TOTAL BUDGETS Ohio State $4.75 billion Penn State $2.9 billion Minnesota $2.9 billion Iowa $2.8 billion Wisconsin $2.7 billion Illinois $2.7 billion Purdue $2.2 billion Michigan State $1.7 billion Michigan $1.6 billion Northwestern $1.6 billion Indiana $1.
A quick look at the Big Ten schools
On July 1, 2011, Tom Osborne's office phone will probably fill up with voicemails congratulating him on Nebraska's first official day as a member of the Big Ten Conference. It'll be a historic day for NU's athletic director, one that will forever define his post-coaching career legacy. He isn't planning on celebrating much.
The current College of Business Administration building consists of classrooms, winding hallways of faculty offices, a student lounge and a student area. This building is drastically different from the average Big Ten business school, which offers students small group study rooms, restaurant food and ample space to relax between classes.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln students, staff and faculty greeted Chancellor Harvey Perlman's proposed $5 million budget cuts for the next fiscal year with a mixture of shock, anger and resignation. Even Perlman admitted they wouldn't improve UNL and were only a step backward.
Among other reasons for the cuts, Perlman and other university officials have cited increased expenses, a faculty salary freeze they couldn't sustain any longer and fiscal troubles in Nebraska.
Nebraska is facing a projected shortfall of almost $1 billion in its next two-year budget and the state is likely to freeze its funding for public universities like UNL for the coming years.
Nebraska isn't alone as states and their universities across the country, including in the Big Ten Conference, face the axe of squeezed budgets.
Tom Osborne hears you Husker fans, and he's not loving what you have to say. It's not that Nebraska's athletic director has anything against rivalries. He just isn't too interested in them.
This past semester, the Nebraska Innovation Campus has seen progress, but the most impressive development may be that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a research park at all.
Innovation Campus is closer to becoming a reality. An agreement with an infrastructure contractor was signed Feb. 24, and the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the sale of the 4-H Building to the Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corporation at its March 11 meeting.
The project is still largely in the works, but upon its completion, UNL will join several other Big Ten schools that have their own research parks.
The university hopes to develop Innovation Campus and see the growth other universities have seen. Six Big Ten schools cite economic growth and the creation of jobs for both the university and local community as part of the success of their research parks.
When the University of Nebraska-Lincoln purchased the State Fair Grounds to turn into Innovation Campus, the university touted the move as a big step for growth in the state. But much of Innovation Campus remains a mystery to the student body.
Depending on who's talking, Northwestern University is either a Big Ten academic heavyweight or the red-headed stepchild of the conference.
When the University of Nebraska-Lincoln joins the Big Ten in fall 2011, one of its colleagues will be this small private school with top-rated academics. Northwestern stands out among the Big Ten, and there are striking differences between it and large state schools like UNL.
Northwestern is small and each class's 2,000 students are hand-picked from thousands of applicants. And at some point, perhaps at next year's Huskers and Wildcats game, the schools will have to figure out just which one gets the letters "NU."
Much like Lincoln, Bloomington, Ind., begins in a very unassuming way. As you drive down Route 37, signs start to appear for Indiana University Bloomington, just the way that big green sign appears on I-80 West for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Then, there's nothing really to look at for the next 20 miles.
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