Fellowship honoring Rob Lang will support grad student researching vulnerable youths
Rob Lang, a renowned public policy expert in Southern Nevada, may have died in June 2021, but his legacy won’t soon be forgotten. You can drive around Las Vegas and see the fruits of his labor everywhere, from UNLV’S Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine to Allegiant Stadium — two projects on which Lang consulted. UNLV, where Lang was a longtime professor, is looking to raise some of the next “Rob Langs,” and the university has found its first of many.
In February, Mallory Constantine was named the first recipient of the inaugural Robert E. Lang Memorial Fellowship, a fund created last year through UNLV’S Brookings Mountain West and The Lincy Institute think tanks to honor Lang.
“It’s just going to be terrific to see these students getting their doctoral degree and getting out there and changing things that need to be changed,” said William
Brown Jr., director of the UNLV Brookings Mountain West.
“That’s who Rob Lang was and what he did, and there couldn’t be a more appropriate way to recognize him and continue what he was committed to do.”
The fellowship, which is available to graduate students, provides tuition and financial support to students to help fund their research projects and other aspects of schooling. Constantine, who will begin her sixth year of a doctorate program in clinical psychology in the fall, competed against a handful of other applicants for the inaugural fellowship.
Constantine’s research focuses on chronic absenteeism and child maltreatment with a special focus on how to provide intervention for vulnerable youths within education, she said. It’s something her primary research adviser, Dr. Christopher Kearney, has great expertise in and is a connection that Constantine realized can greatly affect a child’s life.
Constantine hopes local leaders and policymakers will utilize her findings to provide support to children in the foster care system.
“I was really excited that (the fellowship) was focusing on public policy,” Constantine said. “That’s one of my primary aims with my dissertation is to be able to provide some very targeted public policy recommendations, to be able to provide that support for some of our most vulnerable populations.”
Constantine first heard about the fellowship through UNLV’S Graduate College, and she began the process to apply — one that involved multiple references and an impactful letter of application about candidates’ research, Brown said.
Being a graduate student having to balance academics, research and life out
“It’s just going to be terrific to see these students getting their doctoral degree and getting out there and changing things that need to be changed. That’s who Rob Lang was and what he did, and there couldn’t be a more appropriate way to recognize him and continue what he was committed to do.”
William Brown Jr., director of the UNLV Brookings Mountain West
side of UNLV can be costly, according to Constantine. But the fellowship offers her a support system to help take off some of that weight.
“It’s no secret that graduate school is quite costly, and oftentimes, even though we are compensated, it feels like it’s not enough because we’re trying to support our entire life, as we’re going through (school),” Constantine said. “This funding for me, in particular, is going to really allow me to not have to worry as much about how I’m going to be able to provide for myself and my family, and be able to dedicate that extra time toward my research.”
For Constantine, dedicating more time to her research will mean doing more assessments with children in at-risk youth shelters, such as Child Haven, and scouring for more in-depth research on public policy in the state.
All of these efforts will culminate with her dissertation, which she’ll defend in front of a panel next spring. She hopes to present her research publicly once it is approved.
The research then will be available for everyone to view on UNLV’S website, and Constantine will begin looking for opportunities to bring her research before policymakers to help them make informed changes like Lang did, Brown said.
Lang, who died from cancer, had been a resident of Las Vegas since 2010. He led Brookings Mountain West and The Lincy Institute following a stint as a professor in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs at UNLV.
Lang was known for his strategic economic roadmap that detailed what he believed were necessary additions to elevate Las Vegas from a tourism-reliant city to multifaceted community able to compete with other large regional places like Los Angeles.
He initially proposed that Las Vegas needed a medical school, publicly funded major-league sports stadium, the elevation of UNLV to top-tier research status, the buildout of Interstate 11 from Phoenix through Las Vegas and development of a light rail system.
It’s this vision of Lang’s that helped lead to the establishment of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, Allegiant Stadium and UNLV achieving Carnegie R-1 status as a research institution in his 11 years here.
Brown said the Lang graduate student fellowship was established last year to honor his legacy and help produce the next generation of students to study large metropolitan areas and public policy in Southern Nevada.
“A lot of times people think, in academia, you write your book, or you write your article, and it sits in a database somewhere, but we’re trying to follow Rob Lang’s lead in this and find individuals who have the ability to make things change to make our communities better places to go to school, or work,” Brown said.
Constantine understands she’s following in Lang’s footsteps, which felt a little intimidating after she had researched all Lang had done for Southern Nevada. It doesn’t help that bouts of impostor syndrome — the thought that a person doesn’t have the necessary skills or talent to succeed and has only achieved them through luck — she experiences as a graduate student occasionally turn up.
She will officially begin receiving fellowship funding — which will be drawn from donations made to the fellowship — in August when the next academic year begins. Research will be her priority for the next year, and once she has completed her doctorate in August 2024, Constantine will be off to secure a career.
Although she has yet to find the perfect post-graduation role for her, Constantine wants to stay in Nevada and give back to the community in which she grew up.
“Following in (Lang’s) footsteps feels a little intimidating just because of all the many wonderful things that he did, specifically for the southwest in the state of Nevada,” Constantine said. “In terms of where I see myself in the future, realistically, I hope to be serving the people in Nevada (because) Nevada means a lot to me.”