UNLV spox says Pres. Smatresk is "unavailable for comment"

[Harry]

UNLV spox says Pres. Neal Smatresk is "unavailable for comment," on story he's finalist for job at University of North Texas.

— Steve Sebelius (@SteveSebelius)

November 20, 2013

This post has been promoted to an article

[Harry]

Interesting to note that UNLV is where UNT found former President Dr. Norval Pohl...

[Harry]

UNLV Pres. Neal Smatresk's perspective on college athletics, revenues, BCS etc....

(pronounced SMAT-tresk and rhymes with mattress, according to UNLV)

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

With all the new lights in Downtown, Dallas is like the Vegas of the South, he'll feel right at home!

[Harry]

I found this particular quote quite telling:

We’re trying to put up a facility that will benefit our campus, build a campus community, create this university village that we think is the next step in our evolution toward become a tier 1 major institution. ... Our commitment is we’re willing to say the university will step up to support this vision if the community wants it. ...

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

Here's his CV: http://www.unlv.edu/assets/president/pdf/NealSmatresk_CV.pdf

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

Definitely a big science guy which wouldn't be bad for our perception that our science is lacking compared to liberal arts. Science is getting pushed hard by the DoE and there are a lot of grants there to be had.

[NM Green]

I met Dr. Smatresk when I was living in Las Vegas and he is a class act. I would love to have him come to Denton because he is passionate about sports. He was a HUGE UNLV Runnin Rebel supporter and was easy to connect with. He was involved in the community and supportive of efforts to build the Rebellion (student section, great name by the way) into a force to be reckoned with in the Thomas & Mack. The crazy thing is that Dr. Smastrek was in Hawaii when I lived a mile from UH (University of Hawaii). I was in Las Vegas when he arrived in Sin City. I moved back to Dallas last year so book it - Here comes Dr. Smastrek!

GMG

[NorthTexan95]

Sounds like he'll be a good choice if he is the one.

[DeepGreen]

I met Dr. Smatresk when I was living in Las Vegas and he is a class act. I would love to have him come to Denton because he is passionate about sports. He was a HUGE UNLV Runnin Rebel supporter and was easy to connect with. He was involved in the community and supportive of efforts to build the Rebellion (student section, great name by the way) into a force to be reckoned with in the Thomas & Mack. The crazy thing is that Dr. Smastrek was in Hawaii when I lived a mile from UH (University of Hawaii). I was in Las Vegas when he arrived in Sin City. I moved back to Dallas last year so book it - Here comes Dr. Smastrek!

GMG

A stalker?

[oldguystudent]

Definitely a big science guy which wouldn't be bad for our perception that our science is lacking compared to liberal arts. Science is getting pushed hard by the DoE and there are a lot of grants there to be had.

Science should be getting pushed hard, and my perception is that it's been somewhat of an afterthought at UNT. Maybe that's ok for the undergrad side, but if you wanna get the big grant bucks, you need to build up that doctorate program and get some actual research happening. To borrow a term from Reagan, get that grant money pouring in, and things start to trickle down to the undergrad level. The students start to have a different self perception, a little swagger, a better grasp of quantum physics and the universe.

Liberal arts degrees are great. I've got one myself. But if you want a university (the uni part being short for "universal") to gain respect, elevated status, and grow its endowment, you need it to excel in business and science. Law and medicine are nice additions at some point (probably not now...cough....downtown Dallas debacle...cough), but it begins with science and business.

[Cerebus]

Science is not an after thought on campus. It may have been in the past, but the school has committed to science in a big way and put it's money where it's mouth is.

Millions of dollars in start up money to lure some of the top researchers from top flight schools.

Millions of dollars in research cluster grants to further innovation and cooperation among University researchers.

Millions of dollars to start and continually upgrade the University HPC super computer, Talon.

New positions, new business processes, new centers to help researchers land grants.

If you think Apogee is nice and expensive, it pales in comparison to new buildings like the Life Science Complex.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Science is not an after thought on campus. It may have been in the past, but the school has committed to science in a big way and put it's money where it's mouth is.

Millions of dollars in start up money to lure some of the top researchers from top flight schools.

Millions of dollars in research cluster grants to further innovation and cooperation among University researchers.

Millions of dollars to start and continually upgrade the University HPC super computer, Talon.

New positions, new business processes, new centers to help researchers land grants.

If you think Apogee is nice and expensive, it pales in comparison to new buildings like the Life Science Complex.

And the Chemistry building is only about 10 years old. They tore down the old chemistry building (that I spent alot of time in) to build the new Life Science Complex.

It certainly appears the commitment is there.