Ramon "Ray" Martinez was born in Park City, Utah, but spent part of his childhood in Pioche Nevada. His mother and father both worked in aircraft factories and the Navy shipyards during WWII. Ray graduated from high school in 1953 and went on to the University of Utah on a Munich Scholarship. Before graduation he joined the Air Force, became an electronics technician, and got married. In 1959, Ramon left the Air Force and re-enrolled in college, graduating in 1964 During this time he supported his growing family by working for the FAA and teaching' at Weltech College. After college, he worked for a short while and then entered an electronics technology program near Rochester, New York. It was during this period that he saw an ad for department chair in electronics technology at Nevada Southern University. In 1968, Ray interviewed at Nevada Southern and was hired. He and his family moved to Las Vegas and he began teaching mechanical engineering courses like status and dynamics. He used NSF summer grants to further his education with two summers at Louisiana State and Utah State, and then two summers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he completed his master's degree. Ramon was here when Nevada Southern University changed its name to University of Nevada Las Vegas and the engineering department became part of the College of Math and Science. He made the move out of trailers into a high-tech building, has seen the change from slide rules and calculators to computers, and helped develop master's and PhD programs. He was involved in much of the work of accreditation, and taught his students much more than status and dynamics. He taught them how to negotiate job interviews, write concise technical reports, and be appreciative of the education they received in other disciplines.

Dr. William R. Wells was the first dean of engineering at UNLV. He was born in Winder, Georgia, and graduated from high school there. He attended Georgia Tech and then took a job with NASA in Virginia, where he also received a master's degree from Virginia Tech. He then went to Harvard for an MA degree, and ended up at Virginia Tech, earning a PhD in aerospace engineering. Dr. Wells had an impressive twenty-year work history in Ohio and Illinois before coming to UNLV in 1986. He came in on the ground floor of the newly endowed college of engineering and saw the college through several rounds of accreditation with ABET. He remembers the small student body and how easy it was for faculty members to interact with them. He also recalls that several local and state entities contributed money to the engineering program or hired graduates. As dean of the College of Engineering, Dr. Wells was involved in 'growing' the various departments. He has seen most of them develop masters and PhD programs, and remembers recruiting for new teaching positions. He also recalls moving into the new building in 1988. Accreditation was of major importance in the development of a significant and nationally recognized engineering college at UNLV, and Dr. Wells has his opinions as to its impact on creativity. He does believe that it is a necessary part of developing excellence and accountability to the community, the students and faculty, and the state. Dr. Wells talks about recruiting, faculty turnover, and salaries. He gives his opinions on using UNLV engineers for stage and set designs on the Strip, hiring graduates at local utilities, and helping students with deficient math or science skills. He also talks about attracting minority groups to engineering, diversity among the faculty, and the importance of keeping talent in the United States.

Includes meeting agenda and minutes. CSUN Session 19 Meeting Minutes and Agendas.