UNLV President Carol C. Harter has been selected as a Woman of Distinction Honoree in the field of education by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Southern Nevada Chapter.
She will receive the award March 8 at the Fifth Annual Women of Distinction Awards Dinner, which honors women of achievement in various industries in Southern Nevada.
Harter was nominated for the award by the International Women's Forum, a partner organization of NAWBO that seeks to provide networking opportunities for top women leaders. NAWBO annually invites partner organizations to select outstanding women in their respective fields.
The awards are designed to recognize local businesswomen who have distinguished themselves as important entrepreneurs and business executives. Harter was selected for her extensive contributions in the field of higher education.
Harter is the seventh president of UNLV, a post she assumed in July 1995. Previously, she served as president of the State University of New York at Geneseo for six years. Before assuming her first presidency, Harter spent almost 19 years at Ohio University, where she served in two vice presidential roles and was a faculty member and ombudsman.
Under Harter's leadership, UNLV has created 72 new degree programs (15 at the doctoral level), established Nevada's only law and dental schools, built 15 new facilities and acquired three more, renovated six buildings, and granted almost 23,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees. Enrollment at UNLV has grown to nearly 25,000, and the faculty now number 800.
Harter is guiding the implementation of a strategic plan to fulfill an ambitious mission: to have UNLV recognized as a premier urban university by peers and members of the community. One indication of the university's success under Harter's leadership was UNLV's recent rise to the category of Doctoral/Research Universities-Intensive in the rankings established by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching - the organization's second-highest ranking.
In recent years, Harter has begun a concerted effort to increase UNLV's research activities in support of business development, economic diversification, and community problem solving. Research and the corresponding transfer of technology and innovation to new businesses will allow the region to expand its manufacturing base and serve as a source for entrepreneurial activity; this will be the focus of a new UNLV research park that is being established in the southwestern area of the Las Vegas Valley.
Also under Harter's leadership, UNLV recently acquired three buildings in downtown Las Vegas in order to establish its first regional campus. The Shadow Lane campus will soon house the School of Dentistry, the UNLV Cancer Research Center, and a new Biotechnology Center - a state-of-the-art facility for forensic DNA and other biotechnology training programs.
As the leader of a $300-million organization, Harter is now recognized as one of the top female executives in Nevada. During her tenure as president, UNLV has raised more than $171 million in private funds, with another $50 million in pledges and $95 million in estate and trust expectancies for scholarships, program support, and facilities, including the state-of-the-art, 302,000-square-foot Lied Library. Among these gifts, Harter secured an Endowed Chair in Creative Writing, currently held by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
Harter is an active member of both the academic and regional communities. She represents the Mountain West Conference on the NCAA's Division I Board of Directors and the NCAA Executive Committee, and she was a member of the NCAA Football Study Oversight Committee. She is a past board member of the Council for International Education Exchange and currently serves as an Associated Western Universities trustee. Locally, Harter serves on the executive committees for the Nevada Development Authority, the UNLV Research Foundation, and the NTS Development Corp. She serves on the advisory boards of the Nevada Ballet Theatre, the Assistance League, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southern Nevada.
NAWBO Southern Nevada Chapter provides a valuable network of key contacts and resources to women business owners throughout the Las Vegas Valley. For more information visit or call (702) 571-0462. NAWBO has 90 chapters nationwide and is a voice for established and emerging women entrepreneurs across the United States. The national website is .
The Nevada Forum (the state chapter of the International Women's Forum) is dedicated to supporting its members in their community and workplace activities.
