Building and sustaining a diverse workforce in critical shortage areas and future career opportunities

We are developing, supporting, and innovating a Nevada workforce in key shortage areas such as education and mental health, while cultivating leaders for future careers in Nevada. As a college within a minority-serving institution, we value ensuring access to higher education opportunities for diverse students of all ages and life stages.

By using a framework that focuses on local-level innovative workforce development solutions that can be applied globally, we engage in activities and scholarship that:

• Enhance recruitment, preparation, retention, completion, and career mentorship of PK-20 educators and education professionals (e.g., teachers, school psychologists, counselors, leaders, higher education practitioners)
• Lead innovative and student-centered academic programs, microcredentials, and other professional development experiences that produce graduates for Nevada’s future careers
• Offer early college opportunities for Nevada high school students to earn dual credit and be college ready
• Inform policy statewide to advance college and career readiness initiatives for all Nevada workforce sectors

Optimizing equitable access to high-quality educational and mental health supports and outcomes

We value community collaborations that support high-quality education and mental health services at all stages of life. We leverage the scholarly and practitioner expertise of our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community stakeholders via initiatives that:

• Provide culturally responsive services in areas such as mental health, special education, literacy, and bilingual education
• Consult with schools and community partners statewide to support to their education and mental health priorities
• Offer resources to PK-20 educators and other school professionals to guide individualized learning
• Participate in legislative, professional, and social advocacy efforts to advance policy and practices that equitably serve all Nevadans

Expanding and advocating for high-quality early childhood education across Nevada

We are proud to be home to a nationally accredited early childhood education center, the CSUN/UNLV Preschool at the Lynn Bennett Early Childhood Development Center. We advocate for increasing high-quality early childhood education services that are inclusive and culturally responsive by participating in initiatives that:

• Grow the physical and programming blueprint of the CSUN/UNLV Preschool through a fundraising campaign
• Serve as a premier academic training and research center for UNLV students and faculty
• Partner with community leaders and lawmakers to expand access to effective and inclusive early childhood education services
• Engage in policy efforts statewide that promote services and scholarship that prepares future generations of children for PK-20 classrooms

Leading in community responsive dialogue that optimizes equity through education and mental health policy

We are driving the conversation regarding education and mental health practice, training, and scholarship by actively engaging in and forging innovative policy pathways.

Our multiple research centers, labs, offices, and institutes are dedicated to scholarship and best practices in areas such as literacy, autism spectrum disorders, mental health, learning analytics, assessment and evaluation, educational policy, and multicultural, STEM, and early childhood education. Faculty-led research fosters a vibrant culture of scholarship within the college by strengthening collaborations with local, state, and national partners, providing research opportunities for graduate students, and laying the foundation for equity-based practice in a variety of educational disciplines.

We are dedicated to informing and partaking in policy-related efforts that:

• Develop resources and documents to inform lawmakers and their staff about the latest policy implications and needs in education, mental health, and the Nevada workforce more generally
• Host community forums, such as the annual Summit on Nevada Education, Scholarship in Practice Lecture Series, and the annual Ed Expo, to move conversations in education and mental health toward next-generation practices