Guitarist Dennis Stone and vocalist Jena Guy lead their band Pink Cadillac in a performance Saturday before the Nebraska-Akron football game. The group was part of the pregame festivities in the plaza east of Memorial Stadium. (Photo by Richard Wright) |
 |
Harvey Perlman has announced he will resign as dean of the College of Law at the end of the 1997-98 academic year.
"It has been an honor and great fun to serve as dean," said Perlman, who has been the NU law dean since 1983. "I think the college is in a very strong position with an excellent faculty, a good student body and wide alumni support. It is an opportune time for me to turn the leadership over to someone else. After 15 years of administrative responsibilities I want to spend more time pursuing my interests in teaching and research.
"It is my intention to return to the faculty here at the Law College. Susan and I are very content in Lincoln. This is a great place to live and work."
Perlman earned his bachelor's (1963) and juris doctorate (1966) degrees at Nebraska and served on the NU law faculty from 1967-73. In 1974, he joined the faculty of the University of Virginia Law School, where he taught until he returned to Nebraska as dean. He served for nine months in 1995-96 as acting senior vice chancellor for academic affairs.
"Harvey Perlman has distinguished himself as one of America's leading law deans," said Chancellor James Moeser. "That he is loved by his faculty is itself an extraordinary fact. In addition, however, he is widely respected nationally as a scholar and a leader in the profession. He leaves a strong legacy. I am gratified that he will not be leaving Nebraska, but will remain as a faculty member. I consider the law school to be one of the university's jewels, and I will place a very high priority on finding a successor to Dean Perlman who is worthy to take up his mantle."
Perlman serves on a number of legal entities in Nebraska and nationally. He has published widely in the field of trademarks and unfair competition law.
"Harvey Perlman is a wonderful academic leader, as highly respected by legal scholars across the country as he is cherished by his colleagues here," said Rick Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. "We will sorely miss Dean Perlman's leadership, but fortunately the entire campus will continue to benefit from Professor Perlman's sharp intellect, wise counsel, good humor, and intense commitment to the University of Nebraska"
Edwards will appoint a committee to perform a national search for a new dean the Law College.
- Tom Simons
Higher admissions standards and concentrated efforts to recruit top-caliber students have resulted in the best freshman class ever to enter the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, including a record number of National Merit Scholars.
UNL Chancellor James Moeser said, "One of my major goals has been to recruit the best and brightest Nebraskans to the University of Nebraska. Clearly our efforts are paying off in dramatic fashion."
James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, said this year's freshmen - the first group admitted under new admissions requirements - sport better academic records than previous classes. He credited the new standards for the increase in top scholars, as well as for a slight decline in freshman enrollment.
"Because of the new admission standards, we knew we would have a smaller freshman class this year," Griesen said. "The numbers we're experiencing are about what we expected. However, within that overall number of new freshmen, we're finding we have even more top scholars and more students who scored a 25 and above on their ACT than we had last year."
He said there will be close to 3,100 new freshmen on campus when all the final figures are tallied - about 500 fewer freshmen than last year.
Griesen said that last year, 269 students scored 30 or better on their ACT. This year, 347 student scored that well - a 29 percent increase. There was also an 8 percent increase in the number of students who scored 25-29 on their ACT. Griesen said that should mean higher retention rates for students, which in the future could more than offset the decline in the size of the enrolling class.
In addition, Nebraska enrolled 36 new National Merit Scholar Finalists this fall, as compared to 18 who enrolled in 1996.
The chancellor noted that recruiting efforts have succeeded in informing high-ability students that the university offers first-rank educational opportunities. More students are choosing to attend the university, he said, rather than leaving for similar universities in neighboring states.
"We offer an education that is second to none," Moeser said.
"The average ACT score for NU freshmen last year was 23.28. It has increased this year to 24.26," Griesen said. "It's very hard to move the average for a group of 3,000 or more. The fact that the average increased an entire percentage point in just one year is remarkable."
The number of freshmen who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class is also up. This year, 25 percent were in the top percentile; last year 21 percent were. The number of new freshmen who graduated in the top half of their class rose to 86 percent, up from last year's 78 percent, and the great majority of those below the 50th percentile scored a 20 or higher on the ACT.
"The admissions standards are playing out exactly as we expected and hoped they would," he said. "Clearly we're having success in attracting Nebraska's best and brightest."
- Jim Ballard
Pam Holley-Wilcox, director of Information Technology Support, issued the following statement Wednesday regarding problems with portions of the university's E-Mail system.
"As has been previously announced, there is a serious problem with POPmail on the UNLINFO system. POPmail is overwhelming the system, causing unacceptable delays in response time for all users logged into UNLINFO or UNLINFO2. POPmail users are also affected because the system overload can slow or even stop delivery of electronic mail for a brief period last week.
"There are a number of factors that contribute to this problem. Information Services is addressing some of these as described below and we are asking your cooperation in addressing others. If you use POPmail with the UNLINFO system, you can help by immediately changing the following settings in your POPmail program (such as Netscape or Eudora).
The incoming (POP) mail server should be set to popmail.unl.edu.
The outgoing (SMTP) mail server should be set to unlinfo.unl.edu.
The E-Mail and return addresses should be set to <loginname>@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Note with the change to the popmail server name, this parameter is now required to alleviate delays.
And most important, set your computer to check for mail no more frequently than every 15 minutes (30 minutes is recommended).
If you need help changing these settings or are unsure whether these instructions apply to you, calls the IS Helpdesk at 472-3970.
If these voluntary changes do not sufficiently improve UNLINFO system performance, further action may be taken. If that occurs, your POPmail may not work properly if you have not changed your settings as recommended.
Even after taking these steps, because UNLINFO and UNLINFO2 are old systems that are heavily loaded, response time will tend to be slow, especially during times of peak demand. As a long-term solution, IS is acquiring a replacement for the UNLINFO system and we appreciate your patience as we deploy the system. We will keep you informed as developments occur with the system replacement. After the machine arrives this fall and initial testing is completed, we will allow users to have accounts on the new machine for testing. We will announce a timetable for these events via University announcements found on the Faculty and Staff Web page at http://www.unl.edu.
Back to menu