March 3, 2020

Dear Chancellor and Regents,

It is with pride and mixed emotions that I formally acknowledge to the Chancellor and Board of Regents
that I am not seeking renewal of my contract which ends June 30, 2021, and will instead be pursuing
other opportunities in business, education or nonprofit leadership at the conclusion of my contract. I do
intend to finish out the remaining 15 months of my contract in a positive and productive fashion, as there
are many critical projects that I want to finish before stepping down. I am announcing now so that the
Board has adequate time to conduct a national search for Nevada State’s next president.

Serving as president of Nevada State and helping build its remarkable trajectory has been the job of a
lifetime, and I am grateful for the opportunity to make such a difference in the lives of students. When I
started this position, first as an interim in November 2011 and later being appointed following a national
search in May 2012, I was the seventh president at Nevada State in just nine years. I promised I would
stay in the position in order to provide stability and vision for this young and vibrant institution. I
promised I would stay at least eight years, but no more than ten years. At the end of my contract, I will
have served in the position nine years and nine months and will have worked in the Nevada System of
Higher Education for over 20 years. I willingly passed up other opportunities to keep my promise to
Nevada State and its deserving students, and I am so pleased and honored by what we have accomplished
together.

While many community leaders and staff have urged me to stay longer, I believe Nevada State is the kind
of institution that will benefit from changes in leadership and vision from time to time, and I want to
remain consistent with my promise. When I started in 2011, I was viewed as an innovative and
nontraditional choice. It is more typical to hire university presidents with earned doctorates arising
through the ranks of the faculty, instead of my background as a juris doctorate from Duke Law School,
having practiced in the private and public sectors for about 24 years before my presidency at Nevada
State. Notwithstanding the non-academic background, I think it has proven to be a good fit for the
institution. I have relied on outstanding academic leadership, starting with Dr. Erika Beck (now President
at California State University – Channel Islands), and continuing with Dr. Vickie Shields who is equally
outstanding, while I have brought skills that are business oriented, strategic and community/donor
relations focused.

When I began my tenure as president in 2011, Nevada State was facing some significant challenges with
the death of its then longest serving president, Dr. Fred Maryanski, followed by the departure of its
interim president, while at the same time facing one of its lowest budget years notwithstanding rising
enrollments. However, by 2013, Nevada was starting to come out of the recession and adopted a new
funding formula. This was the first time Nevada State had new resources. We invested those resources
primarily in new faculty, student support and innovative student success programs, and we are now
seeing the results of those investments as retention and six year graduation rates are starting to really
climb.

Coming out of the recession, the State was limited in the funds it could allocate to capital construction.
When the first state projects were announced following the recession, state capital funding was allocated
to other important projects including a new Hotel College at UNLV and an Engineering Building at UNR.
Nevada State, working with the Treasurer’s Office (then-Treasurer Kate Marshall) and with the support of
then-Governor Sandoval, the Legislature and the Board of Regents, was able to self-fund, through long
term payments out of existing revenues and a special building fee approved by students, construction of a
Nursing Science and Education Building (now the Bob and Alison Kasner Academic Building), and a

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Student Center (now the James and Beverly Rogers Student Center) which includes critical student
success components such as the library, tutoring, disability services, computer labs, career services and
other student support services. This institutional investment in academic and student support buildings
without significant state appropriation is unprecedented, particularly for an institution with a relatively
small overall budget, but it is in Nevada State’s fiber to figure out how to help ourselves when State
resources have been insufficient to keep pace with our growth. These buildings were finished in the fall of
2015 and were just in time, as Nevada State has been experiencing an incredible growth spurt, including a
72% increase in freshmen in 2017 alone. That being said, payment on these buildings of $3.4 million
annually continues to be a significant component of the Nevada State budget.

From 2015, Nevada State has continued to evolve, maintaining its hold as the second-fastest growing
College in the country over the last 10 years, and growing out critical need programs. I am particularly
proud of the following: our Nursing Program, which we quadrupled in size to now graduate 288 BSN
nurses every year; our School of Education, which we have also tasked with quadrupling in size through
multiple strategies to address the teacher shortage including teachers academies now in nine high schools
and growing; starting our first Masters Program in the critical need area of Speech Language Pathology; a
statewide mission that includes growing programs in partnership with Western Nevada College in Carson
City, Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno and CSN here in the Las Vegas Valley; an RN to BSN
on-line program that quickly has enrolled over 350 students; a biology and physical sciences program that
is placing students in some of the top graduate programs around the country; becoming an Hispanic
Serving Institution and receiving the first grant in state history to address diversity in the teacher
pipeline; our Marydean Martin Library that just received an award for the top College library in the
country, which is only the second time a public college has received the award and the first time a
Hispanic Serving Institution has received the award; and our first student housing project that will be
ready this fall - just to name a few of the many fine accomplishments of Nevada State, its fine and
dedicated faculty and staff, and its deserving students.

I can’t say enough about the outstanding community support I have received. Business and community
leaders across multiple sectors have stepped up to support Nevada State’s mission, serve on advisory
councils, provide internships and support for our students, and build the critical work of the Foundation.
Key donors have stepped in at essential times to provide the funding to move projects forward. The
student and faculty leadership at Nevada State has been outstanding, and a pleasure to work with as a
team.

2019 was a record year for Nevada State. We raised the most private funding in our history, and we
received state funding to start construction of the Glenn and Ande Christenson School of Education
Building to expand our education programs, and we share in the building of the Engelstad Health
Sciences Building at CSN Henderson. Nevada State also received funding to help pay for our record
enrollment growth (measured by a 70% increase in unweighted student credit hours taught in just five
years) and budget enhancements to start critical need programs in Speech Language Pathology, Early
Childhood Education, and Data Sciences/Informatics to name a few.

Notwithstanding this incredible success, significant challenges are looming, particularly on capital
facilities. Only about 40% of campus facilities have been funded substantially by state direct
appropriations. The new Education Building will be the first building constructed primarily with state
direct appropriations or bonding in 13 years since the Liberal Arts and Sciences Building finished
construction in 2008. Both the new Education Building and the Health Sciences Building will be full
almost immediately upon occupancy. Coupled with a student growth rate that could easily double the size
of the student population in just eight years, continued significant state investment will be required, along
with increased philanthropy and other creative ways to build projects at a lower cost. This will have to be a
team effort of the College, the State and the community. The College also continues to experience

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challenges competitively with its’ branding as we are frequently misperceived as having a two year college
mission, when in fact Nevada State’s mission is akin to a university (with a teaching instead of research
focus) as we only offer only four year degree programs and niche masters degrees, starting with the
masters in Speech Language Pathology.

The Higher Education System in Nevada has been constantly improving. All NSHE institutions have been
improving their student success. In the latest ranking by U.S. News and World Report, Nevada ranks 18th
nationally for higher education based on key factors of graduation rates, cost of tuition and fees, and debt
at graduation. The discussion of changes in the governance of higher education is disruptive. While I am
confident Nevada State will be successful under any governance structure, I can only hope that a very
deliberative discussion ensues about the purpose of the change and potential consequences prior to the
November election.

I love Nevada State and its students. Our freshmen classes are coming to us about 90% diverse, with many
being first generation to attend college and low income. These are among the best students to work with
because they are not just changing their own lives, they are changing whole family trees. It will be hard to
leave this deserving student population, but now is the right time. Nevada State just received the renewal
of its seven year accreditation, I have an outstanding leadership team in place (the strongest in my tenure)
and all success metrics are pointed upward. Nevada State will attract an incredibly talented pool of
internal and external candidates for this position. I will step down from this role as the longest serving
president in Nevada State College history.

I have many important projects to accomplish in my last 15 months. I am prioritizing those projects to
those most critical for the continued success of the institution. It is my intent to stay through the next
legislative session, introduce the new president to legislative and executive leadership, and help mentor
the new president if requested. At that point, I will feel good about looking for other opportunities.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve in this fulfilling position which has been more than I could have
ever expected or imagined.

My best,

Bart Patterson
President, Nevada State College

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