Search Results

Lois Goodall, wife of the fourth president of UNLV, Dr. Pat Goodall, speaks with pride when recalling her early life, marriage, and involvement with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She grew up in Odessa, Missouri, with a father who was a farmer and a teacher mother, went to college to become a teacher, and her freshman year met a young sophomore gentleman by the name of Pat Goodall. They married and while Pat attended graduate school at the University of Missouri, she taught fifth grade. After Pat earned his Ph.D. they moved to Arizona State University, where he taught political science, and then to the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, and finally to UNLV. Lois, as the president's wife, enjoyed hosting various celebrities and faculty, was responsible for raising three children, and, miraculously, found time to earn her Master of Education degree in reading education and curriculum. She received her Master's hood from her husband, the president of the university, at her graduation. Expressing enthusiasm, Lois Goodall shows great delight in UNLV's growth and development. The university's Hotel Administration is second to none, and subsequent programs such as the addition of a law school imply maturity and expansion. She also admires the generosity and far sightedness of such individuals as Jerry Mack and Parry Thomas who not only funded the Thomas & Mack Center but purchased surrounding land so that the university could expand economically. Marjorie Barrick, another philanthropist, gave money for lectures benefiting faculty, students and community and also established the Barrick Scholar Award for students and Distinguished Scholar Award for faculty. As she describes the university's development, it is obvious that Lois Goodall remains one of UNLV's greatest supporters.

Dr. Robert Skaggs grew up around the St. Louis area. His father was a teamster with a milk delivery route, tried his hand at the restaurant business, and during WWII worked tor U.S. Cartridge. Several members of Dr. Skaggs's family were teachers, including his grandmother and a couple of aunts. Robert graduated trom Normandy High School and afterwards attended the Missouri School of Mines and majored in metallurgical engineering. He graduated in 1954 and went to work tor DuPont tor two years. He went to graduate school at Iowa State on an Atomic Energy Commission scholarship, and afterwards was hired by Standard Oil of California. During this time he met and married Anna Pedersen (1961) and moved to Minneapolis to work for Honeywell. Around 1966, Bob started teaching at the University of Kentucky. After a couple of years, he got wind of teaching opportunities at the Southern Division of the University of Nevada (now UNLV), and interviewed with Herb Wells. He and his family moved to Boulder City (1969) and he began teaching at what is now UNLV. He was involved in the work bringing accreditation to the engineering department, establishing a chapter for Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society, and building a master's and a PhD program. After a heart attack in 1975, Dr. Skaggs took a sabbatical from UNLV and did some team teaching at University of Arizona in Tucson with Ray Sierka. He returned to UNLV on a half time teaching basis, and also worked for the Bureau of Mines. He was again involved in accreditation preparations and stayed to graduate a PhD student in engineering. He looks upon his experiences at UNLV as very positive and delightful.

Dean of College of Science and Mathematics Robert Smith at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).