RESEARCHING TO THE TOP!
By Lidia Wossen, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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During the month of October, UNLV students and faculty had the opportunity to participate in the university’s annual Research Week. The different departments and colleges asked students to showcase their incredible research, as this is what makes UNLV one of the leading research institutions across the U.S. Throughout the week, students and faculty were able to view posters, ask questions, tour laboratories, listen to panels, and attend technological events. Topics stemmed from medicine, global warming, and gender gaps to diversity, hospitality, architectural designs, among many others. With numerous events and topics being discussed daily, it was not hard for students to align their interests along with an aspect of the week.
An event that took place early in the week was the Diversity Research and Mentorship Reception. Attendees were given the opportunity to mingle with undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral students, and faculty during a poster session. This was then followed by a faculty and student panel where attendees could gain more knowledge by asking questions and receiving different perspectives from those with diverse backgrounds. I had the privilege of attending the event and I personally gained so much knowledge about UNLV’s medical school, the current gender parity, the types of hospitality engagement, the discussion between Old and New Western history, and more. Not knowing what to expect, I was thrilled to intermingle with students who have been in my shoes and could offer meaningful advice not only about their showcased research but also about navigating your future. At the event, there were also many graduate and postdoctoral students who offered mentorship opportunities to those looking for guidance. Opportunities like these are hard to come by, so I myself couldn’t take it for granted as I took the liberty to link up with a second-year medical student. Although the event itself was geared towards showcasing the incredible research, it also gave students access to many more resources.
Aside from the reception, UNLV’s own Academic Success Center (ASC) also participated in Research Week by hosting their own Harvest Festival. The Halloween themed event featured tables from Advising, Academic Transitions and Learning Support, and Student-Athlete Academic Services. As the ASC strives for student engagement, they showcased research and statistics by instructing students to explore in, out and around the center. Each department featured different statistics highlighting the success of the ASC’s resources, different faculty members presented their own posters, and the festival even had a fortune teller! Astonishingly, 99.83% of students who took the Exploring Majors Survey agreed that their academic advisor was approachable and someone who they felt comfortable with. In addition, a department record was set by achieving the highest overall student-athlete cumulative GPA of 3.09 in Fall 2019 and 3.05 in Spring 2019, which is incredible for the students and speaks volumes about the ASC!
Along with the Academic Success Center, some of the other departments involved throughout the week were the Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach, the Graduate College, the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs/Libraries, the College of Fine Arts, the School of Dental Medicine, the College of Engineering and the Lee Business School. While this doesn’t cover the entire list, this can give you an idea of the variety of participants eager to showcase their work and possibly motivate students to take part in their own research one day.
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As this has become an annual tradition, UNLV hopes to continue educating and inspiring students to be proactive in their educational endeavors. Like research, you should aim to continuously question your findings throughout life and strive to learn new things every day. Knowledge in itself is one of the greatest and most powerful gifts anyone can receive.
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UNLV HELPING THE COMMUNITY
By Marissa Salazar, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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Service Day is an event that happens once a semester where students, staff, and faculty come together to work with local non-profit organizations. You can gather a group of friends, or come with a club or organization and together you can give back to the community by volunteering and attending Service Day. The registration is free and students or staff are welcome to sign up individually. During the Fall 2018 semester, the Hixson-Lied Success Scholars program, which I am a part of, participated in Service Day. We volunteered at Three Square, which is Southern Nevada’s only food bank providing hunger relief for communities in the Las Vegas area. Here we packaged fruit bags and prepared food that would eventually be distributed to needy individuals. My time at Three Square opened my eyes and made me realize how impactful Service Day really is for our community as a whole.
In the morning everyone meets in the Student Union to grab a t-shirt and participate in some group activities before leaving for their non-profit organization. I had the chance to participate in this fall semester and give back to the community. This semester our group had a chance to volunteer at Spread the Word Nevada, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to advancing children literacy within low-income communities by changing lives “One book at a time.”
Spread the Word Nevada relies heavily on volunteers and has had a tremendous impact on the lives of thousands of at-risk children and their families. In fact, Spread the Word Nevada has received approximately 4.7 million donations since 2001 and recently celebrated the distribution of 5 million books to children in our community. You can get involved by volunteering for any of their programs such as book preparation for kids to kids, one-on-one mentoring for books & buddies, and hands-on assistance for breakfast with books. I personally was able to participate in book preparation for kids to kids.
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My experience volunteering for Spread the Word Nevada improved my vision and understanding of books, in terms of importance. My team was in charge of cleaning the books by erasing pencil marks, scratching off unnecessary labels, and taking out any books that were not acceptable for elementary school kids. I did not know the extent of time it took to clean and prepare a book in order for them to get shipped out to different schools. I also learned that Spread
the Word Nevada has 55,000 books distributed every month. This has contributed to the increase in literacy scores of 62 schools in the community. Being aware of the impact Spread the Word Nevada has had on these schools in our community, it felt pretty good to give my time to their organization and contribute to the success of children in the Las Vegas community.
Service Day was an experience that I will never forget as I got to spend time with my Hixson-Lied family and give back to the community. I highly recommend giving Service Day a try. The next Service Day will be held in spring 2020 during the month of February. If you have any additional questions you can email
serve@unlv.edu
.
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THE DINING COMMONS INITIATIVE
By Miranda Sanders, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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Sometimes, things that should be “common” knowledge to students on campus are not all that well known. Unfortunately, the free tutoring and supplemental instruction offered at UNLV is one of those things. To help combat that, the Academic Success Center launched The Dining Commons Initiative. This is a program that occurred during mid semester from Monday, October 21
st
thru Thursday, October 24
th
. As an extension of normal tutoring hours, this Dining Commons Initiative took place from 6:00pm-9:00pm each evening.
Michael Ramirez is the Coordinator for ASC Tutoring and Supplemental Instruction on campus. About the initiative, he said, “Something special that the Academic Success Center is doing this semester is continuing our partnership with UNLV Campus Life, The Writing Center, and Aramark Dining Services to offer tutoring in the Dining Commons for both mid-semester and study week.” Together, these organizations provided an environment in the Dining Commons where students could go to receive the additional help needed during midterms. Additionally, Michael Ramirez stated that the subjects covered in these added tutoring hours are the lower division courses of biology, chemistry, and math. These are the subjects that studies have shown students need the most assistance in. All students should note
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that the Dining Commons Initiative is not only for midterms, but will be returning during study week, beginning Monday, December 2
nd.
The best way to attend these extended tutoring hours is to register beforehand. This can be done online by finding the event on the campus calendar and clicking on the link to sign up. Registration for the Dining Commons tutoring during study week is not yet available but should be sometime in November. However, the program will always accept walk-ins for students. Students will need to show their Rebel ID at the Dining Commons entrance and will be directed to an area that is sectioned off for tutoring. While students study during these later hours, they often get hungry. Therefore, free food will be offered for those who attend these tutoring hours.
One of the biggest benefits Ramirez noted is that this program “ [reaches] students who hadn’t utilized learning support services in the past.” Not only are these organizations hoping to offer extra support for stressed college students during midterms and finals weeks, but they are hoping to reach out to those who have never used or do not know about these valuable resources. They hope to make tutoring, supplemental instruction, and getting help early on a little more “common” for everyone.
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THE UNLV TEAM THAT GOES UNHEARD OF:
THE UNLV DEBATE TEAM
By Cruz Luna, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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The UNLV Debate Team is a policy debate team that argues whether or not the United States government should pass policy regarding a certain topic. The topic of the 2019-2020 season is, “The United States Federal government should establish a national space policy substantially increasing its international space cooperation with the People’s Republic of China and/or the Russian Federation in one or more areas” that include arms control, planetary defense, space-based solar power, and more!
This topic, along with a handful of subtopics, is debated by two teams consisting of two individuals: one team taking the affirmative of the policy and advocating for its passing and the other team arguing the negative and disagreeing with the proposal. The rapid fire style of debate allows for multiple ideas to be argued and an over-pour of evidence that must be addressed by the opposition.
Anyone can join the debate regardless of their experience, but the only condition is whether or not they are ready to commit. The debate team is a large commitment because there are three weekly meetings which count as three credits and total five hours. Even more, it is expected that each debate team member puts in approximately ten hours of their own time researching and refining themselves to be in the best position to win a debate.
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The UNLV Debate Team has found themselves with a lot of success since Jake Thompson’s arrival, who is the director and head coach of the debate team. The Team is consistently ranked as one of the best in the nation. As evidence of this success, the UNLV Debate Team has won numerous competitions in recent years. In 2017 and 2018, the UNLV Debate Team won the varsity and junior-varsity division of the UNLV Debate Team, a varsity division win at Berkeley, a Long Beach Tournament in the novice division, and the 2019 USC Cal Swings tournament in the novice division.
The UNLV policy debate team has a history of developing novice level members into successful varsity level competitors, meaning if you join the team you will see success because of the help and guidance from the three experienced coaches.
Not only does the UNLV Debate Team provide members with an opportunity to develop and hone their public speaking and critical thinking skills, but also offers scholarships to members to help support their academic career at UNLV!
The coaches recommend that if you are a walk-on member (were not recruited but still wanted to join), you should debate for at least two semesters before applying for the talent-based scholarship. The amount of scholarships are decided by the UNLV Debate Scholarship Committee, which considers experience, room for improvement, and contribution to the team.
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NUTS AND BOLTS OF GETTING INVOLVED IN RESEARCH AT UNLV
By Rey Ruiz, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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On October 7, 2019, the office of undergraduate research held a workshop,
Nuts and Bolts of Getting Involved in Research at UNLV
, which was led by Dr. Rafael Oganesyan. He discussed the steps a student should take if they are interested in conducting research, the benefits the student receives by conducting research, and other requirements needed for conducting research.
When a student is interested in conducting research there are a few steps that this student should make before applying to research opportunities. The student should make an appointment with the Office of Undergraduate Research and discuss the type of research they are seeking. The Office of Undergraduate Research assists students in planning out the steps required for that type of research.
They will also provide the student with training, such as how to properly write an effective abstract so that the students have the proper set of skills for conducting research. After the students acquire the skills needed, the Office of Undergraduate Research will guide the student to possible research openings. UNLV offers many internal research opportunities that are available to students; however, each research opportunity might have different requirements depending on the faculty member. Therefore, it is important for the student to thoroughly read the faculty member’s requirements.
It is not required for students to have a major in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to research because most UNLV departments have research openings. Most students can participate in research regardless of their major; students simply need to follow these steps to be successful.
Not only is research something that some students are passionate about, but it also provides many benefits for students such as professional development, personal development, and professional relationship development.
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The student develops a mentor and mentee relationship that is critical for a great letter of recommendation if the student plans on pursuing a graduate education. It also provides a person of contact that can be used as a reference when pursuing a job.
According to Dr. Rafael Oganesyan, engaging in research also increases student retention, student success, and provides necessary skill-sets for future endeavors. Grade point average (GPA) increases when conducting research, as a student, because the student can make connections to concepts and further their understanding. Conducting research provides students with many benefits that may be useful or even critical in their future endeavors.
When conducting research, students are required to work with a faculty member so that the faculty member can supervise the student and ensure the student is conducting research properly. This does not necessarily mean that students are required to work on faculty member’s studies. Students may research an original study; the only requirement is the student must find a faculty member that is willing to supervise their study. It may be less challenging for a student to find and work on a faculty member’s study; however, if the student is passionate about a specific research topic, they should try to find a faculty member because the end may be more gratifying.
Overall,
Nuts and Bolts of Getting Involved in Research at UNLV
effectively outlined the importance of students getting involved in undergraduate research. Undergraduate research provides students with a variety of benefits, including invaluable experiences, connections for pursuing graduate school, and critical skill-sets that are beneficial to have for future endeavors.
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TAKE YOUR CAREER IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
By Virginia Ramos Munoz , Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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On October 9, 2019, the Southern Nevada Career Fair was held at the Thomas & Mack Center. Southern Nevada Career Fair is a collaboration between the College of Southern Nevada, Nevada State College, and UNLV to provide students and alumni an amazing opportunity to connect with potential employers. This event provides students and alumni the opportunity to network and build on their communication skills with employers.
The event had 208 employers, which were separated into 10 diverse industries. The industries included transportation, real estate, engineering, construction, consumer goods, communication, hospitality, government, education, healthcare, finance, and insurance and law Firms. According to Lynn Meadors, Assistant Director of Employer Relations at Career Services, the event is usually held one time per school year in the fall semester. I had the pleasure of interviewing a few students, alumni and employers at the event.
One of the questions that I asked the students was, “How did you prepare yourself before coming to the Career Fair?” Some of the students stated that they prepared themselves by going over the most updated list of employers that was provided on the Career Services webpage. After looking over the list and finding employers that interested them, they researched the employers to get an idea of whom to approach at the event. Also, students stated that they went over their resumes before the event, making sure everything was updated and printed between 10-15 resumes. Additionally, students stated that they made sure to pick out an outfit that made them look presentable and professional. One of the questions I asked the employers was, “How important is professional appearance to your company?” All the employers stated that it was very important and critical for them because the employee is ultimately representing them. Overall, the Southern Nevada Career Fair was a great opportunity for students and alumni to meet employers, practice professional skills, and potentially land a job.
Are you interested in preparing for and attending the next Career Fair? If your answer to the preceding question is yes, visiting Career Services is a great place to start. Career Services is a great resource for students to prepare for the big day. During a meeting with a career counselor, one can receive help with job search, mock interviews, career advising, cover letter, resume and CV creation and review, and alumni advising. Career Services is free for all UNLV students, staff, faculty, and alumni. You can make an appointment by calling Career Services at 702-895-3495 or stop by during their walk-in hours on Mondays from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Additional information can be found on the
Career Services website
. Take advantage of this opportunity and keep yourself updated with their events, including upcoming career fairs and works
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Interested in becoming a 2020-2021 Hixson-Lied Success Scholar? Application is now open! Please visit this
website
for more information!
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Ms. Christina M. Hixson graduated from high school in Clarinda, Iowa and moved to Omaha, Nebraska to attend business school. She later went to work for Mr. Ernst F. Lied , a car dealership owner in Omaha and in 1960 she joined Mr. Lied in Las Vegas, Nevada as his assistant. After Mr. Lied’s death in 1980, Ms. Hixson became the sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust and turned the Lied Foundation Trust into one of the largest foundations in the state of Nevada at that time. Ms. Hixson has a special understanding of young people who, like her, came from a challenging family background and are willing to work hard.
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Mr. Ernst F. Lied was born in Columbus, Ohio and attended the University of Kansas for two years, where he played on the golf team. He ultimately graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1927. Mr. Lied became a Buick dealer in Omaha, Nebraska and later his dealership was ranked third in the country for the number of cars sold. Mr. Lied established his charitable foundation in 1972, and upon his death in 1980 at age 74 nearly his entire estate funded the Lied Foundation Trust. Lied Foundation Trust has enhanced the capabilities of many schools and enriched the quality of many lives!
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*All photos used are original, can be found on unlv.edu, UNLV social media or have references indicated
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