UNLV will ask the Board of Regents on Friday to approve naming the university's new College of Urban Affairs for the Greenspun family in recognition of their recent gift of $1.7 million and their earlier gifts, pledges, and in-kind donations, which bring the family's total support of university programs to $5 million, President Carol C. Harter said during a news conference today.

The College of Urban Affairs, created during the university's recent academic reorganization, contains the Hank Greenspun School of Communication, named for the late founder and publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, the School of Social Work, and the departments of counseling, criminal justice, environmental studies, and leisure studies. Upon approval of the Regents, it will be named the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.

"We are very grateful to the Greenspun family for their ongoing support of our programs," Harter said. "When our new Greenspun College of Urban Affairs was formed during the reorganization of our academic units last summer, we grouped together programs that would contribute to UNLV's institutional goal of becoming a premier urban university by addressing the needs of the urban area in which we are located. By supporting this new college, the Greenspuns are helping UNLV fulfill its mission of meeting the educational, work force, and research needs of Southern Nevada and beyond."

Initial proceeds from the new bequest will be used to fund student scholarships and to hire Greenspun assistant professors in the college.

Harter announced that Dr. Bob Rossman, professor of kinesiology, chair of the department of leisure studies, and a member of the UNLV faculty since 1992, will serve as interim dean of the new college while a national search is conducted for a permanent dean.

Barbara Greenspun, publisher of the Sun and wife of the late Hank Greenspun, said, "Hank Greenspun committed his life to the betterment of a growing Las Vegas community. That is why my family created the Hank Greenspun School of Communication, to continue his dream. Today, we are fortunate to be able to further his goal of a well-educated community by creating the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.

"Together with the Hank Greenspun School of Communication, the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs will be at the forefront in preparing students for the major challenges of urban living in the coming century."