UNLV track and field coach Larry Wade coaches boxer Shawn Porter on strength and conditioning at the UNLV track in Las Vegas, Monday, April 10, 2017. (Elizabeth Brumley Las Vegas Review-Journal) @EliPagePhoto
Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock discusses his experiences in working with new UNLV athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois and why she’s the right fit to lead the charge for the Rebels.
Ed Graney, Gilbert Manzano and Mark Anderson from the Review-Journal discuss Desiree Reed-Francois taking over as the new athletic director at UNLV.
On Tuesday, April 18, 2017, UNLV introduced Desiree Reed-Francois as their new athletic director.
1. UNLV has offered the vacant athletic director position to Virginia Tech deputy athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois. According to multiple sources close to the situation, Reed-Francois and UNLV were close to finalizing a deal on Friday. She won over the search committee with her ability to market and raise funds, and her vast experience in many areas. One source said she checked off a lot of boxes with her leadership qualities, law degree, hiring of coaches and NFL experience, including a job as a legal associate for the Oakland Raiders.
2. While the housing market in Las Vegas has improved, the Valley still suffers from widespread squatter problems in recent years. Squatters are enabled by thousands of vacant homes that still have some functioning utilities, and the use of fake leases. Most utility companies don’t force all customers to prove they are the rightful owners or tenants from the beginning of service, and instead only acquire the information after delinquent payments.
3. And follow a gallon of water from Lake Mead to the farthest tap in the Las Vegas Valley. The journey from Lake Mead to Summerlin requires a lot of infrastructure, energy and engineering. Pick up a copy of today’s paper or visit reviewjournal.com to read more.
Fresno State finished UNLV’s run in the Mountain West conference tournament, besting the Rebels 95-82.
The Runnin’ Rebels season came to an end when Fresno State defeated them in the Mountain West tournament 95-82.
UNLV students held a rally on campus to express frustration with the school in terms of inclusiveness for all minorities and the lack of funding for resources that could promote a more diverse student environment.
Between the ages of eight and 14, Clarice Tara lived under an umbrella of mental abuse from her mother’s boyfriend. At 14, she left to live with her father, whose abuse of drugs drove Clarice to forms of self-abuse herself.
After marrying at 20, her husband joined the army, and they moved to Texas. But after his return from a tour in Iraq, he became verbally and physically abusive. Cutting away from him, she set out to find some semblance of peace.
She apprenticed at a tattoo shop for 6 months, where a resident tattoo artist had her sit at a desk and draw human portraits over and over. During that time it became clear she wanted to do art for life.
She credits the Las Vegas art community for allowing her to thrive and grow as an artist.
“This art community seems to be elevating each other instead of there being this competition,” she says.
This fall is her second year at UNLV where she is working on her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts. Her main project is a series of portraits called “The Weight”. She arranges for friends to meet with her, talk about a time in their life when they felt a heaviness from suffering, and then asks them to pose in a way that they feel best shows where they are mentally at in handling the weight of the situation. She then photographs them, and later draws their portrait with pencil or colored pencil.
She recently began putting the portraits on mirrors. “The viewer is just as important if not more important than the artwork itself,” she says. It was important that viewers see the subjects in these drawings as experiencing a “weight” that she believes is universal. Her greatest goal is to connect viewers to that idea and receive some level of peace from that camaraderie.
“We all suffer alone but we’re not alone in that suffering,” she says. “Instead of dwelling on that heaviness, I had to see it as something as this is going to lift me up this is going to give me strength.”
The heaviness, she says, is usually circumstantial, and when you get through it, it becomes a source of strength. In the meantime, connecting with others assuages the pain.
You can find her work on Facebook at “The Art of Tara” and on Instagram @claricetara. Beginning in December an exhibit of her work will be displayed at Jana’s RedRoom in the Arts Factory in Las Vegas.
UNLV students and athletes paint the Fremont Cannon red Monday morning in front of the Student Union. UNLV took possession of the trophy after beating UNR 23-17 on Saturday in Reno in the Battle for the Fremont Cannon.
UNLV Coach Tony Sanchez, Quarterback Blake Decker and Defensive Back Peni Vea talk about the first game and upcoming season.
Students, faculty and gun violence prevention activists rallied at UNLV to oppose Nevada state bill AB148 that would allow guns on campus.
UNLV head football coach Bobby Hauck takes the ALS ice bucket challenge.
Head coach Bobby Hauck talks about the upcoming season from UNLV’s training camp in Ely.
Bill Rhoda, owner of the consulting company working on a proposed stadium for UNLV, discusses differences between UNLV’s project and stadiums that his company has worked on previously.