Several faculty said that they observed that over the past few years that the new faculty members had a strong research orientation and were trained at institutions with research missions. Both new and established faculty members reported mixed messages from administrators as to what the implications were of the institution's desire to move into the research university category of the Carnegie Classification while becoming more student centered. Some expressed the view that the second Strategic Goal, to attract and reward superior faculty, could well work at cross purposes with attempts to enhance the quality of undergraduate education. Such tensions are not new to the academy, of course, but for a growing, rapidly developing institution such as UNLV in an adolescent stage of development, this can be particularly challenging. And for new faculty the mixed messages can be especially disconcerting.
Senior administrators say that teaching is very important.
This points to the need to make certain newcomers are given accurate information about the student body and instructional support for working with under-prepared students and others who may lack focus in their studies.