Greetings from Othmer Hall

I want to reassure you that despite the fact that most of our students were not on campus this summer, we at the College of Engineering were still here serving the university and preparing for the fall semester.

Some of you have doubtless heard negative things about higher education in the U.S., but let me assure you that things didn't turn out that badly at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Indeed, our state budget for higher education not only was less Draconian than we expected, but was clearly in the top echelon of higher education appropriations in the country.

There are other good things to report. We were successful at hiring nine new faculty in the college in the past 12 months. While it is true that most were replacements for retiring or departing faculty, I am delighted to inform you that this new crop of faculty is not only highly educated and talented, but we continue to significantly increase diversity among our faculty.

In addition, both undergraduate and graduate enrollments will be up significantly in the fall, which may be unique among all the college in the university this coming academic year.

Finally, let me say that through the tireless efforts of our faculty, we once again set a record for grants acquisitions over the past fiscal year, tallying almost $29 million in funding for the fiscal year that ended in June.

I am confident that all of these accomplishments will continue to drive up the national standing of UNL's College of Engineering.

-David H. Allen