Nevada State University welcomes students on first day of classes, eyeing future expansion

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada State University welcomed students for their first day of classes on Monday. Founded in 2002, it originally started as a college but changed its title to a university last year.

Students told 8 News Now they like how the university focuses on recruiting those who live in the area. “UNLV didn’t really interest me so I picked Nevada State,” Ana Cortes Rivera explained.

“It’s really homey it’s not like a big campus or anything,” Leasha Bryant, also a first-year student said.

The university is growing, doubling its student population size in the last decade, according to enrollment numbers. After their name changed last year, they are looking to expand their size and give students more options.

“Adding new degree programs, new majors. Really trying to align with the workforce needs of our community,” Dr. Sarah Frey, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Nevada State University, explained when talking about future plans for the university.

They also have room to grow. The university currently sits on about 500 acres of land and only 60 of it has been developed.

“We have fantastic acreage here so we are looking to develop new buildings both for the campus and community, so we have this campus community connection,” Frey said.

There is also a possibility they could add athletics. While all of that remains years in the making, the university is already launching new programs with a new educational degree this year in school psychology to help fill that gap in the Clark County School District.

“I think our campus is going to continue to grow. I don’t know if we’ll be as big as UNLV or UNR. I think we are going to try and right size for the needs of the Nevada State students,” Frey said when we asked about the future size of the campus.

This fall the university will be hosting its Land Corporation Opportunity for people to come look at the campus and come up with ideas for what future developments could be built on what is now vacant land owned by the university.

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