DEVELOPMENTS THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
$2 MILLION ENDOWED CHAIR IN ISRAEL STUDIES HONORS UA ALUMNUS
Noam Chomsky Joins UA Linguistics Faculty
SBS DEVELOPMENTS 2018 A Publication for Alumni and Friends of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences http://sbs.arizona.edu Marketing and Communications Director Jenna Rutschman Writer and Editor Lori Harwood Designer Miles Fujimoto Copy Editor Shoshana Mayden Contributing Writers Alexis Blue Kimi Eisele Shoshana Mayden Development Office Ginny Healy, senior director of development Colleen Bagnall Perra, director of development Jeff Powell, associate director of development Oona Feddis, events and donor relations manager Laurel Ragaller, administrative associate Inquiries may be addressed to: SBS DEVELOPMENTS The University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences P.O. Box 210028 Tucson, Arizona 85721 520-626-3846 harwoodl@email.arizona.edu On the cover: Noam Chomsky in front of Old Main. Photo by John de Dios.
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
SBS DEVELOPMENTS
CONTENTS FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
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Q&A with the Deans
20 Magellan Circle
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A Wildcat’s Love of Israel Lives On
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The New Home of Noam Chomsky
25 SBS Advisory Board Profile, featuring Matthew Rabin
12 Coming Full Circle: An Estate Gift Benefits the Creative Writing Program
28 Community Connections
14 Illuminating History: An Italian Museum Will Showcase UA Excavations
32 Perspectives, featuring Ana Ma
16 Expanding Prison Education
34 Soundbites
18 Off the Beaten Path: Supporting In the Americas with David Yetman
36 The Buzz: News & Notes
26 Amplifying Youth Voices at the Raúl H. and Patricia M. Castro Border Studies and Outreach Center
40 How to Give
30 Discoveries Around the World
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Q&A with the Deans John Paul Jones III Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences The new $2 million endowed Jeffrey B. Plevan Chair in Israel Studies qualified for funding from the Eminent Scholars Program, or ESP. Why is this program important? The ESP establishes a partnership between a donor, the college, and the university. From the college, the donor receives assurance that it will underwrite the remaining cost of a faculty member holding the chair, in perpetuity. So there will always be a faculty member at the University of Arizona honored by holding an endowed chair in Jeffrey’s name (see page 4). The university’s buy-in falls in the first five years. Specifically, it provides the value of the endowment payout during those years, allowing the fund to grow untouched, with the earnings reinvested in the principal. This is an attractive incentive to donors, as it compounds their gift, and we have seen a lot more interest in endowed chairs since the ESP was established. Most importantly, our students win because we are able to hire top faculty, and this translates into a more innovative curriculum, more transformative research, and increased program rankings. This year, the college started the Community Classroom, which brings SBS courses to the community. Why? We already offer a wide variety of public lectures, panels, and events throughout the year, including our popular fall Downtown Series and our annual programming at the Tucson Festival of Books each spring. The SBS Community Classroom expands these outreach efforts by enabling community members to spend more time learning from (and with!) our amazing faculty. We started by offering seats to community members in a regular academic course co-taught by none other than Noam Chomsky. We are also designing classes tailored specifically to community members. Next year we hope to roll out Community Classroom short courses in Irish history, photojournalism, and creative writing. If readers of SBS Developments have suggestions for courses they would like to see offered, email me at jpjones@email.arizona.edu.
Monica J. Casper Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs and Inclusion One of the initiatives you have spearheaded over the last year is the creation of the UA Consortium on Gender-Based Violence. How does this project fit in with your objectives as associate dean of faculty affairs and inclusion? The new consortium, which will be housed in the college but stems from a partnership with Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, is designed to be a hub serving the entire campus by bringing together research, outreach, service, and pedagogy. Often, in initiatives focused on campus sexual assault, there is a gap between faculty research and on-the-ground service provision. We hope to remedy this by bridging cutting-edge research on gender-based violence in our academic units with service and outreach through the Women’s Resource Center, Athletics, Health Sciences, and others. At the same time, we intend to broaden the conversation from one focused exclusively on campus sexual assault – undoubtedly a critical issue and one that negatively impacts our students – to include all forms of gender-based violence, including domestic assault, sexual harassment, anti-LGBTQ violence, and racialized state violence. When we consider the statistics – every 98 seconds in the United States, somebody is sexually assaulted; more than 25 percent of women report being a victim of domestic assault in their lifetime; female college students are three times more likely than women in the general population to experience sexual violence – it is clear we are facing an epidemic. SBS is thus home to many students, faculty, and staff who are at risk for sexual, domestic, and other forms of gender-based harm. Given that my mandate is to make our college more inclusive, I would be failing in my role if I did not also work to make it safer for everyone, especially our most marginalized community members.
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Amy C. Kimme Hea Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Student Success Universities are increasingly asked to show how they are preparing students to be qualified for jobs in a competitive and changing workplace. What is SBS doing in this area? SBS majors are well positioned for work or graduate student life upon graduation. Across our majors, we support internships, directed-research opportunities, and capstone experiences that assist our majors in gaining real-world experiences. In fact, our departments offer more than 200 engaged-learning courses across our degrees. Students work with nonprofits or industries to design and implement new projects, and they hone their research skills by working with SBS faculty to define and solve problems. For example, in “Anthropology 333: Introduction to Archaeological Analysis,” students examine materials recovered from archaeological sites, and through hands-on labs, they explore historical objects of the past to address present-day research questions. Such high-impact learning practices open up opportunities for students to demonstrate the value of their education. Our next curriculum innovation is making sure all SBS majors have the chance to create a digital portfolio using Adobe Creative Cloud. Employers tell us that SBS majors are desirable because our graduates are excellent communicators, critical thinkers, astute collaborators, and creative problem solvers, and we want to ensure their technology skills as well.
Jane Zavisca Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies What would you like people to know about the research being conducted by faculty in SBS? SBS research spans the sciences and humanities. Social scientists in SBS employ scientific methods including survey research, experiments, and ethnographic observation to address questions such as how languages evolve, how social inequalities shape the experience of aging, and how government policies can influence corruption and violence. They also use remote sensing and field techniques to study archaeological sites and climate change. Humanists in SBS interpret culture and heritage to elucidate, for example, what reactions to migrants reveal about race relations in the United States, how food sustains regional cultures, and how human rights law relates to the history of slavery. This work spans the globe: About 200 SBS faculty conduct research beyond the borders of the United States. SBS also includes makers of art and literature, and inventors of software and pedagogies – all of which fall under the rubric of “research” broadly conceived as scholarly creation. Much of the research in SBS engages students and communities. An exemplar is the VozFrontera project led by the Southwest Folklife Alliance in collaboration with SBS, which promotes youth engagement, leadership, and arts incubation at the Castro Center in Nogales (see page 26). Many faculty incorporate research experiences into the curriculum and employ students as assistants in their own research. A major vector for SBS research impact is our nationally ranked graduate programs. Students do cutting-edge research while at the UA, and transfer that expertise to jobs in academia, government, and industry after graduation.
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A WILDCAT’S LOVE OF ISRAEL LIVES ON Created in memory of a devoted alumnus, the Jeffrey B. Plevan Chair in Israel Studies will allow the UA to hire an expert on modern Israel in the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies.
After he graduated with a degree in Judaic studies from the UA in 2000, Jeffrey Plevan returned to Tucson every homecoming to celebrate with his fellow Wildcats. The director of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, J. Edward Wright, recalls that during these visits, Jeff would stop by Wright’s office to discuss all manner of things. “We would sit and talk for over an hour,” Wright said. “We’d talk about everything: about sports, about what was happening on campus, about what was going on in Israel. It was fun. He was a sweetheart of a guy.” Wright chokes up as he says he’d love to be able to talk to Jeff now about the new chair in modern Israel created in Jeff’s name by his parents. “I can just picture Jeff sitting there and being excited about it. Israel was dear to his heart,” Wright said. In 2013, Jeff Plevan died unexpectedly from a heart attack at the age of 36. In addition to his love of Judaism
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and the University of Arizona, Jeff is remembered for his infectious, upbeat personality and an inner drive to overcome life’s obstacles. His parents, Bettina B. and Kenneth A. Plevan, said their son was a passionate supporter of Israel, traveled to that country on many occasions, and had just returned from a weeklong mission there one week before he died. To honor Jeff and his passions, his parents committed $1.5 million, which will be combined with their previous gift of $500,000, to endow the Jeffrey B. Plevan Chair in Israel Studies in the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies. “I was touched the first time I met Betsy and Ken,” said John Paul Jones III, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. “They so dearly loved Jeff, as did everyone else I’ve met who knew him. We are humbled that the Plevan family has chosen to honor him in this way.”
The Jeffrey B. Plevan Chair in Israel Studies will be amplified by the state-funded Eminent Scholars Program, which is designed to help attract and retain leading scholars. That this gift qualifies for the Eminent Scholars Program means that it will grow faster, supporting Israel studies at the university in perpetuity.
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Jeff Plevan was a devoted Wildcat.
A WILDCAT FOR LIFE Jeff was diagnosed at an early age with severe delayed speech and language processing difficulties. Jeff’s high school college adviser recommended the UA based on the strength of its SALT (Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques) Center. At the UA, Jeff – who had always struggled socially – searched for groups that would help him create a home away from home. In addition to choosing the Judaic studies major, Jeff joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and was active in the Jewish groups Hillel and Chabad. “Jeffrey had a lot of difficulties to overcome, but because of that enormous enthusiasm he had, he made a life for himself, and he built it around his love of Judaism, his fraternity, and the University of Arizona,” said Ken Plevan, a partner in the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. “He was accepted here.” After graduating from the UA, Jeff worked for the American Jewish Historical Society. He later received a master’s degree in Jewish communal service from Gratz College in Philadelphia and then began a career as a development officer at the Hunter College Hillel in New York. Jeff stayed involved with the UA and eventually became president of the MetroCats, the New York City chapter of the
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Ken and Betsy Plevan created an endowed chair in Jeff’s name.
UA Alumni Association. “He was really proud that he had graduated from the University of Arizona, so staying involved was his way of wearing that on his sleeve,” said Betsy Plevan, who is a partner in the law firm of Proskauer Rose.
ADVANCING MODERN ISRAEL STUDIES The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies serves about 600 students a semester and has one of the largest Hebrew programs in the country. The center’s expertise in Judaic languages, history, religion, and culture provide a deep understanding of Jews and Judaism through time and across cultures. By offering extensive public programming, the center offers scholarship to the community on one of the oldest and most influential civilizations in human history. The center’s expertise has long been heavier in ancient studies. For more than a decade, Wright has bolstered the center’s proficiency in modern Israel by hiring visiting professors, such as Asher Susser. “We started doing stop-gap measures,” Wright said. “Now, with this endowment, we can hire a permanent fulltime person who will be on campus year-round.” Wright added that the center will be able to hire a senior scholar, someone with “a considerable reputation” in the
The University of Arizona has one of the largest Hebrew programs in the country.
study of modern Israel. “It really crowns our center with that missing piece of the puzzle. It also contributes to the university’s wider strengths in Middle Eastern studies.” “Ken and I hope that an Israel studies professorship will promote a climate of understanding and cooperation among the differing viewpoints on Middle East issues,” Betsy Plevan said. “We have been very impressed with the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and are pleased to be helping the center expand its programs and enhance its commitment to academic excellence.” The Plevans previously endowed the annual Jeffrey B. Plevan Memorial Lecture in Israel Studies at the UA. Past lecturers in this series include Itamar Rabinovich, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, and Dennis Ross, who served as a Middle East adviser to three U.S. presidents – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. The Plevans also support UA initiatives in the Disability Resource Center and the SALT Center. Wright noted that “everyone here loved Jeff, and we are deeply honored that the Plevan family has chosen to honor his memory through the lectureship and endowed chair that bear his name. Jeff’s memory will forever be a blessing here, across the country, and around the world.”
Kati Juhlin spent spring 2016 in Israel after receiving the Ronald and Diane Weintraub Study Abroad Scholarship.
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The New Home of Noam Chomsky One of the most cited scholars in modern history, Noam Chomsky now walks the halls of the University of Arizona campus, inspiring students to think deeply and critically.
If you type Noam Chomsky’s name into a google search, you get 9 million results. His Facebook page has more than 1.2 million followers. You can even order a wide array of Noam Chomsky coffee mugs. He is, it is safe to say, not your typical academic. Considered the founder of modern linguistics, Chomsky is one of most influential public intellectuals in the world. And now he is a professor at the University of Arizona. This past fall, Chomsky was hired by the College of SBS as a laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics. He also holds the title of Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice. Chomsky’s connections to the UA linguistics faculty are deep and long-standing. Several UA linguists were his students or departmental fellows at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Chomsky worked since 1955. Chomsky’s previous visits to the UA with his wife, Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, set the stage for his decision to join the faculty. “We’ve very much come to appreciate the intellectual environment and the lifestyle,” Chomsky said. “The lin-
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guistics department, which is excellent, happens to be full of former students of mine. In general, we felt that the UA would be a good place to work and think and interact with people we like and can work with.” As part of his part-time faculty appointment, Chomsky teaches courses, gives public lectures, and is available to meet with students. This past fall in Centennial Hall, he had a conversation with Regents’ Law Professor Toni Massaro on a range of topics. This spring’s public event was a conversation between Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg – perhaps best known as the whistleblower who released the Pentagon Papers – on the topic of nuclear policy and war. A special thanks to Valeria Chomsky for suggesting this event and helping bring these two together for the first time. This spring, Chomsky also co-taught a course with Professor Marv Waterstone titled “What is Politics?” to undergraduate students and community members. As one community member said of the course, “Imagine being able to say you took a class with Einstein. It’s like that.”
To learn more about Chomsky events and classes, visit chomsky.arizona.edu
Noam Chomsky and Valeria Wasserman Chomsky at the University of Arizona. The UA announcement that Noam Chomsky joined the UA is the most viewed story in UANews history. Photo by John de Dios.
“We fell in love with Tucson – the mountains, the desert. We’ve very much come to appreciate the intellectual environment and the lifestyle.” —Noam Chomsky
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Noam Chomsky chats with linguistics department head Natasha Warner (left) and linguistics graduate students Maya Klein and Yan Chen. Photo by John de Dios.
“The opportunity to engage in a thought-provoking dialogue with one of the leading intellectuals of all time is one I will hold with me for decades to come.” —Enrico Trevisani, political science major
Chomsky is credited with revolutionizing the field of linguistics by introducing the Chomsky hierarchy, generative grammar, and the concept of a universal grammar, which underlies all human speech and is based in the innate structure of the mind/brain. He has debated the likes of B.F. Skinner, Jean Piaget, and Michel Foucault. Chomsky has not only transformed the field of linguistics, his work has influenced fields such as cognitive science, philosophy, psychology, computer science, mathematics, childhood education, and anthropology. Applications of Chomsky’s work can be found in everyday life. He formulated the algorithm “context free grammar,” which is part of most computer programming languages as well as programs that appear to understand
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language, such as Siri. He has challenged traditional notions of learning, emphasizing how much knowledge and behavior is “built in” to the child’s brain, which influences how we teach children. Chomsky also is famous for his political commentary and has published and lectured on U.S. foreign policy, Mideast politics, terrorism, democratic society, and war. Natasha Warner, head of the Department of Linguistics, is thrilled Chomsky has joined the faculty. “Chomsky established modern linguistics. He’s an awe-inspiring thinker,” she said. “The opportunity for UA linguistics students to learn from him on a regular basis is simply astounding.”
(l-r): Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, Paula Slater, and Noam Chomsky. Slater, a master sculptor, presented Noam Chomsky with a bronze portrait bust at the reception following a public event with Chomsky and Toni Massaro in fall 2017.
MAKING IT POSSIBLE The Agnese Nelms Haury Trust donated significant funds toward hiring Noam Chomsky. “The Haury Trust is thrilled that students, faculty, and Tucsonans will have the opportunity to interact with one of the most influential scholars and thought leaders of the past 75 years,” said Mary Grier, a trustee of the estate of Agnese Nelms Haury, for which the UA’s Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice is named. “This is a rare privilege that may prove transformational in ways that we cannot presently imagine. “My only regret is that Mrs. Haury could not meet Professor Chomsky,” Grier added. “I think she would have adored him.” Grier was pleased with the fall’s public event: “The Haury Conversation: Noam Chomsky Talks with Toni Massaro.” “While Professor Chomsky answered questions about topics that ranged from his extraordinary life to the Doomsday Clock, his audience was amazed by his keen
intellect and remarkable memory, and inspired by his ideas,” Grier said. “The Haury Trust is honored to have the opportunity to provide the financial support that made this possible.” The Haury Trust also sponsored the spring conversation between Chomsky and Ellsberg. Tucsonan Don Martin also has financially supported various public events with Chomsky. The youngest of nine children, Martin dropped out of high school to work full time in the construction industry and went on to create the successful business Competitive Engineering. “Noam Chomsky is one of the world’s greatest public intellectuals and has dedicated his life’s work to the greater good,” said Martin. “In a world full of misinformation, accurate information is paramount, and that’s what we get from Professor Chomsky. I, for one, am trying to figure out what we need to do as a society to ensure future generations have a fighting chance to realize a reasonably fair and fruitful future, and I believe Noam Chomsky will help us get there.”
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Coming Full Circle By Shoshana Mayden
An estate gift from Amanda Kaufmann will benefit mentorship in the creative writing program.
When Amanda (Shaver) Kaufmann majored in creative writing at the University of Arizona in the late 1980s and early 90s, she honed her skills through workshop-style classes in fiction and playwriting. But it was also her experiences outside of the classroom that helped her launch a successful career in educational publishing. Kaufmann worked with her undergraduate adviser to craft a for-credit internship and went through the yellow pages cold calling local publishing companies to find one that would take her on. She got interest from Zephyr Press, a small Tucson publishing company that specialized in professional development for educators. While she says the small press didn’t know what to do with her at first, Kaufmann found a mentor in editor Stacey Lynn – a relationship that lasted until Lynn died of cancer a few years ago. The internship also led to connections that got Kaufmann her first job after graduation and helped her develop her career in the educational publishing world. Kaufmann hopes to provide similar experiences for UA creative writing majors through an estate gift to the
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program. She and her husband, Matthew Kaufmann – a UA alumnus in engineering – made a plan to give half of their estate to the University of Arizona. About 25 percent of the total estate is earmarked for creative writing in the Department of English. “I feel personally that there is a place and a need for good writing and literate folks in the world,” Kaufmann said. “These disciplines do not receive funds. So, it was really important to me to funnel something in that direction.” After a few years of technical writing and editing, Kaufmann began doing freelance work for educational publishers. She completed a master’s in teaching English from California State University, East Bay in 2011. Today, Kaufmann heads her own consultancy, CA Thrasher Editorial, working with textbook authors to create video tutorials. She writes scripts and directs the video productions, illuminating topics primarily in the sciences for college students. Kaufmann is currently working with Ander Monson, the head of the UA’s creative writing program, to develop a
“I feel really empowered by the things that I’ve done in my career, and I‘d like to share that with other women who are up and coming.” —Amanda Kaufmann
Amanda Kaufmann on the set of Mother’s Milk. Kaufmann wrote the short film as a dark comedy inspired by the life of Victor Miller, the original screenwriter for Friday the 13th. Photo by Beth Chambers.
student internship at Thrasher. She hopes to mentor young students and to provide an experience similar to her first internship in publishing. “It’s amazing when I look back at how pivotal it was in my life,” Kaufmann said. “It’s a win-win. I give someone some experience like I had, and I get some help.” The couple lives in the Bay Area where Matthew works in the electronics industry. While Kaufmann acknowledges that they are younger than most donors to the UA, she insists that making their estate plan was just part of being responsible adults. In the longer term, Kaufmann said she hopes the gift will open doors for students facing financial and other hardships, particularly women. She points to her own traditional upbringing in a family that was male oriented. “In this day and age and with what is going on in the world, I want women and girls to feel that they are valuable,” Kaufmann said. “I feel really empowered by the things that I’ve done in my career, and I‘d like to share that with other women who are up and coming.” Monson is excited about the possibilities Kaufmann’s gift holds for the undergraduate program. He hopes to develop more formal programs for connecting creative writing students with editors, publishers, agents, and other writers. Right now those connections happen on a more ad-hoc basis. “I take this as a mandate to really work on building these opportunities that were so influential for Amanda and
make sure they remain in a real way and are expanded for our current students and the ones to come,” he said. Kaufmann said she left the small town where she grew up in upstate New York to come to the UA because she wanted adventure – she’d never even visited campus before she arrived. After starting out as an art major, she chose to switch to creative writing as a more “business-minded” career. She still finds time to fuel her more artistic side though. Kaufmann recently began a collaboration with Victor Miller, the screenwriter for the first Friday the 13th movie. “After all this time of me assisting other writers I got that itch to write for myself, to do something of my own,” Kaufmann said. The result is Mother’s Milk, a dark comedy Kaufmann wrote inspired by Miller’s life. Miller plays himself in the short film. Kaufmann hopes to release the film in time for Mother’s Day and plans to enter it into film festivals. Monson hopes to bring both Kaufmann and Miller to Tucson for a screening of the film and a chance to connect with current students. He’s hoping the experience – and Kaufmann’s estate gift in general – will get students excited about what they can do with a creative writing degree. “I hope that the estate gift will allow us to make clearer the range of possibilities available to creative writing students at this university,” Monson said. “We want to make those opportunities for discovery more salient for students.”
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Illuminating History By Alexis Blue and Lori Harwood
Named after a longtime donor, the Charles Young Museum and Exhibition Center will reveal the haunting history of an Italian town, a history uncovered by Professor David Soren’s 30 years of excavations in the region.
The University of Arizona is partnering with an Italian town to create a museum and exhibition center showcasing the area’s storied history – a history that includes a devastating disease outbreak, witchcraft, and magic. UA architecture students are creating exhibitions that tell the story of Lugnano in Teverina, a commune in the province of Terni in the central Umbria region of Italy that was hit hard by malaria in the middle of the fifth century. The students are part of the Arizona in Orvieto (Italy) Study Abroad Program. Their work will be displayed in two churches in the community, which were built in 1587 and currently are being used for storage, pending their renovation. The museum project was conceived by David Soren, a UA Regents’ Professor of anthropology and classics, who also founded the Orvieto Study Abroad Program in 2001. Since 1986, Soren has worked on archaeological excavations in the Lugnano area, where his efforts have earned him honorary Italian citizenship. Working closely with the local government in Lugnano, Soren is co-leading the project with Darci Hazelbaker, a lecturer in the UA College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. This project is a prime example of the kind of interdisciplinary collaborations that Soren cultivates; he is often actively
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looking for ways to have his work “spin into” other departments. Soren proposed the museum project to Lugnano mayor Gianluca Filiberti as a way to celebrate the town’s history and educate locals and tourists. “I love the town, I love the people, and I love the mayor and his wife,” Soren said. “When I approached them with this idea, they said, ‘Let’s go for it. Let’s do everything we can do to create something for our town.’”
HELP FROM A LONGTIME SUPPORTER The UA received $50,000 to restore the church roof from the Tucson-based Joseph and Mary Cacioppo Foundation. Currently led my Michael-Ann Young, the Cacioppo Foundation has also funded student travel and research for decades. “Michael-Ann, her father, and her grandfather have been supporting my work for 32 years,” Soren said. In recognition of the Cacioppo Foundation’s loyal support, the museum will be named the Charles Young Museum and Exhibition Center, in honor of Michael-Ann’s father. David Pickel received funds from the Cacioppo Foundation when he was working on his master’s degree at the UA. He is now a Ph.D. student at Stanford and the director of excavations for the archaeological dig near Lugnano.
David Soren with his faithful canine companion, Lana. Photo by John de Dios.
“I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Cacioppo Foundation Travel Award for the summer of 2014,” Pickel said. “This award allowed me to travel to Naples, Italy, for the first time, where I participated in a ceramics lab for an archaeological project excavating just below Mt. Vesuvius. I learned so much about Roman ceramics and what they can tell us about the ancient Romans.” Soren’s work is also receiving support from an Italian consortium of towns – or communi – that includes Lugnano, in part by a grant of 170,000 euros (about $187,000 dollars).
“Their children are dying, people are dying, aborted fetuses – it’s a horror story. And the community is responding in the only way it knows how: with magic and ritual. All of that is quite a story that this exhibit can tell.”
—David Soren The arrow points to the church, which will house the museum and exhibition center. Rick Polizzi, an animation producer with The Simpsons, will be speaking this summer as part of the programming at the exhibition center.
MALARIA AND MAGIC Part of what archaeology students will be tasked with communicating in the museum is the haunting history of Lugnano. Soren’s many years of excavations there – with collaborators from Yale, Stanford, and elsewhere – uncovered a number of intriguing, often grim, finds. Their discoveries over time led to the revelation that Lugnano, about an hour north of Rome, was the site of a deadly malaria outbreak in the midfifth century. While excavating the ruins of a sprawling and elegant villa – built around 15 B.C. and the size of a modern shopping mall – Soren and his colleagues made a gruesome discovery. The building, which had been rendered useless by foundational cracks by the mid-third century, had come to serve a new purpose by the middle of the fifth century: as a cemetery for infants and unborn fetuses. The escalating pattern of infant burials at the site indicated an epidemic had hit the area and rapidly increased in deadliness over a short period of time, with the deceased buried together in an isolated area, probably because of fears of contamination. Bone analysis would show that those buried there had likely fallen victim to Plasmodium falciparum malaria, or “blackwater fever,” a mos-
quito-borne illness that is particularly deadly to infants and unborn children. The disease may have found its way to the region through trade with Africa. The archaeological evidence suggests residents of Lugnano, desperate to control the outbreak, turned to traditional black magic and sorcery for help. Soren and his colleagues found the remains of 13 puppies, which appeared to have been sacrificed in line with the belief that puppies can ward off evil. They also found two copper cauldrons filled with ash from possible offerings, as well as burials that included a toad and raven’s claw – common weapons of witchcraft against disease and evil. The oldest child found at the site, estimated to be 2 to 3 years old, had stones and a large tile weighing down her hands and feet, probably placed there to keep her from rising from the dead. Archaeologists also found an abundance of honeysuckle, which was once used to treat fever and enlarged spleen – a condition that can be caused by malaria. “The thing I found really interesting is the response of the community to crisis,” said Soren. “Their children are dying, people are dying, aborted fetuses – it’s a horror story. And the community is responding in the only way it knows how: with magic and ritual. All of that is quite a story that this exhibit can tell.”
A child buried in the Cemetery of the Infants at Poggio Gramignano, near Lugnano in Teverina.
Soren is excited about new developments with the site due to satellite imagery. “We now know that the villa we are excavating is 100 times bigger than we thought.” For Soren, whose time in Lugnano has endeared him to the community, the project is personal. “I really like setting things in motion where the result is something positive and lasting,” he said. “That gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction, and especially helping communities. The feeling you get from doing something like that is something money can’t buy.”
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EXPANDING PRISON EDUCATION Thanks to a donation to the Department of English by Barbara Martinsons, the Prison Education Project is training graduate students and faculty to help with prison writing workshops and expanding the number and topics of classes at local prisons.
About 25 years ago, Barbara Martinsons was teaching at Marymount Manhattan College, a small college in New York City. The faculty received notes in their mailboxes asking if they wanted to trade a class in the college for teaching a class in a prison. Martinsons said ‘yes’ and taught “Sociology of Film” at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the state’s only maximum-security prison for women. “The experience changed the direction of my life and gave me a sense of vocation,” Martinsons said. Later, Martinsons moved to upstate New York and began teaching at Sullivan Correctional Facility, a maximumsecurity prison for men. Along the way, she became a board member for Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison and started the nonprofit College and Community Fellowship (CCF), which helps women coming out of prison who are interested in going to college. Martinsons now lives part of the year in Tucson and is retired from teaching. But she is still dedicated to promoting education for those currently in or coming out of the prison system. She remains on the boards of Hudson Link and CCF and mentors people coming out of prison through Old Pueblo Community Services. Martinsons has also made a sizable donation to the Department of English to help it expand the Prison Education Project. “Most of the people in prison are going to come out,” Martinsons said. “Education can make them stronger citizens, parents, and participants in their communities. I think demanding college work can give a person a new way of being in the world and a new way of coping with difficulties.”
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HUNGRY FOR EDUCATION Every Saturday, Erec Toso dons his khaki “prison pants” – the only pair he owns that the Arizona State Prison will allow inside the yard. Toso then drives to the south side of Tucson, passes through security with his cracked plastic tub filled with notebooks and pencils, and conducts a pair of two-hour creative writing workshops for incarcerated men. About 15 men usually show up to each of Toso’s workshops. They can write anything they want – poems, fiction, memoirs. They comment on one another’s work. Toso mentions one man with a shaved head and crude tattoos, in jail for dealing ecstasy. “If he were at the University of Arizona, he would likely be one of the star students in film or writing courses,” Toso said. “He works hard at his craft, taking it far more seriously than even my best university students. He devours the books on writing that I bring in.”
Erec Toso holding Richard Shelton’s book during a 2011 program called “Inside/Outside Prison Writing Workshop.” Photo courtesy of ASU Art Museum.
Toso, an assistant professor of English, has taught prison writing workshops for 10 years, joining program founder Richard Shelton and writer Ken Lamberton as part of a team that leads the 48-year-old program. Administratively housed at the UA Poetry Center, the program benefited early on from grants from Arizona Commission on the Arts and is currently funded with an annual grant from the Lannan Foundation. Thanks to the donation from Martinsons, Toso has gained reinforcements as graduate students and faculty obtained training to help with the workshops. Another new UA program that offers courses to incarcerated individuals is coordinated by Marcia Klotz, an assistant professor in the Department of English, and Colleen Lucey, an assistant professor in the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies. The program also involves several graduate students. Last spring, the group offered a 10-week pilot program at the Whetstone Unit in the Arizona State Prison Complex to incarcerated veterans in the “Regaining Honor” pod. The team taught literature and writing skills. This past fall, two faculty members and 11 graduate students taught on the topic of “Justice and Mercy.” The incarcerated students are awarded certifications of completion, although the instructors would like them to be able to receive college credit. “These men are hungry for education,” said Lucey. “When we ask them what topics they are most interested in, they say ‘yes, yes, yes’ to everything.” Klotz and Lucey hope to broaden the range of courses and get more instructors participating. This semester, UA faculty members will deliver lectures as diverse as how elephants experience trauma, archaeological findings in the Easter Islands, Edgar Allan Poe, Caribbean literature, and an introductory class in astronomy, math, and physics. “We hope to help them imagine a number of options for the future and to get a sense of what it’s like to go to college,” Klotz said. “I feel so honored to teach them.” “Our students and faculty are excited to bring the English department’s passion for words to inmates at the Tucson prison complex,” said Lee Medovoi, head of the Department of English. “We are so grateful to Barbara Martinsons for helping us to build a strong and committed team that can make a real difference for the future of our community.”
BRINGING REGINALD DWAYNE BETTS TO CAMPUS Barbara Martinsons helped fund the visit of Reginald Dwayne Betts to the UA campus this past fall. Betts – a poet, memoirist, and lawyer – is the national spokesperson for the Campaign for Youth Justice. He also spent nine years in jail when he was sentenced as an adult at age 16. During the visit, which was sponsored by the College of SBS and the American Friends Service Committee, Betts gave the keynote speech at the symposium “Building the Prison-to-Higher-Education Pipeline.” “The symposium drove home the need to develop programming that facilitates the educational enrichment of system-involved persons, whether inside or outside prison,” said John Paul Jones III, dean of the College of SBS. “I came away convinced that we have an ethical duty to rethink and rework our institution’s policies and practices around access for incarcerated individuals. We also have a social responsibility to welcome students who have been system-involved into our classrooms.” Betts will also collaborate with the UA Poetry Center on a three-year project funded by a $500,000 Art for Justice grant to commission new work from leading writers in conversation with the crisis of mass incarceration in the United States.
Last spring, UA instructors and graduate students offered a course at the Whetstone Unit in the Arizona State Prison Complex. Photo courtesy of the Whetstone Unit.
“Most of the people in prison are going to come out. Education can make them stronger citizens, parents, and participants in their communities.” —Barbara Martinsons
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
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Off the Beaten Path
In the series In the Americas with David Yetman, David Yetman and Dan Duncan take a fresh approach to travel and adventure in the Americas. David Yetman and Dan Duncan visit people who can replace conversation with whistling, islanders who have cooked the same meals for 10,000 years, and pastoralists who live at an altitude too high for any activity except herding llamas. They approach volcanoes in Chile and Alaska, and ride rafts, boats, ferries, horses, and motorcycles to explore the terrain. Yetman and Duncan meet people from all walks of life and let them tell their stories. And they film it all, so we can hear those untold tales and perhaps be inspired to wander farther afield next time we travel. In the series In the Americas with David Yetman, which airs on PBS, Yetman and Duncan uncover the geographic and cultural diversity of the Americas and take a fresh look at the lands that make up much of the Western Hemisphere. The show is an initiative of the College of Social and Behavioral Science’s Southwest Center, which seeks to define, illuminate, and present, through research, teaching, and publishing, the character of the Greater Southwest. The show supports the Southwest Center’s mission of education through cultural exploration. To supplement a recent anonymous gift of $85,000, Yetman and Duncan are seeking donations so they can continue to guide us to the fascinating places and people of the Americas.
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EXPLORERS Yetman and Duncan have worked together for more than 20 years, each bringing their own skills and passion to the show. Yetman, a research social scientist in the Southwest Center, is the host and producer of the series and received Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2014 for his documentary television work. Duncan, a producer/filmmaker with the
In season 6, the show went to Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state. Populated for centuries by peoples speaking Mayan languages, they retain their customs and dress – while struggling to protect their homelands. Yetman and Duncan were invited to film one of their annual ceremonies. “Everyone was so proud to share a bit of their culture with the rest of the world,” Duncan said.
“David is the guy when it comes to relating to people from different cultures and backgrounds.” —Dan Duncan
Yetman hosted The Desert Speaks from 2000 until the program ended in 2010. Then Yetman and Duncan started In the Americas with David Yetman with a donation from the late Agnese Nelms Haury, which lasted until last year.
A FRESH PERSPECTIVE Monkey attack in Colombia. Dan Duncan pictured.
Southwest Center, directs and produces the series. For 19 years Duncan was also the director and producer of The Desert Speaks, a PBS documentary series, in which Yetman was the host for nine years. He has won 24 Rocky Mountain Emmy awards in directing, cinematography, editing, documentary, and feature categories. The two form a mutual fan club. “Dan grew up in Brazil,” Yetman said. “He has the cultural immersion that I have always loved working with.” “David is the guy when it comes to relating to people from different cultures and backgrounds,” Duncan said. “He is an incredible person. It’s crazy how talented the guy is.” Yetman said his passion for Latin America started when he was a child. “I grew up in a tiny town in New Jersey. I didn’t go to school for the first four years because I was ill. My father was a minister, and he had a parishioner who gave our family old copies of National Geographic. And something clicked in my brain that I wanted to go to Mexico.” Yetman estimates he has now made over 300 treks to Latin American countries. Yetman’s family moved to Arizona when he was a teenager, and he became enamored with the ecology of the Sonoran Desert. While he was working on his Ph.D. in philosophy from the UA, he was also spending time with the Seri Indians off the Gulf of Mexico, “much to the despair of my adviser.” He then spent 20 years outside of academia, including time on the Pima County Board of Supervisors and as executive director of the Tucson Audubon Society. In 1992, Yetman joined the Southwest Center, and his research focuses on the state of Sonora, its indigenous people, their history, and how they have incorporated native resources into their lives.
When searching out stories for In the Americas, Duncan said they focus on places off the beaten path, places where tourists don’t normally venture. They ask the local people, “What would you like the world to know about this place?” They also come prepared to follow the story where it takes them. Yetman recalls their trip to Ecuador, where they discovered that Chinese oil companies are scouring the ancestral lands of Huaorani people for petroleum. Duncan and Yetman arrived in the middle of a conflict, which Yetman said became so severe “we were the last people staying in the lodge.” “We walked through the rain forest with the native people, and they showed us what the effect of the drilling is,” Yetman said. “That is what we try to do in the show,” Yetman said. “Show not tell.”
SUPPORTING THE SHOW In the Americas allows the Southwest Center to share the beauty and diversity of the Americas with people all over the world. The show is broadcast on over 100 PBS stations, with 92 percent market coverage across the United States, and is internationally distributed by Arte France in Europe. The show is also shown in schools and can be seen for free on http://intheamericas.org/. The show’s crew of two has completed 70 one-half hour episodes so far. They travel lightly, using a local sound expert as an audio engineer as well as local connections to minimize costs. Yetman and Duncan are seeking support to be able to finish season 8, including programs in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, the Atacama Desert in Chile, and the city of Manaus.
You can support In the Americas with David Yetman at: https://crowdfund.arizona.edu/project/9082
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
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A DONOR SOCIETY THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
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The Magellan Circle is a society of donors who contribute to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The money raised in the Magellan Circle supports the Dean’s Fund for Excellence and student scholarships. Over the years, Magellan Circle members’ generous donations have supported 608 students and funded many research projects and faculty awards! In 2017, Magellan Circle members were recognized at a reception in the historic Hacienda Del Sol courtyard, where they mingled, enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and explored interactive displays featuring an intriguing array of SBS projects.
“Donors, it is because of your generosity and selflessness that my fellow Magellan Circle scholars and I are able to truly thrive in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. We are involved in countless clubs and have futures graced with chances to better ourselves, our communities, and our world. We are academics, athletes, participants, critical thinkers, friends, and leaders. Thanks for the opportunities that you have each provided for your scholar.” —Hannah Isaac, Magellan Circle student speaker, majoring in English, creative writing, and French
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
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2018 MAGELLAN CIRCLE MEMBER HONOR ROLL CIRCUMNAVIGATORS (LIFETIME MEMBERS)
Jo Ann Ellison and Barbara Starrett (P)
Ken and Betsy Plevan
Rowene Aguirre-Medina and Roy Medina (P)
Deanna Evenchik
Melody Robidoux (P)
Betty Feinberg
Bob and Donna Altschul
Ken and Linda Robin (P)
Betty Fink
Phala and Cliff Andressen
Ron and Karen Rose
Amy and Cory Fowler
Jean Angle
Vivi and Adib Sabbagh (P)*
Bruce and Edythe Gissing (P)
Paul and Alice Baker *
John and Helen Schaefer (P)*
Mary Grier
Julie Behar
Sarah and David Smallhouse
Matt and Julie Harelson
Bob and Esther Berger
David and Noelle Soren
Peter Hayes
Tom and Olga Bever *
Raymond and Tina Spencer
Matt and Lindsay Hesketh
Betsy Bolding (P)
David and Andrea Stein (P)
Thomas and Sara Borin
Hervey Hotchkiss and Susan Parker-Hotchkiss (P)
Ronald and Diane Weintraub
Jana Bradley
Jim and Joanne Hunter
Lyn Brillo
Peter Johnson
Judy and Bernard Briskin
Simin Karimi
Laura and Archibald Brown (P)
Tom Keating (P)
Stephanie Denkowicz and Aydin Caginalp
Reenie Keating (P) Ken and Randy Kendrick
Louise Carroll (P)*
Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice
Ruth Kramer
James and Karen Carson
Arizona Friends of Tibet
Steve and Nancy Lynn (P)*
Beth Castro
Armin & Esther Hirsch Foundation
Barbara Martinsons
Garland and Carolyn Cox
Charles Koch Charitable Foundation
Margaret Maxwell
Ruth Cramer *
Cox Communications, Inc.
Fletcher and Elizabeth McCusker
Donald and Ashley Daley
David S. Greenberg Charitable Fund
Jon and Chloe McQueen
Donald Diamond
Democracy Fund, Inc.
Jim Meehan and Patricia White
Stephen and Ruth Dickstein (P)
Kristie Miller
Don Bennett Moon Foundation, Inc.
Jon and Karin Dinesman
Don Bennett Moon
Keith Dixon
David and Carol Nevins
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation
Sally Drachman Salvatore
Geoff and Kay Nixon
Fundación México
Ralph and Sally Duchin
William Owen Nugent
Gannett Foundation
Karl and Sandy Elers
Geertruida Oberman
Helios Education Foundation
Karl and Stevie Eller
John and Thea Patterson
H. W. Wilson Foundation, Inc.
The 2017-2018 Magellan Circle scholars.
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Ramki and Saroj Ramakrishnan
Bill and Colleen Weissman Duane and Linda Whitaker * Laurel Wilkening Mel and Enid Zuckerman FOUNDATIONS
James S. McDonnell Foundation
Richard and Bahar Delgado
Explorers
John Templeton Foundation
Bruce Dusenberry and Lynne Wood Dusenberry
Keith and Mara Aspinall
Judy & Bernard Briskin Charitable Foundation
Bill Friedman
Jim and Judy Brown
William Ganley
Garry Bryant
Knight Foundation
Pam Grissom *
Demion Clinco
Marshall Foundation
William Hanekamp
George and Marjorie Cunningham
Melody S. Robidoux Foundation DAF
Arthur and Lee Herbst Randall Rodman Holdridge
Dino DeConcini and Beth Murfee DeConcini
Omidyar Network Fund, Inc.
Michael Honkamp
Fred Frelinghuysen and Mary Voyatzis
Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute
Margaret M. Houghton *
Adel Gamal
Ruth McCormick Tankersley Charitable Trust
Peggy Johnson and Joe Tarver
John Hudak
John Paul Jones III *
George and Anna Kennedy
Bob and Marilyn Joyce
Jan Konstanty and Patricia Wallace
Mike and Beth Kasser
Carole and Todd Lundmark
Jack and Robin Lavin
Sallie Marston
Diana Liverman
Blake McCay
Philip and Carol Lyons
Margy McGonagill
Sandra Maxfield Benjamin Menges
John Olsen and Ovadan Amanova-Olsen *
Jeffrey Mora
Luis and Cecy Parra
Richard Oseran
Hank and Barbara Peck
Shana Oseran
Thomas Rike
Leo Roop *
Herschel and Jill Rosenzweig
PATRONS ($1,750 LEVEL)
Bob and Anne Segal
Peter Salomon and Patricia Morgan
Endowed Patron
Nick Soloway and Kay Ransdell
Curtis Scaife
The Late Lillian Fisher *
Jocelyn and James Stoller
Gulshan and Neelam Sethi
Patrons
Weegee and Scott Whiteford
John Teets
John and Laura Almquist
Ed and Keeley Wright *
Daniel and Susan Warmack
EXPLORERS( $1,000 LEVEL)
(P) - Also Patron member
Endowed Explorer
* - Founding member
Joseph and Mary Cacioppo Foundation
Southwestern Foundation Stranahan Foundation The Israel Institute, Inc. The Shanty Cafe, Inc. Thomas R. Brown Family Foundation Thomas W. Smith Foundation Tucson Medical Center Vital Projects Fund W.K. Kellogg Foundation William & Flora Hewlett Foundation Yetadel Foundation
Melany Wynn Berger Al and Susan Bergesen Steven Brown Elise Collins Shields and Creston Shields Benjamin Menges with his Magellan Circle scholars.
Dennis and Sherrill Bambauer
Jan Lesher
Jo Ann Ellison and Barbara Starrett with their scholars.
Reenie and Tom Keating with their scholars.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
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MAGELLAN CIRCLE EXCURSIONS Mexico This past fall, Magellan Circle travelers went to Mexico City. Oliver Fröhling, director of the UA’s Arizona in Oaxaca Study Abroad Program and affiliated professor in the School of Geography and Development, led the exploration of this historic and vibrant city. The travelers enjoyed culinary and architecture tours, explored cathedrals and museums, and visited the Pyramids of Teotihuacán.
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BOARD PROFILE:
MATHEW RABIN
soldiers and veterans. He joined the California State Military Reserve nine years ago and currently meets with U.S. Army soldiers prior to deployment about estate planning and other legal issues. He also serves on the board of directors for the Veterans Legal Institute, a nonprofit providing pro bono legal services for homeless and low-income veterans. “Many of them lose their way after they return,” Rabin said. “They have legal issues but don’t know where to turn.” Outside of the legal arena, Rabin also volunteers with local arts organizations – inspired by his 12-year-old daughter, Charlotte. The seventh grader spends most of her free time sketching and is also interested in technology and coding. To help fuel her passions, Rabin joined the board of
“It’s great to meet other people who are passionate about the UA.” —Mathew Rabin Mathew Rabin
Mathew Rabin has one of the longest commutes of SBS advisory board members. He travels about 495 miles to attend board meetings on the UA campus from his home in Long Beach, Calif. Rabin joined the advisory board in late 2016 because of his love for the University of Arizona and his close connections with the communication department. He graduated with a B.A. in communication in 1994 and credits his studies at the UA for providing a solid foundation to his later legal career. “It really gave me a head start on some of my classmates in law school who focused on more technical things but didn’t have the background for expressing their ideas and arguing their positions,” Rabin said. Since graduating from Loyola Law School, Rabin has focused on corporate law, helping negotiate and structure contracts and other transactions. Many of his clients at Fortis LLP – where Rabin has been a partner since 2016 – are in the entertainment and technology industries. These days, Rabin said, he’s negotiating more deals with digital media producers like Netflix and YouTube Red than with traditional television networks and film studios. Rabin also uses his legal expertise to provide advice for
trustees for the Long Beach Museum of Art. He also serves on the board of directors for the Long Beach Art Exchange, a community arts center. Rabin is excited at the idea of Charlotte becoming a future Wildcat, but for now he and his wife, Jennifer, are concentrating on getting her into a high school dedicated to the arts. “As long as she doesn’t go to ASU I’ll be happy,” Rabin said with a laugh. In the meantime, Rabin is glad to be visiting Tucson through the advisory board. He’s enjoyed seeing the changes made to campus and the downtown area and also for the opportunity to network with other board members. “It’s great to meet other people who are passionate about the UA,” Rabin said. “It’s been a continuation of the learning experience.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
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A HOUSE OF LEARNING
by Kimi Eisele
Thanks to a grant from ArtPlace America, the Raúl H. and Patricia M. Castro Border Studies and Outreach Center will house the project VozFrontera, which will help develop youth leadership through creativity and art. On a steep hillside in Nogales, Ariz., sits a century-old stone house. Green foliage and ivy shade the front porch, but the back offers a clear view into Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, on the other side of the border wall several hundred yards away. Once the residence of Arizona’s first Latino governor, Raúl Castro, and his wife, Pat, the house is quiet these days. But it will soon be a hub of activity, a place where young people learn to document Nogales’ stories and traditions, where artists and scholars engage the community, and where young leaders and entrepreneurs incubate their ideas. A new project, VozFrontera, is the vision of the Southwest Folklife Alliance (SFA), an affiliate nonprofit organization of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and several cultural leaders, artists, and community organizers. In December, SFA received a $350,000 National Creative Placemaking grant from ArtPlace America, a nationwide initiative supporting projects that place arts and culture at the center of community planning and development, to make VozFrontera a reality. The grant will support two years of programming. The ArtPlace grant will also provide funds for the remodel of the Castro House, which was donated to SBS by the Castro family in 2015, who envisioned it as a place for extended student exchange and learning, said Ginny Healy, SBS senior director of development. “The Castros wanted to make sure students had a place to meet, review research, and collaborate with each other and with students on the other side of the border. They
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thought their home could provide that,” Healy said. The first gift for the Castro House renovation came from the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice. In addition to housing VozFrontera, the Castro House will bring people together for collaborative research, outreach programs, and lectures. Plans include meeting rooms, a technology lab, and a resource center where students and community members can access UA library systems, Healy said. Programs will build on SBS’s current offerings in the community, which include courses in anthropology, Latin American studies, Mexican American studies, and journalism. “With the ArtPlace funding in the community of Nogales, we can now say this is really happening. The University of Arizona is really going to have a presence in the community. There’s a renewed energy there and a sense of pride. It’s made it real,” Healy said.
ANIMATING COMMUNITY AND CULTURE SFA is perhaps best known in the region for its production of the annual folklife festival Tucson Meet Yourself, now in its 45th year. The organization also works year-round to celebrate and promote heritage, traditional arts, and folklife practices in the region through festivals, artist support, and cultural community development. Community relationships have long been a critical component of the organization’s work, said Maribel Alvarez, executive director of SFA and the Jim Griffith Public Folklore Chair at the UA Southwest Center.
Celeste González de Bustamante, an associate professor in the School of Journalism, said the youth center would not only extend educational opportunities to younger populations, but also create mentoring opportunities for UA students. UA journalism students working on the border.
“We’ve discovered after many years of producing a festival that we have an incredible amount of knowledge and how-to practical approach in activating community assets with authenticity, thoughtfulness, and efficacy,” said Alvarez, also an associate professor in the School of Anthropology. “Events come and go, but it’s the continuity of relationships that allows for economic development and heritage preservation,” she said. “In Nogales, knowing that the Castro House had been gifted, we knew that SFA could animate a space with programs and add value to both the community and the university.”
AMPLIFYING YOUTH VOICES The idea for VozFrontera came from conversations with cultural leaders in Nogales through a rapid qualitative assessment SFA conducted to identify community needs, Alvarez said. The study found that while Nogales is home to a large-scale produce industry – which provides much of the country with winter vegetables – economic opportunities beyond produce and law enforcement are limited. Often young people leave after high school, seeking education and work elsewhere. But young entrepreneurs like Stephanie Bermudez, who was interviewed for the study, are working to change that. “I kept trying to find elsewhere what I had [in Nogales]. The kind of people here are really special. There are young people and old people here. But the middle, they’re gone. So I began to come back. And I’m asking, How can we inform young people who’ve left to come back and make something that’s theirs?” Bermudez said. Bermudez and others spoke about the sense of pride in Nogales, a close-knit community with a rich cultural history and a long-standing relationship with Nogales, Sonora. (The two communities are often called Ambos Nogales, or Both Nogales.) SFA’s vision is to involve young people in galvanizing that pride, helping the community see its own assets, and in turn, create new economic opportunities for those youth. Gustavo Aranda, a high school music teacher in Nogales
also interviewed for SFA’s assessment, said youth programs are desperately needed. “Nogales doesn’t have neighborhood centers where kids can learn from role models. Kids don’t have options to go anywhere other than school. If there’s a place where art is brought to kids and adults, it’s going to change the city in great ways,” Aranda said. Celeste González de Bustamante, an associate professor in the School of Journalism, takes her students often to the border town for reporting experiences. “My students will benefit greatly by being able to work directly with young members of the community. And, undergraduates and graduate students will be able to give back to the community through mentoring efforts,” González de Bustamante said.
HONORING BORDER HERITAGE Alvarez credits local community members like Bermudez and Aranda as well as existing SBS learning programs for setting the stage for a project like VozFrontera. “There is no better time for this investment in Nogales’ youth and young adults than now,” she said. “I am certain our application to ArtPlace would have never moved forward had it not had the authenticity of energy and ‘buenas ganas’ of the visionary people on the ground in Nogales. Their work, which precedes our involvement by many years, gave us the credibility to propose a new investment in culture and education,” Alvarez said. Partner organizations for the project include Nogales Community Development Corporation, StartUp Unidos, SEEDS/Semillas, Inc., and the Nogales Farmers’ Market. Javier Torres, director of national grantmaking at ArtPlace, acknowledged the combination of strong leadership and community passion in making the VozFrontera proposal successful. “This project harnesses Dr. Maribel Alvarez’s decades of community-based experience and scholarly work alongside the rich human and physical assets of Nogales to increase economic opportunity for the youth in this historic border community,” Torres said.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
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COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Debi Chess Mabie in a classroom at the Dunbar Pavilion. Photo by Ron Medvescek/Arizona Daily Star.
COMMUNITY IMPACT FELLOW TO ANIMATE TUCSON’S DUNBAR PAVILION On a Friday morning, the Dunbar Pavilion – commonly known as the Dunbar School – sits quiet except for the lively Dunbar Barber Academy, which operates out of a second-floor room that housed a home economics class some 40 years earlier. The hallways of the building have signs and photos that reflect the building’s history as the first and only segregated school in Tucson. Some of the classrooms look shiny and new, ready to welcome inhabitants. Others are worn, with chipped paint and exposed ceilings. There is work to be done here, work to complete the renovation of the space and to fill the rooms with a vibrancy that honors the building’s history and help further shape the story of the African American experience in Tucson. Debi Chess Mabie has been hired by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Dunbar Coalition to do that work. Mabie looks focused and determined. She left her job as executive director of the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona to become the college’s first Community Impact Fellow, which is affiliated with the Southwest Folklife Alliance and co-funded by the College of SBS and the Dunbar Coalition for a two-year commitment. The Dunbar
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Coalition is the governing body of the Dunbar Pavilion and includes representatives from Dunbar alumni, the Tucson Urban League, the Juneteenth Festival committee, and the Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood Association. Mabie’s task is to help lead the Dunbar Pavilion: An African American Arts and Culture Center – located on 325 W. 2nd Street – into its next 100 years of cultural significance. “Dunbar is one of the last remaining physical representations of the African American community here in Tucson,” Mabie said. “What we are doing will not only support and promote the accomplishments of African Americans, but create opportunities to reverse the effects of segregation in this community.” “Debi is the ideal person to make this grand experiment work,” said Monica J. Casper, associate dean for faculty affairs and inclusion for the College of SBS. “She has strong roots in the community, is a skilled administrator, is deeply committed to African American advancement, and understands the value of leveraging UA’s resources for good. She has already hit the ground running, and we anticipate great outcomes.” Casper said she developed the idea of a Community Impact Fellow to deepen the college’s connections to the community. “The Fellow is the connective tissue, aligning our land-grant mission with the work of a partner organization.”
DOWNTOWN SERIES If you missed any of our fall Downtown Series on “Truth and Trust in the Global Scene,” you can watch the videos on sbsdowntown.arizona.edu. Titles of the conversations were: “The Future of Elections: Who and What Can We Trust?,” “Redefining Journalism in the Post-Truth Era,” and “What the News Doesn’t Tell You About Rising Global Conflict.” A big thank you to our series sponsors: Tucson Medical Center, Arizona Public Media, Arizona Daily Star, UA Office of Global Initiatives, Steve and Nancy Lynn, Ken and Linda Robin, Jo Ann Ellison and Barbara Starrett, Adib and Vivi Sabbagh, and Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails. We are currently exploring ideas for our fall 2018 series. Stay tuned!
SBS COMMUNITY CLASSROOM With our new SBS Community Classroom, you can dive into the social sciences and humanities, or learn new professional skills. Building on the success of our Downtown Series, this quality education series brings renowned UA professors together with life-long learners and professionals in the Tucson community. Our premiere offering for spring 2018 was the “What is Politics?” class with UA Professors Noam Chomsky and Marv Waterstone. Visit our website communityclassroom.arizona.edu to sign up to receive updates on future classes!
WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT This past fall – thanks to the initiative, planning, and financial contributions of local activists – the college helped shine a spotlight on the issue of women’s empowerment and human rights by hosting a series of events. A special thanks goes to Magellan Circle member Neelam Sethi for her tireless efforts on this project! Through a play, a documentary, and a series of workshops, the organizers raised awareness about critical human rights issues affecting large numbers of women and girls around the globe. Sponsors included the UA Human Rights Practice Program; the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Neelam and Gulshan Sethi; Myriam and Dominic Ortega; JoAnna and Bill Westcott; and Elise Collins Shields and Creston Shields. Additional sponsors included the Tucson Medical Center, YWCA, UA Center for Documentary, The Loft Cinema, the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry, and Split Seed Productions. Dipti Mehta performed her one-woman play, Honour: Confessions of a Mumbai Courtesan, which raised awareness about the social stigma that exists around sex workers.
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DISCOVERIES AROUND THE WORLD
SBS is a campus leader in global research, teaching, and collaboration. Our Title VI-funded Center for Latin American Studies and Center for Middle Eastern Studies are flagship hubs for international and comparative research and outreach. Many of our academic units focus on global/international concerns, and nearly half of our faculty (188 in total) work across international borders on a diverse array of issues, including global health, migration, human rights, language preservation, and environmental change.
WE ARE THE PEOPLE COLLEGE, AND WE ARE GLOBAL. Below is a small sample of our international reach:
BRAZIL
IRAQ
Antonio José Bacelar da Silva (Latin American Studies) has conducted ethnographic research on the impact of electoral campaigning with a race appeal on Afro-Brazilian voters in Brazil.
Maggy Zanger (Journalism) conducted research on the impact of violence, economic crisis, and the expansion of extremist religious ideology on Iraq’s Kurdish journalists.
CHINA Fabio Lanza (History) studies the history of 20th-century China, with a focus on political activism and urban space.
GREECE David Gilman Romano and Mary Voyatzis (Anthropology) are co-directors of the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project in Greece.
GUATEMALA Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan (Anthropology) study Maya civilization through excavations in Aguateca and Ceibal, Guatemala.
INDIA Sapana Doshi (Geography and Development) is researching the politics of global city redevelopment, eviction, and resettlement in Mumbai, India.
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ITALY Megan Carney (Anthropology) is conducting an ethnography of local responses to the “migration crisis” in Sicily.
MEXICO Maurice Rafael Magaña (Mexican American Studies) focuses on the cultural politics of youth organizing, transnational migration, urban space, and social movements in Mexico.
NIGER Bill Simmons (Gender and Women’s Studies, Human Rights Practice Program) is working on human rights with persons affected by leprosy in Niger.
NORWAY Suzanne Dovi (Government and Public Policy) has studied democracy and the representation of women in Norway.
RUSSIA Jane Zavisca (Sociology) studies housing, property rights, stratification, and politics in the post-Soviet region.
SYRIA Leila Hudson (Middle Eastern and North African Studies) studies Islam, the rise of extremism, and the Syrian refugee crisis.
TURKEY Brian Silverstein (Anthropology) studies technopolitics and institutional reform in Turkey.
UNITED STATES Ofelia Zepeda (Linguistics) works on the preservation of her native Tohono O’odham language and other American indigenous languages. UA excavations in Greece.
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PERSPECTIVES Life Lessons from our Students and Alumni
Ana Ma
I have three pieces of advice for graduates and alumni: persevere, be prepared, and pair off. First, a story about perseverance. When people meet me for the first time, they’re always a little confused. They see that I’m Chinese-American, but I’ve got a tan and speak Spanish. I explain how my family immigrated to Mexico from China before coming to the United States. Given their drive to make a better life for their children, you can understand how perseverance is truly part of my family’s DNA. My dad had just a 6th grade education when he immigrated to the Americas as a teenager. He grew up learning the family business, which was running Chinese restaurants in Mexico, and then here in Arizona.
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A Tucson native, Ana M. Ma graduated with a political science degree from the University of Arizona and used her education to launch a career as an adviser on national policy and political strategy. Currently Ma is a partner at Nexxus Consulting, an Arizona government relations firm. She previously served as the chief of staff and chief operating officer for Human Rights Campaign. She helped guide the organization through major milestones, including the groundbreaking 2015 Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage a national right. Ma has also served as chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Labor and at the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 2013, Ma was named by National Journal as one of the top 250 decision makers in the Obama administration. She was also senior counsel and chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva. The College of SBS was proud to have Ma as the 2017 winter convocation speaker, where she gave the speech below. Although her words were designed for our newly minted graduates, they apply to everyone trying to achieve their goals. (Text slightly edited for space and audience.)
I watched my father closely as I grew up. One of the most vivid memories for me is when my dad came home with the front page of the newspaper. Above the fold, in the center, was a picture of my dad’s restaurant and the word “fire.” The overnight grease fire destroyed a whole section of the restaurant – and all its contents. My dad could have given up. He could have managed someone else’s restaurant. Or he could have done something else, but the drive and hunger of being his own boss led him to rebuild on the site. He reopened the restaurant as soon as it was safe to do so, and he invested all his resources to expand, modernize, and add on more space. He ended up with a better space to
hold almost 1,000 customers, and it became the premier space for special occasions for many folks. Sometimes you will hit hard times. You may lose a business, a job, a house. It may feel like the end, but in every crisis, there is opportunity. You pick up the pieces and persevere, move forward, and learn from the past. The second piece of advice I have is “be prepared.” Another story. During the presidential election in 2000, Bill Clinton was terming out as president, so Al Gore, his vice president, was campaigning to be his successor. Before the election, many of us had decided to leave our federal positions working in the Clinton Administration and join the campaign, thinking that Vice President Gore would win. I left to work on the campaign, too, thinking that when he won I would come back to D.C. and pick up where I left off. Fast forward to December of 2000, and George Bush was declared the winner. Needless to say, I, along with my friends and colleagues, had to do several things: 1) figure out what to do next in our careers; 2) continue our work to ensure a smooth transition in leadership of our country; and 3) deal with the many anger and disillusionment issues that come from a loss. All of us eventually found our footing in terms of employment – either by leaving Washington D.C.; working within the movement; or shifting to work in public policy and think tanks. Working on political campaigns is always a gamble – you can be either on the winning or losing side and you have to be prepared for the outcome you don’t expect.
“Good mentors can open doors for you and change the direction of your life for the better.”
Ana Ma (center) was the 2017 SBS winter convocation speaker. Here she is seated with Associate Dean Amy Kimme Hea and Dean John Paul Jones III.
During the Obama Administration, I had the privilege of serving two incredible women as their chief of staff (which is equivalent to a chief operating officer). They were my mentors. In Washington, there is a saying – “it’s who you know, not what you know.” Of course, I always adjust this saying to: “It’s not only what you know, but who you know” that moves D.C. This saying definitely applies to mentorship. Good mentors can open doors for you and change the direction of your life for the better. When I talk about seeking mentors in your field, this is where folks that invested their time and energy in you become your biggest advocates. I am fortunate to have mentors – who not only had faith in me, but who continue to provide blunt advice and guidance to me and many others. I need that, and their help has guided me to success not just once, but several times throughout my personal and professional life. And when you make it, you have the obligation to become a mentor to others. The road ahead is not a walk in the park, but it’s a wonderful ride – persevere, be prepared, and pair off with a good mentor or two. If you do those three things, I am confident that you will find the path that fulfills you.
Here’s the good news: a degree from this institution is the foundation for helping you be prepared. The knowledge you’ve gained in the classroom – along with the interpersonal skills you have honed by being involved on campus and in this community – all of these things are helping you be prepared for whatever road bumps might lie ahead. My third piece of advice is “pair off.” What do I mean by pair off? Of course, I don’t mean to find a life partner or spouse, although now that I am married with a kid I can say with some authority that it does truly make the highs even higher and the lows much more bearable. What I mean by pair off is to find someone who cares about your success – a mentor.
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S OUND “We need to credit federal agencies for the success they have had and refrain from Washington-based dictates that endanger those successes. Current laws have fostered robust interagency cooperation, making the U.S.-Mexico border safer than it has been in a decade and protecting its natural and scenic resources.” —Elizabeth Baldwin and Kirk Emerson. School of Government and Public Policy “Border security vs. environmental protection? It’s a false choice”
“I think any conversation about Confederate monuments needs to weigh the intentions of their creators heavily, particularly because the statues themselves convey those intentions with their designs and inscriptions.” —Katie Hemphill, Department of History “Four questions: UA historians on the power of monuments” UANews, Aug. 28, 2017
“This generation of the middle class has been raised their whole life, even as children, to be thinking about accumulating experiences as an investment in the future.”
“Often for men, showing affection is more about what they do than what they say. Their ways of communicating love can be subtle. And while to outside observers they may seem like weak substitutes for genuine affection, to many fathers and sons they’re every bit as meaningful as words, kisses and hugs.”
—Jane Zavisca, School of Sociology
—Kory Floyd, Department of Communication
“Why middle-class millennials are taking out hefty loans to travel the world”
“The understated affection of fathers”
Houston Chronicle, Aug. 5, 2017
MarketWatch, Aug. 23, 2017
The Conversation, June 12, 2017
“It is time for us to halt the instinct to question the motives of those with whom we disagree and take the time to stop and listen. This is the only way to live up to the values upon which our nation was founded.”
“My fieldwork shows that law-abiding men of color are ... more likely to be harassed simply for choosing to carry a gun. They must navigate the widespread presumptions that they are criminals and that their guns are illegally possessed or carried.”
—Carolyn Lukensmeyer, National Institute for Civil Discourse
— Jennifer Carlson, School of Sociology
“When we politicize everything, we only widen our nation’s divide” The Hill, Aug. 23, 2017
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“Do African Americans have a right to bear arms?” The Atlantic, June 21, 2017
BITES “Research has shown that because of cultural beliefs and expectations, girls tend to be drawn to fields and careers where there is a clear link to helping people or making the world a better place. This helps explain why medical-related STEM careers have greater female participation.” —Jill Williams, Southwest Institute for Research on Women “Teen girls’ interest in STEM careers continues to lag boys’ interest” Arizona Daily Star, July 4, 2017
“The growing salience of authoritarianism in American politics is likely to resonate in many ways – directly shaping attitudes, increasingly cleaving the parties, and ultimately shaping how politicians communicate to a divided American public.” —Christopher Weber, School of Government and Public Policy “How authoritarianism is shaping American politics (and it’s not just about Trump)” Washington Post, May 10, 2017
“The best thing that’s happened for journalism is the Trump presidency. It’s OK to criticize the media, a lot of it’s well founded, but what he’s doing takes it to a whole different level. Rhetoric that, frankly, dictators use to rise to power; that’s something we don’t need in this country, dictators.” —David Cuillier, School of Journalism “Fake news is changing the news media landscape” The Daily Wildcat, April 11, 2017
“The plan would keep detained immigrant adults in federal detention, while sending their children to Health and Human Services shelters, potentially hundreds of miles away. Many words come to mind to describe this plan: unconscionable, heartless, and inhuman. It would also be ineffectual and counterproductive.” —Elizabeth Oglesby, School of Geography and Development, Center for Latin American Studies “Taking away their children won’t stop Central American border crossers” The Hill, Jan. 2, 2018
“Over 60 percent of Republican women say “feminist” describes them “not very well” or “not at all.” The Democrats are not likely to win over any Republican women based on their rejection of Franken and sexual harassment. This does not appear to be as much of a priority for Republican voters.” —Samara Klar, School of Government and Public Policy “The politics of #HimToo”
“When people received more posts about exercise, it made them more concerned about their weight – more self-conscious – and that’s not a good thing.” —Stephen Rains, Department of Communication “Scrolling through gym-selfies could be harmful to your self-esteem” Men’s Health, Feb. 25, 2018
The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2017
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THE BUZZ News & Notes RETURNING THE NARRATIVE TO NATIVE COMMUNITIES A UA team was awarded a $291,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant to repurpose mid-century educational films about Native peoples of the Southwest. English Professor Jennifer Jenkins and American Indian Studies Associate Professor Amy Fatzinger will lead a team in recording narratives from tribal members, which will be added to 60 films. The project is based on the American Indian Film Gallery, a collection of films that Jenkins brought to the UA in 2011.
UNDERSTANDING OUR CANINE FRIENDS Anthropologist Evan MacLean is leading cutting-edge research at the UA’s new Canine Cognition Center, which studies the behaviors and thought processes of dogs. MacLean recently found that dogs and 2-year-old children are more similar than toddlers and chimpanzees when it comes to cooperative communication skills. He also examined the role of the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin on dog aggression. By studying dogs and domestication, we can learn about human evolution.
UA Canine Cognition Center
THE POTENTIAL OF AGRIVOLTAICS Greg Barron-Gafford, an associate professor in the School of Geography and Development, is experimenting with agrivoltaics, which involves growing plants beneath solar panels. The pairing cools down the solar panels, allowing them to retain their efficiency. In return, the solar panels shade the plants, reducing water evaporation. This novel form of agriculture has shown promising results at Biosphere 2 and at local schools through the UA Community and School Garden Program.
Students and teachers meet with Greg Barron-Gafford to study how growing food crops under solar panels can make for a more sustainable system.
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FACIAL FEMINIZATION SURGERY AND TRANSMEDICINE In his new book, titled The Look of a Woman: Facial Feminization Surgery and the Aims of Trans- Medicine, medical anthropologist Eric Plemons explores how changing ideas about sex, gender, and transgender are shaping the practice of trans- medicine in the United States. As part of his research, Plemons spent a year observing the practices of two surgeons and conducted in-depth interviews with patients. The book received the 2017 Ruth Benedict Prize in the category of Outstanding Single-Authored Monograph from the Association for Queer Anthropology. Eric Plemons. Photo by Anna Augustowska.
HUMANIZING, HARMONIZING EFFECTS OF MUSIC Could the sharing of music help ease interpersonal relations between people from different backgrounds, such as Americans and Arabs? To explore the issue, Communication Professor Jake Harwood collaborated with his graduate students and other researchers on a number of studies, finding that music is not merely a universal language. He found that listening to music from other cultures furthers one’s pro-diversity beliefs and appears to produce a humanizing effect for members of groups experiencing social and political opposition.
RESEARCH ACCOLADES
Alison Deming at the Regents’ ceremony. Photo by John de Dios.
English Professor Alison Deming was named a Regents’ Professor – the top honor given to faculty for research accomplishments – for her illustrious career as a writer of five books of poetry and four books of nonfiction, work that bridges the world of art and science. Two SBS faculty also received Guggenheim Fellowships this year. Historian Julia Clancy-Smith will use her fellowship to complete the monograph From Household to Schoolroom: Women, Gender and Education in North Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean, c. 1900-present. Professor Ander Monson, who directs the MFA creative writing program, will work on a book of essays on the movie Predator as a filter for exploring American gun violence, masculinity, and homoeroticism.
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THE BUZZ News & Notes THE AMERICAN GUN DEBATE Organized by UA sociologist Jennifer Carlson, the UA hosted a symposium on gun studies this past fall that drew national experts to discuss gun politics, gun culture, and gun violence. Carlson examines American gun culture, policing, and public law enforcement. Her 2015 book is titled Citizen-Protectors: The Everyday Politics of Guns in an Age of Decline. Carlson is currently researching gun law enforcement in Arizona, California, and Michigan through interviews with police chiefs and observation of gun licensing procedures.
THE IMPACT OF REFUGEES Alex Braithwaite and Faten Ghosn, both associate professors in the School of Government and Public Policy, launched the research project, “Refugee Flows and Instability,” which is supported by a nearly $1.4 million Minerva Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, to study the mass displacement of people from conflicts since 1990. Specifically, the scholars will investigate why people move, the routes they take, where they eventually settle, and what impact their movement has on host communities and countries.
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE CONSORTIUM Recent headlines and the #MeToo phenomenon have made it clear that gender-based violence remains an important issue. With leadership from SBS Associate Dean Monica J. Casper, the UA created a Consortium on Gender-Based Violence, which serves as a hub of innovative research, education, outreach, and service for the UA and the community. The consortium will be the first of its kind on any U.S. campus and will leverage campus strengths and expertise for social and institutional change. The consortium presented the UA’s first conference on gender-based violence this past fall.
The keynote address at the first conference on gender-based violence was given by Brooke Axtell, a writer, speaker, performing artist, and activist.
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SWEET SUCCESS Students in the School of Information course “ISTA 303 Creative Coding” were able to showcase their gadgetdesign and computer-programming skills in a friendly candy-sorting competition with biomedical engineering students. The challenge: accurately sort, by color, the largest number of Skittles in the least amount of time. In last spring’s course, first- and second-place honors went to iSchool teams.
Photo by Jenna Rutschman
CLIMATE ALLIANCE MAPPING PROJECT Led by Tracey Osborne, an assistant professor in the School of Geography and Development, and Jamie Lee, an assistant professor in the School of Information, the Climate Alliance Mapping Project, or CAMP, is an interactive digital story map that combines data and crowdsourced digital stories around the theme of climate justice. Launched this past fall, CAMP aims to educate the public, connect local communities with global activist networks, and inform policy decisions.
CREATING A ZOO DOCUMENTARY This fall, students in Journalism Professor Carol Schwalbe’s science journalism class decided to make A Modern Zoo, a 15-minute film that uses Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo to illustrate how animal welfare, conservation, and education all converge in modern-day zoos. The class also produced a magazine on wildlife conservation at Reid Park Zoo, a website, and a series of multimedia projects.
Photo by John de Dios
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How To Give Donating to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is making an investment in the future. Our goal is to match every potential donor with an area in SBS that speaks to their passion! You can make a donation online at: http://uafoundation.org/give/sbs if you prefer to send a check: Please make your check payable to “The UA Foundation/College of SBS� and designate a specific endowment, program, or unit in the memo section. Mail the check to: UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Attn: Development Office Douglass 200W PO Box 210028 Tucson, AZ 85721-0028 You can also contact Ginny Healy, the SBS senior director of development, at 520-621-3938 or ghealy@email.arizona.edu Thank you for your support!
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Department of American Indian Studies Benedict Colombi bcolombi@email.arizona.edu 520-621-7108 http://www.ais.arizona.edu
Arizona Center for Judaic Studies J. Edward Wright edwright@email.arizona.edu 520-626-5758 http://judaic.arizona.edu
School of Sociology Albert Bergesen albert@email.arizona.edu 520-621-3531 http://sociology.arizona.edu
School of Anthropology Diane Austin daustin@email.arizona.edu 520-621-2585 http://anthropology.arizona.edu
Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies Ute Lotz-Heumann ulotzh@email.arizona.edu 520-621-1284 http://dlmrs.arizona.edu
The Southwest Center Joseph Wilder jwilder@email.arizona.edu 520-621-2484 http://swc.arizona.edu
Department of Communication Jake Harwood jhawood@email.arizona.edu 520-621-1366 http://comm.arizona.edu
Center for Latin American Studies Marcela Vásquez-León mvasquez@email.arizona.edu 520-626-7242 http://las.arizona.edu
Department of English Leerom Medovoi medovoi@email.arizona.edu 520-621-1836 http://english.arizona.edu
Department of Linguistics Natasha Warner nwarner@email.arizona.edu 520-621-6897 http://linguistics.arizona.edu
Department of Gender and Women’s Studies Jennifer Croissant jlc@email.arizona.edu 520-621-7338 http://gws.arizona.edu
Department of Mexican American Studies Anna Ochoa O’Leary olearya@email.arizona.edu 520-621-7551 http://mas.arizona.edu
School of Geography and Development Lynn Staeheli lstaeheli@email.arizona.edu 520-621-5096 http://geography.arizona.edu
Center for Middle Eastern Studies Anne Betteridge anneb@email.arizona.edu 520-621-5450 http://cmes.arizona.edu
School of Government and Public Policy Brint Milward milward@email.arizona.edu 520-621-7600 http://sgpp.arizona.edu
School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies Benjamin Fortna bcfortna@email.arizona.edu 520-626-9562 http://menas.arizona.edu
Department of History Alison Futrell afutrell@email.arizona.edu 520-621-1586 http://history.arizona.edu
Department of Philosophy Michael Gill gillm@email.arizona.edu 520-621-5045 http://philosophy.arizona.edu
School of Information Bryan Heidorn heidorn@email.arizona.edu 520-621-3565 http://ischool.arizona.edu
Department of Political Economy and Moral Science David Schmidtz schmidtz@email.arizona.edu 520-621-3129 https://moralscience.arizona.edu
School of Journalism David Cuillier cuillier@email.arizona.edu 520-626-9694 http://journalism.arizona.edu
SBS Research Institute Beth Stahmer estahmer@email.arizona.edu 520-621-1135 http://sbsri.sbs.arizona.edu
Southwest Institute for Research on Women Josephine Korchmaros jkorch@email.arizona.edu 520-621-3330 http://sirow.arizona.edu
Advisory Board 2018 Steve Lynn, Chair John Paul Jones III, Dean Rowene Aguirre-Medina Melany Wynn Berger Kim Bourn Sheri Bracamonte Garry Bryant Elise Collins Shields Stephanie Healy Margaret M. Houghton John Hudak Augustine B. Jimenez III Peggy Johnson George A. Kennedy Jan Konstanty Janet Lesher Margaret McGonagill Alberto Moore William Owen Nugent Richard Oseran Shana Oseran Luis Fernando Parra Matt Rabin Kenneth Robin Linda Robin Entisar Sabbagh Lynne Wood Dusenberry J. Edward Wright Honorary Board Members Betsy Bolding Michael A. Chihak Richard Duffield Gerald Geise Patty Weiss Gelenberg Selma Paul Marks Francie Merryman John W. Olsen Anthony Vuturo
P.O. Box 210028 Tucson, AZ 85721-0028
NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID TUCSON, ARIZONA PERMIT NO. 190
