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MORE FROM PAGE 32 in the world. Our university needs to match that spirit. I believe we’ll become nationally prominent by embracing our Las Vegasness. What’s the backdrop, the role UNLV plays in the economy and how does UNLV interact with the business community? The local alumni of UNLV is 60,000 strong, maybe 70,000 in the valley, and we’re approaching 100,000 alum- ni in our 52-year history, which I think is phenomenal. We’re a business, we’re a state-subsidized business. What do you get back from the $175 million this year that is be- ing invested in us? In Las Vegas, about 20 percent of our population has a higher education degree. In more prosperous regions there’s a higher percentage of higher education degrees; it varies from 38 percent to 45 percent. Invariably the more higher ed degrees you have, the more diversifi ed the economy is, the stronger the tax base is and the most recent recession has had less im- pact. Those are really important. A highly educated workforce makes your economy more robust and buffers you from the effects of reces- sion. While we have half the typical higher ed workforce we ought to have, that’s not surprising. We’re a 50-year-old institution in a city that has been formed by immigrant populations—in a city that was formed with a very basic service economy where there wasn’t a strong value or need for higher education. We’re suffering the consequences of that. Here in Las Vegas where we have fi rst-generation, often economically challenged, often minority popula- tions, the need for access to that higher education de- gree is truly an opportunity to change things. Let’s talk about UNLV as a business. It’s a company in Las Vegas. It employs 3,000 people. It has a billion-dollar- a-year economic impact that provides a workforce for our growing region. It brings into this state from outside the state more than $300 million a year. It attracts the best and bright- est from 50 states and 70 countries to participate in our economy. That company is UNLV. The return on the state’s $175 million investment is enormous. We’re a profi t center for the state. We bring resources and income and opportunity to this region. Where do we get those dollars? From nonresidential students, and two thirds of them pay full freight nonresi- dential tuition at $18,500 per year—that’s just the tuition. Of course those students don’t just bring their tuition dol- lars. They buy cars, gas, groceries. The direct impact of that “You don’t build a global high-tech economy by wishing for it—or by low taxes. You build it by having a resource-rich environment, and the most critical asset for any high-tech business is access to graduate programs and research expertise that supports the mission of that company. Period. If you do it, you’ll get more high-tech businesses. If you don’t, you won’t.” is $140 million per year—that’s raw dollars, not economic impact. That’s a pretty good business. We also run a major entertainment venue, the Thomas & Mack Center. It’s the top grossing college arena in the coun- try. It’s perennially in the top 10 of all arenas in the country. We bring about $100 million a year in federal funds— grants and contracts. Those dollars have the biggest eco- nomic multiplier you can ever imagine. The economic impact (with a multiplier of 4.8) is simply enormous. This is where all the needles are pointing: It’s clear our economy is not diversifi ed. There are many different ideas for how we attain that. There isn’t a state that has managed to diversity its economy without investing in research universities. Anywhere you go, you see major investments. The longer they’ve been doing it, the more benefi t they’ve attained—whether it’s Arizona or Utah. Most major cities have several research universities. Las Vegas has one. I can’t tell you how many times a week I hear “Why do you guys need to do that stupid research?” They don’t understand what a research university brings to the table is a higher quality education and a more skilled work- force and the ability to engage a high-tech economy. If you don’t have that you’ll be relegated to backwater status. You don’t build a global high-tech economy by wish- ing for it—or by low taxes. You build it by having a re- source-rich environment, and the most critical asset for any high-tech business is access to graduate programs and research expertise that supports the mission of that company. Period. If you do it, you’ll get more high-tech businesses. If you don’t, you won’t. When a company comes here, one of the fi rst things they do is look at the capacity of the city to support re- search in their area and in an ancillary way to have a major university that can provide a higher quality of life for their family. We have one research university that is one of the least funded in the country in terms of total state dollar commitment. If you look at states with populations of two or three million people and you plot the raw state dollars on higher education—and this doesn’t include the contri- butions of counties to community colleges, so in some ways we’ve underestimated the numbers—Alabama, Ar- kansas, Mississippi—the investment there is double ours. We’re a bargain-basement state. Our per-capita spending on higher education is the lowest of the states our size. More importantly, Las Vegas is the largest metropoli- tan region with only one research university—and a very poorly funded one. When people talk about economic diversifi cation and the need to build our economy here, you have to match the capacity of the research institution that’s producing those valuable degrees against your dreams for building an economy, or it doesn’t happen. You can wish for it, but wishful thinking isn’t good enough. As you cut us, you cut the future capacity of this city to meet its needs. For the complete Neal Smatresk interview go to VEGASINC.com | 4 APRIL 2011 | 41