Nicole Thomas (Music) has been accepted to the Houston Grand Opera Young Artist Academy for summer 2015. A mezzo-soprano, she was accepted from a highly completive field of more than 1,000 singers. Singers are chosen by videotaped audition and recommendation only. The first UNLV student to be accepted into this program, she also was Nevada's first…

UNLV Jazz Studies (Music) saw its performing groups invited to compete at the 58th annual Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival -- the sixth consecutive year that UNLV groups have received an invitation. The festival, which draws top student musicians from around the world, will take place this month in Monterey, Calif. UNLV's students will…

Linda Lister, Stephanie Weiss, Lillian Roberts, Xavier Brown, and Cheyna Alexander (all Music) of UNLV Opera won in two categories at the National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition, which took place at the national convention in Greensboro, N.C. in January. UNLV Opera won in both the graduate and musical theatre divisions.

Anthony LaBounty (Music) made his compositional debut at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 25 with the world premiere of "Psalm 92," an original work for wind symphony commissioned by Travis Pardee, director of the Foothill Wind Symphony.

UNLV Opera was named a finalist in the National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition, which takes place in Greensboro, N.C., in January. UNLV Opera is a finalist in both the graduate and musical theatre divisions.

Aurore Giguet (Marjorie Barrick Museum) recently was elected to the Nevada Museums Association's Board of Directors.

Linda Lister (Music) is the 2014 winner of The American Prize in Directing, for Sancta Susanna and Suor Angelica. She was selected from applications reviewed this summer from across the United States. The American Prize is a series of new, non-profit competitions unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing…

Jennifer Bellor (Music) wrote a composition, "Noir," which won the 2014 Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra National Composition contest. It will be performed in Seattle on Nov. 4, featuring Grace Kelly on alto saxophone.

Richard Havey (Dance) took nine students from the bachelor of fine arts (BFA) dance program to perform in Kiel, Germany, at an international dance festival in June. He taught jazz dance workshops and the students performed his choreography and their own student works from April's BFA student concert. He also taught in Frankfurt/Stuttgart and at…

Louis Kavouras (Dance) wrote a chapter case study illustrating the building of an assessment culture on campus for the recently published Assessment in Creative Disciplines: Quantifying and Qualifying the Aesthetic. The chapter is centrally placed with seven illustrations and is used as an example of excellent assessment.

Linda Lister (Music) was named one of six semi-finalists for The American Prize in Directing. In addition, UNLV Opera's production of Suor Angelica/Sancta Susanna was selected as one of six semi-finalists for The American Prize in Opera Performance (university division). Winners were to be announced in July.

Berenice Chavez (Film) won two Pacific Southwest Student Emmy Awards in June. The awards were presented during a ceremony in San Diego. Her film, North to Paradise,won in the category of long-form documentary, while her film, Passing the Torch,won in the craft of editing category. Both projects were created in UNLV's film program. She has been…