No Public Support

In ten years there will be no public support for public higher education.  This means that all state universities including UNLV and UNR will receive nothing from the state.  Where will they get their money?  It will come from tuition, fees and funds from research projects. 

College Life 101

The University of Nevada, Reno’s Center for Student Cultural Diversity received one of 17 national awards in 2011 for its exemplary student-retention program, College Life 101. The Center and the new Director of Diversity Initiatives role signal the University’s commitment to diversity.

Successful Results

This fall, 40% of the University of Nevada, Reno freshman class are underrepresented students. For the better part of a decade, the University of Nevada, Reno has made a concerted effort to design and fund programs that provide outreach and college advising to students from underrepresented backgrounds as early as elementary and middle school. These intentional recruitment and student-success efforts are yielding successful results.

Underrepresented Students

Enrollment of underrepresented students at the University of Nevada, Reno is at an all-time high at 29% of the student body. Contributing factors include early outreach and recruitment activities combined with free and easily accessible retention and support services.

UNR

Enrollment of Latino students at the University of Nevada, Reno increased 19% from fall 2011 to fall 2012. A Town Hall on College Affordability and the Hispanic Community with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was held on campus Sept. 12 and brought together college and high school students, parents, teachers, education officials and community leaders to discuss affordability, access to higher education and other vital topics from the perspective of Hispanic students and families. 

Diversity Summit

The NSHE Northern Nevada Diversity Summit on October 11 marked the first time all five northern, NSHE institutions, neighboring school districts and community stakeholders assembled with the singular purpose of establishing ongoing dialog about improving the educational pipeline for underrepresented students.  The summit was held at the University of Nevada, Reno with the keynote delivered by Dr. William G. Tierney of USC.

UNLV Center For Academic Enrichment

The UNLV Center for Academic Enrichment and outreach coordinates the largest suite of federally funded TRiO and GEAR UP programs in the nation, helping tens of thousands of underrepresented middle and high school students get ready for college each year: http://caeo.unlv.edu/News.html

UNLV is currently on track to become a minority serving institution, with growing populations in the Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander communities.

Diversity Leadership Forums

The UNLV Office of Diversity Initiatives regularly hosts diversity leadership forums to bring together community and campus leaders on key social and economic issues impacting various communities in Southern Nevada. The office also oversees policy creation and compliance; works to ensure professional development and mentoring, and collaborates with campus and community partners to encourage cultural competency. 

http://go.unlv.edu/diversityinitiatives 

Hospitality Program

UNLV’s Harrah Hotel College awarded more degrees to minority students than any hospitality program in the nation from 2010 to 2011, according to the magazine Diverse Issues in Higher Education. The report also ranked UNLV 14^th nationally for Native American graduates in all disciplines. Through project “Dreamcatcher,” over 100 local Native American high school students will attend workshops at UNLV to address obstacles in higher education and health. The grant-funded project is coordinated through the university’s American Indian Research and Education Center.   

http://news.unlv.edu/release/unlv-provides-100-native-americans-health-habits-training-college-resources

Most Diverse

UNLV is one of the nation’s most diverse campuses for undergrads, according to the 2013 U.S. News & World Report best colleges rankings. The publication compiles a diversity index for each school and UNLV was ranked in the top ten.  

http://news.unlv.edu/release/us-news-ranks-unlv-among-nations-most-diverse-universities-undergrads

UNLV / Global

UNLV is a global university right in our own backyard, with students hailing from all 50 states and more than 70 countries.  Topping the list of international students is South Korea, with more than 400 current undergraduates.

Hispanic Women of Excellence

In late September, the Latino Scorpions cosponsored the Hispanic Women of Excellence highlighting Latina entrepreneurs at Nevada State College.

Medicaid

I am hearing good things about Governor Sandoval. His decision on Medicaid shows he has good judgment. http://1.usa.gov/12aRBux  Anything our company can do we’ll be happy to help. 

President’s Diversity Council

Earlier this year at Nevada State College, President Patterson re-initiated the President’s Diversity Council to guide and assist with diversity and community engagement.

Hispanic Serving Intuitions Forum

In partnership with the Latin Chamber of Commerce, Nevada State College co-hosted a Hispanic Serving Intuitions forum featuring Dr. Martin Ahumada and Mr. Roger Campos.

Nevada State College

Nevada State College is a proud member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.  HACU is focused on improving access to, and the quality of postsecondary educational opportunities, for Hispanic students and meeting the needs of business and industry through the development and sharing of resources, information and expertise.

Latino Cohort Program

Retention of Latino students at Western Nevada College who are in the Latino cohort program grew to 94% in 2011, well above the college average.   

WNC

Western Nevada College offers Latino parents free workshops about the importance of encouraging their children to continue their education, and make time to study and learn. 

WNC & Minority Students

Western Nevada College connects with minority students in rural Nevada through school districts, community organizations, campus events, peers, and parents. 

UMC Interviews

Today during News 3 at Noon go “Inside Nevada.” I speak with UMC’s Chief Operating Officer Brian Brannman. For forty years UMC has gotten a bad rap for its quality of care and its handling of financial matters. For the next eight weeks, I will be bringing you interviews with the UMC administrators, the Dean of the University of Nevada Medical School, Clark County Commissioners and doctors who participate in providing healthcare to Nevadans. I believes you will conclude that UMC is a very efficiently run entity that provides world class medical care to Nevadans.

Bridge to Success

Western Nevada College’s Bridge to Success program has helped increase the percentage of minority enrollment in comparison to the community population. 

Mixed Blessings Symposium

Truckee Meadows Community College’s Mixed Blessings Symposium: The Mixed Blessings Symposium held Nov. 8‐10 at TMCC and Nevada Museum of Art featured presentations and creative projects inspired by peoples of mixed identities, inspired by Lucy R. Lippard’s book “Mixed Blessings, New Art in a Multicultural America.”  “Mixed Blessings” is one of the first books to discuss the cross-cultural process taking place in the work of contemporary Latino, Native, African‐ and Asian‐American artists.  

Dean’s Future Scholars

Truckee Meadows Community College’s Dean’s Future Scholars: Dean’s Future Scholars (DFS) is an academic outreach program with the goal of increasing the numbers of low-income, first generation students graduating from high-school, gaining access to higher education, and entering a career in the field of education. Currently 13 DFS are attending TMCC representing diverse cultural backgrounds.

Bonehead Deal!

This is the bonehead deal of the century and UNLV made it. When they sold the name of the business school to Ted Lee for 14 million dollars they forever set a benchmark that prohibited UNLV from ever selling the name of a college for more than 14 million dollars. Not only is the amount grossly inadequate there’s no term limit on it. A hundred years from now the UNLV business school will still be named after Ted Lee. To show how little thinking was given you should know that my name which is now on the University of Arizona Law School will only last 30 years, after which the University of Arizona may sell  the name again. We actually gave thought to the naming consequences. That is why my family’s gift exceeds 50 million dollars but has lasting effects of only 30 years. I wonder if Bill Bolt has ever given thought to the implications of his actions beyond the next 30 days.

 

Biomedical Pipeline Program

Truckee Meadows Community College’s Biomedical Pipeline Program: INBRE, the IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, is a multifaceted 10-year grant funded by the National Institutes of Health.  Areas of focus include building programs to serve undergraduates and encourage high school students to pursue degrees in the sciences, and build a biomedical student pipeline program to prepare students at primarily undergraduate institutions for transitions to four-year research institutions for entry into graduate school.  More than 78% of students in the INBRE program are female, and more than 88% are first-generation students.

Holiday Concert

Diversity Holiday Concert: Truckee Meadows Community College’s Concert Choir will present its annual winter program featuring music from a variety of countries, including France, Czech Republic, Japan, Spain/Latin America, India, an African Alleluia, and several well-known traditional carols. This free concert will be held on Wednesday, December 12^th at 7:30 p.m. in the Nell J. Redfield Foundation Performing Arts Center.

Success First Program

Success First Program: In the 2011-2012 academic year, 425 students participated in the Truckee Meadows Community College Success First program.  Fifty three percent of these students were from an underrepresented population, and 98% came from families where neither parent had earned a bachelor’s degree.

American Indian Descent

Slightly more than 3% of the student body at Great Basin College is of American Indian descent.  That is in the 95th percentile of more than 260 community colleges in the nation.

Great Basin Indian Archives

Great Basin College is home of the Great Basin Indian Archives, one of the most important oral history collections in the region. The archive was established in 2003 and provides students and researchers with easy access to primary and digital information chronicling the history and heritage of the Great Basin Indian people.

GBC & Minority Students

In the last decade, Great Basin College has tripled the number of certificates and degrees awarded annually to minority students and now awards nearly 20% of the certificate, associate and bachelor degrees to American Indian, Hispanic or Latino, Asian, African American, and students of mixed race.

Indian Education

Great Basin College hosted the United States Department of Education and the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education Back-to-School Bus Tour in September. The Great Basin Roundtable Discussion on Indian Education featured stakeholders from tribal, state, district, school and community levels from Nevada and other western states. Assistant Secretary of Education, Deb Delisle commented on the effective and important work being accomplished between Great Basin College, regional school districts and communities. 

Great Basin College

Minority enrollments at Great Basin College exceed the demographic of its service area. Since 2000, minority enrollments have increased by eight percentage points, now nearly 23% of the student population.

CSN Students

More Latino and female students graduate with a 2-year degree in science technology related fields at the College of Southern Nevada than anywhere in the United States.

College of Southern Nevada

At the College of Southern Nevada, 13% of Nevada’s Latinos have a 2-year degree or higher compared to 29% of all adults. As the largest college in Nevada, the College of Southern Nevada can help change this.

CSN

The College of Southern Nevada is proud to be the most diverse higher education institution in Nevada with no ethnic majority among its student body.

Clinton / Obama

I always thought that President Clinton was the most intelligent, best read and best educated of any of the 43 presidents through his administration.  I’m told that as brilliant as Clinton is that those around him always had to deal with his ego which in some instances got in the way of his intellect.  Those same people tell me that Obama may actually be smarter than Clinton but that the great advantage in dealing with Obama, is that his ego never gets in the way.  I feel very comfortable with Barack Obama as President.  He’s smart enough, sound enough, thoughtful enough and energetic enough to help solve this country’s social and economic problems.

Qualifications

Take a look at the qualifications, including education and experience, of the commentators on MSNBC and then compare those qualifications to those of the commentators on Fox and other lunatic conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.  Rachel Maddow is a Stanford graduate, a Rhodes Scholar and has a PhD from Oxford University.  Lawrence O’Donnell is also a Harvard graduate.  Chris Matthews is a graduate of a top 20 university and worked for leaders of the House and Senate for many years.  Glenn Beck never graduated from high school.  Rush Limbaugh flunked out of a mediocre university and the rest of the crowd certainly does not have a Rhodes Scholar.  How can anyone listen to the total lack of intelligent thinking exhibited by some commentators?

Solve This Country’s Problems

I’ve never been in a discussion with anyone who had a view different from mine where that differing view did not have merit.  The conservative Republicans had better learn that in spite of their belief, they alone do not have the answers to this country’s problems.  There is at least one opposing side that has substance.  Senator Mitch McConnell and Congressman John Boehner actually believe that they, and they alone, can solve this country’s problems.  That belief makes them incompetent.  

"Dawn & Jim"

Today, we debut a new segment during News 3 at Noon. “Dawn & Jim” - I sit down with Dawn Gibbons, the former first lady of Nevada, for a lively conversation. Today’s topic? It’s the big talker …. the presidential election.  Please watch and share your thoughts.

Election Day

Today is finally Election Day.  In every election since I became old enough to vote, I voted.  I cannot imagine anyone being so irresponsible that they failed to use a fundamental right that no other country in this world has, or has ever had.  Any study of history shows that all of the fundamental rights fought for by the general public, all terminated in the concept of the right to vote.  I’m sure that in any dictatorship that if the public had been given the right to vote, 98% would have voted and 100% of those 98% would have voted to eliminate the dictatorship.  Of all the rights of Americans that have been taken for granted, and in many instances have made those rights have little or no value, the right to vote stands out as number 1.  If you think for just one moment about your reactions if you were denied the right to vote, that single thought should drive you to the polls today. 

The Election

I cannot understand how the public, that is the great majority of Americans, can vote against their own interests in a Presidential election like the one tomorrow.  If Romney wins, it will be the most successful con job ever pulled on the American public.  Romney represents himself and his very rich friends who really believe that it is they, and they alone, who built this economy that although presently weak, will again become the strongest in the world.  Romney publicly writes off 47% of Americans as being freeloaders.  I would bet one of my favorite classic cars against $1 that at dinner parties at the Romney house, all the rich folks sit around patting each other on the back on how they have created an economy that dares to ask them to pay more than 1% of their net income as a tax.  They may be financial wizards but that qualification doesn’t make them human beings with any real worth.  To protect yourself against these vultures, you have to vote and you have to vote for Obama and his team

Tax Burden

TAX BURDEN ON NEVADA.  Nevada gets the short end of return to it on taxes Nevada citizens have paid into the federal government.  For every dollar of taxes paid to the federal government, the State of Nevada receives 70 cents. Bad deal.  For every dollar in taxes paid by the citizens of Montana to the federal government, Montana receives about $1.75.  Something is terribly wrong with this allocation.  Nevada has infinitely more power in the federal government than does Montana. The Republicans seem to believe that all taxes are bad and therefore they tend to overlook the inequities in tax burdens. Nevada gets short changed in the distribution of federal taxes. You only need look at the difference between the funds returned to Montana and the funds returned to Nevada. I trust the entire Nevada Democrat members of Congress will protect Nevada’s need better than the Republicans.

Mark Amodei vs. Samuel Koepnick

Mark Amodei vs. Samuel Koepnick.  I know nothing about Samuel Koepnick.  He may be the most qualified person in the world but his history doesn’t prove that to be true.  As for Mark Amodei, in my limited contacts with him, I found him to be a thoughtful, reasonable, truly interested individual who will certainly protect Nevada’s interest in Congress. If I could vote in this election, I’d vote for Amodei.

Dina Titus vs. Chris Edwards

Dina Titus vs. Chris Edwards.   

Before we get into the race between Mark Amodei and Samuel Koepnick, I have this brief comment about Dina Titus.  She is a very bright, knowledgeable and enthusiastic person who genuinely believes in Nevada’s future.  I generally feel that the public, through a long a torturous process, comes to the correct conclusion on the best person to represent it in public office.  The Titus-Gibbons election was totally contrary and inconsistent with my theory.  Gibbons was the disaster of Nevada’s leadership during the last 100 years.  Nevadans made a big mistake when they didn’t elect Dina Titus.  I’m sure that mistake will not be repeated and she will be reelected to Congress.  

I do not know anything about Chris Edwards other than he was in the Navy for 25 years.