As he prepares to take office as president of the University of Nebraska System, UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, held a monthly all-campus forum that highlighted some of the challenges and projects before UNMC.
Dr. Gold led off by offering the university’s assistance resources and his personal best wishes for people in the med center community affected by the April 26 tornadoes.
“Asking for help is not a sign of weakness – it is a sign of strength,” Dr. Gold said.
Information on the resources that Dr. Gold highlighted – from paid leave and the University of Nebraska’s emergency assistance program to academic flexibility, wellness resources and the Maverick food pantry available for UNMC students – is available via UNMC Today at this link.
Dr. Gold also congratulated UNMC’s graduates, who took part in ceremonies last week in Omaha, Lincoln, Norfolk, Kearney and Scottsbluff.
“It was an amazing opportunity to literally shake hands with every one of our graduates and to extend my very best wishes to all of them,” he said, calling the time bittersweet after having participated in 31 commencement seasons as chancellor at UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, along with more than 90 related graduation ceremonies.
Dr. Gold gave an update on the transition for him to become NU president, saying that will take place July 1. He said a lot of discussion is ongoing about the details of the transition planning.
Dr. Gold was joined by Anne Barnes, vice chancellor for business, finance and business development, and Jennifer Bartholomew, associate vice chancellor for UNMC and vice president for Nebraska Medicine facilities management and planning, to provide other updates around UNMC.
Regarding UNMC’s budget, Barnes said campus officials are awaiting more formal instructions from the Office of the President regarding the budget. But she said the University of Nebraska System has provided draft salary guidelines to UNMC, which the campus will be sharing with its colleges, institutes and centers.
Said Dr. Gold, “The good news is the merit pool information was distributed and hopefully our colleges, institutes and centers can start to begin to act accordingly.”
Bartholomew offered updates on a number of UNMC construction projects.
- Student residence hall project. It is moving into full design of the project, which will be able to house 300 occupants. The hope is that it will open in time for the 2026-27 school year.
- Project Health. Following a Board of Regents vote in April, the project will move into its next planning phase. That involves looking at how to take the large overall project and get started on “bite-sized” chunks, while also looking toward the full execution of the work.
- The UNK-UNMC rural health education building. The construction schedule calls for the exterior to be done and enclosed by the end of summer, allowing interior work to continue inside over the winter. As part of the funding for that project, technology and classroom upgrades also will be occurring at the existing UNK Health Science Education Complex before the fall semester starts.
- Saddle Creek Campus. The Catalyst project is on track to open in the first quarter of 2025, while building work for the CORE administrative and research facility should start to come out of the ground this fall. Barnes also said plans are under discussion with a private developer to wrap a Saddle Creek Campus parking structure with approximately 250 apartment units for students, residents, faculty and others.
- UNMC College of Dentistry in Lincoln. It is undergoing a $17 million upgrade through deferred maintenance funding from the State of Nebraska and is scheduled to have most of those upgrades opened to students for fall 2024.
- Infectious Diseases Air Transport Training Facility. UNMC is undertaking a planning phase, with further federally funded work to follow, as the project is scheduled to open in fall 2025.
Dr. Gold also urged the UNMC community to participate in two different efforts.
One is the UNMC Community Engagement Survey, organized by the Office of Community Engagement to measure UNMC’s extensive outreach work as the university reapplies for a Carnegie Community Engaged Campus designation.
The survey is open now through May 15. Faculty and staff are asked complete the survey by clicking here.
The other is the Genetic Insights Project, a partnership between UNMC, Nebraska Medicine and Helix, a nationally known organization that leads population health and genomics across the United States.
UNMC and Nebraska Medicine employees, along with patients who have an existing Nebraska Medicine medical record, currently are eligible to receive genomic testing through the research project. As the project continues, employee family members and the general public will be able to participate.
The latest information is available on the Nebraska Medicine website.
Also see this UNMC Today article for more information.
In concluding the forum, Dr. Gold said he wanted people across the med center community to know how much they’re appreciated.
“As always, we should show some extra grace to each other,” he said. “We are a family. We are, of course, a wonderful and very important mission-driven organization, but we are also truly a family together. I wish you and yours the very best.”