1960s
Keith Davis, '63 BS Zoology, retired after working for the U.S. government for 37 years. In June he will celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary. He is the father of three and the grandfather of five. His hobbies include fly fishing, hiking, and working out at the gym. He lives in Bend, Oregon.
1970s
Mac MacDonald, '71 BA Psychology, recently wrote two articles regarding experiences in Normandy, France. "Reflections from Normandy" has been published in various magazines, and he was among the speakers at a 70th-year D-Day ceremony in Carentan, France. The second, "The Lessons of World War I," was to appear in the Los Angeles Times to mark the 100-year anniversary of that conflict.
Steven Floyd Stucker, '71 BS Accounting, has been an attorney since graduating from Southern Methodist University Law School in 1974. He is married and has two grown children and several grandchildren. He enjoys photography, bicycling and sports and resides in Reno.
Earl N. Sheehy, '75 BS Hotel Administration, is the CEO of Ray County Memorial Hospital in Richmond, Missouri.
Marlon Beavers, '77 BS Hotel Management, worked in customer service for Delta Airlines from 1977-2008. His hobbies include reading and writing short stories. He has three children and seven grandchildren.
Randy A. Garcia, '77 BS Business Administration, the founder and chief executive officer of The Investment Counsel Co., was chosen the top financial advisor in Nevada and one of the Top 1,200 Financial Advisors in the nation by Barron's magazine. As a proud supporter of UNLV, he is an UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees member, UNLV Alumni Foundation member, and scholarship sponsor for the UNLV Foundation General Scholarship fund.
1980s
Larry Henley, '80 BA and '02 MA Theatre, has been the director of artistic production at the UNLV Performing Arts Center since 2002. He had previously worked at the UNLV PAC as facilities manager from 1988-2002 and as a theatre facilities specialist from 1986-88. He has also worked at Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs and as a freelance theatrical lighting designer with College of Southern Nevada, UNLV, West, Music Theatre of the Rockies, and Nevada Dance Theatre. He is married to Aura Elizabeth Wiley Henley, '81 BA Theatre, '92 MA Special Education, and has three children -- Brian, Kristen and Shannon. Additionally, he is a sports fan, especially of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a music fan.
David A. Hern?ndez, '81 BS Hotel Administration, was awarded the rank of professor emeritus and plans to retire in May after 21 years at the College of Southern Nevada, where he is director of the casino management program. His hobbies include traveling throughout Europe and Latin America, conducting gaming industry seminars, working on his cars, spending time with family, reading, and writing. He is married to Hope Hern?ndez, who attended UNLV when it was known as Nevada Southern. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in education from their native country, Cuba.
Charisse V. Ciambrone, '82 BA Sociology, '07 Master Education, teaches Nevada high school equivalency math in adult education at College of Southern Nevada as well as English as a second language. She has been married for 27 years and has two daughters. She lists her hobbies as reading, cooking, and working on her Ph.D. She published a thesis in 2007.
Tom Cook, '85 BS Hotel Administration, is the associate vice president of investments for Stifel Nicolaus, a brokerage and investment banking firm, in Hawaii.
1990s
Danny Salter, '91 BS Computer Science, retired from the U.S. Army after 26 years, most recently serving as lieutenant colonel at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. He is married to Linda with sons William and James. His hobbies include hiking and camping. He resides in Eagle River, Alaska.
Lynn Ann Marlett, '92 BS Nursing, '98 MS Nursing, has been a nurse practitioner at SMA Gastroenterology for 11 years. She has been married for 26 years with two daughters, who both attend college in Texas on softball scholarships. The Henderson resident is a member of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church and enjoys sewing, crafts, and scrapbooking.
R. Scott Barber, '93 BS Hotel Administration, is a 23-year veteran of the gaming industry, spending the initial eight years in Las Vegas and the past 15 years with Caesars Entertainment. He is a regional president overseeing the Horseshoe Tunica and Tunica Roadhouse properties in Mississippi, Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina, and Caesars Travel Management programs in Las Vegas. He serves on the boards of the Tunica Convention and Visitor's Bureau, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, and the United Way Mid-South. He is working on an MBA at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He lives in Germantown, Tennessee, with his wife and two children.
Scott Gulbransen, '95 BA Communication Studies, returned to Las Vegas to become global head of digital content at Haymon Boxing Management, which manages top fighters including Floyd Mayweather, Danny Garcia, and Shawn Porter. He manages all digital marketing for the company. He is married to Eliete Muniz, '96 BA Criminal Justice.
Tonya Jung Stagner, '96 BS Nursing, is adjunct faculty for nursing at University of Saint Mary. She earned her master's degree in nursing in 2008 from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and received board certification as a family nurse practitioner in 2008. She is married to an active duty U.S. Army officer with two children, two dogs and one cat and is currently posted to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her hobbies include reading, baking, cooking, and enjoying the culture of Indonesia. She is also active in International Military Attache Spouses Association.
Sarah Mason Thornton, '96 BA Communication Studies, launched Sarah Thornton Public Relations in 2007. Its current clients are in the law, renewable energy, medicine, real estate, retail, financial services, public affairs, and entertainment industries. She is a board member of the Colorado chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and vice president of programming for the International Association of Business Communicators Colorado. She is married and lives in Castle Rock, Colo.
Timothy Gupton, '97 BA Romance Languages, is assistant professor of Hispanic linguistics at University of Georgia. He recently published the monograph "The Syntax-Information Structure Interface: Clausal Word Order and the Left Periphery in Galician" with DeGruyter Mouton, a leading linguistics publisher.
Edward "Ted" Stringer III, '97 BS Finance, began a new position with Wells Fargo in March as vice president, operational risk consultant IV, supporting Consumer Credit Solutions. Primary responsibilities include supporting the lines of business with implementing the new regulatory compliance risk management policy.
Debra A. Worden, '97 BA Psychology, was employed as the director of veterans affairs for St. Clair County, Michigan, from 1998-2014 in addition to serving as director of veterans affairs for the County of Lapeer, Michigan, from 2005-14. She recently relocated to Utah to be near her two daughters and three grandchildren. She loves to golf, bowl, and watch football and baseball.
Dan Barry, '99 MA Ethics and Policy Studies, published his first memoir, Ready Aim Trust, which chronicles his 30 years of policing in Las Vegas, from working as an undercover cop at a high school to collaborating with the FBI. He is presently the chair of the College of Criminal Justice & Security at the University of Phoenix, Las Vegas campus. He enjoys volunteering with his church, visiting his children and eight grandchildren, exercising, and spending time with his wife, Allison.
2000s
Erin DeGloria Dustin, '00 BS Hotel Administration, owns the electrical subcontracting business MD Electric with her husband, Matthew Dustin. The company works primarily on the Strip in tenant improvements at hotel casinos and shopping malls. She has two daughters and her hobbies include hiking, mountain biking, gardening, off-road racing, and entertaining.
Amy Fiene, '01 BS Mechanical Engineering, is an associate at the law firm Workman Nydegger in Salt Lake City and focuses on patents and trademarks. Prior to law school, she was a patent manager at Actividentity and a biomedical researcher for Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital's Research and Development Center. She earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and graduated from J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.
Christopher Hinojos, '01 BA History, married Aisha Acosta on Oct., 18, 2014, at Las Vegas Country Club. He works as a regional sales manager for Apartments.com, a CoStar company.
Ian Zabarte, '01 BA Communication, works as an electrician at Bombard Electric and lives in Las Vegas.
Joseph Garrett, '02 BS Managerial Finance, '04 MS Accounting, has been promoted to partner of Rich, Wightman & Co., CPAs. He has been with the firm for over 11 years and practices in multiple areas including federal and state taxation, financial reporting, and strategic planning. He is a certified valuation analyst and a certified fraud examiner.
Kyle Konold, '04 Ph.D. Education, received Vegas Inc's 2014 Top Tech Exec Award in the education category. He is the founder and executive director of Delta Academy in North Las Vegas.
Timothy L. Anderson, '05 BFA Film, announced that his first feature film, Two Hundred Thousand Dirty, concluded its festival run at the Ankara International Film Festival in Turkey last year and enjoyed a select theatrical release in Italy, France, and the United States. The film, starring Coolio and Mark Greenfield, is available on various digital platforms including NetFlix, Hulu, and iTunes. More: www.200kdirty.com.
Cassandra Rohracker Mor, '04 BA Public Relations, is the owner/broker/property manager of The Mor Group Real Estate Services. She is married to Adi Mor, '01 BS Hotel Management, and has an amazing daughter, Mia Cassadi Mor. She says that her hobbies are cooking and eating. She lives in Henderson.
Kristi Dickinson, '05 MS Hotel Administration, has been named spa director for Mayflower Grace in Washington, Conn. Previously, she was the spa director at Montage Deer Valley in Park City, Utah, and prior to that at the Golden Door Spa in Telluride, Colorado.
Melissa Ritz, '06 BA Dance, '13 MFA Theatre Performance, received the Best Emerging Actress Award for her one-woman show "Journey of a Bombshell: The Ina Ray Hutton Story." She debuted her show with the United Solo Theatre Festival at Theatre Row in New York City, selling out all four performances. In March, she presented it at Las Vegas Little Theatre Studio Theater. She says that "I couldn't have accomplished this without the training I received at UNLV!" Prior to UNLV, she served in the U.S. Air Force and performed in its Tops in Blue show.
Heather Doane, '07 M.Ed. Health Promotion, owns and operates ZEROlevel Fitness and Wellness at McCarran International Airport, a facility for employees of the airport. Among the company's employees are three UNLV alumni and two current students. She also works as a fitness consultant on the design and layout of fitness and wellness facilities at corporate sites, multi-family housing, private training studios, physical therapy clinics, and other locations. Passionate about inspiring people to live healthy lives, she has been a personal trainer and fitness instructor for over 12 years and taught personal training courses at UNLV. She enjoys working out, reading, personal development, shooting baskets, and playing catch with the football.
Kerry J. Doyle, '07 J.D., opened his own law practice earlier this year in Las Vegas called Thunder Law, with a fellow Boyd graduate Tyler Crawford, '07 J.D. Prior to co-founding the law practice, Kerry practiced law in Las Vegas and Reno. He is married to Lisa O'Rourke Doyle, '08 Education, who is a former "Rebel Girl" and is a middle school English teacher.
Mark Johnson, '07 BS Biology, is owner-operator of LD Tours transportation, a charter bus company serving Las Vegas and the Southwest. He lives in Las Vegas.
Wiley Meade, '07 M.Ed. Sports Leadership, is in his 18th year in education as a high school science teacher. He is also a robotics, football, and track coach. Hobbies include outdoor adventure, real estate remodeling, fitness, and paintball. He and his wife, Ellen, live in Liberty, Missouri.
Renato N. Estacio, '08 MM Applied Music, was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez to the New Mexico Music Commission for the 2014-18 term. He also serves as interim music director with the Albuquerque Civic Chorus and started the Southwest Arts Group, which performs professionally a with the New Mexico Film Foundation and other groups. The Albuquerque resident is married and has two cats and a dog. Hobbies include meditating, coaching, singing, and mentoring.
John Gregory Green, '08 Ph.D. Civil Engineering, is a principal rail engineer for AECOM in its Chicago office; a plan commissioner on Village of Plainfield, Ill., Plan Commission; and chairman of American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-way Association (AREMA) Subcommittee 24-01 "Railway Engineer Development." He is married and has three sons - Matthew Henry who was born Jan. 13, 2015, John Gregory Jr., and Joseph William.
Ryan Hart, '08 BS Business Management, is a freelance camera assistant, operator, and photographer and lives in Henderson.
James Mulford, '08 BS Mechanical Engineering, worked as a civilian engineer for the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C., after graduation. After earning a master's degree in mechanical engineering with a focus in combustion from Georgia Tech in 2013, he took a position in Connecticut with a power plant construction company and then moved back to Washington, D.C., to work with the Navy on aircraft carriers.
Mihaela Neagos, '08 J.D., is a public defender in Las Vegas. Among her hobbies is running.
Veera Khare Asher, '09 DMA Voice Performance, joined the national faculty of the United States Sports Academy and is also the only member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association with a DMA and CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist). Beyond her work as a provider for Grammy MusiCares, she also sits on the committee Athletes and the Arts as an American College of Sports Medicine member. She says that "I want to thank my success to two UNLV faculty who continued to mentor me post-graduation: Dr. Carol Kimball (emerita) and Dr. Dean Gronemeier." She lives in Santa Monica, Calif.
2010s
Angela Brown, '10 BS Workforce Education, is a gaming lab assistant at College of Southern Nevada's department of hospitality management as well as a self-published author. She has been recognized for her poetry, including such works as "Unsung Words of Wisdom" and "Insolvency and the Cost of Sugar."
Brian Garcia, '10 BA Psychology, works for USA Today Sports and is part of the radio show "MMAjunkie Radio" on Sirius Sports Zone channel 92, which broadcasts weekdays from a studio inside the Mandalay Bay Race and Sportsbook. He recently went to Afghanistan as part of an Armed Forces Entertainment tour with UFC fighters Jake Ellenberger and Amir Sadollah and UFC cutman Jacob Stitch Duran. Their website recently won its fifth World MMA Award as "Best Media Source." He loves all sports but mainly focuses on mixed martial arts and UNLV men's basketball.
Matt Rumfield, '10 BS Mechanical Engineering, started work as a NASCAR Sprint Cup design engineer at Roush Fenway Racing in October 2014.
Lindsey A. Williams, '10 BS Business Administration, '14 J.D., joined Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as an associate in its Las Vegas office where she advises clients on the development, protection, and enforcement of intellectual property rights, technology transactions, and drafting and negotiation of intellectual property rights. Previously, she was managing editor of Nevada Law Journal and a teaching assistant at Boyd School of Law. She also served as an extern for the U.S. District Court Judge Philip M. Pro and clerked at Claggett & Sykes Law Firm in Las Vegas.
Therese Koelbaek, '11 BS Management, became an LPGA Tour rookie in 2015. After graduating, she played on the Symetra Tour, finishing 26th on the money list and making every cut in 2011. After contending with a back injury she competed a full season on the Symetra Tour in 2014 and then qualified for the LPGA Tour by finishing in a tie for 16th at the LPGA qualifying school. While at UNLV, the Denmark native was a two-time All-American. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Anthony Alegrete, '13 BS Marketing, published his first book, Rabbit in the Jungle, which traces his rise from the streets of Los Angeles, through the penal system, to the halls of academia and the competitive business world of Las Vegas. He is working on his second book, Back in the Jungle. He has recently been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing for a merchant services company based out of Los Angeles with offices now in Las Vegas.
Alexa Hayon, '14 BS Business, is currently the operations manager at ZEROlevel Fitness & Wellness, a facility for employees of McCarran Airport. The company is owned by fellow UNLV alumna Heather Doane, '07 M.Ed. Health Promotion.
Cally Martin, '14 BS Social Work, is employed at Catholic Charities as a case manager at St. Vincent Apartments transitional living, where she helps individuals transition from homelessness to permanent housing. She plans to get married in May and to start her master's degree in criminal justice at Arizona State University this fall.
Kandis McClure, '14 J.D., joined Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a policy analyst in the firm's government relations department, focusing on Nevada. Her background includes work in the public policy, political and health-care sectors. She earned her master's degree in public health, global health leadership from Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
Alyssa Rao, '14 BS Business Administration, is brand manager for the media company Crowd Siren. In May, she will begin managing its new Denver office. She specializes in content creation, social media management, campaign creation, and design. She says she loves all things outdoors, especially hiking and rock climbing, as well as travel, crafting, and do-it-yourself projects at home.
Nicolas Riell, '14 BS Kinesiology, currently works as a personal trainer and in front desk operations at ZEROlevel Fitness, a facility for employees of McCarran Airport. It is owned by alumna Heather Doane, '07 M.Ed. Health Promotion. He also contracts in private personal training. Previously, he worked at UNLV Student Recreation and Wellness Center as a fitness desk attendant and personal trainer. His hobbies include body building.
Obituaries
James Deacon, Distinguished Professor emeritus in the departments of environmental studies and biological sciences, died Feb. 23. He joined the UNLV faculty in 1960, retiring in 2002. He served as chair of the department of biological sciences and as founding director and later chair of the environmental studies department. A specialist in desert fishes, he played a major role in saving the tiny Devil's Hole pupfish from extinction. Two species of fish were named in his honor: the Spring Mountains springsnail (Pyrgulopsis deaconi) and Las Vegas dace (Rhinichthys deaconi). Among his survivors is his wife, Mary Dale Deacon, who formerly served as dean of UNLV Libraries.
David Holmes, who retired as a professor emeritus in 2009 after a 33-year career at UNLV, died Oct. 8, 2014, following a long struggle with Lewy body disease. During his time at UNLV he taught in multiple colleges, including the Harrah College of Hotel Administration and the College of Human Performance and Development. A native of Indiana, he was a world-class parachutist and a proud veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Brenda Mason, '74 BA Sociology and '77 MS Educational Psychology, died Feb. 18. She was the first African-American to serve on what today is known as the NSHE Board of Regents (1974-79). Born in Paris, Texas, she received a law degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.
Timothy McGlynn, '89 BS Business Administration, died suddenly Nov. 28, 2014. He was a resident of Canyon Lake, Calif.
Jack Lund Schofield, '95 Ph.D. Education, died March 14 at age 91. He was a member of the NSHE Board of Regents (2003-14). He earned his doctorate at the age of 72. He served in both the Nevada Assembly and the state Senate and was a decorated World War II veteran. Jack Lund Schofield Middle School is named in honor of the former school district teacher, coach, and administrator.
Tish Smyer, associate dean and professor of nursing, died Jan. 26. A faculty member since 2006, she also served as president of the Nevada State Board of Nursing. Under her leadership, UNLV's online graduate nursing programs were ranked sixth in U.S. News & World Report for 2014.
Jerry Tarkanian, famed coach of UNLV's Runnin' Rebel basketball team, died Feb. 11 at age 84. Under Tarkanian's leadership, the Rebels went to four Final Fours, bringing home the national championship in 1990 and setting the record for greatest margin of victory in a national men's basketball championship game by defeating Duke 103-73. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 in recognition of his achievements as a coach. That same year, a bronze statue of the towel-chomping "Tark the Shark" was installed outside the Thomas & Mack arena, where the court is also named in his honor.
William "Tom" White, emeritus professor of economics and founding dean of what today is the Lee Business School, died Feb. 5. He joined the UNLV faculty in 1967 and retired in 1986. Before coming to UNLV, he served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force.
