Jessica Fuentes Alanano

Jessica Fuentes Alanano, '00 BS Elementary Education, '04 M.Ed. Curriculum Instruction, '08 M.Ed. Educational Leadership, is a proud Rebel. Having worked in public education as a teacher, reading specialist, instructional coach and assistant principal since 2001, she is committed to supporting the academic success of future generations of Nevada's children. Alanano worked for the Clark County School District for 21 years and is currently the proud principal of Legacy Traditional School Southwest.  She attended Basic High School and calls Henderson home. Alanano and her husband have five children, two of whom are currently attending UNLV.  She enjoys hiking, coaching soccer, spending time with her family and friends, cheering on her sons at hockey, and the Vegas Golden Knights. 

Andy Rogow

Andy Rogow, '91 MFA Theatre, was in the very first cohort of MFAs in the theatre department starting back in 1988. Since that time, he has worked steadily in theater. Rogow is now the artistic director of Island City Stage, a professional, award-winning theater located in Wilton Manors, Florida, whose mission is LGBTQ+ focused. The theater is currently in its 11th season. Island City Stage has produced several world premieres that have gone on to have Off-Broadway, regional, and international productions. His biography that appears in every program always mentions that he graduated from UNLV. Rogow says he would not have the career he's had without the education he received at UNLV.

Sean Larkin

Sean Larkin, '05 BS Accounting, is a passionate leader dedicated to fostering a culture of transparency and radical candor. As the CEO of OnLogic, a global manufacturer of IoT and industrial computer hardware, Larkin is focused on driving organization-wide alignment towards aggressive goals. In his time with the company, OnLogic has won regional growth awards and recognized as a top place to work. After contributing to multiple startups, Larkin joined PricewaterhouseCoopers and worked with other global firms, where he focused on international assignments, leadership, mergers and acquisitions, consulting, and engagements to stand in for C-level executives when gaps in management teams arose. He then extended into private industry in health care and transportation and logistics and then technology. In addition to his corporate contributions, Larkin also dedicates his time to working with nonprofits that support children and families, as well as those that focus on technology stewardship and education. He joined OnLogic in 2012 as CFO. Three years later, he became the company's COO and then transitioned to the role of president/CEO in 2016.  

Allesa Lagmay

Allesa Lagmay, '23 BS Kinesiology, works for John A. Burns School of Medicine, Health Information Management and University Health Partners of Hawaii, Speech and Hearing Clinic.

Dane Hanawahine-Gaither

Dane Hanawahine-Gather, '18 BA Psychology, is a bioenvironmental engineering apprentice in the U.S. Air Force and is currently assigned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. He enjoys swimming, hiking, photography, snorkeling, kayaking, and video games.

Alex Stopa

Alex Stopa, '04 MM Percussion Performance and '13 DMA Percussion Performance, received three Emmy nominations for his original composition, Spiral, at the 49th Annual Pacific-Southwest Emmmy Awards. He won two of these in the categories of "Arts and Entertainment" and "Director – Short Form Content." Stopa says, “I’m thrilled and honored to receive these Awards. I hope that this unique project helps to showcase our local arts community, and the unique talent that we have here in Las Vegas.” Spiral is an original composition for percussion quartet that fuses classical, pop, and jazz styles. Stopa writes of the piece, “As a musician living in Las Vegas, I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to perform a broad range of musical styles. One night I might be in the Smith Center with the Philharmonic or a touring Broadway show, the next I might be in a jazz or rock club. The music that I write is inspired by this diversity.” The piece is built around a repeated rhythmic motif: a pattern of five that can be heard on the vibraphone near the beginning of the piece. “I imagined this spiraling pattern as the rhythmic DNA of the work; a musical double helix. This imagery formed the inspiration for the title.” The video was shot at the Art Square Theatre in Las Vegas by a local film crew including multiple Emmy award winning editor and director Michael Tushaus (Digisphere Productions) with cinematographer Tim Harbour and camera operator Gray Gubler. The recording engineer was Josh Connolly (Studio A) and mix engineer was Robby Wingfield. This project is supported in part by the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Pana Percussion Quartet members are Alex Stopa, Ryun Louie, Jeffery Crowell, and Eliseo Rael.  Stopa is a drummer, percussionist, marimba soloist, and composer based in Las Vegas who graduated from UNLV with a Doctor of Musical Arts in 2013.

Randy Gayler

Randy Gayler, '87 BA Computer Science, just published his second novel, The Neon God. The novel is a riveting story of AI gone awry. "With a degree in computer science, what else could I write about?" He says.

Becky Bosshart

Becky Bosshart, '14 MFA Creative Writing, helped implement a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund to help children with special educational needs displaced from Russia’s war in Ukraine. Earlier this year, the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs invited U.S. citizen alumni of all U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs to apply for grants of up to $10,000 as part of the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund funding opportunity. Exchange program alumni from across the U.S. submitted proposals for public service projects.Bosshart heads grant management and advocacy/outreach for the project. She is a member of Alliance for Ukraine Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and the Fulbright U.S. Alumni Association (Romania 2015-16). While volunteering at Chernivtsi National University as part of the UNLV Master’s International program, Bosshart was evacuated along with more than 200 other U.S. Peace Corps volunteers when Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. Before moving cross country to work in Washington, D.C., she taught business writing and composition/rhetoric at UNLV. While a master's student at UNLV, she was awarded a U.S. Fulbright grant to Romania, where she completed a project to develop a series of contemporary American literature workbooks to teach English communication skills.

Kenneth W. Fong

Kenneth W. Fong, '78 BSBA Management, was recently selected in Marquis Who's Who in America. Fong was a general partner and manager of Fong and Associates, which had owned and managed several Las Vegas shopping centers and offices. He is a certified property manager emeritus. He holds an MBA from San Francisco State University. During his property management career, Fong was awarded the 2001 Business Person of the Year by the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce, and was awarded the 2002 Certified Property Manager of the Year by the Las Vegas Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management. He had served as president of the Las Vegas West Rotary Club during 2000-2001, and president of the Las Vegas Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management in 2004. In his earlier career, Fong had worked at Bank of America as an assistant vice president and trust real estate officer. Fong has also taught part time as an adjunct instructor in finance and real estate at UNLV and the College of Southern Nevada. He is an avid smooth jazz fan of KUNV 91.5 Jazz and More. He also enjoys daily workouts at the gym.

Brett Hughett

Brett Hughett, '03 B.S. Hotel Administration, founded Carbon Valley Solar and joined the Solar Energy Partners network of independent specialists to service primarily northern Colorado homeowners with transitioning to solar. This career transition has allowed him to combine his passions for hospitality, real estate, entrepreneurship, and serving others, while helping homeowners realize the amazing benefits and abundant savings associated with going solar. Although based in Colorado, Hughett is happy to help UNLV alumni in any state learn more about whether solar makes sense for them and their home.

Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook, '85 BS Hotel Administration, lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is the first vice president of investments at Stifel Nicolaus. He's proud of his grandchildren, who refer to him as "Guppie."

Lisa Story

Lisa Griffith Story, ’84 BA Communication Studies, co-authored with Carl Laurin the book, Pardon Me, Father, the mostly-true story about a con man turned holy man who used his military skills, Cold War experiences, and Catholic altar boy memories to mine for diamonds (legally) in Sierra Leone in the 1980s and smuggle them out (illegally) dressed as a priest. The authors were brought together by an adventurous man, Walt Reca, who was Story’s uncle and Laurin’s Michigan Parachute Team buddy. Pardon Me, Father is available on Amazon.com in eBook and paperback and BarnesandNoble.com in paperback.