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IANR Liaison Committee Notes
Thursday, March 22, 2018 1:00-3:00pm
Nebraska East Union, Bluestem Room
In attendance: Don Lee, Kate Brooks, Joel Cramer, Jessie Brophy, Vice Chancellor Mike Boehm, Liz Husmann (recorder)
Phoned in: Aaron Nygren Excused: Julie Peterson, Jenny Keshwani, Vicki Schlegel
Main Discussion Points:
2018-19 Elections
Kate Brooks and Julie Peterson will have served three years on the committee at the end of the semester, therefore, a vote will need to be held this summer to elect two new IANR faculty to the Liaison Committee. The committee will contact department heads, REC directors, center/institute leads, NE Extension Issue Team leaders, and faculty colleagues to develop a shortlist of candidates that the IANR faculty can vote on in the summer.
IANR State Outreach
The committee brainstormed ideas to engage with Nebraskans across the state, as well as how to prepare students to be entrepreneurs and give more options to students who aren’t going into higher education/research. The committee mentioned the Engler Program as an organization doing great work in this area (engler.unl.edu). Shifting demographics was also brought up, and the committee discussed ways IANR could reach out to metro students, especially in the area of science. Don Lee discussed how the Soybean Board has partnered with Lincoln Public Schools to offer teachers a chance to come to East Campus and engage with the faculty and their research so they can incorporate aspects into their science curriculum. It’s a way to ease the teaching burden while also connecting with teachers who can bring their experiences with IANR into public classrooms, thereby amplifying the effect. The committee is interested in exploring and creating similar opportunities for IANR faculty in the future. Later, VC Boehm shared with the committee that IANR leadership has been meeting with the leaders of Nebraska’s two and four-year colleges about ways to enhance post-secondary education attainment levels which currently are at 48.2% per the Lumina Foundation’s most recent assessment (see attachment). VC Boehm suggested a focus might be on Nebraska’s most diverse counties that also have some of the lowest attainment rates. • Roads Scholars Tour o The 2018 Roads Scholars Tour will be August 8-10. It was decided that every year the tour will travel to Scottsbluff, though the route will vary. Jessie Brophy asked for some suggestions of non-ag industries to potentially visit (i.e. Union Pacific Railroad). The committee discussed other ways to promote the tour across the campuses, such as having previous attendees send a personalized invite to new faculty to sign up.
Leadership Changes in IANR
VC Boehm discussed the ongoing dean/department head searches and stressed IANR’s commitment to inclusivity across the spectrum of positions in the Institute. He also shared that two ombudspersons positions are being developed, one staffed from the faculty from City Campus and another from the faculty from East Campus. The ombudspeople will be faculty members who serve as impartial resources for other faculty to engage off the record regarding issues, concerns, or complaints. This person could report annually to the IANR Faculty Liaison Committee and the IANR Vice Chancellor’s Office, but details need to be worked out between OAA and IANR.
Action Items for Committee:
- The members of the committee who participated in meeting agreed to find faculty who are interested in serving on the committee next year and to email them to Liz by the end of the day on June 15th so the faculty can vote this summer.
- Jessie Brophy asked for suggestions of places to stop on the way to/from Scottsbluff for the Road Scholars Tour this year.
- Look over the draft of the IANR Faculty Ombudsperson and send any suggestions for changes to VC Boehm.
Meeting adjourned at 3:00 pm
Distributed electronically to the IANR Liaison Committee for review: 3/30/2018