My story... A brief chronology... My curriculum vitae/résumé...

My Story: How I Got Here...

Although this story may not seem extraordinary to anyone but myself, it is miraculous to me to be back at UNLV. I vividly remember the day when, as a freshman student, I sat in my Spanish 221 class, trying in vain to comprehend the Castilian of my instructor from Madrid (she gave me a C+ for my efforts). I was very sad to leave UNLV in 1985 when President Robert Maxim refused to grant my appeal for an extension of my scholarship because I would be absent two years on a Mormon mission to Peru.

Returned from Peru in 1987, I decided to take my quest for a liberal arts education to Brigham Young University where, in 1991, I graduated with a major in Spanish, and a minor in International Relations. After a poor showing on the Foreign Service Examination, I decided to attend law school and moved to San Diego, California. My stay there was short, but memorable. By the middle of my second semester, I decided that there were better things to do with my time and money. I called upon my Spanish professors at BYU who assured me that a career in academia would be both attainable and enjoyable. I relished the thought of becoming one of them.

I returned to BYU in 1992 and put my whole heart into graduate studies in Spanish literature (i.e. Cervantes, Quevedo, St. Theresa, St. John of the Cross, and Calderón). I became active in the university chapter of Sigma Delta Pi (the national Hispanic honor society), serving as its president from 1993 to 1994. I twice published articles in La marca hispánica (a graduate academic journal). By 1995, I had married an English literature student and was accepted into a doctorate program at Johns Hopkins University. We moved to Baltimore that year, pulling a U-haul trailer more than 2,000 miles from Utah to Maryland along I-80 to I-70.

For the next three years I made real progress in my program finishing all of my coursework and attaining "a.b.d." status while teaching Spanish at two different universities, working nights as a library assistant at the Eisenhower Library, and spending many weekends away from home in the Army National Guard. However, envy and fighting among the faculty of my department created an intolerable work environment. When I refused to participate in the pitched battles between competing factions within the department, I became the object of several inane inquisitions. In December of 1997, I decided to abandon my doctorate program. I was officially awarded the MA in Golden Age Spanish literature in May of 1999.

I returned to Las Vegas in June of 1998, after an absence of nearly 13 years. My how things have changed! I truly feel like a foreigner though I am a native Las Vegan (born here in 1966). Within a relatively short time I was hired on at the UNLV Law Library as a library assistant in the technical services department. I also have been fortunate to be able to teach Spanish for both UNLV and the CCSN. I love teaching Spanish to enthusiastic students and am honored and grateful to be a part of these institutions. In May of 1999, I was happy to be accepted into the graduate college at UNLV. This time my studies will be more practical. I am pursuing a masters degree in hotel administration and was hired by Hyatt Hotels in December 1999. I work as the night manager of the new Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort and Casino in Henderson, NV. My official title is Assistant Front Office Manager. I love working for Hyatt, and very much enjoy working in the hospitality industry. My goal is to eventually become a GM at a Hyatt resort location.

A Chronology...

• Parents: Exceptional, loving, currently living on a small ranch near Parowan, Utah
• Siblings: 6 younger brothers & a younger sister, four are married and living in Nevada, Utah, and Colorado (I have six nephews, and five nieces)
• Birthplace: Las Vegas, Nevada (Yes, a native Nevadan!)
• Birth year: 1966 (Generation Lost in Space: too young to be a Baby Boomer, too old for Generation X)
• Raised in Santa Monica, California and Henderson, Nevada, graduated from Basic High School (1984)
• LDS Mission: Perú, Arequipa (1985-87)
• Graduated with an BA from Brigham Young University in Spanish (1991), with a MA from Johns Hopkins University in Spanish literature (1999)
• Dropped out of Cal. Western School of Law (1992)
• Married the right person in the right place at the right time
• We have two children, both good-looking, with above-average intelligence (despite not being from Minnesota)
• Taught university Spanish courses at BYU, Johns Hopkins University, Towson University, and now at CCSN, and UNLV
• Served my country as an engineer in the Army National Guard from 1993 to 1999 in Utah, Nevada, Missouri, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland
• Hired at Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort as Night Manager in 1999
• Currently working on MS in Hotel Administration at UNLV's William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration
• Member of American Hotel & Motel Association, American Association of Law Libraries, and the Modern Language Association

My Résumé...