PRO UNR: QB in control

Another year, another rivalry game; expect the usual result
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UNLV beats UNR in diversity

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Students settling for safety schools?

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President Smatresk speaks on the State of the University

Budget, goals for university among topics of address

Outlining his plans for the upcoming year, newly-appointed UNLV president Neal Smatresk gave his first State of the University address in the Student Union Ballroom on Tuesday.

Smatresk spent most of his time addressing his largest hurdle — concerns on the budget — while stressing the importance of UNLV as a top research university.

“First we are steadfast in our commitment to education,” Smatresk said in his opening remarks. “Secondly, I want to promise all of you that we will never break away from our [research mission.]”

Acknowledging that UNLV has been “cut to the bone and deeper,” Smatresk revealed that the 15.4 percent budget cuts could have been worse.

“In such a great university as this… it is my sincere hope that… we are here to engage in the most noble of all endeavors… education,” said UNLV Faculty Senate Chair John Filler, who also spoke at the event.

Combining the objectives to make UNLV a premier research school, while still focusing on newcomers, Smatresk stressed the importance of creative and innovative solutions that would ensure UNLV does not have to close its doors to incoming students.

“When we stop admitting students, we’re in trouble,” Smatresk said. “There’s no point adding students if we don’t have the [foundation] we need.”

Smatresk outlined possible solutions to some of the university’s problems, including the restoration of the senior adviser position, hiring administrative fellows and other “low-cost, high-return investments.”

Due to the fact that former vice president for Diversity and Inclusion Christine Clark recently resigned, Smatresk was adamant in declaring that he will be filling her position despite the controversy that has surrounded Clark’s departure and questions as to the utility of maintaining the position.

Explaining his vision for the students of UNLV, Smatresk stressed the start of programs that would help undergraduates achieve the fundamental skills they need to succeed in college and beyond.

Diagnosing skill gaps and treating these problems early in students’ academic careers is something Smatresk said he feels is vital to solidifying a strong academic community.

In the introductions to Smatresk’s speech, faculty echoed that sentiment.
“Without an educated populace, there is no hope that a community can achieve its goals,” Filler said.

Smatresk also touched on the idea of making dual enrollment easier so students can make the most of their time and increase transfer flow to the university.

The president went on to highlight the achievements of faculty and students and praised university staff for their dedication during hard times. He explained that as classes are cut and class sizes expand, professors and advisers are doing everything in their power to achieve the goals he outlined for the crowd.

“We’ve lost [more than] 100 faculty positions,” Smatresk said, addressing administrative reorganization. “These are serious cuts… at a time when admissions are going up.”

Smatresk broke down the budget cut into plain terms, explaining that non-academic endeavors took almost double the cuts of academic segments of the budget, losing $16.4 million. The academic budget counts for 75 percent of the overall budget whereas the non-academic sector is allocated 25 percent of the funding.

Despite the higher tuition costs and cut in the budget, Smatresk and Filler’s visualization of UNLV as a research school is an attempt to make UNLV the top research engine of the region.

Smatresk said he hopes students will come to see the opportunities UNLV brings, despite enrolling in a time of economic downfall.

“UNLV should focus on graduate education and high value degrees that will help [this] region move forward,” Smatresk said.

Being careful not to undermine undergraduate students, Smatresk called specific attention to these students, acknowledging what he believes is their great importance to the university.

As Smatresk and journeys further into his tenure as president, his contributions will ultimately have a much farther reach than the roads of Tropicana and Maryland Parkway, according to Filler.

“UNLV,” Filler said, “belongs to Nevada and to the greater Las Vegas.

The Brookings Institution and UNLV

Washington public policy think tank forges partnership in Mountain West Read more

EDITORIAL: Lincy: The right kind of gift

MGM Mirage Chairman Kirk Kerkorian’s Lincy Foundation has given UNLV a $14 million gift. This gift will create a home for the Lincy Institute, which will perform community urban research — looking into issues of “health, social services/policy, and education” and hypothetically bringing the university and the Las Vegas community closer than ever before.

This gift comes at a time when the UNLV community has experienced a tremendous loss due to economic instability. It is without a doubt marks one of the high points of our institution’s development as an intellectual power and a producer of insightful graduates with practical skills knowledge.

But the gift’s receipt is bittersweet, and with its brightness of generosity, brings into sharp contrast the dark spots on the image of UNLV.

It is with great honor that we recognize that Kerkorian believes UNLV is worth such a gift. Yet still there is a significant contingent in Carson City that does not see the value in keeping our universities funded at consistent levels.

The event recognizing Kerkorian’s contribution drew Nevada System of Higher Education officials, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. But Governor Jim Gibbons could not find time to show up in person to thank a donor who might have provided the tipping point for saving this institution from the death sentence Gibbons himself tried to pass in the state legislature.

While the entertainment and mining industries continues to dominate the landscape of Nevada economy and politics, the giants of the casino industry too often shy away from the goodness of people like Kerkorian and the leaders of the Harrah’s Corporation — another of UNLV’s historic partners.

Too often the hard money politics of the industry support Nevada only halfway, pushing policies through the legislature that work only for them in the long run, not the people. At times UNLV has seen enormous growth in the college of hotel administration while other programs suffer — we hope this is not a result of a narrow philosophy of gain aimed at turning out skilled hospitality industry graduates at the expense of a balanced economy, but fear it often is.

Kerkonian’s legacy at UNLV will show that regardless of his business affiliations, he was concerned with the growth and health of Las Vegas as a whole community. The Lincy Institute will help UNLV forge the way toward a more safe, healthy, educated life for all Southern Nevadans and all people, regardless of profit.

This brand of philanthropy from the business community is exactly what Nevada needs if its higher education system is to expand its intellectual wealth and influence.

$14 million donated to UNLV

Local politicians attend function to thank Kerkonian for contribution but donor, governor absent Read more

MANAGING PERSPECTIVE: Don’t care about UNLV? Then back at ya.

We know. You’re planning to transfer in a year.

You know who you are. You graduated from a local high school with honors or Advanced Placement credits and walked across the stage at the Thomas & Mack swearing it wouldn’t be long until you could leave the UNLV campus behind for good.

You were NOT getting a degree from your hometown school. UNLV wasn’t good enough for you.

When the instructor of your college’s first-year seminar asked everyone to introduce themselves and state their major, you all-too-proudly said, “I’m so-and-so and I’m a such-and-such major… but I’m only here for a year. I’m transferring.”

If there is anything holding this institution back from greatness, it is you.

I know. Four years ago, it was me.

I entered UNLV with the expectation that I would make use of a free education to knock out most of my core requirements before getting the heck out of here and on to my real education at a better school.

I was stupid.

In the second semester of my freshman year, I started to realize what was really going on at UNLV. I took a rhetoric class in which I found myself scribbling every brilliant word my professor said in the margin of whatever I could find, and by the third week my high-and-mighty plans to leave Las Vegas had started to melt away, leaving only a longing for knowledge and the feeling that maybe UNLV was the place to find it.

A year later, I had changed my major and realized why God or fate or whatever had left me stranded at UNLV.

If you’re reading this and still thinking, “I’m not like that. This is no place for me,” listen up.

I want you to ask around and find out the name of the most recognized faculty member in your college. Google them.

Then hide your face in shame.

If you think this university doesn’t reserve your respect, then you don’t deserve this university.

UNLV is a forerunner in environmental studies and green energy research. Our William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration is the best of its kind in the world. Our creative writing program has been recognized as one of the five most innovative and unique in the U.S. Our honors college has academic requirements akin to the country’s most prestigious universities.

Among the ranks of our faculty are the world’s leading experts in epidemiology and futuring, the renowned developer of an innovative technique for the marimba, a philosopher with unparalleled research on death and dying, the editors of literary journals and the inventors of crucial new technologies for a changing world.

Our graduates attend first-class graduate programs and take prized positions in politics and business.

If you’re planning to introduce yourself in classes this week with a tagline about only being here for a year, hear this: We’re tired of hearing it. We are proud of the legacy we are leaving at UNLV and if you want so badly to distance yourself from the image we strive for, please do.

We are good enough, strong enough, smart enough and accomplished enough. You’re here now. Either buck up and be a Rebel or bow out.

In brief

UNLV ranks on Forbes list Read more

Presidency discussion deepens

Leaders begin assessing options for dealing with loss of Ashely, future of university Read more

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