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Written by: Chynna Greene on March 3, 2014.

When it comes to UNLV’s next president, Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich is
looking for someone who “fits” into the Las Vegas community.

At a Feb. 25 press conference at UNLV, Klaich, who oversees the direction of Nevada’s higher education
institutions, spoke about what he thinks UNLV needs in a president and improvements that the school
must make if it will ever become a Tier-1 research university.

“I’m looking for someone who is young and on the way up,” he said, “[someone] who’s got an enormous
amount of energy and who’s willing to tap that energy to make the vision of this university happen.”

Klaich said that UNLV needs a president who can engage the Las Vegas community.

“It’s a tough city,” Klaich said. “It’s an impatient city, but it’s a very exciting place to be.”

Klaich said that while UNLV’s current interim president, Don Snyder, will not be able to serve as the
university’s next president, the former dean of the hospitality school is a good fit for UNLV.

“I recommended Don Snyder because he is right for right now,” Klaich said. “He understands the business
and has a record of success, and a deep and passion and love for the city.”

NSHE Chancellor Dan Klaich responds to questions

from students at CSUN’s Open House Event in the
CSUN Chambers on Oct. 21. FILE PHOTO

Klaich went on to discuss the long list of changes that

need to be completed for UNLV to reach Tier-1
standing. He believes Snyder is the man to get the
ball rolling.

According to UNLV’s website, the UNLV Tier-1

initiative is “an extension of the university’s
NSHE Chancellor Dan Klaich responds to questions from students longstanding strategic plan objective of entering the
at CSUN’s Open House Event in the CSUN Chambers on Oct. 21.
FILE PHOTO
top-100 American research universities by attaining a
Carnegie Foundation designation as a ‘Research
University/Very High.’”

The Carnegie Foundation currently recognizes 108 schools as “high” research universities, based on
factors such as their faculty size, undergraduate and graduate student success and overall research
expenditures.

UNLV’s website states that the university is looking at a 10-to-20-year deadline to reach Tier-1 status.

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“This institution has a clear idea of where we’re going and we need a president who will take us there,”
Klaich said.

The recent change in leadership at UNLV will pose an added challenge for future growth at the university,
but that projects such as the push to Tier-1 status, the addition of a UNLV medical school, and the
construction of a mega-events center should still pursued.

“Good ideas are good ideas regardless of the president,” Klaich said. “Change of leadership is always a
challenge.”

Klaich said that hikes are necessary because UNLV is far from where it needs to be.

“I am not satisfied with where UNLV is now and I don’t think [the students] should be satisfied,” Klaich
said.

Klaich said that tuition hikes are reasonable to ask for. The system has proposed a 17 percent increase in
undergraduate tuition over four years that will start in 2017 if the hikes are approved.

“I think raising tuition is necessary because we have suffered $80 million in budget cuts,” he said. “We
need to reinvest and students and their families also need to contribute.”

Klaich would also like to reinvest in faculty.

The teacher-to-student ratio needs to change, with the addition of more full-time tenured and tenure-track
professors.

The university needs to retain current faculty at any cost, rather than recruiting new professors.

“We’re coming out of this recession slower than other states,” Klaich said. “We need to keep our best
professors here, otherwise we will lose them to another institution.”

He also supports NSHE’s 15 to Finish initiative, which would require students to take 15 credits each
semester, so that more students will graduate within four years.

He said the system needs to worry more about the quality of education students are receiving rather than
the quantity of students enrolling.

“Who cares who enrolls? I care who graduates,” he said.

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