Tammy Bolen
Tammy Bolen
Director
Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska
Bio: Tammy Bolen is the Nevada GEAR UP Director. Her goal to help students graduate from high school and succeed in college is a driving passion that has led her to Nevada. She comes from a diverse employment background that includes school improvement at the Nevada Department of Education, director of an education service business, and management and trainer in healthcare. However, her roots began as a high school educator and track coach in Alaska. Before moving to Nevada, Tammy lived in the Midwest for six years, so she is excited to be back in the mountains where she can hike and camp with her daughter, who is a high school senior in Reno, and has been accepted into UNR for this upcoming fall.
Favorite Quote: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene
Nate Mackinnon
NSHE Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges
Email: nmackinnon@nshe.nevada.edu
Hometown: Chelmsford, MA
Nate Mackinnon
Nate Mackinnon
NSHE Vice Chancellor for Community Colleges
Bio: Nate Mackinnon joined NSHE in July 2017 as the vice chancellor for community colleges. In this role, he works closely with the chancellor, Board of Regents, and college presidents to provide leadership, coordination, and advocacy for the System’s four community colleges.
Prior to his employment with NSHE, Mackinnon served eight years as assistant commissioner and chief of staff for the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. He previously held positions as research director for the Joint Committee on Education for the Massachusetts State Legislature and research coordinator/education specialist/department spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner in the Massachusetts Department of Education.
Mackinnon graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northeastern University in Boston with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and received his Master in Public Administration from Harvard University. He was the 2014 recipient of the Lucius N. Littauer Award from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and was the Governor Robert F. Bradford Fellow for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at Harvard University in 2013-2014.
Gabriela Verdin
GEAR UP Communications Specialist
Email: gverdin@nshe.nevada.edu
Hometown: Santa Ana, CA
Gabriela Verdin
Gabriela Verdin
Communications Specialist
Hometown: Santa Ana, CA
Bio: Gabriela graduated from Truckee Meadows Community College in Spring 2017 with an Associate’s Degree in Business and is now attending the University of Nevada, Reno. She is a first-generation college student who will obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Management in Spring 2019. She is excited to be a part of GEAR UP Nevada and engage as many students & parents on our social media as possible. Gabriela’s career goal is to work for a non-profit organization in community outreach or become a special projects manager. A personal goal is to walk on all major bridges in the world.
Favorite Quote: “Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.” ―Eleanor Roosevelt
Karen Pugh
Karen Pugh
Research Specialist
Hometown: Redding, CA
Bio: Karen has a passion for learning that began at an early age; she was 4 when her mother taught her to read. Her first degree, a Bachelor of Fine Arts, was from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in Film and Television which was quickly followed by a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Nevada, Reno. Both of those degrees served her well as the director of contracts for an international film production and distribution company in Southern California. After the devasting events of 9/11, she knew that she had to focus her attention on something that provided greater meaning and substance for her, so she turned her passion for learning into a career as an educator. After obtaining her Master’s in Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she moved to rural Arizona where she taught high school English in a very small district just 12 miles from the Mexican border. During that time, she completed her fourth degree, an Educational Specialist in Educational Leadership from George Washington University. Moving back to Nevada, in July 2011, Karen taught in both Churchill and Lyon Counties before returning to the University of Nevada, Reno to work on her Ph.D. in Information Technology in Education.
As a student, and an educator, Karen is aware of the opportunities and challenges students in our K-12 system experience. She knows that engaging students in the process of learning is itself the key to achieving success in academics and in life.
Before coming to GEAR UP in 2018, Karen worked as a graduate assistant in the Honors Program at UNR and then moved over to UNR Med to work as a learning specialist for the first- and second-year medical students. While there she was able to channel her love for rural Nevada into a year-long collaboration with the UNR Med faculty and students which resulted in the creation of the Rural Outreach Clinic, which held its first clinic on October 13, 2018.
Outside of her role as Research Specialist for GEAR UP, Karen is pursuing her Ph.D. at UNR, engaged in helping UNR Med bring quality healthcare to Nevada’s rural counties, and spending what free time she has with her family at her home in Silver Springs.
Favorite Quote: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ― William Butler Yeats
Lori Botelho
Lori Botelho
Assistant Director
Hometown: Minden, NV
Bio: Lori Botelho is the Assistant Director for Nevada GEAR UP. She comes to the program from Bishop, California, where she was Program Manager for Cerro Coso Community College and the Kern Community College District for fifteen years. She was part of a team that created and implemented the online educational program for Cerro Coso Community College. Lori began her work with Nevada GEAR UP as a Grants Analyst in November of 2011 and has held her current position as Assistant Director since 2013. She lives in Minden, Nevada, with her husband and has three grown children. Lori enjoys traveling, camping, and exploring Nevada.
Favorite Quote: “Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in and it will come naturally.” – David Camus
Daniel Villanueva
GEAR UP Ambassador Coordinator
Email: dvillanueva@nshe.nevada.edu
Hometown: Glendora, CA
Daniel Villanueva
Daniel Villanueva
GEAR UP Ambassador Coordinator
Hometown: Glendora, CA
Bio: Dr. Daniel Villanueva is a native Southern Californian who left LA for Washington, DC to study at American University after high school, and never quite made it back. Needless to say, he has been a proud Nevadan for over 18 years now. At AU, he was a member of the Honors Program, majoring in German, Western European Studies, and International Relations. After several years in Germany working at the State of California Trade Office, the Aspen Institute Berlin, and the German Parliament, he returned to the USA and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in German Studies from Duke University.
Before joining the GEAR UP team in 2017, Daniel was Assistant Director of the UNR Honors Program, where he was an academic advisor, competitive scholarship mentor, and Honors seminar instructor. Prior to moving to Reno, he was a German professor and Honors College faculty member at UNLV. There, he founded the Honors College SAGE Academy in which GEAR UP students participated each summer – his first introduction to the amazing work GEAR UP does. When the Ambassador Coordinator position came open, Daniel eagerly applied, since as a first-generation, low-income, minority student himself, he encourages everyone to embrace attending and graduating from college as a concrete goal, not impossible dream.
Outside the office, Daniel serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Western Regional Honors Council, an association of over 120 Honors Programs and Colleges in 13 Western states. He has also facilitated professional development for German teachers nationwide with the Goethe Institute, and is President of ABN, the American alumni association of German Parliament interns. In Reno, he volunteers his time with several community organizations including the Episcopal Church and the Northern Nevada International Center, where he is Coordinator of the annual Academic WorldQuest contest for local high schools.
Favorite Quote: “Most people only do what they are asked to do; success comes to those who do a little more.” – Karl Kraus
Szilvia Rideg
Szilvia Rideg
GEAR UP Research Administrator
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Bio: Szilvia is a nonprofit management professional, with extensive experience in securing and managing complex government grant programs, and a degree in business management. Her professional experience ranges from supporting environmental projects, such as water conservation in west and renewable energy economies; to securing shelter for homeless populations; and leading scientific research initiatives for veterans health issues. She is excited to support the educational powerhouse of the Nevada GEAR UP program in her new role at NSHE, and is enjoying encouraging youth (including her own) to go on to college.
After many cold winters, Szilvia is also happy to have relocated back to Las Vegas to enjoy the sunshine, and take advantage of the warm-weather recreation opportunities of the Southwest for many years to come.
Favorite Quote: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” Albert Einstein.
