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The day of service also recognizes the foundation’s 80th anniversary that day as well as the service it and many generous donors have provided to the university over the past eight decades.
More than 120 foundation employees will provide various help to about 20 different university affiliates and organizations, with projects and activities that include cleaning, landscaping, painting, organizing, making rugs and blankets for people in need and much more.
UNMC entities receiving service on June 3 include:
- Munroe-Meyer Institute: Painting, weeding, mulching and cleaning playground and game room areas.
- 2016 “Finding A Cure” Cattlemen’s Ball: Event setup and organization in Lincoln.
A brief history of the university and its foundation
The University of Nebraska was founded on Feb. 15, 1869, less than two years after Nebraska became the nation’s 37th state, and is the state’s only public university. Founded in Lincoln, the university included a medical center in Omaha beginning in 1902.
The University of Nebraska Foundation was established on June 3, 1936, as a private, nonprofit organization to serve the university system. Edgar A. Burnett, then chancellor of the university, encouraged state business and civic leaders to help establish the foundation, which would carry out the work of soliciting private support to help sustain a level of academic excellence at the university that would not be possible through state funding alone.
The University of Nebraska was reorganized under a 1968 act of the Nebraska Legislature. The legislation provided for the addition of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (formerly the municipal University of Omaha) and designated the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Medical Center as separate campuses.
In 1991, the University of Nebraska at Kearney (formerly Kearney State College) became a campus of the university, and in the following year its charitable foundation merged with the University of Nebraska Foundation.
The foundation has offices in Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha.