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Donde’s Point: May 2014

Dean Donde Plowman

Dean Donde Plowman

This time of year is always exciting as we hand diplomas to another class of CBA graduates. Many of the undergraduates who received diplomas this year were freshmen when I came to UNL as Dean. Now they are heading out to begin their first jobs or graduate school. In CBA we use the tagline Start Something and it is a joy to watch all these students start the next chapter of their lives with the opportunity to start something.
 
A glance back at the last four years reveals lots of growth – both in programs and in outcomes for our students. For example, two years ago we started Career Servces at CBA and we have seen a huge boost in the percentage of our students with jobs at graduation and an increase in starting salaries as well. We will continue to see successes in this area as we implement our new professional enhancement program – a series of four courses required by all business students which connects academic knowledge to life skills.
 
Here are some other numbers comparing where we were in the Fall of 2010 and where we are now:   
  • Overall enrollment was at 3,317 and it is now 3,718
  • First-time freshmen numbers have risen dramatically from 465 to 648
  • Nonresident students made up 25 percent of CBA students and are now at 30 percent
  • Full-time faculty equivalent has increased from 79 to 99
  • We’ve increased the number of female faculty from 14 to 30
Next week is our annual Employer Partners Day sponsored by Career Services at CBA and nearly 150 business partners are coming to UNL to hear about CBA. The event lets us share ideas about how to better prepare students, so our students will continue to do well in the job market and succeed in their careers.
 
Of course, all of this continues to show the need for our new building project which took another step forward with the approval of our intermediate design plans by the Business Affairs Committee of the UNL Board of Regents this month. This final approval is the time they take a close look at the final design, costs, square footage, elevations, etc. The regents could not have been warmer, asked more supportive questions or made more encouraging comments about everything we have started here in the college. As I’ve said before, this campaign is about more than a building – it’s about building a college. This new building will reflect our aspirations for years to come.
 
Finally, I want to say a sincere word of thanks to our retiring faculty members. Manferd Peterson, Gordie Karels, Terry Sebora, Janice Lawrence and Warren Luckner have over 120 years of service at the college among them. They were each honored at our recent CBA Awards ceremony which you can read more about in this edition of Inside CBA.
 
Thanks again to everyone who is helping us Start Something at CBA. Please be sure to click on the Start Something logo in this newsletter and share what you are starting. I wish you all the best this summer. Stay tuned for more.
Published: May 13, 2014