Regents told new college will open on time

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, March 7, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

RENO -- Nevada State College at Henderson is on track for a Sept. 3 opening despite obstacles such as a switch in locations, low initial enrollment and the resignation of its president, college officials and consultants said Wednesday.

Despite some of the delays the college has experienced it is expected to open on time, if a new interim president is appointed today, said Chancellor Jane Nichols.

Today the regents are expected to vote on whether to appoint Chris Chairsell, the university system's associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.

With its opening in six months, the college is facing several issues, including lower than expected fund-raising and the lack of any faculty, but college officials expressed hope that the college will open as planned.

In its first substantive briefing on the college's program, the Board of Regents was told the new college will offer 10 majors and target older students, minorities and first-generation college students.

Also Wednesday, in a move to head off potential IRS problems, the regents voted unanimously to allow the university system to clean up contractual messes allegedly caused by Richard Moore, who resigned as the college's president effective this week.

Bill Martin, chairman of the Nevada State College Foundation, said that in the process of trying to lay the groundwork for the state college without first-year funding, consultants were hired and contracts were often drawn up quickly.

Some of those contracts turned up with dates altered or missing, and job descriptions were sometimes without enough information to distinguish whether the consultant was an employee or an independent contractor.

The consultants had also come under fire for rates that ran as high as $1,000 a day.

"The dates may be wrong (on contracts issued to the consultants) and there may be issues with the IRS," Martin said. "But I care whether the work was performed. If we need to go back and redraw these contracts, then we'll do that."

The board's vote on the contractual situation was 10-0 in favor of allowing the redrawing some of the contracts with the consent of all parties involved. Regent Mark Alden was absent when the vote was taken.

Martin said he was partly to blame for the problems but said that if the college fails, it will be the media's fault for focusing on the turmoil surrounding the project.

"If we want to talk about placing blame, Richard Moore is first, Bill Martin is second and the chancellor is third," Martin said. "(But) if we only get 40 students, it's not because we failed. It's because the newspaper has kept this issue in front of the public so long that donors don't want to give money."

Regents were told that course plans for the college have been submitted to the state Department of Education for approval. Those curricula will return to the regents for final approval in April.

College officials said their teachers program will be different from the one offered at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Those studying to be teachers at the state college will be required to choose a major in math, English, science or any one of six core areas, and to minor in education. That differs from UNLV, which has an education major with a minor in a specialty field, said Lois Becker, a college consultant.

Among the proposed majors for Nevada State College at Henderson are a bachelor of general studies; a bachelor of arts in English, history or psychology; and a bachelor of science in nursing, biology, environmental science, mathematics, public administration with an emphasis in law enforcement, or business administration with an emphasis in either management or computer information systems.

Bob Johns, the interim dean of admissions, said that once the final hurdle of curriculum approval is cleared, recruiting will begin in earnest.

"Most students want to know what kind of majors there are before they sign up," Johns said.

While the college is making considerable progress in its curriculum, hiring faculty has been placed on hold with the sudden resignation of Moore, said Connie Carpenter, the school's dean of nursing.

So far, the college has received two applicants to teach nursing courses.

Similar setbacks could continue to come up until the Sept. 3 opening, college officials said.