Chancellor outlines goals during annual address to faculty

A university-wide mentoring program for students.
Each of UNMC’s colleges ranking in the top-half of NIH research funding. Students learning in a new health sciences education building. Researchers working in a second Durham Research Center tower.









faculty senate


University of Nebraska Regent Randy Ferlic, M.D., paid tribute to Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., at the annual faculty meeting in recognition of his 10 years of service to UNMC.

These five-year “stretch goals” were among several that UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., presented during his campus address at the Annual Faculty Meeting on Tuesday. The goals are necessary so that the campus maintains its strategic course, Dr. Maurer said.

“Our goal is to chart our course,” Dr. Maurer said. “Our goal is not to be led by events that chart our course for us.”

The course that Dr. Maurer plans to chart is one of prosperity for UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center. The campus’ success won’t depend upon himself, Dr. Maurer said, but will depend upon the ideas and work of the faculty and other campus leaders.






Employees may view the Annual Faculty Meeting by
clicking here. To view Dr. Maurer’s Power Point presentation, click here.

“I help to set the vision, but the ideas emerge from the faculty through the respective deans and directors to the chancellor. The faculty and their respective deans are the ones whose planning and action will make the difference,” Dr. Maurer said. “They will drive these ideas to fruition.”

Dr. Maurer said UNMC has made great strides over the past several years. This is illustrated by a comment made recently to the chancellor by an Omahan. The person said, “There is an aura now around the Medical Center that was never there before.”

Many faculty were honored for their excellence in community service and teaching, as well as their years of service.

Kathleen Barr, Ph.D., an associate professor in the College of Nursing, received a standing ovation from her peers as she received the inaugural Spirit of Community Service Award. Dr. Barr was instrumental in developing the Mobile Nursing Center, and she secured grant funding so that a nurse could visit the Guadalupe-Ines Mission School in south Omaha.

Four faculty were honored with the 2004 Outstanding Teaching Awards. They include Robert Binhammer, Ph.D., Kurtis Cornish, Ph.D., Robert Lahue, Ph.D., and Jane Potter, M.D. Profiles of these five award recipients can be found in the UNMC Today online archives from the past week.

Dr. Maurer thanked the award winners and those faculty members who were honored for 30, 20 and 10 years of service to UNMC.

He said that current economic conditions and other negatives should not keep UNMC from aspiring to greatness. He noted that success wouldn’t come without monetary cost, but he outlined five strategies for obtaining necessary resources.

They include:
Increase research funding to achieve $100 million per year;

  • Pursue entrepreneurial initiatives.
  • Ensure the future of The Nebraska Medical Center and practice plans.
  • Attain higher levels of philanthropy.
  • Achieve operational efficiencies.
  • If resources are obtained, many of the “stretch goals” would be attainable, Dr. Maurer said.

    “We can get there,” he said. “It’s up to you.”