Osborne back to classroom to teach management, leadership

Former coach and congressman Tom Osborne is changing titles again: Back to professor. University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration undergraduate students will be offered two business management courses starting in January with Osborne as a new senior lecturer.

Osborne will co-teach the dean's leadership class with Cynthia Milligan, dean of the college, and Bruce Avolio, the Clifton chair in management. He also will teach a junior- and senior-level leadership class. That class is already filled.

"I called him as soon as I saw his term would be ending, to inquire if he would still have an interest in teaching at the college," Milligan said. Osborne's congressional office announced his new duties Nov. 16. "I think the students certainly see this as a huge opportunity. When we listed the courses, students looked on the Web, saw who the teacher was and the word spread. It was full immediately."

The dean's leadership class accepts applications from the best students in the college. The course, taught every other year, brings in CEOs from businesses to talk about their leadership and their organizations. Avolio, Milligan and Osborne will each discuss their different leadership styles and invite other guests presenters from the business community. About 40 students will be in that course.

Osborne has a doctorate in educational psychology and coached the Nebraska football team for 25 years, leading the Huskers to national championships in 1994, 1995 and 1997 before retiring and being elected to Nebraska's 3rd District Congressional seat in 2000. Re-elected in 2002 and 2004, he ran for governor this year, but lost to Gov. Dave Heineman in the May Republican primary. After retiring as coach in 1998, he taught some graduate courses at UNL. His leadership work included the development of the TeamMates youth mentorship program, which in 2000 received a $1 million Justice Department grant to expand the program's outreach to 22 schools and communities for two years. Osborne was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2000, he received the Jim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award.

CONTACT: Cynthia Milligan, Dean, College of Business Administration (402) 472-9500