Former President of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Carol C. Harter is reflecting on her tenure at the school.
According to a university news release, Harter is the longest-serving president in the history of the university and made it a mission to leave a well-regarded legacy.
“In my very first speech I made to the faculty, I said, ‘We need to be the kind of major urban university that UCLA, or the other great institutions are — because we can do that,’” Harter said in the news release.
Among her accomplishments were the development of 17 new buildings, establishing over 100 new degree programs and spearheading the Invent the Future movement.
Harter served as president from 1995 to 2006.
“Just keep going, that’s my number one piece of advice. You know who you are, you’re in a position where your education is likely to be at a high level, there’s nothing you can’t do. And don’t let anybody stop you or say, ‘That’s not your job,’” she said.
The Brooklyn native said that it was her passion for literature that led her to pursue a career in academia.
“I read every single one of them, one end to the other. It was beautifully bound in gold and brown and green leather. I read Great Expectations and The Count of Monte Cristo and just many of the classic books that she had collected. I realized when I got to college that I had read many classics, that I had been educating myself,” she said.
