Fire Science Academy, University of Nevada

Gary has been involved in many facets of fire fighting, emergency response, and program management  During his career, Gary also worked for the Nevada Department of Transportation and the Nevada Department of Wildlife. Gary Zunino, Director, UNR FSA, has announced his retirement from State Service effective July 26, 2010. Gary joined the FSA staff in 2003 as a Program Development Specialist and was promoted to the position of Director in 2005. Over his 30 years of service to the State of Nevada, Gary has been involved in many facets of fire fighting, emergency response, and program management at multiple Nevada state agencies. Prior to becoming part of the FSA staff, Gary was the Northern Regional Manager for the Nevada Division of Forestry. During his career, Gary also worked for the Nevada Department of Transportation and the Nevada Department of Wildlife. “It has been a pleasure to work with the staff, clientele and community members of the FSA for the past seven years. Being part of such a vital institution not only to Northeastern Nevada but the Nation as a whole has been an extremely rewarding time in my career with the State of Nevada.” The FSA has been actively recruiting for Gary’s replacement since his announcement. The search committee is comprised of individuals from the University, the Elko community and client stakeholders and is being chaired by University Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, Tim McFarling. Client representatives include Les Miller, Safety and Emergency Response Supervisor, ConocoPhillips and Mike Wang, Manager, Legal and Cross-Regional Issues, Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA). Community members include Rob Stokes, Elko County Manager and Mike Hecht, City of Elko Fire Marshal. Additional committee members include Michaun Hayes, University Senior Budget Analyst, Buzz Nelson, retired University Associate VP for Facilities Management, Linda Bingaman, FSA Program Officer, Denise Baclawski, FSA Executive Director and Iris Hochschild, Search Coordinator. Final candidates for the position have been determined and the Fire Science Academy conducted personal interviews in the week of June 28th. The goal is to appoint a new Director by August 1st.  

Fire Science Academy has received more support for the FSP plan FSA vendors and clients have provided support through discounted or donated products, services and equipment.Approaching the midpoint of fiscal year 2010, a lot has happened regarding the Financial Sustainability Plan (FSP) the FSA Stakeholder group presented to the Board of Regents in February, 2009. Many of the stakeholders and high volume users have provided support for the FSP through pledges of donations and training surcharges. To date, the Fire Science Academy has received $395,000 in pledges of cash donations with an additional $500,000 pledged as surcharges. Many FSA vendors and clients have also provided support through discounted or donated products, services and equipment. This support includes catering discounts, parts and labor to repair Scott SCBAs, hazardous materials training suits, and valves for use on the FSA training field. Total vendor and client in kind donations and discounts are forecast to exceed $50,000 this fiscal year. Although the financial forecast presented in the FSP has been revised downward to reflect the realities of current economic conditions, the show of support has been outstanding. Continued support of the FSA and contributions to the FSP are more important than ever.

A change in schedule has been brought up for open enrollment courses  All updated policies were emailed and mailed to users of open enrollment courses.The Fire Science Academy has recently updated policies governing seats on hold, course review, "no show"students, and student cancellations, reschedules, substitutions and refunds. A copy of the updated policies were recently emailed or sent via standard mail to frequent users of the FSA Open Enrollment courses. The updates are available for review on  www.fireacademy.unr.edu. As part of the FSA's continuing efforts to enhance customer service, students will no longer need to contact the FSA to determine the status of the course(s) in which they are enrolled. After review, the FSA will contact students with their course status. Reviews will now take place 28 calendar days prior to the course date. This should provide students potential travel savings as they can now schedule their travel with a longer lead time. One change to note is the update to the seats on hold policy. Any on hold seats for which a completed registration has not been received 30 days prior to the class start date will now be released and not counted during the course review.