UNLV head football coach Dan Mullen was honored with the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach Award by the Football Writers Association of America. The award is given annually to a head coach who demonstrates an exemplary transition during their first year leading a program. UNLV Football recently wrapped a 10-2 regular season with a win over rival UNR, retaining the Fremont Cannon and advancing to the Mountain West Football championship game.

The inaugural interdisciplinary cohort of Project EXHALE scholars began this semester. The pilot included 10 student scholars — five from clinical mental health counseling and five from human services — who were placed at elementary schools to provide direct support to students, families, and school communities. The program will prepare future clinical mental health counselors to deliver trauma-informed, culturally responsive care to students and their families while also expanding and diversifying Nevada’s school-based mental health workforce.

UNLV Track & Field alums Kaysha Love and Azaria Hill will represent Team USA at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics as part of the U.S. Olympic bobsled roster. The duo secured a silver medal together in the 2025-26 World Cup season opener and will compete for gold in the two-woman bobsled event. Former Rebel Football player Shaquille Murray-Lawrence will also compete in the bobsled event for team Canada.

The co-ed UNLV Rebel Girls & Company earned two national championships for the second straight year at the 2026 Universal Dance Association College Nationals in Orlando. UNLV won the Division IA Hip Hop and Division IA Game Day Dance titles, earning the program's seventh national championship in each of the two categories. The team has won previously in 2025, 2023, 2019, 2018, 2016, and 2013.

For the third consecutive year, UNLV began the semester with another record-breaking spring enrollment, surpassing 30,800 students and reflecting a 3.4% increase over last year. Strong fall-to-spring retention and growth in first-time students demonstrate continued momentum in recruitment and student support, positioning the university to advance future enrollment, retention, and graduation milestones.

UNLV earned its second consecutive Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, retaining its status as one of the nation’s top community-serving higher education institutions. Retaining the classification required clear evidence that engagement is embedded in UNLV's practices, including how students learn, how research agendas are shaped, and how the university contributes to the public good. The distinction, awarded to just 2% of the nation’s postsecondary institutions by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education, is the gold standard for community engagement efforts at colleges and universities.

UNLV and CCSD will collaborate to address special education staffing needs through the Nevada Recruitment and Retention Grant, helping to alleviate the district’s shortage of special education teachers. Through the program, current CCSD teachers with general elementary or secondary licenses can receive approximately $6,000 in tuition and fees to complete a new graduate certificate program, the Nevada Collaborative on Autism, in exchange for serving three years in a “Strategies for Teaching Based on Autism Research” (STAR) classroom. The program has already placed 71 teachers in autism and STAR classrooms for the current school year, with strong enrollment projected for next year. The collaboration continues the College of Education's mission to create a sustained pipeline to certified educators to support special education students across Southern Nevada.

The William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV announced a $300,000 gift from alumni Sean Claggett and Louella (“Lou”) Claggett, pledged through the Sean and Lou Claggett Charitable Foundation. The donation sets a new record as the law school’s largest gift from an individual law alumnus and his family, and establishes the Claggett Family Endowed Scholarship. Combining both endowed and immediate-use funds, the new scholarship is specifically designed to support students with a strong connection to the Las Vegas community. This commitment strengthens Boyd Law School’s efforts to attract outstanding students from the local community and demonstrates the significant role alumni can play through philanthropy. The first scholarship award will be made in the 2026-2027 school year.