The two dancers slowly diverged on the stage, but they didn’t stay separated for long.

The Oct. 1, 2017, shooting on the Las Vegas Strip “indelibly marked” the UNLV community, Acting President Marta Meana said last month during her first State of the University address.

In the wake of tumult and in times of challenge, UNLV has always found a way to forge ahead — that was the resounding message behind acting President Marta Meana’s first state of the university on Thursday.

Putting the “U” in UNLV is how acting President Marta Meana described those at the university who are helping bring it future successes.

UNLV Acting President Marta Meana gives the annual State of the University address at UNLV Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018.

It wasn’t an easy spring for UNLV. There was the departure of President Len Jessup, anger among donors toward regents about it, and the loss of a major donation that was — controversially — linked to Jessup’s continued employment.

Marta Meana interviewed at a number of universities in the mid-1990s, but none was quite like UNLV.