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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1993)
I 35/20 Today clear and slightly —- warmer, partly cloudy tonight. Tomorrow dear with high near 40. pau|man/DN Bill Splinter, vice chancellor for research, holds a calculator with solar panels like the ones he once used in an experiment to dry grain with the panels. Splinter has won many awards in his 25 years at the university, especially for his agricultural researcn. Reflections of a researcher Years of service may be hard to leave behind By Kathryn Borman t>tan Heponer .. When Vice Chancellor for Research Bill SplinterVclires from UNL on June 30, he will leave with memo ries of many years of service and an en hanced research program, which he hopes will continue to grow without him. Splinter has spent 25 years as a faculty member at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. But his position as an administrator was not his first contact with UNL. He grew up in Hcrshey, west of North Platte, and got his undergraduate agricultural engineering degree from UNL in 1950. Splinter served as chairman of the depart ment of agricultural engineering from 1968-1988 and was associate vice chancellor for research for the next two years. He was appointed interim vice chancellor for research in 1990. When he recalls hig years at UNL, Splinter is reminded of countless awards and honors his research and dedication have earned him. u . ..... Amonghis more treasured honors, Splinter said','was his election into the National Academy of Engineering. He is the only Nebraskan to be elected, and serv/ed as president of the American Society qk Agricultural Engineers. “But of all the awards, one of the top ones was being named ‘Boss of the Year’ by... (the University of Nebraska Office Personnel Association) in 1990,” Splinter said. “I was pleased with that.” Looking to the future of research at UNL, Splinter said there was more to come. “This university docs need to get itself back into its role as a research university,” he said. Splinter said most research at UNL was being done by agricultural programs. A balance was needed throughout the rest of the university, he said. Splinter’s emphasis on research is based on more than educational exploration. “We don’t really conduct research to satisfy our curiosity,” he said. “But one of th<? Ley changes we’ve made is to use our research base to broaden the economic base of Nebraska.” When Splinter returned to the department of agricultural engineering at UNL — 18 years after his graduation — to serve as chairman, the department made research developments in alternative energy sources. These included research in sunshine con verted to electricity, wind energy, sorghum fuel sources and the conversion of soybean oil into fuel. “We were one of the national leaders at the time in research in alternative energy sources,” he said of the department of agricultural engineering. Splinter also served as director of technol ogy transfer, patent administrator and director of sponsored programs, overseeing applications for research grants by faculty and staff, from 1988-1990 while serving as associate vice chancellor for research. “We made major progress in (the patent) area,” he said. See SPLINTER on 3 Regents may have warned Massengale By Michelle Leary Senior Reporter University of Nebraska President Martin Massengale was told at a private meet ing in November that he probably did not have enough support to receive a contract extension, one regent said. In a copyrighted story in the Wednesday edition of the Omaha World-Herald, Regent Rosemary Skrupa of Omaha was quoted as saying, “the best of my knowledge is that (they told him) he did not enjoy the full support of the board. I’m pretty sure they gave Marlin a kind of picture of the future, which was not too rosy.” However, in an interview Wednesday, Skrupa would not comment any further on what occurred in the meet ing, saying she did not recall exactly what she was told by another regent who attended the meeting. Skrupa did not attend the meeting in Regent Charles Wilson’s Lincoln home on Nov. 15. “The meeting happened almost a month ago and I was told about it a week later,” Skrupa said. “ B ut that was so long ago I couldn ’ t say for sure what was said.” Skrupa would not name the regent who told her what happened at the secret meeting. Massengale announced Jan. 8 that he would • not request an extension beyond his three-year contract, which expires at the end of 1993. According to Joe Rowson, director of public affairs of the University of Nebraska, Massengale wanted to end the ongoing specu lation in relation to his contract. “He (Massengale) wanted to get the issue off the table,” Rowson said. “He found the situa tion distracting the university from gelling on with important work.” Last week, NU Board of Regents Chairman John Payne of Kearney suggested that Massengale be asked to slay on through June 1994 so that NU would not change presidents in the middle of a school year. This also would give the board more time to seek a replacement. The suggestion is expected to be considered at the regents’ meeting in February. See REGENT on 3 Tajik academics visiting campus Free enterprise will be focus of 90-day study By Steve Smith Senior Editor hrcc scholars from the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan have come to UNL to learn about free enterprise and to study American business management. Kasim Islamov.dircctorof theTajik Center for Entrepreneurship, Said Karimov,chancellor of Khojand State University and Olim Juracv from the Khojand State English language de partment, arrived in Lincoln Monday. Their mission is to soak up Ameri can business knowledge and take it back to their homeland, Karimov said Wednesday in an interview through a translator. In the three days they have been at UNL, Karimov and hisassociatcs have spoken to classes and met Chancellor Graham Spanicr, Dean Ronald Hamp ton of the College of Business Adm in istration, and several professors in different departments. Karimov said he found a lot of similarities between UNL and Khojand Slate. “The most noticeable similarity is the friendliness of the people,” Karimov said. “I’m glad I’ve gotten to see this campus with my own eyes.” Karimov returns to Tajikistan to day. Islamov and Juracv will stay at UNL for 90 days to study the Ne braska Center for Entrepreneurship, 1237 R St., which they hope to repli cate at Khojand State. They also will try to grasp other American business concepts as well. Tajikistan is a small republic near Russia, Karimov said. The 60-ycar old Khojand University, one of two universities in the country, has an enrollment of 12,(XX) students and offers courses in 14 departments, rang ing from medicine to history. Lincoln and Khojand arc sister cit ies in an international cultural ex change program that was established in 1990. The United States Informa tion Agency awarded a one-year grant to UNL to bring the delegation to Lincoln to study business, Karimov said. Karimov stressed the importance of establishing a strong business de partment at his university. “We have an economics depart ment and a Soviet-style management class, but we know very little about the free enterprise system,” Karimov said. “It’s critical to the survival of our republic for people to understand the concept of free enterprise.” Karimov said the biggest problem facing Tajikistan was that the country didn’t have a large number of ccono -44 The most noticeable similarity is the friendliness of the people. I’m glad I’ve gotten to see this campus with my own eyes. — Karimov chancellor Khojand State University -ff - mists and businessmen to implement a full free market economic system. “We simply don’t have the people to implement these practices right now,” Karimov said. “With the help of UNL and the center, we hope to change that.” Robin Anderson, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, said the visitors would be kept busy during See VISITORS on 3 Bill to benefit athletes By Jeff Zeleny Senior Reporter_ _ Revenue from proposed col legiate license plates would be distributed to athletes on scholarship through a bil I proposed in the Nebraska Legislature Tues day. LB474, introduced by Sens. Kurt Hohcnstein of Dakota City and Ernie Chambers of Omaha, would create new license plates promoting Nebraska universities and state colleges. The proposed license plate would cost $50 more than the stan dard fee. Profits would be divided between highway trust funds and athletic scholarship funds, Hohcnstein said. The scholarship fund would be established by each college or uni versity to provide funds for ath letes who lost their scholarships and were continuing their educa tion, the senator said. Al Papik, assistant athletic di rector for administrative services, said Wednesday he hadn’t been contacted by any senators about the legislation yet. The bill was first introduced in 1991. This year the alhletic-schol arship aspect of the bill was in cluded. To keep production costs down, a minimum of 500 license plates from each institution would have to be purchased. “We tried to find out at what level it would be cost effective to make the plates,” Hohcnstein said. Fred Zwoncchck, department of highway safety administrator, said his office hadn’t taken an official position on the legislation, but the added revenue would be benefi cial. “In these economic limes, any additional source of revenue for funding infrastructure improve ment is needed," he said. Similar plates have been popu lar in Florida, North Carolina and Missouri, Zwonechck said. Bryan Van Dcun, president of the University of Nebraska-Lin coln Alumni Association, said the proposed plates would be a good idea. “It would be beneficial to the alumni and the university by al lowing citizens to show pride in the university through their license plate,” Van Dcun said. “It would show commitment.”