Nevada State College enjoys the feminine touch

Thursday, March 25, 2004 | 8:36 a.m.

It's a woman's world at Nevada State College in Henderson.

Women represent 72 percent of the population at the 2-year-old college, and the overwhelmingly female demographic has some students joking in the halls that it's really a "private women's college," Spencer Stewart, director of college relations, said.

About 527 of the 733 students are female, including 100 percent of the college's first graduating class in May.

Other Southern Nevada institutions also educate more women than men, but the ratios are far more balanced. About 55 percent of the total population is female at both the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the Community College of Southern Nevada. But considering Nevada State College's emphasis on teaching and nursing, two heavily female vocations, the high percentage of women is to be expected, students and staff said.

About 37 percent of the college's student body is in one of the two majors, and many more students list secondary education as an emphasis in majors such as English, biology or history.

"It would be nice if there were more men, but I think the ratio reflects society's view that teaching and nursing draw more females," said Jennifer Wright, a 22-year-old elementary education major who will graduate in May.

The majority of nursing and education students at UNLV and CCSN are also women, officials with both schools said. About 81 percent of education students at UNLV and 92 percent of education students at CCSN are female, while 73 percent of nursing students at UNLV and 86 percent at CCSN are female.

Developing future teachers and nurses remains the main mission of Nevada State College, Stewart said, and programs such as a new, one-year intensive degree in nursing for students who already have bachelor's degrees means the school will continue to attract more women.

But now that the school has more than doubled its enrollment goal of 300 students by this school year, recruiters are beginning to promote the college's other majors -- biology, business, psychology, math, history, English, visual media and computing, speech pathology and even public administration for law enforcement.

"Now we are letting people know we have these other programs as well (as teaching and nursing)," Stewart said. "We are a liberal arts college in a very real sense."

Nevada State College is the only Southern Nevada institution to offer speech pathology, and the only institution in the state to offer a bachelor of science degree in psychology, which focuses more on the "hard science," research side of the field, Erika Beck, chairwoman of the psychology department, said.

Students can also major in integrated studies, which allows them to combine any two minors into one degree.

Enrollment numbers show that these other majors at the Nevada State College tend to be more balanced in their female to male ratios, though women outnumber men in all but biology and public administration. Public administration for law enforcement is the only degree offered at the school that has classes that are predominately male, with 27 males to five females in the class.

Recruiting against societal stereotypes is tough for a school working out of a revamped vitamin factory, but Stewart says there is enough gender diversity in all of the majors to ensure all voices are heard. There has been no negative criticism about the heavily female demographic, Stewart said.

Professors agreed, adding that almost all classes are still coeducational.

"I find the mix to be very appropriate," Francine Mayfield, director of education, said. "(The mix) allows for a lot of different discussions, different perspectives to be voiced."

Edward Baldwin, head of the English department, said he had always liked teaching female-dominated classes before coming to Nevada State College because they tended to be more talkative. But now that almost all of his classes are female-dominated, he said that stereotype no longer holds true.

"I find every class has its own distinct personality," Baldwin said.

For students, the high female population is a nonissue because many of the social aspects of traditional colleges are also nonexistent.

"We're all here for the education, we're focusing not on the (male/female) percentages but on the fact that we are really learning," said Charlotte Courson, a 32-year-old psychology major who will graduate in May.

Like Courson, many of the students at Nevada State College are also nontraditional, older students who have little time for the social aspects of higher education. More than 40 percent of the student body is over 30, and many juggle classes with full-time work and full-time motherhood.

But even younger students said they have little time or interest in anything other than their classes.

"A social life in nursing school, what is that?" Melissa Young, a 21-year-old nursing student, said.

Many female students also said they liked the atmosphere of having predominately female classes.

"I think we like it so we don't want to complain," said Staci Garrett, 26, an elementary education major graduating in May.

No male students could be found in a recent visit to the campus. Students and staff also stressed that as prospective students find out about all of the other majors and as the college develops other programs such as athletic teams and social clubs, the male-female ratio will balance itself out.

"There's no sports in the beginning of a college, so what else draws men?" Pam Frazier, 48, a history major graduating in May, said. "Math, science, business -- as we grow that will come."

Several majors, such as psychology, business, visual media and computing, and public administration for law enforcement, are already attracting more men, Lois Becker, associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of arts and sciences, said.

The nursing department is also growing exponentially, and much of the interest in the new one-year intensive program has come from males, Connie Carpenter, director of the nursing department, said.

Carpenter said the 27 men already in the program will also help to recruit more of their gender. The department has also hired a male professor to help break the stereotype that nursing is a female profession.

Still, recruiting minorities and just students in general to the school remains a higher priority than specifically recruiting men, Becker said.

Students, however, said the ratio itself may hold the key to boosting male enrollment.

"If men were smart they would come because of the ratio," Wright said.

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