Nevada State Update
by NAFAA President Al Camp,
Western Nevada Community College

As we return from the last frontier in Alaska, we in Nevada are busy-as we all are-getting ready for the 2000-2001 school year. This will be an exciting year for us, as the Millennium Scholarship Program proposed by our Governor goes into effect. When our state settled with the Tobacco Industry, Governor Guinn proposed that we set a portion of our settlement aside to help Nevada students pay for college. The scholarship, which is based on Georgia's Hope Scholarship Program, will pay up to $10,000 in tuition costs for Nevada's high school students who graduate after January 1, 2000 with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. Providing that they maintain their eligibility, these students will have up to eight years to use their scholarship funds. Needless to say, these students will have an effect on most of our offices as we expand our responsibilities to include them.

Great Basin College in Elko reports that they will offer three new Bachelors degree programs in 2000-2001 and that their campus beautification project will include a watchtower and a stream running through their campus. This will definitely be a sight to behold. Imagine water flowing in the desert.

The University of Nevada, Reno reports that their staff is in transition and that they are busy filling four vacant positions. This might be an opportunity for some of you to be a part of the fastest growing state in the nation.

Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village reports that their new campus is coming along nicely. For those of you who haven't been to Incline Village or the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, I can attest to its beauty.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas reports that they are in the process of building a new state-of-the-art $55 million library complex, for which most of the funds were donated.

You might have noticed that all of the schools who reported are experiencing a great deal of growth. This is the new frontier we are preparing for this year. NAFAA has decided to join with our colleagues in Arizona to hold a joint Arizona/Nevada state conference November 15th to the 17th in Laughlin, Nevada. We held our first joint meeting at the WASFAA Conference in Anchorage and hope to have the details worked out before summer. We appreciate the support that we have had in the past from our fellow WASFAA members and hope we can count on your help in this joint undertaking.