Finalists for position are
strong pool, official says
opnnter to retire
from job in June
By Kathryn Borman
Staff Reporter
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanicr
has again selected finalists for a new
vice chancellor for research, and the
search committee hopes this second
round will result in a successful match.
A previous comm ilice conducled a
search and offered the position last
June to Anthony Hines, a former dean
at the University of Missouri. Hines
accepted the position and then de
clined two hours later, temporarily
halting the search.
A new committee was formed to
begin the present search, said Stan
Liberty, dean of the College of Engi
neering and Technology and chair
man of the search committee for the
new vice chancellor for research.
JThc new search began in August,
Liberty said, three months earlier in
the year than the first search. The
committee has been screening appli
cations since November.
The current pool of five candidates
is very strong, Liberty said. He pre
dicted the position would be filled by
about March 15.
The current vice chancellor for
research, William Splinter, is retiring
June 30.
The vice chancellor for research is
responsible forgrantapplicationsand
programs, patenting of new discovcr
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les and technology and administering
a state grant to the University of Ne
braska to foster research on all cam
puses, Splinter said.
He also listed administration of
Morrill Hall and the University Press
and regulation of policies regarding
research, such as those dealing with
animal care and use of human sub
jects, as major responsibilities of the
new vice chancellor.
Despite the scientific base of the
position, the vice chancellor for re
search does not have to be a specialist
in the hard sciences, such as physics
or biology, Splinter said.
One finalist for the position, Ro
nald Hcdlund from the University of
Rhode Island, is a social scientist,
Splinter said. Hcdlund was scheduled
to visit UNL Monday and today.
Two other finalists, Todd Schuster
from the University of Connecticut
and John Dimmock from the
McDonnell Douglas Corporation, will
visit UNL for interviews later this
month.
PriscillaGrcw from the University
of Minnesota and Donald Price from
the University of Florida, the remain
ing candidates, will visit UNL in Feb
ruary.
The new vice chancellor for re
search will be one of five vice chan
cellors at UNL and the second one
chosen by Spanicr since he came to
UNL in November 1990.
The other top administrator ap
pointed by Spanicr was Senior Vice
Chancel lor for Acadcm ic A ffairs Joan
R. Lcitxcl.
Vigil
Continued from Page 1
cultural student society, said the group
felt honoring Dr. King would bring
out the members’ ideas about the sta
tus of Dr. King’s dream today.
“In many aspects we (members of
.he student society) arc kind of invis
ible at the law school, but we want our
voices about King’s dream and other
things to be heard,” Sayers said.
Junior broadcasting major Linda
<ay Morgan said “this university is in
he state it is in now because a lot of
)copledon’l understand what his (Dr.
king’s) dream meant.”
Morgan suggested that the univer
sity could recognize Martin Luther
King Jr. Day by closing classes, set
ting up programs and bringing in
speakers.
“Dr. King is an important part of
aur education and wemusln’lncglcct
him or his dream,” Morgan said.
Kees’ work timeless, panel says
By Matthew Grant
Staff Reporter
The poems of Nebraskan
writer Weldon Kecs contain dark
and terrible elements, but
succeed because of their lime
lessness, an expert panel agreed
Monday.
“I think that’s because his
topics and affairs are those of the
heart, and we like to believe that
those arc things which don’t
change,” Simon Armitagc, a
British poet, said.
Armitagc lives in
Huddersfield, England and works
as a probation officer in
Manchester. He spent time in
Lincoln to film part of a docu
mentary on Kecs with the British
I Broadcasting Corporation, which
will be screened in March 1993.
Weldon Kecs was born in
Beatrice in 1914, the son of a
factory owner. In 1937 he
graduated from the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln. He then
moved to New York and later on
to San Francisco, where he
disappeared in 1955.
Simon Armitagc is the author
of two books of poetry, “Zoom!”
and “Kid.” He became interested
in Kecs about three years ago
when he read an article about
him in The Times Literary
Supplement.
Armitage’s work includes a
poem “Looking for Weldon
Kccs” and a number of poems
that use the persona Robinson.
The character, who originated in
Daniel Defoe’s novel “Robinson
Crusoe,” was also used by Kccs
in his poems. Armitage said the
Robinson character had been a
gangplank for him, paradoxically
allowing him to discover his own
voice in his poetry through the
character.
James Rcidcl, also a member
of the panel, is the editor of
Kccs’ essays and his novel “Fall
Quarter,” and she is writing a
biography on Kccs. Rcidcl, from
Cincinnati, said that interest in
Kccs by other poets was not
something new.
“Kccs’ entire career has been
maintained by other poets,” he
said. “Every generation that
comes along rediscovers him.”
And in his introduction to
“Fall Quarter,” Rcidcl draws
attention to the widespread
nature of Kccs’ art: “The three
volumes of poetry Kccs pub
lished before he disappeared in
1955, presumably by leaping off
the Golden Gate Bridge, the
Staci McKee/D N
Brrtish poet Simon Armitage holds one of his three
ed l^,du poetry is abstract,” Armitage
said. Often, it is based on everyday situations.”
- (i---—
/ heard it said the other day that if he had
gone missing he couldn’t have kept quiet
such was his interest in the arts.
— Armitage
British poet
scattered paintings, short stories,
the lost novels, and other works
Kees did in search of the avant
garde, should be seen as whole,"
he writes.
Part of the intrigue surround
ing Kees naturally spawns as a
result of the unusual end to his
known life. The accepted theory
is that he committed suicide, but
there arc discrepancies in the
normal patterns of suicide cases,
Armitage said. No note was left
and no body was ever found.
This is something Armitage and
'-TT
the BBC will be researching in
San Francisco later this week.
Armitage added, “1 heard it
said the other day that if he had
gone missing he coulan’t have
kept quiet, such was his interest
in the arts.” \
Despite the relevance of Kces’
works to his own writing,
Armitage said he had never
visited the United States before.
Some of the places he has been
so far have surprised him, he
said. But he found Beatrice,
where many of Kces’ poems arc
set, very much as he expected.
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Regents
Continued from Page 1
dealing with multicultural issues.
“Changing people’s altitudes and
perceptions has got to be our main
priority,” Blank said. “When we get
that done, we’ll probably be able to
make a lot of changes for the better.”
The six-page report outlined five
fundamental areas to be considered in
achieving multicultural diversity.
Among the committee’s recom
mendations arc:
• To establish and encourage a
clear commitment to the value of
diversity throughout the university
committee.
“University leaders should not only
state their commitment clearly and
continuously,” the report said, “but
should exhibit that commitment
through their actions.”
• To establish a system of ac
countability to measure progress to
ward achieving the recommendations
presented in the report.
To accomplish this, the committee
recommended implementing affirma
tive-action plansdcsigncd to “achieve
employee representation which re
flects a position of leadership among
similarly situated institutions,” per
formance evaluations at every level,
an annual report by each campus re
garding the status of diversity con
cerns and progress, and exit inter
views to determine whether equity
issues had influenced the departure of
any employee.
• To establish effective methods
of recruitment and retention of minor
ity faculty, staff, students and admin
istrators.
The committee suggested
mentoring and professional develop
ment plans and increased recruitment
of minority students, including meth
ods targeting bilingual families.
• The creation and maintenance of
campus climates conducive to suc
cess for all people, including intoler
ance of “unfair, illegal and irrational
discrimination in any form,” and ef
forts to “dispel the ignorance or anxi
ety associated with multicultural ex
periences.”
• Support and encouragement for
a diverse curriculum that would “ac
curately evidence a balanced reflec
tion of the contribution of all peoples,
regardless of culture, race or
ethnicity.”
• Pursuit oi a meaningful im
provement” in awareness and sensi
tivity to diversity issues among fac
ulty, staff.administrators and students.
Workshops, seminars, speakers,
forums and festivals on cultural di
versity were among the possibilities,
the report said.
The report concluded that the
committee’s overall goal was to pro
mote success of everyone in the NU
system.
Blank said he did not know what
action would be taken to implement
the committee’s recommendations,
but that specific action would be dis
cussed only after the report was ap
proved by the N U Board of Regents at
its next meeting in February.
He said he was “99 and nine-tenths
sure” the board would accept the
committee’s recommendations.
“I know the commitment’s there.”