UNL may face fourth administrative opening
By Pat Dinslage
Staff Reporter
Who’s minding the store these days
at the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln?
With two top administrative posi
tions at UNL being filled by interim
staff and a third to be vacated Friday,
the campus may face yet a fourth
opening.
The position of UNL chancellor
will be open if Chancellor Martin
Massengale accepts the position of
NU president.
In addition to the chancellor’s
position, UNL is searching for a di
rector of university relations, a vice
chancellor for research/dean of gradu
ate studies and a vice chancellor for
academic affairs.
Massengale said that “very com
petent, capable, intelligent people with
long-term administrative experience”
have stepped in to fill the two posi
tions of vice chancellor for research
and university relations director.
William Splinter, formerly the
associate vice chancellor for research,
is serving as interim vice chancellor
for research.
“He is very capable, with long
term administrative experience, who
has stepped in with little loss of
momentum (of the department),”
Massengale said.
Neale Copple, interim university
relations director, has worked in many
capacities at UNL, Massengale said,
including dean of the journalism col
lege.
“He has a long history and excel
lent record of serving the university,”
Massengale said.
“We are most fortunate to have
these kind of people to fill in,” he
said. “The search process (for the two
positions) is moving along.”
The position of vice chancellor for
academic affairs will be vacant with
the departure of Robert Furgason on
Friday. Massengale said that he ex
pects to name an interim vice chan
cellor before Furgason’s departure.
However, formation of a search
committee to fill the position may be
delayed until an evaluation of the
academic affairs position is complete,
Massengale said. He does not antici
pate any major changes in the posi
tion or its responsibilities.
Massengale said that he expects
the position will be filled permanently
by late spring or early summer.
Joe Rowson, NU director of public
affairs, said that if Massengale ac
cepts the presidential position, he will
not necessarily assume the presidency
immediately.
“He’s involved in the UNL cam
pus,” Rowson said, “and there would
probably be some reasonable amount
of time before turning over to the
interim person.”
Dunn
Continued from Page 1
phonograph needle,” he said. “I can
always talk.”
This, he said, is an essential part of
his job. Whether in front of groups,
classes, or just his student assistants,
he constantly is talking about the stars.
His interest in astronomy, he said,
began with a professor at Midland
College in Fremont.
When he was 10 years old, Dunn
began visiting his neighbor, Gilbert
Leuninghoener, to use his stereo and
help with his photography.
“I just thought he was a neat guy,”
Dunn said. “And I didn’t know when
I first met him that he had anything to
do with astronomy.”
Dunn enrolled at Midland and
eventually took a position at the col
lege’s planetarium, working under
Leuninghoener. He began to focus
his education on astronomy.
After graduating with a composite
science degree in 1969, Dunn moved
to Louisiana where he was in charge
of the planetarium at the Lafayette
Natural History Museum and Plane
tarium for a little over a year.
In 1971, he heard of an opening at
UNL and returned to Nebraska to
become planetarium coordinator at
Morrill Hall.
Since then, he said, a large part of
the excitement of his job has come
from working with his student assis
tants.
“I think they’re a lot of fun,” he
said. “Though I’m not saying I have
n’t gotten a few extra gray hairs be
cause of some of them.”
He said he feels most rewarded
when he hears what his former stu
dents are doing now.
“They still enjoy^astronomy, and
they enjoy music, and they want to
learn something.”
In a time when a broad knowledge
of the world is uncommon, Dunn said,
such an attitude is refreshing. People
in other disciplines sometimes are
unaware of even the simplest science
principles, he said.
“I think that sometimes people today
get too narrow. They get narrowed
into their own field,” he said.
Dunn, 44, said he worries about
people his age because their interests
can be so limited.
“They’ve gotten so much into their
jobs and whatever that if you try to
talk to them about music, they hear
only what’s on their clock radios and
in elevators.”
He said he tries to encourage people
to develop broader interests.
Although his field is astronomy,
he said, he still has an appreciation of
music and history and art. This, he
said, makes for a happier life.
“The neat people, he said, “are
the people who find all things inter
esting.”
Students
Continued from Page 6
Phil Gosch, University of Nebraska
Lincoln student regent, voted for
Massengale. He said he thinks the
argument that the campuses disagree
about Massengale was “completely
blown out of proportion.”
“I think in the past year, Dr. Mas
sengale served all three of our cam
puses and especially all three of our
faculties in a very fair and equal
manner,” Gosch said.
Gosch said he thinks Masscngalc
was the best person interviewed by
the regents. And, although it is unfor
tunate that the board’s vote was not
unanimously in favoi of Massengale,
this shouldn’t hurt his presidency,
Gosch said.
i pqlice^__
Beginning midnight Wednesday,
Nov. 21
1:13 p.m. — Car mirror damaged,
19th and R streets parking lot, $50.
1:37 p.m. — Hit-and-run accident,
Westbrook Music Building park
ing lot, $300.
2:58 p.m. — Woman followed by
man, 33rd and Holdrege streets.
3:32 p.m. — Tractor-car accident,
9th and U streets parking lot, un
known damage.
(Beginning midnight Thursday,
Nov. 22
12:42 a.in. — False fire alarm,
Richards Hall.
1:47 a.m. — Man taken to detoxi
fication, 18th and R streets parking
lot.
Beginning midnight Friday,
Nov. 23
3:16 a.m. — Car radiator cap taken,
S Street between 15th and 16th
streets, $10.
3:16 a.m. — Keys taken, Selleck
Residence Hall, $5 loss, $10 dam
age.
Beginning midnight Saturday,
Nov. 2\
4:21 p.m. — Burglary, Coilcge of
Business Administration, $140.
A search committee would be
formed to fill the UNL chancellor
position, Rowson said, and Massen
gale would appoint an interim chan
cellor.
The chancellor search process
would be similar to the one recently
completed for the NIJ president and
probably would take about the same
amount of time, possibly six or seven
months, Rowson said.
Don Blank, NU Board of Regents
chairman, said that one difference
would be the makeup of the search
committee. The chancellor search
committee probably would be more
heavily faculty-oriented than the
presidential committee.
Rowson said that the recommen
dations of the search committee would
be forwarded to the NU president,
who would make a recommendation
to the board. The board would do the
actual hiring, which is normal proce
dure for any position at the college
dean level or above.
Blank of McCook said that the
search committee would consider both
internal and external applicants for
the chancellor’s position.
“This is a very historic time in the
development of the university,”
Rowson said, referring to the selec
tion of a new president and the filling
of top UNL administrative slots.
“All personalities involved at this
time are going to have a major impact
on UNL and the future of the univer
sity.”
~.t~"-,.T^n
r'*
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