Steve Marcus

University of Nevada Reno President Marc Johnson listens to a question during an editorial board meeting at the Las Vegas Sun offices Tuesday, April 1,2014.

By Sun Staff (contact)

Sunday, April 20, 2014 | 2 a.m.

UNR President Marc Johnson sat down with the Suns editorial board earlier this month. A wide-ranging discussion included talk about improving the states education system, the proposed medical school at UNLV, attaining the top Carnegie Foundation classification and the states north-south rivalry. Heres a condensed version of the discussion:

Whats the elevator pitch you would tell somebody who is considering going to UNR or giving to it?

The University of Nevada, Reno is a high-performing institution, a national merit sponsoring and access institution, really putting a balanced approach to undergraduate and graduate education, research and community engagement with the entire state.

How do you compare UNR? Are there peers?

The peers we choose are those institutions in our neighboring states that are balanced between an arts and science mission and a service mission, and theyre very high research and theyre U.S. News and World Report top-tier schools. So, we compare ourselves to University of Oregon, University of Utah, University of New Mexico and the University of Arizona. Oregon State and Washington State are good peers as well, and you always select a group of peers that generate a challenge. Those generate a challenge, and we expect to grow.

How do you think you match up to those?

Read the rest here:

School president sees UNR, UNLV as complementary, not competitors