The Office of Continuing Education will be open 8am - 5pm on Nov. 27 and will be closed Nov. 28-Dec.1 in observance of Thanksgiving. The information desk will reopen Monday Dec. 3 for normal business hours. 

UNLV Continuing Education (CE) recently won a LERN award for their unit-wide restructuring of staff responsibilities last year. The restructuring cut staffing costs while simultaneously increasing revenue with new class offerings.

As a customer, the most important thing to know about the management changes is that they have put CE in a better position to respond to your learning interests and needs. A dedicated operational team now takes care of day-to-day tasks such as registration, contracts, and logistics. That frees up a separate programming team to spend time creating new courses and assessing existing courses.
UNLV CE sees growth opportunities especially in work force development programs.
Current trends include:
More people are seeking professional certificates to enter a specific workforce;
Traditional college students are supplementing their degrees with skill-based non-credit courses;
Students are looking at non-traditional routes to enter jobs;
Companies are scaling back on internal human resource training staff and turning instead to contract custom training programs.
UNLV CE is looking forward to spending more time focused on what the Las Vegas audience is looking for and what they need from a training program. Customers are encouraged to share their feedback and ideas by emailing continuing.education@unlv.edu or by calling 702-895-3394.

More than 60 years ago, what we know today as UNLV’s Paradise Campus opened as a grade school for  children living in the developing city of Las Vegas. A generation later, the retired adults of UNLV’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) that currently call the campus home are helping Paradise-area students with a holiday supply drive. During the first two weeks of November OLLI members collected educational games, books, and school supplies for at-risk elementary students attending the Paradise Professional Development School. Volunteers from the program used the donations to assemble 101 bags that were delivered to the school and will make the holidays a little brighter for the K-5 students. OLLI at UNLV wraps up its fall semester on December 6th and will begin its spring session on January 27th.

For the past eight years, the Public Lands Institute worked to address the problem of desert dumping through the Don't Trash Nevada messaging campaign.
During those years, the Don't Trash Nevada team organized desert cleanups, attended community events, developed an Adopt-a-Spot program, and created an environmental education and stewardship curriculum for use in area schools. Messaging campaigns included advertisements on radio and television, billboards, bus wraps, and social media. From 2006 through 2011, PLI estimates nearly 8,000 cubic yards of waste were removed by volunteers during cleanup events. Over 46,000 volunteer hours were logged during this same time period.
 While PLI's official involvement in the Don't Trash Nevada campaign is technically over this fall, the impact of the program will be felt far into the future. The program leaves a legacy of a community of citizens actively involved in caring for the desert landscape of Southern Nevada.

The October/November 2013 Outreach Insights is now available. Outreach Insights is the bimonthly enewsletter for the UNLV Division of Educational Outreach.

UNLV will observe its Winter Break Dec. 21-Jan. 1. During that time, the university will be open to the public in key service areas, while most nonessential business operations are suspended. The Division of Educational Outreach will observe the UNLV Winter Break as well. However, the information desk will be open Monday through Friday 8am-5pm Dec. 14-Jan. 5. The university and all offices will be closed Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 in observance of state holidays.

Two representatives from the Public Lands Institute will appear with John Blyth Barrymore, grandson of silent screen actor John Barrymore, at the Laughlin Library at 3 p.m. on Thursday, January 30. Barrymore will discuss the life and times of famous silent film stars, including Clara Bow, Charlie Chaplin and, of course, his grandfather. Paula Garrett, PLI program associate/research scientist, and Don Scott, Walking Box Ranch caretaker, will share stories about Rex Bell and Clara Bow's famous Walking Box Ranch and their silent films. The library is located at 2840 Needles Highway. For more information, contact 702-507-4060.
Garrett and Scott will also be guests on a local radio show prior to the Laughlin Library event.  The KAAA-KZZZ Morning Show is hosted by Gary Sheler and can be heard on KAAA AM 1230 and KZZZ AM 1490. 

 
Mark Rivero’s ties to UNLV run deep. He earned his Ed.D. here. He completed a certificate in Human Resource Management here. He has served three years on UNLV’s Adult Learner Advisory Board. His daughter is a student here.
Dr. Rivero’s latest tie? He recently made a donation to support the first-ever scholarship to support veterans pursuing professional continuing education training. During a recent chat with Rivero, he provided insight into why he chose to direct his gift to veterans pursuing continuing education.
Reason 1: The G.I. Bill doesn’t cover continuing education
As part of his role on the Adult Learner Advisory Board, Rivero helped define subgroups of adult learners in Las Vegas; veterans transitioning out of the military and into civilian careers were identified as an area of high need. The G.I. Bill is a huge resource for veteran’s pursuing a degree, but veterans cannot use their benefits for a skill-based certificate program.
Reason 2: He found great professional value in his own continuing education certificate
Even though he had a doctorate in education, as Rivero’s own career progressed, he found that he needed additional training in human resources to help him better manage and train staff. He earned a Human Resource Management certificate through UNLV. Some veterans don’t need to earn a degree to make a career transition; skill-based training helps them transfer military experience into a civilian position or to change career direction entirely. Rivero has dedicated many years to training firefighters, both in Las Vegas and working with the Nation Fire Academy’s subcommittee on accreditation.
Reason 3: He worked closely with veterans throughout his career as a firefighter.
While Rivero isn’t a veteran himself, he worked with many vets during his years at Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. Many vets choose careers in public service after separating from the military, and the scholarship donation was a way for him to show his gratitude for their commitment to their community.
Applications for veteran continuing education scholarships are available through Community2Campus. The scholarship will give preference to veterans who have chosen to complete a professional certificate program and wish to enter the work force in the Las Vegas area. Contact Dr. Liz Baldizan at elizabeth.baldizan@unlv.edu or 702-774-4626. You may also visit http://edoutreach.unlv.edu/community2campus for an application form. Applications for fall funding are due April 11.
The addition of a continuing education scholarship earmarked for veterans is yet another UNLV can thank service members and support their career development. Once again, we thank Dr. Mark Rivero for personally paving a new path to success for veterans at UNLV.
Back in the fall, UNLV was named a military friendly school for the fourth consecutive year by G.I. Jobs, a magazine for military transitioning into civilian life. The designation is based on feedback from student veterans. Military Advanced Education also selected UNLV as a top military-friendly school for 2014.

 
Downtown Las Vegas is gaining ground as a great place to live, work, and play. In light of this trend, it made great sense for Continuing Education to expand its offerings by adding more classroom space close to all the action!
The new classroom space is located on the second floor of Neonopolis at the east end of the Fremont Street Experience. Personal enrichment courses like “Neon Night Photography” and conversational Spanish will capture the vibe of our unique city. Professional development courses moving to the new classroom include public relations, human resources, and modeling. The central location of the Neonopolis classroom also makes it an appealing space for custom training.
Continuing Education continues to utilize Historic Fifth Street School for nonprofit management courses. 

The February/March 2014 enewsletter for the Division of Educational Outreach is now available online. Outreach Insights features a new continuing education scholarship for veterans, new classes offered in Downtown Las Vegas, and information for Summer Term 2014.