It’s safe to say hundreds of UNLV alumni have received advice from Rimi Marwah. A longtime Rebel, Marwah has worked at UNLV for more than 25 years and first started her career at UNLV as an academic advisor in what later became the Academic Success Center.
Now an assistant dean for undergraduate education and career development for the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, Marwah oversees the advising center where she mentors academic advisors and still relishes in seeing students turn their tassels.
“There's few things that make me cry in life, but graduation is one of them and getting to see students finish and start adulthood. I have been volunteering at graduation for more than 10 years. It’s so amazing,” Marwah said.
Marwah moved to Kansas from Birmingham, England, as a junior high school student and getting adjusted to a new culture was a bit challenging. She says a little extra academic guidance would have helped her figure out things easier. So she flipped the script when she got to UNLV and started meeting students who were much like her.
You dropped into Kansas as a junior high school student; when did you realize you weren’t in Birmingham, England, anymore?
I showed up for school in a small Midwest town with only two stoplights wearing soccer shoes and a dress. Nothing says you're not from these parts than showing up looking like I did.
Why she helps students
What keeps me going is looking at the potential. You don’t know where you're going to go. You never know. I so value education, and it's a gift you can give yourself and nobody can take away from you. However I can help a student achieve it, and get them to see the potential they may never see in themselves or to be successful in life, I am more than happy to do that.
What UNLV means to her
I definitely got a UNLV family, for sure. UNLV provided the platform for us to meet each other. UNLV has given me definitely some life-long friendships and that turned into family. UNLV was my first job out of college. What I really love about being here — UNLV has afforded me the opportunities to grow professionally.
A piece of advice for all students
Have life experiences outside of the classroom. Make your educational experiences as rich as possible. I didn't have the guidance, I made up for that in my job. That is what drives me.
On one of her leadership strategies
I feel like it's very important for me to have an advising center that is staffed with individuals who lead with compassion. I think we have created an atmosphere in the advising center where students can come to us and ask us absolutely anything, whether it is advising-related or not. If you have nobody you can go to or a space you can ask questions — those are the students who will walk away [before graduation].
What I love about my job is I get to help people to help people. My staff is my number one priority.
On choosing to be photographed with a globe
We are the world. We don’t know where we are going to go. Our students go everywhere and, simultaneously, we come from everywhere. We’re such a mixed community. I think having immigrant parents and growing up in a different country and having parents, who by the time they were my age, had already lived on four continents — who moved to the U.S. to achieve a better life — that's why I picked the globe.
I think it represents who I am and definitely my affinity for international students. I was in their shoes. I’m a lifelong learner. I have visited over 25 countries. The world is an amazing place, and you’d be crazy not to get out and explore it.
She’s chair of the UNLV President’s Advisory Council and a member of the leadership team for the Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Faculty Staff Alliance (APIME-FSA).
APIME-FSA strives to help build community, connection, and advocacy for all members in the community. Upon returning from the pandemic, staff were seeking connection, so our initial focus was to provide opportunities for people to gather. This was especially true for new faculty who may not have had the chance to meet colleagues. After the campus memorial in December [following the Dec. 6 shooting], we provided a space for staff to emotionally decompress. Now, we try to find ways to recognize the work and contributions of APIME faculty.
If you see her walking around with her mom, say Hi.
I am incredibly grateful for how UNLV has welcomed my mom. From the groundskeepers to police services, they just walk up to her and say, “You must be Rimi’s mom.” She loves to go to the events on campus. UNLV is a breath of fresh air for her.
She is in her 90s. She is UNLV’s senior adult cheerleader who absolutely loves coming to school every day.
Advice for someone starting out in their careers
Find your network, find your mentor. Look at the people who are doing the job or lead in the way you want to and watch them and learn from them.
Fun fact: For one Bosses Day, her staff each gave her a bag of chips with a card that said “You’re all that and a bag of chips.”
It was great. I’m not going to lie. I love chips… and ice cream.
