Brian Sandoval
I’ve been President for four years. I’ve committed to working very closely with Reno, the Washoe County Commission, the town of Sparks, and all of Northern Nevada to emphasize what we have here. I grew up in Northern Nevada. I grew up in Sparks and went to grade school and high school at this incredible university. It was a wonderful place to grow up, and I’m proud of this community. A great university needs a great city, and a great city needs a great university. It’s rare to have the proximity of a university to downtown Reno and then have the two grow up together. The first building was built in 1885, overlooking all of downtown Reno. This university grew up on a hill overlooking the city for everyone to admire and is just an example of what we can aspire to. This should be a university town where people are proud of this campus and what it is and the opportunity for their sons and daughters to come here and get an incredible education.
This is a destination where students can become whatever it is they dream about being, have an incredible experience, feel safe, make lifetime friends, and get mentored by some of the best faculty in the United States of America. This is a great place, and I’ve said over and over again that it shouldn’t be a secret anymore, a well-kept secret. This university’s future is growing south into downtown Reno. If I had a magic wand, I would create a university district. Working with the city, we renamed Center Street from the Truckee River forward to the University Way. I would love to see restaurants, student housing, faculty housing, and graduate student housing on both sides, east and west of that street, where all the community comes from. This is something you’ll see in a lot of great cities where there are these districts. The city has made a lot of investments through the years to make it a beautiful place where people, again, can recreate and eat and just go for a walk and what have you. When we were in high school, everyone used to cruise Maine, and there was all this activity, and I can see that happening again.
My wife Laurelyn and I are Going downtown to the restaurants, special events, hot August nights, and everything happening. If you haven’t been downtown for a long time, I would encourage people to give it another opportunity because they’ll be pleasantly surprised. It is becoming more dynamic, and with a little more investment and confidence, we’ll have a downtown Reno that everyone will be proud of and seek to come to.