Harter praises growth at UNLV

Debra D. Bass

Friday, Sept. 19, 1997 | 10:08 a.m.

The message behind UNLV President Carol Harter's third annual State of the University address was simple: Honor the past, celebrate the present and look to the future.

And the message came through loud and clear, according to many of the nearly 500 faculty, students, staff, alumni and state dignitaries who crowded the library of the newly opened Sogg Architecture building to witness Harter's multimedia presentation.

In 1967, a year before the University of Nevada, Las Vegas received the name that would some years later be internationally recognized, students organized a protest to bemoan the university's lack of autonomy from the University of Nevada in Reno. It was known as Nevada Southern University, and during its first commencement in 1964, the Nevada president shook the hands of NSU's students as they crossed the stage.

Harter recounted that during the student protest, they constructed a shanty town and dubbed it Tumbleweed Tech, a moniker that has "stayed with the university longer than anyone expected." Students also hung then-Gov. Paul Laxalt in effigy from the roof of Grant Hall because he would not increase funding to the southern campus.

Since then, Harter said, the university has not only improved its tactics, but its success. This year's state budget has been touted as one of the greatest for higher education. The university system garnered a 29 percent increase and UNLV's budget increased 15 percent with significant gains in financial aid funds, gender equity, salary increases, technology funds and research grants.

UNLV also got tens of millions to fund a first-in-the-state law school and a state-of-the-art library. A total of 11 capital projects are in various stages of development at UNLV.

"We're in a marvelous position for the future," Harter said.

That future includes living up to her goal of becoming a "premier urban university." She introduced the phrase three years ago at her first State of the University address. Occasionally, she said, people will "politely and diplomatically ask, 'What the hell is a premier urban university?'"

She explained one mark of a premier urban university is its blend of traditional and practical research. She offered Professor Kathleen Robins' theoretical modeling of molecules as an example of traditional research, and Professor Ed Neumann's work with the Clark County Traffic Safety Coalition to identity areas with high collision rates as an example of practical research.

Though almost no new information was introduced for those familiar with UNLV, Robert Aalberts, a professor in the business college, said of the presentation, "It kept my attention."

Her speech was seasoned with a computer-assisted slide show, a virtual reality tour of the planned Lied Library and videotaped messages from County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones.

Jones received one of the biggest laughs of the event for commenting on UNLV's 40th anniversary.

"Just remember, you're not getting older you're getting better. I'm just delighted that the university is older than I am," Jones said.