DE VE LO P M E N TS THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Summer 2021
WELCOME FROM THE DEAN Welcome to the inaugural issue of our Developments newsletter. The newsletter will be published quarterly and replaces the annual Developments magazine. We made the switch to bring you more regular content about the ways in which our donors’ generosity makes a tangible difference in the lives of our students and helps us fulfill our research and outreach missions. A special thanks to the donors featured in this issue – Nan Schubel, Amanda and Matthew Kaufmann, and Paula and Peter Fasseas – for estate and endowed gifts that ensure our students, faculty, and programs thrive in the future. I hope you all have a wonderful summer, filled with face-to-face time with family and friends. - John Paul Jones III, Don Bennett Moon Dean
Magellan Circle Student Spotlight Phoenix Eskridge-Aldama
Phoenix Eskridge-Aldama is graduating with a 4.0 GPA in environmental studies this spring and was the recipient of the SBS Student Success Award, which is given to a graduating senior who is a first-generation college student. Phoenix grew up in a low-income home with a single parent. She
financially supports herself and works at the Thrive Center as a peer mentor for other first-generation students. Phoenix was the energy and climate committee co-chair with Students for Sustainability. She worked with faculty on research projects, including evaluating quality of life for residents of manufactured housing in Tucson. Her honors thesis was on evaluating the effectiveness of signage in reducing recycling contamination. In August, she will begin her graduate career in environmental sciences and policy at NAU. Phoenix is grateful for the support of her Magellan Circle patrons: “Thank you to Ken and Linda Robin for your donation. I appreciate your help and support and for providing me with the stability to succeed.”
A 40-YEAR LIBRARY CAREER: LOOKING BACK, GIVING FORWARD
As the Library and Information Science Program celebrates its 50th anniversary, it finds a stalwart supporter in Nan Schubel, an alumna from its first graduating class. Catherine Brooks and Nan Schubel. Photo by Gail Godbey.
After graduating from the University of Arizona with her bachelor’s degree, Nan Schubel followed her husband to Riverside, Calif., and taught 8th grade English. When the couple divorced, she felt stuck, without family or many friends. A phone call from UArizona professor Elinor Saltus, who was heading up the university’s new library school, would change the course of Nan’s life. “Elinor said, ‘Why don’t you come and be my assistant and get a master’s in library science? Come home,’” Nan recalled. “I had worked at the education library during college and enjoyed it. So I said ‘yes.’” In 1971, Nan was part of the first graduating class of the graduate program for librarians, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The program is now an M.A. Library and Information Science Program in the School of Information. One of the things Nan remembers most about her time in the program was how close the students and professors were, a feature she hopes that current students still enjoy. “We were a tight-knit group. We laughed a lot.” Saltus – who Nan calls “brilliant and kind” – offered career advice along with instructions on how to catalog. “She told us, ‘If you take a job as a cataloger, and they tell you to type the cards, then you finish your contract and leave,’” Nan said. “She said it wasn’t our job to type.” Nan also recalls “the wonderful” Don Dickinson, who
took over the reins of the library school from Saltus. “At my going-away party, he presented me with a coping saw thinking I would need something to help me cope with New York City,” Nan said. “I still have it.”
A REWARDING PROFESSION
Nan took a train to New York City after graduation – without a job lined up – because she had two friends there. She promptly found a position at the Bronx Library, part of the New York Public Library. Then, like now, the library was about more than books, serving as a community center that offered job hunting help and hosted language classes. She worked at various branches of the NYPL over four years, including one in Manhattan across from the Museum of Modern Art, where she would spend her lunch break. Nan worked with teens and adults in reference services. “You never knew what questions you would get. It was interesting.” Nan’s next job was with Scholastic Magazines. The company’s leaders wanted to establish an education library as they pursued moving into the basal textbook field, which they later abandoned. “They didn’t fire me. They were just letting me sit there twiddling my thumbs. I was creating crossword puzzles for science and history magazines. It was kind of silly, so I went looking again,” Nan said.
“I THINK THERE WILL ALWAYS BE LIBRARIES. AND THEY WILL ALWAYS BE DOING THINGS THAT BENEFIT SOCIETY. SO IT MATTERS. IT ALL MATTERS.” - NAN SCHUBEL
She found a job as a reference librarian at Young & Rubicam advertising firm, which was her introduction to searching for information online: “It was when Nexis and Dialog and all those databases came into being,” Nan said. Nan also worked for Reader’s Guide, indexing journals such as The Atlantic and Time magazine. Nan’s next job, and the place she retired from after 25 years, was with the accounting firm Arthur Young. She started as their audit librarian, researching businesses and clients. When Arthur Young merged with Ernst & Whinney, becoming Ernst & Young, Nan joined the legal department. “Since I had no legal experience, the firm sent me to Columbia University library school to take a course in legal librarianship,” Nan said. “That class cost more than my entire college education.” Nan’s career illustrates the variety of positions that a master’s in library and information science can lead to. “It was a really rewarding profession. So much changed in the field over the past 50 years. It was a journey I enjoyed immensely,” Nan said.
SUPPORTING FUTURE LIBRARIANS
Nan has given to the University of Arizona consistently over the years and recently established a sizable estate gift to the Library and Information Science Program. She also made her largest single gift to the program, creating the endowed Nan Kling Schubel Scholarship in Library Science. A portion of her gift was matched by Ernst & Young. “My whole thing is about education,” Nan said. “And there are a lot of people who don’t have the wherewithal to pay for college who need a scholarship, so why not help? I mean, what else is going to happen to my money?” Nan is an advocate for the profession, often saying that
“Library science is the only true science.” “Obviously it’s a joke,” Nan says with a laugh. “But it is a science. And it’s also an art. You have to be pretty creative to know where to go for the information that people are looking for.” Nan adds, “I think there will always be libraries. And they will always be doing things that benefit society. So it matters. It all matters.” After she retired, Nan moved back to Tucson, where she grew up. She volunteers with Literacy Connects and asked her neighbor to build a “little free library” for their community. Pre-pandemic, she would meet up with fellow Tucson High alums – “Badger Babes” – for cocktails once a month. She quilts, enjoys the opera and the theatre, and has stayed involved with her book and movie clubs over Zoom. She’s also pleased to stay connected to the university’s Library and Information Science Program. “Nan is a friend of the school and an advocate for the profession,” said Catherine Brooks, director of the School of Information. “We are incredibly grateful for her support of students aiming for work managing a wide variety of information types. Librarians have a critical job in this age of massive amounts of data that need to be collected, managed, preserved, and made accessible. Nan is with us as a Wildcat, Tucsonan, and supporter of future librarians.”
IN HER FATHER’S NAME:
Paula Fasseas Supports Students Studying Greek Culture
James P. Sfarnas
A new scholarship was recently established at the University of Arizona through the Hellenic Cultural Foundation in honor of James P. Sfarnas, funded by a generous donation from his daughter, Paula Fasseas, and her husband, Peter Fasseas. The scholarship supports undergraduate and graduate students studying Greek language, civilization, and culture in the School of Anthropology in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences or in the Department of Religious Studies and Classics in the College of Humanities. “My father was always very proud of his Greek heritage and culture. And he loved Tucson,” Paula said. “I think that he would just love knowing that there was an endowment in his name to help students learn about the Classics.”
A CIVIC LEADER
James “Jim” Sfarnas was born in 1919 of Greek immigrants in Pittston, Pa., and served in World War II as a captain in the Air Force. His passion for the desert and his dedication to quality family life drew him to Tucson, Ariz., in the 1950s, together with his wife, Ione. He loved Tucson from the day he arrived from New York in his double-breasted suit, Paula said.
He opened the Saddle and Sirloin Supper Club in the early 1950s and booked acts such as The Platters, Mills Brothers, Nelson Eddy, and the original Beverly Hillbillies. In the late 1960s, he became the general manager of the Old Pueblo Club. Jim was also involved in the Tucson community. He was the founding president of the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic, which provided medical care to underserved communities, served on the national board of the Asthmatic Foundation, and chaired the Tucson Beautiful Committee. He was also president of the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. Jim cared deeply about preserving Greek language and culture in his community. In 1983, Jim, together with other Greek community members, created the Hellenic Cultural Foundation, which promotes the study of Greek language, culture, and civilization at the University of Arizona.
INSPIRED TO GIVE BACK
Paula says her commitment to philanthropy and serving the community was inspired by her dad, a value she has passed on to her own children. ”He taught us from the time we were young children to always give back, and how lucky we were to live in this
“MY FATHER WAS ALWAYS VERY PROUD OF HIS GREEK HERITAGE AND CULTURE. AND HE LOVED TUCSON. I THINK THAT HE WOULD JUST LOVE KNOWING THAT THERE WAS AN ENDOWMENT IN HIS NAME TO HELP STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT THE CLASSICS.” - PAULA FASSEAS back to great Greek thinkers,” Paula said. “I’m really excited to see students wanting to learn about the Classics and not just regard everything that’s old as not being relevant today, because it is all relevant.” Paula and Peter Fasseas
great country and to have these opportunities,” Paula said. Paula grew up in Tucson and went to the University of Arizona for one semester before getting married to Peter Fasseas, who worked in the Illinois attorney general’s office, in 1975. She moved to Chicago and received her undergraduate degree from DePaul and her MBA from the University of Chicago. The couple launched their business in 1978, purchasing North Community Bank, a one-office bank, which would grow to become the Metropolitan Bank Group, the largest private bank holding company in Illinois. A few months after her dad passed away, Paula and her family traveled to Crete – where her grandmother was from – and ended up bringing home a stray dog who followed them everywhere. That decision led to Paula’s daughter volunteering at a local animal shelter and discovering that more than 40,000 pets were dying in Chicago each year. To help, Paula founded PAWS Chicago in 1997. Paula’s voice becomes animated when she talks about PAWS Chicago, which she has turned into the largest no-kill animal shelter in the Midwest. “It’s not just adoption. That’s the easy part. We also have a huge medical center where we can take in animals from the 15 highest kill states and give them medical treatment. We go door-to-door into under-resourced communities of Chicago and offer free spay/ neuter services and vet care,” Paula said. Paula and Peter Fasseas also support numerous other charities and gave a multimillion-dollar gift to the University of Arizona toward the construction of the Peter and Paula Fasseas Cancer Clinic, which opened in 2007. ‘We had always wanted to do something for Tucson and this felt perfect,” Paula said. “We live here part-time and really love the community.” Paula says her Greek heritage instilled in her a love of family, community, and learning. “The fundamentals of so much of what we do and cherish in our country today goes
SUPPORTING THE NEXT GENERATION
“Paula and Peter are close members of the Greek community, and they’re very committed to the mission of the Hellenic Cultural Foundation,” said Anthropology Professor Mary Voyatzis, former president of the foundation. “I’m so pleased about this scholarship because it means that Jim’s memory will live on and our students will be supported.” River Roland Ramirez is the first recipient of the scholarship and is working on his master’s in Classics, with an emphasis in archaeology. The scholarship will support his studies in ancient Greek colonization and mobility and allow
Scholarship recipient River Roland Ramirez in Italy at the ruins of Paestum, which contains three Greek temples.
him to travel to Greece for the first time to participate in the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, which is co-directed by Voyatzis. “I am so happy and grateful to be the very first recipient of the James P. Sfarnas Hellenic Studies Scholarship, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to the Hellenic Cultural Foundation and to the Fasseas family for their generous support!” River said. “This award means so much to me, and I am honored and inspired to further pursue my love of Greek studies in the memory of Jim Sfarnas.”
PERSPECTIVES Reflections from Students and Alumni
Amanda JS Kaufmann: Using Life Transitions to Align with Her True Self Recently, University of Arizona alumni Amanda and Matthew Kaufmann increased their estate gift to the university, planning a sizable legacy to both the Creative Writing Program in the Department of English and the College of Engineering. Amanda grew up immersed in visual art and writing and received a B.A. in creative writing from the University of Arizona, with an emphasis in short fiction and playwriting, and she also holds an M.A. in English/TESOL. This past year has brought several big changes for Amanda. She left her 30-year-long career in technical and educational publishing, grappled with health challenges including Graves’ Disease, and headed to Hawaii. Now, Amanda says she’s fully embracing her creative impulses at mid-life and encouraging others to be true to themselves. She’s jumped into a variety of projects, including writing, photography, filmmaking, and teaching. She recently published a book of what she calls “punk haiku” titled Rage, Recovery, and Calm: A Year in Poetry and is looking at ways to build community around it. Developments caught up with Amanda to discuss not only her allegiance and generosity to the Creative Writing Program but also how her love of writing has helped her navigate both the painful and exciting changes in her life.
Q.
Why did you decide to increase your estate gift to the Creative Writing Program?
Amanda JS Kaufmann before heading to Hawaii
A.
Matthew and I met at the UA and those were some of the best years of our lives. And we have a community of friends from those days. We don’t have children and our assets will eventually have to go somewhere, and so we’ve split them up between charities, friends and family, and the UA. So it was a natural decision. And I spent a lot of my career in educational publishing. I’ve also worked in the classroom as a writing instructor. Matthew and I both believe in education and figured we could help other people, especially as the costs of education continue to increase. I also feel that there is a place and a need
for good writing and literate folks in the world. These disciplines do not receive funds. It was really important to me to funnel something in that direction.
Q.
Last time we spoke, you were working in educational publishing. Now you’ve left that behind. What prompted this shift?
A.
None of it was planned. And a lot of things came together to push me down this new path. In the educational publishing world, you start to get phased out when you’re in mid-life unless you go up the corporate ladder, which I was never interested in doing. Everybody’s learned how to set up a camera and a light kit at their house, so the whole idea of having me travel around and set up for video production was fading. I was burned out. Then there was the pandemic. I’ve also come to understand who I am and how I tick. I now know that I am a highly sensitive person. And I’m brave enough now to put my art out there. And so I’m just going to pursue that and see what happens. I’m lucky and blessed to be able to do that from Hawaii. I’m just not worrying about what people think of me anymore.
Q.
And I don’t think it’s healthy that we, as a society, have gotten away from the arts. I think we could point to a lot of negative things going on in the world today that are attributable to the imbalance in what we emphasize in life. It’s important to pursue creative things, even if you’re involved in your rat race. I really feel like my duty now is to be true to myself and express all of the stuff that’s been building up over the years, and then encourage other people to do the same. And to get that balance back.
Q.
What are you working on right now that you are excited about?
A.
I want to keep writing and publishing and teaching. I’m working on a script and actually getting paid to do it. Regarding my photography, I’ve joined an art society that does exhibitions. To me, the writing and visual go together – even my scriptwriting for me is translating the visual into directions on the page so that it can be revisualized. I’m also doing my best to help other filmmaker friends, volunteering my time. I think community has gotten away from us a bit, and I support reinstating it.
Beyond providing you with the skills for a career, it seems like writing and storytelling helped you navigate your recent changes and enriches your life. Is that accurate?
A.
Oh, my gosh, totally. I started blogging, and I still do it pretty much every day, and I’m not doing it for anybody but myself. The blog in particular is about understanding who I am. For me, the writing is super important. If I didn’t do that, I think I would be really confused and locked in a closet or something. It’s funny, because I was never comfortable putting my writing out and the vulnerability that comes with that. And it’s taken me to this point in time to be able to do it.
Last year before the pandemic, Amanda offered a two-day workshop on screenwriting at the University of Arizona with Victor Miller, the original screenwriter for Friday the 13th. Amanda wrote and produced a short film inspired by Miller’s life called Mother’s Milk, available on her YouTube channel: Amanda JS Kaufmann.
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MAGELLAN CIRCLE GOES VIRTUAL
This April, the College of SBS hosted its annual Magellan Circle reception on Zoom. Thank you to our Magellan Circle members for investing in the college and to our patrons for providing scholarships to 61 students. The past year has been a testament to the resilience of our students and the dedication of our faculty. To highlight that, three SBS professors shared the challenges and opportunities presented by remote teaching. English Assistant Professor Lauren Camille Mason said that when she taught on Zoom, she had to focus on one face, one voice at a time, and spent less time trying to manage the dynamics of the physical classroom and more time listening. Diana Daly, assistant professor in the School of Information, concurred. She “flipped” her classroom, having students watch lectures on their own schedules and using synchronous class time to “make eye contact” and talk to students. Stefano Bloch, assistant professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment, said he realized that not all young people are tech savvy. He emphasized that students have various opinions but “they all want to feel mutual respect and want to feel that you are deliver-
Stefano Bloch, Diana Daly, J.P. Jones III, and Lauren Camille Mason
ing information in a way that makes them better thinkers.” Capping off the event were videos of Magellan Circle scholars answering questions and thanking their patrons. “We’re really grateful to you for supporting students. It’s been a rough year for them,” said John Paul Jones III, dean of the college. “This scholarship helps students financially, it looks great on their resumes, and many of them establish long-lasting friendships with their patrons.”
How to Give
Donating to the College of SBS is making an investment in the future! You can donate online at https://give.uafoundation.org/sbs. If you would like to discuss including the college in your estate plan, please contact Ginny Healy at: 520-548-4893 or ghealy@arizona.edu