As Dean of Undergraduate Education, Amy Goodburn is the senior academic leader who represents the Executive Vice Chancellor's Office in the EVC's absence, and whose primary responsibilities are in undergraduate education.

In this role, Goodburn leads university-wide student success and degree completion initiatives and provides strategic direction to academic support and engagement units focused in three areas: advising and career development; teaching and learning; and student success and retention programs. She oversees leadership of the following programs: Center for Academic Success and Transition, Center for Transformative Teaching, the Military and Veteran Success Center, the University Honors Program, the William H Thompson Scholars Program, Undergraduate Education Programs (including the Achievement-Centered General Education Program and Transfer Offices), and university-wide efforts related to advising and student success. She also founded and co-chairs First Generation Nebraska, which connects first generation scholars with faculty and staff who share a similar academic experience with the goal of making the UNL campus more “first-generation friendly.”

Goodburn came to the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor in 2011 as an associate vice chancellor to focus on student success. She subsequently took on additional duties related to student retention, graduation and achievement, and has overseen the launch and advancement of several programs that have enhanced student progress, including various advising, transfer and orientation initiatives. Between 2015 and 2017, she was Nebraska’s interim dean of enrollment management.

In 2012, the university implemented MyPLAN, or My Personal Learning and Advising Network, a way for students to communicate with faculty and staff. Students can schedule with instructors and advising support staff and search through available resources. Faculty and advising staff can follow students through their university careers, recording notes, scheduling appointments, accessing basic student information and communicating with university staff and faculty. In 2015, the university earned one of three national Starfish Solutions 360 awards for MyPLAN’s successful university-wide implementation.

Also during Goodburn’s tenure, the university has increased first-year academic learning communities from 10 to 26 and has launched the Center for Academic Success and Transition, the Military and Veteran Success Center, the Office of Undergraduate Research, and the Center for Transformative Teaching. In 2013, the university began the Academic Probation Recovery Program, which earned University Business’s Model of Excellence award in 2016. Goodburn has led the creation of several recruitment and retention programs, such as First Huskers, Emerging Leaders and Nebraska Now.

Goodburn, a professor of English who joined the Nebraska faculty in 1994, has been recognized with a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award, the university’s Scholarly Teaching Award and induction into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at Nebraska. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English and political science at Miami University, and her master’s degrees in English and English education and her doctorate in English (composition and rhetoric) from the Ohio State University.