UNLV President Carol C. Harter, on behalf of the entire university community, expressed her sadness Friday at the death of former state legislator and university regent Juanita Greer White. She died Thursday in Boulder City.
"Juanita Greer White was a leading figure among a group of people who saw the promise of higher education in Southern Nevada and who, through personal commitment and hard work, helped establish the University of Nevada, Las Vegas," Harter said. "We can thank Dr. White and those like her for their dedication to building a great public university. The entire university community is saddened by her passing."
White, for whom UNLV's Juanita Greer White Life Sciences Building is named, was a great supporter of higher education in Nevada. She served on the Board of Regents from 1963 to 1971 and was a charter member of the Nevada Southern University Land Foundation, which obtained land for the university campus at a relatively low cost. She also endorsed creation of the Community College Division of the university system.
When White ran for the Board of Regents in 1962, she campaigned for degree-granting status for Nevada Southern University, as UNLV was called at that time. Up until 1964, students who attended the Las Vegas campus received their degrees from the University of Nevada at Reno.
Funeral services are set for 10 a.m. Monday (Sept. 22) at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Boulder City.
During her tenure as regent, the Las Vegas campus achieved full autonomy in 1968 and was renamed the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
White was a strong advocate of building a campus with sufficient acreage. She pushed for competitive faculty salaries and benefits to attract top teachers, and advocated the development of both traditional academic and special interests programs.
White was also a friend of higher education when she served as an assemblyman in the Nevada Legislature in 1971 and 1972. She was a supporter of the State of Nevada's affiliation with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, which provides reduced-cost educational opportunities for students in member states.
In recent years, White remained a friend of UNLV and the department of biological sciences in particular. She funded the White Distinguished Lecturer Series through the department.
White had been a research chemist and college professor before moving to Boulder City in 1955, where her husband opened a medical practice.
