Mental Health on college and university campuses is a national crisis and Nevada needs to continuing working for our students by providing them unlimited resources and connecting them to available services and resources. Before declaring my candidacy for Regent, I’ve had numerous conversations with students on campuses at UNLV, Nevada State College and CSN and discovered only one out of ten knew about Mental Health services. How effective are these services if students do not know they exists? As a system, we need to design Public Relations campaigns to better promote services, hold campus trainings, develop workshops (all NHSE employees), improve of our online resources, and implement of a “Mental Health Team”. As a Regent with a mental health background, I will work to create and work with the Mental Health Team consisting of personnel with backgrounds in counseling, psychology, and mental health to accomplish these goals. In partnership with the Regents, the Mental Health Team will lead campus trainings, develop, and monitor a campus app that allows students to send texts, pictures, audio messages as well as schedule live sessions with a license therapist. My vision is for this team to work with legislators and campus administrators to conduct a systemwide assessment of mental health services to make sure every campus is meeting the needs of our students.
Let’s face it, funding for education in Nevada is not comparable to neighboring states and our higher education system needs to identify new ways to generate revenue for our universities and colleges. We cannot continue to rely only on legislative budgets, endowments, donor money, and tuition. We MUST create a new funding formula, so monies are divided equitably. We need Regents who have relationships with our state legislators so they can share the vision, and Regents who will work together with government affairs officials so we can create a team with one mission. This is my vision as a Regent and will be my focus once elected with one main goal… Increase our funding!
Fundamentally, we need to change our thinking to adopt strategies from the private sector and focus on business development and Real Property. As Regent, I will lead the search for new commercial opportunities and partnerships that will yield long lasting sustainable income for the system. As part of this initiative, I will champion an effort to assess campus utilization models to generate revenue such as renting out our classrooms, meeting spaces, facilities, fields, and our campuses. Las Vegas and Reno are convention cities with immense opportunities to recruit businesses to our campuses and facilities. We have beautiful campuses so let’s showcase them and generate revenue.
Nevada needs to continue working towards the future to help recruit and train our workforce. The next generation of workers will need increased skills and advanced degrees to keep pace with the evolving workforce employment trends. While we need to have diverse degrees and experiences at the various colleges and universities across Nevada, there is also a need for consistent and congruent experiences, opportunities, and resources. To help grow our capacity, as Regent, I will work diligently to recruit new employers to our region through innovating and world class training programs. Nevada has a world of opportunities to offer employers looking for new hubs, business centers, operations, and other expansion related initiatives. As part of this initiative, we cannot forget about the education pipeline, we must continue to forge relationships with secondary schools to improve educational opportunities for high school students and increase the number of college ready students in graduating high school classes. NSHE has created several noteworthy programs with the manufacturing industries, especially in Northern Nevada and we need to continue to grow those opportunities and relationships, connecting the classroom to the workplace. How do we accomplish this sustained growth? We invest in the development of online training, certifications, internships, OSHA training, ergonomics, and project management training. We expand our campus resources to incorporate free-standing facilities where students can get firsthand employment related experience as part of their collegiate career. As Regent, I will work tirelessly to expand these opportunities with specific focus on rural communities, which have great opportunity to become manufacturing hubs, changing the trajectory of the future of rural communities, and create an abundance of employment opportunities to improve quality of life in our state.
Simply stated… We cannot continue raising our tuition on our students as a means to generate revenue. As discussed in my vision for revenue generation, our institutions and system need to identify new, innovative ways to generate revenue. Continually raising tuition does nothing but create additional obstacles and impediments for future students. How do we recruit students who want to get educated, but simply can’t afford it? Over the years, I’ve met so many students who will never have opportunity to go to school because of the cost. For the future of our economy and in the best interest of our communities, cost should not restrict students access to public higher education in our state.
University Police and local law enforcement need to continue training our employees, faculty, administrators, and students on emergency crisis situations. It’s NHSE’s responsibility to include initiatives and programs designed to create a safer environment for students. How do we accomplish safer college communities? As Regent, I will work on continued development of campus safety apps, self-defense training, workshops in crime prevention, safety awareness, and free pepper spray/whistles.
A sexual misconduct Task Force was created and passed into law during the 81st (2021) Nevada Legislative Session through the signing of Senate Bill 347, which became effective in June. As part of this new law, it will be required to review results of any sexual misconduct climate survey administered at any NSHE institution and provide recommendations to the Board of Regents to address sexual misconduct at the institutions.
The Task Force is made up of varying members of NSHE’s institutions, including representatives from NSHE’s universities and colleges, students, victim advocates, and researchers. As Regent, I will ensure Board of Regents continued support for this bill and engagement in the implementation of a “No Excuses” policy for students and employees who engage in criminal behavior.
With over 25 years of experience serving those in need, Aaron stands as a leader by example in Southern Nevada.
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