In this interview, the Straus? discuss the joys of growing up in Las Vegas during the 1960s and 1970s, and the changes within the community over time, especially in educational opportunities. Both talk about Joyce Straus? career as artist and art educator, and the influence she had on their lives. They also remember Heidi?s father, Jay Sarno, and the impact he had on the local gaming industry. There is also discussion of the founding of Congregation Ner Tamid, the role of Jewish women?s philanthropy within the community, as well as the establishment of The Meadows School.
Vonna Bajoneta discusses several thing within her interview pertaining to education, the medical field, and nursing. She also discusses her and other students' perspectives on the Distance Learning Program at UNLV.
The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV Records (2011-2022) documents the establishment of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV (formerly known as the UNLV School of Medicine). The materials include meeting agendas and reports from various committees, advisory boards, and the Legislative Counsel Bureau that were assessing economic impact, research strategies, medical education in the state of Nevada, and the development of the Las Vegas Medical District. Promotional and marketing materials in this collection includes event flyers and buttons produced to promote the UNLV School of Medicine. The collection also contains papers from Dr. Barbara Atkinson, the founding dean of the UNLV School of Medicine, such as letters of congratulaions on her appointment and biographical information. Also included are copies of the school's first commencement and hooding ceremony and a memoir written by James Dean Leavitt that details his experience building the School of Medicine as a member of the Board of Regents and as Chairman of the ad hoc Health Sciences Center Committee.
Oral history interview with Yeon-Kyung (Mar) Chung conducted by Emilee Caivin on November 10, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Yeon-Kyung (Mar) Chung talks about her upbringing in Korea and her educational history, studying Spanish abroad in Spain and Italy before earning her graduate degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas, Austin. Mar Chung talks about her move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1999 to enroll at the College of Southern Nevada and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to pursue pharmaceutical studies like her parents. She talks about her experience as a single mother, her path to citizenship in the United States, and the Las Vegas Asian American community. Mar Chung also reflects on differences between how she was raised compared to the upbringing of her two children.
Oral history interview with Dana Su Lee conducted by Stefani Evans, Vanessa Concepcion, and Cecilia Winchell on February 10, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Dana talks about her childhood growing up in California and her parents who were both born in China. She discusses her educational background and her move to Las Vegas with her husband in 1997. Dana also shares her various community and philanthropic pursuits related to education and the arts. Subjects discussed include: Greg Lee; otherness; Nevada Women's Philanthropy (NWP)
Oral history interview with Belia C. Cruz conducted by Janel Houldsworth on October 25, 2004 for the Public School Principalship Oral History Project. In this interview, Cruz reflects upon her career as an elementary school teacher and principal in Imperial County, California from the 1970s to the 1990s. She discusses her upbringing, and how her family influenced her involvement with programs such as Head Start, and how this translated into a teaching career. She describes the process by which she eventually became a principal, and her work in bilingual education. She also offers her stance on the contemporary status of the education system, and the standing of bilingual education in the Clark County School District (CCSD). She concludes by describing her experience as a substitute teacher in CCSD, and her involvement with bilingual education.
On March 1, 1979, collector Steven Cohen interviewed school administrator, Don Hayden (born in Ogden, Utah) in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview offers a historical overview of the education system in Nevada. Don also discusses gambling, the early atomic tests, the first hospitals built in Las Vegas, and offers his own personal account on home and family life in Nevada.
On February 26, 1981, collector Iskandar A. Batlouni interviewed Harvey N. Dondero (born November 12, 1909 in Hawthorne, Nevada) in his office in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a member of the Las Vegas Board of Education, Mr. Dondero discusses relocating to Las Vegas in 1931 to teach at Las Vegas High School. During this interview, Mr. Dondero also discusses the Boulder (Hoover) Dam, the gaming industry, school integration, the Westside, the Strip, Howard Hughes, Block 16, and the growth of Las Vegas from a sleepy railroad town to a thriving metropolis.
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.