What is your position at UNL?
My extension educator position falls under the Community Vitality Initiative umbrella, and will specialize in business planning and entrepreneurship particularly in food and agri-tourism related businesses
What drew you to UNL?
I have always had a close relationship with UNL, studying agronomy and animal science as an undergrad, interacting with extension and specialists as an ag producer, teaching at NCTA in Curtis, collaborating on a research project while studying at KSU and working with UNL resource people as a community economic developer.
What aspect of working in an educational setting do you enjoy the most?
I appreciate the knowledge-rich environment, and the culture of supporting the success of others.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Perhaps my greatest achievement is having developed a high level of competency in diverse disciplines such as adding a commercial feedlot to our traditional farming operation, organizational leadership skills, teaching in a college setting, entrepreneurship and community economic development and then into housing development as that need emerged while I was in the economic development field. I hope to bring that adaptability to UNL as I learn the internal organizational environment and investigate the needs of our customers in the public sphere.
What is something that most people don’t know about you?
At one time I had the longest running tenure as a soloist in the Curtis Easter Pageant.
What is your life like outside of work?
I am a woodworker and an avid do it yourself-er. I still enjoy playing the D-18 Martin acoustic guitar I bought when I was in high school. My wife Sonnie and I are enjoying settling into our new home in the hills of Nebraska City, along with our delightful adult son Andrew (who still lives with us as he is mentally handicapped). The move gets us close to our other grown children, a daughter in Lincoln and married son and granddaughter in Parkville, Missouri.