New Deans Appointed to Lead Six University Colleges

New deans have been appointed to lead the Colleges of Fine Arts, Health Sciences, Business, Education, and Sciences, and the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. Their names were forwarded to UNLV President Carol C. Harter by Provost Douglas Ferraro following national searches.

College of Fine Arts

Jeffrey Koep, who served as interim dean of the college for two years, has been selected as dean of UNLV's College of Fine Arts.

He first came to UNLV as chair of the theatre arts department in 1989 - a position he held until being appointed interim dean.

Koep currently serves as co-director of the SAG Conservatory in Las Vegas, director of the National Senior Adult Theatre Institute, national vice-chair and chair-elect of the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival, and chair of the board of directors of the Society of American Fight Directors.

He has directed more than 100 plays during his career and has acted in a wide variety of stage productions. He has also appeared in movies and commercials.

Koep has won numerous awards, including two John F. Kennedy Center Gold Medallions presented for contributions to excellence in theatre in 1989 and 1992. Koep is one of only nine persons in the United States to receive more than one of the Kennedy Center medallions.

Before coming to UNLV, he served as chair and associate professor of communication arts at Indiana University at South Bend.

College of Health Sciences

Carolyn Sabo, interim dean of UNLV's College of Health Sciences since July 1995, has been selected as dean of that college.

Sabo, who came to UNLV as an assistant professor in the department of nursing in 1984 and was promoted to associate professor in 1990, also served as acting chair of the department of radiological sciences and acting director of the department of physical therapy.

She has served as coordinator of the graduate nursing program at UNLV, assistant professor of nursing at the University of Utah's College of Nursing, staff nurse and head nurse at the University Medical Center in Salt Lake City, and staff nurse at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City.

College of Business

Elvin C. Lashbrooke, the former associate dean of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, has been appointed dean of UNLV's College of Business.

Lashbrooke, who had served as associate dean at Michigan State since 1993, had also previously chaired the university's department of general business and business law for 11 years.

He has taught law and business courses at Michigan State, Cambridge University, Notre Dame Law School, Stetson University College of Law, and DePaul University College of Law.

He taught mathematics at St. Edward's University and served as a mathematician and analyst for the National Security Agency. He also had a private law practice in Austin, Texas.

College of Education

John E. Readence has been named dean of UNLV's College of Education.

Readence, a member of the education faculty at UNLV since 1993, replaced former Dean Dale Andersen in May 1996 to serve for one year while a search was conducted to fill the position permanently.

Previously, Readence served as associate dean for academic affairs and graduate studies in the College of Education at Louisiana State University; coordinator for advanced graduate studies in UNLV's department of instructional and curricular studies; chair of the language and literacy interest group at UNLV; and head of the department of pedagogical studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, among other administrative positions.

Readence has served as editor of a number of professional journals on reading education and is currently editor of Reading Research Quarterly.

College of Sciences

Raymond W. Alden III, the former director of the Applied Marine Research Laboratory at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., has been appointed UNLV's new dean of the College of Sciences.

Alden had directed the Applied Marine Research Laboratory since 1982 and served as professor of biological sciences at Old Dominion since 1988. Previously, he served as associate professor of biological sciences; he held a joint appointment as assistant professor in Old Dominion in the department of biological sciences and assistant professor in Old Dominion's Institute of Oceanography.

Greenspun College of Urban Affairs

Martha S. Watson, the former associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, has been named the first permanent dean of UNLV's Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.

Watson, who served as associate dean at the University of Maryland for five years, also served as acting chair of the department of speech communication there.

She was also graduate director of Auburn University in Alabama from 1987 to 1989 and director of the basic course at Auburn from 1977 to 1981. She has taught English, secondary education, and speech at the universities of Maryland and Kansas, Auburn, and Stephen F. Austin State University (Texas).

She served as editor of the Quarterly Journal of Speech from 1990 to 1992.

Seniors Win NCAA Tennis Championships

Two UNLV seniors, Luke Smith and Tim Blenkiron, brought home two NCAA tennis championships last spring.

Smith, who won the men's NCAA singles competition, joined with Blenkiron to take the doubles championship as well. Smith's victory marks the first singles title for UNLV, and it was only the second time in 20 years of NCAA championships that the same player claimed the singles and doubles titles in the same year.

An art major from Clarendon, Australia, Smith was not seeded in the singles tournament; he was ranked 65th when he entered. He then went on to win without losing a set.

Blenkiron, a hotel administration major from Woodside, Australia, had never before participated in an NCAA tournament. The doubles team, which was ranked 19th and was also unseeded, lost only two sets in the NCAA competition.

With the victories, both Smith and Blenkiron earned automatic berths to this year's main draw of the U.S. Open.

Regents Approve Four New UNLV Degree Programs

Four new UNLV degree programs - a master of science and a Ph.D. in environmental sciences, a master of fine arts in creative writing, and a bachelor of science in culinary arts management - have been approved by the Board of Regents.

The new graduate programs in environmental sciences, which are now being offered, are interdisciplinary programs involving faculty from 11 different UNLV departments, the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies, and the Desert Research Institute.

The degree programs emphasize the need to understand the consequences of using science and technology in the service of civilization.

Initially, students will be able to specialize in one of three tracks: environmental chemistry, environmental policy and management, and environmental geology.

Additional tracks are anticipated in such fields as environmental health and environmental law.

The new master of fine arts in creative writing, which is also currently underway, is a unique creative writing program with an international emphasis.

Students are required to spend one semester during their three years of study in a non-English- speaking country and also are required to complete one significant literary translation. Additionally, foreign novelists, short-story writers, and poets will be brought in to teach each semester.

The program is small; only 12 students per year will be admitted. Two tracks are available to students - one in fiction and one in poetry.

The bachelor of science in culinary arts management will provide educational opportunities for the student planning to pursue a career as a chef/manager. The program, which will begin in fall 1998, will accommodate transfer students from two-year culinary arts programs, such as the one at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

To be administered by the food and beverage management department and the dean of the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, the program is designed to be a joint effort with CCSN.

Professor Thomas Wright Receives Outstanding Faculty Award

The UNLV Alumni Association recently selected history professor Thomas Wright as its 1997 recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award.

Wright, who is known for his expertise in Latin American history, has been a member of the UNLV history department faculty since 1972.

He served as chairman of the history department from 1978 to 1981 and as dean of the College of Arts and Letters from 1983 to 1989.

The author of more than a dozen scholarly articles, Wright has written four books, all on the subject of Latin America. He has traveled extensively in support of his research; most recently, he served as a visiting professor in Costa Rica and Chile through the University Studies Abroad Consortium.

Wright served as editor of Halcyon: A Journal of the Humanities from 1991 to 1995.

He received the Governor's Arts Award in 1986 and the Humanities Award from the Nevada Humanities Committee in 1996.

Wright holds a doctorate and master's degree in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in history from Pomona College.

His father, John S. Wright, for whom Wright Hall is named, was the first recipient of the Alumni Association's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1975. Thomas Wright is the 24th recipient of the award.

Lied Athletic Complex Receives $500,000 Donation

The state-of-the-art, 328-seat auditorium in UNLV's new Lied Athletic Complex has been officially named in honor of Barron Hilton, recognizing a $500,000 gift to UNLV for the athletic complex from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

"Future student-athletes will be inspired by the tradition of excellence that is represented by the Hilton name," UNLV President Carol C. Harter said. "This is much more than an auditorium - it is a place of learning that was specifically designed to fill multiple roles for study, classrooms, and meetings. We are deeply indebted to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for underwriting the cost of this outstanding facility for our dedicated student-athletes."

The 65,000-square-foot, $8.5 million Lied Athletic Complex opened in August last year and was built entirely with private funds initiated by a $4 million challenge gift from the Lied Foundation Trust. The gift from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation brings the total number of major donors to 15.

The Barron Hilton Auditorium is the largest facility of its kind on campus and serves a multitude of purposes. The area is used for study hall and tutoring during the day. During training hours, teams can reserve space for meetings. Large-group activities, such as NCAA orientations, can be conducted for all UNLV athletes and staff at one time.

New Academic, Administrative Directors Appointed

Leroy Pelton of Salem State College in Massachusetts has been hired to direct UNLV's School of Social Work. Before coming to UNLV, Pelton was both a professor in the School of Social Work at Salem State and executive director of the Center for Applied Research and Development in the college's School of Human Services. Previously, he served as chair of the children and family services concentration in the master of social work program at Salem State.

Harvey Wallmann, the former director of physical therapy at Strength Training, Inc. in Phoenix, has been named director of UNLV's physical therapy program. A former instructor of physical therapy at Purdue University, he is a licensed physical therapist and holds certification as a strength and conditioning specialist and athletic trainer. Wallmann's appointment signals the start-up of the long-anticipated physical therapy program in the College of Health Sciences.

Lynnette Boggs McDonald, a former assistant city manager for the city of Las Vegas, has been hired as UNLV's director of marketing and community relations. McDonald will be responsible for establishing a marketing plan for the university. She had served as assistant city manager for the city of Las Vegas since January 1994, and, prior to that, she was director of marketing for the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

Ann Casados-Mueller, formerly the Desert Research Institute's director of recruitment and workplace diversity, has been hired as UNLV's director of diversity initiatives. She will be responsible for planning, developing, and administering effective diversity programs for students, faculty, and staff. Casados-Mueller, who worked at DRI for six years, served as the director of equal employment opportunity for the state of Nevada from 1989 to 1991.