UNLV football legend Randall Cunningham returns to complete his degree

Randall Cunningham, perhaps UNLV's most accomplished football player ever, is graduating with a bachelor's degree in recreation. The record-breaking quarterback and punter was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1985 and spent 16 seasons in the NFL. He went on to appear as an analyst for NFL telecasts and to release a book, I'm Still Scrambling, in 1993. Additionally, he is an ordained minister and serves as senior pastor at Remnant Ministries, a nondenominational church. Still the career passing and punting leader at UNLV, Cunningham recently returned to his alma mater to continue the education he began almost 20 years ago. (Note: Cunningham will be available for interviews on Dec. 20 at 3 p.m. on the floor of the Thomas & Mack Center.)

Reservist called to duty twice during education, but graduates with UNLV law degree

James M. Davis was called to military duty not once but twice while pursuing his law degree at UNLV. As an Air Force reservist, he was sent to train for deployment in Kosovo in 1999 and was then deployed in the Middle East after 9/11. After the two delays, he was able to return to full-time legal studies in fall 2003 and is now graduating from the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Twenty-year-old film student to graduate summa cum laude

Chelsea Randall entered UNLV in fall 2002 as a sophomore after graduating high school as valedictorian with 35 college credits. During her time at UNLV, the film studies student has made several films, won awards, and produced an original teen soap opera. In her spare time, Randall teaches tap dancing and beginning Spanish, and tutors five children in all school subjects on a regular basis. She will graduate from UNLV summa cum laude - at age 20 - with a bachelor's degree in film studies.

Hotel administration Ph.D. student juggles variety of activities

While pursuing her doctorate in hotel administration, Jocelina Santos has received more than 20 awards or honors, presented nine conference papers, authored or coauthored 12 scholarly articles, attended 18 conferences, and participated in more than 40 different types of service on campus. Perhaps her most active service role was as president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association. During this time of productivity, Jocelina persevered through adversity as well: This year, both her mother and sister-in-law passed away. Despite her losses, Jocelina has remained committed to completing her degree.

Honors College student gets air time on "Dateline" and other television programs

Brandi Powell will receive a bachelor's degree in communication studies with a minor in Spanish. An Honors College student, she has a record of outstanding academic achievement at UNLV and will graduate cum laude. In addition to pursuing her academic interests at UNLV, Brandi gained some exciting "real world" broadcast journalism experience when she landed internships with "Dateline NBC" in New York City, as well as at the CBS-affiliate here in Las Vegas. Additionally, she took an internship with Univision, a Spanish-language media company, at the Republican National Convention.

Commitment drives former single mother of five to finish her degree

Carol Randall will graduate from UNLV with a bachelor's degree in psychology. An Honors College student, Carol has a 3.96 GPA at UNLV and has conducted important research in psychology laboratories on campus on bipolar disorder and on memory and attention. She is an outstanding student by all accounts. But Carol's story is as much about her commitment to her education as it is about her academic achievement. After becoming a single mother of five children - all under the age of 8 - she decided to attend college, first obtaining an associate's degree and now her bachelor's. While attending college, she also studied for and passed the legal portion of the electrical contractor licensing test; this enabled her to perform bookkeeping duties for the electrical contracting business she started with her new husband.

Earthquakes inspire Honors College student to study geoscience, conduct research

Shelley Zaragoza will graduate summa cum laude from UNLV with a degree in geoscience. A California native, Shelley experienced her first earthquake at age seven and became fascinated by earthquakes and geology. As a result, she entered the geoscience program at UNLV in 1999 and has worked as part of an interdisciplinary team on the Las Vegas Valley Seismic Response Project in an effort to analyze the Las Vegas basin for earthquake hazard. This involved deploying instruments in three seismic experiments performed in the area, as well as installing and maintaining measurement devices in Clark County schools for the Nevada K-12 seismic network. Her work in this field has increased our understanding of strong ground motion hazard for the Las Vegas Valley from seismic activity.

Ph.D. student excels in research on Renaissance dramatist and poet Ben Jonson

Michael Stamps has compiled a very distinguished record of scholarship during his work at UNLV. His paper at the 2001 Sixteenth-Century Studies Conference was selected as the Outstanding Literature Paper of the entire conference. About 500 individuals (most of them seasoned scholars, not graduate students) presented papers at this conference, so this was an outstanding achievement. Michael has also been, throughout most of his graduate career, the managing editor of the Ben Jonson Journal, a very highly regarded journal in the field of English Renaissance Studies, which was founded and is housed at UNLV. He will return to Las Vegas for commencement despite having already moved to Pennsylvania to take a professorial appointment at Kutztown University.