Editorial: New plan, new campus

Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005 | 9:19 a.m.

A year ago this month, two weeks into his new job as president of the Community College of Southern Nevada, Richard Carpenter let it be known that he wasn't going to be the quiet, get-along, go-along type. He had replaced a president who had been demoted by the Board of Regents for not being upfront about college business. Carpenter's style was just the opposite. Hardly before anyone off-campus knew his name, he penned a letter to Chancellor Jim Rogers. He cited nepotism, outdated human resources policies, a bloated administrative cadre, a "lawsuit-happy" culture, lack of accountability, under-funding and a tradition of allowing problems to linger from one administration to the next as some of the reasons for the college's lackluster performance.

New administrators are sometimes resented for such immediate analysis, but no one could deny the accuracy of Carpenter's observations. Carpenter went on to perform a badly needed housecleaning at CCSN, streamlining departments, putting in new hiring policies, developing courses more relevant to the community and successfully pursing more funding from the Legislature and federal grants.

With all of that now under way or behind him, Carpenter is looking forward to ensuring that the changes result in the goal that inspired them. At a meeting Monday with faculty and staff, Carpenter described that goal: "Student success, student success, student success." He outlined a plan that emphasizes fastidious record keeping on nearly everything involving students, including retention rates, class sizes, individual goals, graduation rates and post-graduation experiences. The statistics will be compared frequently with those of community colleges in other states. "If you have real-time data you know when you are going off track," he said.

The campus will begin to take on a new look this fall, with a new logo and large, flat-screen monitors installed in faculty and student areas so that the statistics and other campus information can be readily absorbed. Carpenter says he will remain focused on student services by increasing the school's contacts with community resources. At Monday's meeting he said that he wants to restore public confidence in CCSN by enhancing its academic reputation.

We are impressed with the new energy flowing from the campus, which is the largest in the state with 35,000 students. "You can feel a distinct air of optimism with the faculty today," Faculty Senate Chairman Darren Divine said Monday. This charged-up, achievement-oriented atmosphere has been missing from the campus for some time. In an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education earlier this month, Carpenter said, "The real job is not getting people to do things, but getting people to want to do things. If I can instill that kind of culture here, then my job will be done." In our view, he's off to a good start.