LOOKING IN ON: HIGHER EDUCATION

Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006 | 7:12 a.m.

The Community College of Southern Nevada has earned an unprecedented, positive accreditation review.

Evaluators with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities told college officials that they plan to recommend full accreditation, and not require CCSN to undergo the grueling process for another 10 years.

College and system officials were praised for bringing stability and confidence to the college, the new emphasis on meeting the workforce needs of local businesses, looking at creative ways to finance future construction, the faculty's commitment to students and for community outreach.

The accreditation team recommended that CCSN continue to focus on improving student achievement.

The community college had to renew its accreditation because it recently added a four-year degree in dental hygiene.

Having raised $350,000 in scholarship money at a gala last spring, CCSN President Richard Carpenter is expanding a program that offers first-time students free tuition for their first class. Now they'll get a free textbook, too.

Students complain that the main textbook for a class often costs as much as tuition, Carpenter said.

The rationale is that if they can get people in their doors to take one class, students will register for more, Carpenter said.

Administrators are dropping like flies at UNLV.

In addition to losing John Gallagher, UNLV's chief fundraiser, UNLV President David Ashley learned in November that Dan Musgrove, UNLV's main lobbyist, was resigning after only a couple of months on the job.

"That one will hurt us a bit," Ashley said.

Musgrove is taking a newly created external relations job at University Medical Center.

A UNLV alumnus, Musgrove said the decision was a tough one but that the UMC job better met his goals.

Musgrove was hired away from Clark County after UNLV's former lobbyist, Marcia Turner, was hired by the chancellor's office to oversee lobbying efforts on the proposed health science system.

With the 2007 Legislature fast approaching, UNLV will be appointing an interim lobbyist and relying on the university system lobbying staff already in place, said Fred Albrecht, vice president for university and community relations and Musgrove's boss.

"I am sure that UNLV and the system will be well-represented," Albrecht said.

With Albrecht planning to retire, Gallagher's resignation and the previous resignation of chief public affairs officer Hilarie Grey, Ashley is using this opportunity to restructure all of his external relations staff under a new vice president for advancement. He hopes to have that person in place by July 1.