NORFOLK, Neb. – What got education to where it is today will not continue to work.
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, who became president of the NU system earlier this month, visited Northeast Community College and Norfolk on Tuesday afternoon as part of a statewide tour that includes conversations with Nebraskans about the future of the university and Nebraska’s growth.
“I’m seeing education through a very different lens right now,” Gold said. “What I mean by that is higher education is changing. The way I like to think of it is what got us here won’t get us there.”
Gold said education must look at new partnerships with communities, including community colleges. He took a tour, spoke for about 30 minutes at Northeast’s Veterinary Tech building, then answered questions for at least 30 minutes during a stop on one of three cities he visited Tuesday. Stops are scheduled across Nebraska this week.
Gold said the educational challenges include the values associated with higher education as opposed to direct entry into the workforce, the impact that the pandemic had on students’ socialization and academic performance, and college affordability and access to higher education.
“Know the inflationary cost of delivering the product go up higher than our ability to garner state revenue plus tuition,” Gold said. “You just add those two resources together and you look at the escalating costs and adjust the curves, and they continue grow apart faster than our ability to pass those costs back to the taxpayers of Nebraska and the students in the form of tuition.”
Gold grew up in the inner city of New York but spent several years on a farm outside of Nashville, Tenn. His father worked in the textile industry and he is a graduate of Cornell, which is an Ivy League school that is unique in that it is both private and publicly funded.
Gold said he knows the importance of agriculture, but he doesn’t have extensive agriculture knowledge from his time spent on a farm.
“We never worked the farm, but there are a lot of pictures of me sitting on a pile of hay or on a tractor or stuff like that when I was a little kid,” Gold said to a room full of laughter.
Gold, who is a cardiac physician whose practice has included conducting about 20,000 surgeries fixing infants’ hearts, still gets cards and calls from past patients. His educational administration experience includes serving as chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center and chancellor of UNO.
Gold is familiar with Norfolk and Northeast from the nursing program and the Growing Together initiative. Northeast students in the nursing program who earn associate degrees may have their coursework transfer to bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level nursing coursework at UNMC.
“I think the world of Dr. (Leah) Barrett, (Northeast president),” Gold said. “She is a unique human being and a great leader. You are so fortunate to have someone with her knowledge, ability and skillsets to lead you here in this community.”
Topics during the question-and-answer session included rural health care and how the NU system can help community colleges and communities more, including possibly developing a hybrid program that meets the needs of hospitals in rural areas.
Gold said he appreciates the idea and will do what he can. Part of the difficulty will be making sure such a program gets licensed and accredited.
Gold Visit
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, who is a surgeon and president of the NU system, discusses how to keep more people in rural communities, which includes making sure young people want to live in the communities. Also shown are Charlene Widener (left), Northeast vice president of educational services, and Amanda Nipp, Northeast vice president of student services. (Northeast Community College)
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