• Students sitting down in a classroom
  • Speaker during a lecture
  • Political science graduate, Matthew Gomez
  • A speaker presenting to his audience
  • Speaker presenting research

A Lifetime of Learning and Discovery

Being well educated involves developing an array of intellectual skills, having the ability to use a variety of methodologies to understand our changing world, and having a broad base of diverse knowledge.

Departments & Programs

Anthropology
Professor studies bone under a magnifying glass.
English
A man standing
History
History professor
Interdisciplinary, Gender, and Ethnic Studies
Women holding awards
Philosophy
A professor teaching in a classroom.
Political Science
Political Science class
Psychology
Faculty working in a lab.
Sociology
A woman standing in front of a sign that spells out "Sociology"
World Languages and Cultures
A globe sitting on a table
Great Works
An open book
Social Science Methods
Students sitting at a table outside the student union.
Wilson Advising Center
Academic advisor talks with a student.

Centers & Institutes

19,000
alumni
30
different degrees
3,700
students
878
degrees awarded in 2018-19

What's Happening

The Nevada Whisperer
A man sits in front of wall-to-wall bookshelves
Oct. 21, 2020

Achievement in Service Award winner Michael Green is UNLV's resident expert in all things Silver State.
The Foundation to Take on All Challenges
A woman sits on a couch holding on to a large dog
Oct. 16, 2020

Graduate College Alumna of the Year's time at UNLV left her with an appreciation for parsing differing, and often contradictory, viewpoints en route to becoming a champion for animals.
Blue Metros, Red States: America’s Suburbs and the New Battleground in Presidential Politics
Blue Metros, Red States book cover
Oct. 15, 2020

UNLV research team explores the population and politics of 13 swing states, pushing beyond the old blue state-red state model and painting a new picture where changing suburbs influence outcomes.
Civil or At War? Mail-In Voting and the 2020 Election
UNLV professor Michael Green
Oct. 12, 2020

Snail mail ballots have a long history of success, says UNLV historian Michael Green, so why all the controversy?
UNLV Newsmakers 2020: September
student wearing face covering sits on ground, using laptop
Oct. 9, 2020

Diversity, safety, and success become the foundation for UNLV.
A Base to Build on
A woman poses in front of a large window
Oct. 9, 2020

Sociology bachelor's has been foundational for College of Liberal Arts alumna of the year's ascent to heights of corporate leadership.

Announcements

In The News

Accomplishments

Experts

Upcoming Events

Class Notes

Matthew O'Brien

August 30, 2020
Matthew O'Brien, '15 MA English - Creative Writing, and former adjunct professor at UNLV (2012-16), has a book due out in October with Las Vegas-based Central Recovery Press. Dark Days, Bright Nights: Surviving the Las Vegas Storm Drains is an oral account from people who lived in the city’s underground flood channels and got out and turned around their lives. These redemption stories cast light on a rarely seen side of Las Vegas and offer a portrait of homelessness and recovery in America. (The book was edited by his classmate, Dan Hernandez, '15 MA English.) He also is the author of two other books, Beneath the Neon (Huntington Press 2007) and My Week at the Blue Angel (Huntington Press 2010). Additionally, he is the founder of Shine a Light, a program that provides housing, counseling, and other services to the people in the drains. Part of the proceeds from Dark Days, Bright Nights will benefit Shine a Light. From 2017 until this July he was a teacher and tutor with Escuela Americana. His hobbies include reading, working out, hiking, traveling, and urban exploring. He lives in San Salvador, El Salvador.  

Larry Lyon

August 28, 2020
Larry Lyon, '71 BA Psychology, has worked in various mental health positions for many years since earning his master's degree in experimental psychology and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Washington State University. For the past six years he has worked at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System. His previous jobs included 19 years in private practice in The Dalles, Oregon. He recently saw a long-held dream realized with the publication of a book, 1930: Manhattan to Managua, North America's First Transnational Automobile Trip, originally written by his uncle, Arthur Lyon, who with his younger brother; Joe Lyon, Jr., drove their 1930 Ford Model A Roadster from New York to Managua all under their own power. Larry Lyon wrote the introduction, while award-winning Nevada author Sally Denton wrote the conclusion. Denton compared it with travel writings by Charles Lindbergh, Jack Kerouac, and John Steinbeck. His main hobby is music. He lives in Boulder City.

Benjamin Montoya

March 10, 2020
Benjamin C. Montoya, '00 BA and '04 MA History, will publish a book, Risking Immeasurable Harm: The Diplomacy of Immigration Restriction in U.S.-Mexico Relations, 1924 to 1932, this spring with the University of Nebraska Press. He earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2015. He studies U.S.-Mexican relations. He also has published several articles and book reviews, and has served as a co-editor of and contributor to Beyond 1917: American Legacies of the Great War, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. He is an assistant professor of history at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Anthony Guy Patricia

September 17, 2019
Anthony Guy Patricia, '04 BA, '08 MA, '14 PhD English, is an assistant professor of English at Concord University in Athens, West Virginia. His book, Queering the Shakespeare Film: Gender Trouble, Gay Spectatorship and Male Homoeroticism, was published in paperback in February after having appearing in hardcover from Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare in 2017.     

Reuben Wadsworth

September 17, 2019
Reuben Wadsworth, '09 MA History, is the author of the recently released book Red Rock Recollections, Volume 1: Fascinating Stories of Utah’s Dixie (Scrivera Press, 2019), which delves into the history of interesting places in Washington County. It is a compilation of stories he wrote as part of a series he did for the St. George News.  Subjects in the book include Confluence Park, the Hurricane Canal, Smith Mesa, Terry Ranch, the Brigham Young Winter Home, and the shuttle system at Zion National Park. The last was the subject of his master's thesis. A second volume, focusing on places in the region outside Washington County, is forthcoming. At UNLV, he worked closely with history professors Andy Kirk and the late Hal Rothman. He is a middle school English teacher and Dixie State University adjunct history instructor.  

Mariam Habashi

September 16, 2019
Mariam Habashi, '17 BA Political Science, '19 BA Psychology, is a registered behavior technician who works primarily with autistic children, a job she says she loves. When she was a sophomore she opened a vintage boutique that she ran until shortly before graduation. She plans to pursue a graduate degree in marriage and family counseling. Fashion, writing, and volunteering are among her hobbies. She lives in North Las Vegas.      

Amy McGehee

September 13, 2019
Amy Van Voris McGehee, '06 BA Psychology, has joined MendenFreiman as an associate. MendenFreiman is a business law and estate, trust, and tax planning law firm. She lives in Atlanta.    

Tammie Carter-Jenson

September 9, 2019
Tammie Carter-Jenson, '87 BA Psychology, '08 Master of Education, was a social worker for 15 years and a cosmetologist for 25 years. Now she is a special education administrator. A Runnin' Rebel to the core, she is married with a blended family of four girls, two dogs, and a load of adventure. Crafting, sewing, crocheting, and making jewelry are her hobbies.

Heather Younger

August 30, 2019
Heather Younger, '93 BA Political Science, is a best-selling author, international TEDx speaker, podcast host, facilitator, and Forbes Coaches Council coach. Her experiences as a CEO, entrepreneur, manager, attorney, writer, coach, listener, speaker, collaborator and mother all lend themselves to a laser-focused clarity into what makes employees of organizations and companies — large and small — tick. She has facilitated more than 150 workshops. Her motivation and philosophy have reached more than 20,000 attendees at her speaking engagements on large and small stages. Her book The 7 Intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty hit the Forbes must-read list and is a go-to source for HR professionals seeking insight into their organizations' dynamics. Her writing also can be found on her blog at CustomerFanatix.com. She runs her own management consultancy. Eating chocolate, going to the movies, and hiking are her hobbies. She, her husband, and their four children live in Aurora, Colorado.  

Monette Cortez

August 29, 2019
Monette Cortez, '18 BA Sociology, is retired and volunteers at the Lou Ruvo Cleveland Clinic for Brain Health Center. She says she continues working on family history and is committed to learning how to fly the drone she received several years ago. She notes that both can be totally frustrating. Her daughter, Emily Strickler, is a UNLV student pursuing a master's degree in public health

Helpful Links

A student writing notes down in a notebook.

The College of Liberal Arts offers students a well-rounded education in the humanities and social sciences, and provides students with a solid foundation for a lifetime of learning and discovery. Below are helpful links for students, faculty and the community.