Blanche Berns often spoke to her children about the importance of an education. The lessons struck a chord, because her son Henry D. Berns and his wife Marilyn recently established a scholarship in Blanche’s memory to help future teachers attend the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Blanche taught at rural country schools in Webster County, Neb., after graduating from what was then Kearney State Teacher’s College. After seven years, she stopped teaching when she married Henry P. F. Berns. They were rural farmers in Webster County where they raised five children, but she never stopped taking an interest in education.

University of Nebraska alumnus and cattleman Paul F. Engler of Amarillo, Texas, announced today a $20 million gift to support programs in agribusiness at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

“I think about myself and my age, and I still have fire in my belly,” Engler said. “We need to identify these boys and girls who have that fire in the belly when they are young and then when they come to the university, expose them to a curriculum that teaches risk—how to evaluate it and how to manage it—because if you do not take risk as an entrepreneur, you are not going to make it.”

A $10,000 gift from Justin Duffy’s friends and former co-workers at the Eaton Corporation is pushing a scholarship in his memory closer to its goal.

Duffy was killed on June 2, 2009, when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee while his Army unit provided security escort for military leadership in Baghdad. A fund in his memory was established last year at the University of Nebraska Foundation to help students attend the University of Nebraska at Kearney where Duffy graduated in 2000.

Duffy’s former Kearney, Neb., employer, Eaton, donated more than $10,000 in memory of its former employee. Duffy worked at the plant as a production supervisor for about five years.

All who want to know the latest about how giving is advancing the University of Nebraska in remarkable ways now have the option to learn more with Facebook and YouTube.

Film expert and professor Wheeler Winston Dixon, the James E. Ryan Professor of Film Studies, discusses why people are drawn to films like the new blockbuster film "2012." His endowed professorship was a gift from the estate of Mr. James E. Ryan, who lived in Lincoln.

Longtime university supporters Ruth and Bill Scott of Omaha certainly had fun with this gift! In addition to support for UNMC's state-of-the-art medical education building, the couple also provided funds for a student ice rink, which opens today in Omaha.

A $5,000 gift from Joe Duffy’s employer, Tenneco of Cozad, Neb., has pushed a scholarship in memory of his son to the half-way point of being fully endowed.

Justin Duffy gave up his day off to go out with his Army unit to provide a security escort for military leadership in Baghdad. They had done it a hundred times. This time a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee, killing Duffy on June 2, 2009.

Bob Brightfelt and Ken Jones, both graduates of the UNL College of Engineering, were recognized on Nov. 5, 2009, for their longtime service and for their generosity in supporting students and academic programs within the college. UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Nebraska Engineering’s Dean David Allen and NU Foundation President Clary Castner helped to honor the two grads by dedicating named areas within the college’s Othmer Hall.

Information about Campaign for Nebraska, a nine-year comprehensive fundraising effort, was announced at a news conference in Omaha on Oct. 16. Participants in the news conference included campaign volunteers together with university and foundation leaders.

The public phase of a comprehensive fundraising campaign led by a prominent team of volunteers was announced today by the University of Nebraska and University of Nebraska Foundation. The Campaign for Nebraska: Unlimited Possibilities seeks to raise $1.2 billion to meet high-priority opportunities and needs for the university’s four campuses.