On his way to the NU presidency, Dr. Jeffery Gold visited the UNL Panhandle Research Extension and Education Center on April 24. He met with and answered questions from members of the Scottsbluff community and the surrounding area. One question concerned the consolidation of the University and its medical center to better NU’s academic standing in the Big Ten conference.
“There are three things when it comes to staying in the Big Ten,” said Gold. One is media rights and how many people are tuning into the game, two is we have to win, and three is combining UNL and the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s annual federal research funding when responding to the National Research Foundation’s annual survey.”
Seventy-one universities make up the highest research universities, and 57 have medical centers helping their numbers. Combining the two separate Nebraska entities would boost Nebraska from the bottom fold around 120 to somewhere in the 40s, according to Gold. “We must serve the needs of the state and how it would help the whole state, including Scottsbluff.”
Gold also talked about his path to Nebraska and the University of Nebraska at Omaha Medical Center.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Gold is proud to be a product of the public education system and a stickball player on the streets of Brooklyn. He joked that “the real skill of stickball was dodging the cars.” He achieved his bachelor’s degree at Cornell University and his M.D. from the Weill Cornell College of Medicine. Gold completed his cardiothoracic surgical fellowship training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, with additional training in pediatric cardiac surgery at the Boston Children’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School.
At UNMC, Gold has overseen significant growth in enrollment, research, academic offerings, philanthropy, and facilities. Enrollment has reached a record high for 23 straight years, and research grants and contracts now exceed $250 million.
Gold, who also serves as the NU system’s executive vice president and provost, will assume the president’s role on July 1, succeeding Interim President Chris Kabourek.