Debra March was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1953. She is one of eight siblings all of whom attended Catholic school as children and eventually went on to professional careers. Debra's father worked for the city of Detroit, then moved to Las Vegas and was hired by the Clark County School District. He ultimately retired from there. Debra came to Las Vegas for the first time in 1973. Though she left for a couple of years, she eventually settled here and attended UNLV, earning an undergraduate degree in anthropology and biology. She then served a little over six years as a park ranger in Red Rock and Lake Tahoe. While at Lake Tahoe, Debra got her real estate license. She followed her husband to Ely, where she became a social worker. She ran the welfare division for rural Nevada in several counties and also kept her real estate license active. In 1989, Debra applied for the position of administrator of the Nevada Real Estate Division in Las Vegas. In her capacity as deputy administrator, Debra oversaw the activities of individuals who sold real estate. She and others in the division also monitored land sales time-shares, campground memberships and appraisers. She served in that position for four and a half years. In 1996, Debra was hired at UNLV. Many of the faculty members in the real estate school today are the ones who were there when she was hired, such as Mike Clauretie, Dick Hoyt, and Bob Aalberts. The Lied Institute, which she directs, supports an academic program in real estate and finance. It also conducts research, addresses community issues such as affordable housing, and offers adult and executive education programs. Debra is very involved in addressing many of the problems of housing and transportation that affect everyone living in the valley. In addition to heading the Lied Institute, she is also a Henderson planning commissioner, serves on the National Board of the American Planning Association, and is vice chairman of the board of the Urban Land Institute. She is proud of having established a real estate mentoring program that matches students with industry professionals, and she works closely with students to help them with their career goals.

The Strip Centre sign sits along a stretch of vacant storefronts in the north-end section of South Las Vegas Boulevard. Information about the sign is available in the Southern Nevada Neon Survey Data Sheet.
Sign owner: Has been for sale since 2013
Sign details: This location has is a little shopping mall, and is called the strip centre since they are near the north end of the strip. Though this location has been up for sale since 2013.
Sign condition: 3- has had some bad weathering over the years and the paint is quite faded now.
Sign form: Blade
Sign-specific description: This sign stand on top of the building above the entrance. It is a green base that reaches the top of the sign. On the top part there is a big green steel rectangle with yellow painted words "The Strip Centre" but the word "Strip" is contained in channeled neon while the other two words are skeletal neon. Beneath this is 3 green sign boxes that would contain back lit plastic signs, but there are no signs in them currently. To the south side of the main sign there are remains of a sign that look like it used incandescent light bulbs.
Sign - type of display: Neon and plastic back lit signs.
Sign - media: Steel and plastic
Sign - non-neon treatments: Plastic back lit portion
Sign environment: This location is on the north end of the strip. It is north of the Stratosphere by a few blocks but also has some motels and wedding chapels close to it.
Sign - date of installation: Has been up since at least 2009
Sign - thematic influences: The plastic back lit portion is helpful for malls like this since they can change out which stores are within the mall relatively easily without getting a whole new sign.
Survey - research locations: Google map roadside view, attempted assessor's page but could not find it
Survey - research notes: This location was hard to find information on since it is for sale. Also I could not find information on it the assessor's page for some reason.
Surveyor: Emily Fellmer
Survey - date completed: 2017-10-01
Sign keywords: Neon; Plastic; Backlit; Steel; Pole sign; Back to back

Dr. Tony Miranda grew up in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, California. His father was a chef at the Santa Maria Inn, and the rest of the family spent summers picking strawberries in the surrounding fields. He has a sister who earned a degree in psychology from UCLA, and he credits her voracious early reading habits for inspiring him to continue with his education. Dr. Miranda married and worked as a postman for a while, then began taking night school classes in order to obtain his high school diploma. He liked school so much that he continued at Long Beach City College, then Cal State Long Beach to earn his bachelor's degree. He was offered several fellowships and chose SC on a Teacher Corps fellowship. A friend informed him of an NIMH doctoral fellowship at UCLA, and he chose to take it. In 1976, before he finished the doctoral program, Tony applied for a teaching position at UNLV. He was accepted provisionally, meaning he had to complete his doctoral dissertation in one year. He successfully completed his doctorate and was offered a tenured track position. Dr. Miranda taught Introduction to Chicano Literature for a year, and then took a post-doctoral ethnic studies course at UC Santa Barbara. He returned to UNLV to teach, served as faculty senator, and held the position of chair of the anthropology and ethnic studies department from 1993 until 2004. Today he is revising his book on Hispanics of Southern Nevada and teaching three classes. His second wife has been retired since 1995, having spent 16 years with SIIS. When he retires, they will continue to make Las Vegas their home.