On May 8, 1979, Jane Finfrock interviewed Michael “Mike” Drakulich (born 1924 in Kimberly, NV) about his experiences growing up in Nevada. Drakulich mainly describes his career from graduating college to holding several teaching and coaching positions at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, positions which included professor, golf coach, and athletic director. He also discusses the growth of the university, important figures in sports coaching at the university, and the growth of Las Vegas in general.
As she ponders a possible run for Nevada State Governor in 2018, former Nevada State Assemblywoman and current Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani recalls her first vacation to Las Vegas in summer of 1978 with some girlfriends from Johnson County, Kansas. After visiting the Special Education department at UNLV, Chris decided to stay. In this interview, the special education teacher talks of her experiences finding an apartment, enrolling in the Master’s in Education program at UNLV, tending bar, finding a teaching job, and entering union politics, where she met future husband Gary Gray. Chris also discusses campaigning for the Nevada State Assembly, where she served 1991 to 2006, and for Clark County Commission, where she began representing District E in 2006 and is now serving her third and final term. She speaks to the politics of a publicly funded stadium for professional football; she describes plans for the revitalization of the Maryland Parkway corridor, and she ruminates on the UNLV Medical School and the breakup of the Clark County School District, currently the sixth largest school district in the United States. She also shares her thoughts on her future political plans—but not entirely.
Oral history interview with Dr. Agnes Lockette conducted by Dennis McBride on March 25, 1996 for the Boulder City Library Oral History Project. In the interview, Lockette discusses her experiences teaching in the Clark County, Nevada School District (CCSD) and at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Lockette begins by talking about studying at Albany State College in Albany, Georgia, moving around the United States due to her husband's military service, and finally settling in Boulder City, Nevada in 1953. She also discusses racial integration in CCSD and in her own classrooms at the Westside School (Las Vegas Grammar School) and C. T. Sewell Elementary School during the 1960s. Other subjects Lockette covers include the expansion of the Las Vegas, Nevada hotel and casino industries in the early 1950s, the increasing student population, teaching conditions, and other educators in Las Vegas including Mabel Hoggard and James Dickinson. Lastly, Lockette recalls her experiences with UNLV, community support and engagement for education, and working toward her master's and doctoral degrees in English.
From the Syphus-Bunker Papers (MS-00169). The folder contains an original handwritten letter, an envelope, a typed transcription of the same letter, and a copy of original letter attached.