Amanda Hurst Gordon, '09 BA Sociology, '11 MA Criminal Justice, recently was hired as the board and volunteer relations coordinator in UNLV's ​office of alumni engagement & annual giving.

Melissa J. Burns, '02 BA Communication Studies, works as a cyber security engineer at CERT, a division of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2017, she earned a master's degree in information systems management from Carnegie Mellon. From 2010-13 she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Vanuatu. She lives in Pittsburgh.

Natalie Lutz Bachiri, '92 BA English and BA Communication Studies, is an emotionally focused therapy (EFT) therapist. Her hobbies include reading, gardening, and researching mental and physical health. The mother of two lives in the small European country of Luxembourg.      

Sal Gugino, '71 BA Political Science, has been appointed vice president/assistant general counsel for Boyd Gaming Corp. He has practiced law in  Las Vegas for 36 years, having earned his law degree from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law. A former member and chairman of the state Employee-Management Relations Board and former president of the Clark County Bar Association, he is married to Deborah Ann Bichsel Gugino, '81 BS Education, '86 Master of Education. They are the grandparents of Ashley Gugino, '17 BA Communication Studies.          

Nicole Musolino, '06 BA Journalism and Media Studies, is a public relations assistant at Henderson-based Imagine Communications. She had been a seasonal employee since 2013. Musolino, who earned a minor in film, has worked in a variety of jobs in television and radio since graduation. She also is an internationally certified health coach.

Mark Bacon, '93 MA Communication Studies, is an author whose latest book, a mystery titled Desert Kill Switch, was published by Black Opal Books in September. Set against the backdrop of Nostalgia City, an Arizona retro theme park that recreates, in meticulous detail, an entire small town from the 1970s, the book features stressed-out ex-cop Lyle Deming. Some of the action takes place in Nevada. Bacon, who began his career as a newspaper reporter in Southern California covering crime and city beats, also is the author of Death in Nostalgia City. He and his wife, Anne, live in Reno with their golden retriever, Willow.