November 11, 2026
Dear colleagues,
Did you know the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is home to a remarkable piece of scientific history? It is one of just 14 locations in the United States with a Flower of Kent apple tree, believed to be a direct descendant of the tree that inspired Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity. The original Newton apple tree at Nebraska was planted in 1991 near Brace Hall. The tree was cloned in 2015, and its two descendants now reside outside Jorgensen Hall. You can read more about the history in a Nebraska Today article from a few years ago.
On Oct. 29, I joined colleagues from Landscape Services, students, faculty and staff from the College of Architecture and Department of Physics and Astronomy to celebrate that legacy and plant a new tree, grafted from the same scion, near that original location south of Brace Hall. It was a wonderful opportunity to recognize the care our university takes in preserving history while ensuring that future generations can continue to enjoy these living connections to the past.
As we move further into the fall semester, I continue to be inspired by the many ways our faculty and staff are advancing our land-grant mission. Whether it’s through partnerships that expand educational opportunity, research that addresses important challenges or new technologies that have the potential to transform our work, the strength of this university is our people.
Today, I want to share a few examples of that work and highlight some opportunities in front of us.
On course to a Nebraska degree
Too many Nebraskans who belong in a bachelor’s degree program never start one. That is why I am so excited about our new On Course partnership with Southeast Community College.
Announced Oct. 30, this agreement creates a clearer, more predictable path to a bachelor’s degree for SCC graduates. Students who earn an associate degree with a minimum 2.0 GPA are guaranteed admission to Nebraska, with more than 50 transfer pathways outlining how coursework applies toward a bachelor’s degree. It takes something that has already been true for individual students and makes it possible for many more.
I especially want to recognize the faculty and staff from all nine of our colleges who worked alongside their SCC colleagues to map degree requirements and coursework. Nearly 100 faculty members, staff and administrators helped launch this effort in July 2025. Their commitment, along with our advising teams and everyone who has built relationships across both campuses, demonstrates what is possible when institutions work together.
As a land-grant university, one of our promises is that a great education should be within reach of every Nebraskan who wants one. This partnership helps us deliver on that promise. It’s an important start with more work ahead.
Celebrating discovery and collaboration
Research, scholarship, creative activity and innovation are also at the heart of our university’s mission. They help us address the challenges facing Nebraska and the world, educate our students, and create opportunities that change lives. Nebraska Research Days, occurring this week, celebrates that work.
The week includes opportunities to strengthen grant-writing skills, explore emerging funding opportunities, develop interdisciplinary partnerships and share discoveries with colleagues and the broader community. Highlights include the Faculty Research and Creative Activity Slam (Nov. 11), the Association for Women in Science luncheon (Nov. 12) and our annual Faculty Recognition Breakfast (Nov. 13).
I encourage you to explore the schedule and find an opportunity to participate, whether by attending a workshop, supporting a colleague or learning about research happening in another part of campus. I am grateful to the Office of Research and Innovation for organizing the week’s activities and to our faculty, researchers and staff whose work marks Nebraska as a place where discovery thrives.
Experiment, explore and imagine
Artificial Intelligence is changing the world, and it’s already changing the way we teach, learn, conduct research and do our work at the university. I know many of you are experimenting with these tools and discovering ways they can help you work more efficiently and pursue ideas that might otherwise have remained unexplored.
I want to encourage that spirit of curiosity. Some of the most transformative ideas for our university may come from an experiment or an application that none of us would have thought to pursue just a few years ago.
We should approach this technology thoughtfully and responsibly, following best practices and protecting university data, sensitive information and intellectual property. The University of Nebraska system’s Executive Memorandum 48 establishes expectations for secure, ethical and responsible AI use.
We are also making enterprise ChatGPT available to faculty and staff following completion of Generative AI Security Essentials Training in Bridge. I encourage everyone to complete the training and begin or continue exploring the enterprise tools available to support your work. Try new approaches. Ask different questions. Consider how these tools might help reach students in new ways, make a research process more effective, or solve a problem that has been difficult to address.
Fall leadership summit
I’ve mentioned our leadership summits in the past, and yesterday’s meeting focused on funding our mission and government relations updates. I want to take a moment to explain the purpose of these summits. Since COVID, I’ve become especially aware of the value and precious nature of bringing people together in the same space to hear the same information at the same time. But these gatherings are more than just sharing information. If that were the only goal, an email would suffice.
Our summits are designed to build shared understanding and encourage collective problem-solving, similar to the roundtable discussions many of you experienced during the development of Our Bold Path Forward. More than 165 university leaders — including members of the Executive Leadership Team and Chancellor’s Council, deans, assistant and associate vice chancellors, Department Executive Officers (DEOs), representatives of Faculty and Staff senates, and student leaders — gathered to discuss the information presented and consider what it means for the areas they lead.
These conversations reflect the power of collective impact: bringing people with different perspectives and expertise together to address complex challenges in pursuit of shared goals. These goals are organized around five pillars reflected in both the University of Nebraska system’s Odyssey to the Extraordinary and UNL’s Our Bold Path Forward. They are meaningful, actionable priorities, and each of us has a role to play in advancing the pillars.
As I close, I want to offer two reminders. First, if you haven’t completed your annual benefits enrollment, please do so by the Friday, Nov. 13, deadline.
Second, take care of yourself and those around you. Please remember that the upcoming holiday season, while a joyous time of year, can often be difficult for many. Make use of the resources available to support your physical and mental well-being and remember that looking out for one another is part of what makes this university community so special.
Thank you for all you do for our students, our university and the state we serve.
Katherine S. Ankerson
Interim Chancellor, University of Nebraska–Lincoln