$1 million pledge to boost literary efforts

By Charlotte Hsu

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008 | 2 a.m.

With budget cuts threatening even basic services at public colleges, officials are putting plans for expanding programs on hold.

But even in this climate, some departments will be able to grow. Those that do will be the ones able to court private philanthropists.

UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute is one example.

On Tuesday, UNLV Foundation Chairman Ted Quirk announced that Diana Bennett, daughter of the late Las Vegas gaming mogul Bill Bennett, had pledged $1 million to the institute, an offshoot of UNLV that strives to bring literary voices into discussions about everything from war to elections.

The institute’s activities include hosting speakers such as Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison, translating foreign books into English and offering fellowships to writers.

“This does offer something to Las Vegas that we don’t have — the ability to get in touch with authors from around the world to see their perspective,” said Diana Bennett, chief executive of Paragon Gaming, who had previously given $100,000 over two years to fund Black Mountain fellows.

A Las Vegan since 1965, Diana Bennett, 59, said she feels an obligation to help ensure the valley has great schools, universities and hospitals. Her $1 million gift will be split into 10 installments — $100,000 per year for the next decade.

“You want to make certain that what Las Vegas is for my children and for my children’s children is something they’re very proud of ... There’s a responsibility for those of us who can to make certain that that happens.”

Black Mountain staff applied this spring for a $550,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that would help the institute launch more projects including establishing three fellowships for UNLV faculty members.

The academics would get a year off to work on humanities-related research and collaborate with administrators to improve humanities teaching at the university. The fellowships would begin in July.

Grant recipients must raise three times the amount of the federal money they receive, and the first $400,000 of Diana Bennett’s donation will go toward helping Black Mountain meet that requirement if the institute wins the award. The remaining $600,000 will support Black Mountain’s operation, as will the first $400,000 if the institute does not get the grant.

If Black Mountain secures the grant, part of the federal funding and all of the private matching money would go toward creating an endowment to sponsor the research fellows and humanities activities in the future.

A little less than half of Black Mountain’s budget of about $900,000 this year comes from private sources.

“We couldn’t do Black Mountain Institute without private funding,” said Carol Harter, the institute’s executive director and UNLV’s former president. “There’s just no other option. The university just doesn’t have the funds.”