The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, January 19, 1993, Page 6, Image 6
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 It's always summer bere! Why wait for summer? Get started on your tan today. As members of the Suntanning Association for Education, we pledge to provide you with personal care and stay in formed so that we are able to kegpyou informed. Call today to set up a free consultation. Alternative"|"y^ ^ ©48th & R, Centro Plaza 466-1202 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. ■■Hill ,11WIMBW—HBBMaBIWB—jasg—I and his q©im*y Two* Fisted Attack M . TODAY Tuesday, January 19th 2 pm • NE Union Main Lounge Sponsored by UPC/Visual Arts FREE 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.”