Report details plan for UNR fire academy

Tuesday, May 30, 2000 | 12:21 p.m.

One of the most urgent of those tasks is raising $2.5 million by the end of June to meet a budget shortfall, according to the report by PriceWaterhouse Coopers LLP, which also forecasts that the academy will be self-supporting by fiscal year 2005.

"We're meeting budget forecasts for student enrollment and the money it costs to put on the classes," said Denise Baclawski, the academy's co-director. "We're just finishing the best month ever. Comments have been good."

Close to 800 students went through the academy in May, setting a record.

Enrollment for June so far is 400. Those number include a firefighting "rookie school" for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and FBI training, Baclawski said.

PriceWaterhouse's report said interviews with students and industry experts support the academy's standing as a world-class facility.

"Clearly, the quality of the facility is the linchpin in the overall training experience, and thus the key determinate in the academy's future success," the report said.

The report recommends UNR hire an executive director for the academy to build on the work two co-directors, Annette Kerr and Baclawski, currently are doing.

Kerr is director of curriculum and instruction. Baclawski is director of finance and facilities management. Both report to Jenny Frayer, associate vice president of university advancement.

"The co-directors have been employed since September 1999, and since that time have overcome many of the obstacles that remained from the previous management," the report said.

The report is expected to be presented to the university system's Board of Regents at its Elko meeting on June 22 and 23.

Regents called for a consultant to study the academy's financial picture in January when it was revealed that the academy was losing roughly $258,000 a month.