Chadron State College’s 11th President, Randy Rhine, smiles as he delivers his inaugural address Friday in the auditorium of Memorial Hall. –Photo by T.J. Thomson

Chadron State College’s 11th President Randy Rhine has a history of cultivating consistent growth

She is an affable woman with mahogany hair and bright eyes to match. She and her husband met in college, and they will celebrate their 30th anniversary this year. Friendliness personified, she is Ann Rhine, wife of Chadron State College’s 11th president.
On Wednesday, I was privy to Ann’s renowned hospitality, as she agreed to chat about herself, her husband, and their new life at CSC.

A black and white photo hangs in the Rhine’s living room. It is of Ann, her two children, and her husband, toting enormous backpacks and smiling at the camera. It was taken during a 26.2 mile hike through the Beartooth Mountains, which the family took while they still lived in Montana.

While summiting the granite peaks, a huge snowstorm caught the Rhines off-guard.

“It was white-out conditions,” Ann said, as she gestured to the picture, hanging above the couch. Fortunately, they met a couple of friendly hikers, who knew the area better than they. The hikers forged ahead and told the Rhines to “follow in our footsteps.”

On Friday, Randy Rhine took his first step into collegiate presidency, and started on the trail ten previous presidents traveled. It remains to be seen whether he will follow in their footsteps, or forge a new path of his own. Either way, Ann affirmed, President Rhine will have the unwavering support of his wife and children; they will be hiking right alongside him.

If an adventurous spirit is any sign of tenacity, then Rhine could not have picked a better support team. The Rhines have two children serving in the armed forces: their elder daughter, Lieutenant Rachael, and her husband Brandon were able to attend the inauguration, despite being stationed at Fort Bliss, in El Paso, Texas. In addition to being fluent in French, Japanese, and Latin, Rachael is pursuing her master’s in international diplomacy. The Rhine’s younger son, John, is currently serving as a U.S. Ranger. He and his wife, Randi, live in Savannah, Ga.

“He was always an adrenaline junkie,” Ann said of her John. She then showed me the single-star banner hanging in their window. The blue star, bordered by white and red, symbolizes a child is deployed. The sun-faded banner, for John who has been serving in Afghanistan, has been displayed for four years, but may be taken down soon, as there is a possibility of John’s return.

Ann is not afraid to get hands dirty either, quite literally. A look around her beautifully-kept home would show that within the past year Ann has had paint, dirt, and plenty of food on her hands. The Rhine home, also called the Chicoine house, after its craftsman and donor, is situated on the corner of 10th and Cedar. Vern Chicoine built the house, and then donated it to be used as CSC’s presidential home, housing the college’s leader and his or her family. Since their arrival in June, Ann has vivified the residency. Although architecturally beautiful, the walls were a sterile white, and that is certainly not Ann Rhine’s style. Now tactful accent walls break up the blank space, alternating between blues and brown, making Ann’s home almost as inviting as her warm smile. Outside, wooden stakes protrude from her green backyard, outlining the two-year landscaping plan of her budding garden. In the garage, a metal rack supports a miniature greenhouse, where tender zucchini shoots and newly-sprouted thyme grow beneath sunlamps.

I detail the specifications of the Rhines’ residence because it draws an apt comparison. Rhine inherited a well-built college, Chadron State. But it is a college that could use some more life. While touring the Rhines’ backyard, as I listened to Ann discuss her landscaping and flora, I could not help but be excited as well. Just like how Rhine’s enthusiasm for the students’ education is evident, his wife’s excitement over the familial student body is infectious.

“I want it to be welcoming,” she said of her home, but the comment might as well apply to the whole school. Ann is partnered with her husband in the mission to make Chadron State a college people want to attend. She acts as a hospitality ambassador; constantly hosting guests, from state board members to incoming freshman. Ann foments the college’s interests with her infallible hospitality.

“It’s your home as much as it is mine,” she said.

CSC’s former president Janie Park, in her keynote speech during Friday’s inauguration, gave the Rhines a series of Irish blessings.

“May the frost never afflict your spuds,” Park said, to which the audience laughed. I personally laughed because try as that metaphorical frost might, it would never hurt Ann Rhine’s garden, not really. Her tuberous roots would be safe, because the Rhines are growing people. After coming to Chadron in 2005, Rhine was made vice president of enrollment management, and grew CSC’s numbers to more than 3,000. The Rhines know how to take something small, like CSC’s enrollment numbers or an infant zucchini plant, and nurture it into something healthy and vital.

As our interview drew to a close, I asked Ann for any final comments about her husband. “He really cares a lot about the students,” she said, and smiled. With Ann’s commitment to a warm and inviting world for students, it is clear she cares a great deal for them too.

Listen to audio from Rhine’s inaugural address here.

The Eagle’s website is no stranger to the NCMA awards. csceagle.com was launched in December of 2010 which made the website eligible to compete in the 2010-11 NCMA Golden Leaf Awards. On the year of the website’s birth, csceagle.com earned second best in the Overall Excellence Digital Medium Division. The following year csceagle.com stole first place in the same category, The Eagle’s adviser, Michael D. Kennedy, said.

“I got to be proud of these guys,” Kennedy said

There are ten individual categories providing individual awards within the digital medium category. T.J. Thomson, Ashley Swanson, and Kevin Olesky were of those students earning points for the website.

Going six months without a dedicated web editor didn’t stop csceagle.com from maintaining excellence, Thomson said.

“Each page editor would upload their own content instead of having one person to do it all,” Thomson said, “this allowed more time for innovation.”

The Eagle has been a charter member at the NCMAs, founded in 1992.

The proposed funding increase, planned for the coming two academic years, would also bring a tuition freeze for in-state student tuition for the Nebraska college system, which includes the University of Nebraska system as well as the Nebraska State College System.

The funds to the college system would see an increase of 4.5 and 4 percent for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years respectively.

This higher than average funding increase, as noted in the appropriations committee’s preliminary budget report, comes in exchange for the proposed freeze to in-state tuition over the next two academic years.

The funding to the college system would be less than what Gov. Dave Heineman included in his budget proposal, but the funding is more than what several appropriations committee members had included in their budget plans.

This increase in funds is due in part to a forecast from the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board of increased tax revenues in Nebraska by up to 5.5 percent for the current fiscal year and 3.1 percent for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

State Senator Heath Mello who is the head of the appropriation’s committee and Gov. Dave Heineman could not be reached for comment.

Heineman’s and Mello’s head spokesmen said they were not speaking further on the issue until after the proposed budget plans had been submitted.

This proposed budget is tentatively approved and is expected to be part of the state budget plan and is due to the Legislature by May 1.

Kennedy just finished his second two-year term as President for NCMA.

The NCMA is an organization that was founded in 1992 that includes the following Nebraska colleges: Chadron State College, Wayne State College, Peru State College, Hastings College, Doane College Western Nebraska Community College, Northeast Community College, and Nebraska Wesleyan University.

“I am proud to be part of this association and represent all students equally. I am grateful to my colleagues for entrusting me with these responsibilities,” Kennedy said.

High schools have the opportunity to offer dual credit courses. This means that a high school student can take a class within their high school and, upon the completion of that class, earn college credit.

Chadron High School allows junior and senior students to take classes at CSC.

Chadron High School Student Liaison Carolyn Hinrichs supports dual and college credit classes.

“The classes allow students to get generals taken care of as well as an exploratory route for students taking introduction classes in their possible major of choice,” Hinrichs said.

The availability to take introductory classes gives students the opportunity to decide if that is the area of study they would like to major in before they get to college, Hinrichs explain.

With a large number of high schools, not only allowing, but promoting dual and college courses the process of transferring those classes comes into play.

START Office Academic Adviser Danielle Hencey, says transfer credits are beneficial to incoming freshman as long as the credits are coming from an accredited school.

“We have articulation agreements with community colleges in the area,” Hencey said

The list of accredited schools is located on the CSC Transfer Student page on the Chadron State College homepage, Hencey said.

“There is a process a student must go through to transfer credits and the Transfer Student webpage is very helpful,” Hencey said, “However, this is a general overview. If a student is planning on transferring credits they need to come talk to us.”

With high school students spending seven hours maximum in the classroom plus sports practice and extra-curricular involvement it can be demanding to be taking a college course on top of an already hectic schedule. However, Hinrichs does not see a downside to dual credit availability.

“It gives students confidence that they will be successful in college,” Hinrichs said. “They have a support system here. If they have trouble logging into Sakai or with the class we can help them.”

Lane Swedberg, sophomore of North Platte, said the transfer of his 24 credits from high school was a smooth process. The secondary math education major was able to become a math tutor at the STRIVE Learning Center because of his transfer credits.

“I didn’t have to take the classes here in order to qualify as a tutor which allowed me to start tutoring earlier,” Swedberg said.

Even if a student comes in with a college credit from a non-accredited school CSC will recognize most classes as long as the student gets a “C” or above as an elective credit if the college does not have an equivalent class, Hencey said.

“We are doing our best to streamline the process,” Hencey said.

There are many different motivations for incoming freshman to earn college credits during the duration of their high school career.

“I wanted to get as many generals out of the way so I could start in on my major,” Swedberg said.

“I think offering college courses to high school students is very beneficial to the students that take advantage of the opportunity,” Swedberg said.

During this past year, students have been complaining about the current meal plan system because of its inflexibility, Senior Director of Dining Operations Tracy Shuck said. For example, under the current system, students can only use one meal during each meal period. Meals not used during a period are lost and cannot be redeemed.

As a result of students’ feedback, Shuck proposed changes to the meal plan for approval from the Nebraska State College System’s Board of Trustees.

“The new proposed change came basically after years of research and watching how the students eat, what mean plans they use and what meal plans are not used,” Shuck said. “I took those proposed changes to the school,” Shuck said.

With the new meal plans, students do not have to worry about their meals when they are busy with classes or appointments because their meals are secured and can be used whenever they want.

“One of the things that students wanted is that being able to use their meal plan when they want; they don’t want to be confined to that one meal for a meal period, so by putting in larger meal plan with more flexibility, the students can get what they wanted,” Shuck said.

The 14-meal plan, the most popular among students has not changed; it will be kept as is, but the 9-meal plan and the 19-meal plan are being phased out due to lack of use, Shuck said.

The meal plans that Shuck proposed to the board are a 150-meal block plan for $1,280 per semester and a 280-meal block plan for $1,475 per semester. Both plans include $200 in discretionary Bonus Bucks.

“We are happy to announce the finalists in the 2013 Great Plains Journalism Awards, which honors journalists in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa,” contest organizer Ashley Parrish stated. The Great Plains Journalism Awards is hosted by Tulsa Press Club and Benevolent Association. The competition aims to promote the highest standards of journalism across an eight-state region, its website states.

Nebraska is one amongst seven other states that is given the privilege to enter in this competition, and out of many schools that sent in their pieces, Chadron State College’s ACCLAIM magazine became one of nine finalists.

Michael D. Kennedy, instructor of social and communication arts, said he was very pleased with how well the staff performed.

“I’m very proud that our inaugural edition of ACCLAIM has achieved finalist status in such a prestigious competition. If we win, great, but just to be nominated fresh out of the gate is indeed a big honor. I’m very proud of T.J. and the entire staff for making ACCLAIM so successful.”

“ACCLAIM was brought to CSC’s campus in 2012,” Executive Editor T.J. Thomson said Wednesday. “Student government funded the project and supported it the entire way. The success of ACCLAIM is tribute to the faculty members in the Communication Arts Department and the staff members of The Eagle.”

“Linda was very open with our staff about her condition,” Tracy Shuck, Senior Director of Dining Operations said. “The staff notices her absence and has been working even harder to pick up where she has left off.”

Brownlee’s main duties were doing food orders, retail for the food court, and catering events. Everyone has been doing double duty to make sure all of these things are being done and being done well, Shuck said.

“Katie Hunter has been brought in to help with the catering events,” Shuck said, “She has been doing a great job.”

Shuck said that he has been in contact with Brownlee and she has been helping over the phone as much as she can without hindering her recovery.

“We are waiting for her to return, and she will return,” Shuck said.

An eagle adorns the face of a dollar bill. The NSCS Board of Trustees approved a new out-of-state tuition rate at one dollar above the in-state rate earlier this year. –Photo by David Siqueira

Starting in the fall, there will be no in-state tuition rate for Chadron State College students. Thanks to the New Eagle Rate, students from all over the country as well as the international students will pay pretty much the same tuition as Nebraska residents.

In the past, many students from the other states as well as international students have been paying more than double what students from Nebraska pay for tuition. However, the Nebraska non-Resident Scholars program has been allowing qualified Nebraska non-resident students to pay in-state tuition as long as they maintain at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.

Kevin Spears, International Education Program Coordinator, cheered the new change in tuition policy at CSC.

“They have what they call The New Eagle Rate tuition, which is awesome, and it is not only for international students, but also for all the students from the other states; they will all pay almost the same tuition; there will be only one symbolic dollar difference,” Spears said. “It is a new initiative that is approved for a three years trial, but I think it will absolutely continue.”

Administrators said they approved the tuition change in order to provide high quality, affordable education to all students.

“CSC is the college of opportunity; that is one of our missions, and it allows a larger population of student to afford quality education by making that change in the tuition structure.” Interim Admissions Director Lisa Stein said April 17.

Moreover, she confirmed that Nebraska non-Resident Scholars program will be cancelled starting in the fall.

“With the Eagle New Rate there will be no need for NRS Program, so the current students in the program will not lose their in-state rate if they did not maintain their GPA,” Stein said.

Furthermore, Stein clarified that the one dollar above the in-state tuition that Nebraska non-resident students will have to pay for each credit hour, is primarily symbolic and just to respect the state law that states out-state students have to pay more in the tuition than Nebraska resident students.

Some faculty members think the change will result in a more diverse student body.

“I really think it will result in more diversity, and that will make the quality go up because one of the things we consider with quality is the diversity we attract.” Kathy Bahr, professor of English and humanities, said.

“My door is open to the general student population,” Cassiday said, “It is best to set up an appointment, but walk-ins are always welcome.”

Cassiday received his counseling degree from CSC and is Nebraska State Certified. He started working at CSC immediately after he graduated with his masters from the CSC Counseling Program. Cassiday is also in charge of Disability Services on campus.

“I encourage students to make use of these services, whether they just need someone to talk to or have serious issues,” Cassiday said.

To make an appointment, call 308-432-6268. If the issue is urgent, call 308-430-4593. If there is an emergency, call 911.