Harter proud of her accomplishments at UNLV

Sunday, July 2, 2006 | 7:40 a.m.

Put her in a golf cart and Carol Harter is a scary driver.

A passenger escaped whiplash, but Harter almost struck one student while tooling down a sidewalk.

And so went her one-hour trip down memory lane.

Leaving the presidency on Friday after 11 years in the helm wasn't her plan - she was ushered out by Chancellor Jim Rogers - but Harter said she's looking forward to getting back to the literary work she craves.

On Wednesday she begins new duties as executive director for the Black Mountain Institute, a think tank for artists and writers to address global issues.

She spent her recent vacation in Hawaii reading books by authors on Black Mountain's board, including an 800-page tome by Russell Banks.

A little heavy for beach material, but for the Faulkner scholar it was right up her alley.

On Tuesday, she grabbed a final perk - the golf cart - and took nostalgic pleasure in pointing to the buildings constructed or renovated during her tenure. A new student union, moot courtroom for the Boyd School of Law and a science and engineering building are all in various stages of construction.

"I hope they'll invite me to the opening," Harter said of the engineering building, because of how it represents UNLV's future as a research university. "You can't do something like this for 11 years and not get attached."

She slows her golf cart at a giant sculpture known as the Flashlight, near the performing arts buildings.

"A lot of people don't like the flashlight," Harter says, " but it gives me a sense of leading upward to light. That's what a university is all about."

Harter makes a quick left and heads directly for UNLV's preschool. Retiring from the grueling life of the presidency has reminded her she is not yet a grandmother. She doesn't make it past the lobby before she's cooing over a stroller-bound infant.

She imagines these children as UNLV's future graduates. A group of pre-school graduates sang to her recently when the Classroom Building Complex was named after her.

The tour continues to Harter's second-favorite spot - the Lied Library. She recalls the time she walked in and found the entire basketball team studying.

"There is no way they could have known I was coming, so it wasn't a setup," Harter said. "Seeing them studying - I was so pleased."

The last stop on the tour is Harter's new Black Mountain Institute office digs.

The irony is not lost on her: she will be working inside the James E. Rogers Center for Administration and Justice, in an office renovated at the expense of the man who moved her out of her previous office.

At least, for the first time, she'll have a window to the world.