LINCOLN — After Jordyn Bader graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, her husband’s medical residency whisked the couple away to another state. But she continued to nurture her ag and techie roots reinforced by UNL’s Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program.

And when the decision came for the couple to grow a family and further their careers, the Huskers returned nearly two years ago to their home state.

Indeed, Bader moved the Marble Technologies company she co-founded onto the Nebraska Innovation Campus — near a talent pipeline she said has grown the automation and robotics business that is revolutionizing meat processing plants.

Bader was among NU fans, administrators and regents who testified Tuesday at the Capitol, trying to make the case why state government in its ongoing budget process should appropriate more and not less to the university system.

Jack Hoffman’s Mom, Too

NU has requested a 3.5% increase for each of the next two years in its roughly $700 million state-aided university budget that funds core academic operations. Gov. Jim Pillen, a former NU regent, however, has recommended a 2.07% cut next year, as he tries to fix a projected $432 million state budget shortfall over the next two years and also provide more property tax relief to Nebraskans.

Also testifying before the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee were business leaders such as Heath Mello of the Greater Omaha Chamber, who spoke of NU’s annual $6.4 billion economic impact to the state, as reported in a recent economic impact study.

And the mom of Jack Hoffman, a Husker fave who died recently at age 19, after shining a national spotlight on pediatric brain cancer research following his 69-yard touchdown run as a kid during a Husker 2013 spring football game. Bri Hoffman thanked researchers for helping to extend her son’s life.

She, Bader and others told the lawmakers that funding is key to continuing academic and research progress that attracts further grants, students and national recognition.

Said Bader: “The university’s expertise in agricultural sciences and engineering has been essential to recruiting and retaining top talent, a competitive advantage both for our company and for our state.”

Bader said, for example, the Engler program she participated in has 180 current students and 400 alumni who have mostly stayed in the state and collectively have created 130 full- and part-time jobs.

‘Promise To Nebraska’

NU President Dr. Jeffrey Gold, in his comments to the committee, described the university’s budget request as a modest but essential increase needed for the university system to continue its “promise to Nebraska — to remain the key engine of opportunity and innovation for generations to come.”

Gold said Pillen’s proposed cuts translate to a $14.3 million reduction in the university’s core funding. Additionally, the state has proposed transferring $11 million in “tobacco settlement biomedical research funding” to a different state agency. That loss — combined with statute-mandated tuition waivers and rising costs — puts the financial punch closer to a 4.5% reduction, said Gold.

Pillen has said the state must reduce spending. “We must have the courage to say, ‘No,’” he said in a letter accompanying his budget proposal. “We have to use what we have before we ask for more.”

The governor, who has proposed numerous cuts in other agencies as well, has said he is steadfast in trying to bring more property tax relief and in stabilizing state aid to K-12 public schools.

Gold told the Appropriations Committee that he would never come to the state for more than is needed, and cited NU efforts over the past decade that have already shaved more than $130 million.

“There is no more fat to remove,” he said.

Federal Impact Changing Daily

The recommended trims come on top of extensive cuts looming on the federal level. Gold said the federal impact is dynamic — “literally changing on a daily basis” — but has surpassed a potential $100 million annual loss.

Any funding gap likely will have to be made up with personnel cuts, largely faculty and staff, Gold said. Totaling possible reductions from all sources and levels, Gold said, could translate to a 10% reduction to NU’s overall budget.  He said every 1% in reduced revenue could cost 73 jobs. “It will materially change the University of Nebraska for the next generation.”

If NU resorted to raising tuition, Regent Jim Scheer of Norfolk said that could mean a jump as high as 8%.

“We’re not asking for the sun,” he said. “We’re asking to be treated fairly.”

Joann Sweasy, director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center and the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, told the committee that the Buffett center is the only designated national cancer institute in the state.

She said the designation signifies the highest standards for cancer research, standing as “a beacon for cutting-edge research.”

Sweasy cited, as an example of success, UNMC’s research in pancreatic research. Boosted by $15 million from the state and matched by private donations, “groundbreaking” strides have led to recruitment of top scientists and doctors that focus on early detection, she said.

The state’s proposed cut in tobacco settlement biomedical research funds, compounded by anticipated federal funding reductions, “would put the critical advancements we’ve made and the breakthroughs still on the horizon at risk,” Sweasy said.

“The research we conduct today will shape the treatments available to patients in the future,” she said. “The breakthroughs we make in cancer care … can ultimately decrease the prevalence of cancer in our state.”

Economic Impact

Several speakers referred to the economic development study commissioned by NU and released earlier this month.” That report showed a $6.4 billion economic impact to the state in direct and indirect spending. It said that for every $1 of state investment, $10 is returned.

It indicated that one of every seven working Nebraskans was educated by the NU system, the state’s only public research university — a system of campuses in Lincoln, Omaha, Kearney as well as Omaha-based UNMC.

Gold, a former chancellor at the Med Center, said NU sees state funding as an investment, and said it has leveraged support to create such “transformational” opportunities as the Kearney Health Science Center and David Global Center.

He noted other state-supported projects, including the $2.19 billion Project Health at UNMC, the first phase in the broader public-private Project NExT, which is to break ground soon, expanding health care and the state’s workforce pipeline.

‘Preparing The Next Generation’

Of the looming federal funding cuts, Gold said the federal government has imposed cuts and restrictions on grants to maintain research facilities, making it difficult, Gold said, to expand research projects. He said that according to estimates, every million dollars sliced from the support of research programs translates to the loss of 33 high-skill jobs.

“We are not just educating students,” Gold said. “We are preparing the next generation of leaders, innovators, problem-solvers, and yes, even future state senators and executives who will drive Nebraska’s most vital industries, including agriculture, healthcare, business and technology.”

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/02/25/nu-researchers-and-fans-lobby-la...