After years of serving students at multiple universities, Nebraska native Neal Schnoor has returned home to serve as UNK’s newest chancellor.
Schnoor, who has years of experience working at UNK, said the mission of UNK is what brought him back.
“I’m just passionate about the mission,” Schnoor said. “I love being involved in a system where I have colleagues that we can work together with at UNO, UNL. Obviously UNMC, with the new partnership in rural health (that) is going to be not just a game changer for education, but to really revive economic development in greater Nebraska.”
Schnoor began his career as a high school band teacher, including teaching at Kearney High, before leaving to obtain his master’s degree and Ph.D. from UNL. In 1997, he joined UNK’s staff as a lecturer and director of bands until 2010, when he left to serve as the dean of the School of Education and Counseling at Wayne State University.
Schnoor returned to UNK in 2012 as a senior adviser to the chancellor, a role he held for seven years before becoming chief of staff to the president at California State University-Long Beach in 2019.
In 2021, Schnoor joined Northern State University, where he served as the 18th president before his return to UNK.
“A lot has changed in six years since I was here with the community, with the campus and everything,” Schnoor said.
Schnoor succeeds Doug Kristensen, who retired in 2024 after serving as UNK’s chancellor for 22 years. Charlie Bicak served as UNK’s interim chancellor during the 2024-25 academic year during the search process.
Student body president Sam Schroeder, who was a part of UNK’s chancellor search committee, said he thinks it’s important UNK has student representation to share their perspective on the matter.
“Overall, I was looking for leadership qualities, as was everybody else including faculty representation, (and) community leaders,” Schroeder said. “I think we were all looking for that. But, in regard to what I was specifically looking at, it was connection to student engagement and student support on campus. Dr. Schnoor definitely stood out among all the candidates that we interviewed and received applications from.”
Jeffery Gold, president of the Nebraska University system, said Schnoor’s deep knowledge of Nebraska and experience in other leadership roles made him an ideal candidate.
“He has dealt with difficult challenges such as budget, (and) enrollment and community engagement, and has taken a very positive and very successful, proactive response to those things,” Gold said. “He’s a high-energy, dynamic gentleman with tremendous public charisma, and so for all of those reasons I think he is truly the right person at the right time.”
On Aug.11, Schnoor made a public announcement that UNK is currently facing a $4.5 million budget deficit.
Schnoor said he is waiting until faculty and staff return to receive their input before making potential plans.
“I think the real goal is to have something hopefully out there in pretty good form by the beginning of second semester (so) that people have time to react,” Schnoor said. “We have time to listen to it and make adjustments, and then try to wrap these up with a pretty clear idea, mid to later spring.”
In his return to UNK, Schnoor hopes to engage with students to better understand the student experience and the support students need. His priorities include working toward the success of the Rural Health Education Building in partnership with UNMC, along with increasing access to programs through online delivery for students that are place-bound.
Gold said Schnoor also wants to continue building relationships made by former chancellor Doug Kristensen, and to make UNK more of a destination spot that attracts potential students.
On campus, Schnoor has begun meeting with Schroeder to discuss issues and possible campus-wide initiatives. Schnoor and Schroeder will continue to work together through bi-weekly meetings.
“I think he wants to get involved, I think he wants to get out there, be seen by students, be heard and really listen,” Schroeder said. “So I think that’s a really important quality, especially coming in as a new leader.”
Schnoor said he can’t wait for the activity on campus, including athletic events.
“I’m just really excited (for) where UNK can go,” Schnoor said. “It’ll be a tough time for a few years like it is for all of higher education, but if we make the right decisions and we get the funding back in place…, I think the future is really bright.”
