Blank announces re-election bid

Don Blank announced today that he will seek re-election to the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.

Blank represents District 7, which includes 34 counties, comprising the entire western half of Nebraska.

He was first elected in 1986, and was re-elected in 1992 and 1998. Blank won his last election with more than 70 percent of the vote in the general election.

Blank said most of the credit for those successes goes to a strong network of volunteers in all 34 counties.

At the January regent's meeting in Omaha, Blank was unanimously elected by his fellow regents to serve a chairman of the board for a fourth time. Only once before in the last 60 years has such an accomplishment been achieved.

"Everyone in Nebraska has suffered form necessary university budget cuts," Blank said. "That is true in Western Nebraska as well as throughout the state and on each campus," Blank said. "It requires an experienced regent to work with administration and the other regents to try to preserve the university presence and higher education offerings in western Nebraska. That is why I am willing to continue to be the Western Nebraska regent."

Blank said seeking re-election was a very difficult decision personally.

"Representing Western Nebraska for any elected official requires a tremendous sacrifice in time and travel," Blank said. "I have driven more than a quarter of a million miles during my years on the board. That's a lot of time looking through a windshield."

Blank said difficult financial decisions facing the university in the coming years also played a part in his decision to seek re-election.

"Because of tight budget restraints, it is going to be a challenge to maintain a high level of excellence, but it can be done," he said. "Nebraska needs a dedicated and focused board to work with the administration to make the tough decisions in order to ensure a strong future of our university and state."

"The university system is complex and takes years to fully understand. Leadership, knowledge and experience to meet today's challenges are more important than ever before," Blank said.

In citing accomplishments during his years on the board, Blank said many things come to mind. He listed the following as highlights:

* Successful efforts to keep the school of technical agriculture at Curtis.

* Saving the School of Nursing in Scottsbluff during the recent budget cuts.

* Starting, along with the late regent, Kermit Hansen, the practice of bringing regents meetings outstate once a year -- five of which have been held in Blank's regental district over the last 16 years.

* Fighting for distance education opportunities in Western Nebraska.

* Keeping off-campus tuition costs equal to on-campus tuition costs.

* Plus a host of improvements within the board over the years.

Blank is a former mayor of McCook and served as president of the Nebraska Jaycees and as national vice president of the U.S. Jaycees.

He has served on the boards of the University of Nebraska College of Dentistry Alumni Association and the NEBRASKALand Foundation, and organized and served as president of the Southwest Nebraska Community Theatre Association. He is past president of the McCook Rotary Club.

Blank is a member of the Nebraska Dental Association Hall of Fame and the Nebraska Jaycees Association Hall of Fame.

An avid barbershop singer, he was honored last August by the Nebraska Chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America.

He and his wife, Jan, have three adult sons, Jeffrey, Steven and Randal.

University records show that, since the end of World War II, only one other regent was elected chairman four times: John Payne of Kearney, who served from 1981 to 1999.