Ecos Alumni Newsletter

Inside this Issue

PCAA Board
Call for Candidates

Featured Educator
Darran Wells, Map '07

Spring 2008
RDP Senior Projects

New Alumni Directory

Nominate a Desert Star

CESLL Programs

Online Giving

Books of Interest

In Memoriam

EFR Field
Training Opportunity

Prescott College
Reaccreditation

Over 140 Alumni has already joined the PC Alumni Web Space!

pcalum.collectivex.com

Post Nationwide Events

Review Job Postings

Share Pictures

and More
---------------------------

Volunteer!

Prescott College
Alumni Volunteer Networks

Alumni Recruitment Network

Alumni Writer’s Network

Alumni Legacy Network

Alumni ASK (Alumni Sharing Knowledge Career) Network

Alumni Orientation Network

For more information
contact:
msmith@prescott.edu

Reduce the amount of
clutter in your snail mailbox.

The following free service allows you to indicate which catalogs you no longer wish to receive in the mail.

www.catalogchoice.org

Help save
natural resources

Did Wilderness Orientation change your life?  We would like to hear your story - see your pictures - and reminisce with you.  Please send your testimonials to Ecos for the September 2008 Issue.   Time to circle up and debrief!

Send Ecos submissions to:
alumni@prescott.edu

Reproduced with permission from The Rocky Mountain Regional Newsletter: A Publication of the Association for Experiential Education. If you would like to join their mailing list, please go to: http://www.rockymountain.aee.org/

Written by Beth Louise Walker, MAP '07

Featured Educator: Darran Wells
Home Base: Lander, Wyoming
Program Involvement: Outdoor Program Director-Central Wyoming College; Faculty-National Outdoor Leadership School
Education: MA, Adventure Education, Prescott College
Number of years in the EE field: Nine

Darran works with the Central Wyoming College Outdoor Program that began last year. The Outdoor Program has about 35 full-time students working toward an associate degree, some of which requires a semester-long NOLS course to fulfill the degree requirement.

Darran’s career in EE began in 1999 when he joined NOLS as a mountaineering instructor in the Rocky Mountains. Over the next few years, he was promoted to Program Coordinator for NOLS Professional Training. He is currently certified by NOLS to teach rock climbing, caving, whitewater canoeing, rafting, canyoneering, and backcountry skiing and snowboarding.

In 2005, NOLS was examining ways to capitalize on relationships with colleges and universities. Rather than hiring a consultant, they worked with Prescott College to create a graduate scholarship for a student to research collaboration in the field of Adventure Education. Darran was awarded that scholarship.

He chose to go the extra mile to examine the collaborative possibilities of not just NOLS, but all outdoor programs, including Outward Bound, SCA, Project Adventure and many more. Darran’s MA work translated directly into his new position at CWC, which he was offered in August of 2007. Because he had just completed a comprehensive study of other partnering organizations such as Unity College in Maine and Outward Bound, he hit the ground running. His main focus is managing the NOLS/CWC relationship and developing the outdoor program
at CWC.

According to Wells, there are many benefits to a collaborative relationship such as the one between CWC and NOLS. First, the semester course required by two of the associate degrees provides the necessary leadership education for the student in an experiential manner that is unmatched by any alternative. The college also provides a facility and resources for Wilderness Medical Institute trainings such as Wilderness EMT courses. And the two institutions partner on events and conferences, and students are able to access loans and other financial aid to enroll in the required NOLS semester course through CWC.

In the future, Darran hopes to extend the CWC/NOLS partnership beyond just the academic component established with the associate degree and offer NOLS courses to students in other areas of study, whether they choose a semester-long course or a shorter one.

Nominate a Desert Star

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.

Why Support the Prescott College Annual Scholarship Fund?

Your gift allows Prescott College to continue its important mission to create future leaders like you - agents for making a difference in our world.

Making a Difference...
In Sustainable Futures

If you have questions or need more information, please call:

Prescott College
Development Office
Judy Lewis

(877) 350-2100 X4505 or
(928) 350-4505

Adventure Education
Snow Avalanche Forecasting                     Charles Bassetti
Paddlers Guidebook                                  Benjamin Ryan
Adventure Business Practicum                   Andrew Archer
Scuba Diving: Instructor Dev                     Jean Denison
Yogic Explorations of AE                            Daniel St. Lawrence

Arts and Letters
Inner Movement & Self Expression:            Ivy Katz
Teaching: High School Book Arts                Jillian Van Ness
Cochise Stronghold: A Literary Sense         Erik Kinsey
Documenting an Oral History: Part 2          Natalie Valadez
Photographic Biodiversity Databases          Marie Zubinski
What About Water: Art and Language         Lauren Sargent
Carrington: Stories                                   John Ziegler
Songwriting: Music Through Words             Lara Ruggles
Addiction                                                 Tia Smilack
Environmental Journalism Internship          Jennifer Swacina
Spider Women's Web Mural                       Alan Berman

Environmental Studies
Feeding Ecology of nestling Golden            Christopher Meador
A Vision for Sustainable Governance          Asha Stout
Applied Conservation Science, Mexico        Abram Fleishman
Grand Canyon Environmental Education     Johanna Suomala
Tracking the Inner Naturalist                     Rebecca Fitzpatrick
Exploring Sense of Place                          Sita Sanders
GreenLots!                                              Adam Yarnes
Halakhic Farming and Sustainable Ag         Eli Silins
Environmental Education                           Wren Almitra
Pygmy & White Breasted Nuthatches          Carl Cloyed
Methods for Sustainable Development        Harrison Bush
Methods for Sustainable, Part 2                 Harrison Bush
The Organic Food Movement                     Jennifer Fellman
Gutierrez's Residential Design                   Jessica Hernreich
Understory Response to Ponderosa           Max Kornhause
Conservation of Open Space                     Fletcher Clark
Community Garden at the YMCA               Grayson Light-Lookner
Sustainable Development: Gorham, ME     Tyson Moulton

Integrated Studies
A Sense of Place: Part One                       Libby Rasmussen
A Sense of Place: Part Two                       Libby  Rasmussen
Explorations of Free Trade                        Elizabeth Gritzmacher
Art & the World                                        Lani Hanna
Ecopsychology: Community Practice          Jared Silverman
Self-Study in Human Development             Andrew Given
Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves          Ivy  Katz
Facilitating Adolescent Groups                    Elizabeth Ludwig
Movement Facilitation for Life                     Tria Aronow
Psych of Volunteer Recruitment                  Marina  Moses
U.S. Immigration Policy                             Elizabeth  Nutt
Polaris Alliance for Global Change              Joshua Becker
Planting Seeds of Tolerance                       Zellie Rossi-Averill
The Psychology of Conservation                Christopher Meador
Music for the Elderly                                 Charles Ware
Documenting an Oral History: Part 1          Natalie Valadez
"El Servicio"                                             Amy Windhausen
Transformative Practice                             MacKenzie Murphy
Youth Development                                   Michael Kelly

Graduation
Ceremony Dates

RDP   May 3, 2008
ADGP   June 7, 2008

The Office of Alumni Relations has contracted with Harris Connect, Inc. to publish a new 2008 Alumni Directory. We have analyzed the records of more than 6,700 alumni to separate outdated contact and alumni information from the most current data in our files.

Starting this month, you will beginreceiving material pertaining to verification of your alumni information. The new directory will also allow you to list a personal message and submit photos.

Harris Connect's commitment to protecting the privacy and ensuring the integrity of the information collected is reflected in their privacy policy on-line at:

www.alumniconnections.com

STUDENT WINNERS

1st Place: “Untitled” by Michael Richards

Student Winner Michael Richards was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is in his third year at Prescott College, working toward a degree in Natural History and Ecology. “Untitled" was my first endeavor in portraiture, and marked a transition into a simpler, cleaner, style of photography, say Richards. It is part of a series of portraits that focuses on hands, feet, arms, and legs. Those who know the subject well instantly recognize them from the first few shots, before their identity is revealed at the end with a photograph of their face. How is it that we know our friends, family, and loved ones? A constellation of freckles on a shoulder, a crease in a palm, or the sole of a foot.”

2nd Place: “Siamese Daisy” by Catherine Ralls

Don't miss out on:

Ecos Alumni eNewsletter

Transitions

Web Networking

Email your full name and
email address to:
alumni@prescott.edu

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Ecos Submissions

I hope that you enjoy this month's e-newsletter. If there is something you would like to see in next month's issue or if you would like to submit an article, please let us know. Thank you for your continued commitment to and support of Prescott College.

Please send your submissions to alumni@prescott.edu

The "Alumni" San Juan River Trip will be scheduled for summer 2009.
Dates will be forthcoming.

Steve Dieckhoff, RDP '74, 1952-2008
For more information:
http://www.climbing.com/news/passages/steve_dieckhoff_1952-2008/

Submitted by Matt Mitchell, MAP '97

Learning Outcomes
Successful participants in this Practicum will develop the skills and knowledge necessary to serve in the field on an EFR research team. Participants will be able to:

• Conduct an EFR Interview
• Summarize the content of an EFR Interview
• Develop a composite from multiple summaries

Learning Activities
During the 3-day training, participants will be presented brief mini-lectures, followed by a variety of experience-based learning activities, including taking the roles of the interviewee, the summarizer, and the interviewer — all deepened and reinforced by hands-on analytic and compositing exercises.

Prerequisites
Eligible participants should have at least an undergraduate understanding of research and analysis and/or experience conducting interview-based research. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own laptops to the Practicum. To apply, please contact Prof. Bob Textor by phone or email:
Call (503) 223-6370
Email info@efrsource.com

Logistics
Participants are responsible for their own travel, lodging and morning and evening meals — lunch is provided. Local accommodations are available at area hotels while they last.

Submitted by the Prescott College HLC Self-Study Committee

Prescott College has entered the process of renewing our accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). In 1999, Prescott College was granted a ten-year period of accreditation (the longest possible), and we will be evaluated again by HLC in 2009. Maintaining the college’s accreditation is one of the most important responsibilities that we have to the integrity of the college; this is also a significant opportunity to review how well we are carrying out our mission and to guide what our priorities will be for the next ten years.

As part of the reaccreditation process, the college has begun an extensive period of self-study. This will culminate in a thorough report to the HLC, to be completed in the summer of 2009. At this point, we want to invite all PC community members to participate in this process. Conducting this self-study is a very large undertaking, and we will be asking many of you to play a role. While we know that all of you have many responsibilities already, we ask that you give a high priority to our reaccreditation, as it is the foundation that makes possible everything else we do.

As this is a community effort, it is critical that everyone be informed about the process. This will be especially true in November 2009, when the HLC evaluation team will come to campus to conduct the actual accreditation review. In order to facilitate communication about the reaccreditation process we’ve created a website (www.prescott.edu/administration/hlc.html) that will serve as an exchange hub. There you will find copies of a range of related documents, including the report from our last self-study and site visit in 1999.  

If you are a student, you may have already received a request to complete a survey we are doing as a part of the self-study process called the National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE). Many of you have responded to this request. Thank you! For those who haven’t, please know that this survey will provide valuable information about the engagement of PC students in the learning process, a key component of our teaching approach. 

We ask all community members to help develop focal points for our self-study process. Which issues do you think need to be addressed in this process? Which aspects of Prescott College do you think are most important to develop over the next ten years? How can we improve? If you want your opinion to shape the self-study, please complete the feedback survey that is found on the PC/HLC website. The survey can also be reached directly at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=TqsFTrLMwHSyTZucM9LIbA_3d_3d.

In the fall the Self-Study process will be a part of the agenda for a regular meeting or two that occur at the program and office levels across the College. At these meeting, we will include the various groups constituting the College in discovering evidence relevant to how we are meeting these accreditation criteria.  For more information on the HLC accreditation process, please see the overview document that is available on the website (http://www.prescott.edu/administration/documents/Overview07.pdf).

The steering group has organized the self-study process into four subcommittees, each taking responsibility for one or two criteria (3 and 4 were combined). We have assigned chairs for each subcommittee and are currently developing a list of the types of supporting information that each subcommittee will be gathering.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. 
Please don’t hesitate to contact any one of us if you have questions. 

Jack Herring, Self-Study Coordinator
Steven Corey, Executive Vice President
Paul Burkhardt, Dean of ADGP
Gret Antilla, Dean of RDP
Joan Clingan, Chair, Subcommittee on Mission and Integrity
Tim Robison, Chair, Subcommittee on Strategic Planning
Charissa Menefee, Co-Chair, Subcommittee on Teaching and Learning
Laurie Silver, Chair, Subcommittee on Engagement and Service
Nancy Mattina, Co-Chair, Subcommittee on Teaching and Learning