MONDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Partly cloudy &
warmer. South wind 10 to
20 mph.
Tonight - Partly cloudy,
low near 30.
March 4, 1996
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Susan Dickerson Moeser, wife of new UNL Chancellor James Moeser, says moving to Lincoln has been like coming
home. Moeser, a native of the Midwest, will begin teaching in the UNL School of Music this fall.
Settling In
Chancellor’s wife adjusts to Midwest
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
For Susan Dickerson Mocser, moving
from sunny South Carolina to Nebraska was
no culture shock.
“1 grew up in the Midwest, in Kansas,”
she said. “I feel like I’incoming back home.”
Moeser has been back home lor about a
month. Her husband, James Moeser, became
the University of Nebraska-Lineoln’s 18th
chancellor in February.
Having some of her family less than four
hours away adds to the homc-like feeling in
Lincoln, she said.
Her parents live in Lawrence, Kan.,,and
her brother lives in Omaha.
She’s already seen her brother twice, she
said, and plans to visit her parents soon.
“Vie weather in Columbia
last week teas in the 80s. The
pear trees are blooming right
now. That's what I really
miss. ”
SUSAN DICKERSON MOESER
wife of UNL’s new chancellor
So far, she said, making the transition
from Columbia, S.C., to Lincoln has gone
smoothly.
“People have been very friendly here,”
<dic said. “I ’ve enjoyed meet ing everybody
There’s been just one small problem.
The day the Mocsers moved in to their
temporary apartment downtown, the wind
chili was about 40 degrees below zero.
Nebraska’s harsh winter weather has taken
some time to get used to, she said.
“The weather in Columbia last week was
in the 80s,” Moescr said. “The pear trees arc
blooming right now. Thai’s what I really
miss.”
The high winds in Lincoln also came as a
surprise, she said.
“The wind is a phenomenon of the Mid
west,” Mocser said. “I’d forgotten about the
winds.”
To keep herself busy, Moescr has been
preparing for two upcoming organ concerts
See MOESER on 6
Stars start
USHL play
in October
By Chad Lorenz «
Senior Reporter
It’s a done deal.
“You’re in the ice business,” said Sen. Stan
Schellpepcr of Stanton, president of the Ne
braska Slate Fair Board, mo
ments afler closing a deal with
the triple-ownership of the
Star City Hockey franchise.
Irving Dana 111 of Omaha,
Thomas Tcgt and Kent
Reckcway of Lincoln, shook
hands and slapped each other
on the back outside the conference room of the
Stale Fair Board on Friday aller becoming the
first owners of The Lincoln Stars.
The Stars will start their 54-game United
States Hockey League schedule in October,
including games against the Omaha Lancers.
“Lincoln wi 11 be a nice addit ion to the 1 eague,”
USHLcommissionerGino Gasparini said. “We
welcome you to the family or cities of the
USHL. • •
“We think it will be a wonderful marriage
between the city, university, state and the
USHL.”
The franchise will benefit the city by pro
moting a new sport for youth and offering
another form of entertainment for Lincoln,
Gasparini said.
“If you want to keep your kid out of hot
water, keep him on ice,” he said.
Reckcway said the owners intended to open
the ice rink to the public whenever the team
wasn’t using it.
The UNL hockey club and intramural teams
would be free to schedule ice time at the coli
seum, he said, as well as new junior hockey
leagues, figure skating camps and open recre
ational skating.
“Whatever kind ol lun you can have on ice,
we hope to provide it,” Reckeway said.
The contract allows Star City Hockey to
convert the State Fair Park Coliseum to an ice
rink and add seating to house a crowd of more
than 4,000 fans. The renovations, funded by the
franchise, will cost S3 million.
Under the contract, the Slate Fair still will
own the coliseum and earn SI00,000 of the
franchise’s proceeds for the first fiscal year,
said John Skold, State Fair general manager.
Each subsequent year, Star City Hockey will
pay the fair $50,000.
Dana said he was excited for the season to
start and wanted to include University of Nc
braska-Lincoln students in the excitement.
“We’re looking for a vocal group to support
the team,” said Dana, a 1976 UNL graduate.
The north end of the arena will be reserved
for a 700-scat student section, Dana said. He
said he wanted to create an enthusiastic atmo
sphere with music, chants and crowd interac
tion.
The franchise has not yet hired a coach, but
See STARS on 3
UNL attracting, recruiting better students
t*y June dODezyK
Senior Reporter
A higher number of Nebraska high
school graduates in 1995 made UNL’s
freshman class 500 students larger this
year.
And not only is the class of 5,563
larger, it is of higher quality, accord
ing to standardized test scores.
James Griescn, vice chancellor for
student affairs, cited better recruitment
efforts by the University of Ncbraska
Lincoln in bringing in quality students.
Lisa Schmidt, director of admis
sions at UNL, said the average ACT
score for freshmen increased from 22.7
in 1994 to 23.1 in 1995.
The number of freshmen at UNL
with ACT scores of 28 or higher in
creased to 17 percent of the class this
year from 14.4 percent last year,
Schmidt said.
In 1994, Griesen said, 33.5 percent
of freshmen graduated in the top 20
percent of their high school classes.
■ That number increased to 36.5 per
cent in 1995, he said.
By spending more time recruiting
above-average Nebraska high school
students, Griesen said, the word about
UNL gets out quicker.
Out-of-stale recruitment also was
pushed, he said, leading to an increase
irrstudents from other states.
The number of out-of-state fresh
men increased from 456 students in
the fall of 1994 to 556 in 1995, he said.
“That’s probably due to our good
recruiting efforts,” Griesen said.
The increase in the number of out
of-state freshmen comes even though
residency requirements were made
stricter last year, lie said.
Before the fall of 1995, a student
could gain residency by living in Lin
coln for six months — including time
spent taking classes, Griesen said. A
student also would have to meet other
requirements such as getting a Ne
braska driver’s license and registering
to vote.
But last fall, the residency require
ments were changed so that students
could no longer count their time living
in Nebraska while in school toward
residency.
“We were really worried that would
cut oil out-of-state students,” Gricscn
said.
In the past, many out-of-state stu
dents came to UNL because the uni
versity had easier residency require
ments than other schools, he said.
“Sometimes, they weren’t the best
students—students who couldn’t get
into their own home state colleges,”
Griesen said.
UNL still wants to encourage out
of-state freshmen, he said, and will
offer scholarships to above-average
students.
New scholarship programs were
developed especially for out-of-state
freshmen, he said. The “Scholarships
for New Nebraskans” program ofTers
three different levels of financial sup
port.
Scholarships equal to in-state tu
ition are offered, as well as scholar
ships for $2,000 and $1,000.
“Those scholarshipshavc been posi
See FRESHMEN on 6