Thoughts and Aspirations for the Future

First and most importantly, THANK YOU! Students, faculty, staff, and our community partners all welcomed me into the family, and I am grateful to be part of this extraordinary organization. Your dedication to student success and institutional excellence inspires me every day. I am equally impressed with our ability to connect externally, support our industry and educational partners, and renew our commitment to serving as a relevant partner to enhance the economic viability of Southern Nevada.

Our reason why?…Students!

Our census data is in! We showed a 5 percent increase in our Fall 2025 enrollment compared to Fall 2024! Even more significant, current enrollment projects an improvement of 7 percentage points in the first to third semester retention rate for our first-time full-time students. Our Pell-eligible students showed an increase of 5 percent; part-time students increased by 4.9 percent; and full-time (12+ units) are running about 5.5 percent higher than last year!

‌What does this mean for CSN? First, many of our strategic enrollment initiatives are working! Secondly, with increases occurring, we must look at enhancing our student services, ensure that the necessary classes are available, and invest in our infrastructure. We want to enrich our student onboarding experience, first-year experience courses and skill attainment, and overall student engagement. Those are not easy to address immediately, but our students deserve our best.

‌While this enrollment increase has been a remarkable achievement, we also recognize that enrollment growth is only one prong in our fiscal strategy for our future. No one is a fan of increasing student costs, and CSN has remained one of the lowest cost institutions for years, but now we must ask our students to invest with us in our future and theirs! As many of you know, a tuition and fee increase will be considered by the Board of Regents in the coming months. To effect this change for students, we engaged with student leaders for feedback and transparency — they listened, we listened. The students understand the value and importance of making these needed increases. We will continue to listen and learn from them as we move forward.

‌The plan is to raise our registration fees by 2 percent over the next three years to meet the 6 percent goal targeted in discussions with NSHE. Ultimately, as we prepare for the next NSHE Board of Regents meeting, we are proposing a new Academic Success Initiative Fee to support tutoring, advising, and academic support related services. Additionally, we are proposing an increase to the Distance Education Fee to assist with associated costs for online instruction. As we continue to review the impact of these increases, we will remain committed to work closely with our student leaders.

‌Our commitment to our community!

We recently opened the Westside Education Training Center to serve communities in the Historic Westside of Las Vegas. This collaboration with the City of Las Vegas and the EDA opened new opportunities for so many residents of the area. We are excited and proud to partner with external stakeholders and will continue to do that through meaningful and intentional engagement.

‌We are also strengthening our partnership with the Clark County School District through enhanced dual credit opportunities. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with Superintendent Ebert numerous times, and I left each meeting with a sense of hope and optimism. We all want our communities to thrive and grow, and as educators, we know that training and education are the keys to making that happen.

‌There are some amazing partnerships occurring with our industry leaders in Southern Nevada. Our DWED offices continue to work closely with Workforce Connections, the team from Career Services is making new employment partnerships regularly, and our academic programs continue to engage with advisory boards to ensure a talented and educated workforce for our communities. I was recently invited to serve as a board member for the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA) and will push our mission every chance I get. This is just the beginning!

Sharing our story with the Legislature!

We recently shared our legislative priorities with the leadership team from NSHE. We will continue to refine them, and we will remain good partners and advocates for higher education in Nevada.

‌Our priorities will remain fixed on the funding formula, safety and security, staffing levels to ensure superior service, enhanced infrastructure, and opportunities for expansion through the NW Campus, dual credit, prison education programs, and health professions. Although the funding formula changes did not materialize during the last session, we will continue to push for funding equity and adequacy for CSN and all community colleges in the state!

‌Let’s talk about us!

The budget outlook remains a top priority for CSN. While the budget reality will bring challenges, we will use this as an opportunity to ensure our future viability. The Executive Budget Advisory Committee will hold its next meeting soon and has been charged with assessing ways to reduce spending and enhance cost savings. We will research ways to increase revenue through new funding sources and partnerships.

‌Most importantly, the leadership team and I are committed to emphasizing transparency, accountability, and collaboration. It will take a coordinated effort to address some of the budgetary challenges, but CSN will come out stronger than ever.

‌We recently received approval from the Board for our Strategic Bridge Plan (2025-2027) to guide us through the next two years and allow us to spend time developing our strategies and priorities for the future. Our future plans should always include student success, workforce development, and institutional sustainability. We will engage in the strategic planning process using shared governance and an inclusive approach to ensure that we all participate and invest in our future together.

After spending so much time on our mid-cycle report, we were prepared for our NWCCU visit on October 6 and 7. The accreditation visit reaffirmed CSN’s academic excellence, as well as our commitment to assessment and student success. We will address their recommendations with urgency and transparency, especially those related to shared governance and decision-making. Our visit was a success because of the work done by our faculty and staff leading up to the meetings. The site evaluators commented several times about our passion and commitment to serve our students and communities.

‌I am a strong believer in shared governance and will continue to advocate for CSN to strengthen our model to ensure inclusivity and deliberative processes. We will engage with our stakeholders so that we build a culture of trust, open communication, transparency, and innovation. I am proud to serve you and work closely with the Faculty Senate, Administrative Faculty Assembly, Classified Council, and Associated Students of CSN as well as the many stakeholders that share a passion for our mission.

‌As you know, we also have a new Chancellor for the Nevada System of Higher Education. We are connecting to ensure that we align with NSHE priorities: student access and success, workforce development, and innovation. CSN is a significant contributor to the educational attainment in Southern Nevada and together with our system, we will continue to strengthen opportunities for our communities.

‌Looking forward…

In closing, these first 100 days laid a strong foundation for the work ahead. I come to work every day inspired by your dedication and confidence in our shared ability to meet challenges and seize opportunities. Let’s continue making those connections so that we can build a strong, educated, marketable workforce to support the great state of Nevada. Join me in shaping our culture and the future of CSN as a forward-thinking, inclusive, and welcoming place for our students, faculty, staff, and our communities.