University of Nevada Las Vegas

New UNLV University center

Since 1957, the university has grown to more than 28,000 students. What started as one building in the middle of the desert is now over 90 facilities on a thriving 337-acre campus. We?re only going to get bigger and stronger and the Donald C. Moyer Student Union (MSU) and Paul B. ? McDermott Physical Education (MPE) Complex are too small and out-dated to meet the needs of today’s UNLV?s students. So we?re building a brand new Student Union and Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

UNLV History

From Pioneer Outpost to Academic Powerhouse: The Rise of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Read UNLV History Professor, Eugene Moehring’s book, UNLV: A History, a record of the people and events that shaped the institution

Read UNLV history professor, Eugene Moehring’s book, UNLV: A History, a record of the people and events that shaped the institution

In its 50-year history, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), has undergone an amazing transformation, from a dusty outpost on the south edge of town to a thriving urban research institution. Along the way, thanks to its innovative frontier spirit, UNLV has kept pace with one of the country?s fastest-growing and most enterprising cities.

UNLV The Early Years

The university?s origins were humble, indeed. In 1951, when the post-war boom had swollen Las Vegas? metropolitan population to more than 50,000, the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), established an extension program. Twenty-eight students began meeting for classes in the dressing rooms of Las Vegas High School?s auditorium. In 1954, the Nevada Board of Regents founded the Southern Regional Division of the University of Nevada, popularly known as Nevada Southern. Students adopted the Rebel name and mascot to reflect their desire to break free from UNR. After Las Vegas residents exerted pressure, the regents decided to acquire land for a campus, finally selecting an 80-acre parcel along the two-lane dirt road known as Maryland Parkway.

On September 10, 1957, the first classes were held on campus in a new 13,000-square-foot building, later named for Maude Frazier, a state assemblywoman and founding force behind Nevada Southern. A year later, the school received accreditation from the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools. To serve the growing enrollment, buildings went up in a flurry of construction, including a physical education and health center, a science and technology building, a classroom building named for regent Archie C. Grant, and the James R. Dickinson Library, named for the first director of the extension program.

Winning Independence

Donald Moyer, UNLV’s first chancellor

Despite its expansion, Nevada Southern remained under UNR?s control. In fact, university officials required students to spend a semester in Reno before graduating. After fighting to become a degree-granting institution, Nevada Southern held its first commencement in 1964, graduating 29 students as the “Centennial Class” in honor of Nevada?s 100th anniversary as a state. The next year, the school became Nevada Southern University, with its own curriculum. Donald Moyer served as its first chancellor and then became its first president in 1968, when the university finally won its autonomy under the state?s higher education system, giving it equal status to UNR.

In 1969, with the Board of Regents? approval, the university adopted its current name. By the following year, as Las Vegas?s metropolitan population reached 275,000, UNLV enrolled more than 5,500 students. During the 1977-78 academic year, UNLV surpassed UNR in total enrollment.

UNLV Gathering Momentum

Over the next three decades, UNLV continued this heady rate of development?erecting more than 100 buildings, developing dozens of graduate programs, creating partnerships with the community, fielding nationally ranked sports teams, founding an alumni association, promoting scholarship, establishing a fundraising foundation, and recruiting diverse and talented students from across the country.

Today, UNLV has come a long way from the high school dressing rooms that once served as its classrooms. Thanks to the dedication of faculty, staff members, students, generous donors, and Las Vegas residents over the past half century, the university has much to celebrate!

Looking ahead, opportunities for this pioneering institution abound. At his inauguration in April 2007, David B. Ashley, UNLV?s eighth president, declared, “We will remain unwavering in our commitment to honoring the past with bold steps forward. We shall transform ourselves as a university. In this process, we will transform both the lives of our students and the future of this community.”

Source: UNLV?The University of Nevada, Las Vegas: A History (2007) by professor Eugene P. Moehring.

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Marilyn Monroe

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Hannah Montana

Hannah Montana is an Emmy Award-nominated American television series, which debuted on March 24, 2006 on Disney Channel. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teen.

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Jillette, the larger, talkative half of Penn & Teller, was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He became disenchanted with traditional illusionist acts that presented the craft as authentic magic.

Harry Potter

Lucille Ball

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Justice League

The Justice League, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman

Superman

Sophia Loren

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is a fictional character, a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston and one of the three characters to be continuously published by DC Comics.

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University of Nevada, Las Vegas

RESEARCH

• UNLV received more than $106.8 million in total extramural funding in fiscal year 2007, with approximately $74.8 million supporting research.





• Professors Brenda Buck (geoscience) and Spencer Steinberg (chemistry) are part of a team supporting NASA?s ambitious effort to return humans to the moon and provide a continuous robotic presence on Mars. Buck and UNLV?s geoscience department have long been at the forefront of arid soils research. In 2007, she became the first woman to receive the Soil Science Society of America?s top award.


• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded UNLV assistant professor of life sciences Eduardo Robleto a $222,000 grant to investigate whether certain cellular mechanisms enhance genetic diversity, including the generation of both beneficial and harmful mutations. The study may provide insight into the generation of cancer and cell aging, as well as growth in conditions of stress and DNA repair.


• Nursing professors Susan Kowalski and Lori Candela received grants exceeding $1.3 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration to address issues impacting the national nursing shortage. Candela, through a partnership with UNR, is addressing the shortage of educators to train future nurses. Kowalski has developed a residency program for new registered nurses to improve retention and professional competency among the area?s growing nursing workforce.


• Biology professor Brian Hedlund received a 2006 early career development award from the National Science Foundation. The prestigious five-year, $841,632 grant was presented to Hedlund for his research on how microorganisms thrive in hot springs located in the Great Basin of Nevada.