Alumni & Friends

Welcome College of Liberal Arts alumni and friends. We have created this site especially for you so you can catch up with the latest news from the college, join the Alumni Association, make a gift to the college, and more.

Get Involved - COLA Alumni Chapter

Jessica Impallaria
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Jessica Impallaria 08' M.Ed.

Associate Director of Development & Alumni Relations
Phone: 702-895-3078
Email: jessica.impallaria@unlv.edu

2020 College of Liberal Arts Alumna of the Year
Campbell Headshot

2020 College of Liberal Arts Alumna of the Year

Jill Campbell attributes her Sociology bachelor's as the foundation for her ascent to heights of corporate leadership.

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Class Notes

August 30, 2020

Matthew O'Brien

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.  
August 28, 2020

Larry Lyon

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.
March 10, 2020

Benjamin Montoya

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.
September 17, 2019

Anthony Guy Patricia

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.     
September 17, 2019

Reuben Wadsworth

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.  
September 16, 2019

Mariam Habashi

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.      
September 13, 2019

Amy McGehee

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.    
September 9, 2019

Tammie Carter-Jenson

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.
August 30, 2019

Heather Younger

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.  
August 29, 2019

Monette Cortez

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