Dr. Ronnie D. Green, Chancellor University of Nebraska-Lincoln will present to Lincoln South Rotary Club on September 13, 2019.
Dr. Greene provided us all copies of a new brochure highlighting the UNL 150 Year Anniversary.
He spent a great deal of his presentation talking about the fact that UNL was established as a land-grant university. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln was established February 15, 1869 as what is known as Nebraska's land-grant university.
Land-grant universities came about because of the Morrill Act passed by Congress and signed by President Lincoln in 1862. It granted unclaimed federal lands – 30,000 acres per member of congress - to establish colleges for the state to promote education in “agriculture and the mechanic arts”. It was a goal that the universities would be “for the people” and available to those other than the wealthy.
At the time, Nebraska had 3 members of congress – so nearly 90,000 acres primarily in northeast and south central Nebraska were designated for this purpose. An additional 45,000 acres were added later when the program was expanded.
He pointed other events in the 1800s that had a major impact on Nebraska:
- Civil War
- The Homestead Act
- The Transcontinental Railroad
At the time, the east cost and west coast were not connected. But these events had a major impact on forming what we know at The United States today.
Dr. Greene presented some other facts about the current enrollment in UNL, which has been reported to be declining. He pointed out that the freshman class enrollment is essentially unchanged. However, UNL graduated the highest ever number of people at the end of the 2018-19 than in the history of the university - 5,775. (Last year had been the highest graduation so it is obvious why the total overall enrollment is down.)
The enrollment figures include both undergraduate and graduate students.
There are just over 25,000 students enrolled at this time
It is the most diverse student population that we have seen
About 1/3 of the students are from outside of Nebraska
There are students from every county in Nebraska
There are students from every State in the United States of America
There are students from 136 different countries
He announced that there are some major changes coming to the College of Engineering. They recognized a while back that the College of Engineering needed attention - specifically addressing women in the engineering field.
He pointed out that there are now 2 women as Department Chairs in the College of Engineering (out of 7 total Department Chairs). and the female enrollment is steadily gaining. They are currently planning an $85 million investment in the College of Engineering including a new building.
BIO:
Dr. Ronnie D. Green is Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska’s flagship, Land-Grant and Big Ten institution, where he oversees an enrollment of over 26,000 students and 6,000 faculty and staff.
He received BS and MS degrees in animal science from Virginia Tech and Colorado State University, respectively. His doctoral program was completed jointly at the University of Nebraska and the USDA-ARS U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in animal breeding and genetics.
He has served as the national program leader for animal production and genomics research for USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, as senior global director of technical services for Pfizer Animal Health, and on the faculties of Colorado State and Texas Tech Universities. Dr. Green has authored 130 publications, nine book chapters and 56 invited symposia papers, and has delivered invited presentations in 43 U.S. states and 21 countries around the world.
He is a past-president of both the American Society of Animal Science and the National Block and Bridle Club; has served in a number of leadership positions for the U.S. Beef Improvement Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Board, and National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. He currently is a board member of the BIG10 Conference, Neogen Corporation, and Supporters of Agricultural Research. He was named a fellow of ASAS in 2014, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2015. In 2017 Dr. Green received the Morrison Award, the highest international research honor given to an animal scientist.