Former UNLV president to return to school as a fellow with the Lincy Institute

Len Jessup, who during his tenure as the UNLV president helped elevate the university to a top research institution, is returning as a fellow with the school’s Lincy Institute, officials announced Wednesday.

Jessup left UNLV in 2018 after a disagreement with the Board of Regents to serve as president of Claremont Graduate College in Southern California. He spent the next six years in the Los Angeles area — although never selling his home in Henderson.

Jessup is credited with leading UNLV to become a top-tier national public research facility and pushing for the continued development of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine. UNLV in 2018 reached the prestigious Carnegie “R1” or “Very High Research” classification.

“In concluding my six years in Claremont, I am also capping off a 35-year stint in higher ed, with the past 20 years or so serving in high-level leadership roles. Throughout it all, I have had a deep commitment to entrepreneurship, innovation, and the role that higher (education) plays in stoking economic development and social mobility,” Jessup said in a statement. “I am back full time in Las Vegas, and I look forward to working with everyone here to build on Las Vegas’ entrepreneurial legacy and developing an even more prosperous startup ecosystem here, particularly in human health.”

Jessup left UNLV three years into a five-year contract after a faction of members from the Board of Regents, including former Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Thom Reilly, pressured him to leave.

In a campuswide email sent April 3, 2018, Jessup claimed that “after approximately nine months of antagonistic, invasive and consistent interference and animosity” expressed by detractors, then-Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Page and Reilly told Jessup that they wanted him gone, whether it be by resignation or termination.

Jessup has published over 70 journal articles, books, book chapters and edited volumes over his academic career, the Lincy Institute said in a news release. He will join the institute as a fellow supporting research and other work on economic development with a focus on growing Southern Nevada’s startup ecosystem, attracting venture capital and bolstering the region’s health care economy.

David Damore, executive director of the Lincy Institute, said Jessup “continued to be engaged in Southern Nevada and he maintains strong ties to our community,” even during his time at Claremont Graduate University.

Damore added that he was excited to have Jessup join the team, and that “his hands-on experience working with angel investors, venture capitalists and tech startups will complement ongoing efforts to diversify the regional economy and bring much-needed new investment to Nevada.”

The Lincy Institute was established at UNLV in 2009 through a gift from the now-dissolved Lincy Foundation — created as a funding support group by Kirk Kerkorian in 1989 — and former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. It regularly conducts and supports research that helps improve Nevada’s education, governance, health and social services, as well as strengthen its economy, according to the group’s website.

“I’m delighted to welcome (Jessup) back to UNLV,” current UNLV President Keith Whitfield said in a news release. “His passion and expertise in higher education, business entrepreneurship and leadership is a perfect fit for the Lincy Institute and Southern Nevada as we expand UNLV’s engagement with our region and contribute to the economic growth of our community.”