Bennett gives UNLV $5 million for preschool

UNLV's College of Education has received a $5 million gift from casino owner William G. Bennett to build a new preschool campus that the university hopes will become a model for preschool education in the nation.

UNLV President Carol C. Harter announced this morning the donation by Bennett, owner of the Sahara hotel-casino. Bennett previously had donated $2.7 million to the university to build the College of Education's Professional Development Building. The preschool campus will adjoin that building.

The existing preschool in the College of Education will move into the new facility when it opens, the college's new dean, Gene Hall, said. The school will serve the children of UNLV students and faculty, some children from the school district and some special needs children.

The school currently serves more than 200 children. The new facility could double that enrollment, officials said.

The preschool will be named for Lynn Bennett, William Bennett's wife, who was on hand for the ceremony.

Bennett was unable to attend the event, but in a prepared statement said he and his wife "are excited by the opportunity to fund the construction of a new preschool facility" next to the professional development building.

"We believe that these two buildings will complement each other, providing the university and the community with a one-of-a-kind complex," the statement said.

Harter said the gift, which came from the Bennett Foundation, will help the university build the third phase of a project that began with the moving of Paradise Elementary School onto the UNLV campus in 1998.

The second phase was the $2.7 million Professional Development Building, which is scheduled for completion in four to six weeks.

Hall said the gift would allow the university to develop a model for early childhood education.

"We are excited about the opportunity to develop a model space for the educational development of young children," Hall said. "We expect this facility will be excellent for the children who are enrolled in it, and we hope it will become a site that educators around the country will want to visit."

The college plans to host a national conference of leading practitioners in early childhood education next year to gather ideas for the preschool, he said.

archive