Fall 2023 Faculty Highlights

Dr. Rosemarie Dombrowski

OLLI at ASU is thrilled to highlight the work of our longtime faculty support Rosemarie Dombrowski. She is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Phoenix, the founding editor of rinky dink press, and the founding director of Revisionary Arts, a nonprofit that facilitates self-care and healing through poetry. She’s published three collections of poetry and is the recipient of an Arts Hero award, a Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets, and the Arizona Humanities Outstanding Speaker Award. She’s a teaching professor at ASU where she also serves as editor of ISSUED, a journal for and about veterans. Additionally, she’s faculty editor of Grey Matter, the medical poetry journal of the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Dr. Dombrowski will be leading our fall semester's OLLI Workshop: Re-Creating Emily Dickinson (pg. 14) which will be a unique, immersive art experience for members of all creative backgrounds. As part of the workshop, she will be working closely with members to both produce and showcase a short, official publication of members' creative work. She will also be teaching Narrative Medicine (pg. 12) and The Poetry of War (pg. 19) this semester.

Dr. Eduardo Pagán

We are once again blessed to welcome back Dr. Eduardo Pagán, Arizona State University's Bob Stump Endowed Professor of History, who has served our university community in a wide array of roles: as a vice provost, associate dean, department chair, president of the West campus Faculty Senate, and as the Faculty Council chair for the Arizona Board of Regents. Having trained at Princeton for his doctorate in U.S. History, Dr. Pagán brings to the classroom his internationally renowned expertise in the local history of our American West, especially Arizona. In addition to his work at ASU, Dr. Pagán served as one of the hosts of History Detectives (PBS), a historical consultant with American Experience (PBS), and has appeared in national and international documentaries and television shows.

This semester, Dr. Pagán will be teaching on the The Dark Underside of the American West (pg. 12) as well as a class that invites members to take an up-close look at our historical past in Arizona Stories: Aspects of Arizona's Past (pg. 21).

Sarah Porter

Back by popular demand, Sarah Porter, inaugural director of the ASU Kyl Center for Water Policy, will be returning to offer a further exploration of the complexities and challenges of local water policy. Sarah left her successful law career in 2006 for Audubon because she wanted to contribute to a collaborative effort to address Arizona’s natural resource challenges. There, she directed Audubon’s Western Rivers project: a multi-state initiative to raise awareness of the challenges to Colorado River sustainability, protecting and restoring flows for critical habitats and communities. She now dedicates her focus to the Kyl Center marshalling her expertise in both Arizona and regional water issues to serve a range of stakeholders.

Sarah's new class, Arizona Water Policy: Where Do We Stand? (pg. 24) will be hosted as a hybrid class this semester at the ASU Health Futures Center and remotely via Zoom.

Teaching

Expertise in cognitive science, linguistics, and neuroscience

Teaching The Cognitive Science of Human

Language: Uniqueness & Origins (pg. 26)

Expertise in dementia care, public health, social psychology

Teaching Life Amidst the Paradox: Exploring Darkness & Hope in Dementia (pg. 12)