The chancellor will set his goals for the coming year as well as speak about the reallocation plan, including the philosophy behind the plan and where enhancements will be used.
Supervisors are encouraged to arrange time for all employees to attend.
The speech will be broadcast live on KRNU radio, 90.3 FM. The speech also will be available on the university's web site, http://www.unl.edu after the event.
Shuttle buses will run from Ag Hall and the Animal Sciences Complex at 10:30 a.m. and leave from the Lied Center at 1:15 p.m.
The picnic menu includes a choice of either grilled chicken breast or vegetarian burger, baked beans, cookies and soft drinks.
University officials can truthfully say they've "been there, done that," to anybody who questions the extensiveness of the research that went into its decision to award an exclusive contract to Pepsi Cola to provide its beverage products on the Lincoln campus.
Precise scientific sampling by NU's Bureau of Sociological Research showed that the split among students over the two major colas was very close, according to Jim Main, associate vice chancellor for business and finance. Other factors, however, such as second-choice preferences and the choice between diet and regular colas tilted the balance in favor of Pepsi. And there was the Mountain Dew factor.
Mountain Dew's place in the soft drink pecking order was established even before the cola survey began to bubble to the surface in the minds of its creators. To university custodians, the preeminence of that Pepsi product as the overwhelming choice of students was obvious in every recycling receptacle on campus.
Taste preferences were not the only factors considered in the agreement, apparently one of the largest campus alliances of its kind. The university will receive $1 million a year for 12 years in exchange for the exclusive right to sell Pepsi products (which also includes Lipton Brisk Iced Tea and All Sport) through its local franchise bottler, the LinPepCo Partnership. 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, noting that "these are times when we must strive to do more with less," said the university must forge partnerships in the private sector to augment state support. The Pepsi agreement, he said, "allows us to make some needed academic and student service enhancements without going back to the taxpayers."
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.
A celebration to kickoff the alliance is being planned for fall. -- Bob Sheldon
While many folks with 10-month appointments were off-campus, a number of promotions were announced. In very condensed form, here's a list of promotions, in roughly chronological order. Full news releases about each are available via back issues of the Scarlet which were published electronically on the university's web page.
Jo Potuto, Richard H. Larson Professor of constitutional law, was named the university's faculty athletics representative to the Big 12 Conference and the NCAA. She replaces James O'Hanlon, who stepped down after 14 years to concentrate on his duties as dean of Teachers College.
Kim Todd was promoted to assistant to the chancellor for community affairs and director of campus planning. She is responsible for government and community liaison projects and serves as a member of the chancellor's cabinet.
Chris Anderson was promoted to assistant athletics director for communications. Previously she was sports information director.
Pat Logsdon was named director of football operations in the athletics department. Previously she was the assistant to the director.
Moira Ferguson, James E. Ryan Chair in Women's Literature and professor of English, was named faculty associate to the chancellor. Ferguson will serve a one-year term in the position designed to prepare faculty for administrative positions, increase faculty understandings of the workings of university administration and provide administrative role models for female and ethnic minority faculty.
Nancy Stara and Evelyn Jacobson were named associate vice chancellors for academic affairs. Stara, professor of accountancy, is responsible for the university's undergraduate programs and directs Summer Sessions. Jacobson, professor of German, has responsibility for all academic personnel issues, including hiring, promotion and tenure.
Peg Blake was named associate vice chancellor for student affairs and director of admissions. Previously an assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, Blake was director of the University Health Center the last two years. 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, where she replaces Lisa Schmidt, who resigned to pursue a new career.
Linda Herrmann, M.D., was named director of the University Health Center. Herrmann has been associate director for clinical services/medical director since Sept. 1, 1996.
Linda Schwartzkopf was named director of Greek Affairs, replacing Jayne Wade Anderson, who retired from the position July 16 after 31 years of leadership in the student affairs division. Schwartzkopf is the former director of student judicial affairs.
Barbara Wright-Chollet was named director of special projects within the student affairs office. Previously she was an assistant to the vice chancellor.
Charles Greene was 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, left Nebraska at the end of July to become dean of enrollment management at the University of Maine.
Ed Paquette was named executive director of the UNL Alumni Association. He joined UNL July 1 after four years as executive director of the Northwestern Alumni Association.
As chief executive officer of the 23,000-member Nebraska Alumni Association, Paquette will work closely with the university administration, deans, faculty and athletics department, the NU Foundation, Nebraska communities, alumni chapters and constituent groups to promote alumni membership and generate alumni support for the university.
Paquette earned his bachelor's degree (1969) in education at Northwestern. He 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.
Paquette and his wife, Martha, have a son Derek, 24, and a daughter, Patricia, 13.
Franklin Sonn, South African ambassador to the United States, will give the commencement address at the summer commencement exercises Aug. 16 in the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Sonn will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. James Moeser, chancellor, will preside, and approximately 850 students will receive degrees. Ceremonies begin at 9:30 a.m.
Sonn is a well-known proponent of South African educational, political, cultural and business affairs, and he played a major role in restructuring education from an apartheid model to a democratic system. He has also held a number of leadership positions in teachers' professional associations, educational foundations and committees. He is a member of seven corporate boards, including Metropolitan Life, the Sowetan (the largest daily newspaper in South Africa) and Corporate Africa Holdings (the largest black holding company in South Africa). As a personal adviser to former President Jimmy Carter, he monitored the Zambian elections of 1992.
Before becoming ambassador to the United States, he was the chief executive officer of New Africa Investments Limited, the largest black-led company listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. He is also a former president of Peninsula Technikon, a degree-granting college of 8,000 students. - Karen Underwood
UNL's Speakers Bureau enters its third year of providing speakers for civic, community and professional organizations across Nebraska.
The bureau's 15 distinguished experts speak on a variety of timely and interesting topics, and they tailor their presentations to suit any organization's needs. The service is free.
The Speakers Bureau has become more popular each year since its inception in 1995. Last year, more than 100 presentations were given in communities throughout Nebraska. Organizers estimate nearly 4,000 people were reached during the year.
Speakers Bureau members are the university's ambassadors, said Chancellor James Moeser. "We have so many experts and a wealth of knowledge to share," he said. "I hope those in leadership positions in their clubs and organizations will take advantage of our Speakers Bureau service."
Those participating in this year's Speaker's Bureau are Rod Bates, general manager of KUON-TV/NETC; Cindy Cammack, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources recruitment and placement coordinator; Patricia Crews, professor of textiles, clothing and design; Michele Fagan, assistant professor of archives for the university's libraries; Robert Fritschen, director of the Northeast Research and Extension Center, Concord; Ricardo Garcia, director of affirmative action and diversity; James Goeke, associate professor and research hydrologist, West Central Research and Extension Center; Chuck Hibberd, director of the Panhandle Research and Extension Center, Scottsbluff; Mary Anne Holmes, assistant research professor of geology; M. Colleen Jones, assistant professor of management; Janet Kauffman, associate director of the Nebraska Human Resources Institute; Eric Marintzer, Hastings, student and former president of UNL student government; Daniel Pomp, assistant professor of animal science; James Stubbendieck, professor of range ecology; and Kit Voorhees, director of Arts Are Basic and education and outreach for the College of Fine and Performing Arts.
Speakers Bureau members were chosen by the chancellor's cabinet to serve one-year terms. For more information about the service or to schedule a speaker, call the office of public relations at 472-2211. - Karen Underwood
David Cochran admits he may have accepted an impossible task when he took on the job of writing a national ergonomics standard for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the U.S. Department of Labor.
"Somebody else tried to do this in the first Clinton administration and they met a brick wall. There was a lot of opposition and the effort stopped, but after the last election, OSHA decided to try again." said the UNL professor of industrial and management systems engineering, who is on sabbatical while working at OSHA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Ergonomics refers to the design of machines, machine systems, work methods and environments to take into account the safety, health, comfort and productiveness of human users and operators. The problem, Cochran said, is getting labor and industry to agree what reasonable standards are.
"It's not going to be a surprise if there is strong opposition again," he said. "Industry is never going to embrace new regulations unless it sees a competitive advantage. One of the points made last time is that companies already have ergonomic programs. They say they're not against ergonomic standards, they're against onerous regulations."
Labor, on the other hand, doesn't always agree with industry's view of what acceptable standards are. It's Cochran's job to find the middle ground and define it.
"I plan to take a tack that I hope they (manufacturers) find less onerous," Cochran said. "Defining a standard that both industry and labor can live with will be really difficult. The current thinking is the standards will pertain only to manufacturers, but may also include all intensive keyboarding jobs, too. They will probably not apply to a majority of workers."
Cochran began his task last month and said he thinks it will take more than a year to come up with a proposal. After a draft standard is issued, there will be a public review period. He said he thinks it will be three to five years before standards could be in place.
Cochran has studied ergonomics, or what he calls "work-related muscular-skeletal disorders," throughout his 25 years on the Nebraska faculty. - Tom Simons
Back to menu