LOOKING IN ON: EDUCATION

Sunday, Nov. 26, 2006 | 7:44 a.m.

Student leaders at the Community College of Southern Nevada want to rid themselves of the "community" part of their school's name because they believe it has a stigma in the - community.

Student Body President Presley Conkle and other student leaders are trying to gather at least 10,000 signatures for a petition to change the college's name to College of Southern Nevada. The petition, online on the student government's Web site, says the name change will "empower the students, open the door to more four-year programs, bring in high-caliber instructors and strengthen our standing not only in the state of Nevada, but in the nation."

Conkle said they have gathered more than 7,000 signatures, primarily by hosting all-day, coffee-and-doughnut rallies at each campus. The final one is Tuesday at the Henderson campus. He plans to bring the signatures first to President Richard Carpenter and then to the university system Board of Regents in January.

Just as two-year colleges removed junior from their name in the 1970s because the term was viewed as pejorative, community colleges are starting to ax community from their names for the same reasons, Conkle said.

"The main reason we are doing this is so students will be proud of where they go to school," said Conkle, a 28-year-old English major who plans to become a teacher.

"So many times when you ask people where they go to school they say they are 'just going to community college but soon I'll go to a real school.' "

That CCSN is viewed as somehow less than the state's universities by some in the community was evident in this year's debates over raising the grade point average entrance requirement at UNLV.

Minority leaders were concerned the increase would cut off their access to the university and repeatedly dismissed CCSN as a viable route for students to go to college.

Regents and community college presidents took issue with that portrayal, believing that the general-education classes at community colleges were equal to those at UNLV. Moreover, they believed students in need of additional help in those classes would be better served at community colleges because of smaller class sizes and the greater focus on advising.

Speaking of CCSN, it is recruiting instructors in more than a dozen fields, including astronomy, automotive, aviation, counseling, criminal justice, dental hygiene, emergency medical service, English, interior design, nursing, pharmacy and Spanish.

There will be a job fair Thursday afternoon at the Charleston campus.

Regent Mark Alden is downright giddy to have been re-elected to the Board of Regents, especially because many people believed his opponent, former Nevada Test Site guru Troy Wade, was formidable.

Having won by a landslide, Alden couldn't stop himself from repeatedly reminding fellow regents at an investment committee meeting on Tuesday that voters liked him.

At one point, Alden asked that an item be "agendasized" for the next meeting.

"Agendasized?" said Regent Steve Sisolak, clearly amused.

"I just made it up," Alden said. "I have 69 percent of the vote. I think I can get away with anything."

Later, when Alden brought up his election totals again, Sisolak rolled his eyes but Regent Michael Wixom jumped in with a quick quip: "I got 80 percent of the vote."

Wixom actually got 100 percent, but he was running unopposed.