OMAHA- Former U.S. Rep. and State Sen. Brad Ashford has been hired to teach students about collaboration. The University of Nebraska at Omaha announced Monday that it had engaged Ashford to lead a new undergraduate program on "collaborative leadership."

The program will employ teachers from UNO's colleges of business and public affairs. Students will be able to work on specific projects requiring government and private-sector collaboration through “hands on” internships, according to a press release. A minor in "cross-sector collaborative leadership" will be available to all UNO students.

As a congressman, Ashford successfully developed a public-private partnership that built the Veterans Administration Ambulatory Care Center in Omaha after decades of stalled discussion. In the Legislature, Ashford was known for working out complicated compromises on criminal justice reform and financing sports arenas.

Partial funding for the new UNO program is coming from the New York-based Volcker Alliance. The Alliance selected UNO, along with Indiana University, the University of Washington, the Andrew Young School at Georgia State University, and the City University of New York, for its "NextGen Service Partnership," which seeks to prepare students to serve their communities.

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