Education

The Omaha Public Schools board meets Tuesday morning to name its superintendent candidate finalists this week.

Board members interviewed four candidates Saturday in an all-day, closed-door session. A meeting is set for 8:30 AM Tuesday to announce the three finalists. They'll be interviewed starting Friday.

Whoever is named superintendent will take over following John Mackiel's retirement at the end of this school year. Mackiel has been with OPS for nearly four decades.

On the web: Omaha Public Schools

US News and World Report has ranked five UNO graduate programs in the top 20 nationally.

John Bartle is the Acting Dean for the College of Public Affairs and Community Service at UNO.  He says the rankings show how strong UNO is at the graduate level.  

Bartle says the rankings are done by deans and directors of graduate programs.  Five programs within public administration were recognized, including criminology and criminal justice, social work and business.

The Omaha Public Schools board will begin interviews this Friday of six candidates for superintendent.

Board members met Monday afternoon with consultant Marvin Edwards of Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates. Last fall, the board selected the Chicago-based firm to lead the search for OPS' new superintendent. John Mackiel plans to retire at the end of this school year after nearly four decades with OPS.

Board members will interview candidates Friday and Saturday. They'll narrow the list to three finalists, who will be interviewed next weekend.

UNMC rose in the 2013 US News and World Report rankings of the nation’s top medical schools.

Chancellor Harold Maurer says out of the 149 medical schools surveyed in the latest rankings, UNMC ranked sixth in primary care, up from seventh last year.  He says 83% of the students who attend medical school at UNMC are from Nebraska and many opt to work in the state when they finish school. 

Chancellor Maurer says he’s especially proud of the rural medicine program which tied for 12th this year, up from 15th last year.

UNO has a long history of working with military and veteran students as well as their families.  In the fall of 2010 UNO’s Mav USO office conducted a survey of military and veteran students. 

The results of the study showed that military and veteran students knew UNO had a lot of great programs and services to support them. What they didn’t know was how to access those programs. 

Hayley Patton, Director of Military and Veterans Programs at UNO, says that will change in a few weeks as UNO opens a new military and veterans university services office to assist these students.