Nancy Master grew up in a little town called Greenville in Western Michigan. Her dad was in middle management at a refrigerator company and her mother was a librarian and a teacher. Nancy and her two sisters experienced an idyllic childhood, climbing trees, riding bikes, and swimming in Baldwin Lake. School and church were important activities in Nancy's life. When she first went to college, she was sent to Michigan Girls' State, but switched to the Michigan State campus and found that she liked that much better. During the summer of 1967, Nancy and some friends got involved in the Civil Rights Movement. They went to Mississippi to teach and ended up experiencing an intimidating visit from the KKK. Nancy taught school in Jackson, Michigan, and also continued with her own schooling. She took time off to work on her dissertation and was eventually hired to teach history at University of Wisconsin. Since there were so few openings for history teachers, she decided to take a library degree. She and her husband Larry and their daughter came to Las Vegas in 1980 at the suggestion of Nancy's uncle, a doctor who had established a practice here. Larry was hired at Roy Martin Junior High, and in February of 1981, Nancy was hired to teach library skills classes at UNLV. When Nancy first came to UNLV, she worked the reference desk. She became interested in faculty politics and was soon on the senate. She served on the executive committee under Bill Marchant, Sheryl Bowles, and others. Eventually she took over the chair position herself. These days Nancy works with the history and political science colleges. She does some teaching and proctors for students taking UNR classes on the UNLV campus. Her outreach community work includes Habitat for Humanity and mentoring projects for children-in-poverty. Nancy considers UNLV the great love of her life, after her family.

A group of unidentified UNLV students hugging for a picture.