‘Coming home’: Neal Schnoor named finalist for University of Nebraska at Kearney chancellor

LINCOLN — While serving as chief of staff to the president of the University of California, Long Beach, Neal Schnoor recalls a request from a student who was unable to attend his graduation because his mother was at home in hospice care.

Schnoor was the “inbox” for the president, he recalled this week, and working with school officials, he said an associate dean and associate provost took robes and met the student at home. 

It was an impromptu, personalized graduation to the student’s needs.

“If a campus with 34,000 students can meet the needs of an individual student and family, we can do that at UNK [the University of Nebraska at Kearney],” Schnoor told reporters Wednesday. “That’s doing the ordinary thing extraordinarily, and we will do that.”

‘I pinched myself’

Schnoor was named UNK’s priority candidate for the next chancellor on Tuesday. The “priority” candidacy is the procedural 30 days where he will visit UNK and meet with faculty, staff, students and the community before he has the chance of being confirmed as leader of the regional campus. 

Under state law, only a single priority candidate is named as part of the search process.

A Nebraska native born in Norfolk and raised in Pierce, Schnoor is currently the president of Northern State University in South Dakota, where he’s served since 2021. Schnoor earlier served two years in his California State University, Long Beach role and, between 2010 and 2012, he was the dean of the School of Education and Counseling at Wayne State College, where he earned a fine arts degree in education in 1990.

Schnoor was a long-time UNK faculty member and administrator, serving as senior adviser to the chancellor for executive affairs between 2012 and 2019 and as an associate professor between 1997 and 2010, where he was director of bands and coordinator of K-12/secondary education.

If confirmed, Schnoor would succeed former UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen, who retired in May 2024 after 22 years in the top role.

Interim Chancellor Charlie Bicak took over after the retirement of Kristensen, who NU officials celebrated as having never stepped on the brakes during the transitional period.

Schnoor said he has received hundreds of texts from former students, who he said don’t know yet what kind of chancellor he will be. His first steps will be “listening.”

“I pinched myself,” Schnoor said when he learned he was the finalist, saying it was “coming home to an institution that has meant so much to our family and every other person.”

Schnoor’s roots in Nebraska

Schnoor’s roots are in Nebraska, going on to direct high school bands in Lincoln, Kearney and Wakefield after his college graduation.

In the late 1990s, he earned a master’s degree in music education/instrumental conducting and a doctorate of philosophy in education administration, both from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As a graduate assistant, he assisted instrumental methods and literature courses and also conducted wind ensemble, concert band and the Cornhusker Marching Band.

Schnoor and his wife, Teresa, raised their two children in Kearney and nearby Minden. All of them have taken classes at UNK.

Teresa Schnoor will also retire this spring after 18 years as principal of Kearney’s Central Elementary School. Neal Schnoor said the two have “shared a life and passion for education” and that the first family of UNK would recruit future educators to the “very rewarding career.”

“If she does it like she rounds up elementary kids, we’re going to have quite a few more,” Schnoor said of his wife.

Talking to reporters, Schnoor said that when he recently toured UNK, he saw a campus poised to expand for rural health and wellness, arts and culture, athletics, civic engagement and economic development for the region and state. 

As a first-generation college graduate, Schnoor is also dedicated to ensuring affordable and quality education and uplifting robust, impactful and experiential support.

“We have hard work ahead,” Schnoor said.

Embracing NU’s mission and trajectory

Schnoor has also embraced the mission and strategic plan led by NU President Jeffrey Gold: an “Odyssey to the Extraordinary.”

That will require innovation, “doing ordinary things extraordinarily well” and greater collaboration to maximize the impact of resources, Schnoor said.

Schnoor said he has experience working with state officials, pointing to his first day at Northern State when he got a call from a top leader in the South Dakota Senate about replacing a vintage World War I dormitory to meet the needs of students in business, finance and nursing.

By forging relationships “one at a time,” and giving a tour to the former CEO and executive director of the South Dakota Board of Regents, Brian Maher, the margin passed by wide margins. Since 2023, Maher has been Nebraska’s commissioner of education.

Schnoor said a regional campus needs to fill the needs of its surrounding area, such as work at Northern State to help train more nurses.

At the Aberdeen-based campus, Northern State is in one of the top three shortage areas for registered nurses nationwide, Schnoor said. With continued work, South Dakota officials begin training the next generation of nurses, similar to continued efforts at UNK to expand rural health under Kristensen’s leadership.

Engaging the next generation of Nebraskans will include collaboration with Maher once again, Schnoor said, and engagement with schools, superintendents and students directly.

Schnoor said those efforts need to start as young as kindergarten and get students ready, “or there’s literally no water to feed the plant.”

“We have to be successful, and we’re going to make it a high priority,” Schnoor said.

‘Proud to have him back’

In introducing Schnoor, Dr. Gold said that his love for higher education and understanding of UNK’s power and connection to other campuses, such as for future quality of life or Nebraska’s economic prosperity, “rang true.”

Regent Paul Kenney of Amherst, chair of the NU Board of Regents, said UNK annually contributes $446 million in economic impact and nearly 4,000 jobs. He said he’s thrilled with Schnoor’s strong ties to Kearney and UNK and that he has a “track record of success.”

“We’re fortunate to have a candidate who is so familiar with what makes UNK truly a special place,” said Kenney, whose district includes Kearney.

State Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney, who was mayor of the city for 18 years before joining the Legislature this year, said he was very excited to welcome Schnoor and his family back to the community. He said he met Schnoor in the late 1990s and said he and his family have always been a “tremendous asset” to the community.

“We know that he will do an excellent job and we’re just proud to have him back,” Clouse told the Nebraska Examiner.

‘This is the right person’

Gold said NU isn’t just looking for somebody who is “accomplished on paper” but someone who is “equally charismatic” and wants to create deeper and broader connections with elected officials, the community, students, faculty and staff.

“This is the right time, this is the right person,” Gold said Wednesday. “I know that Dr. Schnoor and his family will be incredible assets to this odyssey and will guide Kearney into the next phase.”

UNK Student Regent Sam Schroeder, who will be the student body president of the campus for a second year, was one of three students on the search committee that found Schnoor. Schroeder said he stood out as an exemplary, student-centered leader who asked students what they were passionate about.

Gold, calling back to Schnoor’s comments that he might not know what kind of chancellor he’ll be, said he does:

“I know you’re going to make us all very proud.”