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School of Public Policy and Leadership News

The School of Public Policy and Leadership employs an interdisciplinary approach to create knowledge and understanding to support effective policy and governance through collaborations of faculty, students, and the greater community. Our programs enable students to master the key principles of public management, research, and public policy so they can spark change, improvement, and resiliency in communities.

Current Public Policy and Leadership News

A portrait of Jaewon Lim, an associate professor of public policy.
Campus News |

UNLV's School of Public Policy and Leadership offers courses in data visualization that are helping to create a workforce pipeline.

Graduate business students business international businesses in Chile.
People |

MPA student Andrea Rangelova gets a taste of Chile’s business practices to enrich her future professional experience.

View of UNLV campus with the Strip in background
Business and Community |

The College Opportunity Program provides access to online certificate and degree programs, at no cost to MGM Resorts Employees.

commencement profile (josh hawkins/unlv)
People |

President Keith E. Whitfield honors six graduates who have shown exemplary commitment to both the community and their studies.

The Las Vegas strip as seen on Super Bowl weekend (Josh Hawkins/UNLV).
Campus News |

A collection of news stories and highlights featuring UNLV students and faculty.

collage of four people
Business and Community |

As Southern Nevada’s image as a mecca for professional sports continues to grow, so too do employment opportunities for UNLV graduates. 

Public Policy and Leadership In The News

KVVU-TV: Fox 5

There is a desperate need for more charges in Nevada according to some EV drivers. FOX5 spoke with drivers who are often forced to wait in lines to charge up. “I am swapping this in tomorrow and getting a gas vehicle,” Steven Blocker told FOX5. Blocker, an Uber driver using an electric vehicle, just moved to Henderson from San Diego a month and a half ago.

KNPR News

In fewer than 100 days, Nevadans head to the polls. And while most of us are thinking of who we want as president, there are dozens of other officials we have the right to vote for.

KVVU-TV: Fox 5

After nearly three days of closures along I-15 and backups along I-40, California Highway Patrol announced Sunday the end of a closure caused by a truck fire that sparked Friday. San Bernadino Fire Department reported the fire around 10 a.m. on Friday, stating that a semi-truck carrying lithium batteries flipped on northbound I-15 near Baker and burst into flames.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Gerardo Velasquez is no stranger to the Las Vegas heat. Since moving to Las Vegas in 2004, the 56-year-old has worked in solar panel installation — a tough job in the summer without adequate breaks, shade and hydration. With no solid, enforceable regulations, not every company provides the same tolerable working conditions.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Two top Las Vegas-Clark County Library District employees accepted free Super Bowl tickets worth thousands of dollars each and requested a third ticket, potentially violating the district’s conflict of interest policy.

KTNV-TV: ABC 13

Clark County is set to add some new Ford Mustangs to its fleet, but these aren't your father's Mustangs. The county commission voted last week to approve just over $2 million for the purchase of nearly 60 Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles. The move is a step toward the county's goal to have a fully EV fleet of vehicles in place by 2050. The overall goal: to help cut greenhouse emissions.

Public Policy and Leadership Experts

An expert in regional demographics, workforce development, and sustainable economic development.
Lee Bernick is a professor with expertise in state and local public policy, survey research, public budgeting, and legislative behavior.
An expert on sustainability governance by cities, states, and corporations globally.
An expert in violence prevention programs.
An expert in public policy and governance.
An expert on HR management and development.

Recent Public Policy and Leadership Accomplishments

Jacob D. Skousen (Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education) published a paper titled, "Making Nevada Schools Safer: The State of Empirical Evidence." The policy paper reviews the measures taken to improve school safety. He reports that the evidence shows that overall safety in the nation’s elementary and secondary schools has…
A new study led by professor Ben Leffel (Public Policy and Leadership) has been selected for the inaugural Berkeley Haas Sustainable Business Research Prize as a finalist, which "recognizes research with the greatest potential to spur immediate change in the face of environmental crises". The study, by Leffel and University of Michigan coauthors…
Ph.D. student Aaron Colleta (Public Policy and Leadership) has been honored as a Founders' Fellow by the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) this year. The Founders' Fellows program is designed to support and advance the next generation of public service leaders, providing significant professional development opportunities. Aaron…
Ben Leffel (Public Policy and Leadership) has published a new piece in npj Climate Action (with coauthors Don Grant and Evan Johnson) on what matters for decarbonizing power plants: They show that for the world's power plants, what matters for carbon emissions reductions (2009-2018) is not national-level climate policy, but city-level climate…
Ben Leffel (Public Policy and Leadership) is lead author in a new study published in Cities , titled "Not so polycentric: The stratified structure & national drivers of transnational municipal networks" that has mapped the known universe of cities in these global governance networks. This analysis of over 10,000 cities and their…
Ph.D. candidate Sheetal Survase (Public Affairs) and Elizabeth Johnson (Liberal Arts, Academic Advising Center) published a research article titled, "Serving on the Front Lines of Higher Education: Exploring Advisors' Coping During COVID-19," in the NACADA Journal. This study examines the relationship between advisor work conditions and the…