Nevada State College Announces Largest Graduating Class in History

Nevada State College announced its spring 2023 graduating class has 895 students who will earn degrees in psychology, business, education, speech-language pathology, criminal justice, and nursing.

Founded in 2002, Nevada State College has 7,162 students in its undergraduate and master’s programs. Seventy-seven percent of its student population comes from a culturally diverse background and 56% of the population are first-generation students. Since 2020, Nevada State College has seen a significant increase in the Hispanic graduation rate climbing from 20% to 34% in 2022. Following spring commencement, the college will surpass 7,700 alumni.

“We are proud of Nevada State’s continued growth and expansion over the past two decades and our 900 students graduating this spring,” says Nevada State College President Dr. DeRionne Pollard. “The diversity of our student population continues to grow, and we are proud to serve and provide quality and affordable higher education to our diverse student body with a majority of students of color, first-generation, immigrant, non-traditional and transfer students.”

The growing nursing program will have 358 graduates this spring. The School of Education will have 151 graduates this year, a 70% increase compared to five years ago. To help address Nevada’s teacher shortage, Nevada State is supporting teachers in the education program this year with fully covered tuition through a $3 million grant from CCSD.

The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents recently passed a vote to rename Nevada State College to Nevada State University. The Nevada State Legislature will vote on the renaming during the current legislative session and would take effect July 1, 2023 if passed.