Las Vegas’ continued ascent into a global sports and entertainment powerhouse received a boost with the official launch of the UNLV Sports Innovation Institute (SII). Led by an interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff, SII connects UNLV students from a variety of sport-related academic disciplines with career and internship opportunities, and serves as the conduit for mutually beneficial partnerships between the sports industry and the university to advance sports science, business, and performance.

Rebel football had a record season, winning nine games for the first time since the 80s and advancing to their first-ever Mountain West Conference championship game at the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Quarterback Jayden Maiava earned the conference's Freshman of the Year honor, kicker Jose Pizano was named Special Teams Player of the Year, and first-year head coach Barry Odom became Mountain West Coach of the Year.

UNLV is fortifying its status as a top tier provider of cybersecurity education, kicking off 2024 with a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to train the next generation of cyber defense professionals. Over the next five years, UNLV will establish a CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (SFS) program to cultivate cybersecurity experts skilled in artificial intelligence and machine learning for service in federal and local government.

In response to the community’s outpouring of support after the Dec. 6 shooting at UNLV, in which three faculty members were killed and another injured, the UNLV Foundation has created scholarship funds in honor of the three deceased faculty members. Business professors Dr. Jerry Cha-Jan Chang and Dr. Patricia Navarro Velez lost their lives that day, along with Dr. Naoko Takemaru, an associate professor of Japanese studies within the College of Liberal Arts.

President Whitfield, in collaboration with university leaders, created the campuswide Rebel Recovery Program following the tragic Dec. 6 shooting. The safety, security, and well-being of the UNLV family – employees and students – is the priority. Rebel Recovery will encompass special events, wellness services, training opportunities, security and safety issues, and more.

Southern Nevada is an emerging epicenter for the cannabis industry with roughly $1 billion in annual legal cannabis sales. UNLV established the Cannabis Policy Institutite to address the research and scholarship behind this fast-growing and highly watched public policy topic; the institute will provide leadership by fostering an understanding of the complex issues surrounding cannabis legalization while being mindful of the disparate impacts of past practices and the importance of social equity and justice going forward. Through education and outreach efforts to lawmakers, industry leaders, and the public, the institute will be an invaluable resource for local, state, and national communities.

The UNLV Department of History created the Reid Public History Institute to expand the study of the histories of labor, immigration, land use, industry, and the environment in Nevada and the surrounding region. Named for the late U.S. Senator Harry Reid, who supported many critical preservation projects in Nevada during his career, the institute will enhance ongoing public history projects and community collaborations. In addition, these projects will provide new opportunities for researchers and graduate students in history and the College of Liberal Arts.

A key mission of the UNLV Libraries, and a core area of UNLV’s Top Tier 2.0 strategic plan, is to stimulate the economic development of Southern Nevada. To help meet this mission, the Libraries offers several business services to support business leaders and entrepreneurs on campus and in the community, including the specialized research assistance; access to online databases; newspaper access; and the UNLV Patent & Trademark Resources Center Powered by Switch.