Filing for political office in Nevada closed May 15, 2000. Incumbent District Judge Valorie Vega got no opponent and won the election. Appointed by Governor Kenny Guinn, she has been a DistrictJudgesince February 21, 1999. She wasappointedto Mu-nicipalCourt in 1989 and was retained and reelectedby the voters.
Valorie is a Board Member of the Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Southern Nevada and the Latin Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the American Judges Association, the Nevada District Court Judges Association, the National Association of Women Judges, the Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys, the Clark County Bar Association, the Latino Bar Association, Hispanics in Politics, and the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. She has involved in her profession and community with her efforts.
She is a former Clark County Deputy District Attorney from 1984 through 1989, prosecuting felony cases, and was instrumental in implementing the office's first Sexual Assault and Child Abuse team. Valorie was an associate attorney with the law firm of Sully and Lenhard from 1983 to 1984. Before attending law school, fluent in Spanish, she supervised interpreters for the Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas from 1978 to 1979, where she set up testing and certification for court interpreters and did Spanish-English interpretation and translation.
Dr. William Thompson is the first Director of the Public Administration Institution (PAI) of Washington Business and Technology Institute (WBTI). He is the chair and professor of the Department of Public Administration of UNLV. He has had numerous academic publications with excellent teaching and administrative qualifications. His leadership in this Institution since January 18, 2000 has been applauded by both the political and educational professionals. On March 3, 2000, Emeritus Professor Dr. Roy Adamson of the famous Pepperdine University in California joined the Institution as a Fellow. His experiences as a superintendent in Southern California and an Associate Dean of USC and CSU have been a good background for him to merge for an orientation with both of academic research and executive administration for PAI. Justice of the Supreme Court Nancy Becker has also felt the honor to be a Fellow of PAI. With Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University National Law Center, she was an outstanding District Judge for ten years. She received numerous awards for her accomplishment and social service. Her excellent expertise and professional integrity have added a valuable asset to PAI.
WBTI has been founded by the leadership of Dr. Tony T. Lei with a group of achieved scholars since January 8, 1996. Dr. Kenny Guinn, Governor of Nevada is Chairman of the Advisory Board; and U. S. Senator Honorable Harry Reid is Vice Chairman of the Board. U. S. Congresswoman Honorable Shelley Berkley is its Executive Advisor. The Institute has been expected to play an important role in our community because of its excellent and achieved fellows, encouragement of academic researches, and publicization of good community services.
Judge Vega was honored with the 1992 "Women of Achievement Award" from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and recognized by the Latin Chamber of Commerce as the "Hispanic of the Year" in 1995. She is a holder of Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Southern California's Law Center. She received Bachelor of Arts degree from CSU Northridge. She got a graduate studies certificate in Interpretation/Translation from UC Santa Barbara. On May 3, 2000, Judge Valorie J. Vega was appointed by WBTI Fellow of PAI.
Judge Vega has been very happy that she and her husband were invited by Dr. and Mrs. Tony Lei for a dinner party at the CenterStage Restaurant of Plaza Hotel in celebrationof her vic-tory on election as a District Judge (5/15) and appointment as a Fellow of WBTI (5/03) on June 1, 2000. The Facultyof WBTI joined
President Dr.Lei to welcome her being one oftheir fellows at PAI.
"We are convinced that District Judge Valorie Vega is good equipped to be a Fellow of this Institute with her outstanding professional expertise and practicalpublic administration achieved experience in supporting Director Dr. William Thompson to lead PAI into the next millennium with academic excellence and administrativepracticality,"said Dr. Tony Lei,Presidentof WBTI.
"It is indeed an honor for me to become a Fellow of Public Administration Institution of WBTI. This position will undoubtedly provide me with new avenues for exploring improvements in public services to which I am most dedicated. I look forward to working together with Dr. Lei in these endeavors," said Judge Vega.