UNL Chancellor plans to resign next week

— Zach Wendling Nebraska Examiner LINCOLN — University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Rodney Bennett will resign next week, he announced in a brief email to students, faculty and staff on Monday, leaving UNL nearly six months short of his initial contract.

Bennett, 59, who started at UNL in July 2023, will resign Jan. 12. He led the campus through $27.5 million in budget cuts in the fall, including nearly $7 million in academic program eliminations or mergers approved by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents at a Dec. 5 meeting. The remaining cuts were still in progress as of last month.

“I am writing to share that I will conclude my service as chancellor on Jan. 12,” Bennett said in the opening line of his email.

Bennett’s salary this year was $732,000.

Dr. Jeffrey Gold, president of the NU system, tapped Kathy Ankerson as UNL’s next interim chancellor. She retired at the end of 2024 after serving as UNL’s chief academic officer. Ankerson previously served as dean, associate dean and professor in UNL’s College of Architecture.

Gold told the Nebraska Examiner that Bennet’s choice to resign was a “very personal decision” made with his family.

“I didn’t really get into those details of it,” Gold said Monday. “It was a fairly abrupt decision. It was nothing that we really saw coming.”

Gold said he did have enough early warning to begin talking with folks regarding an interim leader, landing on Ankerson. Bennett’s contract requires him to give 60 days’ notice before resigning, unless agreed to by the chancellor and NU president.

In a separate message, Gold told the NU community he is grateful for Bennett’s service, including his work to stabilize UNL’s financial position, strengthen fundraising and advance student success and retention. Bennett highlighted that work, too, in his departure email. Gold said Bennett’s work has helped position UNL “well for the future.”

“We understand that the news about Chancellor Bennett is one change on top of many other changes,” Gold said. “It will be critical that every member of our UNL community has the opportunity to share their thoughts and help to shape our path forward.”

Gold said he and Ankerson plan to hold several listening sessions, details of which will be shared soon. He said he remains “confident” in UNL’s future, in part with campus budget challenges addressed and UNL nearing joint accreditation with the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Bennett did not give a reason for leaving UNL but said he believes in the “transformative power of higher education.”

He indicated he would remain in education, though he didn’t specify whether that would still be in the Cornhusker State. He came to UNL after serving nearly 10 years as president of the University of Southern Mississippi.

“I look forward to exploring opportunities on the horizon that will enable me to elevate mission and purpose in support of student success,” Bennett said.

Under Bennett’s contract, if he had resigned to seek or accept an administrative post at another academic institution or higher education campus before June 30, 2025, he would have been required to pay NU $1 million. That provision expired June 30, 2025.

Asked whether he knew whether Bennett was resigning for that reason now, Gold said: “I do not.”

Gold said a search for a permanent UNL chancellor should include some rebuilding of UNL’s leadership team and some “solid communication and rebuilding” on campus. He said he anticipates a national search for the UNL chancellor, as well as a separate chancellor for UNMC, in mid to late spring 2026.

“Let’s see what the next couple months bring,” Gold said, noting the 2026 legislative session, which begins Wednesday with a major state budget hole to fill, and other matters to “put to bed” first.

Gold said there are no talks about merging leadership at the UNL and UNMC. He said the two campuses will “maintain their own solid academic leadership.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, RNeb., whose district includes Lincoln, said Monday that Bennett’s stewardship “helped keep the university competitive so NU can continue to develop the next generation of Nebraskans to take great opportunities across our state.”

In November, Bennett became the first UNL chancellor to receive a “no confidence” vote from UNL faculty. The historic vote overwhelmingly passed, 6014, in part due to concerns over Bennett’s handling of budget challenges.

Bennett declined multiple times to directly address the UNL Faculty Senate action, telling the Examiner after December’s regents meeting UNL had “a lot of work to do” with implementation.

“We’re going to do that with a lot of care and concern for everybody who’s impacted,” he said last month.

Bennett’s contract was originally set to expire June 30. In October, he told the Examiner he desired a contract extension but did not know if or when that might occur.

Gold said at the time he supported an extension but cautioned that it was a decision ultimately left to the regents. In December, Bennett said the situation hadn’t changed.

“You got to talk to the boss about that,” Bennett said Dec. 5 when asked again if his contract would come up for a vote soon. It’s unclear what changed in the month since.

Regent Paul Kenney of Amherst, chair of the NU Board of Regents, said Monday that the board had not discussed Bennett’s contract as a group and that the board had heard “rumors” he might leave before July but “didn’t really know what would happen.” He called Bennett a friend and wished him well.

“I mean, he’s looking to do other things,” Kenney said of Bennett. “Kathy will be a very, very good acting chancellor in his absence, so we’re happy about that, so things ought to go pretty smoothly.”

In his email, Bennett highlighted a UNL tenure he said stabilized campus enrollment after years of decline, set new records for first-year student retention and six-year graduation rates and enhanced research. He also touted innovation and creative scholarship, advancing statewide extension and natural resource development that includes agriculture and animal welfare, achieving record fundraising milestones and developing “a plan for financial sustainability.”

Bennett extended his “heartfelt gratitude” to faculty, staff, extension-based colleagues, members of the executive leadership team and NU system leaders. He also thanked alumni, donors and friends of UNL.

Addressing UNL’s “outstanding students,” Bennett said each brings to UNL, Lincoln and Nebraska energy, enthusiasm, optimism and determination that he said improves local communities, Nebraska and the world. He described them as“an inspiration to us all.”