UNLV President Carol C. Harter has been selected by the Mountain West Conference to serve as its first representative on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.

The board, which is composed of 18 university presidents, is the major governing body of the NCAA, setting policy and dealing with financial matters involving Division I schools.

Harter, who previously served on the board as a representative of the Western Athletic Conference when UNLV was part of that league, will be one of two women serving on the board.

She will attend her first meeting as the Mountain West representative next month in Chicago. Her term on the board will end in January 2004.

"Having served on the board previously, I know the importance of the issues that come before the board and I am, therefore, deeply honored that my fellow Mountain West presidents have chosen me as the first representative of our new league," Harter said. "I firmly believe that athletics can play a most positive role in the lives of college students and am looking forward to resuming my work on the board."

Commenting on Harter's selection, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said, "Dr. Harter's past experience as a former board of directors member is most critical in our inaugural year. That her peers, the other Mountain West Conference presidents, have unanimously endorsed her to represent us indicates the regard with which she is held in this league."

Harter's involvement in the NCAA goes back many years. Not only has she served once previously on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, but she also has served twice on the NCAA Presidents' Council, a body which preceded the creation of the Board of Directors. She first served on the council while president of the State University of New York at Geneseo and served again later as president of UNLV.