Developments Newsletter - Summer 2022

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES “THE PEOPLE COLLEGE”

DE VE LO P M E N TS Summer 2022

WELCOME FROM THE DEAN Welcome to the summer issue of the Developments newsletter, and a sincere thank you to the donors featured in this issue.

As many of you know, one of my priorities as dean was to expand our engagement with the community, so I am delighted that Pat and Peter Hirschman are funding faculty/community partnerships to address social justice issues. History alumnus John Collinge is contributing to an existing scholarship endowment in the name of Bob Vignery – a professor in our history department for 34 years (whom Collinge never met!). Not last, Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford is donating part of the proceeds from her book on former Arizona Governor Raúl H. Castro to projects honoring his legacy.

As we were preparing college data for the recent Magellan Circle reception (featured in this issue), I was amazed to learn the college raised more than $136 million during the time I was dean, thanks to generous donors such as yourselves (and our tireless development team). My accomplishments as dean are in no small part due to your commitment to this college.

I will soon be moving full-time into my new role as dean of international education in Arizona International. I will continue to be a vocal ambassador for the People College. It has been an honor to collaborate and dream and build an SBS community with so many of you. Thank you!

- John Paul Jones III, Don Bennett Moon Dean

In April, JP was honored for his service as dean of the College of SBS. Maribel Alvarez, former associate dean of community engagement for the College of SBS, emceed the event.

JP with his newly gifted jacket

JOHN PAUL JONES III ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP To honor JP’s leadership and accomplishments as dean of the College of SBS over the past 12 years, his friends and colleagues have established the John Paul Jones III Endowed Professorship in the School of Geography, Development & Environment.

To make a donation, call Ginny Healy at 520-621-3938 or go to: https://bit.ly/JPJonesProfessorship

Joaquin Ruiz, vice president of UArizona’s Global Environmental Futures and former dean of the College of Science, spoke about his relationship with JP.

Achieving Social Justice: Transforming Vision into Results Peter and Pat Hirschman. Photo by Leslie Epperson.

By funding faculty/community partnerships, Peter and Pat Hirschman want to harness the research expertise at the university to address the social justice issues that the couple work tirelessly on.

For Peter and Pat Hirschman, retirement was when “life began,” Peter said.

The couple previously ran an importing company in New Jersey, working 12-hour days, seven days a week. Time for volunteering was scarce.

When it was time to retire, the couple immediately knew they wanted to come to Tucson. Several years earlier, driving from Los Angeles to Santa Fe, they stopped to visit Saguaro National Park.

“We got out of the car and said, ‘Someday we’re going to live here,’” Pat said. “We fell in love with the desert.”

“In about 15 seconds,” Peter added.

After moving to Tucson in 2007, Peter and Pat quickly became immersed in helping the community through their volunteer activities.

Although Pat works with various nonprofits, she has formed a special relationship with Habitat for Humanity Tucson and has volunteered there since 2007. Pat volunteers in the construction department two days a week, among many other activities. She has been on the board of directors, the executive committee, the safety committee, and the home and design committee. Pat and Peter also partner with families as part of a mentoring program – they are now on their 12th family and remain in touch with all of them.

“I drank the Kool-Aid a long time ago,” Pat said. “I believe in the organization, and it’s very rewarding to volunteer.”

Peter has likewise volunteered with multiple organizations since retirement but helping refugees and immigrants has been his special calling, especially over the last eight years.

In 2014, the Arizona Opera put on the mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, which focuses on a Mexican immigrant family. The story impacted Peter greatly, and he started reading more about immigration, eventually teaching a course for OLLI, or Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, on the topic. His current class for OLLI is “Welcoming the Stranger: How’s America Doing?”

The opera inspired Peter and Pat to volunteer with the Tucson Samaritans, dropping off water in the desert along migrant trails. Through “on-the-job” training and research, Peter became increasingly involved in the asylum application process. At Keep Tucson Together, he was the asylum team lead responsible for overseeing over 300 asylum applications for both detained and non-detained clients.

Currently, he volunteers with the Immigration Justice Campaign, writing appeal briefs for detained asylum seekers, and works with the Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Southern Arizona, helping Afghan refugees with their asylum applications.

A GIFT THAT ALIGNS WITH THE HIRSCHMANS’ PASSIONS

It’s not surprising that when the Hirschmans decided to make a sizable gift, they wanted to support community groups. Why, then, give to the University of Arizona?

“We want community organizations to benefit from the research capabilities of the university,” Peter said. “We want that partnership, but the end result is for the benefit of community organizations.”

Inspiration for the gift came when Peter volunteered with Lutheran Social Services’ Refugee Resettlement Program. A caseworker there (who was also the head of the Bhutanese Mutual Assistance Association) was collaborating with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health to study health issues in the Bhutanese community.

In addition, Peter was working with the VISTA program, which focuses on enhancing the capacity of programs and making them sustainable.

“In thinking about what we wanted our gift to be, those were the two models,” Peter said.

The Peter and Pat Hirschman University-Community Research Partnership Fund will bring together university and community groups to better understand and address social justice issues in the region, such as immigration and asylum, housing, civil rights, healthcare, criminal justice, voting rights, and employment/educational opportunities.

The Hirschmans want to create programs that build capacity, are sustainable, involve students, and can be creatively adapted in other communities.

The grants to faculty/community projects will be given in honor of Peter’s parents, Morris and Elsa Hirschman, who came to the United States in 1936 as refugees from Germany, as a tribute to all they achieved in America.

The Poverty Project – a collaboration between SBS’s School of Sociology and community groups such as Habitat for Humanity Tucson – is an example of the types of partnership projects that may benefit from the Peter and Pat Hirschman University-Community Research Partnership Fund.

“Because of all the work we do in community engagement in the college, I could not have been more delighted that Peter and Pat had the vision to give this gift. We are happy to be stewards of this great idea. The transformative potential of a gift like this is tremendous.” - John Paul Jones III Faculty from across campus – as well as community organizations in conjunction with faculty members – can apply for grants. The Hirschmans chose SBS as the “custodians” because “we thought SBS has the biggest house of people who might be able to use the grant program,” Peter said. “JP [SBS dean] was extremely helpful and welcoming to us and listened to what we wanted. Once we told him, he was so excited. He thought it was perfect for SBS.” “Because of all the work we do in community engagement in the college, I could not have been more delighted that Peter and Pat had the vision to give this gift,” said John Paul Jones III, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. “We are happy to be stewards of this great idea.

The transformative potential of a gift like this is tremendous.”

University/community partnerships already exist in the College of SBS and in other UArizona colleges, including the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the James E. Rogers College of Law. Examples include programs related to poverty, community gardens, immigration, gender-based violence, prison education, substance abuse, and LGBTQ+ equity. The Peter and Pat Hirschman University-Community Research Partnership Fund will provide the needed funds to expand these partnerships and inspire new collaborations.

“This gift supports work that’s so important in our community,” said Josephine Korchmaros, director of UArizona’s Southwest Institute for Research on Women, or SIROW, which works with several community groups. “Because the work will be research informed, solutions may be more effective. This gift has the potential to improve quality of life for many and even to save lives.”

A PASSION FOR HISTORY, a Commitment to Students

History alumnus John Collinge is supporting history students by bolstering an existing endowment in the name of Bob Vignery, a professor he never met.

John Collinge’s love of history has been a thread throughout his life.

“It’s absolutely a passion for me; it always has been,” John said. “I think it has helped me be a better professional.

And it’s been a constant source of just pleasure and joy.”

John grew up primarily in Virginia and spent a couple of years in Michigan, as well as three years in Turkey as a young teen, which was very formative. He moved to Tucson with his mom and sister in 1967 when he was 16.

“I consider myself to be a desert person by temperament,” John said.

John attended the University of Arizona, double majoring in government and history. After graduating in 1973, John went back and forth on whether he would go to law school or get his doctorate in history.

“In the end I decided on law school which turned out to be a mistake,” John said. “I realized in my first year I wasn’t really cut out to be a lawyer.”

John persevered – he completed his J.D. from the James E. Rogers College of Law and then took the Foreign Service exam, determined to parlay the degree into a job.

John was one year into the Ph.D. history program at Rice University when he received an offer from the State Department to join the Foreign Service, where he met his wife, Zandra Flemister. A few years later, he joined the CIA where he spent the bulk of his professional career.

The training in “writing and thinking” that John received in the Department of History – especially from Professors John Mering and Jack Marietta – is helping as he writes a professional biography of his wife, he said.

“Zandra was a real pioneer,” John said. “She was the first Black woman to be a Secret Service Special Agent, and she was a very fine Foreign Service Officer who balanced her

professional career with family life before dementia forced her to retire a bit early.”

As a history alumnus, John said it felt natural to support students in the department. He’d already contributed to a scholarship in the James E. Rogers College of Law in honor of his classmate and friend Barbara Atwood.

Even though his gift is sizable, John didn’t want to establish a scholarship in his own name. He asked SBS development director Gail Godbey about existing scholarships in history. He decided to bolster the modest J. Robert Vignery Endowment Fund as a way of helping the scholarship make a bigger impact and because he appreciated its focus on students in need.

“When I found that the J. Robert Vignery scholarship benefited underprivileged students, that appealed to me,” John said. John’s mother, Alyce Collinge, was the first in her family to go to college so he is especially interested in

John Collinge in his study in Maryland. Behind him is an 1863 map of the United States and his “retirement flag.”

supporting first-generation students.

“I always felt that higher education, particularly state universities, is fundamental to the health of the country,” John said. “And to me, education needs to be a priority. When I graduated in 1973, I had money in the bank. It’s absolutely criminal that today’s students are coming out with an undergraduate degree, let alone an advanced degree, burdened with debt. So to the degree that I can help with that, to me, is pretty fundamental.”

CONNECTED LEGACIES

John doesn’t recall ever taking a class from Professor Bob Vignery – John’s emphasis was on American history and Bob taught French history – “although I’m looking back 50 years now.”

However, the two share a deep love of history and a commitment to the welfare of students.

Bob Vignery, who began teaching at the University of Arizona in 1962, was an authority on the history of France and taught about the French Revolution and the Enlightenment.

During his tenure, he also served as head of the Department of History and associate dean of the former Liberal Arts College. He met his wife, June Webb-Vignery – who received her Ph.D. in American history from the University of Arizona – when she taught a course in women’s history.

June, who is also the former executive director of the Metropolitan Education Commission, says her late husband loved teaching and supported his students when they were at the university and after they graduated.

“Throughout the 34 years Bob spent at the University of Arizona, students were his first love,” June said. “Bob retired in June 1996, but to this day, I am contacted by former students to express how much they valued his teaching.

A few years ago, I spent time at the Arizona legislature to lobby for K-12 education funding. To my delight, several legislators came to me to express the effect Bob’s teaching and classes had on their lives.”

The J. Robert Vignery Endowment Fund was created by former history department head Richard Cosgrove after Bob retired and is intended for undergraduate history majors with a distinguished academic record and financial need.

When June learned about John’s generous contribution to the endowment, she was thrilled.

“Oh, my goodness, I felt so excited and so elated that this was happening,” June said. “The only regret I had was that Bob is not here to enjoy it too.”

June expresses her “deep appreciation” to John and is happy that his donation to the endowment means more students will get funded.

“I hope the scholarship continues to provide support

June Webb-Vignery holds a photo of her late husband, Bob Vignery.

for students who are in special need because, let’s face it, it’s getting more and more difficult to attend college,” June said. “I also hope that there is a diversity of students that it reaches, and I know that was Bob’s hope.”

Katrina L. Kuxhausen-DeRose, the most recent recipient of the scholarship, obtained her B.A. in history, classics, and anthropology and is working toward her master’s in classics.

“Thanks to the J. Robert Vignery Endowment Fund, my dream of becoming an archaeologist moved forward at a miraculous speed despite the difficulties brought on

by COVID-19,” Katrina said. “The generous support of the history department and scholarship donors enabled me to conduct research and travel to excavate at a Roman villa in Italy last summer. Through uncovering artifacts, creating 3D models with photogrammetry, and surveying the layout of the site, I gained a lot of insight into the amazing cultural complexity of antiquity.”

“I always felt that higher education, particularly state universities, is fundamental to the health of the country. To me, education needs to be a priority.” - John Collinge

PERSPECTIVES

Reflections from Students, Alumni, and Donors

Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford: The Power of Persevering

reading material that was culturally relevant, that was at their reading level, and also available in English was hard.

That’s when I wrote My Nana’s Remedies / Los Remedios De Mi Nana. I used it to teach my students how to read.

When I transitioned from being a teacher to being a translator for the school district, I had a bit more time on my hands. I felt inspired to do my best to get the book published. It took me a long time – 64 rejections – but I didn’t give up!

Q.

Why did you decide to write a young adult book about Raúl H. Castro?

A. Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford with her book Raulito: The First Latino Governor of Arizona

Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford, an award-winning children’s book author, is donating some of the proceeds from her latest book Raulito: The First Latino Governor of Arizona – a young adult book about Raúl H. Castro – to various projects honoring the late governor’s legacy, including a scholarship in the Center for Latin American Studies and the Raúl H. Castro project in Nogales, Ariz., to facilitate border research, education, and community connections.

Rivera-Ashford, who grew up in Nogales, Ariz., has also published three bilingual children’s books and written several books for Disney to accompany the movie Coco. She spoke to Developments about what inspired her to share the “hidden history” of Castro, who overcame hardship and discrimination to reach the highest levels of government as the only Mexican American governor of Arizona and as a U.S. Ambassador to three countries.

Q.

You were a bilingual educator and then a translator for many years. What inspired you to also be a writer?

A.

I loved writing as a creative expression and as a healing process for myself, starting when I was a teenager.

When I was teaching Spanish-speaking first- and second-graders how to read in their home language, finding

When I first met Governor Castro, I gifted him my first two books, and he was delighted, especially with My Nana’s Remedies since his mother was a curandera, a healer. He gifted me a copy of his autobiography, Adversity Is My Angel: The Life and Career of Raúl H. Castro [written with Jack L. August, Jr.].

The book touched me deeply. I thought, “This is a story that young people need to know.” His legacy has so much to offer young people – and older people. It’s an inspiration to just keep going and do your best.

I also had a dream about it. I don’t often remember my dreams, and one morning I woke up and remembered hearing, “Raulito becomes the governor.” To me that was a sign that I needed to write a book about him. I was grateful that he gave me his blessing because I wouldn’t have done it without that.

Q.

Why did you decide to donate part of the book’s proceeds to UArizona programs related to Raúl H. Castro?

A.

I feel it’s really important to give back to the community and to support students. When I was speaking with Governor Castro and his wife, Pat, I told them, “My dream is to get this story published. It’s not easy. I don’t know how long it will take. But I will persist, and when it does, I’m promising you that I will donate a portion of what I earn to your foundations, which will continue to inspire young people and provide opportunities for scholarships.”

MAGELLAN CIRCLE Celebrates its History

Magellan Circle reception guests enjoy the patio at Hacienda del Sol.

This spring, the Magellan Circle hosted its annual reception at the beautiful Hacienda del Sol. Dean John Paul Jones talked about the many contributions made by the Magellan Circle, which launched in 2003. Over the past 12 years, Magellan Circle Patrons have supported 861 Magellan Circle Scholars. Donations to the Dean’s Fund for Excellence has supported many projects, including the Downtown Lecture Series, the Op-Ed Project, the Community and School Garden Program, the Tucson Poverty Project, Magellan Circle Teaching Awards, Noam Chomsky events, and much more. The Magellan Circle has offered excursions all over the world, including the Galápagos Islands, Italy, Israel, Cuba, Vietnam, and Mexico City.

Steve Lynn, the SBS board chair for the past 10 years, and Amy Kimme Hea, associate dean of academic affairs and student success for SBS, also spoke about Dean JP Jones’ many contributions over his 12-year term.

Here are a few photos from the celebration!

Barbara Starrett and Jo Ann Ellison with their Scholar Jasmin Meza

Luis and Cecy Parra

Rowene Aguirre-Medina and Roy Medina with their Scholar Zoey Rubinoff. Photos by Leslie Epperson.

Gulshan and Neelam Sethi

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Written by: Lori Harwood Designed by: Mackenzie Meitner

Student Spotlight Asia Raymor

Asia Raymor (center) with her Patrons Jack and Robin Lavin

Asia Raymor, the student speaker at the Magellan Circle reception, graduated this spring with her B.S. in criminal justice and a minor in criminology.

Asia is vice president of the SBS Ambassadors and recently completed an internship at the Pima County Legal Defender’s Office. She plans to work in law and public policy after attending graduate school.

Here is an excerpt from her speech:

“I am a Tucson native and the only child of an immigrant mother and hard-working father. As a first-generation college student, applying to college was overwhelming and filled me with mixed emotions. I did not have the typical college journey, but I have learned how to use my downfalls and mistakes to help me prosper.

“It has been an honor to be a part of the People College these past couple of years where I’ve been able to gain knowledge and leadership skills that I will carry throughout my life. Without the resources that SBS provides for students and without amazing benefactors such as Mr. and Mrs. Lavin, much of what I’ve been able to experience at the university wouldn’t be possible. Thank you for investing in my future.”

How to Give Donating to the College of SBS is making an investment in the future! You can donate online at https://give.uafoundation.org/sbs.

To discuss making a planned gift or donating to the college, contact Ginny Healy at 520-621-3938 or ghealy@arizona.edu.