Letter to the Editor:

UNLV fundraising received boost by Harter, others

Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 | 2 a.m.

As the author of the history book commemorating UNLV’s 50th anniversary, I would like to clarify a number of points made in the Las Vegas Sun’s Friday story regarding the development of UNLV’s successful capital campaign.

In 2001, President Carol Harter and then-Vice President for Development John Gallagher commissioned and received the consulting report for a $250 million campaign. They along with the University’s Foundation board, led by Don Snyder, agreed to undertake a capital campaign.

They later organized a development committee that included Jim Rogers, who did persuade the group to push for a $500 million goal. Along with Gallagher, President Harter, with help from Snyder, Ted Quirk, and many others, raised the first $335 million.

For five years, Harter spent at least half her time meeting with potential donors. Even some of the donations announced at the Foundation dinner Thursday were in the pipeline before Harter left the presidency in 2006. Her efforts and those of her successors have given UNLV a tremendous boost as the school looks ambitiously toward its future.

Eugene Moehring, Las Vegas

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