Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., opened his campus forum Monday expressing concern for Nebraskans who have been impacted by the devastating flood waters, especially those within the UNMC community.
“Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with everyone impacted,” Dr. Gold said. “This is a disaster in every possible sense of the word, and we’re here to help.”
He was joined by Juliann Sebastian, Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, who agreed. “We’re a caring community,” she said, noting that healing is one of our organizational values. “We are a university family, and we’ll do everything we can to help and support everyone.”
Together, they discussed an array of topics including the university’s budget; the College of Nursing’s growth in research and training grants; and how UNMC is meeting the need for nurses in Nebraska and enhancing active learning through the statewide use of iWalls.
Construction continues on the Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center, Dr. Gold said, which will have its grand opening ceremony in mid-September. He encouraged faculty members to engage with the center, which is a resource to create content and programs that help students learn in a new way. “If we don’t have engagement from the faculty and staff, it will just be a pretty building,” he said. “It’s the content we deliver that will make the difference.”
The iEXCEL team is available to assist faculty interested in using the technology, some of which is currently available through the Visualization Hub in the Sorrell Center.
Dr. Sebastian said the UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division in Norfolk will install the interactive iWall technology this summer. Already, iWalls exist on UNMC’s Scottsbluff, Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha campuses. “We’re finding it to be value-added technology,” she said, noting how faculty in Scottsbluff “have been fearless in developing content.”
In other business, Drs. Gold and Sebastian discussed:
- Recent testimony given during the Appropriations Committee’s hearing on the University of Nebraska’s budget. “The message was clear,” Dr. Gold said. “Higher education is part of the value proposition of the state of Nebraska,” and critical to the state’s economic prosperity and quality of life. The budget bill will be debated once committee hearings are complete later this month.
- Based on Friday’s Match Day, 40 percent of UNMC College of Medicine students will stay in Nebraska for their residency training, and 64 percent matched in primary care, which includes family medicine, internal medicine, internal medicine/pediatrics, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology. Dr. Sebastian noted that nursing graduates also tend to stay in the region where they trained, fulfilling workforce needs in critical access hospitals throughout the state.
- Construction soon will begin on the Williams Science Hall and Wittson Hall renovation project, which includes work in McGoogan Library. Dr. Gold said a website will be launched to keep faculty and staff aware of how traffic flow will be disrupted during the project.
- UNMC’s enrollment growth, which has climbed for the past 18 years, as well as its growth in research, noting how it strengthens the learning environment and enhances opportunities for patients.
- The Norfolk campus recently added an Accelerated BSN (bachelor of science in nursing), which now places the program on all five of UNMC’s nursing campuses. The intense 12-month program is for well-qualified students with a bachelor’s degree in another field. “It has been an enormously popular way to become a nurse,” Dr. Sebastian said, estimating that nearly 500 nurses have graduated since UNMC first offered the program in 2007.
- The former Charlie Graham lot, located on the northwest corner of 42nd and Leavenworth streets, will serve as a new south entrance to campus. The building will be razed and landscaping, benches and artwork will be installed later this summer on each side of 42nd Street. Private philanthropy will be used for the public art space, which should be completed for the grand opening of the Davis Global Center.