April has long been one of the busiest months in Howard L. Hawks Hall. The many award ceremonies, advisory board meetings, and student competitions and presentations signal that the end of the spring semester is near.

A few weeks ago, we honored Sid Dinsdale, ’75, Blake Lawrence, ’09 &’11, Anthony Goins and Carson Group at the 38th annual College of Business Advisory Board Awards Luncheon. More than 300 people attended the event, including 18 corporate sponsors: Ameritas, Assurity, Bryan Health, Carson Group, CDBykerk, Conagra Brands, Cornerstone Bank, Cornhusker Bank, D.A. Davidson & Co., Deloitte, FORVIS, Gallup, Lincoln Industries, Lutz, Nelnet, Pinnacle Bank, Speedway Properties and Union Bank & Trust.

One of the big announcements shared at the event is the new Nebraska Business Talent Investment Program (NBTIP). Offering three-year flexible partnership agreements for companies and organizations and a 15% tuition reduction to our online master's and graduate certificate programs for your employees and members. These include our four highly-ranked Big Ten business master's degrees, Master of Business Administration, M.S. in Business Analytics, M.S. in Finance and M.S. in Supply Chain Management and nine graduate certificate programs, which include four courses each. All of the master's and certificate courses are offered in eight-week sessions so students can take courses when and where it works for them. There is no minimum or maximum number of students required to take advantage of the NBTIP program. For more information about the program, contact Aaron Crabtree, associate dean of master's programs and executive development, KPMG Faculty Fellow in Professional Accounting and associate professor of accountancy, at acrabtree2@unl.edu or Gretchen Holthaus, director of MBA and online graduate programs at gholthaus@unl.edu.

We continued our tradition of partnering with the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce to hold the Women in Business event in April at a packed Rococo Theater. Betsy Grindlay, '07, vice president of people, purchasing and marketing at Speedway Motors; Katie Zulkoski, '05, attorney specializing in lobbying and government affairs at Zulkoski Weber; and Marquita Armstead, executive associate athletic director and senior woman administrator in the Nebraska Department of Athletics; shared their insight on change and resilience on a panel moderated by Sheri Irwin-Gish, executive director of Communications, Marketing and External Relations. Keynote Cassandra Worthy then spoke about change enthusiasm. My team and I enjoy collaborating with Jason Ball, '06, chamber president, and his team for these well-attended events for the Lincoln community.

In this newsletter, we also highlight a student, faculty member and alum who are doing big things:

• Jenna Pieper, associate professor of management, studied how the departure of a manager can lead to significant turnover over time and offered multiple ways to diminish the effects.
• Anna McLain, a senior accounting major from Lincoln, Nebraska, experienced what it is like working in an accounting firm during tax season through the School of Accountancy's unique split-semester internship program.
• Alums Les, '77, and Melanie, '84, Robbins share their story and why they wanted to give back to make college more accessible for students.

I also wanted to share a story and video about Warren Luckner, professor of practice emeritus in actuarial science, and his wife, Mary. After making planned gifts to benefit Nebraska's Actuarial Science Program, they were recognized as part of the University of Nebraska Foundation Burnett Society in appreciation of their gifts.

We are grateful for donors like the Robbins and Luckners, whose generosity provides students with access to tremendous hands-on learning experiences, innovative programming, exceptional faculty and staff, and student services.

We are Nebraska Business.

Dean Kathy Farrell