Transitions Summer 2009

1Transitions Fall/Winter 2007

Contents

Cover photo: Sea Lions by Naomi Blinick ’09

Pulisher/EditorMary Lin

Associate EditorAshley Mains

Staff WritersMary Lin • Ashley Mains • Annabeth McNamara

Luisa Walmsley

Contributing WritersRandall Amster • Naomi Blinick • Christine Duffy

Lorayne Meltzer • Angie Moline

Staff PhotographersMary Lin • Ashley Mains • Annabeth McNamara

Photo ContributorsLisa Barnes • Naomi Blinick • Natalie Canfield

The Official Jeff Carlson Website • Carolyn ChilcoteNick Devore • Becca Deysach • Scott DouglasSuzanne Dhruv • Raina Gentry • Andrea Gold

F. Neal Fair • Dick Hanna • Matt Hart • Joel HillerRobert Hunt • Brad James • Sher Shah Khan

Austen Lorenz • Walton Mendelson • Angie MolineBridget Reynolds • Althea Schelling • Marj Sente

Marie Smith • TheK5.com • ChildrenAndNature.org

Vice President for DevelopmentJoel Hiller

(928) 350-4501 • [email protected]

For Class Notes and address changes, contact Marie Smith • [email protected]

Send correspondence, reprint requests and submissions to:Mary Lin

Prescott College220 Grove Ave.

Prescott, AZ 86301(928) 350-4503 • [email protected]

Transitions, a publication for the Prescott College community, ispublished three times a year by the Public Relations Office foralumni, parents, friends, students, faculty and staff of theCollege. Its purpose is to keep readers informed with news aboutPrescott College faculty, staff, students and fellow alumni.Transitions is available online at www.prescott.edu.

©2009 Prescott College

Prescott College reserves the right to reprint materials fromTransitions in other publications and online at its discretion.

Prescott College is committed to equal opportunity for its employeesand applicants for employment, without discrimination on the basisof race, color, creed, sex or sexual orientation, age, disability, maritalor parental status, status with respect to public assistance, or veteran’sstatus. This policy applies to the administration of its employmentpolicies or any other programs generally accorded or made availableto employees.

1 The Spirit of Giving: Richard Ach3 Naomi Blinick: Balancing Ocean Health4 Student Research, Conservation in Kino Bay 5 Feeding the World Without Warming the Planet5 In the Best Light: Orientation Photo Prize6 Stream Ecology Student Research7 First Ph.D.’s in Sustainability Education 8 Always Learning: Triple Alumnus Robert Hunt8 Teacher Programs: Head of the Class9 HUB Keeps Local Bikes Rolling

10 727 Dameron Drive: An Evolving Oasis 11 Eating Local 11 Natural History Network12 Earth Day at Prescott College14 SEED “Greens Up” Campus14 Where Food Comes From15 ADGP Goes Paperless15 Writing from the Natural World16 Transitions Wins Communicator Awards17 To Complete Our Streets – Or Not?18 Catalyst Infoshop: Nurturing Counterculture 19 Art and Ecology: Raina Gentry19 Growing “Natural Leaders” in Tucson20 Walking for Peace 21 Joel Hiller: 31 Years of Change

Departments22 Faculty Notes24 Class Notes28 In Memoriam29 Last Word

Dear Friends,

As we graduated our first crop of Ph.D. students this past June, I, likemost in the audience on that Saturday afternoon, was filled with pridefor all that they’ve accomplished in the course of their studies atPrescott College.

And while I also felt hope, I couldn’t help but wonder if we are doingenough to bring our culture into sustainable balance. We’re all awareof the issue of environmental sustainability. But does the constellationof the family seem sustainable? Will the religious fervor that seems tobe developing in many parts of the world lead to a sustainable globalcommunity?

These are complex and big questions, the answers to which require the integration of knowledgefrom many disciplines. The environmental scientist alone can’t handle these questions any betterthan the economist or the sociologist. Each discipline needs to recognize its inherent limitationsand to seek to supplement and complement knowledge by joining forces with scholars and activistsfrom other disciplines.

This broad definition of sustainability provides the underpinnings of the Prescott College curricu-lum. Our institution is composed of areas of study that have semi-permeable membranes, allowingthings that need to stay in one area to find safe haven, while allowing ideas and activities to movebetween the various programs of study. It is this ability to see sustainability from an interdiscipli-nary angle that allows Prescott College to be highly effective in both understanding complex issuesand helping to solve complex problems.

Faculty and students at our field station in Kino Bay, Mexico, understand that the sustainability ofthe Gulf of California is influenced by a complex web of factors. As a result of their understandingthey are doing first-rate research on the environmental issues of the region, as well as working withhundreds of local school children and members of the fishing community to inform and educateabout the likely outcomes of particular practices (see story page 2). Sustainability education as pro-vided by our Kino faculty is multilayered and comprehensive, because they know that a seriouscommitment toward sustainability requires an equally serious commitment to inclusion and inte-gration of stakeholders.

As you read Transitions, notice how unique efforts might at first appear to be disconnected butthese activities are actually well integrated within the tapestry of the College. In an era ofincreased specialization and fragmentation, we’re doing our part to build a more sustainable world.

Warmest Regards,

President’s Corner

Leave Your LegacyHelp Create A Sustainable Future

Visit Prescott College on the Web at

www.prescott.eduRead the latest articles on charitable giving, refresh your memory with our glossary of terms and

calculate your income tax deduction for charitable gifts.

The Spirit of Giving

“Prescott College allowedme to have a wonderful life,and I am going to supportthat happening for otherpeople, too. It’s one of themost important things I cando: to support, beyond mylifetime, the values and goodI treasure so much.”

– Richard Ach ’73

Read full profile onRichard Ach

in the Spring 2009 Transitionsat www.prescott.edu/

news/transitions/index.html

3Transitions Summer 2009

Growing up in Sunnyvale,Calif., Naomi Blinick ’09 livedonly 45 minutes drive away

from the ocean – 45 minutes too far,that is. Now Naomi lives and breathesher passion for all things marine as arecent graduate and future Researchand Conservation Fellow at theCollege’s Kino Bay Center for

Cultural and Ecological Studies in Kino Bay, Mexico. Naomi first heard of Prescott College when she met alumna

Emily Bacon ’06 while they where both working for a marineconservation project in the Seychelles Islands off the east coastof Africa.

Naomi spent nearly half of her three years at Prescott Collegeenrolled in classes down in Kino Bay. While serving as teachingassistant for a Marine Studies class, she was able to participate inan ongoing project that involved sampling bycatch from shrimptrawlers in the region – which led to her Senior Project.

Shrimp trawlers have heavy wooden boards and nets scrapethe bottom for two to four hours, up to four times a night.Trawling is the most destructive fishing method in the world,causing habitat damage and changes to ecological communi-ties. It is also highly indiscriminate and captures everything onthe bottom, resulting in huge amounts of bycatch, which canbe defined as any catch that is unused or unmanaged. On ashrimp trawler in the Gulf of California, this is any speciesthat comes up in the nets other than shrimp. Every night,thousands of kilos of fish come up in each boat and end updead and discarded overboard in the Kino Bay region. Sharks,rays, flatfish, even seahorses come up nightly, many of whichare juveniles and never get the chance to reproduce.

Bycatch is a global issue in nearly every fishery, yet shrimptrawling has the highest rates of bycatch, averaging 62 percentworldwide, which constitutes to 27 percent of global fisheriesdiscards – approximately 1.8 million tons annually.

Over five years of monitoring, Prescott College has docu-mented 151 different species in shrimp trawler bycatch, with anaverage rate 79.4 percent bycatch, almost 20 percent higherthan the global average. This means that nearly 80 percent ofwhat comes up in the nets is NOT shrimp. Each boat averagesapproximately three tons of bycatch per night. In Mexico, anestimated 133,000 tons of bycatch are landed annually.

This fishery is driven largely by market demand from theUnited States. Shrimp is the most important Mexican seafoodexport in terms of value and employment. The majority of it isexported to the United States, although Mexico only accounts for7 percent of the 1.2 billion pounds of shrimp imported by the USin 2007. This means that US demand for shrimp not only fuelsthe Mexican trawl shrimp industry, but many other trawl shrimpindustries worldwide, all of which produce bycatch and havevarying degrees of regulation and enforcement for bycatch man-agement. That market force has encouraged this industry to con-

Balancing Ocean Health Naomi Blinick ’09 researches fishing impacts, contributes to national policy

tinue to grow in Mexico despite its impacts on small-scale fishers. One of the most sensitive and controversial issues of shrimp

trawler bycatch is the effect on small-scale fishers. In the Gulf,these fisheries are characterized by the use of small, open skiffscalled pangas, using a variety of fishing gears to opportunisticallytarget whatever is abundant at the time. In Kino Bay, the small-scale fishery supports the local economy almost entirely. It iscomposed of approximately 125 pangas, which target sharks,rays, mackerel, mullet, crabs, flatfish, scallops, shrimp, lobster,and octopus, among others.

Fishing is a huge part of the cultural identity in Kino, and inthe last several years, the local community has begun to takeownership over the health of their fishing grounds, participatingin management decisions for the creation of protected areas andtraining as scientific divers to monitor commercially importantorganisms. Millions of dollars have been committed to develop-ing sustainable small-scale fisheries initiatives in the Gulf.Addressing the trawler bycatch issue, which is presumed to bean underlying cause of stock declines, is necessary to achieve anysort of sustainability for the small-scale fisheries.

Naomi’s advisor, Lorayne Meltzer, suggested a PrescottCollege student take on the project of researching life historyinformation of the bycatch species collected, as a first steptowards quantifying the impact of shrimp trawling on the local,small-scale fisheries. This would build upon five years of dataalready collected by Prescott College classes describing the com-position of the bycatch.

Naomi decided to take on this project, and to explore whatit meant to remove such a large amount of biomass, especiallyjuveniles, from the ecosystem. She decided to create a data-

Continued on page 4

4 Transitions Summer 2009

Student Research &Conservation in Kino Bay

The region aroundKino Bay, Mexico, on theSea of Cortez, boasts rich,diverse and uniquedesert, marine and islandecosystems, interwovenwith a complex culturallandscape.

The Kino Bay Centerfor Cultural andEcological Studies,Prescott College’s fieldstation in the region,

hosts nearly 100 Prescott College students a year, provid-ing opportunities for hands-on field studies, supporting,conducting and promoting research and conservation inthe Midriff Island Region, and facilitating outreach pro-grams in environmental studies for local communities.

The Center’s longstanding relationships with both therural Mexican fishing village of Bahia de Kino and theindigenous Kunkaak village of Punta Chueca facilitatethe inclusion of intercultural perspectives in many of theCenter’s classes and activities.

Recently Prescott College students have made trulysignificant contributions to science and conservation bydocumenting seabird nesting activity, quantifying theimpacts of shrimp trawler bycatch mortality, and creatingGIS maps for an island management plan.

Jordan Ford ’11 is working through a “ResearchExperience for Undergraduates” grant with Dr. MikeOskin of University of California, Davis, on a project torefine theories regarding the geologic evolution of theGulf of California. The students in the 2007 MarineConservation class participated in an historic and success-ful effort to eradicate rats off of San Pedro Martir Island.

Tom Fleischner and his classes continue to work onshorebird monitoring projects in the estuaries, andLorayne Meltzer and her classes and Senior Project stu-dents continue to quantify the diversity and ecologicaland economic impacts of bycatch associated with shrimptrawling. In addition, the field station maintains projectsto monitor weather, cetacean sightings, seabird nestingpopulations on Alcatraz, and invertebrate populations inEstero Santa Rosa.

base of life history information of the most important speciesin terms of local commercial value to the small-scale fisheriesin Kino Bay. Naomi focused on the overlap between speciescoming up as bycatch and what ones are of economic impor-tance for local small-scale fishermen. In addition to findingseven species protected by the Mexican endangered specieslaw, the International Union for Conservation of NatureRedlist, or Convention on International Trade of EndangeredSpecies (CITES), Naomi determined that the bycatch mortali-ty of juvenile sharks and rays, which are particularly sensitiveto large-scale extraction, is a direct threat to both fish popula-tions and small-scale fishing communities.

The Mexican fisheries laws are currently being revised, andNaomi’s findings will be included in the recommendations forfuture management of the trawl shrimp industry in the region.

“In the beginning Lorayne mentioned the possibility of writ-ing a paper to publish or submit for consideration to manage-ment decisions, and now the paper is already done” and affect-ing management decisions, Naomi noted. She had no expecta-tion of that happening before she graduated.

Contributions to this article by Christine Duffy ’09, Mary Linand Naomi Blinick ’09.

Continued from page 3


Feeding the World Without Warming the PlanetDr. Tim Crews contributes to major paper designed to spur international policy changes, bring agriculture and the environment into greater balance

by Mary Lin

The ability to replenish soil, amajor contributing factor tothe Agricultural Green

Revolution of the past 60 or soyears, has made it possible to feedbillions of people where doing sowould have been impossible incenturies past.

But current approaches tonutrient enrichment are incurringenvironmental costs, including sig-nificant contributions to global

warming, which should be carefully examined and potentiallyregulated by policymakers across the globe.

That’s one conclusion of a coalition of scientists including Dr.Tim Crews, head of Prescott College’s Agroecology program, ina paper published this June in the prestigious international jour-nal Science.

“Nutrient Imbalances in Agricultural Development” summa-rizes research examining nitrogen and phosphorus movementinto and out of farms in Sub-Saharan Africa, China and the US.

While nutrient inputs are “inadequate to maintain soil fertili-ty in parts of many developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa,” they contribute to “excessive and environmen-tally damaging surpluses in many developed and rapidly growingeconomies,” like China and the US, the article asserts, whereregional and national policies contribute to these patterns of use,and the environmental consequences.

Harvested crops remove crucial nutrients – nitrogen andphosphorus, in particular – from soils, with fertilizer the majorpathway of replenishing these nutrients worldwide. In Africa,nutrient replenishment is inadequate, which leads to a cycle ofincreased depletion of soils and a situation where 250 millionpeople are chronically malnourished.

In developed nations like China and the US, much of those

nutrients end up in places where they weren’t intended, includ-ing waterways, oceans, and in the atmosphere. The authorsargue for increased nutrient supplementation in places likeAfrica and further research into nutrient replenishment strate-gies in developed nations, paired with closer monitoring ofrunoffs and environmental consequences, as well as implemen-tation of proven interventions.

Changes in diets of livestock, improved timing and place-ment of the nutrients in replenishment regimes, and the preser-vation and restoration of riparian vegetation strips are necessaryshort term remediations, but authors stress the need for “bolderefforts” to redesign agriculture, citing the use of perennials incropping systems (a long-term research interest of Dr. Crews).

“More generally, policies supporting nutrient additionsshould be targeted toward food security objectives early in agri-cultural development, but those systems should be monitoredfor changes in soil quality and nutrient losses as well as foryields,” the authors conclude.

“As food security is approached, more attention should be paidto other outputs of agricultural systems – their effects on air andwater, on biological diversity, on human health and well-being –and to the ecological and agronomic processes that control them.”

When asked about the ramifications of the publication, Dr.Crews asserts that “this study underscores some challenges weface that are only going to become more severe as the humanpopulation continues to grow, and people in rapidly growingeconomies like China increase their meat consumption.

“There are many short-term improvements that policy makerscan encourage and farmers can adopt that will improve the effi-ciency of fertilizer use. In the long-term, however, I believe we willneed to make some very significant changes in how we grow food,and what kinds of diets we expect, if we are going to maintain ade-quate yields and safeguard ecosystem services of clean water, a sta-ble climate, biodiversity, and sustainable agricultural productivity.”

The full article can be found in the June 19th edition of Science.

In the Best LightPC awards first annual prize for best Orientation photo

The Prescott College Department of Marketing and PublicRelations is proud to announce the winner of the first annualOrientation Photo Contest. Althea Schelling ’11, Cultural andRegional Studies student with a breadth in Arts and Letters,submitted several beautiful images. In the end we chose ablack and white composition featuring a backpack-toting stu-dent walking through water. Althea will receive a $50 prize forher efforts. Many thanks to all the students who submittedphotos. It was not the easiest decision to choose one winner!All submissions have a home in our multimedia library for usein future College publications.


Twelve students inDr. AngelaMoline’s Stream

Ecology class undertookindependent researchprojects on the upperVerde River nearPaulden, Ariz., this pastspring, making somesurprising finds and lay-ing groundwork for fur-ther research.

“We were surprisedto find lower insectdiversity than weexpected,” noted Dr.

Moline. The class found very few species of mayflies or caddis-flies, which may have been due to the limited area sampled.Mayflies and caddisflies are of special interest to stream ecolo-gists because they are not highly pollution tolerant. An abun-dance can signify a pristine stream ecosystem.

The group was also surprised to learn that the fish populationhas been declining rapidly.

A fish survey in 1994 found over 3000 Sonoran suckers anddesert suckers. A similar survey in 2004 found just over 100 indi-viduals of these two species. The decline in the fish population onthe Verde River has been drastic,” she said. Similar declines arebeing observed in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon.

Students collected and identified seven species of fish: nativeSonoran sucker, desert sucker, gila chub, and the non-native large-mouth bass, red shiner, common carp, and green sunfish. Studentsalso encountered non-native bullfrogs and crayfish.

The student scientists conducted stomach analyses of large-mouth bass and found that their diet consists primarily of cray-fish, which are not native to the western United States and werelikely introduced by anglers who used them as bait.

The densities could have been because crayfish shells do notbreak down during digestion like other prey species (smaller fishand insects).

Heidi Black ’09 examined the relationship between theShannon-Wiener Diversity of the insect population and streamflow (or stream discharge). Elizabeth Worcester ’09 lookedat the change in insect richness at different stream sites alongthe length of the Verde River. Kyle Eckes ’09 and BenHoeschen ’10 focused their research on mayflies(Ephemeroptera) and caddisflies (Trichoptera), respectively.

Other students focused their research on native and exotic fishin the upper Verde River. Zach Summit ’10 and DavidSutherland ’10 worked with fisheries biologists John Rinne andAlbert Silas from the US Forest Service. The fisheries researchindicates that fish populations in the Verde River have declinedsignificantly since 1995 due to low flows and the lack of floods.

Jessica Roth ’10 and Amylee Thornhill ’10 found otter

signs at all four sites sampled. They found that otters eat prima-rily crayfish in the Verde River.

Carin LeFevre ’09 and Chris Rigby ’10 studied the com-position of riparian vegetation at four sites along the VerdeRiver. The students found that the canopy varied widely fromsite to site, but that velvet ash (Fraxinus velvitina), cottonwood(Populus fremontii), peachleaf willow (Salix amygdaloides), andsaltcedar (Tamarix sp) were common.

Jessica Pierson ’10 looked at the combined effects ofdrought and groundwater pumping on three wetlands in theVerde River watershed. Jessie compared the “greenness” at DelRio Springs, Williamson Valley Cienega, and Greenwell Sloughin 1994 and 2001. She used a Geographical InformationSystems database (GIS) to calculate NDVI (NormalizedDifference Vegetation Index) at the three sites. She found thatall three sites were slightly less green in 2001 than in 1994.

The stream ecology class sampled the Verde River almostweekly in March and April. The Nature Conservancy was verygenerous in granting access to the Verde River Springs for theresearch.

Students had the opportunity to interact with scientists fromThe Nature Conservancy (Kim Schonek, project manager), theCenter for Biological Diversity (Joanne Oellers M.A. ’08, biolo-gist), and the US Forest Service (Dr. John Rinne and AlbertSilas, both fisheries biologists). Students visited the Verde Riverwith Ms. Oellers and Ms. Schonek.

Elizabeth Worcester will continue her stream ecology proj-

A Stream Runs Through ItStream Ecology students perform original research

Continued on page 27

Prescott College Awards First Ph.D.s in Sustainability EducationBy Mary Lin

Prescott College graduated its first ever crop of doctoral stu-dents and awarded the first-ever in the nation Ph.D.s inSustainability Education Saturday, June 6, 2009. Graduates

include: Dr. Janice Crede of Maple, Wis.; Dr. Henry Ebarb ofPrescott, Ariz.; Dr. Jane Nichols of Cullowhee, N.C.; Dr. TerrilShorb of Prescott, Ariz.; Dr. Linda Edwards of Richmond, Va.;and Dr. Chad Thatcher of Grand Junction, Colo.

Each of the graduates presented on their thesis during a three-day Sustainability Education Symposium featuring renowned glob-al thinkers Dr. Chet Bowers, author of, among other books, AGlobal and Ecological Critique (Complicated Conversation)(2005), and Mr. Jeffrey Ball, Environmental News Editor for theWall Street Journal. The College also unveiled plans for theJournal of Sustainability Education.

Ph.D. Program Cohort 2 students William Crowell Ph.D. ’11,Jordana DeZeeuw Spencer Ph.D. ’11, and Ming Wei Koh Ph.D.’11 presented on the Journal, an online, open-access publicationwhich will embody the multiple dimensions of sustainability, andpresent cutting edge scholarship and initiatives in this ever-evolving field.

Sustainability Education focuses on preparing educators forno less than the task of educating others on the relationshipbetween humans and the natural environment and developingpractical skills for creating a civilization which honors the bal-ance between them. Each student in the Ph.D. program atPrescott College is encouraged to, after rigorous research,define sustainability for him or herself and define how he or shewill put it into practice in real-life situations. Graduates of aPh.D. program in Sustainability Education may incorporate sus-tainability within another field or work directly as sustainabilityeducators, in private, public, and nonprofit settings. The scopeof the topics which students in the program tackle is broad. Thefollowing Ph.D. thesis presentations give some examples.


Ph.D. Thesis Presentations

The Butterfly Effect: Engaging a Curriculum to HelpHeal the Community of All Beings. Dr. Terril Shorb sharedresearch results of his case study of graduates of the SustainableCommunity Development (SCD) Program he developed atPrescott College in 1996. The research offers glimpses into howthe graduates used the SCD Butterfly Curriculum to help frametheir work of sustaining their local communities.

Sustainability: Quality of Life for Artisans Practicing theFair Trade Business Model. Dr. Linda R. Edwards presentedon issues and opportunities for artisans and consumers definedby Fair Trade practices.

Sustainable Development Guidelines for a DesertCommunity that Meets the Needs of the Elderly andPeople with Disabilities. Dr. Jane L. Nichols presented onsustainable urban development and planning for community,using a neighborhood in North Phoenix as a model. Dr. Nicholsis Assistant Professor of Interior Design and Gerontology atWestern Carolina University, holds masters degrees in Design:Facilities Planning and Interdisciplinary Studies, andGerontology, from Arizona State University.

Population Control, Immigration Law, and Water Issues.Dr.Tony (Henry) Ebarb earned his B.A. in 1984 from PrescottCollege and J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law.Has worked as a Judge Pro Tem for three years and a prosecutorfor five years. Has lived in Prescott for 37 years and has beenrumored (in his words) to be one of Prescott College’s “mostprolific donors and fund raisers.”

Nature Immersion: A Model of Sustainability Education.Dr. Janice Crede’s research focuses on the human-nature con-nection and finding ways to reconnect people with the naturalworld. Prompted by her belief that Mother Nature is thesupreme educator, she developed a nature immersion model ofsustainability education which has proven to be extremely effec-tive. She is currently employed as the Campus SustainabilityCoordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

Sustainable Adventure Travel: A Catalyst for CreatingGlobal Connections and Understanding. Dr. Chad Thatcheris the Director of the Mesa State College Outdoor andInternational Adventure Programs in Grand Junction, Colo. Heholds a master’s degree in Education and has taught adventure,experiential, and international education for the past seven years.


The Unfolding Story of NatureFor soon to be triple alumnus Robert Hunt ’94, M.A. ’00, Ph.D. ’13, it really is about the journey

By Mary Lin

It wouldn’t be a stretch to saythat Prescott College “triplealumnus” Robert Hunt ’94,

M.A. ’00, Ph.D. ’13 is a lifelongstudent – in more ways than one.

“I love watching students growinto each topic, their expectationsusually exceeded. I consider everyone to be my teacher as well,” hesaid.

A self-described “braggart fornature,” Robert loves the moment

when, “exposed to the workings of natural systems and theirspecies, a student’s eyes and heart are forever opened to thecountless, unfolding stories around them. Their view of theuniverse is immeasurably richer. Even the ordinary is dramat-ic,” he said.

After earning his bachelor of arts from Prescott College inEnvironmental Studies and Natural History (emphasis in fieldecological studies of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts and SkyIslands), he completed his master’s in ES in Field NaturalHistory in 2000, emphasis on teaching natural sciences at thecollege level. Now enrolled as a Ph.D. student in SustainabilityEducation, he’s focusing on Borderlands Conservation.

Robert’s involved with every level of education at PrescottCollege. Not only does he serve as adjunct faculty for theResident Degree Program at Prescott College, teachingNatural History and Ecology of the Southwest, Concepts inEcology, Wetlands Ecology and Management, Ecology of theMojave Desert, and Explorations in the Sierra Madre, Mexico– he also serves as a mentor in both the Resident and AdultDegree Programs.

He’s mentored students in Monarch Butterfly Conservation,Ecology, Natural History, Naturalist Field Skills, WetlandsEcology and Management, Corridor Ecology, and WildlifeConservation.

But that’s not all – he’s also taking on teaching online withMoodle courses, Concepts in Ecology and Ecological Economics.

“[Although] I am used to teaching field trip oriented courses,”he notes, he enjoys the challenge of making the translation tothe online environment.

“My students still get into the field often, especially if I candesign field exercises well enough to translate into the student’sown bioregion. Moodle is just the start. As time goes by moreand more electronic delivery systems will be developed for dis-tance learning. The trick is to ‘play’ with the system. Use it toyour full advantage, and when you do not comprehend an aspectof it, ask me. I’ll somehow figure it out with you,” he encouragesstudents and mentees.

As member of a Sufi tariqa (Islamic order), Qadiri-Rifai, Robertcredits his spiritual endeavors with inspiring his work and life. “MySufi teacher reminds me constantly that my students are actuallyMY teachers. Thus, this is my approach to teaching.”

Robert also works as a field biologist for the environmentalconsulting firm EcoPlan Associates, conducting surveys andhabitat assessments for threatened and endangered speciesthroughout the Southwest, as field botanist and ornithologist forthe US Forest Service, the US Geological Survey, and theSoutheastern Arizona Bird Observatory. He has extensive experi-ence in plant and animal work in virtually every habitat andgeography in Arizona and northern Mexico and has publishedhis research in several different publications.

Move to the Head of the ClassPrescott College’s 30 teacher prep programs approved by Board of Education

The Arizona State Board ofEducation in Phoenixapproved all of PrescottCollege’s Teacher PreparationPrograms in full at the Board’sApril 27 meeting, according toDr. Deborah Heiberger, whoco-led the certification processon behalf of Prescott College.

“I am truly gratified that theyears of hard work and atten-tion to state accreditation andapproval requirements by

Prescott College faculty and staff resulted in this unanimous valida-tion of our programs,” said Dr. Heiberger, who serves as theCollege’s Associate Superintendent for Professional PreparationPrograms and Core Faculty in the College’s Adult Degree andGraduate Programs.

Prescott College Teacher Prep programs include B.A. and M.A.,and Post-Degree Teacher Certification in a range of program areasincluding: Early Childhood Education; Early Childhood SpecialEducation; Elementary Education; Secondary Education; SpecialEducation in Learning Disability, Mental Retardation, and SeriousEmotional Disability; and School Guidance Counseling.


By Annabeth McNamara ’09

It’s a quiet Tuesday afternoon on the Prescott College cam-pus on Grove Avenue in Prescott, but the shed behind theStudent Services building is teeming with mechanics.

Although cars surround them, most of these mechanics don’tknow anything about engines. Some don’t know the first thingabout mechanics.

That’s because they’re at HUB, Helping Understand Bicycles,a bicycle cooperative working out of Prescott College’s FacilitiesDepartment, and they’re here to learn how to fix or build theirown bikes, themselves. The cooperative differs from a bicycleshop because a person with no prior know-how can walk in, puttogether their own bicycle using manuals and skill sharing, andwalk away from the space with a working knowledge of theirnew bicycle – and a new bike.

People utilize HUB to patch a flat, learn the anatomy of theirbicycle, fix their derailleur, use a wrench they don’t have athome, or fix their brakes. Folks also stop by to figure out whytheir bicycle makes that funny noise. Others, just to hang outwhen the weather is nice.

Hanging out is the name of my game. I sit next to the CDplayer, which creates a lively soundtrack for the waltz of peopleand bike parts flowing around the space. I count two work-studystudents, three women, two men, one kid, and a dog, though it’shard to keep track as people filter in and out. A student, Sam, istaking off his brake levers so he can put his handlebars back on.

“You realize your handlebars are upside down, don’t you?”someone asks.

Sam Brodnax ’12 assures him that he wants them that way. Iask Sam how he feels about HUB. He replies, “I love it! I lovethat this is a part of my college.” He moved to Prescott this fall,

from Austin, Texas, where the Yellow Bike Project is located, oneof a slew of coops that has popped up since Tucson’s BicycleInter-Community Art and Salvage (BICAS) got the movementstarted. (BICAS is what HUB would look like if it died and wentto heaven, in a giant warehouse with a recycled bicycle art sec-tion.)

Sam was surprised and excited to find a similar space inPrescott. “Why do I appreciate HUB so much? It gives every-body an opportunity to ride a bike because they’re free, free,free!” He loves bicycles simply because they’re fun.

“There’s a lot of different aspects to them. And they don’tneed gas, just muscle.” He and another student flex their armsand repeat together, “Muscles!” Once Sam’s handlebars are onstraight, he puts the wrench he borrowed back in the toolboxand rolls off.

“Just watch you don’t fly over your handlebars and poke an eyeout on those brake levers!” Robin Brodsky ’09 calls after him.

Carin LeFevre ’09 sits down next to me in between helping awoman refurbish a used wheel. Carin’s attitude is a blend ofbicycle-love and street-tough. Her curly hair and wiry framematch. Before I can ask her a question, she’s up and helpinganother student. Mechanic work is a male-dominated (pre)occu-pation, which leaves many women in the dark about their rides.With a little encouragement, women and trans-gendered folkshave become a presence at HUB, utilizing the weekly womenand trans safe-space hours each week.

We compare our bicycle’s sexiness. Just then, a weatheredlooking couple rolls in and start wrenching on their sole meansof transport, hailing Carin and Robin by name. Work shifts are

HUB Keeps Local Bike Riders RollingIf you haven’t heard, bikes are cool



by Annabeth McNamara ’09

“What’s the word fora rainbow when it isn’tcreated by rain?”

Dan Quinn ’08stands in the un-framed door, strokinghis beard. He has beenwriting poetry inbetween the millionmorning distractionsthat have him bothcontentedly busy andslightly overwhelmed.

I shake my head andcontinue sculpting clayonto the wall in finger-paint fashion. I’m mak-

ing a mess. The entire property is a bit of a pigsty, a peacefulchaos.

Though it’s early spring, cob cold-frames, which act as minigreenhouses, are filled to bursting with delicate greens. Corn,grown and harvested last summer, has been milled for cornbreadfor the weekly potluck. Dan’s hand-crank clothes wringer standsby the gate, past the wood-fired horse trough hot tub, a deluxetreat during frigid midwinter nights.

There are plans to catch rainwater off the roof to feed thechickens in catchments that will pose as mock grain silos. A newchicken fence using wood from a forestry clearing effort andsteel from a local, recycled source bends around the enclosure.Littered amongst the mulch are all sorts of organic matter andchickens busily aerating, fertilizing, de-bugging the soil, and pro-ducing floral, deep yellow eggs.

The cottage, a converted workshed, is a marvel of naturalbuilding. Natural paints swirl and sparkle with local mica, har-vested from nearby Diamond Mountain. Salvaged wood fromthe beetle-infested forests nearby have been cut and sanded intoastonishingly aesthetic countertops, bed frames, and shelves.

What started as a partnership’s permaculture pipedream hasmorphed into a visionary’s quest for community and urban agri-culture, where growing and raising food, natural building, andliving sustainably rule. The old mining cabin and workshed hasbecome a community project where people learn, share, andcreate life.

“We’re changing City code before our community team,including LEED architect and former Arcosanti architect, JeffZucker, continues recycling the original house. Then we canbuild a dome home ...”

Dan’s contagious smile lights up at the thought of his pas-sion: earth building. He plans to replace the run-down housewith a Super Adobe Earthbag dome made with soil minedfrom the property. The yard is gradually being landscaped intoberms and swales.

When Dan opened up the project to the community, workersflooded in. Some are college students, conducting independentstudies and using this space as lab and classroom. Others arefriends from the neighborhood, volunteering for the space thatserves as local library, soup kitchen, meeting space, and retreat.

Two local sustainable farming projects, Prescott FoodRevolution, founded by alum Nick Mahmood ’00, and KarmaFarm, a collective of Prescott College and Prescott communitymembers, are turning as much yard as possible into garden space.

Some fads seem to spread like cancer or virus: devouring,replicating, and moving on. The Ecohood is more like a ripple,the way a heartbeat travels through water. Immediate neighborshave warmed up to the idea and are allowing their yards to beinhabited by small-scale agriculture livestock and gardens. PCteacher Andy Millison’s ’97, M.A. ’02 property, two blocks down,is its own sort of urban paradise, complete with a miniaturerooster and a drainage basin for monsoon waters. Across fromAndy’s is Jesse Pursley’s ’00 yurt-bedecked ranch, which has theflavor of Mongolia.

Yet folks involved warn not to romanticize the notion of livingand working in community. Projects that bring folks togetherinevitably lead to miscommunication and struggle. But somehowit’s all working. Writes Dan in a recent newsletter, “Through ourefforts, we seem to have crossed some bridge to a place of confi-dence, skilled work, and working well ... nearly everything wechoose, take on, or plan, seems to move forward.” There’s some-thing real and meaningful going on here; folks are growing andlearning how to work together.

A former PC student, world-traveler, and poet, Danrenounces credit for what is becoming the talk of the neighbor-hood. “I couldn’t do it without everyone’s help,” he says. Asteady stream of helpers, friends, children, and strangers tricklepast the welcome sign painted on the wall. They come to get

Dameron Drive: An Evolving Oasis The Ecohood founded by Prescott College alumni and students grows deep roots


By Erin Lingo ’08

All of the farmers in the local Farmers Market grow locally ona small scale, on no more than 20 acres. Most use less than five.Because of this, their livelihood depends on selling directly tothe consumer through the Farmers Market and CommunitySupported Agriculture programs.

Each year, more than three million consumers shop, andmore than 30,000 farmers sell, at US farmers markets – a $1 bil-lion nationwide direct-marketing industry. Between 1980 and2004 the number of farmers markets in the United States morethan doubled, from less than 1500 to more than 3700!

These farmers markets play a very important role in strength-ening local food systems by providing a market for small farms.Small family farms not only reconnect a community with thesource of its food, but they are also much better for the environ-ment than industrial-scale farms.

Farmers that grow on less than 100 acres are much more like-

ly to farm bio-intensively – that is, to get the most amount ofyield possible from their small farms, which, when done proper-ly, enriches the soil, strengthens the fields’ resistance to pestsand viruses, and prevents soil erosion. Other sustainable prac-tices frequently implemented include: efficient water use; focuson heirloom, or climate-appropriate produce; fair labor prac-tices; and the rejection of chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

Each farmers market sets its own rules and guidelines. ThePrescott Farmers Market maintains high expectations for its ven-dors because this is what the community expects. While farmersare not required to be certified organic or use any specific prac-tices, they are required to sell only those produce items thatthey grew within the state of Arizona.

There is no reselling permitted, so customers of the market cantrust that anything they see is grown by the person who is sellingit, and that any questions they have can be answered honestly.The Prescott Farmers Market also provides a Community Boothfor “backyard gardeners” who find they cannot eat all they grow.Any vendors selling prepared food or craft items must use a per-centage of locally grown agricultural products in their goods.

Each year, more consumers realize the benefits of eating fresh,locally-grown fruits and vegetables. The simple practice of buyingvegetables from the farmer who grew them can be an incrediblyrewarding as the consumer starts to reconnect with the time-hon-ored tradition of knowing from where one’s food comes. You canfind out more about the Prescott Farmers Market or how tobecome a vendor at www.prescottfarmersmarket.org.

Erin Lingo ’08 studied the relationship between the health ofsocieties and the production and consumption of food beforebeing hired on as coordinator of the Prescott Farmers Marketand the members-only Community Supported AgricultureProgram that meets weekly at the College’s Crossroads Café.


Eating Local Supports Local FarmsFarmers Market and Community Supported Agriculture programs serve as marketplace

Interested in naturalhistory and natural his-tory education? Sowere the students, fac-ulty, and alumni ofPrescott College whohelped found, and cur-rently run, the NaturalHistory Network.

“As humanity becomes increasingly alienated from the naturalworld, a self-reinforcing cycle of ignorance has been created.Fewer people learn about natural history, which in turn creates ageneration with even fewer people who can teach natural history,”

Tom Fleishcner explains in his paper “Natural HistoryRenaissance,” co-authored by Stephen C. Trombulak, Journal ofNatural History Education, 1:1-4 (2007).

“We call for a change to break this cycle, a change that we hopewill be furthered by the creation of the Natural History Networkand the Journal of Natural History Education.”

The Network promotes the value of natural history by dis-cussing and disseminating ideas and techniques on its successfulpractice to educators, scientists, artists, writers, the media, and thepublic at large.

The Journal of Natural History Education, an online peer-reviewed periodical, can be found at www.jnhe.org. Eventually,according to Tom, the Natural History Network will host a fullarray of resources on its Web site, www.naturalhistorynetwork.org.

Making “Natural” HistoryGreat resources available at Natural History Network

Tom Fleischner


“Every Day Is Earth Day” at Prescott College

Joanne Oellers M.A. ’08

Face painting brought color to the crowd.

Remedy kept the crowd on their toes. Ellen Abell chats with student volunteers. Hoy Johnson show off “Hoytees.”

President Dan Garvey Pramod Parajuli (R) tries a new bike.


scott College

The First Earth DayCollege Grant writer Marj Sente reflects

“The weak are already dying – trees, fish, birds,crops, and people. On April 22, we start to reclaimthe environment we have wrecked.”

This was the comment printed on the back ofthe 1970 Earth Day program. I was a student atthe Williamsport Area Community College inPennsylvania and a member of its EnvironmentalAction Committee. We were responsible for plan-ning a full day of activities for the first Earth Dayobservance – teach-ins, discussions on environ-mental issues, and movies including Our Flick, afilm about local pollution shot by a member of ourcommittee.

This past April, Prescott College’s 2009 EarthDay activities demonstrated how far the observancehas come while reminding me of how little wehumans have accomplished. The earth is still dying,and we must continue to reclaim the environmentwe have wrecked. – Marj Sente

es.”

w bike.

Eleni Dines ’11 with Warrior.

Erin Lingo ’08 helps a CSA member.

Ben Mancini of EV Solar chats sun power with Gary Nye andLeslie Blum.

footprint reduction including retrofitting buildings, renewableenergy, and carbon offsets. A task force of students, staff, andfaculty is currently conducting a detailed energy use audit of thecampus, creating a climate neutrality policy and developing aClimate Action Plan.

Several of their conclusions were presented to the SEEDCommittee, which funded $23,500 in carbon reduction projectsincluding recommended building retrofits and replacement ofolder thermostats with programmable ones. These tasks arescheduled to be completed by September of 2009.

In addition to climate initiatives, Prescott College has invest-ed in many other sustainability projects including environmen-tally sustainable computer technology, upgrading to bladeservers with the support of SEED. These servers “virtualize” thehardware, compressing it into a smaller space and saving up to40 percent of the energy required to run a conventional server.

The limited residency Adult Degree and Graduate Program hasalso developed a paperless process for contracts and evaluationswith support of SEED (see Saving Seven Trees). Prescott Collegeis home to the nation’s first Ph.D. Program in SustainabilityEducation, which received startup funding to launch the firstonline, peer-reviewed Journal of Sustainability Education in thecountry (June 2010). Prescott College President Dan Garvey willserve as guest editor for the first year. The Ph.D. Program alsohosted the First Annual Sustainability Education Symposium onJune 3–5, 2009, featuring internationally renowned authors ChetBowers and Jeffrey Ball. Mr. Bowers has written on a wide rangeof environmental and sustainability issues and Mr. Ball is theEnvironmental News Editor for the Wall Street Journal.Dissertations from graduating students were also presented.

Students also received funding for projects that demonstratePrescott College’s commitment to environmental and socialresponsibility. Resident Degree Program Senior AllisonTrowbridge ’09 completed a visual art display demonstratingthe importance of protecting Yavapai County’s Verde River (seepage 15), which was exhibited in the Prescott and PrescottCollege Libraries. Adult Degree Program student CarolynChilcote ’10 worked with Prescott College’s Ironwood TreeExperience project to teach youth in Tucson about sustainableagricultural systems (see page 15). Resident Degree Programstudent Catie Armstrong ’11 received funding to build a bicy-cle enclosure with recycled materials for Prescott College’sHelping Understand Bicycles (HUB), an open-access bike col-lective (see page 9). The enclosure protects bicycles and bikecomponents.

For more information on SEED, and for updates on SEEDprojects and SEED-sponsored opportunities, please visit theSEED website at www.prescott.edu/seed.

Where Food Comes From Carolyn Chilcote ’10 uses SEED funds to introduce urban pre-teens to sustainable farming

Carolyn Chilcote ’10 learned to appreciate her upbringing on


Members of Prescott College’s SEED (SustainabilityExploration and Education Development) Committeeare seeing the results of their efforts in “green” proj-

ects sprouting up across the College.

In January 2007, Prescott College President Dan Garveywas one of the first 100 or so signatories to the AmericanCollege and University President’s Climate Commitment(ACUPCC), committing Prescott College to create a timeline forbecoming “climate neutral”; reducing college greenhouse gasemissions to net zero. Within the year, Prescott College studentshad begun a preliminary energy audit and a task force includingstudents, staff, and faculty was formed to begin developingstrategies for achieving climate neutrality.

The Prescott College SEED Committee was created in Aprilof 2008 and since then has implemented a number of social,ecological, and economic sustainability initiatives funded by stu-dent sustainability fees. Sustainability coordinator, LuisaWalmsley ’08, was hired in July of 2008. SEED encouragesPrescott College students, staff and faculty to propose andreceive funding for projects that advance sustainability.

In a course called Achieving Carbon Neutrality at PrescottCollege, undergraduates continued to work on an inventory ofgreenhouse gas emissions from building energy use, groundtransportation, and air travel. They explored solutions to carbon

SEED “Greens Up” Campus


a farm in New Hampshire from a whole new light when shebrought a group of urban preteens in Tucson to visit a localorganic farm.

The kids were enrolled in the Ironwood Tree Experience’sGet Outside program.

“This is also the first project I have worked on involving kidsrather than adults. It was very refreshing,” Carolyn observed.

“They surprised me in several ways: They knew more aboutsustainable living than you think they would. They’re extremelyenthusiastic and creative thinkers. And they’re surprisingly will-ing to embrace hard physical labor.”

Many of the students showed an interest in returning to thefarm and possibly working there as an intern in the future, shesaid, noting “the expedition provided a much more visceral andmeaningful experience of sustainable agriculture than a class-room setting could have.”

Formerly a branch manager for Wells Fargo, Carolyn becameinterested in environmental studies after participating in anEarthwatch Expedition to Costa Rica where she assisted field sci-

entists in gathering data in support of sustainable coffee farming.Throughout her time at Prescott College Carolyn has also

worked with Suzanne Dhruv, M.A. ’05 of the Ironwood TreeExperience on the coordination of the local farmers market inTucson, “working with the vendors, farmers and ranchers at themarket I learned a great deal about the practical aspects ofgrowing and marketing sustainable foods.

“It seemed like the next natural step to share this informationand these experiences with the younger generation.”

A Confluence of Creative Writing and EcologyAllison Trowbridge ’09 serves as a “wellspring” of inspiration toVerde River preservation advocates

It was one of those days in Prescott when the wind rushesthrough town like a dry monsoon, driving the cold into any per-meable surface. Allison Trowbridge ’09 was worried that condi-tions were too cold for the lesson she’d planned.

They had just come from visiting a library exhibit Allisonhelped create with funds from the College’s sustainability, orSEED, committee, to educate the public about the endangeredVerde River. But now the class was exploring Watson Woods,

Saving Seven TreesPaperless processes funded in part by SEED reduce green-house gas emissions, saves trees and resources

New software for implementing electronic forms andworkflows in the Adult Degree and Graduate programs notonly increase the efficiency of the office, but reduce resourceuse significantly, according to ADGP Dean Paul Burkhardt.

The program is expected to save 600 pounds of paper, orseven trees, per year, and eliminate the need for 400 gal-lons of gasoline, the release of 5700 gallons of wastewater,and 15,400 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions into theenvironment.

The software allows for electronic signatures and trackingof documents with automatic reminders to signers to act, cre-ating PDF versions of all forms available to any signer alongthe path.

“The final document is cosmetically similar to our currentforms,” Paul explained, making for seamless implementationfor current students.

“This project will provide immediate improvement in thestudent, mentor/advisor, faculty, and staff experience. ADGPstaff and faculty will be able to provide more student-cen-tered advisement and support rather than troubleshootingand tracking documents, thereby improving the service pro-vided to students and increasing staff job satisfaction.”

In addition to the social sustainability benefits, this solu-tion significantly reduces physical resources required for cur-rent processes. In other words, a significant reduction inpaper usage, transportation costs, postage, fax and copiertoner, and physical storage.

The project was live by May, with the undergraduate AdultDegree Program study contract as the first document con-verted to the new platform.

The ADGP offices will measure the amount of paper andother supplies used going forward as compared to prior yearsand implement student, staff, and faculty satisfaction surveysto measure social impacts.


one of the Verde’s tributaries, and Allison had her doubts. Theseat-risk youth weren’t used to spending long amounts of time inthe woods. Usually they’re not allowed.

The group walked beneath a canopy of cottonwoods and


Allison’s fears ceased as quickly as the wind. The air was still,warm, and smelled of sunshine. They’d be able to understandtheir place within the bigger picture of the watershed after all.

A reverent quietude settled over the group. Reverent qui-etude probably isn’t a phrase often used to describe the behaviorof these kids, but Allison felt comfortable.

“They’re so appreciative that someone is paying attention tothem and treating them as though what they have to say is valu-able,” she said. “These young adults deal with intense issuesworthy of putting on paper. They dive right into their topicsfearlessly. They’re really courageous, and they compliment eachother’s writings.”

The students continued walking silently down the greenwaytrail, observing through all their senses. Allison assigned the obser-vation exercise so the students could learn about themselves byobserving what they observe, leading to insights into self.

Moving slowly, ducking under branches, they rounded a bendin the trail that brought them to the edge of Granite Creek.

A shrill scream punctured the silence. A snake, big aroundand long, was moving across the path.

Uproar ensued. The class couldn’t stop talking, sharing everysnake story they knew. They began teasing each other, pointingto sticks and shouting, “Oh my God, snake!” and screaming.Allison didn’t mind their antics. The snake was just what theyneeded in order to remember the day.

During their visit to Allison’s exhibit, The Verde River: Green

Heart of Arizona – Endangered Desert Jewel, the studentsviewed photographs of the Verde, with its lush green banks anddark blue waters, and its wildlife. They read poems by localpoets displayed amongst photographs and information.

According to Michelle Harrington, Rivers ConservationManager at the Center for Biological Diversity, the city ofPrescott says they have a mitigation plan that will protect theriver from the impacts of pumping the aquifer that feeds theVerde River. The City claims that by moving the well for thepipeline farther up the wash away from the Verde, the River willnot be adversely affected. Simple illustrations in the displayshowed how moving the well would only delay impacts.

“The city has not yet produced a comprehensive, scientificallyverifiable mitigation plan for which the citizens have repeatedand reasonably asked,” said Harrington. The Verde has attractedthe concern of national conservation organizations, includingAmerican Rivers, which included the river in its 2006 list of thecountry’s top 10 endangered rivers.

Creative writing. At-risk youth. Ecological conservation. Allisonhas succeeded in drawing them together into a potent, cohesiveproject. She was inspired to work with these kids after a positiveexperience teaching them in the course “Writers in theCommunity. Being the sort of person who gets excited over goodpoetry collections or editing anthologies, she wouldn’t be satisfiedsimply teaching ecology – she had to add words to the mix.

Allison’s work with the Center for Biological Diversity hasgiven her experience working with an environmental non-profitas well as understanding water policy. She has gained experiencein developing materials to effectively communicate with thepublic on conservation issues. Prescott College’s environmentalstudies curriculum has prepared her to face a complexity ofissues based on the reality that “every group involved has differ-ent stakes and interests in the fate of the Verde River.”

Allison grew up in western Washington, spending time out-doors, hiking with her family and gaining an appreciation forwildlife. Living in Arizona, she’s more aware of the complex issuessurrounding our precious water resources. As her project nearscompletion, Allison reflected on her experience: “A lot of peopleworking together toward one purpose can do beautiful things.”

A Conflluence of Creative Writing and Ecology by AnnabethMcNamara ’09.

Transitions Wins Again The College’s magazine scoops up Communicator Awards for content and presentation

The Summer 2008 and Winter 2008/09 issues of Prescott College’sTransitions each won 2009 Communicator Awards of Distinction from theInternational Academy of the Visual Arts. With thousands of entries receivedfrom across the US and around the world, the Communicator Awards is thelargest and most competitive awards program honoring creative excellence for

communications professionals, according to literature from the organization. Founded by communication professionals over a decade ago, The Communicator Awards is an annual competition honoring

the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations, and identity work for print, video, interactive and audio.Each year about 450 entries are honored with Awards of Distinction in the Print Material category.

Continued from page 15


By Lisa Barnes M.A. ’09

Imagine the followingscenarios: it’s a beauti-ful, sunny day, just the

right temperature, no wind– a perfect day to take thebike to work or school. Youhead off, leaving the car inthe garage. The next day,(let’s say it’s Saturday morn-ing) you discover you needa loaf of bread, and a bit ofleg stretching wouldn’t hurteither. You enjoy local birdssinging and fresh air on awalk to the grocery store.

It would be nice to beable to say that these scenarios are commonplace, but thatdepends on where you live, especially in the US. The freedom tochoose walking or bicycling instead of driving a car exists only incommunities that understand the value, and importance, of“complete streets.”

What are complete streets? They are roadways that safely andconveniently accommodate all travelers, regardless of age, abili-ty, and mode of travel. While that may sound logical, the majori-ty of roads built in the US since World War II have beendesigned first and foremost to move as many cars as fast as pos-sible, giving little or no thought to those who may be travelingvia other modes.

This is definitely the case here in Prescott, Ariz. While someof the larger streets are receiving sidewalks and bike lanes inconjunction with reconstruction projects, many other streetshave inconsistent, poorly maintained, or non-existent facilitiesfor walking and bicycling.

Local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organization PrescottAlternative Transportation (PAT) hosted a Complete StreetsTown Hall this past March. The intent was to encourage realconversation about transportation planning and how a completestreets policy, which would require all streets to be built for alltravelers, might impact this town. A panel of experts represent-ing various perspectives discussed a variety of issues andanswered audience questions.

Those in favor of complete streets commented on how havingsafe and convenient accommodations for bicycling and walkingencourages more people to choose these modes of travel moreoften. It is not uncommon for some elected officials to flip thisaround and say that there are not enough pedestrians and bicy-clists in town to justify building facilities for them.

Other pro-complete streets arguments address the fact thatcommunities that plan primarily for travel by automobile willend up with degraded air and water quality, an unhealthy citi-zenry, congested and unsafe streets, and a segment of the popu-lation that is essentially discriminated against – those who do notdrive a car, whether by necessity or by choice (some data shows

up to 30 percent of the population in some communities).The most common concern coming from those who are not

entirely convinced about the value of complete streets is how topay for them, a constant concern for municipalities, regardless ofhow the street looks or what modes of travel it accommodates.

But adopting a complete streets policy does not cost money; itsimply helps define the values a community holds, includingwhether all citizens deserve the right to choose how to movethemselves around.

There are also some who feel that bicyclists don’t pay into thefunds that pay for streets, as most street construction moneycomes from gas taxes. This indicates a flaw in how the fundingstreams have been developed, not an excuse for not accommo-dating all citizens.

Besides, don’t we all pay some taxes that end up supportingthings we don’t agree with? That is the nature of our system ofgovernment. In Prescott, as in many other communities, there iscurrently a sales tax that helps to pay for street projects. If someof those funds don’t also pay for bicycle and pedestrian facilities,isn’t that simply unfair?

Prescott Alternative Transportation staff and volunteers arecurrently finalizing a report of the Town Hall’s proceedings. Itreflects the presentations made by the panelists as well as cap-tures the comments and questions raised by audience members.It also provides additional insight and commentary that wasn’taddressed at the Town Hall due to time constraints. In the end,it is the conclusion of PAT that a complete streets policy is stillworthy of pursuing for the City, or, preferably, for the tri-citycentral Yavapai County region. The environmental, publichealth, social equity, and quality of life benefits outweigh fund-ing concerns.

Lisa Barnes, M.A. ’09 earned her degree through a fellowshipwith Prescott Alternative Transportation, where she serves asExecutive Director. PAT works towards a bicycle- and pedestri-an-friendly central Yavapai community. Lisa can be contacted [email protected].

To Complete Our Streets – Or Not?


By Annabeth McNamara ’09

“I don’t go in there. I’m afraid to,” my friend responds when Itell her I’m on my way to the Catalyst Infoshop. “What goes onthere, anyways?” she asked.

I walk down to the McCormick Arts District to find someonewho might know.

I turn onto McCormick and stop at the first building on theright, painted a cheerful red, walk past the outdoor stage andunder a sign that reads “100% Volunteer-Powered.” I nod agreeting to a man in the shade by the door; walk into the dimspace crammed with books and other merchandise. Even thefloor is covered with varnished book pages. I walk into the nextroom, full of people waiting for vegetables to finish baking.

I sit down beside Yorke, a man in his mid 20s with a soft grinwho’s been volunteering and living at the Catalyst for the pasttwo semesters.

When asked what an infoshop is, Yorke hands me a zine, ordo-it-yourself magazine on infoshops. In an article, ChuckMunson explains, “There are infoshops in just about every bigcity in North America. Infoshops have been described as ‘a crossbetween a radical bookstore and a movement archive.’ Infoshopshave been around for years and are generally thought to haveoriginated in Europe, especially Germany where there were over60 at one time. They were nurtured by the squatting, autonomist,punk, and anarchist movements. European, especially Germaninfoshops,” the article continues, “function as community centers,and maildrops for groups outlawed by the state.”

“For me, it’s all about disseminating hard-to-find information,especially on anarchy,” Yorke adds. “But the Catalyst’s not neces-sarily an anarchist-run space.” Food Not Bombs, Really ReallyFree Market, Metaphysical Discussion Group, and Black MesaIndigenous Support also use the space, among others.

“As we’re a community space, we’re open to anyone whowants to use the space,” Yorke said. There are also frequentmusic performances. Anyone can incorporate service learning,community service, or Independent Studies into volunteering.

“Living in Prescott, I saw how essential it is to have a radicalcommunity space in such a conservative town,” Yorke said. “I viewthe Catalyst as a hub for radical groups to have a center. Having acentral location can create a more cohesive local movement forsocial and ecological justice.” Our conversation was then cut short.Three o’clock p.m.: must head to the square for Food Not Bombs.

Everyone takes off on foot or bicycle, while Rayanne Phillips’10 stays to watch the shop. A tall woman with cropped hair anddusty Carhartt overalls, she carries herself with an air of respectand power.

Her interest in radical literature began, she explains, whenshe became “allergic to fiction” and started volunteering at LeftBank Books, an anarchist bookstore. “The more I learned, it waslike a rabbit hole, crazier than cyberspace,” she shared. “BecauseI’m accountable and a part of this oppressive system, the firststep is to understand it, to know it.”

She describes how most activism for justice is being organizedby individuals and groups of folks with little or no income whocome at oppression from a first-hand perspective. Phillips pursesher lips and looks off into space before continuing. “A lot of peoplecome to the Catalyst for services, when the space is actually aboutresources and alternative information. The space is whatever peo-ple make it to be,” she said, “As long as it’s through consensus.”

In the spring of 2008, the previous “anchor” volunteers, thepeople who had been mostly responsible for the Catalyst, left forother projects. New volunteers stepped in at a crucial moment,and had to decide whether they wanted more books or morepeople. They chose people. “What’s happened is a lot more com-munity involvement,” said Phillips.

“These days you see a lot of mentoring: elder to youth, youthto elder, volunteer to volunteer, peer to peer. With Infoshops, it’sall about finding first-source knowledge, while deconstructingthe media, in order to create a framework for self-determina-tion,” said Phillips.

At present, the Catalyst focuses on creating seeds for small-scale examples of post-capitalist structure. It still needs to paythe rent, though. Infoshops sell books, zines, and t-shirts, to sup-port the community which wants literature normally excludedfrom mainstream libraries and bookstores, and to pay the bills.

We hear someone walk in the front door. “Hello!” Phillipscalls out, hopping up. “We’re just doing an interview in here.” Ihear what sounds like a mother and child introduce themselves.

“We have kids books in the corner. Here’s the book of reallybig trains. Or here, wait–” I hear Phillips walk out the frontdoor to the free box, a sort of donation thrift store. “Here’sone of my favorite books, and it was in the free box! It’s TheVery Hungry Caterpillar.”

The child exclaims in delight. I peer around the corner. A moth-er, father, and son stand in the light from the window as the childadmires his new book from the seat of his plastic car stroller.

“Normally we don’t allow cars in here,” Phillips chided. “He’s a very good driver,” his mom said, grinning. As she

turns to go, she said, “We just love your little store.”

Nurturing Counterculture


Rough and cool, sharp and round, veined with mauve andgold. Leaves and botanical fragments, coiling and merg-ing with the limbs of pensive females.

On viewing the textures and colors weaving through RainaGentry’s ’96 sensual artworks, it’s no surprise to learn that sheearned a degree in Environmental Philosophy from PrescottCollege, where she also taught Rock Climbing from 1996 to2000. One feels the years of close observation of the naturalworld – and of the places where the human mind and heartmeet in nature.

Born and raised in Southern California, Raina moved toArizona to attend Prescott College, staying on as an outdoorguide for several adventure companies in the state and to teachrock climbing courses.

Raina’s “organic” approach to art making, incorporating print-making, life drawing, collage, and painting, is “heavily influencedby [her] education at Prescott College.

“Each canvas is a playground for the psyche,” she says, “evolv-ing naturally and intuitively without structure or expectationabout the final outcome, with the meaning of the works revealedoften many years later.”

Complex layering of media and symbology with a focus on thehuman form taps into and expresses universal themes “thatmany people can identify with,” she said.

Raina uses digital media to recycle images from one artworkto another the way elements are recycled in an ecosystem, andthe way we recycle aspects of our own psyches. Artistic influ-ences evident in her work include Frida Kahlo, Picasso, GeorgiaO’Keeffe, Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Gaugin, and contempo-raries Barbara Rogers, Deborah Donelson, Dae Rebeck, JoeSorren, Kim Goldfarb, and Gwyneth Scally, to name a few.

Her artwork can be found in Arizona at the Jerome Artist

Cooperative Gallery in Jerome, at Bohemia In the Lost Barrio inTucson, the Page Springs Cellars Wine Tasting Room inCornville, the Arizona Handmade Gallery in Flagstaff, and ArtsPrescott artist’s cooperative on Whiskey Row in Prescott, Ariz.Contact Raina at [email protected] or visit www.rain-tree-studios.com.

Art as EcologyPrints and paintings by Raina Gentry ’96 explore places where the psyche and the natural world meet

Natural Leaders Bloom in TucsonTwo Ironwood Tree Experience teens chosen for National Conference

This past May Ironwood Tree Experience (ITE) participantsMatt Clark, 16, and Wulf Steklis, 15, were accepted into theNatural Leaders Summit hosted by the national Children andNature Network. The teens caught the judges’ eye with a cre-ative video emphasizing the importance of connecting youthwith nature and a resume highlighting their experiences andskills. Applications poured in from across the country and only30 youth were accepted.

“Having two teens accepted from the same area and programis amazing,” said Suzanne Dhruv M.A. ’05, Co-Director of theIronwood Tree Experience, a project of Prescott College’s Centerfor Children and Nature in Tucson. “Both Matt and Wulf havedemonstrated great leadership skills and interest in exploring andlearning about our community through experiences in nature.”

Matt Clark completed the ITE Get Experience andExpeditionary Experience and is currently in the ITE

Mentorship Ecoprogram. Wulf Steklis has been with ITEsince the first Ecoprogram in partnership with Pima County(the Jr. Naturalist program), continued with Get Outside, GetExperience, Expeditionary Experience, and is currently in theMentorship Ecoprogram.

Both students received an all expense paid trip to theHeadlands Institute in the Bay Area, June 5–7, to work withyoung people from around the country, ages 15 through 29, increating a vision and action plan or expanding the NaturalLeaders Network.

“This will be a milestone event in the movement to recon-nect all children with nature,” Suzanne said. “They will do afine job representing Tucson, Prescott College, Ironwood TreeExperience, and Center for Children and Nature.”

For more information about ITE, visit www.ironwoodtree-experience.org.


In the bright dry desert, they walked. Bearing bright andragged banners, they walked. Protesters, students, mothersand fathers, scientists and educators, joined in the vision of a

world without nuclear weapons. This past April, 10, 2009, Prescott College students, faculty

member, and two local peace activists joined the annual nonvio-lent protest in an annual trek across the Nevada desert to thenation’s primary nuclear test site.

According the website of the parent organization, TheNevada Desert Experience, since the 50s individuals havemounted protests against nuclear warfare in the Nevada desert,initially challenging testing which impacts the Western ShoshoneNation’s homelands. By the 1980s the walks had become anannual affair focused around international spring holidays. TheSacred Peace Walk reflects the mission to stop nuclear weaponstesting through a campaign of prayer, education, dialogue, andnonviolent direct action.

As with previous walks, participants adhered to a strict codeof nonviolence in which they strive to be respectful in theirinteractions with police, military personnel, and site workers.

“This experience was powerful on so many levels, and evenlife-changing in many ways,” said Prescott College Peace Studiesfaculty Randall Amster, who participated with students from thenew Ecology of War & Peace class. “The integration of culturaland ecological issues, interfaith practices, and nonviolentactivism represents the essence of creating a more just andpeaceful world, and reflects the values of Prescott College.”

Austen Lorenz ’10, competence Environmental Studies,observed that “the most powerful part of the Sacred Peace Walkwas seeing how beautifully different religions and cultures cametogether to compliment one another, and how sharing a singlevision can bring a wide range of people together.”

Lema Mikkelsen ’10 noted, “the peace walk was so inspiringand fun – I’m already thinking about the next one!”

The walkers embarked from Las Vegas after a short service atthe Martin Luther King, Jr. statue on Martin Luther KingBoulevard. They arrived at the Mercury entrance to the Nevada

Test Site on April 12, 2009, for a sunrise ceremony led byWestern Shoshone National Council Member Johnnie Bobb andan Easter Mass led by Father Louis Vitale.

They were joined by other peacemakers for a vigil at CreechAir Force Base in Indian Springs, Nev., bringing attention to themission of unmanned aerial systems that have been deployed inPakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The two-day vigil at Creech Base included a “stations of thecross” ceremony on Good Friday, as well as an action of civil dis-obedience the day before in which 14 peace activists were arrest-ed when they entered the base with pizza and water in an attemptto hold a dialogue with the military personnel stationed there.

Among those arrested were Fr. Vitale (Nevada DesertExperience, Pace e Bene), Kathy Kelly (Voices for CreativeNonviolence), members of Catholic Workers houses in NewMexico and Iowa, and local peace activist Dennis DuVall(Prescott Peace Action). All were released on their own recogni-zance after spending the night in jail with Las Vegas court datesset for early June.

Following the mass arrests at Creech Base, Amy Goodman ofDemocracy Now! interviewed Father Vitale, noting that this wasthe first protest action specifically targeting the drones on USsoil. To date, US drones (nicknamed the “Predator” and the“Reaper”) operated from Creech Air Base have been blamed for700 civilian deaths and the creation of over 500,000 refugees inPakistan alone, according to recent estimates.

The walk continued through the Nevada desert and culminat-ed at a Peace Camp on traditional Shoshone lands near theentrance to the Mercury test site, known as “the most bombedplace on Earth.”

At the test site, 9 men and twelve women were arrested for“crossing the line” at the main entrance, while more than 30 othersblocked the road in support of the line crossers. Nevada DesertExperience organized an Easter Mass outside the entrance, whichwas celebrated before the group act of civil disobedience.

Police and protesters conversed before and during the arrestsContinued on page 27

Sacred Peace WalkPrescott students get behind the scenes and on the ground with decades-old activist movement


Although he won’t be in the little cottage by Butte Creek on adaily basis as he’s been for the past two years, the PrescottCollege habit and lifestyle isn’t that easy to quit, Joel reports.He reflects back on his years of service:

Besides VP of Development, what other positions haveyou held at the College?

As the first Dean of the College, I was a slice each of PaulBurkhardt, Steven Corey and Jack Herring combined. Wewere smaller, but the challenges were exciting. We were can-didates for accreditation, creating its own set of problems.Developing academic programs, hiring faculty, building andbalancing a budget, leasing and occasionally acquiring proper-ty as enrollment grew – in 18 years there was never a dullmoment.

When President Doug North left in 1992, the Board ofDirectors decided to experiment with a co-presidency. I wasasked to serve as one of the co-presidents on an interim basisand then permanently with another colleague. It was a tumul-tuous period. When it became obvious the co-president con-cept wasn’t going to work, my counterpart resigned, and I wasasked to serve as interim until a new president came onboard.

What are the highlights of your time as Dean?I was fortunate to hire Anabelle Nelson as first full-time

Director of the Adult Degree Program which we collaboratedon developing into a full-fledged program. Subsequently, Iwas able to support her in creating the Center for IndianBilingual Teacher Education (CIBTE).

I like to think the Kino Bay Center exists in part because ofmy support. Certainly the efforts of people including DougHulmes ’74 and Alan Weisman early on, and Lorayne Meltzer,Ed Boyer and Tad Pfister ’03 are the reason Kino is such asuccess story.

As Dean of the College, I worked with Ellen Cole, Dean ofMaster of Arts Progam on program design and implementa-tion – getting it approved internally and then accredited. I

Thirty-One Years of Change Vice President of Development Joel Hiller steps down, reflects on three decades of service

also established The Tucson Center. We didn’t have lots offinancial resources during the 80s, but we accomplished agreat deal, including regaining our accreditation from theHigher Learning Commission.

I’m certainly pleased with the continued evolution andflourishing of the arts programs and am honored to haveplayed a role in the renovation of the Sam Hill Warehouse –to have been Dean when the first issue of Alligator Juniperwas published and now to see performance arts an importantpart of the curriculum. I facilitated purchasing Sam Hill withthe dream from the get-go that it would someday be a dedi-cated arts facility.

Years before, I held art shows in the lobby and Chapel at220 Grove Avenue. I felt it essential for students to experienceart in whatever way we could. Some of those exhibits includedimportant local and regional artists and in 1986, a 20-year ret-rospective of fine art photography by alumni and faculty.

Why is this place special to you?The learning that takes place here is extraordinary. Our

graduates do meaningful and important work. We may notgraduate celebrities or individuals that create great financialwealth, but their work brings good to the world. We really dosupport our students in helping them take responsibility fortheir learning. For many, that’s transformative.

Despite having been deeply challenged by some relation-ships over the years, the relationships at Prescott College havecontributed to making my life as rewarding and satisfying asit’s been.

You left the College for a period. When was your nextsignificant contribution?

I returned to the College as a consultant to fundraise forthe Crossroads Center in 2002.

When Ralph Phillips was hired as Development Directorwe established an excellent rapport. He advocated keeping meon after the Crossroads Center campaign. When Ralph



Jeanine M. Canty, M.A. ’00, Ph.D.In May 2009, Jeanine gave a presenta-

tion at the Denver Green Festival entitledEnvironmental Justice = Human Justice. Itwas the first Green Festival in Denver(they have been held in Washington, DC,Seattle, and Chicago) and had over 21,000attendees. She also presented at the

National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in HigherEducation (NCORE) doing a workshop: Race, Oppression, andEnvironmental Justice, in San Diego.

Tim Crews, Ph.D.Dr. Tim Crews, Resident Degree

Program faculty member in EnvironmentalStudies and Agroecology, was busy inFebruary giving talks to regional groups ona range of sustainability topics. He spoketo the Yavapai County Chapter of theArizona Archeological Society on Farming

on Sunlight: Agroecological Strategies of Pre-historic Farmers inthe Arid Southwest. For the annual meeting of the Diablo Trustand ranching and environmental collaborative group in Flagstaff,he spoke on What are Ecological Services, and Could they Savethe Day? As part of an ongoing lecture series on water in theSouthwest, Tim presented at Sharlot Hall Museum onAgriculture, Irrigation, and the Six Million Person Camping Trip(in reference to Arizona).

Jeff Fearnside, M.F.A.Jeff Fearnside, managing editor of the

Prescott College’s literary journal, AlligatorJuniper, and advisor of the student news-paper, The Raven Review, has had severalpieces of his creative writing published oraccepted for publication this past academicyear. Two poems appeared in the online

journal Protestpoems.org, while a personal essay appeared inEtude: New Voices in Literary Nonfiction. He has poems forth-coming in If Poetry Journal and The Los Angeles Review as wellas short stories forthcoming in Eureka Literary Magazine,Cantaraville, and Arroyo Literary Review. Finally, his fictionchapbook Three Tales of Love, Sex, and Magic was named afinalist in Spire Press’s Special Prose Chapbook Contest.

Delisa Myles, M.F.A.Delisa Myles was involved in the film

project Dance Down River, an 18-day rivertrip down the Grand Canyon with HumanNature Dance Theatre. The 30-minutenature/dance film premiered at ClineLibrary at NAU in April 2009. The filmwill be shown at the Sam Hill Gallery

Series in Fall 2009. Human Nature Dance Theatre was alsoawarded the Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theatre insummer of 2008. Delisa continues to teach half-year at Prescott

College and freelance in choreographic and teaching projectsaround the country.

Terril Shorb, M.A., Ph.D. ’09 Terril Shorb’s essay on a personal

response to the climate change crisis willappear in an anthology called Thoreau’sLegacy: American Stories About GlobalWarming. The book is a joint effort of theUnion of Concerned Scientists andPenguin Classics publishing. Terril, Core

Faculty member of the Adult Degree Program, wrote aboutreducing household water use and setting out more water pansto slake the thirst of wild creatures who live near or pass throughthe small lot surrounding his home in Prescott.

Priscilla Stuckey, M.A., Ph.D.Dr. Priscilla Stuckey presented a paper

April 19, 2009, at Ohio NorthernUniversity’s international conference“Recreate, Replace, Restore: Exploring theIntersections between Meanings andEnvironments,” sponsored by ONU’sWorking Group on Religion, Ethics, and

Nature. The conference brought together scholars of environ-mental science, ethics, philosophy, architecture, English, andreligious studies from North America and around the globe toreflect together on how humans relate to the rest of nature. Dr.Stuckey’s paper titled “Knowing Earth: Animist Refigurings ofWestern Epistemology” explored how relating to other naturebeings as “persons” challenges Western ways of knowing. Dr.Stuckey is Associate Faculty and former Chair of Humanities inPrescott College’s distance master of arts program.

Harris Sussman, Ph.D.Former faculty member Harris Sussman (Hal Lenke) was

given the Outstanding Service Award from the Bay StateCouncil of the Blind, an organization for people who make a dif-ference in the lives of blind people, for helping blind people inRussia. He and his wife Svetlana run the only project in the USthat helps blind students and professionals in Russia: the MNAdamov Memorial Fund. http://mnadamovfund.org/.

Vicky Young, ’95, M.Ed., M.Ed., M.A.,Ph.D.

Vicky Young was notified on April 28,2009, that she has been selected to serveon the national Organ Procurement andTransplantation Network (OPTN)/ UnitedNetwork for Organ Sharing (UNOS)Living Donor Committee. There are eight

new appointees to the national OPTN/UNOS Living DonorCommittee. The three-year term for appointees starts on July 1,2009, and the Committee will meet together in Chicago onSeptember 21, 2009.

Vicky donated her kidney on April 28, 2004, to a friend. In

Faculty News


addition, that same year, Vicky’s granddaughter was a recipientof skin transplants on her torso after she was accidentallyburned. Through the Donor Network of Arizona (DNAZ), Vickyis a trained community volunteer advocating for people to con-sider organ and tissue donation. She participates in the local tri-city DNAZ group, whose membership consists of donor recipi-ents (e.g., heart, kidney, liver), living donors, those waiting fororgan transplantation, and their family members.

The Living Donor Committee considers issues relating to thedonation and transplantation of organs from living donors torecipients. The committee makes recommendations to improvethe process of living donation and transplantation. The OPTNbrings together medical professionals, transplant recipients, liv-ing donors, and donor families to develop national organ trans-plantation policy. The OPTN is managed by the UNOS undercontract with the US Department of Health and HumanServices, Health Resources and Services Administration,Division of Transplantation.

resigned two years later, I was asked to step in as interimdirector. People in the office at that time had a total tenure of12 months. When a national search didn’t find anyone thoughtto be a good fit, Dan Garvey and Steven Corey asked if Iwould just do the job, and I reluctantly agreed.

I thought if I could grind away for a while, others that fol-lowed might find greater opportunity and success. Only timewill tell.

With growing expectations and demands for a much-improved development effort and a major campaign on thehorizon, I believe stepping aside now is in the best interest ofthe College and for me personally.

What will your role be after your successor is hired?Once my successor is on board, I’ll return to a role similar

to what I did previously, as an independent contractor. I’mbetter prepared to ensure someone else’s success than leadthe charge.

Specifically, I’ll be working as an independent consultantfor major gifts and grants. Marj Sente is a highly competentgrant writer, and I hope to continue to work closely with heron big projects like campus development and expansion andsome special interests of mine like Kino and the arts. I hopeto work closely with Marie Smith and maintain relationshipswith alumni I’ve known for 10, 20, 30 years. I’d love to intro-duce our new President to our nationwide network of alumniand parents.

I’m honored to have again served the College and look for-ward to continuing my association with the College. I’m quiteconfident the best is yet to come.

Interview by Ashley Mains M.A. ’10

Change continued from page 21Summer flowers in Prescott College’s Barbara McClintock Garden


Natalie Canfield ’03Hi all! I have been living in Long

Beach, Calif., for the last three yearsand thought my time here was near-ing an end, but the Universe hadother plans. I begin a Masters pro-gram at UCLA’s Graduate School ofEducation in the fall. My program isin Higher Education andOrganizational Change (HEOC).The HEOC program “emphasizes asteadfast belief in the transformatory

nature of higher education as an institution of social change.The goals of HEOC are to conduct research and generatescholarship aimed at furthering a critical understanding ofhigher education and its role in society.” (Quoted from theUCLA website. Check it out!!)http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~heoc/.

Upon graduation, I hope to understand student experienceand what motivates graduates to make positive social change.In the future, I would like to create a consulting business tohelp other colleges create or enhance programs to inspiretheir students to do the same! I would love to hear from you!My email address is [email protected] and I get tokeep it forever!

Jeff Carlson ’91For those of you who haven’t

heard, my second novel, Plague War,did not win the Philip K. Dick Awardat Norwescon last weekend. In a first-ever tie, the PKD went to DavidWalton’s Terminal Mind and Adam-Troy Castro’s Emissaries For TheDead. Nevertheless, I had a fantastictime at the four-day convention, mak-ing lots of new friends and contacts,and it really is just an honor to be

nominated. The awards cere-mony was especially great,classy, and fun. Here’s my cos-mic booby prize: Spanish pub-lisher Minotauro has declaredLa Plaga (Plague Year) a best-seller in their country, whichmeans my American publisheris suddenly in a rush to changemy byline to “Jeff Carlson,International BestsellingAuthor.” Wow! Overall, it’sbeen an amazing week and ahalf. Also exciting, charts com-piled by one of Spain’s bookchains has Antidoto (PlagueWar) at #1 right now on the

very top of the heap ... and that’s in hardcover as a mainstreamnovel. Fun photos (with more to come) athttp://www.jverse.com/blog/index.html.

Nick Devore ’10Konichiwa, greetings from Hokkaido, the north island of

Japan. I did a month-long ski trip in Japan filming withSweetgrass Productions. Their film will be coming out this sum-mer. Check it out. I posted some cool photos and a story on mywebsite, please check it out if you’re interested: www.nickde-vore.com. Stay tuned for more updates. Be well, and blessingsfrom Japan, home of the kindest people on earth and some ofthe deepest snow.

Becca Deysach ’99I am thrilled to announce

the grand opening of my veryown writing studio! IbexStudios: Adventures inCreative Writing offers twice-monthly postcard prompts,online workshops, word

smithing services, and custom writing adventures to people allover the continent. For folks in the Pacific Northwest we alsooffer unique in-town and field-based workshops in a safe, sup-

Class Notes


portive, and adventurous atmosphere. As this studio was greatlyinfluenced by my time at Prescott College, it is heavily place-based, and seeks to offer connection to human and ecologicalcommunities. Please explore all of our offerings at www.ibexstu-dios.com. Thank you! Peace and good writing. 971-227-0305.

Scott Douglas ’95I’m producing a docu-

mentary with Greg Miller’95 and Brian Lilla ’93 –three Prescotteers puttingtheir minds to work andhearts on the line.Patagonia Rising is a fron-tier story of water and cul-ture, engineering andpower, and the sustainablealternatives that couldmeet demands of thedeveloping Chileannation. We’ve been in pre-production for a while andplan a shoot in Octoberthrough November 2009in Chile. Needless to sayit’s a tough time to raisefunds for something likethis, but we’re putting ourmountaineering tenacityto the test and starting togain on it, getting moresupport and expandingour footprint.

To learn more, watch atrailer or make a donation,please visit

http://www.motionmedia.org/filmography/patagonia.html.

Andrea Gold ’75 Prescott College alumna

Andrea H. Gold, Presidentof Gold Stars SpeakersBureau in Tucson, Ariz.,recently released her newe-book for speakers, co-authored with speaker andhusband Gary Yamamoto.The Business of Speaking:Proven Secrets toBecoming a Million DollarSpeaker e-book is 265pages, just released inJanuary 2009. This power-packed e-book helps newer

speakers or those thinking of speaking to consider and set upthe many areas involved in the business of speaking, frompositioning, promotion and working with speakers bureaus, tomarketing, sales and product creation. You can read samplepages and check it out at:www.goldstars.com/products/008.html.

Andrea Gold also works with many speakers and celebrities.She recently booked Jeff Salz ’74, another Prescott Collegealumnus, for speaking engagements in the Bahamas and inAustin, Texas. She met Jeff AFTER Prescott College, in thecontext of the meetings industry. It’s a small world! Andrea H.Gold, President, Gold Stars Speakers Bureau, 520-742-4384,[email protected], www.goldstars.com.

Otis Kriegel ’94I have started a website called The K5 (www.TheK5.com)

to help parents through the challenges of raising their elemen-tary school age children. The site is made up of short videosthat address different topics important to parents such as tipson how to improve reading comprehension, solve math prob-lems, how to prepare for a parent/teacher conference, andeasy to make school lunches. The site also has a more tradi-tional blog called The K5 News, and an “ask the expert” serv-ice called Ask The K5.


Kestrel Plump ’07Both Kestrel Plump and Katherine Nelson ’06 are working

at an organization called Urban Tree Connection(http://www.urbantreeconnection.org/). The organizationbuilds gardens on abandoned lots in the projects ofPhiladelphia and teaches the residents in the neighboring lotshow to grow food. Read more on page 18 of Grid magazine’sApril issue at: http://gridphilly.com.

Gary Polacca ’96 Gary Polacca received the March 2009 Outstanding

Alumnus Award from Northland Pioneer College. Garyattended Northland before earning his bachelor’s degree atPrescott College, and later a master’s at NAU. NorthlandPioneer College honors outstanding graduates who have usedtheir degree or training to succeed in the pursuit of a careeror educational goal and who support and promote life-longlearning. To read more about Gary’s dedication to learning,visit www.npc.edu/node/1178.

Billy Reutter ’06 Billy is the owner of Ecoquest Adventures, a cultural sub-

mergence travel program where you can make a [email protected].

Tom Robinson ’73 Just returned from fabulous three-week Grand Canyon raft

trip with Angela Garner ’72, Dave Meeks ’73, Steve Huemmer’73, Bruce Sargent ’73, Lauren Sargent ’08, and Will Stillwell,among others. [email protected].

Nay Wall (Harzewski) ’00 After graduating from PC and traveling around, working at

Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, and living inJackson Hole, San Diego, and Wilmington, I was acceptedinto the Physician Assistant master’s program at OregonHealth & Science University in Portland, Ore. I graduated in2006 and married a sweetheart of a man from North Carolinatwo weeks later. We moved to Santa Cruz, Calif., shortlythereafter, so I could begin work in surgery with an orthope-dic spine doctor. We have enjoyed surfing at the point breakdown the street in our free time. On March 14, 2009, we wereexcited to welcome our son, Conner Eric Wall into the world.He is a sweet mellow baby and we’re really having fun beingparents. Life is good! We’d be happy to see any other PC folksin the area or passing through. [email protected].


in a cordial and respectfulmanner, and the line crosserswere released promptly, as isthe tradition after more thantwo decades of proteststhere.

The Prescott communityrepresented the largestgroup in attendance, andplans are underway for par-ticipating in next year’s walk.

“We will keep going backuntil our nation abandonsthe ways of war,” saidAmster. “We owe that muchto ourselves, people around

the world, and future generations as well.”

Thanks to Randall Amster for contributing to this article.

ect research into her Senior Project research, studying the ben-thic (stream bottom) invertebrate community and along thestream margins. Reduced flows in the Verde River, eitherthrough dewatering from groundwater pumping or the extendeddrought, could alter the insect community. Elizabeth hypothe-sizes that different insect communities live in the benthos andstream margin. Therefore, a reduction in stream flow coulddecrease overall insect diversity in the upper Verde River.

“It is interesting that Butte Creek started running during thewinter and provided us with an immediate outdoor classroom forour discussion of sediment transport,” Noted Dr. Moline. It alsoprovided a location to conduct a leaf decomposition experiment.

“Then, on the last day of lecture for the stream ecology classButte Creek dried up.”

Poetry.

Thank you to Angie Moline for contributing to this article.

frequently populated by people from the homeless shelter down the street. Many rely on bicycles and feet as their sole means oftransport. Some are establishing lives after time in prison andcould never afford a functioning bicycle otherwise. They’re herefor a bicycle so they can get a job that’s too far away to walk.“These people are just trying to survive,” Robin says, shaking hishead. HUB is a compassionate resource that simultaneouslybuilds community as people build bicycles.

HUB is run by work-study students and volunteers who main-tain steady hours despite chaotic academic schedules. “It’s justus, five or six students juggling school and the HUB thing,” saysRobin. “But getting paid to work at a community bicycle space ispretty rewarding. It opens you up to the greater community.”

Before I go, I ask Robin what’s the best thing about working atHUB. He raises his chin and smiles, arms crossed over his chest.“It gets me on my bicycle more,” he says. “And it makes me lookcool.

“Because, if you haven’t heard, bikes are cool.”

Stream Ecology continued from page 6

HUB continued from page 9

their hands grubby, fill bellies with fresh veggies, organize aproject, or lay in a sun-drenched hammock.

The property is an oasis, an evolution of ideas birthed intoreality. If Prescott’s “barrio” is the heart of the city, theEcohood is its heartbeat. If there is such a thing as a rainbowmade without rain, then 727’s soil is the black gold at the bot-tom of the rainbow. To see is to believe: stop by during theday, or for the potluck, Wednesdays at 6 p.m. Sign up for thenewsletter or contact Dan at [email protected].

Urban Perm continued from page 10 Peace Walk continued from page 20


unlocked the richness of literature for audiences, introducing themto works by Octavio Paz, Adrienne Rich, Wislawa Szymborska, Li-Young Lee, Galway Kinnell, Alice Munro, Edwidge Danticat,Yusef Komunyakaa, Lucille Clifton and Arundhati Roy, among oth-ers. Her performance/lectures were described as “… an experi-ence with the exultation of a jazz riff, the intimacy of a cello sonataplayed at midnight, the astonishment of a triptych painting.”

Fern is survived by her brother, Bram White, his wife Barbaraand nieces Jenna and Lissa of California; her nephews Keegan andBlake Miller, the sons of her late sister Rissa and their fatherWarren Miller and his wife, Bronwyn, of Prescott. Also by an ador-ing circle of friends, mostly in Arizona, affectionately known as TheTribe. All will miss her amazingly buoyant and richly zany spirit,her extremely clever wit and her deep, rich, generous heart.

She always reminded those around her how we are supposed tolive: by wringing every last drop out of every moment. We’ll neversee the likes of her again – she was that original.

Memorials may be made to the Prescott Public Library, 315 E.Goodwin, Prescott, AZ 86303, or Hospice Family Care, 100 E.Sheldon Street, Suite 100, Prescott, AZ 86301.

Visit Fern’s guestbook and share a memory with the family athttp://www.ruffnerwakelin.com/memorials.asp?page=mdetail&id=799.

Fern DavyeFern Davye, Lecturer in the

Luminosity of Language, made her finalexit from the stage of life on April 30,2009, at Hospice Family Care in Prescott,Ariz. She was born to Ben and Zelia(Strauss) White on May 6, 1951, inAmityville, N.Y. Fern was a friend of theCollege, lecturing and co-teaching, and hasmany friends here.

For the past 17 years Fern traveled the country for 250 days ayear, electrifying audiences with her carpetbag of 500 exemplars ofluminous language – poetry, fiction, essays, theatre – by hundredsof contemporary writers.

Fern would perform each piece in several languages, “thenimmediately navigate each one, revisiting the work with the audi-ence ... about its form and content, its architecture, its choreogra-phy,” according to the Marymount Santa Barbara website. She

In Memoriam

If you would like to join our Legacy Society and plan to includeus in your estate plan, we would like to thank you and answerany questions you have.Please contact Joel Hiller, vice president for development, at(928) 350-4501 or [email protected]

“It’s pretty hard to put a period at the end of the fabulous run-on sentence that was Fern ... Sentence, punctuation, sound.Fern was her own unforgettable poem.”

– Former faculty member Alan Weisman


By Mary Lin

Institutional memory is acurious thing. Often theindividuals most passionate

in their loyalty and support foran organization can appear tobe talking about entirely differ-ent institutions altogether.

Upon reading UncommonEducation, Sam Henrie’sengaging chronicle of PrescottCollege (Wheatmark 2008), itwould seem that, perhapsmore than most institutions,the College owes its existenceto these oft-conflicting pas-sions and visions of a few

charismatic individuals. Charles Parker and James Stuckeycome to mind. Sam’s book reveals that it owes equally as muchto students, staff, faculty, and alumni who rallied together atmoments of genuine crisis, earning it national media attentionas a hub for free thinkers in the 60s, as “The College thatWouldn’t Die” during the 70s, and who have helped usher inthe era of stability, prosperity, and growth of the last decades.

Well-loved emeritus faculty member Sam Henrie chartsPrescott College’s journey from avant-garde college of the 60sto a leader in interdisciplinary, experiential and sustainabilityeducation for the 21st century, using the voices of those wholed the way.

“I’m writing this by the light of a kerosene lantern,listening to the latest in a series of monsoon seasonrainstorms pounding on the red tile roof above me.Having crawled out from under my mosquito net towrite this, I am braving moths, mosquitoes, bats,and risking malaria, encephalitis, and possibly vam-piric transformation. I can’t think of anyone I’drather risk it for than you guys.”

– Maggie Quaid ’75 in a 1977 letter to Prescott College alumni

Uncommon Education is more interesting than one imag-ines a book of this type should be. Earthy and honest accountsof student and faculty adventures in the wilds of theSouthwest, Mexico, Honduras, and Manhattan interweavewith philosophical treatises from alumni and faculty on adven-ture education, the sanctity of life, and the factual summariesof the history of some of the College’s landmark programs.These include the Center for Indian Bilingual TeacherEducation, Wilderness Orientation, and Centaur LeadershipServices, the College’s equine learning program.

Alumni reflect on the skills learned which fueled their ownpassions – for farming fish in the desert, taking on New YorkCity bureaucracy, and tackling civil rights issues working withundocumented individuals in the fiery Sonoran desert outsideTucson.

Individuality and collective action, testing oneself in natureand in society. One is tempted to scan the text for the essentialtraits, the combination of qualities and strengths which bothdefine the College and underlie the deep passion which alumniprofess for it. Perhaps student Philip Waite said it best:

“During times when having a college degree no longerensures one of also having employment, a lot can be said for aschool where survival and adaptability rank high among academ-ic priorities.”

Sam Nyal Henrie, Ph.D., FacultyEmeritus in the College’s Cultural andRegional Studies department taught atPrescott College from 1971 to 1997,when he transferred to emeritus status.He currently limits his teaching areas tophilosophy and religion while he pur-sues research and writing. Over thecourse of his tenure, he taught Writing,

Music, Art History, Latin-American Studies, Education, andCognitive Psychology. His extracurricular activities include par-enting five children, promoting educational innovation, workingwith the physically challenged, wilderness activities, singing,composing music, restoring historic homes, and writing both fic-tion and nonfiction.

The Last WordUncommon Education Sam Henrie’s engaging chronicle of the history and philosophy of Prescott College includes many voices inthe retelling

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Transitions Summer 2009