Happy New Year!
The end of the fall semester and the start of the new year provides an opportunity to reflect on the many things that happened during the first half of the academic year. As expected, our enrollment was up. We surpassed 25,000 students with increases in all categories: in-state, out-of-state and international. We opened the new Outdoor Adventure Center and a new residence hall on City Campus. We also received approval from the Board of Regents to build a new residence hall on East Campus and a new dining facility to serve the Knoll Hall area. We finally broke ground on the Breslow Ice Center, a joint venture between the University and the city of Lincoln. The remodeling of the Nebraska City Union was also completed.
We now look forward to the new year with equal enthusiasm. While it is nice to get a respite for the holidays, right about this time we start missing the students and all the energy they bring with them. This year, in Student Affairs we have adopted the theme "All Students Matter." We want to do what we can to try to ensure that all students feel like they matter on campus and in the larger context. We also continue working to make the University as safe as possible for our students. Of particular interest this year is our goal of preventing sexual misconduct. This is a national concern, and the Office of Civil Rights is requiring all institutions to conduct surveys regarding sexual misconduct throughout their academic institutions. Thus, we will be mailing a survey to our students this spring and to incoming freshmen beginning with the fall semester.
This spring, we will also be preparing for the accreditation reconfirmation process which we go through every ten years. We will also continue working on the transition of management of the Student Health Center to the University Medical Center (UNMC).
In short, this promises to be another exciting semester. Happy New Year to all.
Juan N Franco
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs