UNL Charter Day celebration focuses on growth after months of change

While Charter Day is celebrated annually at the university, this year’s event comes after several months of change at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Charter Day recognizes the university’s founding in 1869. This year, it focused on people’s “why” for being at the university. UNL Interim Chancellor Katherine Ankerson said her “why” begins with the faculty, staff and students.

“Our people embody two of UNL's most remarkable and enduring traits: authenticity and generosity,” Ankerson said. “Faculty in their mentorship, staff in their service to students, students in sharing their talents with us, and alumni and partners in their steadfast support.”

The deans of all nine colleges also shared their why, along with leaders from other departments on campus like student life and libraries. Many shared ways they focused on experiential learning and preparing students for the workforce.

Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, College of Architecture dean, acknowledged several projects meant to help communities, including one aiming to create more affordable housing options in North Omaha and another helping a rural town make plans for the future.

“We educate change makers that are also creative problem solvers who build careers here in Nebraska and make impacts well beyond the state,” he said. “Our ‘why’ is to create vibrant and healthy communities.”

Andy Belser, dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts, focused on emerging media arts and taking it across the college and campus. He pointed to several new programs, including a bachelor’s degree to help students work in theme parks and films and another focused on sound technology. Belser also mentioned encouraging students to double major outside of the college — music with business and acting with marketing, for example.

“Our students are going to be newly career-focused because of the emerging media arts, global experiences and interdisciplinary career opportunities,” Belser said.

Lance Pérez, dean of the College of Engineering, brought up a focus on artificial intelligence through the Prairie Initiative.

“What this initiative seeks to do is to make sure that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln continues to be the state's resource for AI expertise, whether it's enhancing the education of students across campus, by leading AI research that our faculty are doing, or whether it's training our staff on how to effectively use AI,” Pérez said.

In her closing remarks, Ankerson said the UNL campus would start creating a strategic plan that is in line with the "Odyssey to the Extraordinary” plan pushed by NU President Jeffrey Gold.

“The challenges before us are real, but they are matched by our collective capacity for creativity, collaboration and courage,” Ankerson said.

In an interview after the event, Ankerson said she is optimistic about the future of the campus, even in the wake of budget cuts and change.

“Today is a really good example of how to kind of recognize where we are, to level set, and to move forward and to cast that vision,” Ankerson said. “I always think that remembering your purpose, remembering your ‘why,’ gives you that North Star that we all work collectively towards.”

The celebration comes after several months of change for the Lincoln campus. In December, the Board of Regents voted to eliminate four departments at UNL — earth and atmospheric sciences; textiles, merchandising and fashion design; statistics; and educational administration.

The cuts were part of $27.5 million in budget reductions, including $6.5 million in proactive cuts.

In January about a month after the vote, former Chancellor Rodney Bennett resigned. The faculty senate had approved a no-confidence vote in him due to the budget cuts and other performance concerns. He received a $1.1 million payout, which the UNL chapter of the American Association of University Professors criticized.

“The university cannot credibly claim that it lacks the resources to sustain academic programs and faculty positions while simultaneously paying over a million dollars to a failed chancellor,” Sarah Zuckerman, President of the UNL AAUP, said in a January statement. “This payout exposes the administration’s financial crisis narrative as a matter of priorities, not necessity.”

Ankerson was named interim chancellor following Bennett’s departure. She stepped into the role as faculty, staff and students continued to share frustration with the budget cut decisions and the process that led to them.