I always look forward to summer because it is when I re-charge my batteries. The same is true for our college. We are planning for next year but we also stay busy with summer activities.

During the past month, our online MBA program was rated second in the nation for veterans by U.S. News & World Report. UNL was the only online MBA program in the Big Ten included in the top 25 rankings for veterans, proving again we are using our strengths effectively to compete against the biggest and best schools in the country.

CBA welcomed Nebraska high school students to campus for our third annual DREAM BIG Academy held last week. Academy students are given a glimpse into college life at UNL and learn foundational leadership and networking principles along with overviews of each major offered at CBA. The best part of DREAM BIG is it empowers diverse students from our state to visualize themselves as successful leaders in our community and attracts them to the great things happening at our college. A large percentage of students attending the first two DREAM BIG academies are now enrolled or admitted to UNL with a majority of them majoring in business. This year’s academy concluded at ConAgra headquarters in Omaha where students gave their final presentations their families and business leaders at the company.

We continue to build momentum for our new building scheduled to open in 2017. It’s exciting to know the freshmen class we welcome this fall will spend almost half their time in college at the new CBA facility -- and the enthusiasm for the building isn’t shared by business students alone. Non-business major students will benefit, the Nebraska business community will benefit, our alumni will benefit and as athletic director Shawn Eichorst has emphasized, our new building is vital to the success of the Husker athletic programs. By next month, we hope to have more exciting news to share about making our dreams of a new building a reality. On June 10 we celebrate the new building at a reception at the office of Robert Stern Architects in New York City and reach out to our east coast alumni.

Our CBA alumni stretch from coast to coast, so whether you live in Nebraska or somewhere else in the country I hope you have the opportunity to meet one of the thousands of Husker alumni doing great things throughout the nation and the world. Published: June 10, 2014