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Southern Nevada colleges and universities are switching more in-person classes to a remote format for the fall semester amid high COVID-19 metrics, frustrating some students who were counting on a nearly full return to campus.

Danica Hays will become the 51�ԹϺ��� College of Education’s permanent dean after filling the job on an interim basis for nine months. The change will take effect July 1, the university announced Thursday.

51�ԹϺ��� is no longer requiring masks on campus for people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The university says the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) adopted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest mask guidelines.

Nevada’s public higher education system announced Thursday that face masks are now optional on campuses for those who are fully vaccinated, prompting 51�ԹϺ��� to immediately announce it will drop its current requirement.

With just two weeks to go before the end of the 2021 legislative session, state lawmakers boosted the Nevada System of Higher Education’s (NSHE) budget with the allocation of more than $93 million in federal COVID relief dollars aimed at lifting a system-wide hiring freeze.

51�ԹϺ��� announced Friday that Boyd Law School Dean Dan Hamilton will leave the school June 30 to focus on “pressing family matters.”

51�ԹϺ��� employees have been strained and overextended during the pandemic, but flexibility saved the day, according to a survey conducted earlier this year.

In a surprise reversal Friday, 51�ԹϺ��� President Keith Whitfield announced that the university was planning in-person commencement ceremonies for 2020 and 2021 graduates to be held outdoors at Sam Boyd Stadium in late May.