Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

In address, Meana touts UNLV’s continued diversity, enrollment advances

UNLV State of the University Address

Wade Vandervort

Acting President Marta Meana gives a state of the university address at UNLV, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019.

UNLV State of the University Address

Acting President Marta Meana gives a state of the university address at UNLV, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019. Launch slideshow »

Days after an on-campus threat toward African-Americans and supporters of 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was found on the UNLV campus, President Marta Meana opened her second State of the University address with a call for unity and for the school to be a “gate opener” rather than a gatekeeper.

“Openness is a threat to those who would want to shrink our world,” she said. “There are definitely those who want to shrink our world, although remember, we massively outnumber them.”

Meana hit on a broad swath of topics during the address and touted the university’s academic feats over the last year.

“The state of this university is quite simply this: UNLV is making it happen, we are embracing the disruption of being gate openers,” Meana said. “We are honoring our legacy by remaining stalwart defenders of freedom of thought and expression, and the intrinsic value of people of different identities, colors and cultures coming together to share their intellect, experiences and humanity.”

UNLV’s growth trends continue

The university has broken records in graduation, enrollment and retention rates. For the first time since UNLV’s founding, it has eclipsed 31,000 students.

More than 4,400 students were in the last incoming class, the largest in school history. Of these students, 83% were from Nevada.

“We take such a milestone for granted because we’ve continued to have steady growth for nearly a decade, while actually, nationally, many institutions are experiencing declining enrollment,” Meana said.

First-year retention rates are growing as well. The rate of freshmen returning for a second year is 79%. The six-year graduation rate is up to almost 45%.

“Each of those 31,000 students has their own story why they chose UNLV, and how they got here,” Meana said. “And for most, if not all, it means everything to them, and it means so much to their families.”

Meana touted the school’s classification

UNLV was designated R1 status last December by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, indicating “very high research activity.”

There are only 130 institutions out of 4,000 in the country that carry the classification. Many are much older universities than UNLV, Meana said. The list of R1 institutions includes renowned schools such as Harvard, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as respected public institutions like the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“It has taken most universities over a century to get there. I asked our decision support folks how many universities on that list of 130 were our age or younger, and the answer was only nine,” she said.

Earning the designation was part of the school’s push to “join the ranks of the nation’s top public universities in research, education and community impact by 2025.”

Student-athletes have set grade point average records

Student-athletes recorded a cumulative 3.09 grade point average in the spring 2019 semester. It was the fourth consecutive semester athletes established a GPA record.

Women’s cross country led the charge with a 3.55 GPA, women’s track was at 3.21 and women’s basketball checked in a 3.12. Football had a 2.83 GPA.