March 1, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chris Campbell, Marketing Manager
phone (775) 784-6573 ext. 232; fax (775) 784-6200

Changes in Higher Education in Nevada Mirror Challenges Facing All States
-Reknown historian provides vital perspective in new book-

During the last third of the twentieth century, Nevada reinvented its system of higher education in response to the state's phenomenal growth that outpaced population increases in all other states in the Union. Reinventing the System: Higher Education in Nevada, 1968-2000 chronicles the metamorphosis of the universities, colleges, and research institution in the Silver State.

"The evolution of higher education in Nevada might be compared to the experience of a small-town general store that over the course of half a century was transformed into a sprawling shopping mall. The academic options at the university at mid-century were good, considering its history and the chronic poverty of both the state and its institutions. As the century drew to an end fifty years later, the possibilities for learning and training had expanded exponentially," notes author James W. Hulse in his introduction to the volume. With contributions from former University of Nevada, Las Vegas president Leonard E. Goodall and Desert Research Institute staff member Jackie Allen, Hulse surveys the growth of Nevada's first university campus in Reno; the creation of a second four-year institution in Las Vegas; the establishment of four community colleges, and the development of the Desert Reseach Institute, a division of the system devoted to conducting research.

Originally planned as a companion volume to Hulse's history of the University of Nevada, published in 1974, Reinventing the System offers detailed discussions covering higher education issues confronted in all states: the impact of a growing population and rising enrollments; the creation and growth of professional schools; finding financial support for higher education during economic downturns and recessions; increasing or reducing the authority of the Board of Regents and transferring control to the state legislature; and tensions over state-wide equitable distribution of funding for all institutions.

Reinventing the System: Higher Education in Nevada, 1968-2000, ISBN 0-87417-500-3, is available in hardcover for $29.95 through your favorite bookstore, or by mail from the University of Nevada Press. To order, call toll free 1-877-NVBOOKS or visit www.nvbooks.nevada.edu.

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