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Jim Rogers (University of Nebraska Board of Regents)
Jim Rogers ran for election to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents to represent District 4. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Rogers completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jim Rogers was born in San Antonio, Texas. Rogers earned a bachelor's degree from Creighton University in 1985, a Ph.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1992, and a graduate degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2002. His career experience includes working in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Nebraska at Omaha from 2002-2023, and chair of the department from 2016-2023.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Nebraska State Board of Regents election, 2024
General election
General election for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 4
Incumbent Elizabeth O'Connor defeated Jim Rogers in the general election for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 4 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Elizabeth O'Connor (Nonpartisan) | 67.2 | 42,320 |
 | Jim Rogers (Nonpartisan)  | 32.8 | 20,692 | |
| Total votes: 63,012 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 4
Incumbent Elizabeth O'Connor and Jim Rogers advanced from the primary for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 4 on May 14, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Elizabeth O'Connor (Nonpartisan) | 66.7 | 15,031 |
| ✔ | | Jim Rogers (Nonpartisan) | 33.3 | 7,505 |
| Total votes: 22,536 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Rogers in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jim Rogers completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rogers' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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The role of the board is to oversee the performance of NU higher administration, a critical role as NU is a $3 billion entity, with $1 billion in state-aided funding.
Given the stakes for taxpayers, the board must be competent in their oversight, balancing support of NU leaders while also holding them to account.
Unfortunately, the current board appears to have little understanding of how the university works, and thus are unable to provide high-level, critical review of administration.
The result is a board that showers praise on admins while having a record of being blindsided when problems are exposed.
As regent I will be very different:
—I will be a full-time regent dedicating my full attention to the job.
—My experience in university admin allows me to know when admin is performing well and when they are not.
—I understand that, as regent, I represent the interests of the residents of the Dist. 4. I will make sure that every university dollar is deployed in the best interests of this rich and diverse community of which I am a proud member.
—I will be an agent of change, making sure NU serves Dist. 4, rather than Dist. 4 serving NU.
In summary, I am a very different candidate for the NU Board of Regents!- Aims: NU must develop a mission statement that is operative, and it's the regents' job to get that done.
The current mission is a generic directive, which can be summarized as "The mission of NU is to be a university!" This is pointless and unacceptable.
Instead, the NU system must specifically define its purpose for existing. Crank out low-cost degrees as efficiently as possible? Be a leader in research? Adjust standards to admit more students regardless of college readiness? Admit fewer students to stronger programs?
There is no one right answer to these questions—it depends on the regents developing a mission for NU that has meaning and is operative.
As a regent, I will push to make that happen. - Agility: The world is changing at an accelerating rate—NU needs to keep up with that change. As the 21st century unfolds, higher education faces increased scrutiny. Given the high cost of maintaining multi-campus state universities, what purpose should they have in a world where virtually all knowledge is available instantly from multiple sources world-wide? These are difficult questions that all universities are facing, and the increased rate of university closures over the last five years indicates that many are not coming up with a good answer. For the NU system to survive and thrive, it must embrace change as needed. As regent, I will encourage a culture of innovation that will help NU maintain relevance in a changing world.
- Accountability: The fundamental role of a regent is to provide critical oversight over NU administration, holding them to account for their performance and making sure that NU is serving the taxpayers of their district. Observation of the current board suggests that they perceive their job as providing moral support for NU admins while advocating for NU funding at the legislature. This is a crucial misunderstanding of their role. I am unique as a candidate in that I do not look to serve in order to run interference for NU or its admins. The regents' job is to provide oversight, and with my experience in NU admin, I am in a unique position to do just that. As regent, the residents of Dist. 4 will always be my priority.
Education in 2024 is surprisingly similar to education in 1924, indicating that the established mechanisms of providing education have had value.
But as the cost grows—education accounts for much of the tax burden at the state and local level—there are real questions as to whether it is time to change course in education delivery.
With my whole career being in higher education, I am very interested in how both teaching and research will evolve in the new technology landscape of the 21st century.
In reality, there is no one that has all the answers and, in fact, there are upsides and downsides to any political philosophy or position.
To my mind, the key for holders of elective office is to be both intellectually curious and humble. Curious in the sense that you are open to all ideas and are able to see the positives that exist in all positions, but humble in the sense that you understand that any position that you might conclude is best is not going to be perfect and that the problems that exist within that position could prove to be more serious than originally thought.
Based on this insight, a key takeaway is to not catastrophize if political decisions don't go your way. Be positive and try to find the upside to the decision even if you disagree. It may turn out that it's better than you thought.
If that does not turn out to be the case, it's not the end of the world. The beauty of a democratic system is that things can be changed. If an idea proves to have more downside than upside, we can always change direction.
And always remember that failure of an idea doesn't imply bad faith on the part of those who came up with it.
In summary I believe people in political office should:
—Listen honestly and constructively to all points of view.
—Not assume bad faith on the part of those with whom they disagree.
—Have fair votes on all decisions and respect the outcome of those votes.
—Understand that if a decision resulting from that process was bad, it can always be changed.
Because of this understanding, I am a strong believer in the "many eyes" principle of decision making. That is, the highest chance of coming up with a reasonable solution to a difficult problem is to get as many opinions on the problem as possible. There is a known "power in numbers" principle in decision making that says that there can be higher confidence in decisions that are made with larger amounts of input information.
—Show up, be informed, be engaged.
To me, there is nothing worse than an elected official who's just "phoning it in." Absences, missed votes, not keeping up with the issues, being detached—these are the hallmarks of someone who is not fit for office.
—Understand the role of the position, and all rules that apply to it.
Avoiding the first mistake by having a high level of engagement is not useful if the person does not take the time to understand the purpose of the office they hold, as well as the limitations of that office.
—Communicate regularly with your constituents.
My skills uniquely qualify me to hold the NU system accountable to the residents of Dist. 4, and I will work to make sure that all finances related to NU are maximumly transparent.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 14, 2024
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