Nevada State University President DeRionne Pollard is stepping down, telling The Nevada Independent that she is taking a new role leading a national community colleges organization just a month after her four-year contract was renewed.

Pollard's last day as president will be July 31. Nevada State University (NSU) Chief of Staff and Strategy Amber Lopez Lasater will take over as the officer in charge. 

Pollard’s announcement comes about a month after the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) voted to renew her four-year contract and four months after former UNLV President Keith Whitfield announced he was stepping down. 

“It has been an honor and a privilege to have led this institution for four years, and to see that perhaps Nevada State University is no longer the best kept secret in Nevada,” she said in an interview. “It is an institution that is worthy of the recognition for the impact that it makes, the students it serves and most importantly, our future is so bright.” 

NSHE Chancellor Matt McNair said in a statement that Pollard’s leadership has “elevated the university’s role in the state and country.”

During a Monday interview, Pollard said she had not been hired for the position leading the American Association of Community Colleges when NSHE renewed her contract. She said she signed the contract for her new position Friday.

Pollard will be the first woman to lead the 105-year-old organization that advocates on behalf of more than 1,000 institutions and 10 million students across the country when she starts in September. 

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pursue a role that, I think, will have [a] very broad-based impact on the higher education space,” she said. “It's an opportunity, I think, to advocate in a space that will also hopefully benefit Nevada as well as the rest of the country.” 

She also shared her concerns on how the Trump administration’s policies will affect the university and its students, as well as her hopes for NSU’s future as it looks to expand its footprint outside of Henderson. 

Pollard’s legacy

In 2021, Pollard became eighth president of Nevada State University, the Henderson-based institution founded in 2002 that serves more than 7,000 students. She became the first Black woman to permanently lead any institution within the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Pollard took over from Bart Patterson, the institution's longest-serving president, who announced he would not seek a contract renewal after leading the college for nearly 10 years. Prior to coming to Nevada, Pollard led Maryland’s largest community college, Montgomery College, for about nine years. 

One of Pollard’s most notable accomplishments was successfully transitioning Nevada State from a college to university, but she said not much has changed for her students and staff since the conversion two years ago. 

She said the change was more about making sure Nevada State’s name reflected its mission as a four-year institution that offers more than 40 programs of study for undergraduates and graduate students and is engaged in workforce development. The change, she said, helped eliminate any confusion about the campus being seen as a two-year institution or private college but rather as a “mid-tier institution,” separate from the state’s community colleges and UNLV and UNR, both of which have been recognized as R1 institutions for their high level of research. 

“I think we used this as an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves to the community in a way that was very intentional, and I'd like to say that it has resonated deeply,” she said. 

Trump administration

Earlier this year, the Trump administration cut about 40 grants totaling nearly $40 million at UNLV and UNR. 

A university spokesperson said in a statement that had a federal grant terminated resulting in the loss of one full-time position and an hourly position. 

“We will continue to evaluate the potential impacts of the most recent federal spending bill as well as other federal actions,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Pollard nonetheless said she’s worried about  how the administration’s recently approved spending bill, which included significant cuts to health care and nutrition programs, could affect the state’s ability to fund higher education.

“We know that that will trickle to the states, and oftentimes states, when they happen to make very difficult decisions around insurance for underserved or vulnerable populations … where they typically also have some concerns and look to draw money from would be from higher education,” she said. 

Historically, higher education budget cuts result in tuition increases, decrease in state and instructional financial aid for students and sacrificing support services such as food pantries, transportation and child care. 

NSU’s future

Nevada State University is embarking on a new chapter this year with the launch of its athletics department, which will include women’s flag football and men’s track and field — programs not currently offered in Nevada at the collegiate level. She said there’s a number of high schools in the area that already have girls flag football programs. The Scorpions will be able to cheer for their new teams as early as spring 2026. 

“We know our niche,” Pollard said. “We're not going to be a D1. We're not trying to replicate what you see at UNLV or UNR.” 

Leading the new department will be the university’s inaugural athletics director, Yvonne Wade, who served as an athletics director and assistant athletic director at the College of Southern Nevada and director of track and field and cross-country at UNLV. She started earlier this month. 

Pollard said NSU leadership and alumni have long been asking for an athletics department. It also made sense to keep up with the rest of the region as it becomes more sports-centric. 

“If we were not active in sports, that means that we're being left behind and we don't want our students to be left behind,” she said. “We want to be an active participant in the economy of our region.”

Aside from sports, NSU is setting its sights on expanding its footprint and working to develop a three-story, 30,000-square-foot satellite campus in North Las Vegas’ downtown area.

The university is still deciding what programs will be offered there, but Lopez Lasater said the new building will include student support services such as financial aid, enrollment and tutoring. 

North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown said in a statement that the partnership “will leave a lasting legacy that will open doors for generations.”

The university is also partnering with the City of Las Vegas to establish a center in the medical district that would be focused on juvenile health care education and provide clinical services to youth. 

“We're looking to continue all of the good work that has already been done, and then to build on it,” Lopez Lasater said. 

Updated at 12 p.m. on 7/16/25 to add statements from chancellor and North Las Vegas mayor and at 5:45 p.m. to note federal cut impact.