Under the banner of Hot Tub Mimosas, Anthony Guidubaldi, ’10 BA English, ’15 MA Writing for Dramatic Media, and Keith Strausbaugh, ’13 MFA Screenwriting,  recently wrote, produced, directed, edited, and sold Marathon, a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary about runners, to Gravitas Ventures. The film features Kimia Behpoornia (from NBC sitcom Abby’s) and Las Vegas comedic stars from Cirque du Soleil, Absinthe, Second City, and Blue Man Group. Marathon was released in July 2021 on VOD platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube.  

Keith Strausbaugh, '13 MFA Screenwriting, working under the banner of Hot Tub Mimosas, along with Anthony Guidubaldi recently wrote, produced, directed, edited, and sold a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary about marathon runners to Gravitas Ventures. The film features Kimia Behpoornia (from NBC sitcom, Abby’s) and Las Vegas comedic stars from Cirque du Soleil, Absinthe, Second City, and Blue Man Group. Marathon is slated for release on VOD platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube.

UNLV alumni and longtime friends Jacob Lanning, ’00 BA Communications, ’05 MBA Finance, and his wife Lauren Lanning, ’09 MBA Marketing, and Michael Schlazer, ‘15 MBA, and Christina Schlazer, ’12 MS Health Physics, ’16 MBA Marketing, opened The NOW Massage Henderson in February 2021 in Henderson. The Lannings and the Schlazers were drawn to the idea that self care is a necessity and not a luxury, as well as the holistic business approach of The NOW.  The group plans to open more locations in the Las Vegas Valley.

Jessica Carroll Russell, '03 BS Education and '08 Master of Education, is the Ready To Learn coordinator at Vegas PBS. She won two Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards for her work as producer and writer on two original Vegas PBS children's programs, The Vegas PBS KIDS Writers Contest Presented by Janice Allen and Vegas PBS STEAM Camp. Hiking and kayaking are her hobbies.  

Kurt Hildebrand, '88 BA Communication Studies, editor of The Record-Courier in Gardnerville, was invited to participate in a critical thinking piece for Editor & Publisher magazine on the topic "Should Newsrooms Unpublish or Modify Old Crime Stories?"    

  Nick Tipping, ’03 Master Music Jazz Studies, received the 2021 Best Jazz Artist in the New Zealand Music Awards for his work with his band, The Jac. The band, which has been together for 10 years, has toured New Zealand and Australia and has appeared at the Jarasum Jazz Festival in South Korea. Currently living in his hometown of Wellington, New Zealand, Tipping also plays in the Wellington Mingus Ensemble, Rodger Fox Big Band, and periodically as a bassist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Wellington. Additionally, he is a presenter on Radio New Zealand. In 2016, he earned his Ph.D. in jazz studies/ethnomusicology from New Zealand School of Music.  

Elliot Dubin, '99 BS Hotel Administration, and his wife, Arti Barnes, welcomed the birth of their daughter, Dhara Lael Dubin, on April 13. She was born at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital at 1:04 a.m. The family lives in Orange, Connecticut.

Dolores Mason, '96 BS Education, works for Warren County Schools in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She has one adult son. Her hobbies include gardening, restoring, reading, visiting family, and being outside enjoying the greenery. She live in Morgantown.

Regina Mitchell, '18 BA Psychology, conducts a Zoom cooking class, teaching others with vision loss what she learned in her own kitchen in what she describes as “descriptive cooking." She was on the fast track in the culinary world as a classically trained chef who had worked with notable chefs, including Emeril Lagasse and Julia Child. Later she provided team-building culinary experiences for Fortune 500 companies as a corporate executive chef and eventually landed a top position in Las Vegas with MGM Properties, providing personalized-services to elite hotel guests. Her life took a detour when she was diagnosed with bilateral panuveitis, a condition which affects the lens, retina, and optic nerve. She paused to contend with the challenges of vision loss and to earn her UNLV degree, which had an emphasis on neuroscience. More recently, she returned to cooking. She serves as an advisor to Hadley, a Illinois-based nonprofit that serves those with vision loss by providing practical help at no cost. She participates in Hadley’s "What’s Cooking?" discussion group series and is helping with the creation of a new Braille series.   

Elsa Descamps, '19 BSBA - Marketing, has been a professional beach volleyball player since January. She lives in Sausheim, France.

Sandy Van, '02 BSBA - Finance, '07 JD, went into real estate and opened her own law office, Van Law Firm. She owns a number of other businesses related to Van Group Real Estate. She has won numerous awards, including awards from Top Realtor under 40 and awards ranking her law firm as among the top 10 in Las Vegas. A first-generation college student and a first-generation American whose family immigrated from Vietnam, she was part of the Honors College at UNLV.  

Larry Strate, 76 MBA, UNLV emeritus associate professor of business, has written his third book, Vignettes of Montana's Bitterroot Valley, in which he explores a number of incidents, events, and portraits of several noted valley residents generally mentioned only fleetingly by valley historians. After retiring following 24 years at UNLV, he moved to Hamilton, Montana.