The University of Nebraska System has released , focusing on early childhood research happening at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute. The podcast series, hosted by President Jeffrey Gold, features conversations with researchers, students and educators across NU’s four campuses who are changing lives and making an impact.
The episode, a conversation between President Gold and Dr. Walter Gilliam, the executive director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska, unpacks how the institute transforms the lives of young children by improving their learning and development through research, practice, outreach, and policy.
Dr. Gilliam discusses his career journey, the early childhood needs here in Nebraska, national early childhood policy opportunities around early childhood and how the Buffett Early Childhood Institute draws from research in every discipline to help solve complex, persistent early childhood problems.
“There is nothing like the Buffett Early Childhood Institute anywhere in the world,” Dr. Gilliam says in the interview.
“It’s an amazing public/private commitment that has created the largest endowed center of its type—at a university devoted to making sure that young children are given the very best start to their lives possible. To be at a university that values its students 18 years before they even get here, that cares about them from the moment of their birth, is incredibly compelling.”
"Our children are our future," Dr. Gold said. “That's one of the fundamental reasons I chose to accept the responsibility of being the president of the University of Nebraska System—to be sure we put our resources where our needs are most clearly articulated."
The "Heart to Heart" podcast will provide Nebraskans a chance to hear directly from leaders like Dr. Gilliam, as well as from faculty members, staff and students. New episodes of “Heart to Heart” will be released monthly and will feature guests from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska Medical Center, University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the community. Topics will include athletics, counterterrorism, agriculture, student success, healthcare, K-12 education and many others.
Listeners may follow the “Heart to Heart” podcast .