LOOKING IN ON: HIGHER EDUCATION

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006 | 7:03 a.m.

Nevada State College officials are voluntarily reducing the size of their proposed nursing building in hopes of improving their chances that state lawmakers will pay for it.

College President Fred Maryanski says the college will ask lawmakers for an 80,000-square-foot, $40 million building instead of a 100,000-square-foot, $65 million building as originally planned.

"We're trying to get more bang for the buck," Maryanski said.

The building is at the top of a wish list approved by the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents, but the state Public Works board did not approve funding for any new higher education buildings.

The state college has forged an agreement with UNLV to share a common-skills lab on the university's Shadow Lane campus, which will save space and equipment costs such as the mannequins students use to practice their skills.

UNLV officials are asking lawmakers for $8 million to renovate a former insurance building for their nursing school.

Nevada State College hopes to break ground Feb. 1 on its first new building, a 42,000-square-foot, $23.4 million liberal arts building. The college currently subsists on leased space and a renovated vitamin factory on 550 acres in Henderson. College officials are moving this month into 28,000 square feet of leased space in downtown Henderson, doubling the college's size.

Community College of Southern Nevada officials have updated their diversity Web site, but not to better express what the college is doing to promote diversity.

Instead, the change was merely to substitute the former diversity officer's name - a woman who has filed legal complaints against the college - with her interim replacements on a "how to get involved" form she says she developed.

President Richard Carpenter fired Debra K. Lopez, the college's diversity officer, Sept. 1, allegedly for failing to do her job. Lopez countered by filing Nevada Equal Opportunity and whistle-blowing complaints alleging that Carpenter and two of his vice presidents kept her from doing her job and ignored discrimination complaints she brought to their attention. College officials have denied the allegations.

The Sun first reported the complaints Dec. 15.

When the college fired Lopez, they replaced her name on the Web site with Larry Mosley's, who is now interim director of diversity. But up until just a few days ago, the contact name and number listed online were still Lopez's.

Speaking of Lopez, one of many readers to call in to the Sun after the initial article wanted to know more about her educational and employment background. Before coming to CCSN, Lopez worked for more than 12 years as a researcher and consultant with San Diego-based Keilty, Goldsmith and Co., a leadership development company. There, she worked with Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 company executives to assess and improve leadership skills, promote cultural diversity, improve performance management, assess the culture and effectiveness of the corporation's business practices, improve labor relations and reduce turnover.

Befor that, Lopez was a ticket office supervisor and flight attendant for Trans World Airlines for 11 years.

She was awarded a bachelor's degree in communications from San Francisco State University and is working on her master's degree in management, labor and human resources from Ohio State University.