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August 24, 1987 University of Nebraska-LincolnVol. 87 No. 2
Millions proposed for NU research
By Amy Edwards
Senior Reporter
A proposal for a $60 million research
package may give the University of
Nebraska the chance to reach a goal of
expanding its research budget.
Gov. Kay Orr anounced Thursday a
plan that would appropriate $60 mil
lion within the next five years for
research at the three NU campuses.
Orr said she would request a plan
outlining how the money will be spent
each year for the next five years. She
has set a Nov. 1 deadline for that
accountability study.
Joe Rowson, NU public affairs direc
tor, said the details of the plans won’t
be finished until Orr sets the guidelines.
The money will come from existing
tax funds and will be used for research
in computer science technology and
other sciences, Orr said. The money
will be used to hire new faculty mem
bers, increase salaries of current faculty
members, support graduate-assistant
programs and buy research equipment.
The Peter Kiewit Foundation will
add a $7.5 million grant to the gover
nor’s finance for a link with Dartmouth
College in Hanover, N.H., for joint
research with UNL’s College of Engi
neering and Technology.
Donations of $10 million from pri
vate sources are expected to accom
pany the package for university research
programs.
The money for the research will be
divided between UNL, the University of
Nebraska at Omaha and the University
of Nebraska Medical Center, Orr said.
Orr’s proposal came shortly after
meeting with U S West executives who
are planning to establish a research
project in one of 14 Western states it
services.
Each of these states has submitted a
proposal to the corporation to try to
entice it into its business community.
The presentations will be finished Sept.
9 and the decision about the location of
the research project will be given after
mid-September, said Robin Baca, man
ager of corporate information at U S
West.
The U S West presentation last Wed
nesday was used to unveil Orr’s prop
osal, Orr said. U S West visited Nebraska
as a possible site for a new research
facility.
The proposed research package would
enhance Nebraska’s opportunity to
attract U S West, Orr said.
She said she did not suggest that U S
West should support funding for uni
versity research, but that U S West
wants to know Nebraska’s attitude
toward education. If U S West decides
to locate in Nebraska, corporate offi
cials will be allowed to help make some
decisions on how to use the research
funding.
The proposal will include a research
fund increase of $4 million a year for
the next five years and $20 million
year after that. The university now
receives $17 million in state general
funds for research.
Baca said the future of the company
is based on its ability to compete.
U S West operates in 14 Western
states and will expand a research facil
ity in one of them. Baca said the
research program would bring jobs to
1,500 people in technical engineering
and other related sciences.
Baca said a list of five categories was
given to each of the 14 states vying for
the U S West facility. The criteria
included technical access, transporta
tion, businesses and employment,
quality of life and education.
U S West particularly is interested in
minority education and the number of
scientific and technical engineers who
remain in each state after graduation,
Baca said.
Stan Liberty, dean of the College of
engineering and technology, said uni
versity officials proposed to U S West
the forging of a partnership with U S
West, Dartmouth College, and UNL.
Liberty said the diversity of the pri
vate college, the public university and
the corporation would create ‘‘a strong
coupling to address a whole series for
technical research."
The merging of these resources
eventually could put the Unted States
back into competition with countries
like Japan that have more competitive
fields of technology, he said.
Liberty said minority students and
women should be part of UNL’s pro
gram. Dartmouth College provides a
link to many colleges with high percen
tages of minority students, he said.
Prairie View A & M, in Prairie View,
Texas, is one of these colleges. Each
year, Prairie View graduates 100 engi
neering students. Eighty percent of
those graduates are minority students
and 50 percent are women.
NU’s proposal includes an arrange
ment for Prairie View graduates to
work for U S West and to attend gradu
ate school at UNL and Dartmouth.
See ORR on 9
Officials say midyear cuts to affect services, not education
By E ric Paulak
Staff Reporter
In the aftermath of $510,000 in midyear
budget cuts, University of Nebraska officials say
the quality of education won't be affected, but
many Nebraskans will notice a decline in servi
ces provided by university programs.
Because of budget cuts passed by the Nebraska
Legislature, the College of Dentistry’s Comniun
ity Dentistry program and the Division of Con
tinuing Studies field studies programs each lost
two faculty positions.
The Division of Continuing Studies was the
most affected by the cutbacks. Because of
$100,000 that was trimmed off, one faculty posi
tion was cut and one position left open by a
retirement was eliminated.
To compensate for the lost positions, Mark
Dresselhaus, director of business operations for
the Division of Continuing Studies, said instruc
tors are no longer sent out-state to teach classes
to businesses. They now teach the classes by
video tape and live video hook ups.
The new video classes, called Corpnet, are se'
up by ETV and the college that offers the course.
Dresselhaus said the new system will let UNL
Division of Continu
ing Studies, College of
Dentistry and athletic
department hit hardest.
teach more out-state classes to larger audiences
for less money.
Some people may like the video classes, Dres
selhaus said, but without the videotapes, the
courses could not be offered.
Because the cutbacks in the field studies
were not enough, Dresselhaus said, funds to the
Flights and Study tour coordinator, run through
International Educational Services, were elim
inated.
Peter Levitov, IES director, said 72 percent of
the study tour coordinator’s salary came from
the Division of Continuing Studies. Because of
the cut, he said, he either had to eliminate the
position or find alternative funds. The necessary
money for the next year has been found, but
Levitov said he doesn’t know where the money
will come from after that.
The other department hit hard by the budget
cuts was the College of Dentistry. According to
Dean Henry Cherrick, in order to meet a $120,000
cut, the Community Dentistry program was
eliminated.
In the program, dental students practice their
skills at hospitals around the state. The only
place they will go to now is the State Penitentiary .
Cherrick said this is not the most ideal situa
tion, but it will not affect the students' education.
Two faculty members also were eliminated
from the dental college.
Cherrick said the dental college will not be
able to cut any more programs without diminish
ing the quality of education because more
faculty would have to be eliminated.
The largest cut, $225,000, came from the
athletic department and the Bob Devaney Sports
Center. Norma Knobel, the athletic department
assistant business manager, said they haven’t
been affected by the cuts. She said they were
able to make up for the loss from outside
sources.
Faculty Senate President Jim Louis said he is
optimistic that UNL’s financial situation will
improve higher education.
Other departments that received cuts last
year were the offices of academic affairs with a
cut of $15,000, and business and finance, cut
$50,000.
In the past five years, NU has absorbed more
than $5 million in budget cuts mandated by the
Legislature and approved by the NU Board of
Regents.
Dean Fletcher browses for books In the Nebraska Bookstore Sunday. The bookstore, normally not open on Sundays,
was open from 1 to 5:30 p.m., allowing students to buy books before classes started.
k
rower our
at Pound
By Lynne Bomberger
Staff Reporter
About 200 residents of Pound Hall,
513 N. 17th St., were evacuated from
the building after a main electrical
transformer blew out at about 6 p.m.
Friday.
The students waited until 7:45, when
fire fighters found no active fire and
said residents could return.
Power was restored at about 2:30
a.m. Saturday after three temporary
transformers were installed, said Bob
Wolz, Pound Hall residence director.
While housing maintenance crews
installed the temporary transformers,
Pound Hall residents could use res
trooms and showers in Neihardt Resi
dence Center, Wolz said.
A permanent transformer will be
installed in Pound as soon as one is
found and the time to install it is con
venient, Wolz said. The earliest possi
ble time, Wolz said, will be Thanksgiv
ing or Christmas break when students
are gone.
Through staff control, overcrowding
was not a problem in Neihardt, Wolz
said. “Everyone was real cooperative
and reacted quite commendably," he
said.
An emergency transformer provided
energy for lighting hallways and stair
ways, Wolz said. The blown transformer
was more than 25 years old, Wolz said.
J “Its time had come,” he said.