Two students preparing for a mock news segment

Greenspun College of Urban Affairs News

The Greenspun College of Urban Affairs is committed to creating contemporary solutions for resilient communities. Our academic programs focus on making effective public policy, creating support structures to meet behavioral and mental health challenges, ensuring cities are safe and prepared to meet emergency situations, effective and ethical journalism, and interpersonal and public communication strategies.

Current Urban Affairs News

Craig Hennigan
Business and Community |

UNLV political debate expert Craig Hennigan explores how candidates prepare for discourse.

UNLV alumna Aileen Pastor relaxes on a park bench on campus with her feet up
People |

Urban Affairs Alumna of the Year — and die-hard Rebel — Aileen Pastor parlays her internship into a career with the Regional Transportation Commission.

Las Vegas cityscape with UNLV in foreground
Research |

By learning resiliency techniques, law enforcement officers can better respond to the needs of the region's residents and tourists.

Undergrad researcher Benjamin Sabir helps H. Jeremy Cho examine an atmospheric water harvesting device. (Jeff Scheid/UNLV)
Campus News |

A monthly roundup of the top news stories featuring UNLV staff and students.

graphic with eight spokes to represent research areas
Campus News |

Through UNLV's interdisciplinary research areas, faculty are cooking up solutions to large-scale problems impacting Las Vegas, the Southwest, and beyond.

group of health sciences staff and students stand outside
Campus News |

The Top Tier initiative is aimed at unifying the university’s health sciences programs.

Urban Affairs In The News

KLAS-TV: 8 News Now

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and Nevada State Police are working on a first-of-its-kind partnership focusing on the mental health of troopers. It’s all about managing stress to improve their personal and professional lives.

Kill the DJ

In 2024, elections are set to take place in at least 64 countries, representing about 49% of the global population. That's a lot to fool. And this time, spreading like fire, AI technologies can potentially influence voters in ways we've never seen before.

Police1

The UNLV Tourist Safety Institute launched an eight-week emergency responder resilience program in August, designed to help Nevada State Police Highway Patrol officers improve their social and emotional wellness. The training focuses on mindfulness, emotional regulation, attention control, and maintaining effective interpersonal relationships to help officers manage the stresses of their profession.

Police1

The UNLV Tourist Safety Institute launched an eight-week emergency responder resilience program in August, designed to help Nevada State Police Highway Patrol officers improve their social and emotional wellness. The training focuses on mindfulness, emotional regulation, attention control, and maintaining effective interpersonal relationships to help officers manage the stresses of their profession.

Las Vegas Review Journal

I must respond to several writings of Review-Journal columnist Victor Joecks on climate change. In particular, Joecks recently argued that the lead culprit of the summer 2024 Las Vegas heat wave, peaking at 120 degrees, was the 2022 volcanic eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano. This is a misattribution.

Healthline

Addressing health misinformation online is a complex topic that is often framed as a battle between free speech and censorship. Some claim that restricting information about health topics violates the first amendment, while others argue that the government and social media platforms must do more to clamp down on false and potentially harmful health topics.

Urban Affairs Experts

An expert in crime science, crime prevention, and crowd management
An expert on social and digital media, and a recognized authority on the role of superheroes and comics books in society. 
An expert in free speech, the media, and First Amendment issues.
An expert on women and crime, social justice, intersectionality, re-entry, surveillance, violence, and victimization.
An expert in mental and behavioral health, youth and veteran homelessness, and social work.
An expert in competitive debate, policy debate, argumentation and persuasion, and presidential and political debates.

Recent Urban Affairs Accomplishments

Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies) presented a co-authored paper entitled "Collective Memory-Making of the January Insurrections in Brazil and the United States on YouTube" at the 10th conference of the International Journal of Press/Politics held at the University of Edinburgh. His co-authors were Raiana de Carvalho from…
Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies) presented a co-authored paper entitled "Collective Memory-Making of the January Insurrections in Brazil and the United States on YouTube" at the 10th conference of the International Journal of Press/Politics held at the University of Edinburgh. His co-authors were Raiana de Carvalho from…
Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies) with co-author Raquel Moreira from Southwestern University recently published "Invoking Ethnic Identity in the Service of Right-Wing Rhetoric: an Analysis of 2022 Latina Republican Candidates in South Texas" in Communication, Culture and Critique. In the article, they…
David R. Gruber (Communication Studies) published a book chapter titled "Material Forces in the Brain Sciences" in the "Routledge Handbook of Rhetoric and Power" edited by Nathan Crick. The chapter initially reviews the scholarly literature sitting at the intersection of the neurosciences and rhetorical studies and argues that three sub-areas have…
The National Academy of Public Administration has announced 42 new inductions for the 2024 Class of Academy Fellows, including professor Edgar E. Ramirez de la Cruz (Public Policy and Leadership). The National Academy of Public Administration is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, chartered by Congress in 1967 to provide expert advice to…
Brittani Sterling and Su Kim Chung (both Libraries) are the authors of a chapter, "We Need to Talk: Creating a University Library-Driven Series on the UNLV Campus to Address Systemic Racism" published in the book, Creating an Inclusive Library: Approaches for Increasing Engagement and Use with Students of Color. The chapter discusses how the…