A Future in the Cattle Industry
May 11, 2026
As a Krutsinger Beef Industry Scholar, UNL senior Lydia Ockander has experienced all facets of the industry she’s proud to have chosen for a career.
People are inspired to give to the University of Nebraska for many reasons — they want to give every student the opportunity to succeed, they want to be a part of building the state’s workforce and they want to support research and discoveries that will change lives and save lives. So many reasons, so many stories. We hope you’ll be as moved by them as we are.
As a Krutsinger Beef Industry Scholar, UNL senior Lydia Ockander has experienced all facets of the industry she’s proud to have chosen for a career.
Carter Schultz loves small-town Nebraska. As part of the inaugural cohort of students in the UNMC pharmacy program launching this fall in Kearney, he wants to bring meaningful connections to the people he will serve ― in a small town.
A $1 million pledge is enabling UNO’s School of the Arts to provide hands-on experiences for students through the work of a storied local artist.
With the help of donor support, the Lied Center for Performing Arts is growing its world of possibility — expanding access, elevating the arts and helping students step into the spotlight.
“It is because of donors that we even exist at the level that we exist at,” Kenji Madison, director of the Husker Pantry, said. “I cannot overstate how critical the provisions that they provide for the pantry are to our subsistence semester after semester, year after year.”
“A lot of folks will say OLLI is like the best-kept secret at the University of Nebraska, and so that’s certainly part of my job as director to grow our name and our reputation in the work we do,” Melissa Hayes-Connolly, director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, said.
“We have a very cohesive group of students and faculty who are here to have a relationship with the students,” Gurpreet Dhillon, Ph.D. and dean of UNO’s College of Business Administration, said. “It’s rare to find, and I think that it’s a strength. It needs to be cherished. It needs to be encouraged. It needs to be celebrated.”
“…It really wouldn’t be possible without donors contributing,” Lexi Wuestewald, former president of the UNL Bowling Club, said. “… We get to go and meet all these people from across the U.S., we get to make memories and we get to have life experiences. That’s not something we’d get to do without donations.”
“I think the fund has a tremendous impact on the MavForensics program overall, but two things come to mind: connection and hope,” Amanda VonGoodrich, co-director of MavForensics, said.
“Investing in jazz education helps foster creativity, confidence and connection across the broader community,” Pete Madsen, area coordinator for jazz studies, said.
“My experiences as a student-athlete at UNO have been a catalyst for me to get out into the community and be a change-maker,” Izzy Apel, a recent UNO graduate and cross-country runner, said. “I think having this opportunity as a student-athlete throughout college has set me up for future success in my career.”
With scholarship support, two University of Nebraska–Lincoln students have been able to focus on school while growing a promising tech venture.