When Barbara Agonia arrived in Las Vegas in 1969 to pursue a Master's Degree in English, the University of Nevada Las Vegas was barely ten years old and the population of Las Vegas was just approaching 160,000 residents. At the time, she was 35 years-old and it was a decision and move that would forever change her life and higher education in Clark County. Barbara Agonia was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1934 to Robert Lewis Klinefelter and Suzanne Carter Klinefelter. At the time of Barbara's birth, her father worked for Brown Shoe Company in St. Louis. The family moved to Bunker Hill, Illinois when Barbara was still an infant. This was Mr. Klinefelter's hometown where a portion of the extended family still resided. In the late 1930s, Mr. Klinefelter got a job in a brass mill near Alton, Illinois, and he commuted there daily. When the United States entered World War II, Mr. Klinefelter tried to enlist in the army, but was rejected because he had two small children and because he worked in an essential industry. He decided to work in a non-essential industry and took a job at Montgomery Ward in Oak Park, Illinois. Barbara was in the third grade that year. Still unable to enlist, Mr. Klinefelter moved the family to Wabash, Indiana, and began working for General Tire in 1943. They moved to Logansport, Indiana in 1947. Agonia recounts that education has always been a significant part of her life, with the importance of a good education stressed in her life from early childhood forward. After graduating from high school in Logansport, Indiana, she attended Hanover College in southern Indiana, enrolling in 1952. Her educational experience at Hanover included a year studying abroad at the University of Exeter in Devonshire, England—an experience which Agonia credits as further cementing her commitment to education and her love of literature and language. She graduated from Hanover in 1957 with a double major in English and speech/ theater. Agonia spent her first years out of college teaching high school English, speech, and theater in west central Illinois and the next eight in northern Illinois. A little over ten years into her career, at the age of 35, she decided to pursue a Master's degree in English. Her sister, Martha, who at the time lived in Las Vegas, suggested checking into programs offered at the city's newly formed university. In 1969, Barbara moved to Las Vegas and enrolled in the English Department at UNLV. As Agonia was completing her degree in 1971, the community college system in Nevada was emerging and seeking faculty for the up and coming institution. Curious to know more about the new system, Agonia scheduled a meeting with the person in charge of hiring. Two hours later, she walked out with a contract in her hand, one of eight new faculty members at Clark County Community College, now known as College of Southern Nevada. In her early years with the college, Agonia did a great deal of public speaking on behalf on the newly formed system, promoting the new institution and reaching out to potential students. At the same time, she taught full course loads in composition and literature, and eventually became chair of the English department. Her new position and public speaking work on behalf of the college not only provided her contact with the local Las Vegas community, it ultimately became the catalyst in spurring her passion for community involvement, particularly working on behalf of women within the community. • • Vll As the 1980s approached, Agonia became actively involved in rape crisis education, at the urging of Florence McClure. Then, in 1980, Agonia was again in on the ground floor of community programming, when she and Beverly Funk, at the urging of Judith Eaton, the president of Clark County Community College, established a Women's Center on campus. The Center was initially set up to help women in a variety of life circumstances, including women who were wanting to return to school or who were new to the process of school altogether. The center eventually became the Re-Entry Center offering skill development, tutoring programs, and other forms of assistance for anyone interested in returning to school. In addition to her involvement in and commitment to public education, Agonia has also been involved in the Soroptimist International organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls in local and international communities. In the Las Vegas area, Soroptimist International of Greater Las Vegas worked to establish the Rape Crisis Center and the Center for Domestic Violence, which later became SafeNest. Agonia has been working with the organization since 1982. Through Soroptimist International, she also became involved in Friends of the Nevada Wilderness, an organization devoted to designation and long-term protection of Nevada's wilderness areas. As the representative for Soroptimist International, she traveled to Washington to lobby and testify in front of the senate for the establishment of Great Basin National Park. Agonia's work in the Las Vegas community over the past forty years has been significant. She counts Florence McClure, Geneva Douglas, and Jean Ford amongst her greatest influences. As she notes in her oral history, "I learned how to be radical from those women." She happily embraces the label of radical. This attitude surfaces throughout Agonia's experiences and recollections, and underscores her work and dedication to the interplay of local education and women's issues within Nevada.

From the Lincy Institute "Perspectives from the COVID-19 Pandemic" Oral History Project (MS-01178) -- Education sector interviews file.

Liliam Lujan Hickey is best known in the state of Nevada for being the first Hispanic woman elected to the State Board of Education as well as for the enormous contributions she made while serving from 1998 to 2000. For this, an elementary school in Clark County bears her name. Despite many obstacles, Liliam has continually dedicated herself to standing up for the causes she believes in, such as providing preschool education to the underprivileged, preparing youth to enter the workforce, helping other Hispanics run for office, and proving that with enough courage anyone can accomplish their dreams. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1932, Liliam led a sheltered life that revolved mostly around her studies at a French Dominican school. She met her first husband, Enrique Lujan, when she was only sixteen and they wed soon after. Enrique was twelve years her senior, owned many casinos on the island, and provided a luxurious existence for Liliam and their three children. However, this lifestyle abruptly changed when Castro assumed power in 1959 and Liliam and her family were compelled to relocate to the United States. In Miami, Enrique assisted other refugees financially, hoping that his wealth would remain secure in Cuba. He was wrong. This left the family destitute. In addition to casinos, Enrique had been Cuba?s coach for the Olympics. He moved the family to York, Pennsylvania, where he hoped to find work at the York Barbell Company. Liliam, who had been accustomed to having maids and nannies in Cuba, found herself doing all the housework while she also worked in a factory. The change could not have been more dramatic and the living conditions became unbearable. The family chose to move to San Diego in a Volkswagen Minivan with the hope for a better life. The next few years brought many transitions. Things did turn around in San Diego, and Liliam she recalls her years in southern California as some of the happiest of her life. Liliam found a job working at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla. After a few years, Enrique found a job in Las Vegas and the family moved again. In Las Vegas, Liliam gave birth to her fourth child, Mary, and life once again became financially difficult for the family. In 1972, the situation grew worse with Enrique?s untimely death. Liliam was a widow at forty years of age. She had to teach herself how to drive a car, write checks, and perform financial tasks that Enrique had insisted on managing while he was alive. Determined not to give up, however, she worked tirelessly to keep the family together. Amidst all this, a friend introduced Liliam to Tom Hickey, and after a brief courtship they were married in 1981. Within a few years, Liliam became active in politics, running for the State Board of Education. Her campaign manager advised her that voters would not be receptive to photos of a Hispanic woman on billboards, and to capitalize on the name “Hickey,” which was a recognizable name because her husband was an assemblyman. She took the manager?s advice and was elected in that campaign and for two more terms, the maximum limit for the office. After the first race, she proudly displayed her face on billboards across the state. During her time at the State Board of Education, Liliam dedicated herself to helping all children receive a better education in Nevada, not only Hispanics. She co-founded the Classroom on Wheels [COW] program, which brought buses to poor neighborhoods to provide pre-school education. She established Career Day, which pairs high schools students with business professionals in an effort to help them make the transition into the workforce. While the COW program is no longer running, 8 Career Day still operates and awards scholarships in Liliam?s name annually, which helps youth receive the educational opportunities they need to succeed. And she involved Hispanic youth in Boy Scouts by bringing ScoutReach to the Las Vegas valley. Lujan Hickey worked in a wide array of other community organizations. In the 1970s, she began to work with Circulo Cubano, which later became the Latin Chamber of Commerce, and she would later belong to the National Chamber of Commerce. A longstanding member of the League of Women Voters, Liliam saw the need to get Hispanics more involved in politics in the state. Her story is one of great inspiration, and when asked why she does it, she simply replies with a smile, “I love life.” Hickey?s narrative offers the reader a glimpse of the experiences of the Cuban refugee experience in the U.S. in general. Specific to Las Vegas, it provides a rare story of the experiences of early Latinas in the political and economic development of Las Vegas in the last half of the twentieth century.

From the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Theta Theta Omega Chapter Records (MS-01014) -- Chapter records file.