Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV chief wants school to shift focus to research

UNLV President Carol Harter called for a broad philosophical shift in the school's mission Tuesday, pledging to transform it into a top-level research university by 2010.

In her annual State of the University speech, Harter said the school needed to raise more money, build a science-technology center, form more partnerships with private business and graduate more doctorate degrees.

Harter said she hoped by 2010 the school would be on par with Arizona State University, and on course to becoming the next UCLA. She said doing so would help the community as well.

"In the simplest of terms, premier metropolitan research universities are a central component of community transformation," Harter told the crowd that included faculty, regents and politicians at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Judy Bailey Theater.

Borrowing a phrase from an NCAA executive, Harter called talked about meeting the "big, hairy, audacious goal" of becoming a premier research university -- first by building a much talked about $75 million science, engineering and technology building, starting a capital fund-raising campaign, adding a research park to link private and university researchers and -- most importantly, Harter said -- increase the level of doctoral degrees conferred by the university.

The distinction of doctoral research extensive is given by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. It would require UNLV to confer 50 or more doctoral degrees a year in various fields for three consecutive years before being considered for the change. UNLV now confers about 42 a year.

Regent Steve Sisolak believed the goal of research extensive set by Harter is possible.

"The amount of research has increased over the last 8 years if we can duplicate that over the next 8 years, the goal is attainable," Sisolak said.

Harter's goal depends on a bigger plan set by the Board of Regents to raise admission standards at UNLV over the next seven years.

The standards, which go in effect in 2006 and 2010, will leave a higher quality of student at UNLV, Harter said.

In 2006, students will need a 2.75 grade-point average to enter UNLV and a 3.0 by 2010.

Students who don't meet those requirements will have a chance to go to the new Nevada State College at Henderson. That will give UNLV breathing room to concentrate on its goals.

Bill Martin, president of Nevada State Bank and chairman of the Nevada State College Foundation believes the state college will play an increasingly instrumental role in building the university.

"I don't know if she could do it without (the state college), but I sure give her a high probability of doing it with the state college in place," Martin said.

John Scott, the Nevada district director for the Small Business Administration, said this vision could help the business community by providing a better quality of education for the work force.

"With the type of talent they are going to be growing ... businesses are going to be attracted to this kind of environment," he said noting programs in engineering, dentistry and computer science.

Harter drew a comparison between UNLV and other, more prominent universities in the West.

"We are 15 years behind Arizona State and 30 years behind (the University of California, Los Angeles)," Harter said. "UCLA is most like the school that we hope to become, and I hope Im around to see it."

But unlike UNLV, UCLA has a medical school, something that Harter sees could possibly be in the future for UNLV.

"It could be possible," Harter said. "If the state gets large enough to support two medical schools, it could happen. But we have enough on our hands right now with the dental school and law school."

Rolling out a capital campaign to raise the level of private giving is also a necessary component of the school's success. Although Harter said during her speech that it is still in the planning stages, they were not ready to announce how high the fund-raising goal is.

Harter announced that $3 million was given to the university for the new science and technology building.

Fred Cox and his wife, Harriet, UNLV foundation board trustees, committed $1 million. Bechtel National is contributing $500,000, engineering firm PBS&J is giving $150,000 and Sierra Heath Services will contribute $1.35 million.

Anthony Marlon, chairman and CEO of Sierra Health, said he believes his donation will spark economic growth in the health and science sector.

"The whole area of science, technology, imaging, computer technology -- the stuff that's going on in that building -- will contribute to the endeavor of knowledge that's outside of the gaming industry," Marlon said. "There is no question that it will be a major advance toward economic diversification."

UNLV officials see becoming a top research university as vital to its mission. The status would translate into regional and national recognition and ultimately serve to attract top-quality faculty, officials said.

Faculty members heard about the goal earlier this year, and the plan came under some criticism. Some members of the faculty worried that pursuing the goal of becoming a premier research university could take a toll on the undergraduate population, which is already straining university resources and student services.

"Resources have been transferred, it seems to me, out of undergraduate support and into research support, and that's a problem," former Senate Faculty President Bill Robinson told the Sun at the time.

Harter says the money will come from other areas.

"We're trying to pursue other sources of fund-raising for research dollars so that we don't take it from the other end of the university," Harter told the Sun after Tuesday's speech.

As the university stretches to meet class demands, a higher-than-average percentage of part-time faculty and graduate students being used to teach undergraduate students.

According to a 2003 UNLV faculty workload report, 54 percent of undergraduate students are taught by a full-time instructor, compared with 47 percent nationally.

However, 87 percent of graduate students were taught by a full-time instructor in 2002. That is higher than the national average at 85 percent.

Harter said Tuesday that recent legislative funding will help the college hire more full-time faculty. No figures on how many full-time faculty positions will be created were immediately available.

And as UNLV tries to move up the research ladder, undergraduate education has followed a downward trend: Dropout rates increased from 25.6 percent in 1999 to 28.1 percent in 2002 at the school.

Regent Linda Howard worried that undergraduate needs weren't addressed in Harter's speech, which she called vague.

"I thought some of the goals were somewhat vague," Howard said. "My main concern is about the resources that were supposed to be put in place for the admissions standards and also raising tuition. It's nice to have long-term goals but if immediate concerns are not being addressed, where will we be by 2010?"

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