Nevada System of Higher Education regent to speak at Monday's Carson City Democratic tele-luncheon
The featured speaker at Monday's Carson City Democratic tele-luncheon will be Laura E. Perkins, incumbent Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) regent for District 1 (North Las Vegas). She was sworn in on January 16, 2019 after winning 62% of the vote in a four-way race in the November, 2018 general election.
Her present term ends in January, 2025. She currently serves as chair of the Cultural Diversity Committee and vice chair of the Audit, Compliance and Title IX Committee. She is also a member of the Academic, Research and Student Affairs Committee, Community College Committee, and Investment Committee.
A former City of North Las Vegas Planning Commissioner and past-Chairman, she was motivated to run for the position of Regent to advance and expand the state’s economic diversity by giving Nevada’s workforce a broader skill set that will help attract a variety of companies to this great state.
With a foundational belief that personal and professional success lies in learning, Regent Perkins has long been affiliated with various institutions of higher education in Nevada, including positions as a teaching assistant at the College of Southern Nevada and a student liaison at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, where she assisted students in transitioning from the classroom to a clinical environment.
An experienced software technician, Regent Perkins earned a Bachelor of Science in Post-Secondary Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with additional coursework in computer information technology, physics and calculus. She also earned an applied Associates of Arts and Sciences in Electronic Engineering Technology from the College of Southern Nevada. She also holds dozens of IT-related certificates and licenses.
Her professional career has included numerous positions, some within academia, others in the corporate world and as an entrepreneur. From 2006 to 2010, she worked with the Southern Nevada Health District as a Geographic Information System (GIS) Technician II in the organization’s environmental health department.
Regent Perkins has owned and operated her own online wholesale and consignment company. She has also worked as an independent contractor and spent eight years teaching software applications to adults. Most interestingly, she is an experienced pyrotechnic operator, overseeing outdoor aerial fireworks displays where she is responsible for ensuring compliance with all state, local and federal safety regulations.
Active in the nonprofit community, Regent Perkins has long supported the Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada, an organization that changes lives by exposing girls to different ideas and experiences that broaden their understanding of community and the opportunities to be part of a bigger world. She is a supporter of the League of Women Voters, a group committed to enacting change through civic involvement. She is a member of Friends of the North Las Vegas Library District which encourages literacy programs within the Library District. Regent Perkins also advocates for conservation through membership in Protectors of Tule Springs, an organization responsible for preserving the archaeologically active area that is now the Tule Spring National Monument.
During her 2018 campaign, Laura completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, and when asked what her top three priorities would be as regent, her reply was "funding, funding and funding." She went on to say that she would seek to find alternative sources of funding for more scholarships, more research and more economic diversification. She also said that she would be ecstatic if more people knew what the Board of Regents does, and true to form she enthusiastically accepted our invitation to speak at Monday's tele-luncheon. It should be a real learning experience for all of us.
Sponsored by the Carson City Democratic Men's Committee, this event is scheduled for noon on Monday, June 7th, and will be held online via Zoom teleconference. Those wishing to be on distribution for these Zoom links should email Rich Dunn, Men's Committee Events Coordinator, at richdunn@aol.com.
- Academic Research and Student Affairs Committee
- Announcements
- Associates of Arts and Sciences
- Audit Compliance and Title IX Committee
- Bachelor of Science
- Chair
- Community College Committee
- Cultural Diversity Committee
- Democratic Men's Committee
- Democratic tele-luncheon
- economic diversity
- Electronic Engineering Technology
- Fireworks
- Geographic Information System (GIS) Technician II
- Investment Committee
- Laura Perkins
- Nevada System of Higher Education
- North Las Vegas
- NSHE
- Planning Commissioner
- Post-Secondary Education
- pyrotechnic operator
- Regent
- Rich Dunn
- Southern Nevada Health District
- UNLV
- Zoom