Rice will develop teacher program for new college

Jennifer Knight

Monday, Jan. 14, 2002 | 9:37 a.m.

The new Nevada State College at Henderson has hired a top Clark County School District administrator to develop its program to train teachers.

George Ann Rice will take time off from her job as assistant superintendent for human resources for the school district to serve as senior educational consultant to the college. It is the first appointment, albeit a temporary one, announced by college President Richard Moore.

Rice plans to use vacation time while working in the paid consulting position, where she will develop teacher preparation and training programs, Moore said.

She will deliver her recommendations on the new program to the Board of Regents in April.

So far the college, which is due to open Sept. 3, is without a full curriculum, students or teachers.

With just eight months left before the opening, Moore is concentrating on hiring key administrative directors and deans. Recruiting for those positions began in November, after funding became available from private donors to pay for the first year.

The college's mission is to educate more teachers and nurses to meet critical shortages in the state.

College officials will partner with the school district to offer classes at five high schools across the Las Vegas Valley, Moore has said. With permission, eligible high school students will be able to take courses concurrently with their regularly required classes. The locations, which have not been decided, will also provide classes to state college freshman, Moore said.

Clark County juniors and seniors already can take classes at the Community College of Southern Nevada and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for both high school and college credit, a program Moore initiated while president of the community college.

The state college's program is being created to make access to higher education easier, Moore said. High school enrollees would most likely be counted toward the college's enrollment totals. At least 500 full-time students are needed in order to open.

Moore has refused the Sun's repeated attempts to provide a count of how many students have applied for admissions to the college. The first deadline to turn in applications was last month.

Jane Nichols, Nevada's higher education chancellor, said she has not been informed of the number of students interested in attending either.

"I don't think Richard is ready to release that number or obviously you would have it already," Nichols said. "I think he is waiting until he has a little more confidence in the numbers."

So far out of 700 applications that were handed out, only 25 were turned in to the college, according to the latest figures reported last November.

Moore has said that he doesn't think the college will fall short of students.