The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Gifts through the UNK Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
UNK AA has been working since 1906 to promote communication and interaction among more than 40,000 alumni, students, faculty, administrators and friends of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gifts through the N Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Husker athletic programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are a source of pride for alumni and Nebraskans throughout the state and around the world.
NAA is a nonprofit organization that connects alumni with Dear Old Nebraska U, and with each other, for the betterment of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
University of Nebraska Medical Center
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Gifts through the Innovation Funds let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The mission of the UNMC Alumni Relations Office is to serve and engage with learners and graduates through effective communications, the formation of meaningful relationships, and opportunities to invest in the advancement of the university through gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
University of Nebraska at Omaha
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gifts through the UNO Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Our athletes are competing at the Division I level in collegiate sports, not only enhance the visibility of UNO, but also to provide great benefits to all of Omaha.
Nebraska Medicine and its research and education partner, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, share the same mission: to lead the world in transforming lives to create a healthy future for all individuals and communities through premier educational programs, innovative research and extraordinary patient care.
The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture is devoted to a statewide mission of preparing students for successful careers in agriculture, veterinary technology and related industries. The college provides open access to innovative technical education resulting in associate degrees, certificates and other credentials.
The mission of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska is to transform the lives of young children by improving their learning and development.
Every day, nearly a billion people in the world do not have enough safe and nutritious food to lead healthy and active lives. Many of them also lack access to enough clean water to meet their needs. By 2050, our global food demand will double to meet the needs of nearly 10 billion people, making water and food security one of the most urgent global challenges of our time.
Your giving to this area enables the president’s office to quickly direct resources to various university projects and areas across the system as needs arise.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Gifts through the UNK Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gifts through the N Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Gifts through the Innovation Funds let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gifts through the UNO Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Gifts through the UNK Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
UNK AA has been working since 1906 to promote communication and interaction among more than 40,000 alumni, students, faculty, administrators and friends of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gifts through the N Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Husker athletic programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are a source of pride for alumni and Nebraskans throughout the state and around the world.
NAA is a nonprofit organization that connects alumni with Dear Old Nebraska U, and with each other, for the betterment of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
University of Nebraska Medical Center
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Gifts through the Innovation Funds let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The mission of the UNMC Alumni Relations Office is to serve and engage with learners and graduates through effective communications, the formation of meaningful relationships, and opportunities to invest in the advancement of the university through gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
University of Nebraska at Omaha
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gifts through the UNO Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Our athletes are competing at the Division I level in collegiate sports, not only enhance the visibility of UNO, but also to provide great benefits to all of Omaha.
Nebraska Medicine and its research and education partner, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, share the same mission: to lead the world in transforming lives to create a healthy future for all individuals and communities through premier educational programs, innovative research and extraordinary patient care.
The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture is devoted to a statewide mission of preparing students for successful careers in agriculture, veterinary technology and related industries. The college provides open access to innovative technical education resulting in associate degrees, certificates and other credentials.
The mission of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska is to transform the lives of young children by improving their learning and development.
Every day, nearly a billion people in the world do not have enough safe and nutritious food to lead healthy and active lives. Many of them also lack access to enough clean water to meet their needs. By 2050, our global food demand will double to meet the needs of nearly 10 billion people, making water and food security one of the most urgent global challenges of our time.
Your giving to this area enables the president’s office to quickly direct resources to various university projects and areas across the system as needs arise.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Gifts through the UNK Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gifts through the N Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Gifts through the Innovation Funds let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gifts through the UNO Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Guest Feature: Burnett Society member reflects on the impact of his gifts
UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications
By Randy Essex
Editor’s note: The following story was provided by Burnett Society member and former executive editor of the Omaha World-Herald, Randy Essex.
Sometimes, when I’m at University of Nebraska–Lincoln donor events, I pinch myself a little.
That’s not me, I still think. I’m a poor kid from Beatrice. Didn’t have an indoor bathroom till I was 14. Older brother was a local jailbird. Got teased in middle school about my clothing. Went to college on grants, loans and money from my jobs at the Daily Nebraskan and Lincoln gas stations.
I made it through, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1983. That launched me on a career that’s included senior leadership positions at Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers and has allowed me to interview national political leaders and titans of business and enjoy a stint as executive editor of the Omaha World-Herald — where I’d been a news intern in 1979. Most importantly, public education, culminating in that degree from UNL, lifted me from poverty and let me live a deeply fulfilling version of the American dream.
So, in 2002, when I was put in my first bonus program as an editor at the Des Moines Register, I thought I should give back. By that point in my career, I’d edited Pulitzer Prize-winners and supervised graduates of Columbia and Northwestern universities, among other highly regarded journalism programs. I knew that UNL had prepared me to work with the best. I gave $125 to the College of Journalism and Mass Communications’ News-Editorial Excellence Fund. That massive gift was doubled through Gannett’s match program.
A few months later, I was surprised to hear from a University of Nebraska Foundation representative offering to take me to lunch. He further stunned me by suggesting I start a scholarship fund. I said he may have gotten the wrong impression — I wasn’t wealthy and didn’t anticipate making a lot of donations — and they wouldn’t be large. He said I’d be surprised how small donations could grow, that there was no risk, and “it’ll be fun.”
Randy Essex
“My gifts clearly are the best use of my money ever.”
I decided it made sense to give part of my future bonuses to the school that made them possible. The Essex Scholarship Fund was created 20 years ago in May. The fund, now endowed, has awarded 19 scholarships. While recent awards have been as much as $1,000, early awards were as little as $300 — I took to calling it my beer and books scholarship. Joking aside, though, I remember excruciatingly well what a few more bucks can mean to a struggling college student.
I’ve designated a portion of my estate to go to the fund to ensure that I can continue to help students and support the school that, bluntly, changed my life.
And it has been fun. One of my scholars was Herbie Husker (the guy inside the suit). One, largely by coincidence, worked for me for a summer when I was editor-publisher of the Glenwood Springs Post Independent in western Colorado. I’ve gotten to meet several of the students, which is invigorating, encouraging — and humbling, because they have it so much more together than I did at that age.
It also has been deeply gratifying and at times moving. One student’s thank-you note stuck with me through the years. She wrote that her mother had died when she was 11, and her father, earning just $25,000 a year, had borrowed against his retirement fund for living expenses. This was just the type of student I had hoped to help when I set guidelines for the fund.
In preparing to write this essay, I looked up what had become of that student, Katrina Fischman, whom I’d met at a lunch in 2010.
She didn’t go into journalism, moving instead toward working with immigrants, including a role in Lincoln as a Spanish interview specialist for an insurer. And then, LinkedIn told me, Harvard Law.
Today, Katrina Fleury is an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, representing people in immigration court and helping them apply “for lawful permanent residency, employment authorization documents, naturalization … visas for victims of qualifying crimes and human trafficking” and more.
She generously said by email that my scholarship meant a lot to her. But what she has done, what the other recipients have done, means more to me. My gifts clearly are the best use of my money ever.
If you would like to learn more about how a planned gift can have a positive impact on your family and the university you can:
call 800-432-3216 and ask for a gift planning officer.
The Peter C. Hinrichs Chair of Pathology Informatics will be named for a former member of the North Dakota Board of Higher Education
The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) recently announced the establishment of the Peter C. Hinrichs Chair of Pathology Informatics in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology.
The announcement was made at the retirement celebration for Steven Hinrichs, MD, who served as chair of the department for 14 years.
The endowed chair is named in honor of Dr. Hinrichs’ late father, the Rev. Peter Hinrichs of Dickinson, North Dakota. The Rev. Hinrichs served Lutheran congregations in Redfield, South Dakota, and Dickinson and was involved in numerous other organizations, serving on the North Dakota Board of Higher Education from 1969 to 1975. During his tenure, the medical school at the University of North Dakota was expanded to a four-year program. The Rev. Hinrichs died in 1994.
Dr. Hinrichs, who grew up in Dickinson and earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Dakota, said the endowed chair recognizes his father’s contributions to higher education in North Dakota.
“My father was extremely dedicated to the people of North Dakota, and his vision was to continually provide educational opportunities for its citizens,” Dr. Hinrichs said. “I would not have been able to become chair of the department without my educational experiences in North Dakota.”
The chair was created with generous support from Dr. Hinrichs through the University of Nebraska Foundation. At the request of the donor, the total commitment amount will remain confidential.
The chair will provide support for the department’s pathology informatics program, which collects and reports laboratory data to improve patient care and respond to public health needs. The topic is of great interest to Dr. Hinrichs, who became a professor emeritus when he retired in July.
Dr. Hinrichs was recruited to UNMC in 1991 and was a key player in numerous important initiatives at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, including the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory and the institution’s response to the Ebola virus and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Dr. Hinrichs’ leadership as department chair exemplified dedication, vision, professionalism and genuine care,” said Joseph Khoury, MD, chair of the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology. “Care for the department, care for the institution, care for the community and care for our nation; simply put, care to make a difference.”
The gift was made as part of Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future, a historic effort to engage at least 150,000 benefactors to give $3 billion to support the University of Nebraska.
About UNMC
As Nebraska’s only public academic health science center, the University of Nebraska Medical Center enrolls more than 4,400 students across six colleges, two institutes and a graduate studies program. Its mission is to create a healthier future for Nebraskans through premier education, research and clinical care, but its impact –rooted in a culture of collaboration, big ideas and public-private partnerships – goes far beyond, in areas that include infectious diseases, rural health, cancer research and treatments, global health security, andsimulation and experiential learning technologies.
About the University of Nebraska Foundation
The University of Nebraska Foundation grows relationships and resources that enable the University of Nebraska to change lives and save lives. During the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022, a record 60,571 donors gave $300.6 million to the foundation to aid the University of Nebraska at Kearney, University of Nebraska at Omaha, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, University of Nebraska Medical Center and its clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine, and Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture. The foundation raises more than $7 for every $1 spent. Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our University’s Future is its current campaign, with a goal to raise $3 billion from 150,000 unique benefactors to support the University of Nebraska. More information is at OnlyinNebraska.org.
