Celebrating ‘80 Years of Purpose’ with universitywide service day June 3

Employees of the University of Nebraska Foundation are participating in a day of service on each campus of the University of Nebraska on June 3 to kick off its Eighty Years of Purpose (#80YearsofPurpose) celebration.

The service helps to recognize the foundation’s 80th anniversary that day as well as the service it and many generous donors have provided to the university over the past eight decades.

More than 120 foundation employees will provide various help to about 20 different university affiliates and organizations that day, with projects and activities that include cleaning, landscaping, painting, organizing, making rugs and blankets for people in need and much more.

These are some of the university entities receiving service on June 3:

University of Nebraska at Kearney

Big Blue Cupboard—helping students with food insecurities.
G.W. Frank Museum of History and Culture—cleaning and organizing assistance.

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center—making rugs for Habitat for Humanity of Omaha and making blankets for the Omaha and Council Bluffs chapter of Project Linus, helping children in need.

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Munroe-Meyer Institute—painting, weeding, mulching and cleaning playground and game room areas.
2016 “Finding A Cure” Cattlemen’s Ball—event setup and organization in Lincoln.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Ruth Staples Child Development Lab
UNL Children’s Center
East Campus Student Recreation Center
University of Nebraska State Museum
Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum
Charles E. Bessey Herbarium, Nebraska Hall
Division of Zoology, Nebraska Hall
College of Journalism and Mass Communications
International Quilt Study Center and Museum
Nebraska 4-H
Nebraska Union
Wick Alumni Center
Husker Cats program

Brief history of the university and its foundation

The University of Nebraska was founded on Feb. 15, 1869, less than two years after Nebraska became the nation’s 37th state, and is the state’s only public university. Founded in Lincoln, the university included a medical center in Omaha beginning in 1902.

The University of Nebraska Foundation was established on June 3, 1936, as a private, nonprofit organization to serve the university system. Edgar A. Burnett, then chancellor of the university, encouraged state business and civic leaders help establish the foundation, which would carry out the work of soliciting private support to help sustain a level of academic excellence at the university that would not be possible through state funding alone.

The University of Nebraska was reorganized under a 1968 act of the Nebraska Legislature. The legislation provided for the addition of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (formerly the municipal University of Omaha) and designated the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Medical Center as separate campuses.

In 1991, the University of Nebraska at Kearney (formerly Kearney State College) became a campus of the university, and in the following year its charitable foundation merged with the University of Nebraska Foundation.

The foundation has offices in Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha.