The first Provost Lecture is coming up quickly! Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, February 11th at 3:30 for the spring Provost Lecture, "The Highway of the Atom: Memory, Methodology, and Geographies of the Nuclear."

 

Dr. Peter van Wyck and Dr. Julie Salverson have worked for many years to bring to light the silence around Canada’s involvement in the development of the atomic bomb and to hear and record the stories and testimony of a First Nation that has materially and symbolically suffered the ongoing effects of their atomic exposures. As part of a long-term project concerning the material, cultural, ethical, and symbolic geographies of the nuclear, they have traveled to a community near the Arctic Circle, a test and training range in Nevada, a nuclear waste disposal site in New Mexico, as well as to Hiroshima and Fukushima, Japan. They speak about this ‘highway of the atom,’ exploring the constellation of effects and stories wrought by atomic and nuclear threats.

 

Thank you to Dr. Molly Appel (English) for introducing me to the speakers’ work and pitching this great idea for them to come and share their research, which speaks directly to Nevada’s unique and rich history with the nuclear age.

Henderson Chamber Happenings

 

On Wednesday, January 29th, I attended a Henderson Chamber evening event featuring County Commissioner Michael Naft, who represents District 1. The Commissioner spoke at length about the renewal of the Lands Act, which greatly affects Henderson’s ability to develop and grow into the foothills and out by the Executive airport. He also spoke about improving pedestrian and biker safety and possibly introducing a rather controversial bill that would mandate that drivers re-take their driving test periodically, regardless of driving record.

 

Also last week, I was excited and honored to be part of the first group of Henderson Chamber board members to tour the Raider’s practice facility and headquarters, located off of St Rose Parkway on Executive Airport Drive. While still very much under construction, the facility is quickly taking shape. The indoor field will be made of turf and is 40 yards longer than an average football field. The outdoor field area will be grass and is large enough for three fields to fit on it. The inside is filled with a dizzying array of meeting rooms, offices, locker rooms, work-out facilities, and huddle areas. The entire time I was there I was envisioning Nevada State College interns everywhere! What potentially great opportunities this new facility will provide for our students!

Course Assistant Program Update

Please join me in congratulating Danette Barber, who accepted a new position as an IR Research Analyst, under the Office of the Provost. She will begin this position on March 1st. We will appoint a temporary Coordinator for the Course Assistant Program until we are able to run a search for a permanent Coordinator.

Bookstore Selection Process

Both Barnes & Noble and Follett presented to the College last week. Both companies offer a wide range of services to students, including support for Open Educational Resources, book rentals, and integration with Canvas. The Bookstore Selection Committee is reviewing the services of both companies and is getting ready to make a final recommendation.

Emergency Operations Plan

To help NSC prepare for an emergency, the Division of College and Community Engagement organized a training session on our Emergency Operations Plan. This plan assigns specific roles and responsibilities to the NSC team that will populate our Emergency Operations Center, which serves to coordinate information and resources to support the continued operation of NSC in the event of an emergency. Yuri Graves and Gregg May (two emergency management specialists) led the training, which included over 30 NSC faculty and staff (who were all assigned cool colored vests). Much of the training focused on how the team can work together to plan a cohesive emergency response and work with external agencies. The group will continue to meet regularly throughout the year in support of emergency management planning. If you have any questions about our overall emergency preparedness, please contact Amey Evaluna.  

Stefanie Coleman

Celebrating Our First-Year Students

Alicia LaMotte (Coordinator of Orientation and Peer Mentorship) hosted NSC's inaugural First-Year Students Achievement Ceremony. The ceremony recognized first-year full-time students who earned a 3.0. or higher GPA in their first semester. Over 200 students were invited to the ceremony, where they learned more about the Peer Mentorship Program and met with current peer mentors.  

Black History Month

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, educator, historian, and author, launched Negro History Week. This was a celebration of negro history with a mission to improve and overhaul the education system. For the next 50 years, the weeklong celebration grew and gained momentum. In 1976, President Gerald Ford officially made the weeklong celebration into the national observance of Black History Month, an opportunity to honor the accomplishments of African Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.

 

In the spirit of last weekend's Super Bowl, consider Super Bowl XXII in 1988, between Washington and Denver. It featured quarterback Doug Williams, the first Black starting quarterback to play in the game and the first Black quarterback to be named Super Bowl MVP.

Sandip Thanki

In December 2019, four Information Technology team members from Brigham Young University (BYU) visited NSC for a detailed on-site tour to learn about our student information data warehouse and how we're able to provide detailed and consistent data for a wide array of uses across campus.

This all started when Mick Haney (Data Warehouse Architect) gave a presentation, “Defining the Student Touch Point Universe,” at the 2019 Higher Education Data Warehouse Annual Conference. Mick's talk highlighted a data architecture to integrate student information from their initial application to graduation and everything in between. At NSC, this architecture integrates student data for use by units across campus.

 

After attending the presentation, Richard Hanks, OIT Data Analytics Director at BYU, reached out to Nevada State and asked if the BYU IR team could visit to see the architecture in action (and to peek under the hood). They're now beginning a project to replicate our capability.

 

NSC's data architecture has already been implemented by California State University Channel Islands, and NSHE is discussing the possibility of rolling out our architecture for all of the two-year colleges in Nevada. We're excited to be able to provide innovative methods of integrating data that are useful both here and at other institutions.

Key Dates