Search Results

Terry Miller-Newcomb was born at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her grandparents on both sides were Nevada residents, and her mother and father were born in Reno and McGill, respectively. Her younger sister Linda was born at Sunrise Hospital shortly after it opened. Terry vividly remembers the way Vegas was in the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Las Vegas was very small in the '50s, and one of the town's boundaries was Tropicana Avenue. Beyond that was dirt road and desert. Terry and her sister and friends rode horses out in that area. Terry's father, Chub Drakulich, taught drafting and Phys Ed and coached the basketball team at Rancho High School from 1955 to 1958. Her mother, Theresa Drakulich, was hired at the new Ruby S. Thomas Elementary School to teach kindergarten. Terry attended kindergarten through second grades at Tom Williams, and from third grade on went to Ruby Thomas E.S. Her junior high school years were spent at Orr Middle School, and she attended Valley High School through graduation. "Chub" Drakulich was hired at Southern Nevada University (now UNLV) in 1958 to start the Phys Ed program there. Terry remembers Frazier Hall and the old gym where she played on the gymnastics equipment while her father conducted basketball practice. Her parents would host a party every Christmas as part of the basketball Holiday Classic program. Terry chose to attend UNR after she graduated high school in 1974. She was hired at R&R Advertising in the summer of '78 and worked at the Reno office for two years. She then transferred to the Las Vegas office to work as account executive. She oversaw all advertising for Democrat and Republican campaigns, including road signs, radio and TV spots, and billboards. Between 1984 and 1987 Terry made several major changes in her life. She started a master's program in a totally new area, worked as a church administrator for an income, and was remarried. She finished her master's in 1987 and opened a private practice in marriage and family therapy in 1988, which she continues with today. Her oldest daughter is currently enrolled at UNLV on the Millennium Scholarship.

Richard Morgan was born in Fresno, California. His parents moved to the San Francisco Bay area a few months later, where Richard grew up and attended grade school and high school. His father had moved there for the express purpose of giving his children the opportunity to attend U.C. Berkeley. Richard did in fact graduate from Berkeley in 1967 with a degree in political science. After college, Richard married and he and his wife worked for a year to save money to send him to law school. His wife supported him while he studied law at UCLA Law School from 1968 to 1971. After graduation Richard worked for two different law firms, eventually choosing Nausaman and Waters, Scott, Kruger & Reardon. He worked there for 9 years, making partner in 1977. In 1980, Richard left the law firm to teach corporations and commercial law at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. For three years he was an associate professor, and in 1983 was asked to take the position of associate dean. He accepted and held that position for four years. He then became dean at the University of Wyoming College of Law in Laramie, Wyoming. After 2 !/2 years, he was asked to return to ASU as dean of the law school, where he worked for 7 years. In 1997, Richard learned that UNLV was planning to start a law school. Remembering the advice of friends Booker Evans and Willard Pedrick to seize the opportunity to be a founding dean, he applied for the job. He met with Rick Brown, Christine Smith, Mary Berkheiser, and Dianne Retsell to come up with a general strategy for building a law school. Rick became the founding law library director and is currently a professor of law, Christine is associate dean for student affairs and operations, Mary is a clinician and faculty member, and Dianne became Richard's executive assistant. Richard and the other founding members recruited quality faculty members and with Carol Harter's influence, Bill Boyd's support, and aggressive advertising, the law school took shape. They achieved provisional accreditation in 2000 and then full accreditation with the ABA in the summer of '02 after the school moved into its present facility. In January of 2004 the Boyd School of Law joined the Association of American Law Schools. Today UNLV's law school offers a night program, a clinical program, the Saltman Center for conflict resolution, and a lawyering process program. The school is well known in the community and has become the community resource the founding members envisioned it to be. Richard believes the school will continue as it was begun—with an emphasis on excellence and progress.