Higher Education

The Nevada Legislature will be considering an unprecedented $1.3 billion tax incentive package for Tesla Motors this week. To focus attention on issues legislators should take into account while reviewing this proposal, the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities has released Development Incentives: A Guide for Nevada Legislators.

University of Nevada, Reno alumni Fatih Ozmen ’81 M.S. and Eren Ozmen ’85 MBA have pledged $5 million to create a new entrepreneurship center in conjunction with the University’s College of Business. To date, this is the largest gift the College of Business has received.

Nevada's private space industry has been making headlines in recent months as private companies continue to blaze the trail with new partnerships with NASA and other leading private space-based initiatives. But now, Nevada's students are about to be the next in line to take a bold step into the unknown.

An ancient forest of mature pine trees, standing upright under 100 feet of water in a small lake in the Lake Tahoe Basin, helps scientists as they study how changing climate can affect mountain environments and the communities in them. The trees, discovered and studied by a University of Nevada, Reno, researcher, are remnants of a 200-year-long medieval drought.

The site is a stop on one of the field trips of a four-day international conference on mountain observatories held at the University of Nevada, Reno July 16-19.

What is Common Core (CC) and why should you care?

Its proponents say CC is merely a set of standards for kindergarten through twelfth-grade education developed by disinterested and public-spirited experts at the request of the nation’s governors and state school superintendents.

The Board of Regents approved a tuition increase Friday for all Nevada public higher education institutions.

Regents voted 7-6 to raise university and community college undergraduate fees by 4 percent each year for the next four years. Graduate fees will increase 2 percent each year for the next four years.

Four Nevada legislative candidates who hope to represent Carson City took to the microphone Wednesday night at the Carson City Chamber of Commerce candidate forum.

Each touted their qualifications, noting their conservative credentials and their commitment as Republicans to tackle a legislative body dominated by southern Nevada Democrats.

Western Nevada College will graduate 543 students this spring. Commencement was held Monday in Carson City with a ceremony to be held Tuesday in Fallon. The class of 2014 will receive a record 581 degrees and certificates.

Also on Monday, the WNC nursing program graduates celebrated with a traditional pinning ceremony at the Carson Nugget. Dr. Tom Kubistant, a WNC psychology and communications instructor, delivered the Carson City ceremony commencement address.

Western Nevada College will graduate 543 students at two commencement ceremonies on Monday, May 19, and Tuesday, May 20. The class of 2014 will receive a record 581 degrees and certificates.

Graduation ceremonies are scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday, May 19, in Carson City at the Pony Express Pavilion, 1111 E. William St. and on Tuesday, May 20, 7 p.m., in Fallon at the Barkley Theatre at Oaks Park Art Center, 151 Park St.

A few years ago, some experts predicted the world was about to reach a peak in global oil and gas production to be followed soon by marked decline. It would cause “war, famine, pestilence and death” – the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Another version: “war, starvation, economic recession, possibly even the extinction of homo sapiens.”

“The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s, the world will undergo famines – hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death …”

So began The Population Bomb, a 1968 advocacy book by Dr. Paul Ehrlich. He indicted American affluence and uncontrolled procreation as key parts of the over-population apocalypse he foresaw and thus as pernicious problems to be solved by Draconian public-sector and even international action.

Nevada has some amazing people. This is a story about one of them, Dr. Thomas Schwenk, Dean of Nevada’s medical school – a story he tells to inspire beginning medical students and others.

Thirty years ago, after completing their medical residencies, Schwenk and a partner opened an office in a small northern Utah town. They were the only physicians in a large area, the closest hospital was an hour away, and even helicopter transport took time to arrange.

Ron Knecht filed Thursday to run for Nevada State Controller as “one plain-speaking nerd” who will bring to the job new energy and wide experience in public service to voters and taxpayers.

A STEM Career Investigation Program, hosted this semester by the University of Nevada, Reno’s Raggio Research Center, is offering Washoe County School District sophomores, juniors and seniors the opportunity to observe current scientific and engineering research being conducted at the University and affiliated institutions.

“The idea behind this program is to offer exposure for students to realize careers in many specialized areas of science and engineering,” Jacque Ewing-Taylor, associate director, Raggio Research Center for STEM Education and institutional grants coordinator, said.

“Four thousand faces of American military who had perished in Iraq stared at me,” said former Western Nevada College professor Don Carlson. “I realized that this war has been perhaps one of the most impersonal wars the U.S. ever fought.”

In 2008, the army veteran saw a Roster of the Dead, then totaling 4,000. He explains that with the all-volunteer military, more than in any previous war, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been remote to the vast majority of Americans. Impersonal.

Saturday, I attended a funeral in a somewhat cheerful mood. It was a celebration of the life of Ralph Denny, Sr., and he would have wanted it upbeat.

Over 350 people filled Carson City’s First Christian Church’s sanctuary and foyer. Ralph was not a celebrity or public figure, and few such folks were there – just the heart and soul of our local communities in abundance.
He was a fine man with such a great and joyous impact over 50 years on so many folks that most came in the same mood as me: sad to see Ralph gone, but feeling so much richer for knowing him, and wanting to celebrate him.

Well Yip! Yip! Yahoo! Another year has passed and it’s time to file your tax return again. I’m sure that you are just overcome with emotion and excitement at the “fun” time ahead gathering all your records together and making that annual journey into the bowels of IRS instructions that seem to only make sense to seasoned IRS agents. Somebody once made a joke about a GPS unit giving directions like IRS instructions.

Nevada has been picked as one of six locations to be a center for drone development in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday.

As a drone development site, the state would benefit by providing thousands of jobs with an average wage of approximately $62,000; an estimated $2.5 billion in economic impact in present dollars; and an estimated $125 million in annual state and local tax revenue.

The jury is still out on whether a long-standing fight over state funding equity between Northern Nevada and Southern Nevada is over or just beginning in earnest.

But there are recent signs that a funding shift is occurring in several important areas, from public and higher education to the allocation of scarce road dollars.

Unmanned Aerial Systems, also known as drones, may be relatively small, but could have a big impact on Nevada’s economy and natural resources, especially when the necessary pieces and experts come together to do the work and research.

To that end, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the University’s Center for Economic Development at the College of Business, is holding a public workshop on unmanned aerial systems, with a focus on how communities in Nevada can become involved with this economic initiative.

This is a plea to the readers of this great news site to educate themselves about the Common Core "State" Standards being implemented in our schools, and to join with the growing numbers of parents and concerned citizens who seek to reverse course and do something better before it's too late for our children and grandchildren.

Western Nevada College President Carol Lucey announced that she is retiring from her post Wednesday, following more than 14 years at the helm of the Carson City and Northern Nevada-based college system. The announcement followed an earlier notice to the college community in the summer in which she relayed her intention to retire at some point during the 2013-14 academic year.

Pursuant to Board of Regents Policy, Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Daniel Klaich has designated WNC Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services Chet Burton as the Officer in Charge for WNC.

Western Nevada College President Carol Lucey, a staunch supporter of higher education in Carson City and Northern Nevada, abruptly resigned Wednesday four months ahead of when she had said she was going to leave.

In the letter below addressed to the Western Nevada College Advisory Board, Dr. Lucey, who has served 14 years as president of WNC, states that she had hoped the national search for her replacement would have commenced after she announced in July that she would be leaving.

The call letters KUNR first broke through the FM radio airwaves on Oct. 7, 1963 with a short 15-minute broadcast that reached listeners in a 13-mile radius. Today, KUNR 88.7 is an affiliate of National Public Radio that serves 45,000 weekly listeners in 20 communities in Northern Nevada and Northeastern California.

This year marks KUNR’s 50th year of public broadcasting on the University of Nevada, Reno’s campus. The station has become a staple in the community and continues to be a growing source of local and regional news.

CARSON CITY — Western Nevada College students will have more opportunities to prepare for skilled technical jobs in the coming years, following Wednesday's announcement of a $1,567,530 grant workforce training grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. It is part of $474.5 million in grants to community colleges and universities around the country for the development and expansion of innovative training programs.

Consumer advocacy website NerdWallet says Carson City is among the best cities and towns in Nevada for young families. The website notes the capital city's proximity to Lake Tahoe, higher education opportunities at Western Nevada College and Carson City School District's reform-based Race to the Top grant as standout reasons for its choice.

Western Nevada College is collaborating with local business leaders in the hospitality industry to provide training to resort, hotel and restaurant employees. The Carson City Chamber of Commerce, Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce, Carson Valley Inn, and Hampton Inn and Suites are all part of the effort.

The University of Nevada, Reno’s Department of Anthropology, in partnership with the Nevada Indian Commission and the Washoe Tribal Historic Preservation Office, is conducting an excavation at the historic Stewart Indian School in Carson City, Nev. The Stewart facility is a 110-acre historic district that is home to more than 50 historic buildings.

Board of Regents members Ron Knecht and Allison Stephens talk about education in the Silver State.

Tune in for another edition of Capital Crossfire Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on Access Carson City Television channels 210 and 226.

Capital Crossfire tackles the issue of higher education in the state of Nevada. This edition of Capital Crossfire features Regent Ron Knecht who represents District 9, and Regent Allison Stephens who represents District 4.

The team of Shelly Aldean and Karl Neathammer are the co-hosts of Capital Crossfire. The program airs on Access Carson City, and brings together guests with a wide range of opinions on state and local topics."