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A Jazzy JuneA crowd of over 2,000 is entertained by Angela Hagenbach and Friends Tuesday evening at the Jazz in June concert in the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery Sculpture Garden. (Photo: Richard Wright) |
Two NU professors will explore the site of an ancient pirate operation as part of an international expedition to the coast of Turkey.
Michael Hoff, associate professor of art and art history, and LuAnn Wandsnider, associate professor of anthropology, will spend six weeks beginning June 26 at the site known as rough Cilicia on the Mediterranean Sea north of Cyprus. The two Nebraska professors are part of 10-person crew led by Roman historian Nick Rauh from Purdue University.
The area, a backwater of the Roman Empire encompassing about 2,000 square kilometers, is unique for several reasons, Wandsnider said. First, the site is terra incognita, meaning it has never been examined by professional archeologists - unusual for that part of the world.
The area was also the site of a massive pirate operation during the Roman reign. Not limited to a few renegade ships, the pirates boasted a rather "cosmopolitan" community 70,000 strong, Wandsnider said.
"They would harass the Roman villages around the Mediterranean and traffic in various kinds of goods," she said. "The Romans were worried about keeping them under control and they would send out expeditions to intercept and deal with this pirate menace."
The pirates pioneered a democratic society, signs of which may be difficult to detect archeologically, Wandsnider said. But the possibilities still drew researchers to the site. The team also wants to explore how people from the developed, cosmopolitan pirate community might have interacted with the nearby rural, traditional camps.
As an anthropological archeologist, Wandsnider's job on the team is to determine what the landscape looked like in Roman times and how it was used by various inhabitants. She said the area is rife with remains, dating back to 500 B.C. and spanning several cultural eras, including the Greek, Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman.
While Wandsnider will be charged with exploring the outlying areas, Hoff's crew will survey the ruins to map out the site's ancient Roman towns.
The expedition team includes researchers from Turkey and Denmark, as well as Yi-Sing Chung, an NU graduate student who will help Wandsnider with her work. The project is funded by entities at participating institutions, including the University Research Council at Nebraska.
-Amy Cyphers, Public Relations
A group calling itself Citizens for Nebraska's Future is circulating an initiative petition to limit state and local taxes. If the petition eventually becomes a part of the Nebraska Constitution, it may have different short- and long-term impacts.
Initially - fiscal year 1999-2000 - the petition seems likely to force lower state spending. In subsequent years, however, spending could increase, albeit at a slower rate than in the past. An example using actual tax totals from the past may be instructive.
According to the Legislative Fiscal Office, state taxes subject to the limits proposed in the petition increased from $677 million in FY 1981-82 to $2.113 billion in FY 1996-97. Local property and sales taxes increased from $789 million to $1.758 billion during the same period.
Based on population growth and inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), state taxes could have increased to $1.218 billion by FY 1996-97 if the petition had been in place. In relative terms, this would have been a 42 percent reduction.
Similarly, local taxes could have increased to $1.418 billion, a 19 percent reduction from actual taxes levied.
It is important to acknowledge that limits would have been higher than those suggested in the previous paragraphs to the extent spending for federal mandates or emergencies had been allowed. For example, mandated Medicaid and special education spending increased $316 million during the period. This would have cut the $895 million state funding gap by about one-third. The $340 million funding gap for local governments could have been reduced in a similar way.
Notwithstanding adjustments for federal mandates and emergencies, much of the reduced spending would have accrued to state sales and income taxpayers, not local property taxpayers.
But to complicate matters further, state aid to local governments and individuals has been the fastest growing area of state government expenditures in recent years. Thus, had the limit been in place since 1982, less property tax relief from state aid would have been the likely consequence. With fewer property tax dollars available as well, the impact on many local governments, including school districts, could have been substantial.
Details regarding how governmental units would respond to limits on tax revenue growth are speculative. Generally speaking, however, new programs and services would become much more difficult to initiate. Ditto for expansion of current programs. These possibilities may seem attractive for a significant number of taxpayers.
In contrast, other taxpayers may view enhancements in quality of life as having both public and private dimensions. They don't object to growth in government spending as long as it doesn't exceed personal income growth. Some in the latter group also recognize that productivity, not the inflation rate, should be the primary factor that determines government workers' earnings.
University and legislative researchers have calculated the possible effects on the University of Nebraska of the proposed Revenue Limitation Amendment.
Should the amendment be enacted by the voters, it would take effect in fiscal year 1999-2000. Some (including State Sens. Bob Wickersham and Roger Wehrbein, who released an impact study in late May) estimate that the state appropriation to the University of Nebraska budget would be reduced by $20 million in that year. In addition, state aid to elementary and secondary education, community colleges and state colleges would be cut.
In a June 5 letter to the Omaha World-Herald, NU President Dennis Smith said that to offset the $20 million reduction, the university would be forced to raise tuition by as much as 22 percent in a single year (a 1 percent increase in tuition generates about $900,000 in revenue). A tuition increase of this magnitude would limit access to the university because of reduced affordability, Smith said.
When questioned at the Board of Regents meeting in May, Smith said that under the proposed amendment, the university might have difficulty competing for faculty because salaries could not remain competitive with peer institutions. Student recruitment would be hampered because students often make enrollment decisions based on costs of tuition, all other factors being equal, he said.
The university might also have difficulty responding to needs of Nebraska's citizens because research and technology tranfer activities might be impaired, Smith said.
Lincoln businesswoman and lawyer Cynthia Milligan was named the eighth dean of the College of Business Administration. She began her duties June 1.
Milligan, president of Cynthia Milligan and Associates, consultants to the banking industry, replaced John W. "Jack" Goebel, who has served as dean since Jan. 1, 1995. Goebel has returned to the teaching faculty in the School of Accountancy.
Richard Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, selected Milligan following a national search. "Her excellent background in business, the legal profession and government, her experience in education and her intimate knowledge of the state of Nebraska make her an ideal candidate to move CBA forward," he said.
Milligan has been active in the Nebraska business community for 20 years and has practiced tax and corporate law in Nebraska for 10 years. She has been a regular guest lecturer on banking for CBA.
Milligan was education adviser to Gov. Kay Orr and director of the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance from 1987 to 1991, serving as the chief regulator of the financial and securities industries in the state. She founded Cynthia Milligan and Associates in 1991. She served as adjunct professor of law (taxation) at Georgetown University in 1975 and the University of Nebraska in 1980, and as adjunct professor of law (banking) at Nebraska in 1994.
"Educating people is one of the most important things one can do and the university is one of the state's greatest assets. I'm looking forward to being part of the University of Nebraska team," Milligan said.
"Two of my major goals as dean will be to help the college build on its strengths and to act as bridge between the college and the Nebraska business community. I want CBA and the business community to become even greater resources for each other than they already are."
Milligan was appointed in January to a term as a commissioner of the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. From 1981 to 1984, she was on the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Post-secondary Education.
The daughter of former NU Chancellor Clifford Hardin, Milligan earned a bachelor's degree with honors in French at the University of Kansas (1967) and a juris doctorate with honors at George Washington University (1970). She practiced law in Washington, D.C., from 1970 to 1977, then was senior partner in the Lincoln law firm of Rembolt, Ludtke, Parker, Milligan and Berger from 1977 to 1987. There, she practiced in the areas of general business, international business, taxation, securities, banking, corporate, partnership, estate planning and probate law.
She serves on the boards of several organizations, including Norwest Corp. of Minneapolis and Gallup Inc. of Princeton, N.J., and Lincoln. She is one of 100 fellows of the George H. Gallup International Institute at Princeton.
Milligan will receive an annual salary of $160,000, of which $30,000 will come from an endowed fund established in 1996 at the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the dean of the College of Business Administration.
Goebel joined the university's business administration faculty as a professor of accounting and business law in 1959 and served three terms as chair or acting chair of the accounting and management departments before being named vice chancellor for business and finance in 1981. He was named associate chancellor in 1990 and served as interim chancellor through most of 1991, between the terms of Chancellors Martin Massengale and Graham Spanier.
"I want to express my sincere appreciation to Jack Goebel for his tenure as dean of CBA," Edwards said. "He has been a very distinguished administrator for the University of Nebraska, serving as a department chair, dean, vice chancellor and interim chancellor. I'm delighted that he will remain with the university in order to share his vast experience with our accountancy students."
-Tom Simons, Public Relations
As the University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources enters its next 25 years, collaborative partnerships will be increasingly essential, said Irv Omtvedt, vice chancellor for IANR.
In an era of dwindling dollars for higher education, collaborating with the public and private sectors will be crucial for meeting Nebraskans' needs efficiently and effectively, Omtvedt said.
IANR's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources already is aggressively teaming with other colleges to enhance and expand Nebraskans' educational opportunities, he said. For example, the college collaborates with the College of Business Administration to offer a joint agribusiness major and with the College of Arts and Sciences to offer a joint environmental studies major, he said. Through an agreement with Kansas State University, Nebraska residents can attend KSU to earn a veterinary science degree while paying in-state tuition. The college also has undergraduate student transfer programs with all Nebraska community and state colleges. In IANR, excellent partnerships exist for research and outreach programs, he said.
"There will be more and more of those opportunities in the future," Omtvedt said.
Omtvedt made his remarks after Gov. Ben Nelson proclaimed May 21 as University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Day.
The governor's proclamation recognizes IANR for contributing directly to improving the economic, social and environmental well-being of all Nebraskans and for focusing on programs that will shape Nebraska as a leader in the 21st century in food, agriculture, agribusiness, natural resources and human resources.
"We're proud of our accomplishments and also of the confidence the governor and the state are placing on the Institute," Omtvedt said. "We also recognize the challenges and responsibilities this places on us as well."
The University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources was formed in 1974 as the result of a legislative law passed in 1973. The legislature recognized both the importance agriculture and natural resources have in the lives and futures of all Nebraskans, and the significance these programs play within the university.
"Because of the Institute's statewide mission, we attempt to be responsive to our clientele, who are constantly seeking new, efficient, innovative ways to meet Nebraska's needs, now and into the future," Omtvedt said.
The primary components of IANR include the following: Agricultural Research Division, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, College of Human Resources and Family Sciences, Cooperative Extension, Conservation and Survey Division, International Programs, Nebraska Forest Service and the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. Besides the Lincoln-based IANR personnel, IANR staff are located at the district research and extension centers at Grand Island, Norfolk, North Platte and Scottsbluff; at the Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead and in the Cooperative Extension offices serving each Nebraska county.
- Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer
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