In 1997, members of the Student Alumni Association embraced the idea of a single ring for all university graduates while searching for ways to re-establishing campus traditions.  A committee of students and alumni proposed the concept, citing other schools with single rings and the success those schools had with the tradition surviving the test of time.

A ring from the mid-1930s that had belonged to the grandparent of a ring committee member was the starting point for the new ring's design.  The committee then chose well-known symbols to place on the ring to foster an emotional attachment to the ring. The university now had a design, but multiple barriers still stood in the way to this design becoming the official ring.

In the spring of 2001, the design and the single-ring concept were officially recognized and accepted in legislation passed by the ASUN student government.  To prevent duplication, the design has been licensed and is now the only ring that bears the University of Nebraska name.  The campus bookstores have now ended their customizable ring programs, and left the tradition-rich Alumni Association as entity in charge of the Nebraska Ring.

Students and alumni both have shown a renewed interest in the Nebraska Ring tradition.  Effort to spread this tradition is a joint project of the Nebraska Alumni Association, ASUN, Student Alumni Association, Office of Admissions and the Nebraska Foundation.  The ring committee has been building momentum for three years and is now ready to take this tradition to the next level.

The story of the Nebraska Ring is far from being a finished work.  Alumni and current students who are taking an active interest in the ring are helping us write the next great chapter in University of Nebraska tradition.