The Maverick We Needed: Communications Lessons from Chancellor Emeritus John E. Christensen
Even if you’ve never set foot in Omaha or heard of Dr. John E. Christensen, his story offers something essential about how authentic leadership and strategic communication can move institutions and people forward.
In the days since Chancellor Emeritus Christensen’s death on May 28, the tributes have poured in, rich in detail, full of affection, and unmistakably clear on one thing: he wasn’t just a University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) leader. He is a Maverick folk hero.
At UNO, the Maverick isn’t just a mascot, it’s a mindset. An independent thinker, unafraid to take risks. Folk heroes are forged by what they achieve and how they connect with their people. They are firmly rooted within the communities that celebrate them.
This became the recipe for transforming UNO: Dr. Christensen knew his voice so well, he helped the university find its own. And that changed everything.
He unabashedly fought for students, stood up for Omaha, connected the campus to the city, refused to accept a second-rate position, and believed, without apology, in the potential of a public university to change lives.
I was a lucky member of his team. As I reflect on his life of service, I see how his communications leadership style helped transform UNO:
Find your authentic voice and trust it.
Dr. Christensen came from a working-class family and didn’t excel in high school. And yet, he figured out a path that led to earning a Ph.D., and he became the first University of Nebraska at Omaha graduate to rise to its chancellorship. His communications style was his superpower: Omaha-born, family-formed, student-first, relentlessly real, and constantly kind. He spoke plainly, listened intently, and never confused modesty with small thinking.
He was exactly what the university needed to disrupt the status quo.
His authenticity ran “to the cellular level,” as one colleague put it, so it was second nature for him to help UNO find its authentic voice. He understood what was holding UNO back: a culture of outsized humility that muted its own promise. And he said so, clearly and often. In the State of the University address in 2014 he boldly said, “It’s time. Time for everyone to know that the days of UNO’s modesty are over.”
The campus, the alumni, the city, the businesses, and the philanthropists followed his lead and got loud right along with him.
Trust your People
Dr. Christensen pointed the way, rallied support, fought the fights, and trusted his people to get busy planning and building. That trust became fuel.
Had he dictated every move, the team’s magic would be limited. Instead, we got something rarer: permission to believe, create, and act boldly in service of a vision to align UNO’s value with reality.
What the campus co-created to tell the university’s story was awesome:
The UNO Advantage. Know the O campaign. Wear Black, Get Loud. Welcome to Our Campus; Otherwise Known as Omaha. Maverick Momentum. Maverick Traditions. Access to Exceptional. Once a Mav, Always a Mav.
Among the many incredible results during Dr. Christensen’s tenure included record-setting undergraduate enrollment, a 17% increase in graduate enrollment, near-universal online course participation, rising retention rates across all timeframes, and a 9-point increase in the four-year graduation rate, outpacing national peers. The statewide perception studies from 2014 to 2016 showed an increase in familiarity, favorability, and academic quality, as well as in the overall perception score.
UNO was moving on up.
Connect with People Through Humor
He had a unique way of communicating that made people feel comfortable in his presence, and he usually made you laugh.
Comments on social media following his death share examples like this one:
“We needed more money for security,” Matt Morton said. “He responded with ‘We will get it. If I have to knock over a 7-Eleven to get it, then so be it.’ Obviously, he was kidding, but he had such a deep warmth and loved UNO so much.”
Some of my favorite times with him included watching his face when someone said something bizarre. He’d look down, think for a moment, turn his head to the side, look up and smile as he delivered his response. If, for example, an offender was trying to derail UNO progress in some way, they were known as “jack wagons.” IE What a jack wagon. One time, I had to tell him an online commenter accused him of overusing his favorite phrase, “Go Mavs,” suggesting the repetition showed inauthenticity. I couldn’t wait to watch his reaction and hear his response. On brand, he instructed me to reply on his behalf with a simple, “Go Mavs!”
The Lasting Gifts
When a leader dies, we ask: What did they stand for? What changed because they served?
In Dr. Christensen’s case, the answers are everywhere. A more confident campus. A city awakened to the power of its metropolitan university. A donor base investing in UNO students and campus facilities. A generation of students and staff who saw, up close, what leadership with integrity looks like.
At the root of all those outcomes is his most enduring gift: he believed in the people who made up the university. That belief powered the transformation he will be remembered for.
As long as there are students to believe in, communities to serve, and leaders willing to fight for their people, Dr. Christensen will be with us because folk heroes never leave.
Analysis: What Made His Communications Leadership Work
UNO had always been special, but for years, its confusing and untrue reputation as the “university of no opportunity” went unchallenged. On Dr. Christensen’s watch, that changed. Through confident leadership and clear, consistent communication, he helped the university articulate what it had always been: access to exceptional.
The mechanism? Communication. Intentional, clear, emotionally intelligent communication that moved people to act and believe.
From a strategic communications perspective, Dr. Christensen’s approach reflected the core of Transformational Leadership Communication, a style that builds belief, rallies teams around stretch goals and lifts organizational pride through the power of words and tone.
Several key theories help explain why it worked:
Transformational Leadership Theory, seen through a communication lens, explains how his visionary messaging and deep belief helped people exceed expectations, not out of obligation, but shared purpose.
Developed by: James MacGregor Burns (1978)
Expanded by: Bernard M. Bass (1985)
Burns introduced the idea of transformational vs. transactional leadership, focusing on leaders who inspire followers to pursue a shared higher purpose. Bass later operationalized the concept and added dimensions like idealized influence and inspirational motivation, which directly connect to communication style.
Emotional Contagion, his calm optimism, humor, and clarity under pressure became contagious, setting the emotional tone for the teams around him.
Early concept by: Elaine Hatfield, John Cacioppo, and Richard Rapson (1993)
Hatfield and her colleagues studied how emotions are transferred between people, particularly in groups or through close contact, an idea later expanded in leadership and organizational behavior research to show how a leader's emotions can influence team dynamics.
Social Identity Theory shaped how he reinforced that being part of UNO wasn’t just where you studied or worked, it was who you were. So, challenging the incorrect community reputation was imperative so people see the association as a value add and not a negative! He made Mavericks proud to call themselves Mavericks!
Developed by: Henri Tajfel and John Turner (late 1970s–1980s)
They introduced the theory to explain how people’s sense of self is shaped by their group memberships. In organizational communication, it helps explain why people take pride in being part of institutions like UNO.
In short, his legacy lives on in the results he achieved but also in the communication culture he modeled: authentic, proud, bold, popular, and grounded in belief. The university is now a point of pride for members of the wider Omaha community.
That is the enduring work of transformational communication leadership. And Chancellor Christensen showed us how it’s done.