Desert Stars

In 2001 Prescott College launched the Desert Star program to recognize alumni who are carrying the mission of Prescott College forward in their lives and work. Prescott College has amazing alumni living and contributing to their communities throughout the world, helping to make change in environmental stewardship, conservation, law and social justice, education, mental and physical health care, the arts, agriculture, community development, and every other discipline that contributes to living on Earth with ethics and responsibility.

Prescott College Desert Stars

Click on a name below to read about an amazing PC graduate!

If you know a Prescott College alumnus that you would like to nominate as a Desert Star, please use the online nomination form or contact the Alumni Office at 877.350.2100 ext 4502, or alumni@prescott.edu.

This name, "Desert Stars," is inspired both by the incredible Northern Arizona night sky that is a treasured memory for every student who ever stargazed in the Southwest, and also for Monoptilon belioides, a tiny sunflower native to Arizona. The Desert Star program recognizes distinguished Prescott College alumni whose contributions have changed a community - large or small - for the better.

Lee Stuart’s commitment to social justice leads to a fulfilling but unexpected life

Lee Stuart’s ’75 journey from Prescott College student to organizer of social change in the South Bronx began in environmental studies courses. It was here she developed a solid platform of advanced analytical and scientific work—and had interactions with instructors like Bob Harrill, who, Stuart said, “showed me how a really good teacher supports the intellectual creativity and advancement of students.”

She pursued the study of ecology and received her Ph.D. from San Diego State and UC Davis in 1984, but an overriding commitment to social justice resulted in quite a different career than the academic one she had envisioned. In 1983, while completing her doctoral dissertation, Stuart co-founded World SHARE (Self-Help and Resource Exchange), an international food assistance program. The SHARE concept is that by pooling their funds and labor, participating families can not only leverage their food dollar by a factor of three or four, but also strengthen their community through mutual self-help projects undertaken as part of the program.

Stuart was invited to the South Bronx in New York City to create the SHARE program in 1985. At the time the South Bronx was a national symbol of urban devastation. Although Stuart had grown up in Appalachian coal country and knew something of the forces that created rural poverty, the South Bronx was her first experience of the impact of those forces on an urban area. She was overwhelmed by these conditions until she met Reverend Robert Jeffers, the pastor of St. Augustine ’s Catholic Church, who gave her a tremendous insight into the South Bronx .

“The Bronx is a place of beautiful people and terrible buildings,” he told her. “If you are open to it, it can become your home, and if you are lucky you will see what a privilege it is to work here.” Stuart had originally planned to take six months to start the SHARE program in the Bronx and then return to her academic life as an ecologist, but her ties to the people of the Bronx deepened and she stayed.

St. Augustine’s was a member of South Bronx Churches, an interfaith organization established in the late 1980s to create a power base that would rebuild the Bronx and correct the injustice that had created the borough’s devastation. By 1990 intensive organizing and political training by South Bronx Churches had created enough political force in the community to completely revamp the management of the local public hospital, to create community policing strategies, and to win the right to build “Nehemiah Homes” on about 20 acres of vacant city-owned land.

The project was named “Nehemiah” after the biblical leader who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem following the Babylonian exile. In 1992, South Bronx Churches hired Stuart as their lead organizer. Her task was to work with the local leaders to build the talent and capacity within their organization to carry out their social agenda. In addition to the Nehemiah project, which encompassed the construction of 965 homes over a 10-year period, South Bronx Churches had other revitalization projects on its agenda.

These included:

• The Beulah project, which restored more than 900 apartments for rental occupancy,

• The Public Life Institute (a 10-week training program for effective public action), and

• The creation of a new public high school with an academic and college preparatory focus, the Bronx Leadership Academy High School, which became a model for the small-school reform movement in New York City.

In retrospect, Stuart realizes that it was the people around her who inspired her and kept her compassion and vision alive throughout this project. James L. Drake, the National Director of Organizing for the United Farm Workers in the 1970s and first lead organizer of South Bronx Churches, was an essential mentor in her life. During the 16 years they worked together in the Bronx , Stuart said, Drake “helped me learn how to bring diverse people and groups together, to decide on an objective and develop a strategy. He taught me to be unafraid of confrontation, to be politically creative, and to maintain public relationships over long periods of time.”

Stuart advises students to “Believe in the possibility of what others say is impossible. Get a mentor who believes in and practices the impossible more than you do. Develop an interior life that can withstand tremendous violence and chaos. The further you challenge society’s norms the greater violence and chaos will come your way. Be ready. Be strong, and do not act alone. Be of good courage.”

John Flax (RDP ’74) has dared to live the truth in his heart and follow his instincts. His diverse careers have given him a “desire to look beyond the accepted, to experience the wildest terrain [I] could access, to refuse inherent mediocrity and assumed social standards [and] to celebrate humanity.” Environmentalist, activist, acrobat, playwright, director and teacher, Flax has led a fulfilling life and one that has helped his community become a better place.

Flax, an environmental education graduate, feels Prescott College taught him the value of being open-minded and how to think for himself (such that he can deal with almost any new situation). The College gave him not only the confidence to create his own path in life but also a solid support network to develop a foundation for his life’s work. After graduating, he worked at National Geographic as a freelance writer and then as an outdoor leader with Colorado Outward Bound and the Colorado Springs School.

Ever ambitious, Flax wanted to do more. He had a dream of helping improve the American public school system, and thus pursued a doctorate in education at the University of Northern Colorado School for Educational Change and Development. Instead of writing a dissertation, John was inspired to write a novel. He turned to theater to develop the characters of his story and in doing so found the Theatre de la Jeune Lune (The Young Moon Theater) a French-American company. The company “rocked his world,” and he decided to join them. He signed on as an acting intern and writer and eventually wrote scripts and became the main acrobat. This ignited his interest in acting, and inspired him to leave the theater to study at the Lecoq School in Paris in 1981. Just two years later, he found the niche that has become his life career as the artistic director for Theater Grottesco. The successful company has won awards in France and the United States and performs productions in seven countries and 30 states. They have put on nine full-length and approximately 30 short-length original productions. In 1999 the “Artists in Community Project” recognized Flax as an artist who represented all fields. He was one of 250 people in the nation to be selected. Currently, Theater Grottesco is working with the Santa Fe Center for Contemporary Arts to build a state-of-the-art, fully flexible black box theater that will be used by both companies and other international performing arts groups. Flax will oversee the design and construction of the theater.

After all of his experiences, Flax realizes that Prescott College’s motto is right on. It is about “the journey, not the destination.” He has developed reverence for nature in all its forms because it has shown him the infinite possibilities for the world, his fellow human beings and himself. Last, but certainly not least, he has committed himself to social justice on a large scale because “none of us can be free if any are oppressed,” he said. His words of wisdom to those of us starting our journeys in life are to be patient and humble.

John Flax is recognized as a Desert Star because he has successfully embodied the mission statement of Prescott College. He has spent his life helping to improve the community in his own way and has dared to live his dream.

Fiona Reid
B.A., Environmental Studies, Prescott College (ADP), 2000

I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to work for a local non-profit educational organization, the Highlands Center for Natural History, whose methods and mission I endorse wholeheartedly. I am now their education director and am responsible for programs that serve close to 8,000 children and adults each year. I continue to learn. [I am inspired by] knowing that this small community of staff and docents with whom I work is one of those that can indeed change the world, one child at a time. When I see the expressions in the children’s eyes change from fear of creepy-crawlies to affection for them in a period of just a few hours out on our nature center sites, I know I’m doing the right work. My four years at Prescott College were some of the best in my life. Prescott College opened my eyes wide to the endless possibilities of life and the wonder of it all. I developed an enormous appreciation for why we think and behave the way we do in our western civilization. I learned about my place, my role in history. I truly realize the value of educating toward a sense of place, learning about "home" and yet understanding how the bigger systems shape our environment and us.

Advice to students: Believe in yourself and trust the process at Prescott College. Picture yourself doing what you dream of accomplishing, and keep that picture beside you. It’s not all wine and roses, for sure, but that image you have of the future is what will move you forward, step by step. Work hard. Give it all you’ve got. It is a privilege to be part of this school—don’t take any of it for granted.

Fred Harder
(Prescott College, RDP ’74)
B.A. International Affairs, Lewis & Clark College, 1977

After earning my B.A., I started a career in a variety of capacities within the commercial property and casualty insurance industry. Over a period of 13 years I worked for three large companies in brokerage and underwriting positions in the Pacific Northwest. I left that industry in 1990, and pursued two "dreams" over the next four years. I earned a private pilot’s license and instrument rating, and focused on a secondary school teaching credential as well. I then worked as a substitute teacher, coach and wilderness education leader for an independent school in Seattle; worked in Bristol Bay, Alaska, with an Air Taxi operator who also ran a river rafting business; and pursued my love of travel with trips to Sweden, England, New Zealand and Israel. I have recently returned to the insurance business, managing the claims department of a regional wholesale insurance brokerage firm. I have been active in my community by serving as an elected member of the Baha’i Spiritual Assemblies in Portland, Ore., and Mercer Island, Wash. For the last eight years I have volunteered with an interfaith group that addresses community needs. That role has enabled me to contribute periodic columns to our local weekly newspaper. My Prescott College experience instilled in me the idea of giving back to the community in a variety of different avenues and infused in me the idea of being a lifelong learner.

Advice to students: Be fully engaged in whatever path you take after completing your formal education. It can be helpful for you to periodically ask yourself, "What am I trying to gain, or whom am I serving by undertaking this or that activity?"

Britt Bailey
M.A. Environmental Policy, Prescott College, 1998
B.A. Psychology, Kenyon College
B.A. Fine Arts, Kenyon College

Since receiving my M.A. from Prescott College, I have continued to work at the non-profit Center for Ethics and Toxics in Gualala, Calif. In November of 1998, the culmination of my thesis work, which focused on the environmental, social, political and human health effects associated with the introduction of genetically modified foods, was published in a book and video, "Against the Grain: Biotechnology and the Corporate Takeover of Your Food." The book was published by Common Courage Press and is in its second printing. The video is being distributed through the Video Project of Act Now Productions and is regularly shown on Free Speech Television. I have continued my research and writing about biotechnology, pesticides and their ecological impacts. In the summer of 2002, a second book, "Engineering the Farm: The Social and Ethical Aspects of Agricultural Biotechnology" (Island Press) was published. This book is the result of a two-year grant given to examine, with the assistance of leading national thinkers on the subject, the deeper issues related to the alteration of our landscape by the introduction of genetically engineered seeds. My work on issues pertaining to genetically engineered foods has led me to give testimony before the California State Senate, and to speak at regular workshops and seminars on the subject. Alongside my work in agricultural biotechnology, I have been working on assessing the ecological risk of pesticides on endangered species. I have partnered with the Smith River Project to assess the potential impacts to endangered salmon from the overuse of synthetic pesticides attributed to industrial lily bulb operations. I have also partnered with Californians for Alternatives to Toxins to draft a biological opinion paper to better protect the survivability of endangered and threatened species from pesticides. This paper will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency as part of the consent decree from a recent legal settlement. I continue to host a regular Ecology Hour radio program for our local NPR affiliate and teach an Environmental Policy class at a local college. I am motivated by a belief in leaving a better world for future generations. I believe our hearts sing in open spaces and that ecological complexity provides a tight knit foundation to our personal freedom. I am challenged to inspire others to be involved and to know they can make a difference. My experience at Prescott College provided me with wings to follow my heart and the knowledge that I could fly once in the air. The College and my experience have been incorporated into my strength and courage. If I begin to take on a task that feels daunting, I reflect on and remember the belief and support I received through my studies and continue to receive from faculty and my friends from my program. Prescott College, its students and faculty, never doubted my intention, path or goals. There is a place of strength in my heart where I go when I have self doubt—Prescott College lives there.

Advice for students: Follow your heart—it really works. Think with your heart—it feels better than thinking with your head. When in doubt take a deep breath in a beautiful place. In weak moments we believe our individual actions do not matter. Remember these are weak moments. Every action is great. Remember to play and to always have a mentor.

Jeff Salz
B.A. Outdoor Recreation, Prescott College, 1974.
M.S. Experiential Education, International College
Ph.D. Folk Study/ Anthropology, Ryokon College

Since graduating from Prescott College, I taught at Selwyn School, Denton, Texas; co-founded the Boojum Institute; created and instructed "The Wilderness Class" at San Diego State University; founded Yolla Bolly Institute; created and hosted two Discovery/Travel Channel TV specials; wrote and published "The Way Of Adventure"; and founded Way Of Adventure, Keynotes, Trainings and Treks. What inspires me to do this work? A crazy optimistic faith in the essential goodness of the human heart, a love for wild nature and deep allegiance to the planet’s disenfranchised. At Prescott College, we used to say, "The world is a sitting duck," and I still believe it. We also spoke of being cultural revolutionaries and gained the skills to be effective communicators, visionaries and leaders…and how to speak outside the box!

Advice to students: My Jewish mother would say, "Follow your blintz," trust your appetite—for experience yes—but also for a sense of justice, integrity and contribution.

Michael Byrd
B.A. Environmental Conservation and Resource Management, Prescott College, 1996

As an undergraduate student I became involved with a local non-profit organization called Prescott Creeks Preservation Association (PCPA). Since then I’ve been a general volunteer for PCPA, served as the president for two years and was hired as the first Watson Woods Riparian Preserve manager in 1999.

In addition to my work with PCPA I’m a partner in Riparia, Inc., a Prescott-based ecological consulting firm. With Riparia I’ve had the opportunity to conduct riparian restoration, education and research projects throughout Arizona. I try to find time for the fun jobs too. For the past two years I’ve spent untold hours crawling around the banks of the Verde River counting willow and cottonwood sprouts. And they pay me for it!?! All in all, my career has just fallen into place. I have been blessed with my opportunities and the great friends I have in Prescott. I currently live just south of Prescott with my best friend, Osito. I came to Prescott College from one of the largest universities in the country. The small, intimate setting at Prescott College taught me that I could get to know my mentors and instructors on a personal level. One of those relationships led me to the work I’m now doing. I also learned how to be creative with my livelihood.

Advice to students: Decide what you want to do. Deciding seems to be the hardest part for most people. Find something you can get your hands around and then put every ounce of passion into. It’s worked for me so far.

Jess Dods
B.A., Prescott College, 1970

MBA, The Thunderbird School (American Graduate School of International Management), 1975

Since I left Prescott College, I have done many diverse things, in many places. I have worked at jobs ranging from playing guitar to managing oil development projects for Exxon in Colombia. For the past several years, I have been working as a management consultant in the energy industry in Venezuela and the U.S.

My education at Prescott College and afterward helped prepare me to live the reality that it truly is about the journey, and not the destination. I am still very much on the journey. I still love to learn and experience many things. At age 55, I am just hitting my stride. I am physically and mentally very active, still playing guitar and running. I am interested in history, science, travel and the arts. One of the best things that I have done in recent years was to serve as the first president of the Prescott College Alumni Association, and to be named to the Prescott College board of trustees. These roles have allowed me to give back some of what I have learned, and to help keep the flow of knowledge going to other groups of students. I am honored to be considered for this recognition by Prescott College. The College has served, and will continue to serve, an extremely important role in providing a unique experiential education to a diverse but interconnected body of students who, frankly, can meet the challenge.

Anne Sterling Dorman
B.A. Educational Administration, Prescott College, 1974
MBA Finance and Accounting, San Diego State University, 1978

Since graduating from Prescott College I’ve been a farmer, a business owner, a Big 5 public accounting senior principal (9 years), an independent consultant serving as interim-CFO for venture capital backed high technology and bio-medical companies; served as a board member and teacher at the Boojum Institute; spent 20 months traveling the world, primarily Southeast Asia and India; and have been a lesbian rights activist, a non-profit change agent, a mother, a spouse and a friend.

My Prescott College education contributed toward my accomplishments because it allowed me to not be afraid to “dive in,” convinced me that the process was more important than the outcome and taught me to take the first step.

Advice to students: Just do it. Observe the world and those who’ve come before, but don’t be constricted by your observations. Know that one voice makes a difference.

Carianne Funicelli
B.A. Environmental Studies: Botany, Prescott College, 1998

I have an ongoing fascination with long-term saguaro demographic trends, and this interest seems to take up all my free time! I have done two long-term studies at Saguaro National Park, which draw upon historic data from the past 60 years. I have also had the pleasure of developing an updated and scientifically accurate slide show about saguaro biology and ecology for park visitors.
I am currently working at Harris Environmental Group, Inc., a consulting firm that produces environmental compliance documents to meet federal, state and local environmental protection laws.

My job is never dull, and I get to chase various endangered species all over the Southwest! I wake up everyday looking forward to my work.

I have been able to “ride on the coattails” of Prescott College’s far-reaching reputation for producing outstanding field biologists. Having a degree from Prescott College literally paves the way for a great career by exposing students to applied research/management and providing opportunities to make a variety of pre-graduation employment contacts.

Advice for Students: Find the people you admire in your field and work with them!

Doug Hulmes
B.A. Environmental Science, Prescott College, 1974
M.S. Environmental Education and Administration, George Williams College, 1976

After receiving my master’s degree, I gained invaluable knowledge and experience working as a park ranger and interpretive naturalist at Canyonlands National Park. I returned to Prescott College in 1978 to help administer a Youth Conservation Corps program and also assumed the responsibilities of teaching in the Environmental Studies program, where I designed the program emphasis in environmental education.

During the past 20 years I have worked on numerous environmental issues, including the 1984 and 1990 Arizona Wilderness Bills. In 1990 I was co-recipient of the National Wilderness Education Award sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service and the Isaac Walton League. During the fall of 1991, I spent my sabbatical in Norway teaching at Olavskolen Folkehogskole. In 1994 I received the Educator of the Year Award and the President’s Appreciation Award from the Arizona Association for Learning in and About the Environment (AALE). In 1996 I was the guest professor at Telemark College, where I instructed in Norway’s first interdisciplinary environmental studies program.

Since 1992 I’ve been performing John Muir under contract with the Arizona Humanities Council. In May of 1998, I received an award for outstanding presenter at the National Wilderness Rangers Conference. I have always held a deep regard for nature and reverence for life.

The friends I made, and the landscapes and diversity of cultures I have experienced as a result of Prescott College, both as a student and an instructor have given me lifelong inspiration and passion for my work.

Advice for students: Examine and challenge your beliefs and try to live out your convictions. The world is full of wonder and opportunities to learn. Ask yourself if you are giving back as much as you are taking from the gift of life.

Kent Gugler
B.A. Prescott College, 1973
Teaching Certificate, Prescott College ADP, 1991

I worked as a surveyor and carpenter through 1976 and owned and operated Aurora Iron in Prescott, from 1978-1991, producing mainly hand-forged architectural ironwork. I have been teaching academics and music in Chino Valley since 1991. I married Mollie in 1977 and am raising two sons. I continue to play music, both commercially and privately. Prescott College was always larger on thinking skills than on micro-details, so is life.

Advice for students: Volunteer in a school, you’ll find out quickly if this is where you want to be!

Kim Langmaid

M.A. Environmental Education, Prescott College, 1997
B.S. Biological Sciences, Colorado University, 1989

I founded the Gore Range Natural Science School in Red Cliff, Colo. Now in its fourth year, the science school raises environmental awareness and inspires stewardship through natural science learning adventures for youth and adults. The Rocky Mountain ecosystem is our outdoor classroom. My passion for the natural world and sense of purpose to create positive change on Earth inspires my work. My Prescott College education gave me a more in-depth understanding of the issues and theories related to place-based environmental education. It gave me confidence.

Advice for students: Do your homework, lay the foundation, and go for it!

Matuschka (a.k.a. Joanne Motichka)
Liberal Arts, Prescott College, 1974

The diverse educational experience I received at Prescott College almost 28 years ago evolved into a multi-faceted career which has been, to coin a 60s phrase, “one long, fantastic trip.”

After leaving Prescott in 1974, I worked in a variety of professions including being the first (female) 20-year-old New York City taxi cab driver, playing in a rock’n roll group and joining a construction crew. In 1990 I began working with the Central Park Historical Society creating curricula for their Leadership Program and conducting tours of Central Park, the Museum of Natural History and my art studio in NYC for special education students. During that time I led classes in recycling, helped rehabilitate injured birds and directed workshops for public school teachers at NYU. My work shifted in 1991 as I explored the environmental link to disease, having become a new member of the cancer club. My investigation into the medical/cancer industry yielded disturbing results. “We’re practicing politics without principle, science without humanity and medicine without logic,” was my motto. With my direct visuals, speak-outs, demonstrations and articles I helped bring attention to the ‘silent epidemic’ and to cancer prevention, and I became an advocate for alternative treatments. My alliance with Greenpeace, Wac, Wham and 1 in 9 (to name a few grassroots groups) inspired numerous works that received extensive exhibition and press coverage, in addition to many awards and proclamations.

From 1994-1997 I received the Rachel Carson Award, the best Environmental Poster Award, Humanitarian of the Year Award, Person of the Week (Peter Jennings worldwide news) and the Gilda Radner Award. One of my pictures was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and received six gold and silver prizes from design and newspaper competitions, including a front page award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York. In 1996 I produced an award-winning catalog with a grant from the New York Foundation of the Arts. Many of my pictures, articles, essays and interviews have been published in a variety of venues from Glamour magazine and Encyclopedia Britannica to documentaries and made for TV films.

My advocacy has its roots in Prescott College, beginning with the endangered red tail hawk, which provided both a metamorphic and metaphoric approach to my pursuits. In 1974 I witnessed one student’s determination to protect his pet hawk and subsequent heartbreak when the captive flew away. Ironically, when I returned east a month later I was confronted by my father’s trophy: a stuffed red tail sat on top his television set! I realized then that education is the most powerful tool we have to inform the public.

Years later I was fortunate to watch a bird I rescued set free in Central Park after six months of rehab . . . Its flight to freedom set a pace for putting my dreams and thoughts to use. If a person is determined and committed to something she believes in, she can fly free, dream and soar to record heights. The trick though, is returning to earth with aspirations that can help advance society through personal contribution and commitment.

Advice for students:

1. When you want to do something that you know in your heart is right, don’t take no for an answer.
2. Experience: get as much of it as possible.
3. Examine how others have approached projects you wish to explore — then do it differently. Be original.
4. Embrace diversity, but don’t conform. Adjust when necessary but always stay true to your truth and vision.
5. Always make time to dream.
6. Do things that make you happy.

Becky Ruffner
B.A., Prescott College, 1974

I have been a social activist all my adult life. Since I started the Primavera School in 1972, my work has revolved around making the world a better place for children. In the arenas of early childhood education, child development, family support, and child abuse prevention I try to inspire others to do what is best for children and their parents.

In 1996 I started my second non-profit, a statewide advocacy and training organization. I enjoy influencing public policy, developing good community-based programs and producing high-quality training opportunities for folks who are working in their own communities on behalf of children and families.

I trace my activism right back to Prescott College. My experience there removed any doubts I might have held about whether or not I wanted to be a change agent. Indeed, it made a reluctant leader out of me. Because of the people I met at Prescott College, I began to see the world as full of opportunities for constructive change. I learned to question, to value my instincts, and to ask a lot of others and myself in the service of doing what the world is calling for.

Advice for students: “Never doubt a small group of people can change the world, indeed that is all that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

Chanti Smith
B.A., Holistic Health and Spirituality/Social and Cultural Change, Prescott College, 1999

For my senior project I started a free holistic health clinic, the Shanti Wellness Project, for low-income women in Yavapai County. After I graduated the clinic continued to grow, so we became a non-profit and I served as executive director for two years. I recently passed on the leadership of the clinic to return to my home in California.

Seeing the community come together in the service of others inspires my work. My teachers at Prescott College said I could do anything!

Advice for students: Share your vision with others and no doubt it will take off like wildfire…and spend a lot of time preparing for that wildfire!