Name: Safiyya Bintali    Degree: ‘24 B.S.Ed. Secondary Ed   Current Employer: Multiple    Did you have a favorite or secret study spot when you were a student?  In the Carlson Education Building; I always used to go to the third floor because not many people went there, since it's all faculty offices. There was also a little table on the second floor at the…

The UNLV College of Education is pleased to announce that Deanne Moyle-Hicks was named the Spring 2026 Wonderful Washoe Rebel! Deanne earned her bachelors in Elementary Education in 1993 and has been a dedicated educator within the state of Nevada for several decades, currently serving as Numu Language Certified Teacher Specialist – WCSD Family School Partnerships. She is a National Board…

What would you do if your business needed 100 employees but you only had 60? Who picks up the workload of the other 40? Who skips breaks, covers gaps, and keeps things running?  And how long until the people barely holding it together start to burn out and the system collapses?  Four years ago, that was the reality at Cheyenne High School. Today, the school is almost fully staffed…

Name: Charlie Merrill   Degree: ‘22 M.Ed. Special Education   Current Employer: Greenberg Traurig, LLP   What are you most proud of from your UNLV experience? Completing the program, teaching full-time and being in the program was stressful. I think being able to complete the courses and get decent grades just in of itself was an accomplishment for me. It was definitely a…

The Nevada General Curriculum (NVGC) Access Center was approved this month by the NSHE Board of Regents.  The new center, led by Professor Joshua Baker, supports Nevada’s educators who serve students with extensive support needs to create access to the general curriculum across K-12 to adulthood. The work will impact the state’s coursework and classrooms related to…

How Brian Kasper turned his teaching career into a global adventure “Teaching is one of the few jobs where you can just pick up your life and move it somewhere completely different,” Brian Kasper says.  And that’s just what this COE alum did: teaching in schools across the world, enduring unpaid salaries, starting a family, and gaining invaluable experience over 16 years. His journey is…

Name: Gabriela Kula   Degree: ‘19 M.Ed. Curriculum & Instruction   Current Employer: Fragner Seifert Pace & Mintz   Have you ever experienced teacher burnout? How did you navigate that? When I was teaching the video production program in journalism. I wasn’t interacting with other teachers. I was just isolated in this computer lab by myself, and nobody else was…

Name: Victor Macias   Degree: ‘14 M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counseling   Current Employer: Cortica   What are your favorite memories from UNLV? I really enjoyed being a GA because I feel like not only was I a full-time student in the clinical program, but also being a GA submerged me into the college experience. When I went full-time, I had four classes a semester and I…

  For Sarah Ledon, UNLV alumna, '04 M.Ed. Curriculum and Instruction, and senior vice president of Leading Educators, the 11th Annual Summit on Nevada Education was more than a homecoming. It reflected the continued commitment of education and mental health leaders and practitioners to Nevada’s students.  “There is something powerful about coming home and seeing how far the work has…

“What’s your major? “What are you interested in? “What do you want to do?” “Have you made friends? For new UNLV students – whether they are in their first year or transferring – feel like these questions are on repeat. They just got here. How are they supposed to be sure of anything, let alone their major, career path, clubs, or friend groups? It’s easy to get overwhelmed.  That’s where…

Name: Christina Nishiyama   Degree: ‘23 Ph.D. Learning Sciences   Current Employer: Professional Contactor Supply   What was your favorite and/or memorable moment you participated in while at UNLV? Why? My whole life, I'd always wanted to attain my Ph.D., but life took a different course. My early applications were denied, so I started working in the corporate world, got…

Earlier this month, College of Education students gathered for a long-awaited student mixer - a casual, no-pressure event designed to help students connect, get involved, and find their place beyond the classroom.  If you missed it, have no fear. You’ve got an “in” with Melvin Taylor, a human services major, veteran, and CSUN senator who believes one thing above all else: students thrive…