Transitions - Fall 2009

Transitions Fall/Winter 2007

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Contents Pulisher/Editor Mary Lin

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Susan Rheem: Learning for a Lifetime

Associate Editor Ashley Mains

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It’s Never to Late to Be an Artist

Staff Writers Mary Lin • Ashley Mains

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“Peak” Learning

Contributing Writers Cameron Boswell • The family of Linda Bryant Joshua Canter • Omie Drawhorn • Chase Edwards The family of Hillary Fitzgerald • Tom Fleischner David Greenwood • Chris Hout • Leslie Laird Rich Lewis • Gerald Reed • Diane Schmidt Steve Talbott • Ted Teegarden

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Passing the Torch: Presidential Search

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Ph.D. Profiles: Sustaining Education

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PC Scholarship: You Can Quote Us

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Brenden Haggerty: Small Subjects, Big Ideas

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Sommer Fellow Jessica Roth

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Larry Jarrett: Developing Open Spaces

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Edie Dillon, Eco League Coordinator

Staff Photographers Mary Lin • Ashley Mains • Bridget Reynolds Photo Contributors Walt Anderson • Joel Barnes • Silas Binkley The family of Linda Bryant • Joshua Canter Audrey Clark • Jess Dods • Jeff Fearnside • Mateo Fiori The family of Hillary Fitzgerald • Tom Fleischner Brendan Haggerty • Matt Hart • Chris Hout • Larry Jarrett David Meeks • Greg Meyer • Ella Goodbrod Moench Gerald Reed • Pat Renaud • Mark Riegner • Darien Ripple Edward Rooks • Diane Schmidt • Paul Smotherman Ted Teegarden • Christine Teleisha • Benjamin Traxler Jen Wendt • Kristopher Young • The Ironwood Tree Project

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2009 Alumni Desert Stars

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Rick Thaler: “Turning” a Profit

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Grad Teaching Assistant Program

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Tom Fleischner: Dazzled by Diversity

For Class Notes and address changes, contact Marie Smith • msmith@prescott.edu

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Tucson Happenings

Send correspondence, reprint requests and submissions to: Mary Lin Prescott College 220 Grove Ave., Prescott, AZ 86301 (928) 350-4503 • mlin@prescott.edu

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Central Campus Goes Car-Free

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Prescott College: Green & Engaged

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2009-10 Scholarship Recipients

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Jess Dods: Coming Home

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CESLL Costa Rica Service Program

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Thank You to Our Donors

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Found Poem, Lost Watch

Vice President for Development Chad Linzy (928) 350-4510 • clinzy@prescott.edu

Transitions, a publication for the Prescott College community, is published three times a year by the Public Relations Office for alumni, parents, friends, students, faculty and staff of the College.

Its purpose is to keep readers informed with news about Prescott 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 from Transitions in other publications and online at its discretion.

Prescott College is committed to equal opportunity for its employees and applicants for employment, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, sex or sexual orientation, age, disability, marital or parental status, status with respect to public assistance, or veteran’s status. This policy applies to the administration of its employment policies or any other programs generally accorded or made available to employees.

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New Faces Faculty News Class Notes In Memoriam Last Word

Cover photo: Prescott at Night by Brenden Gebhart ’11

President’s Corner

Dear friends, When Prescott College alumni meet in the great wide world, we hear that one of the first things they ask one another is, ‘how was your Orientation?’

Many of you have reported over the decades that orientation was the most transformative event in you or your student’s educational careers, and that it set an orientation towards a lifetime of committed service to a personal mission.

Which begs the question: what is the value of a Prescott College education?

We know that over the course of one’s working career, college graduates make approximately twice as much money as compared with those with a high school diploma.

Viewed simply as an investment, a college education is a one of the best. But the correlation between financial success and happiness is very slim; all the research points toward the idea that engagement in a life passion leads to a fulfilling life. The ability to engage these passions are the true value of a Prescott College education.

The past decade has been a positive time for the College. We have balanced our budgets, enrollment has increased 10 percent, and we have expanded scholarships and aid by more than 2 million dollars, making it possible for even more students to have the “Prescott College Experience.” This has only been possible because of your generosity.

Our ability to continue to grow depends on your gift. Help us continue this wonderful educational experience for generations to come. Please take a moment to fill out the enclosed envelope, or go online at www.prescott.edu/giving to make your gift.

The lifetime value of a Prescott College education may be that at the end of every day you can put your head on the pillow certain that the world is a better place because you – and Prescott College – are in it.

Warmest regards,

Dan Garvey

Leave Your Legacy Help Create A Sustainable Future Visit Prescott College on the Web at

www.prescott.edu Read the latest articles on charitable giving, refresh your memory with our glossary of terms, and calculate your income tax deduction for charitable gifts.

Susan Rheem ’82: Learning for a Lifetime Competence in Social Services, Breadth in Healthcare Administration A graduate of one of the first-ever ADP classes, Susan Rheem’82, M.S.W., followed a passion for helping others into a 30-year, groundbreaking career in eldercare and national advocacy.

Day Services offer a safe environment that is uplifting and maintains the adult as part of a family, where each member returns home in the evening after experiencing a full day.

You became aware of the plight of disenfranchised elderly while you were working at the local hospital in the 70s. Is there a story that sticks out?

You also founded the Margaret T. Morris Center. Can you tell us about it?

One of the patients had been a Harvey Girl on the Santa Fe railway. To be a Harvey Girl, you had to be extraordinarily attractive, witty and charming and adept at serving people in a moving train.

As I visualized this 90-something year-old-woman in her youth, I realized what a marvelous life she had experienced.

I realized every person I worked with had a story, a history of important experiences that formed their lives. It was difficult for me to see people restrained into compliance and I tried to make a difference in each one’s day.

Were you able to incorporate the education you received at Prescott College into your work?

It was immediately applicable! Prescott College taught me to think critically.

Prior to my coursework here, I had “coasted.” By that I mean my previous education consisted of following commands to “read this” or “take this test,” which usually does not require a student to challenge themselves by delving into the topic in a deeper way.

That came to a halt for me at Prescott College where I was challenged by experiential learning melded with a solid curriculum.

In 1982 I was able to co-found an organization, Adult Care Services, which provided adult day services and allowed me to make a difference for the seniors of this community; a major goal of mine since their options were limited in those days.

What do Adult Day Services entail?

This is a service that is designed to halt premature and inappropriate institutionalization of adults. It is a community-based day setting where people can engage in daily activities. There’s nutrition, they get medical care, and they get showers. There are educational components. It’s a safe and uplifting environment and they still get to go home at night.

Another primary function is to offer caregiver respite. Adult 2

Transitions Fall/Winter 2009

The Margaret T. Morris Center is a residential setting in Prescott for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of disabling dementia.

Adult Care Services was chosen by the State of Arizona to create the “Arizona Model” of care, which broke away from the medical institutional model that treated aging as a disease.

Before we opened, people in Prescott had to send their loved ones away for specialized end of life care, and people who had lived here their whole life were being sent out of town. When the Margaret T. Morris Center was presented to the people of Prescott, it was a sweeping change. It has been recognized on local, state and national levels for its best practices, and boasts strolling gardens where those with memory loss can enjoy nature and some of Prescott’s beauty.

How have you been involved with eldercare/Alzheimer’s issues on a national level?

I was appointed by President Reagan to the National Institutes of Health, National Advisory Council on Aging. I served on that council for four years and frequently went to Washington, DC, where I performed grant reviews for empirical Alzheimer’s disease studies.

Grants which addressed the behavioral aspects of Alzheimer’s disease were particularly important to me and I pressed to see them funded. I always felt that until there is a cure, while we are living with these problems, you have to somehow create a quality of life for people.

I was also appointed to the National Council on Aging, which is the largest public policy umbrella in the country for eldercare, and I served on the board of the National Institute of Adult Day Services. There we were trying to perpetuate day services.

You recently “retired.” What next?

I’m back in experiential mode and am experimenting again. I have received training as a court mediator and I am finding myself using my skills in different ways. Life is exciting and I have opened my own office where hopefully my skills as an M.S.W., L.C.S.W. will enable me to explore new things.

Interview by Ashley Mains, M.A. ’11

For Art’s Sake Seventy-nine-year-old Bellingham artist shows work for the first time

By Omie Drawhorn

Pat Renaud M.A. ’10 is 79 and has been painting for the past 40 years.

Starting Friday, she’ll put her work on display for the first time at Red Door’s 213 gallery at 213 S. Main St. in Moscow, Idaho.

“I’ve always felt that paintings shouldn’t be commodities; I’ve always had difficulty selling my art,” said the Bellingham, Wash., resident. “Art is very personal to me, it’s like a journal. You’d never sell your journal and that’s what art is like for me.”

Now she is working on her master’s degree at Prescott College in Arizona, and finally feels like it’s time to show her work.

On a trip to Moscow to visit her friend Kathryn Sterling, who also is on Renaud’s exhibit and thesis committee, Sterling encouraged her to show her work at 213, a new gallery owned

by Red Door owner Andrew Appleton.

“I feel like the time is right, it seems like it’s something I want to do,” Renaud said.

Renaud is working with Elizabeth Sloan of the local artist cooperative 2 Degrees Northwest. Sloan is helping coordinate and put together the show, which consists of 25 oil paintings.

The paintings range from figurative images and color fields, and the theme of the show is “art for art’s sake,” or “l’art pour l’art.”

Although her oil paintings depict a variety of subject matter, Renaud has always had a love for painting trees.

She recalled the emotional distress she felt as a child when trees were cut down in her grandfather’s orchard to make room for a house.

“I clung to my favorite tree; I wouldn’t let go,” she said.

Renaud decided to go back to school part time in 2002 at Prescott because she had the overwhelming desire to know how modern art evolved from impressionist to the end of the 20th century.

“The mystery that is art, I needed to unfold it for myself,” she said.

Renaud’s thesis examines the life and work of French artist Marcel Duchamp, and she grew from being unimpressed by him and his work to being fascinated.

“I couldn’t imagine what all the fuss was about, but after studying him I saw what an amazing person he was,” she said. “His idea that art is like physics, like Einstein with space and time, is fascinating.”

Art is about language as well as science and it comes out in Duchamp’s work, she said.

Renaud felt a connection with Duchamp, in part because like her, he didn’t paint for commercial purposes.

“He was mysterious,” she said. “To him, art was just between the viewer and the art piece. The artist never knows where (the painting) comes from and shouldn’t be asked.”

Renaud has never planned out her paintings.

“Art is what happens; each painting is a compulsion,” she said.

“I see something that catches me up and I can often just let it rest two to three days, and then it comes up again or not.”

Renaud turned to painting when she was 30, after she returned from visiting the major art museums on a trip to Europe.

“When I got back I just had to paint, I knew I had to paint right then,” she said. “The minute I got home I started painting, it was like an explosion.”

She continued to paint, but her art didn’t really start to take shape until she moved from the East Coast to Los Angeles in the late 1960s.

“With oil painting you never know what it’s going to do,” she said. “The less careful you are, the better it is. It’s the perfect medium for an expressionist like me.”

Omie Drawhorn is the Pulse Arts and Entertainment editor for the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Reprinted courtesy of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (www.dnews.com) and with permission of the author.

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Students as Teachers Mountaineering students in the North Cascades learn from the landscape – and one another

By Ted Teegarden ’07

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e had reached the rock outcrop below the base of the route. The weather was deteriorating and any further upward progress would commit us to a more challenging retreat. We had been moving since 3:30 a.m. and a decision to stop now would be difficult to digest; we had heard great things about this route and every member of the climbing party had attempted two other times to climb Forbidden Peak.

Our team leader, Peter Kearns ’10, called us together below the base of the couloir. We could tell from the look on his face that today that wasn’t going to be our day.

“Well folks I think we should gather our last views and prepare to descend, this is as far as we are going today.”

The climbing party reacted positively to the decision. They trusted their leader. They knew he had made this decision for their safety. The following few moments were filled with small discussions on how he had come to this decision and then silence as we all gazed down on the valley that was quickly being swallowed by clouds.

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At that moment, when it was official that we were turning around going back to camp, to “live to climb another day,” as they say, I was proud. Our leader, my leader for this day’s attempt, was also my student. Pete had spent the last eight weeks with his peers in the backcountry of Alaska and northern Washington, studying leadership and practicing technical skills to keep him and future clients or students safe while traveling in the mountains.

Throughout his summer studies Pete, his peers, and instructors were successful on many other summit attempts. He had learned a plethora of new skills and was putting them into action everyday. Over the duration of the course Pete, along with his peers, had focused on their own leadership style as well as received constructive feedback. Pete is an ever-evolving book, pages can be added, and sentences can be dropped to refine his personal leadership handbook. With all of this training, standing there below the classic alpine climbing route on Forbidden Peak, it was still a difficult decision.

The descent was more challenging than expected as now the clouds had covered the way and visibility had reduced to about 100 feet. We were officially in the clouds.

My thoughts turned to our approach when I started to notice the low-level clouds moving into the valley the previous hour. I knew we wouldn’t make it very far that day but the decision wasn’t mine to make. My job was to act as a safety officer, to step in before something dangerous happened, to be almost a ghost instructor. I was acting as a resource, if needed, but at this stage in the summer course the students were empowered with all the responsibilities of a paid guide or educator, so getting a little wet in the clouds wasn’t a big deal.

By the time we reached camp we were quite damp, but we were safe and all hazards had been managed appropriately without the need for me to step in. At that moment I was proud to be an educator.

Moments like these that I have while teaching at Prescott College are what keep me inspired. It’s challenging sometimes to stand back and take your hand out of the pot and let the students run the kitchen, but it’s rewarding and refreshing when you watch some of your own students walk away and know that they are competent and safe. They might not know all of the answers (I know I don’t), but I know they are set up for success for future situations when learning opportunities present themselves, or difficult decisions are encountered along their path.

New Faces New Face Chad Linzy, CFRE Prescott College welcomed new Vice President of Development Chad Linzy this past fall. Chad has worked in higher education fundraising for 10 years, most recently as Executive Director of Major and Planned Gifts and Campaign Programs at Butler University, where he managed a 125 million dollar campaign.

“It’s an opportunity to take an institution like PC to the next level,” he said.

“Prescott College provides one of the best educations in the country, an education that prepares students for a wonderful life. We have to reinvest in the college through philanthropy.”

Chad believes the time is right for Prescott College.

“We are seeing the first graduation class enter the phase of life where they might consider making a major gift to the college. There has been fantastic work done in the foundation area and we are engaging the alumni in a more strategic manner. The most pressing challenge so far is to create a more traditional infrastructure.

“I use the word traditional very carefully, because this is a nontraditional college. However, the potential to raise significant funds from a myriad of sources exists. And to do that, we must have the systems and protocols to undergird our efforts moving forward.”

An avid “amateur gourmet” chef, Chad also enjoys outdoor activities and camping with his wife, Leslie, and their daughter, Olivia.

The couple welcomed a new baby, Grant, to the family this August.

Promotion Joan Clingan, M.A., Ph.D. Dr. Joan Clingan has accepted appointment as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies. This position combines many of the responsibilities formerly divided in the Master of Arts and Ph.D. Program Director positions.

The reorganization is an important part of the formation of a graduate school that brings together the existing graduate programs and prepares the ground for the planning and implementation of diverse new types of graduate programs in future years (e.g., M.A., M.Ed., M.B.A., M.S., M.F.A., Ed.S., Ph.D).

While many of the administrative responsibilities of the Director of the Ph.D. Program have been reassigned to this new position, Dr. Rick Medrick will continue to exercise his excellent leadership of the Ph.D. Program in Sustainability Education.

Passing the Torch Dr. Garvey announces plans to step down as president, Trustees mount national search The Board of Trustees of Prescott College have announced the search for a new president for the College. President Dr. Daniel Garvey plans to step down as President on July 1, 2010, but will remain at the College working in the Institute for Sustainable Social Change.

“Dr. Garvey’s decision to leave his position has been carefully coordinated with the Board and the needs of the College community in order to maximize the success for a smooth transition of leadership,” noted Board of Trustees Chairman Daniel Boyce.

This past spring the Board used a survey of major constituencies of the College, including students across programs, staff and faculty, and alumni, to determine qualities of leadership most desired in the College’s new leader, Boyce noted.

The Board of Trustees have mounted a national search, with ads in Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education, University Business News, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Women in Higher Education, The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Academic Careers online, and in a direct mail campaign to executive leaders in higher education across the US, according the Human Resources CoDirector Christine Teleisha.

For more information about the position, visit www.prescott.edu/jobs/president.

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Ph.D. Profiles

Sustaining Education PC Ph.D. students and grads focus on greening education from within Silas S. Binkley Ph.D. ’12 As a Ph.D. student in Prescott College’s Sustainability Education program, Silas Binkley recognizes the complexity of this important, highly interactive, and relatively new field. He is looking at ways to introduce it to students in a more transformative manner, deepening their understanding of the ecocentric and interdisciplinary nature of sustainability education.

He’s basing his approach on the experiential education methods that Prescott College has demonstrated and pioneered since its beginnings.

“Experiential education is widely recognized as a transformative educational format which allows educators to meaningfully engage students in processes of experience and deep reflection,” he explains. “Experiential education strives towards effectiveness in increasing knowledge, developing critical thinking skills, and clarifying core values.”

Silas hopes to demonstrate that the synergetic relationships linking ecology, economics, and issues of social equity can best be understood by experiencing the connectivity of these various fields firsthand, in a participatory setting. Through field-based exploration of the self, bioregional ecology, and international socioeconomic and cultural structures, he predicts that students will gain a deeper understanding of sustainability principle, while developing lifelong methods for approaching the world through a more ecological paradigm.

After researching the effectiveness of more transmissive approaches to teaching sustainability education, Silas will develop a field-based curriculum engaging the Sonoran desert bioregion as a classroom. He hopes to demonstrate the effectiveness of his proposed model, Experiential Sustainability Education (ESE), to the foundational learning of sustainability principles.

Once his research is concluded and field tested, Silas envisions that this model of learning will be widely applicable to educational and corporate settings throughout the world.

Janice Crede Ph.D. ’09 For her Ph.D. practicum, Janice designed and implemented a weeklong Leadership in Sustainability seminar for students at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, held at a beautiful setting on 50 acres in the Chequamegon National Forest.

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Students camped in rustic cabins along with their teachers, earning one credit in Biology and one credit in First Nations studies, which Janice taught.

Both courses were geared toward learning about the human impact on the environment and how that relates to sustainability in communities and beyond in a hands-on, experiential style, using the lake, forest, bog, and surrounding area.

The field station has no computer lab and laptops were prohibited, facilitating immersion in nature.

“My overall vision was to provide a natural classroom setting where students could re-connect with and more deeply, fully appreciate the natural world in order to change attitudes and behaviors that would evolve into more sustainable living.

“Follow-up surveys and personal accounts indicated that this experience did indeed change students’ attitudes and behaviors … [resulting in] greater tendency to take on leadership roles and become ‘part of the solution’ … Mother Nature is the ultimate educator.”

Janice intends to continue to create programs that provide natural learning opportunities where the human-nature connection can emerge organically while apprising students of their role in today’s “sustainability revolution.”

John Gookin Ph.D. ’11 As Curriculum and Research Manager at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), John is using his Ph.D. to improve international outdoor education programs that develop leadership and teach environmental sustainability.

John works with NOLS wilderness expeditions across the globe that provide training to groups including every US astronaut, the US Naval Academy, executives, and students – from undergrads through Wharton Business School M.B.A.s. Through

his studies he hopes to document transformative learning and create self-assessment tools that other organizations can use to evaluate their effectiveness.

“The Prescott College Ph.D. program works well for me because I already have the dream job I’d be looking for after attaining a terminal degree. The limited residency allows me to retain that job while earning my Ph.D. … I’ll be using authentic work projects for my studies, rather than creating abstract projects to ‘practice’ on. This sort of operational efficiency is the only way I can remain a highly productive manager … while also doing my studies.

At Prescott, education isn’t a rehearsal for life: it truly IS life.”

Darien Ripple Ph.D. ’10 Darien’s dissertation addresses overcoming “environmental nihilism” – the alienation associated with living in an urbanized consumer-driven society – by providing students with “existential,” hands-on experiences in and of nature.

As a philosophy faculty member at Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC) in Arizona, he’s also exploring the role of community

colleges in developing international sustainability programs.

Darien coordinates the CGCC’s study abroad program in Belize which directly engages students in nature using learning processes including self-reflective writing, article analysis and world café discussions, as well as engagement in Belize’s “outdoor classrooms” – caves, reefs, rivers and rainforests.

Darien has been the subject of statewide media attention for creating a “Sustainability and Ecological Literacy” certificate program for CGCC, which the Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper, touted as “leading the way” for community colleges in Arizona.

Darien hopes the program will open doors for students to sustainability-related careers. Students focus on hands-on learning in the program, engaging in activities like surveying the college campus for sustainability related programs and problems, and creating plans to remediate problems that they might find.

“I am excited by the fact that [at Prescott College] I can study sustainability and focus on an area that relates to my occupation and interests,” he writes.

Darien has received a variety scholarly grants, including a Fulbright Scholarship to study globalization in Mexico and Belize, the Perkin’s Work Place grant studying ground water contamination, and Maricopa Community College District Summer Learning grants focusing on eco-tourism.

PC Scholarship: You Can Quote Us The impact of faculty publishing Though the primary focus for most faculty at Prescott College is teaching, many faculty publish, and their works are cited far more frequently than the average.

According to Reference Librarian and Interim Library Director, Rich Lewis, a recent look at the Web of Science database comparing Prescott College statistics with some comparable schools reveals that articles published by Prescott College faculty are cited at a significantly higher rate than articles published by faculty at the other schools.

“The numbers clearly demonstrate the tremendous impact our faculty publications have in the academic arena,” Rich said.

Publishing among College faculty has increased over the past 10 years, and citations of this work on the Web of Science have increased at an even quicker rate. Articles published by Prescott College faculty are cited nearly twice as often as the next highest-ranking comparable school.

For a comprehensive list of publications of Prescott College authors, visit: http://www.prescott.edu/Library/resources/pcauthors.html.

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Big Ideas …

Education grad Brendan Haggerty ’06 is changing the world through education

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rendan Haggerty ’06 came to Prescott College with big ideas for promoting change in the world. At the age of 21 he set off for an independent study in Thailand aiding Burmese refugees. A few years later, he’s still an ambitious social advocate, but is focusing his energy on a local level, as an educator.

“As I matured and built relationships with professors I learned different ways that change can be implemented. I was encouraged to work with kids and adolescents, and I found real change,” he says.

A double competence in Education and Earth Science, for his Senior Project Brendan student-taught at Mile High Middle School under its pilot Expeditionary Learning program. The program, implemented by half of Mile High’s seventh grade teachers, involved developing new, in-depth curriculum. “I came up with fresh ideas and added energy, which was nice for everyone,” he says.

Brendan took time off before student teaching to learn more about the expeditionary learning model, traveling around the country attending master’s level experiential learning and education conferences.

While student teaching, Brendan led the first mini-expedition of the year, in which students told their life stories and combined math and art skills to graph their strengths and weaknesses and paint self-portraits.

He also helped organize a big expedition entitled Mining Prescott’s Past, which combines history, culture, and science.

The expedition kicked off with an outdoor gold rush scavenger hunt in which the students searched for gold (homework passes) and faced mock scenarios that plagued miners, like rattlesnake bite and disease.

“Expeditionary learning allows kids to experience the natural world and encourages physical activity and fitness. The point is to create a fun base that makes kids care about what they are learning,” Brendan explains.

While working with Burmese refugees he realized he could be of more help at home, in a culture he understands. “I didn’t understand their government or what they needed. But at home I knew I could make change. And then Lon Abbot showed me how much heart can go into education and inspired me to become an educator,” he says.

Since graduating, he’s accepted a teaching position at a local school, where he’s carrying on his vision of global change – in the classroom.

Story by Chase Edwards ’07

Frederick and Frances Sommer Fellowship Awarded to Jessica Roth ’10 “I can excuse almost anyone being uneducated except an artist.” Frederick Sommer The Frederick & Frances Sommer Fellowship has been awarded this year to Jessica Roth ’10. The Fellowship is a gift to Prescott College to assist the academic and artistic endeavors of a senior Arts & Letters student. Established in 2000, the Fellowship is intended to support the concentration necessary to educate the aesthetic sensibility of the chosen student by providing housing in the Sommer cabin during the senior year of enrollment. The Fellow will also donate a piece of artwork created during the fellowship term to the foundation archive.

Jessica’s work explores themes of home, belonging, and place, and is informed by her study of natural history and ecology. Like the artistic process itself, she believes that natural history and ecology are about learning how to pay attention – learning how to see what is obvious as well as that which is beyond sight. She reports that she is grateful for the award and is looking forward to spending “way too much time in the studio.”

“Jessica put together an application package that flowed from her cover letter (representing character and idea of sto8

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rytelling) right into a portfolio of small handmade books housing her poetry and prose. The writing examples were succinct and visual with a sense of the foreigner, an uncertainty of interpretation,” reads the award announcement. Naomi Lyons, Jeremy Cox, and Amy Jaspers, co-trustees of the Frederick & Frances Sommer Foundation, worked with Prescott College faculty to select the recipient.

Past Fellows include Aidan Clowes ’01 and Courtney Ortell ’02 (jointly), Niko Raterman ’03, Max Wahlberg ’04, Sam Reed ’05, Megan Flaherty ’06, Iris Cushing ’07, Lydia Paar ’08, and Travis Patterson ’09.

The Fellow is selected on merit academic merit, accomplishments and their approach their artistic endeavors. All Resident Degree Program students in Arts & Letters – performers, writers, studio artists, photographers, sculptors, art educators and/or historians – are eligible to apply during their junior year for use of the Fellowship residence during their senior year.

More information on the Foundation at fredericksommer.org.

Master of Arts Profile

Larry Jarrett M.A. ’08

By Ashley Mains M.A. ’11

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ime and again throughout his career running a real estate brokerage, Larry Jarrett M.A.’08 witnessed the same cycle: small towns building industrial parks and factories or converting farmland into developments that didn’t sell.

As a lifetime conservationist, Larry wanted to help break that cycle. “I wanted to promote land conservation,” he said. “I figured the best way to do that would be to tie in or demonstrate the economic benefits it can provide a community.”

Larry found that the master’s program was a logical next step in converting knowledge, experience, and his passion for conservation into a professional practice.

“I was attracted to the idea of integrating economic development, environmental protection, ecological literacy, and social justice into the learning process,” he said. “Prescott College’s mission statement matched the social and ecological focus I was looking for.”

Throughout his time at Prescott College, he transformed his real estate development firm, Pine Ridge Marketing, LLC, into a sustainability consulting and housing renovation business. This new venture focuses on affordable, healthy, eco-friendly, and energy efficient housing.

In 2008 Pine Ridge was tapped to help establish a Land Trust for Northern Mississippi and develop a greenway program in Desoto County, Miss., just outside Memphis, Tenn.

“Although, not directly related to environmental issues, my work does directly effect the environment by protecting critical conservation areas and protecting the open spaces and green places of ecological, cultural or scenic significance in Mississippi.”

In addition to studying ecological and environmental economics, Larry also studied sustainable forest management and forest certification systems and their effects on the social and intrinsic value of forests in the American South.

In 2001, Larry founded the Natural Resources Initiative of

North Mississippi (NRI), a volunteer networking group bringing together federal, state and local representatives from the natural resources and economic development sectors.

Since its inception, NRI has managed to establish a Mississippi Nature Tourism Taskforce, initiate a Forest Legacy Program to protect significant ecological areas of forest funded through the Forest Service, and most recently co-sponsor the first-ever sustainable development conference in Northern Mississippi.

Eco Tourism is a viable consideration for communities that have “natural assets,” as Larry describes it; forests, wide-open spaces, and unique natural features like caverns and rivers.

Another option is carbon sequestration, the capture and storage of carbon in a manner that prevents it from being released into the atmosphere via “sinks” like forests, soils and oceans.

“Under the President’s proposed carbon cap-and-trade policy, land owners could reap economic benefits for practicing sequestration on their property,” Larry explained.

“The experience at Prescott helped me gain the knowledge and confidence to become more active with political and environmental issues,” he said.

“I now understand the difference between true sustainability and corporate or government ‘greenwashing.’ In today’s fast-paced world of advertising and spin, sometimes they try to make themselves look more environmentally friendly than they really are.

“The only way governments and political regimes can or will change is through grassroots efforts that encourage or somehow force change,” he said.

“Despite the economic downturn, for the first time in a long time I feel good about our nation’s future in terms of addressing climate change and wilderness protection.”

Eco League Chooses New Coordinator The Eco League consortium, of which Prescott College is a founding member, has just hired its first staff member, a half-time Coordinator.

After a national search, Edie Dillon, M.A. ’06, a longtime member of the

extended Prescott College community, was selected for this position. Edie brings a diverse background in visual arts, nature interpretation, teaching, and environmental activism to the job. She has established an Eco League office on our campus, from which she works to coordinate efforts between the five member institutions – Alaska Pacific University, College of the Atlantic, Green Mountain College, Northland College, and Prescott College.

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Like Stars in the Desert 2009 Desert Stars carry out the College’s mission in their lives and work

D

esert Stars: this honorific evokes both the Arizona night sky and Monoptilon belioides, a tiny sunflower native to Arizona. Every year Prescott College’s Alumni Association recognize stellar individuals who exemplify the Colleges mission in their service to the College, community, and world. In their own words:

Chris Hout ’92 I work full-time in the Office of Student Life at Prescott College, providing enrolled students with shortterm mental health therapy and career development counseling to enrolled students and graduates. I have two great kids who challenge me everyday. I spend a lot of time in the outdoors, exercising, kayaking, hiking, and camping, and also play music with a few different combos.

I am continually inspired when I have a chance to serve students by creating a space where an individual can discover their own vision of balance and potential. Moreover, if people can dance a little to the music I play, laugh a little with the stories I tell, and be perplexed by the big questions that I ask, all the better.

PC taught me to be resourceful and persistent in finding unique ways to reach certain populations. I learned how to use critical inquiry and “wondering aloud together” to view challenges and struggles from different perspectives. Most importantly, I learned how I learn.

Cameron Boswell ’04 After graduating, I moved to the small mountain town of Nederland, Colo., where I worked as Teen Center Director for a local nonprofit.

My favorite part of that job was leading weekly leadership meetings and creating a youth employment program in which teens taught their peers about holistic health.

I moved back to Prescott a year ago and began working at the College as an Admissions Counselor. I was recently presented with an opportunity to start a new career in my family business, the JG Boswell Company. I have the unique opportunity to continue the legacy of this private family business and to lead the company into the future as a model for economic and environmental balance and sustainability. I’ve also been asked to join 10

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the PC Board of Trustees and look forward to serving this institution in a different capacity.

I had a very solid foundation before coming here, but this College gave me the sense of confidence, fortified my values, and showed me how to turn my passion and love of life into the knowledge and skills necessary to become an effective change agent.

Gerald Reed ’75 After leaving Prescott I had a brief stint in the private sector, including forming a start-up solar energy business in 1978 inspired by a course called “Earth Ethics” taught by Harris Sussman (Hal Lenke) and Harriott Hodges.

Following a desire to work in government, I began my public service career in 1981, serving six years as research analyst for the Tennessee State Senate.

Additionally, I served on the Steering Committee of the 1986 Southern Legislative Conference on Children and Youth, resulting in creation of a standing legislative committee to address the needs of Tennessee’s children.

After receiving my Masters from Thunderbird in 1988, I worked for Florida International University’s School of Public Affairs and Services on United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded democracy-building projects. I returned to Tennessee in 1994 and was appointed Assistant to the Tennessee Secretary of State for Public Policy. In 2008, I was appointed Executive Assistant to the Secretary.

Currently, I am the Director of CoverTN with the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration’s Benefits Division.

CoverTN is a statutorily-created, limited-benefit health insurance plan that offers affordable health insurance to small business owners, the self-employed, Tennesseans between jobs, and individuals who otherwise couldn’t afford coverage.

A Prescott education teaches the importance to give back. I have endeavored to do so by engaging in professional and community service.

To nominate a Desert Star, please use the online nomination form at http://www.prescott.edu/alumni/desertstar_nomination_form.cfml.

“Turning” A Profit Rick Thaler ’73 turns a love of working with wood into a 9.5 million dollar business

By Diane Schmidt ’73

A

Photo ©2009 Diane J. Schmidt

“I went to work for a machinery sales company [and] got to see the inside of every shop from here to Colorado,” where he had a great opportunity to observe how machinery was integrated into people’s plants.

One of his customers hired him to run their internal millwork business. Over the next 10 years, he said, “I grew the business from about $350,000 a year to $3 million dollars a year. The first seven years we were real successful, the last three worse and worse, until in year 10 we were looking at getting closed down by management.

Photo ©2009 Diane J. Schmidt

lthough Rick Thaler can be found wearing shorts on the job, it’s not as the Outward Bound instructor he set out to become at Prescott College.

It’s because as the owner of a thriving cabinetry company, he calls the shots.

When he took over as president of OGB Architectural Millwork in Albuquerque, N.M., in 2000, the historic Photo ©2009 Diane J. Schmidt company (founded in 1923) was slated to be shuttered for unprofitability. Now it’s the largest woodworking company in the state, with 90 employees and 9.5 million dollars in volume last year.

Rick attended Prescott College in 1972 and 73, “... climbing and exploring all over the Southwest,” taking EMT training, studying mountain rescue, and trekking to Kenya in the first rock climbing expedition there with Rusty Baillie and Roy Smith.

Looking back, he reflects that rock climbing gave him a different sense of self, which helped shape his direction in life.

“I was a terrible athlete [in high school],” he said. “I felt like a total outsider. My parents were Europeans; they didn’t fit in either “The late 60s and early 70s came along and all of a sudden there were all these alternative things. You could reinvent yourself – so I did – I started to think of my not fitting in as a virtue rather than a disadvantage.

“At Prescott, I was among 450 kids that were equally unusual, in search of something, and didn’t define themselves by the conventional norms. There were hippies, libertarians, corporate businessmen-in-training. Nobody I met there was bent on conforming ... [they were] different ... individual ... adventurous.”

Rick left in 1973, “because I really had no idea what I wanted to do as far as school went. I could have stayed there forever … [but] I wasn’t doing much academically.” He headed to North Carolina for a job as an Outward Bound instructor that never materialized.

“When I didn’t get this job I had to do something so I went back to Rochester. It was the middle of winter, I saw an ad in the paper, and I got a job as a framer. I had romantic notions about carpentry work gained from the Whole Earth Catalog.”

Not long after taking up woodworking, Rick found his way back to the Southwest, following a love for the region nurtured at Prescott College. He established himself in Albuquerque, “making rocking chairs, bookshelves, cradles” and developing skills as a carpenter and machinist in a oneperson cabinetry shop.

That was only the beginning of a career path following his passion for woodworking.

“I was general manager for six months [when] they said they were going to close the business. I said, ‘I think it’s a mistake, I think we’ve turned the corner.’ They said, ‘we can’t wait.’ I said, ‘well, I’ll buy it.’ I borrowed some money from my mother and they made me a hell of a deal, and went to great lengths to make sure that I succeeded. The one thing they [had] lacked was somebody running the place that had a stake in it.”

Once Rick became owner he invested heavily in state-of-theart computerized woodworking machinery, increased production, streamlined the work flow, and installed conveyors to move pieces from one work area to the next. “I hit the ground running and never looked back.”

He incorporated lessons from Toyota in lean manufacturing that are evident in a walk through the clean, bright and airy 30,000 square foot manufacturing facility.

Although he loves what he does, Rick is philosophical about the future.

“I have ideas for businesses … working on energy, conservation, and energy production from alternative sources. That’s where small business will really have opportunities.”

Rick would love to hear from old friends: e-mail rthaler@ogbam.com.

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If You Want to Learn, Teach Master of Arts Graduate Teaching Assistant program debuts with class of seven

“When you take on the role of a teacher you strengthen your mastery of whatever content you’re teaching. Instead of approaching academic inquiry from the point of view of disciplines, you approach it from the context of a student’s passions, addressing real-world challenges, and you pull in the disciplines that best inform those scenarios.

“In many cases, master’s students are closer in age and demographic to the undergraduate students. They’re closer to being peer mentors and role models than faculty. This peer mentorship entices our undergraduate students to envision themselves as reaching and attaining graduate level scholarship.”

The program is expected to grow to 20 or 30 residential graduate students over the next several years, Barnes said, “all contributing their graduate-level scholarship to our community. This will allow those grad students who want to invest themselves to really get involved in and strengthen the College community.”

S

even graduate students got their feet wet in the classroom this fall as Prescott debuted a pilot Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Program.

“For students considering careers as an educator, testing the waters as a GTA can prove to be an invaluable learning experience as they gain practical on-the-job skills, develop leadership, and help to pay for their graduate education – all while serving as a resource for Resident Degree Program faculty and students,” explained Program Coordinator Dr. Joel Barnes ’81.

While the first group is pursuing degrees in Environmental Studies or Adventure Education, the goal is to expand the program to encompass all undergraduate degree areas. “We’re using what we learn during this pilot year to envision what a more expanded resident master’s program might look like and how it could work,” explained Barnes. “[These students] are true liberal artists in that their graduate studies draw from the humanities, wilderness therapy and counseling, literary and visual arts, sustainable community development, peace studies, and social and ecological justice,” he noted.

The GTAs: • Teach or assist with undergraduate courses • Facilitate classroom, laboratory, field, or discussion sessions • Review and edit student papers and exams • Hold regular office hours and meetings with students in study and review sessions • Assist faculty members with instructional preparation, and delivery and assessment, among other duties “In this model, the role of Resident Degree Program faculty is that of a master teacher and the GTA is that of an apprentice.

Resident students benefit from direct interaction and scholarly dialogue with graduate level students in their classes. The graduate students benefit from hands-on teaching experience in a residential setting.

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Paul Smotherman ’10 Undergrad: University of Georgia, Zoology and Anthropology MAP Competence: Education, emphasis in Experiential Education Co-instructing: Adventure Education I, II, and III with Ted Teegarden “I have traveled across the globe as a community development worker in Papua New Guinea, a heavy equipment operator in Antarctica, a youth counselor in the high deserts of Utah, wolf and lynx biologist on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, and an environmental educator in the Tetons. I was attracted to the GTA program because of the opportunity to teach adult learners with the mentorship of seasoned faculty. Furthermore, I saw this as a chance to become fully immersed in the learning community at Prescott. In many ways I feel as if I am on the edge of an educational paradigm shift … that will guide my teaching path for many years to come.”

Mollie Olson ’10 Undergrad: Philadelphia Biblical University, Health and Physical Education and Biblical Studies MAP Competence: Adventure Education Co-instructing: Orientation and Directions of Adventure Education with Erin Lotz “The Graduate Teaching Assistant program at Prescott interested me because it offers both the experience of teaching at an established collegiate institution as well as a way to afford get-

ting my master’s degree. I have spent the past year teaching college students in Fiji and Indonesia how to train, prepare, and execute adventures, and my hope is that my experience with this program will refine those skills.”

Mateo Fiori ’11 Undergrad: Cal State Monterey Bay, Liberal Studies, minor in Theater MAP Competence: Environmental/Adventure Education Co-instructing: New Student Seminar with Titiana Shostak-Kinker “PC has always been a leader in the field of experiential education, which is a passion of mine. I was attracted to the program because it would allow me to develop my teaching skills in an area of passion for me academically, which is helping new students with their transition from being passive consumers in our society to active creators of their lives. It is an honor to be a part of the first GTA cohort, and the community of Prescott College as a whole. I am delighted that my life path brought me here and I am dedicated to learning, growing, and helping others along their path whenever I can.”

Kristopher Young ’11 Undergrad: Utah State University, Forestry MAP Competence: Philanthropic Response Offering Vitality in Devastated Environments Co-Instructing: Fire Ecology with Lisa Floyd-Hanna “I have trained Native Americans to monitor wildland fuel loads and fire effects as well as environmental committee leaders in Sri Lanka. I’ve vaccinated urban trees to combat the Asian Long-horned Beetle in the five boroughs of the Big Apple. It is my goal to leave the parts of this planet I touch a little better than when I found them. The GTA is one way in which I can leave my mark at Prescott College and hopefully instill some of my passions in environmental advocacy and social justice with residential undergraduate students here while learning to be a better communicator, leader, and overall citizen of our world.”

Jen Wendt ’11 Undergrad: University of WisconsinMilwaukee, Therapeutic Recreation MAP Competence: Experiential Education, emphasis in Adventure Education Co-instructing: Experiential Education Theory and Philosophy with Bev Santo

based adventure programs. The skills and knowledge that I will gain as a GTA are irreplaceable; this new knowledge and experience will help strengthen my leadership skills and provide me with a solid foundation in adventure education. Being in the center of a great program and city will help unite both of my educational experiences.”

Audrey Clark ’11 Undergrad: Prescott College, Conservation Biology MAP Competence: Environmental Studies, emphasis in Conservation Ecology Co-instructing: Conservation Biology with Tom Fleischner, and Animal Behavior with Walt Anderson “In this program I will be able to learn directly from professors and students through observation and collaboration. I believe the Prescott College model of experiential, student-centered education transforms students into engaged, ethically-minded citizens; I want to be a part of that scholarship, both as a student and as a teacher. I hope to continue my metamorphosis into a teacher. As a teacher, I will draw on my four years of experiences as a conservation field biologist – hours scrutinizing plant parts, watching bald eagles, tracking wolves and elk, and interviewing sea turtle poachers in Africa. I will strive to enliven my students to the world around us as my PC professors did for me.”

Benjamin Traxler ’11 Undergrad: Prescott College, Wilderness Leadership MAP Competence: Adventure Education Co-instructing: Map and Wilderness Navigation with David Lovejoy “Since my undergraduate career I have been working as a professional mountain guide and instructor for The American Alpine Institute in Bellingham, Wash. My work has varied from guiding mountaineering trips to instructing 30-day leadership courses. In the master’s program here at Prescott College my area of study will be in Adventure Education, focusing on professional training and certifications in the field. I chose Prescott College because of the unique nature of the program. Having had experience with the College before, I knew that I would have the chance to work directly with my faculty and peers to create an experience that is unique to my interests and goals.”

Contributions to this article by Joel Barnes, Mary Lin, and Ashley Mains, M.A. ’11.

“I’ve worked with at-risk youth in a variety of different experiential-based settings, including residential treatment centers, day treatment centers, wilderness therapy programs, and school-

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Dazzled by Diversity Tom Fleischner, Professor of environmental studies, reports on a sabbatical spent expanding a lifelong practice of natural history; groundbreaking collaborations; and creative exploration.

by Tom Fleischner

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he unifying theme of my sabbatical in 2008-09 was the practice and promotion of natural history, which I defined in an article a few years back as “a practice of intentional, focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-thanhuman world, guided by honesty and accuracy.”

In recent years I have become increasingly convinced that: natural history is an essential human capacity and need; and yet, there has never been a time when natural history was practiced less. This sabbatical year allowed me to make major progress on several fronts.

Collaboration and Expansion Over the course of several years I had conversations with several friends and colleagues: we should join forces to declare why natural history matters.

That effort coalesced in 2007 into the creation of the Natural History Network, “to promote the value of natural history by discussing and disseminating ideas and techniques on its successful practice to educators, scientists, artists, writers, the media, and the public at large.”

During its first year we created a website (www.naturalhistorynetwork.org), an online, peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Natural History Education, and were granted 501(c)3 tax-exempt status. [Editor’s note: Tom serves as founding President and on the Journal’s editorial board.]

Last September the Natural History Network co-sponsored the interactive symposium, “A Renaissance of Natural History in Human Ecology” at the Society for Human Ecology conference in Bellingham, Wash., and this past summer, a symposium entitled, “Natural History: The Basis for Ecological Understanding and a Global Sustainable Society.” I co-facilitated a follow-up workshop, at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America (the largest gathering of professional ecologists in the world).

This event was incredibly well received by the more than 300 members of the audience, including the editor of the highly regarded journal, Ecological Monographs, and a staff officer of the National Science Foundation, who said she would be taking our message back to Washington.

This event also served as the major “coming out party” for the Natural History Network.

In between these two conferences, I spoke on the need for natural history at Oregon State University, at two different events at the Highlands Center for Natural History, and as a leader on two different ecotourism trips. At a summer institute on Aldo Leopold funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, I spoke on natural history as the basis for Leopold’s environmental ethics.

Editor and Collaborator Finally, combining outreach and advocacy for natural history with personal creativity, I initiated a book project, Precious Attention: Mindfulness and the Practice of Natural 14

Transitions Fall/Winter 2009

History, in which 25 writers – poets and scientists, musicians and artists, Zen rÿshis and radical environmentalists – share personal stories of why attending to nature has been important in their lives. I wrote an introductory essay for this book, “Within This Moment: The Mindfulness of Natural History,” which was selected as the common reading for this fall’s Prescott College new student orientations – an honor.

Humbled and Inspired Besides promoting natural history, I set out to deepen and strengthen my own practice of it. This led to the most viscerally exciting aspects of this sabbatical year: I traveled throughout the Western Hemisphere from Alaska to Antarctica, and was humbled and inspired beyond measure. I traveled to Alaska’s Prince William Sound twice (once with PC students and once leading a group for PC’s Center for Extended Studies and Lifelong Learning), three times to the Pacific Northwest, and three times to the northeastern United States. Especially mind-expanding were a month-long expedition to Antarctica and the islands of the Southern Ocean, on which I worked as a naturalist and boat driver, and a two-week trip to the Ecuadorian highlands. These two trips allowed me to visit sites among the planet’s greatest biological abundance (Antarctica) and diversity (Ecuador).

One metric of how humbled and dazzled I was: at this stage in my development as a naturalist in western North America, it’s a rare to see a new species of bird – maybe once or twice a year.

During this sabbatical, I saw 158 new species of birds, not to mention new species of marine mammals, plants, and a plethora of peaks, glaciers, and vegetation types. I also revisited many old familiar habitats, such as Pacific Northwest old-growth forests and mountains. I was honored to be selected for a writing residency at the Andrews Forest in Oregon. As a fellow in the LongTerm Ecological Reflections project, I served as writer in residence at this old growth forest.

Former Students, Now Colleagues One of the really gratifying aspects of the sabbatical was collaboration with former students as valued colleagues and peers.

My boss and coworker in Antarctica was Ted Cheeseman ’94.

Josh Tewksbury ’92 and Arya Degenhardt ’98 serve as fellow board members in the Natural History Network. Josh and I also collaborated on the symposia at the Ecological Society of America and Society for Human Ecology meetings. Current student Elizabeth Worcester ’09 has been webmaster for the Natural History Network. Contributors to Precious Attention included Wren Farris ’00, Sam Reed ’05, Cristina Eisenberg

M.A. ’05, and David Gilligan ’94, M.A. ’99. River Gates ’00 coauthored “Shorebird use of Estero Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico: abundance, diversity, and conservation implications” for Waterbirds, which was based on data collected by close to a hundred Coastal Ecology students over the course of a decade.

At the ESA symposium, three of the 10 speakers were affiliated with Prescott College, and the College was also mentioned by several other speakers (including the President of the University of New Mexico, who listed us first among colleges “getting it right”).

I also brought some other long-term projects to fruition.

Especially exciting was reaching the publication stage after a decade of research on shorebird populations at Estero Santa Cruz, near Kino, that I’ve undertaken with students in the Coastal Ecology of the Gulf of California class.

Artist and Scientist An ongoing issue in my life is how best to integrate the artist and scientist, or the creative and analytical, sides of myself. I continue to create as a musician with the improvisational Moving Edge Ensemble, including providing accompaniment for the environmental fable play, “Water Council,” written by Edie Dillon and performed in Tsunami on the Square.

Finally, with stellar leadership from David Hanna and help from others, including his Ecological Design class, I converted a disheveled carport into a strawbale music studio. I learned a great deal about the process of building – a very literal and satisfying form of creation. I am very grateful for the opportunity for personal and professional growth provided by this past year’s sabbatical.

Inaugural Edition: May 2010 •

• • •

A new forum for sharing academic and professional reports which foster the integration of economic, ecological, and social-cultural dimensions of sustainability within an educational context.

A peer-reviewed, open access trans- and interdisciplinary e-journal.

Inviting authors, reviewers and subscribers.

Visit www.journalofsustainabilityeducation.org.

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Tucson Happenings Tucson Center’s New Community Partner Prescott College and Alliance for Climate Protection entered into a working agreement in September that will allow office space in the Tucson Center to be utilized by the Alliance and its RepowerAmerica Campaign. The campaign supports and promotes clean energy policy in the United States. Details available at www.repoweramerica.org.

Center Hosts Three Scholarly Writing Workshops The Tucson Center buzzed with discussion about scholarly writing under a nearly full moon September 30 as a specially-designed, three-part workshop on scholarly writing met for its first session.

Kim Lowry M.A. ’10 designed and facilitated the three workshops with the assistance of Prescott College Librarian, Rich Lewis and Master of Arts Program Education Core Faculty, Lloyd Sharp, during September, October and November. The project comprises the centerpiece of her master’s Practicum. The workshops, entitled “Less is More: Scholarly Writing and Your Own Voice” attracted a wide range of students in the limited-residency bachelor of arts and graduate programs.

Insect-sized Presentation The presentation held at the Tucson Center on the evening of September 17, 2009 seemed in some ways … small. It was even creepy at times. The excitement in the room, however, was palpable. What was it? It was Adult Degree Program Student Carolyn Chilcote’s ’10 presentation on basic entomology – bugs! Carolyn was assisted by Carl Olson, Assistant Curator at the University of Arizona’s Entomology Department. With exhibits, stories, door prizes, and refreshments, Carolyn kept the session interactive for the participants, piquing interests with fascinating details of the often little-known and misunderstood “world of insects.”

Ironwood Tree Experience In September, volunteers from the Tucson offices of IBM and Caterpillar joined forces with students from City High School to assist Prescott College’s Ironwood Tree Experience during “Days of Caring.” Over 40 volunteers took the day off from their regular office activities, gathering to work outdoors on the Greenlots program. The team shaped basins to harvest rainwater, worked on creating an overflow creek, planted native trees, shrubs and wildflowers, and set concrete footings for a future kiosk.

Ironwood Tree Experience is a project of the Center for Children and Nature at Prescott College. For more information on Greenlots and other programs please contact Suzanne Dhruv M.A. ’05 at suzanne@ironwoodtreeexperience.org or visit www.ironwoodtreeexperience.org.

Tucson Needs Alumni Volunteers Prescott College Tucson Center seeks alumni volunteers to assist with outreach and special projects. If you are in the Tucson or southern Arizona area and want to get involved, please contact Lydia Rowe via email at lrowe@prescott.edu or by calling 1-888797-4680 ext. 106.

Pedals, Pedestrians, and...Pumpkins?

Alley closed for renovation as multi-use campus center Architect Phil Weddle is working with the College community to develop plans for a bike and pedestrian-friendly, multi-use central campus mall/plaza. At a community meeting held at the Crossroads Center last October, Steven Corey and Phil Weddle unveiled current planning for the central campus core, and requested creative proposals for new use of the lawn behind 220 Grove Avenue.

Plans for the campus core include: removal of asphalt and replacement with surfaces amenable to water catchment; the installation of water catchment systems, with water to be used in part for agricultural plots scattered throughout the center of campus; and development of meeting and assembly spaces, gardens, and public art.

Prescott College gained ownership of the alley, which runs behind the College’s main building at 220 Grove, last spring.

Facilities staff has been working since then to improve perimeter parking and prepare for the closure that took place September 21, 2009. Trees and picnic tables that have been temporarily installed will be moved to permanent locations once the major renovation of the alley commences.

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Green and Engaged Local and national media ratings and rankings list Prescott College among best and greenest – and our students among the most engaged US News and World Report: Best in the West

National Wildlife Federation

Once again, US News and World Report has rated Prescott College as a “Best in the West” College for 2010.

The NWF’s 2008 Campus Ecology Report, comparing progress made in higher education sustainability practices since 2001, honored Prescott for having recruiting programs and offering interdisciplinary degrees in environmental or sustainability studies.

Princeton Review: One of Best in Nation In Spring 2009 the Princeton Review included Prescott College in its annual book announcing the best 300-plus colleges in the nation. Prescott College earned high marks in eight categories, ranking in the top 10 in “Gay Community Accepted,” “Class Discussions Encouraged,” “Most Liberal Students,” and 12th and 16th, respectively, in the categories “Happiest Students” and “Lots of Race/Class Interaction.”

Fiske Guide to Colleges: Best and Most Interesting in Country The selective Fiske Guide to Colleges included Prescott College in its 2010 guide to the “best and most interesting” colleges and universities in the US and Canada.

National Survey of Student Engagement Through participation in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Prescott College experience has been compared to the experiences of students in a number of key areas, including the degree to which they are actively engaged in the educational process. Questions on the NSSE survey are combined to give a benchmark score in “Active and Collaborative Learning.” On this benchmark, Prescott College undergraduate students scored higher than any comparison group. According to NSSE, Prescott College students spend less time memorizing material and more time synthesizing and applying information. They also report a greater sense than other students in the study that their education has contributed to a personal code of ethics and values, allows them to solve complex, real-world problems, and contributes to the welfare of their community.

Further information on the results of the NSSE study can be found on the College’s reaccreditation website at http://www.prescott.edu/hlc/files/52_NSSE_Results_2008.pdf.

GetEducated: Best Buy GetEducated.com, a consumer watchdog and advocacy group that rates, ranks, and verifies the cost, quality and credibility of online colleges and universities, ranks affordable online masters’ programs every two years. This time around, Prescott College ranked in the top 12 most-affordable schools to earn an Online or Distance Master’s in Psychology and Human Services.

Arizona Department of Education: Move to the Head of the Class The Arizona Department of Education issued a report stating that all 30 of Prescott College’s Teacher Ed Certification Programs at all levels of study clearly meet, and in many categories exceed, state certification requirements. PC was the only institution to receive complete approval for every program in operation.

Transitions: The Total Package The Summer 2008 and Winter 2008/09 issues of Prescott College’s magazine, Transitions, each won 2009 Communicator Awards of Distinction from the International Academy of the Visual Arts. The Summer 2008 Transitions also won the prestigious APEX Award for Publication Excellence in 2009.

Alligator Juniper wins Prestigious Director’s Prize for the Third Time The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), the main professional organization for creative writing in academia, awarded the 2008 issue of Prescott College’s literary magazine, Alligator Juniper, the AWP Director’s Prize for Undergraduate Literary Magazines for the third time in the magazine’s thirteenyear history. In addition, the 2008 issue received a glowing review from NewPages, one of the most influential online reviewers of literary works.

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2009-2010 Scholarship Recipients Dugald Bremner Scholarship – Zachary Adair ’09, M.A. ’12

Boyce Endowed Scholarship Fund – Gabriel Schivone ’11

Gemma Kemp-Garcia Scholarship – Catherine Atkinson ’10

Boyce Endowed Scholarship Fund – Laila Williams-Reid ’11

Haide Koskinen Memorial Scholarship – Trevor Barnhill ’10

KAKATU Foundation Scholarship Fund – Renee Casterline ’10

Helen Wright Memorial Scholarship – Drew Michelson ’12

KAKATU Foundation Scholarship Fund – Daniel Combes ’13

James Stuckey Commemorative Scholarship – Lesa Sevin Smith ’10

KAKATU Foundation Scholarship Fund – Hugh Denno ’11

Knaup Family Scholarship Fund – Christine Duffy ’09

EBARB Board of Trustee Representative – Sophia Von Hagen ’12

Knaup Family Scholarship Fund – Austen Lorenz ’10

Steve Walters MAP Scholarship – Claire Bonelli M.A. ’11

Merrill Windsor Memorial Scholarship – Calcutta Poole ’09

Steve Walters ADP Scholarship – Patrick Devlin ’11

Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship – Sarah Grace ’09

Steve Walters PHD Scholarship – Gregory Y. Roberts Ph.D. ’10

Quitobaquito Scholarship – Terry Yazzie M.A. ’10

Roseanne Cartledge Arts Scholarship – Kristen Angeline Pittenger ’10

Ruth Morris/Jean Maas Memorial Scholarship – Stephanie Abeyta ’09

Clowes Fund Visual Arts Scholarship – Arnita Albertson ’09

Dorothy Ruth Ellis Endowed Scholarship – Christina Alexandersson ’10

Clowes Fund Visual Arts Scholarship – Lauren Stocksdale ’10

The Thomas H. Simpson Memorial Scholarship Fund – Arnita Albertson ’09

PC Live! – Therese Harris ’10

Goodman Scholarship Fund – Pamela Zigo ’12

PC Live! – Trina Massengil ’11

Arts & Letters Writing and Literature Scholarship – Aaron Macmann ’09

Designated Class Archivist – Whitney Dean ’09

Arts & Letters Writing and Literature Scholarship – Annabeth McNamara ’09

Designated Class Archivist – Becky McLemore ’12

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The Wanderlust that Leads Home Jess Dods’70 reflects on an international career built on a curiosity about the world fueled by his Prescott College experiences

By Mary Lin

A

lthough he’s lived and worked all over the globe, Jess Dods ’70 has found his way back home in more ways than one. He has returned to his hometown in his home state of Massachusetts, where he now serves as a selectman in the town where he grew up. And he continues to find new ways to be in service to Prescott College – his other home, where his passion for travel and cultures first took flight.

Jess found Prescott College through an ad in the New York Times; heading down to Arizona in 1967. “I was really kind of adrift in those years, I had a highly developed sense of wanderlust,” he recollects.

“I just had an intuitive sense that attending Prescott was the right thing to do.”

Jess studied biology, mathematics and Spanish, along with “Outward Bound adventures with Roy Smith that really stand out,” and a course on Islam with Joseph Eapes Brown.

In his senior biochemistry class – “a class of one,” he laughed – Jess completed original research on water pollution resulting from old mine tailings.

“Here I was, sort of this do-it-yourself undergrad with $10,000 from the National Science Foundation, out there collecting mine tailings and water samples. I learned how to analyze the metal concentrations, and I learned how important and effective experiential learning is.”

Jess discovered that Granite Basin Lake had fish that were both macro- and microcephalic. Using daphnia species as an indicator, he studied mortality rates and concluded that the malformations were a biological response to high concentrations of iron and lead. He heard from a faculty member later on that the government published his research.

After graduation with the College’s first graduating class in 1970, Jess headed to Spain, returning after a couple years to attend what is now The Thunderbird School of Global Management.

“I had studied Spanish with Pedro and Ann Laurie Aisa, and as a result I waived the competence requirement for foreign language,” he said.

Upon earning his M.B.A. in1975, Jess headed to Texas, where his mother’s brother-in-law was an officer at an oil company in Houston. “Through him I had nine interviews in three days, and six job offers. Two months later I was on the Suez Gulf on an offshore oil rig.”

He lived in Cairo, and worked in Abu Dhabi, and Dubai, he recalls, noting that his studies of Islam at Prescott College really paid off. And he had fun too – “flying to Athens on days off to play tennis in the shadow of the Acropolis.”

Over the next 20 or so years, as Jess’ career and curiosity took him to farther-flung parts of the globe as he worked in the energy industry. During this time, he kept an eye open to environmental concerns. For the past 12 years, he has worked as a career coach and management consultant with clients from around the globe.

At one point, while living and working in Venezuela, he reconnected via the internet with Prescott grads who were concerned that Prescott College did not have a fully-functioning alumni association. He helped to develop it, flying back and forth to Prescott. The group gave the Association to the College.

He was named to the Order of the Javelina in 2000 and he has been named a Desert Star since.

He was the first alumnus representative on the Board of Trustees, a tradition Anne Dorman, Becky Ruffner, and Sturgis Robinson have carried on. And, he serves through the College’s recruitment network, visiting eight to 10 college fairs and other events each year.

“It’s fun to tell people all about Prescott. I find myself picking out the would-be ‘Prescotteers’ just by their body language and the way they talk and such,” he notes.

Ever willing to do more for his alma mater, this past spring Jess wrote into his will a legacy gift naming a portion of his estate to the College.

“It’s just something that came into my head, not unlike when I first applied to Prescott College,” he said. “There is a part of me that says ‘Prescott saved me from a life of dissolute wandering.’ I want to recognize the gift that Prescott had given to me, which is and was the gift of self-awareness.

“I realize that Prescott set me on an integrative path. Now I practice Anusara Yoga, which teaches how to flow with grace, to be accepting of who you are.

“To this day I recognize that the overall experience of Prescott College taught me how to keep on learning, about myself and the world. It has formed a fundamental core part of how I live my life.”

Jess’ website is www.rightchoicecareers.com.

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Faculty News Randall Amster, J.D., Ph.D. Randall Amster was named Chair of Humanities in the Master of Arts Program in July 2009. In true “one college” fashion he will continue to serve in the Resident Degree Program as well. Dr. Amster also contributed a chapter to the newly-released Building Cultures of Peace: Transdisciplinary Voices of Hope and Action (Cambridge Scholars, 2009), coedited with Elavie Ndura-Ouédraogo of George Mason University.

His chapter in this landmark volume is on Peace Ecology. He has been invited to contribute an entry on “Environmental Peacemaking” to the forthcoming Green Culture Encyclopedia series (SAGE, 2010). Dr. Amster’s previous co-edited book, Contemporary Anarchist Studies (Routledge 2009), was named a 2009 Critics Choice Book Award winner by the American Educational Studies Association.

His essay “Narrative Strategy and Dramatic Design” has been accepted for publication by The Writer’s Chronicle, the publication of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP).

Tim Crews, Ph.D. Dr. Tim Crews, Resident Degree Program faculty member in environmental studies and agroecology, returned to the US from his sabbatical work at Rothamsted Research in the UK to co-chair a workshop on the State of the Global Phosphorus Cycle at the Aspen Global Change Institute, from September 30 through October 4. Dr. Crews was also asked to present the Walter Orr Roberts Public Lecture in Aspen on Friday, October 2. His address was titled Agriculture A.N.B. (after Norman Borlag): How the Green Revolution bought humanity time and shaped the sustainability challenges we face today.

Walt Anderson, Ph.D. The College received a $5000 grant from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to conduct a beaver survey on the Verde River, and Walt has completed the fieldwork with his Wetlands Ecology & Management block class. Walt reports that “it made a wonderful class project, and we are in the process of working up final reports for TNC. We gathered a lot of useful data and had a blast.”

Jeff Fearnside, M.F.A. Jeff Fearnside, writing faculty member and managing editor of Prescott College’s literary journal, Alligator Juniper, has had five short stories published or accepted for publication since this past summer by Potomac Review, Crab Orchard Review, Bayou Magazine, Rosebud (the second time they have published his fiction), and Controlled Burn.

Linda Butterworth, M.A. Linda Butterworth, Reference Librarian and faculty member, attended the Network for Effective Language Learning conference in Beverly, Mass., July, 2009. Sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges, the event hosted teams from 15 colleges, all dedicated to sharing resources and information to improve and/or implement foreign language instruction programs on their campuses. The Prescott College team (Linda, Paul Burkhardt, Nancy Mattina, and Gary Nye) returned home with an action plan to strengthen and expand foreign language offerings for all students, taking full advantage of new models of learning and of the expertise offered by our consortia colleagues.

Anita Fernández, Ph.D. Anita Fernández, education faculty member in the Resident Degree Program, presented a session at the National Association for Multicultural Education conference titled La Frontera: Reconfiguring the Borderlands of Identity, in October. Anita also has an article forthcoming in the Journal of Praxis in Multicultural Education, based on research conducted in her course on race, power and identity in education. Over the summer, Anita participated in the Institute of Transformative Education sponsored by Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American/Raza Studies department.

K. L. Cook, M.F.A. K. L. (Kenny) Cook, creative writing and literature faculty member in the Arts & Letters Program, taught a course entitled Literary Environments in May 2009 as a distinguished professor at the University of Oklahoma as part of the Oklahoma ScholarLeader Enrichment Program (OSLEP). He was also one of the judges for the 2009 Willie Morris Prize in Southern Fiction. Kenny gave a lecture entitled Forms of Fiction and a reading in May at the spring residency of Spalding University’s M.F.A. in Writing Program and served on a publishing panel for the Professional Writers of Prescott (PWP) on August 26.

Tom Fleischner, Ph.D. During his sabbatical Tom Fleischner published several articles. “Livestock grazing and wildlife conservation in the American West: historical, policy, and conservation biology perspectives” will appear in Wild Rangelands: Challenges to Wildlife, Livestock, and Human Coexistence (at press). “Shorebird use of Estero Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico: abundance, diversity, and conservation implications,” coauthored with H. River Gates ’00, appeared in Waterbirds (2009), and the “Extinction” section of Encyclopedia of Social Problems (2008).

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He also made several presentations including Why Natural History Is Important Today at the Highlands Center for Natural History annual meeting, Prescott, Ariz., a workshop titled Next Steps Toward a Natural History Renaissance, and What Is Natural History and Why Does It Matter? at the Ecological Society of America conference, Albuquerque, N.M. all in August, 2009.

Tom also presented Aldo Leopold and the Practice of Natural History at the summer institute, Fierce Green Fire at 100: Aldo Leopold and the Roots of Environmental Ethics held in Prescott, Ariz., this past July. He also presented Why Natural History Matters at the Highlands Center for Natural History in Prescott, Ariz., in February; Revitalizing Natural History at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., in November 2008; and A Renaissance of Natural History in Human Ecology, an interactive symposium co-facilitated with John Anderson, Joshua Tewksbury ’92, and Saul Weisberg at the Society for Human Ecology conference, Bellingham, Wash., in September 2008.

For more details on Tom’s sabbatical activities, see story page 14.

Ed Grumbine, Ph.D. Ed was named Interim Chair for the Master of Arts Program Environmental Studies Department, but will continue work as a resident program environmental studies instructor. Ed has published four papers about China in recent months: “The melting Himalayas: cascading effects of climate change on water, biodiversity, and livelihoods” in Conservation Biology; “China shakes the world-and then what?” also in Conservation Biology; “Cascading effects at the third pole” in China Dialogue; “Where the dragon meets the angry river: Nature and power in the People’s Republic of China” for Island Press; and his book on China is due in April 2010. Other non-China publications include “The legacy and future of conservation biology on the Colorado Plateau” in The Colorado Plateau Four, and “Learning to love the Grand Canyon Ecoregion in the 21st century” in A Wildlands Vision for the Grand Canyon Ecoregion (at press).

Ed also worked with Prescott College Ph.D. student, Adam Zemans ’11, on a climate change issue in Washington DC, and has given several presentations: Climate legislation lobbying on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology, in Washington, DC, October 30, 2009; Creating a Conservation with Chinese Characteristics at the Society for Conservation Biology annual meeting, Beijing, China in July 2009; and Barriers and Bridges at the Interagency Landscape-scale Approaches to Wide-ranging Mammals Workshop, Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz., this past June.

Doug Hulmes ’74, M.S. Doug Hulmes was invited to present his paper on “Sacred Trees of Norway and Sweden” at the International Ibsen Jubilee Conference on Friluftsliv (Free Air Life), and Trøndelog University in Norway, September 14 through 19. Doug was asked to give his Power Point presentation as the concluding program for the five-day conference. He also performed his Chautauqua of John Muir as an opening keynote event. Students from Doug’s Fall Block class, Explorations of

Norway Nature and Culture, attended the conference with other students, professors and professionals from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, and the United States.

Erin Lotz, M.A. Adventure education faculty member and Orientation Director Erin Lotz recently wrapped up this fall’s incoming Resident Degree Program class orientation. Many alumni will remember Wilderness Orientation as a life-changing, three-week backpacking trip in local forests and canyons. This year, most of the150 incoming students hiked those same tried-and-true routes, but there were also three very successful alternative options. Eight students spent the month at Chauncey Ranch using horses as their medium in building relationships with their new college. Another 12 students enjoyed a month focusing on a rigorous yoga and meditation practice while base-camped at the College’s Walnut Creek Station. The community-based group immersed themselves in local food production and distribution projects in and around Prescott. There were many student leaders this year – a testament to the high caliber of seniors currently on campus. Erin reports far fewer evacuations than in years past and “many, many smiling, appreciative faces.”

David Lovejoy ’73 The Association for Experiential Education notified David he won the Michael Stratton Practitioner’s Award. This award honors an experiential practitioner who has demonstrated consistently high levels of performance in working directly with students or clients. This person’s work “in the trenches” demonstrates that an individual practitioner can bring about significant change and impact the lives of students, participants or clients. David received his award at AEE’s International Conference in Montreal at the end of October.

Steven Pace, M.S.W. Steven Pace received the Servant Leader of the Year Award by the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) at its 37th International Conference in Montreal, Canada. This award recognizes individuals for their active, excellent servant leadership to AEE and its members. Steven served on AEE’s Board of Directors for seven years and was Board President from 2005 through 2008. He currently serves on AEE’s Accreditation Council and is an editor of the 5th edition of AEE’s Manual of Accreditation Standards for Adventure Programs, published 2009.

Pramod Parajuli, Ph.D. Dr. Parajuli has initiated a consortium of 30-plus organizations in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Tibet/China to carry out a decade-long (2010-2020) action research project entitled “Climate Change and Sustainable Livelihoods through Conservation Economy in the Himalayas.”

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Wayne Regina, Ph.D. Dr. Regina recently co-presented a 32hour workshop on Domestic Mediation and the Law for the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Services program through Arizona’s Superior Court in Yavapai County.

This training was attended by Prescott Justice Court and Superior Court mediators, attorneys, retired judges, Prescott College faculty, and advanced Prescott College students. The training presented the theory, research, and practice of domestic mediation and domestic law, and provided extensive training for the attendees. Those completing the workshop are eligible to participate as mediators for the Superior Court of Arizona’s domestic mediation program, where Dr. Regina is a senior mediator. Dr. Regina is a licensed psychologist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and certified mediator.

Terril Shorb, Ph.D. ’09 Terril L. Shorb, faculty member in the Adult Degree Program, contributed an essay, “Climate Change and Creature Comforts,” to Thoreau’s Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming, a joint project by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Penguin Classics Publishers. In the book, which is an effort by the UCS to respond in positive fashion to the specter of global climate change, 67 writers from around the nation recounted their personal efforts to respond in a meaningful way.

Terril’s essay focuses on diminishing surface water in central Arizona highlands and its effects on wildland creatures, and his small effort to provide water for wild birds and other creatures that live in his natural neighborhood. The book is in hardback form and also is available for reading on this website: http://www.ucsusa.org/americanstories. Terril has been a member of the UCS for years and says, “It’s a high honor to be part of this experiment in communicating to the larger public some modest ways of approaching one’s daily lifestyle to help mitigate

adverse human effects on the world’s climate as it is to be a member of the UCS.”

Priscilla Stuckey, Ph.D. Priscilla Stuckey, associate faculty member for the Humanities in the Master of Arts Program, presented at two recent conferences bringing together scholars of religion and ecology. Her paper, “Being Known by a Birch Tree: Animist Refigurings of Western Epistemology,” explored the implications of experiencing trees, rocks, and animals as active knowers rather than passive objects of human knowing. She presented the paper at the Recreate, Replace, Restore conference of the Working Group on Religion, Ethics, and Nature at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, in April.

In July Dr. Stuckey attended the conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where a panel session she helped organize, called Animism as a Path to Decolonizing the Academy, brought together indigenous and non-indigenous scholars from five nations to share stories and reflect together about relationships with nature “persons.” Panelists, in addition to Dr. Stuckey, included Chickasaw writer and Pulitzer finalist Linda Hogan, First Nations scholar Shauneen Pete, Canadian environmental educator MJ Barrett, and the respondent, British anthropologist of religion Graham Harvey.

Vicky Young ’95, Ph.D. Vicky just found out that since September 2008 her dissertation has been included as a resource listing in the area of biomedical ethics through The Health Sciences Library System at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center : www.upmc.com.

Costa Rica Service and Adventure Program An International CESLL Experience Last March, a group from Prescott College and the Center for Extended Studies and Lifelong Learning program traveled to Costa Rica to take part in the Costa Rica Service and Adventure Program. The diverse group, which ranged in age from 15 to 72, spent time in two separate villages, connecting, exploring, and doing service work with the local people.

The Service Program was put on by CESLL in partnership with the CREER Service Organization, founded by Joshua Canter ’04, Prescott Alumni, his wife Kristin “Luna” Canter, and Costa Rican Mauricio Jaen.

This service program is unique among service programs, as it is facilitated by people that live in the villages where the service projects occur. As the group visits the villages, the participants have an opportunity to connect with the local people, become friends, and even have an opportunity to stay with them in their homes.

“It feels wonderful to be working hand-in-hand with the people of in the villages. It really feels like we are a part of a global community,” shared Trica from Tucson, Ariz.

During the program the service team worked on renovating a school, painting murals, doing a beach clean up, and planting a community garden. In the afternoon hours the group would go on adventure excursions to some of Costa Rica’s most incredible waterfalls, beaches, and national parks.

This year CESLL and CREER will be hosting another program in Costa Rica, March 27 to April 3, 2010.

For all info and to register visit http://truenaturecommunity.org/creer-site/?page_id=69.

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Class Notes John D. Alexander Ph.D. ’10 I wanted to share with you a publication that I was involved with on the reshuffling of bird species in California due to climate change. It seems to be getting some attention and was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle upon its release. Note that the region where I focus my research (Klamath) is one of the areas in California where the reshuffling of bird communities is predicted to occur. http://www.plosone.org/ article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0006825.

Reed Atherton ’73 My oldest son, Kelsey, will be a junior at Tulane this fall studying political science and history. My younger son, Wylie, gave up on high school and spends time at a glass studio. Lia will again run a weeklong kids’ camp in the Jemez Mountains. I get to keep my job as a clean room engineer at Intel. Retirement in two to five years.

RWAtherton@aol.com.

MaryLou Benigno ’11 Actively seeking members for community in Arizona. Please email marylou.benigno@gmail.com.

Julie T. Brown ’01 Julie and Alan Brown have two children (Brody, two and a half, and Ellie, seven months). We live in our own home on the “Space Coast” in Florida. Alan has a paint contracting business and Julie works from home for Kaplan University and teaches science for homeschooled coops. We are very happy but miss the Prescott community! jfleminger@hotmail.com.

Chris Cousins ’85 Recently purchased a land parcel in Washington County, Maine, and looking to slowly develop a horticulture and education business in the region. Started out with a “Site Analysis” workshop using permaculture design principles on July 10, 2009. chialoha@hotmail.com.

Lili DeBarbieri ’07 Lili is pleased to announce publication of her travel feature, “Take a Dip: Southwestern Hot Springs offer Minerals, Mud, and Mountain Majesty,” in the July 2009 edition of Earth Odyssey Magazine. Another, “Green Eyes A’ Shining: Spotlight on Arizona’s black-footed ferret,” was published in the June 2009 edition of the same publication. Lili is a news writer for Ethical Traveler and a frequent contributor to the Tucson Green Times. Her writing and photography have appeared in dozens of publications in the US and abroad, including E: The Environmental Magazine, Transitions Abroad, and Alabama Living.

Amy Kirk Duvoisin ’92 I just got a new job as Marketing Director of The French Market and recently started a new Mardi Gras krewe, The Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc! Check us out at www.joanofarcproject.org.

Camilla Fox M.A. ’08 After graduation from the master’s program (environmental studies) at Prescott, I started a national nonprofit focused on coyote/carnivore conservation. My work on coyotes/predator control was the subject of my thesis, which was really the groundwork I did to start this organization. We’re always looking for additional avenues to get our mes-

sage out and our organization known. Check us out at www.Project Coyote.org, and I’ll be happy to provide any additional information.

Angela Garner ’72 Angela Garner ’72 and Dave Meeks ’73 combined their Grand Canyon wait list years and did a 21-day trip through the canyon, putting in on March 20, 2009. It was a tad bit chilly at times, and there was a little wind, too, but ye who did not join us missed out on a glorious good time! From left to right, PC alums are Will Stillwell (former professor), Steve Huemmer ’73, Tom Robinson ’73, Lauren Sargent ’08, Angela Garner, Bruce Sargent ’73, and Dave Meeks. Also on the trip were Steve and Angela's two oldest daughters, a dentist turned potato farmer from Colorado, a helpful stealthy computer dude, some wacko from Oklahoma, and a quiet Zen guy. sazam@cox.net.

Miriam Glade ’03 I have decided to change my account from hotmail to Gmail. My new e-mail address is miriamglade@gmail.com. Please reply to my new account with your latest information (i.e. address, phone numbers birthday, websites, and whatever you wish to include).

We moved away from Alaska to Prescott, Ariz., after spending four years up in Valdez, multiplying by two, adding 12 furry legs to the family, and having had a wonderful as well as challenging time up there, it was time to be in warmer climates and find our luck in some other community. We love Prescott since we both studied here and are still familiar with the town and surrounding areas. We have refound a very loving, fun, supporting, and dynamic community.

Jonas loves his new preschool and has made tons of little friends.

We meet with other moms for play groups on a regular basis and have been accepted into the most amazing circle of mamas and papas. I miss my friends in Valdez and certain aspects of the beautiful surrounding but I also know that they will be there no matter what.

Johanna is growing fast and has started to talk. She is eager to keep up with brother and the two have an amazingly loving relationship.

In five days we will travel back to South Africa, visiting friends and family. My mom is ecstatic; she really misses her grandchildren and every minute spent together will be precious. We are seriously thinking of relocating back to my home country. Chris ’99 is excited about starting his own guiding/adventure business and is going to collect information in regards to it. We have not figured out if South Africa will be the best place to start that and how we can incorporate Alaska into the equation. This economy is scaring us and we are reluctant to start anything yet. For now it is planning, dreaming and visualizing ... and whatever will flourish into reality will be welcomed with open arms.

I would love to hear back from you, (on my new account) and keep in touch with all your lives. Our new information is: Glade, 1405 Oregon Ave., Prescott, AZ 86305.

Ella Goodbrod Moench ’05 On July 12, 2009, North Moench ’05 and Ella Goodbrod ’05 got married with a bunch of other PC folks in attendance. The folks in the picture are: John Groom ’04, Sarah Treadwell ’09, Matt Moss ’04, Ella Goodbrod, North Moench, Ben Kemkes ’02, Jessica Lichtig ’06, Sarah Pratt ’04, Chance Traub ’05, Jenn Dinaburg M.A. ’08, and Scarlet Tate ’04. We are currently based in Santa Cruz, Calif., and would love to hear from other PC folks in the area. ellamcmay@hotmail.com.

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Charlotte Goodluck ’70 I love Portland and my new job. Already into the second class of the new BSW Program. goodluck@pdx.edu.

Peggy Gurnett ’74 Peggy ran a one-day, equine-assisted cancer therapy retreat at Ironstone Farm in Andover, Mass., July 12, 2009. Lead facilitators were cancer survivor, Pam McPhee, M.S.W., Director of the Browne Center for Innovative Learning, and Paul Smith, Director of Centaur Leadership, Prescott College.

Mark Hansen ’73 Teaching after 26 years in history and drama. Wife and three children. M.A. from Michigan State. mehbach@hotmail.com.

Lauren Kruger Tietz ’99 I'm starting a low-residency interdisciplinary M.F.A. through Transart Institute this summer. I'm excited to be in Berlin this July for a residency with faculty and artists/students. laurentietz@gmail.com.

Dana Launius ’06 Youth Empowerment Director and Dance Instruction, SEEDs of Euphoria: Self-esteem, Empowerment, Education through Dance; and working at Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland's First “EcoBrewpub.” miscelaunius@gmail.com.

Laci Lester ’10 I am really excited to let you know that the music compilation I have been working on with my friend, Nick Kizer, has been going really well. “When in Az.” is a compilation of 57 Metro Phoenix bands and musicians, joining talent and passion to raise money for two music education nonprofits, Phoenix Conservatory of Music and Ear Candy Productions. See more details at wheninaz.com. I have also been planning First Friday events for the Civic Space Park in Phoenix. If you’re in the area, stop by and check out the festivities! Laci Lester “Ring Leader” 602-327-0808 laci.lester@gmail.com.

Tracy Mathis ’94 After I finished my degree at PC, we were living in Bagdad and Yarnell, Ariz. Back then we made many trips to Prescott in order for our son, Doug Mathis, to play baseball. Doug was drafted by the Texas Rangers and now he pitches for them. A few days ago it was so exciting to see him pitch on ESPN. Last season Doug set a new record for the Rangers in Arlington.

Thomas G. Melhart ’94 Thomas runs AZ StRUT, Arizona Students Recycling Used Technology. They recycle computer parts, rebuild and donate to nonprofit organizations. Instead of recycling in Vietnam, the process stays within the United States. To learn more, visit www.azstrut.org/.

Gerald Reed ’75 Gerald recently received a Ph.D. in public administration from Tennessee State University's Institute of Government. His dissertation was a program evaluation of USAID funded legislative development in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

John Sheedy ’96, M.A. ’05 More than two years in the making, John Sheedy’s Tijuana Project is 24

Transitions Fall/Winter 2009

finally finished. John reports he’s ready with a director’s cut. If he and his staff can raise just a little bit more money, John says the film will be completely done. For more information about the film visit www.tijuanaproject.org, or to make a donation, call John Sheedy at 970-259-7614.

Asha Stout ’08 Rosie and I are writing from the living room of our cute old adobe casita in historic Taos. Last week we adopted a four-month-old stray Belgian shepard and named her Abbey.

Our work is going very well. The Rocky Mountain Youth Corps where we work serves the communities of northern New Mexico by employing local youth to do social and environmental service work.

My old mentor, Bobcat, would be proud, for he always said, “social and environmental change need each other.”

I am about halfway through my contract as a supervisor on a forestry crew and Rosie is the development and training coordinator for the youth. This week she helped corps members get internships in the community. The week before last, Rosie coordinated a weeklong series of workshops and trainings called Ed Block, and last Friday was “Fun Day.” Fun day is an organization-wide celebration. We gathered trash and debris from the riverbanks, barbecued, played games, and enjoyed some unstructured time in nature. After lunch we made rafts from the trash we had collected and raced them across the Rio Grande.

Last week my crew finished a thinning project the corps has been working on for three years. It’s designed to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires for the forest and the communities surrounding Questa, N.M. Some of the other impacts will be increased biodiversity among the grasses, shrubs, trees, and wildlife, as well as soil stabilization, improved water retention, and soil quality.

The late summer and fall are beautiful here in Taos. Please let us know if you might be able to make it out for a visit. For you powder hounds, Taos is also an incredible place to visit during the ski season.

We'd love to receive an update from you, what have you been doing, and what your plans for the future are. ashastout@gmail.com.

Amy Tranchida ’99 Amy earned her M.F.A. in creative nonfiction from Goddard College on June 28, 2009. She is currently applying for a creative writing teaching position at local colleges and universities. atranchida@hotmail.com.

Matt Verson ’99 I am living with my wife, 10-month-old son, and parents in western Massachusetts, doing some agricultural and environmental consulting, some legal work, including studying for the bar, and a lot of homesteading activities. Today, weeding, a bike ride, and fixing the next box in my chicken tractor.

Michelle West ’85 I currently reside on the Big Island of Hawaii. My husband Michael and I love living on this island. I am doing research on sonar sound of dolphins and whales for natural healing. I am writing a book on my life experiences of natural healing, with my inspirational poetry at the beginning of each chapter. I am a Medical Intuitive and Sound Healer. We love communing with the dolphins and whales. Much love to everyone in the Prescott College family.

Honor Roll of Donors We are building upon a substantial legacy of the experiential education that Prescott College has long provided. The upward trajectory to which we aspire benefits all who have walked along our paths, while encouraging prospective students to join us. Our graduates and students, parents, faculty and staff, and our friends are counting on us to do better still.

The donors listed in the Honor Roll of Donors are responsible for many of the College’s accomplishments, and their generosity keeps us competitive. As a result of the thoughtfulness of our donors, we will continue to be the leading institution for the liberal arts, the environment, and social justice.

Thank you for your support.

Legacy Society Founding/Charter Members Merrill Windsor “Brad” and Ruth Bradburn Nora Woods Virginia B. Coleman Richard Ach James Antonius Jess Dodds Mark and Gwen Goodman The Secundy Family James Stuckey and Beverly Santo Andrew Sudbrook and Elizabeth Clayton

$50,000+ Susan N. Coleman Trust US Department of Agriculture

$25,000 - $49,999 Daniel & Suzanne Boyce Warren Winiarski KAKATU Foundation Packard Foundation Walton Family Foundation

$10,000 - $24,999 Carey Behel & Richard Ach James Hughes William & June Long J. Robert & Eleanor Maas Suzanne Tito James & Linda Wilson Arizona Planned Giving Institute The Clowes Fund Compton Foundation Every Voice in Action Foundation Hemera Foundation J.W. Kieckhefer Foundation Marshall Foundation Mesa Verde National Park Research Corporation of University of Hawaii

$5,000 - $9,999 Betsy Bolding Blain & Peg Butner Liisa Raikkonen & Tony Ebarb Daniel Garvey Jack Herring Lisa Capper & W. Jesse King

Jan Nisbet Tom Robinson Carla Smith James & Mary Smith Margie & Peter Stern Byron & Nancy Sugahara George & Jorie Yen C.D.S.C., LLC Raytheon RBC Trust Co. Ltd.

$2,500 - $4,999 Margaret Antilla Richard Bakal John & Susannah Bean Steven & Traci Corey Anne Dorman Joseph & Sally Dorsten Donna & Glen Gallo Mark V. Hayden PLLC Doug Hulmes Robert & Margaret Huskins Curtis Moll Suzanne Pfister Michael & Julie Zimber AZ Community Foundation Margaret T. Morris Foundation Max & Bessie Bakal Fnd. The Joseph & Mary Cacioppo Fnd.

$1,000 - $2,499 Mark Armstrong Debbie Arnold John Joseph Barry Jean Bremner Diane Brown Michael Burskey Paul Burkhardt Ralph Ewing Clark III Jane & Les Cook Fred DuVal Terri Eckel Mark & Gwen Goodman Fern & Raymond Grumbine Lydia Stevens Gustin Joan Hiller Joel & Debra Hiller Lucy Khoury Marianne Knaup Bert & Janice Mackie

Elle Maxon Andrew & Pat Michael Carolyn Morton Thomas & Frances Obsitnik Michael Chris Overby Walter Reinhold Karen & Jeff Riley Michael & Ruth Rooney Gerald & Donna Secundy James & Linda Shinn Andrew Small Susan Small John & Nancy Van Domelen Kurt & Billie Jean Vogel William Wesselink Beebe Tile LLC Community Foundation of So AZ Eli Lilly & Company Foundation Fann Contracting Friends of the Public Library ONEOK Foundation Pine Cone Inn Prescott Memorial Fund Soroptimist International of Prescott Sun City West Rotary

$250 - $999 Kelly Short & Stephen Blackmer Paul & Ann Brenner Lyle & Ruth Brown Michael Burke Dan K. Campbell John Canning Richard & Doris Cellarius Maris & Graham Chelius Cathy Church Judith Clapp Dr. Maryllyn & Mr. Paul Clark Wesley Clarke Joan Clingan Sara B. & Daniel Connor James & Victoria Cook Ginny Defede-Cove & William Cove Stephen P. Craig Heather Campbell & Day DelaHunt John & Lucy Douglas Ray & Lisa Drever Joan Dukes Edith & Robert Edson Walter & Alice Fair

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Robin Gates Paul & Jo Glaves Patricia Goffena-Beyer Melanie Guldman Catherine Harding William & Judy Hinkle Angela Garner & Steven Huemmer Lee James Aaron & Rose Lake Kathleen Leonard Barbara Clarke & John Leslie Matt Levine Judd & Betty Lotts Debbi & Packet Lowrey Ami Magisos Steven & Jeanne Matthews Frederick Medrick Karen Meltzer Tish Morris John & Helen Oakley Courtney Osterfelt Tad Pfister Kathleen Precourt Lake Puett Eugene Puetz Dr. & Mrs. Douglas Rothrock Jonathan Sachs Martha Sauter Marilyn Saxerud Eddie & Judy Simpson Mr. & Mrs. Jack Solomon Edith M. Spenser Don & Barbara Sweeney John & Helen Taylor Tom & Janet Taylor James & Patricia Tolley Bill Van Dyke Patricia Walton James & Danielle Woods Bridges/Van Dyke Family Fund-Ayco Discovery Audits Pfizer Foundation Tauck World Discovery Thai House CafĂŠ Vermont Community Foundation-Traeger Volunteer Center of So. AZ Wells Fargo Educational Matching Gift Prog.

Up to $249 and Inkind Gifts David & Katherine Abeshouse Nicole Adams Kerstin Alicki Laura Ames Douglas & Melinda Anderson Donna Aranson Osmund & Susan Arriola Margaret Aspland Peter Athens Arthur & Elizabeth Auer Laurel Herrman & Charles Awalt 26

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Gunnar & Heather Baldwin Marianne Balfe Laurence Barker Joel Barnes Elaine & William Barney Mario Barrios Karen Barton William Beckett Michael Belef Kathy Ben Melanie Bishop Julie Bondeson Cameron Boswell Ted Bouras Sylviane & David Boyd Susan Brenner Gail & Robert Breyer Louis Bright Cheryl Brown-Kovacic Victoria Bunsen Leslie Burkhardt Sigrun Bynum Lilla Cabot Ray Cage Natalie Canfield Jeanine Canty Frank Cardamone Gustav & Charlene Carlson Susan & Harold Case Doug Chabot Samuel Chase Sandra Barker & William Christian James Christopher Douglas Clendaniel Katherine & William Clyde Kerry Cobb Kathleen & Geoffrey Condit Ronda Connaway John & Polly Connell Leslie W. Cook Edward & Micaela Cooper J. Stephen & Linda Corson Kenneth & Nancy Costello John & Page Knudsen Cowles Noel Cox-Caniglia Janet Witten Crossley Diane Curtis Luke Danielson Martha & Joseph Dare Cindy Dick Frederick Dick Eric Dhruv Jess Dods John & Joal Donovan Leta Liberick & Mark Dorsten Marcia Douglas Dave & Janet Dove Ellen Cussler & Hans Drake Suzanne Dulle Dagmar Eisele

Philip & Audrey Escoll Elizabeth Faller Marya Felenchak James Finefrock Thomas Fleischner Warren & Rose Fleischner Claudia Fleishman Cheryl Foley Deborah Ford F. Kenneth Freedman Herbert & Joan Friedmann Theresa Furtak Donna Gaddie Norman Gagne Mark & Elaine Gallagher Vincent & Judith Galterio Shari Leach & W. Ryland Gardner Lynn Garney Lisa Garrison Mark Gebhardt Martha Gentry William & Anne Gero-Stillwell Daniel Ginter Jill Gioello Robert & Joan Glosser Dr. Nelson & Marcia Goldberg Joseph Goldberger Joe & Beverly Goldman M. Eileen Gorton Gail Gorud Tracey Finch Grossman Pablo Guerrero Samuel & Carol Haas Hugh & Jean Halsell David Hanna Dixie & Donald Dean Hanna Richard Hanna William & Ann Hannig Laurel Hardin James Hartline Richard & Erica Harzewski Brian & Alisa Hata John Hausdoerfer Linda Havins Mary & Allen Herman James & Deborah Hilbert Samuel E. Hill Dava Hoffman Barbara Holifield Susan Hopkins Chris & Leslie Hoy Carmine & Tina Iosue Mary Poor & Mark James Michael Jenkins Martha Jensen Melissa Johnson Anna Johnson-Chase Jeanne Jones Richard Boswell & Amy Joseph George Karsa

Pamela I. Kaskiw Jeffrey Summit & Gail Kaufman Steven & Barbara Kiel Stevie King Thomas Corrigan & Trude Kleess Richard & Anne Klein Dawn Knight Heather Knowles Christopher Kopek Janet Kothrade Otis H. Kriegel Joel Kreisberg Russell Scott & Robin Kropp Eric Lawrence Aurora Lee Melanie Lefever David & Mary Leslie Alan Lessik Judith Lewis H. Anne Lipp Lynne Liptay Steven Lockton Lesli Lokken Margaret Lott Albert & Eunice Lovejoy David Lovejoy Vance Luke Bruce Macadam Holly Hill Macadam James MacAdam Alan & Sandra Madison Glenn & Susan Manker-Seale Judith Marblestone Ruth Marblestone Melissa Markstrom Albert J. Marsh Margaret & Edward Martin Antonio Massella Lisa & Mark Mauldin Norma Mazur Linda McBride Deborah Bovee & John McCarrell William McClintic Joseph McEligott Jan Marshall & Joe McShane Tim McShane Jamie Mehalic Lorayne Meltzer Peter & Anne Merten Gregory Miller Richard & Linda Miller Warren Miller Robert Boyar & Barbara Mitchell Deb Morrison Lloyd & Anne Moss Julie Munro Everett Munsell Nino Nannarone Thomas Nehil Toni Lee Nemanick

Paul & Nancy Nesyto-Freske Chris & Melissa Norment Mab Nulty Charles Offutt Gracia O’Neill Madeleine Golde & Norman Oslik Janet Markham & William Otwell Philippe Ouellette Steven Pace Rick & Margo Pantarotto Diana Papoulias Mary Frothingham and Todd Parker Percilla & Manuel Patino Cleveland & Virginia Patterson Jon & Vicki Yeager Patton Rachel Peters Jean Phillips Ralph & Darcy Phillips Marianne Pyott Margaret J. Rambikur Thomas & Carla Ratcliff Michael & Susan Reardon Sue Rennels Bridget Reynolds Raymond & Darlene Ried Kyong Roginson Ms. H.A. Roper Charles & Evelyn Rose Janet Ross Richard Roth Margaret Rubel Joseph & Kimberly Ruby Carol Russell Janis Rutschman Louse Ryan Robert Sanford Thomas Scavone Joan-Marie Schaefer Cynthia Schleicher Grace Wicks Schlosser Diane Schmidt Margriet Schnabel Nancy Schneider Chris Schreiner E.J. Senz Steven Sessions Dilip & Indu Shah Robert Sharp William & Elizabeth Sharp Terrill Shorb Floyd Siegel Sue & Don Siegert Laurel Silver Patricia Skogen Marie Smith Scott & Kelly Eitzen Smith Joanne Sorenson Deborah Sotack Wendy Drobnyk & Stephen Soumerai Henry Rubin & Elizabeth Stark

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Inkind Gifts Ruth Carlin Nighthawk Natives Pasquale’s Place Note: If we have inadvertently omitted or made an error in listing your name, we apologize. A correction will be published in the next Transitions. Contact Leslie Pope at (928) 3504508 or (877) 350-2100 x4509 or lpope@prescott.edu to correct your record.

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In Memoriam Linda Bryant M.A. ’95 Linda Bryant died unexpectedly on May 27, 2009, at the age of 74.

A native of Arizona, Linda graduated with distinction with a B.F.A. in Fine Arts and graduate work in Art Education from Arizona State University, and a master’s degree in Counseling and Expressive Arts from Prescott College. She also studied ceramics at the San Francisco Art Institute in California. She was a talented artist and had traveled extensively in the Colorado Plateau area painting canyon narrows and slots.

Her work has been featured on Arizona Art Forum, a showcase produced by KAET's Channel 8. She has exhibited paintings, photographs, and prose and poetry at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Gallery 3, The Herberger Theater, and has been shown in other local galleries. Her prose and poetry has been published in many small presses in the UK and in the United States and she has given public readings and performances at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts.

One of her greatest joys came from the students and faculty at Phoenix Country Day School (PCDS). She taught middle school art at PCDS for 38 years and had just finished the semester. She once wrote, “The place to help shape the future is in grade school. We should not be concerned with making artists out of children, but with helping all children discover their own creative resources. And, it is my belief that all children are creative in some way.” She was expressive, creative, and kind – often touching lives in ways that cannot be measured. She will be greatly missed.

Found Poem for a Lost Watch

By Leslie Laird I lost my little gold pocket watch It’s the size of a nickel I might have left it on the outside table down at my end of the campus. just went out to look

Hilary Fitzgerald ’98 Hilary Fitzgerald passed from this world moments after the vehicle she traveled in was struck by another car the afternoon of Friday, August 21, 2009, near Paonia, Colo. A native of Montana, Hilary worked as a fly fishing guide in Telluride, Colo., and had plans to start naturopathy training in Portland Ore., in September.

Her spirit and passion for life were contagious. She was a giving soul, full of love for her friends and family. Her passing is a great loss for those who knew her. “Never stop creating or building your dreams. Never settle for less than what you know you want. Be bold and dream, think and live Big! With love and light.” – Hilary Fitzgerald, December 2008. Family and friends have created a memorial fund in Hilary's name at Alpine Bank in Telluride, Colo. Call (970) 728-5050, or email galenburke@ alpinebank.com. Each year donations will be made to global humanitarian efforts in her honor.

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it is nowhere to be found I got called into my office during my lunch and maybe ran back so fast that I left it on the table I did have it on me a couple hours ago I’m lost without it.

Note: this poem was “found” in an email sent by Leslie to the campus community. We’re happy to report that her watch was returned.

The Last Word

Beyond a Black and White View of Evolution Environmental studies faculty member Mark Riegner’s research suggests that aspects of coloration and shape in birds, and perhaps in other species, may be attributed to factors other than function and mere survival of the fittest.

Fig. 1

By Steve Talbott

Photo by Greg Meyer ’04

Mark Riegner has long been interested in animal form. His most recent paper, “Parallel evolution of plumage pattern and coloration in birds: implications for defining avian morphospace,” which appeared in The Condor in 2008, reports the results of a survey and analysis of plumage patterns in over 8,300 bird species representing 180 different families.

As Riegner notes, plumage patterns Fig. 2 and colors have puzzled biologists at least since Darwin's time. Darwin himself proposed that the visually striking patterns of male birds result from females selecting mates possessing the more pronounced features.

Other studies, Riegner writes, have proposed “adaptive hypotheses that assert a functional role of plumage coloration in predator avoidance, social signaling, thermoregulation, abrasion reduction, and foraging efficiency,” none of which has proved convincing to the majority of biologists.

“Furthermore, it is unclear why similar plumage patterns repeatedly evolve in distantly related lineages or why strikingly different plumage configurations may be exhibited in closely related taxa [taxonomic groups].” Riegner correlated plumage patterns with body length and mass, looking at the following categories: (1) countershaded (e.g., brown on the back, white on the belly); (2) streaked (longitudinal stripes); (3) blended (e.g., uniform gray), spotted, or drab; (4) barred (transverse stripes); (5) bold separation of black and white or uniform dark; and (6) reverse countershaded (e.g., black below, white on back).

What he found was a “trajectory of avian plumage patterns and associated morphological features” (Fig. 1). He correlated different plumage patterns not only with body size but also with the tendency for either the anterior or posterior form to be emphasized.

A complicating and highly significant observation is that the trajectory is repeated within the individual subgroups constituting the larger pattern; that is, the plumage-pattern relationships are recursive. For example, among members of the crow family, one of the largest has a massive bill and a white patch on its back (Fig. 2).

Such patterns “raise questions concerning the validity of nondirectional variation, based on random mutation, as the generator of morphological features” and in addition “downplay functional mechanisms as the generators of color pattern and biological form.” In other words, since the overall form and color-pattern relationships repeat in various taxonomic and ecological contexts, something other than the processes of random mutation and natu-

ral selection must be at work.

Riegner maintains that “functional explanations alone are insufficient to understand just why certain chromatic and morphological features covary so consistently” across distantly related groups – that is, why smaller birds tend toward one end of the plumage-pattern trajectory while larger birds tend toward the other end within a given context of comparison.

Many interacting factors are doubtless at play in the patterning of bird plumage, and there is no intent here to capture the phenomena within a fixed scheme. However, the statistically significant correlation between plumage pattern and morphological features across distantly related species, inhabiting diverse environments, strongly suggests that other factors are operating beyond mere “survival of the fittest.”

That, of course, is an unorthodox conclusion, opening up horizons for research extending beyond conventional evolutionary studies. We can hope, then, that papers such as Riegner’s will play their part in freeing the scientific spirit for a wider attention to the wonders of life on Earth.

Steve Talbott is a Senior Researcher with The Nature Institute in Ghent, New York. Excerpted with permission of the author: Full article is at http://netfuture.org/2009/Oct2109_178.html.

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