Great Basin College celebrates Pahrump graduates at commencement ceremony

Great Basin College put its Pahrump training pipeline on display at the Pahrump Nugget Hotel and Casino on Saturday, May 9, when graduates crossed the stage from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. after an 8 a.m. check-in. The ceremony was more than a campus celebration. It was a look at how Nye County is trying to build its own workforce through certificates, associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees aimed at high-demand careers.

Calvin Cowan served as the student commencement speaker, while NSHE Chair Byron Brooks, Regent Pete Goicoechea and Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Renée Davis were listed among the program’s guests. Great Basin College President Amber Donnelli, Vice President of Student Affairs Matt Aschenbrener, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Sarah Negrete and Pahrump Valley Center Director Christopher Salute were also named in the college leadership. The setting mattered as much as the ceremony itself: the Pahrump Valley Center operates at 551 East Calvada Blvd. in the heart of Nye County’s largest community.

For local employers, the real question is whether Pahrump graduates can help fill openings in healthcare, government and small business. Great Basin College says its programs are built for rural Nevada and that it serves students through campuses in Elko, Winnemucca, Ely and Pahrump, along with online options. That model gives students a way to earn credentials close to home, which is exactly the kind of setup that can feed a local labor market rather than drain it.

The college’s student government minutes show how much interest the ceremony drew. Organizers requested funding for 100 rental chairs for the Pahrump graduation after there was not enough seating the year before. That demand points to a growing base of students and families investing in local higher education, even as the county continues to need more trained workers.

Great Basin College said it awarded more than 500 degrees to 432 students in the class of 2024. NSHE reported nearly 14,000 graduates statewide in spring 2024 and just over 14,000 in spring 2025, underscoring how many students pass through Nevada’s commencement season each year. In Pahrump, the college’s role is narrower but more direct: it is producing graduates in the same community where many of them live, study and are most likely to work.

Great Basin College first added the Pahrump center to its service area in 2006, when the NSHE Board of Regents expanded the college into Nye County, and expanded again in 2014. Nineteen years later, the Pahrump ceremony showed the clearest local payoff of that decision: a homegrown pipeline that can help keep more trained workers in Nye County.