REMEMBERING DEL WEBER
UNO’s longest-serving chancellor passes away at age 86
The Maverick family lost one of the most pivotal figures in its 111-year history Jan. 11 with the death of Chancellor Emeritus Del Weber following his long bout with cancer. He was 86.
A visionary leader whose commitment to success forever changed UNO, Weber was the university’s longest-serving chancellor ever with a tenure from 1977 to 1997.
“It is hard to put into words the transformative impact that Del Weber has had on UNO and, as a result, the lives of countless individuals, whether they were students, faculty, staff or just supporters of his vision that UNO could be a leading metropolitan institution,” said UNO Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D. “In my time as UNO’s chancellor, Del has been a truly valued friend and advisor. Our campus and our community have suffered a huge loss with his passing, but we continue to be reminded each day of his legacy and his incredible Maverick spirit. We will continue to build upon his remarkable legacy.”
Weber is survived by his one-time high school sweetheart and wife of 64 years, Lou Ann; son, Bill; daughters Beth Bratches and Kelly Maddalena; and 11 grandchildren.
A native of Columbus, Nebraska, Weber became chancellor at just 45 years old. During the next 20 years, he oversaw many important firsts for the campus.
The following reflectS on Weber’s life and his time at UNO through photos, the insight of others, and his own words taken from a 1997 alumni magazine article marking his retirement as chancellor.
“I didn’t have the pleasure of working with Del Weber, but I see evidence of his legacy every time I’m on the UNO campus,” NU President Hank Bounds said. “The growing, thriving UNO we know today is a credit to Chancellor Weber’s leadership, his love of Omaha and our state, and his deep commitment to young people. UNO and the entire University of Nebraska are stronger for his service.”
NEBRASKA BORN, RAISED, EDUCATED
Weber was a child of the Great Depression who came from a long line of homesteaders and farmers who made their home in Nebraska.
Like many of UNO's students, Weber was the first in his family to attend college and earn a degree, graduating in 1954 from what now is Midland University — but not without struggle. His mother took on work as a cook to help pay his tuition. And Weber borrowed money from a retired faculty member, paying it back after graduation.
In 1956, he became principal of Creston High School in Creston, Nebraska, also teaching social studies and English. He also earned a master's degree (1959) and doctorate (1962), both in education, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
ARIZONA-OHIO-ARIZONA
Weber left Nebraska in 1962 to become an assistant professor of education at Arizona State University. He moved to Ohio in 1965, becoming an assistant to Cleveland State University President Harry Newburn. He later served one year at CSU as acting provost.
Weber returned to Arizona State in 1969 as dean of the College of Education, then one of the largest colleges in the country with nearly 5,000 students. He was just 37 years old.
CALLED HOME … AND TO UNO
Weber’s mother, who kept her son abreast of Nebraska news during his 15 years away, was the one who notified him of the opening for chancellor at UNO.
“I was not intimately familiar with this place at all,” he said in 1997. “I knew where it was located and I knew some friends who had gone to Omaha University, but there were only a few things I knew about UNO.”
Despite that, he got the job, becoming UNO’s 12th chancellor. He replaced Ron Roskens, who became president of the University of Nebraska system. In the 20 years prior to Weber’s arrival, UNO was led by five presidents/chancellors. Weber stayed at UNO the next 20, surpassing founding President Daniel Jenkins as the university’s longest-tenured leader.
That almost didn’t happen, though. In 1986, Weber was offered and accepted the post of chancellor of the University of Nevada system. But he changed his mind and stayed put. Many who know him are glad he did.
“I had the honor of knowing and working with Del for 15 years during his time as chancellor, and even longer as a friend and supporter of UNO following his retirement,” said B.J. Reed, UNO senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. “As a leader, as an educator and as a human being, he made a significant impact on my life, and I know the same can be said for anyone who ever had a chance to meet him.”
EXPANDING UNO’S FOOTPRINT, IMPACT
UNO had joined the University of Nebraska system just nine years prior to Weber’s arrival. If it was to grow in stature, though, it would need to acquire more land and expand its academic offerings.
Weber arrived in the summer of 1977, just after UNO had completed construction on the Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library at the western-most edge of campus. Beyond the library was a collection of homes he spent the next 10 years working with the city and community members to purchase. During his tenure, that land would become home to key facilities like the Durham Science Center, the Fine Arts Building (later named for Weber and his wife, Lou Ann) and the Thompson Alumni Center.
He pushed for expansion right up to his final months as chancellor. Through an agreement with First Data, UNO received an additional 70 acres of land south of Pacific Street in 1997. As part of this agreement, Weber built a coalition of supporters to make the case for UNO's first new college in decades, the College of Information Science and Technology. The newly-formed college would share space on the newly acquired land with the UNL College of Engineering at the Peter Kiewit Institute.
Overall, Weber helped add more than 100 acres of land to the UNO campus.
The growth was perhaps best symbolized by construction of the iconic Henningson Memorial Campanile in 1989. And in 1997, just prior to his retirement, Weber received approval to build UNO's first-ever on-campus housing units, what now is University Village.
Weber also oversaw expansion academically, including the addition of the campus' first doctoral programs (criminal justice; public administration) and a doubling of full-time and doctoral-level faculty.
More than 35,000 students received degrees during his time as chancellor.
“The UNO everyone knows today simply would not have been possible without the leadership and vision of Del Weber,” UNO Chancellor Emeritus John Christensen said. Christensen served as a faculty member and dean of the College of Education during Weber's time as chancellor before leading UNO from 2007 through 2017.
“As a faculty member and dean, I was able to watch as Del guided UNO into a place that outwardly reflected the potential we all knew it had,” Christensen said. “His example is one that I followed in my own time as chancellor, and I couldn’t have asked for a better role model to follow.”
His goals for UNO upon becoming chancellor
To me, certain things had to happen at UNO if we were going to achieve our appropriate place in higher education. First, we had to expand the campus. It was simply too crowded. There was too much griping about parking and it had reached crescendo proportions. And we had to beautify the campus. We had to do something to it aesthetically because, frankly, it was not very attractive. Second, I felt we needed to have student housing. Because without that, we couldn’t create on this campus the kin of student culture we wanted. The third thing I felt we needed was to have at least a modicum of doctoral programs.
ON LIFE GROWING UP IN COLUMBUS
My dad had some very difficult years. But he was always a very strong family man, and my mother was, too. But we did not have a lot of money. I can remember in 1942 when I was 10 years old, my dad came home and said he had a job at the defense plant in Mead, Nebraska, for $1.65 an hour. I’m telling you, we thought we had gone to heaven. He was paid $40 a month on the WPA (Work Projects Administration) and here we were going to make more than that in a week. I’ll never forget that wonderful feeling.
WHY UNO WAS A GOOD FIT
When I got here, everything was in place for what I needed to have a satisfying career. What I needed to have was a good city, which you have in Omaha. It’s really a first-rate place to live. You had to have an institution where there was always something going on, a challenge. Because I’m not a maintainer. If you gave me a job where all I had to do was simply maintaining what was there, that would bore me to tears. This job, for the 20 years I had it, there was always something going on, something to work on.
WHY HE ONCE REFERRED TO HIS START AT UNO AS 'VERY SCARY DAYS'
I was not prepared for this; I don’t think anybody is, unless they’ve already been a chancellor. When I got here I was not prepared for the rigors of the calendar, the demands on your time. This is the kind of job where from the time you walk in until you leave there’s someone who wants to meet you all the time. You’ve either got meetings on campus or off campus. After the first 31 days, I was here I had only one day to myself. I was not used to that pace and I was angry about it. I remember taking it out on the secretary one day and she said something like, ‘You know, if this is not what you want you probably should not be here, because this is the way it is. I can’t do anything about it unless you simply say to me not to allow people to do what they are supposed to do.’ I just had to adjust to that.
WHY HE SPENT 20 YEARS AT UNO AFTER SIX JOB CHNAGES PRIOR TO HIS ARRIVAL
I found a home. This position had everything I wanted in my career. It’s interesting, because my career was not built upon my being a president some day. That’s not what I was doing. But I also knew that there was something missing or that it was not where I needed to be. There was a reason for every move I made and there was also a reason for staying here.