Alumni E-Newsletter - Summer 2009
Rebels in Action: Bruce Hendricks
Stepping Up to Make the Plea for UNLV
By Greg Lacour
Bruce Hendricks knew what he had to do.
Hendricks had supported UNLV in the usual ways — volunteering on boards, supporting scholarships, promoting the university to the business community — things he thinks all alumni should do. This spring, however, was different.
With Nevada facing a crushing budget shortfall, Gov. Jim Gibbons proposed a 36-percent reduction in funding for higher education. Hendricks hit the road. He traveled to Carson City to help make a pitch — a plea, really — to legislators: Don’t do this.
"We argued that the cuts proposed would just destroy higher education in Nevada," Hendricks said.
In late May, the crisis appeared, at least temporarily, to have passed. Legislators approved a $781 million tax increase and $6.8 billion in spending; Gibbons vetoed the budget bill, but legislators had enough of a majority to override the vetoes.
"I’m not a fan of taxes," said Hendricks, 58, the CEO of Bank of Nevada and 1977 graduate in education. "But in this economy, if you cut a university’s budget by 30 to 40 percent, you've essentially gutted higher education."
Legislators still ended up cutting more than $1 billion in state services, and Nevada’s fiscal future remains precarious — which is why, more than ever, Hendricks is trying to push alumni to contribute not just their money but also their time and energy to the university.
A Home in Nevada
The Phoenix native’s association with UNLV began when it wasn’t yet UNLV. In 1968, the school was still Nevada Southern University, a small, regional adjunct to its more established sibling in Reno.
He entered a bank management training program while still an undergraduate and balanced working with his studies until he earned his degree. Afterward, he settled in Las Vegas, as so often is the case with new graduates. A strong university, he said, is key to filling the business community’s work force needs.
Hendricks joined the UNLV Alumni Association, eventually becoming its president in 1989. He’s especially proud of the association’s involvement in the 1990 opening of the Richard Tam Alumni Center.
Recently, he spent three years on the UNLV Foundation fundraising committee, which he said helped him realize why raising money from alumni can be hard. UNLV currently is working to raise an unprecedented $500 million through the Invent the Future campaign.
"It’s still such a young university with a very young alumni base," Hendricks said. "That’s been a big part of the challenge, to communicate with alumni and look for ways for them to continue to be involved in the life of the university."
As it happens, Hendricks is no longer the sole alumnus in his family. One of his two daughters, Stacey Chambliss, graduated in 2006 and works as UNLV’s conference housing coordinator.
"I feel it’s an excellent university that’s just beginning to develop as an extensive research university," he said. "I just have a passion for how this university can impact the community, in everything from the cultural arts to better qualified people for our bank to hire."