March 11, 2024

Alumni & Faculty News for March 2024

If you’re a Prescott College Alumni or current/past Faculty or Staff member and would like to be featured in the next update, click here.

Brian Lilla ’93

After executing an eighteen-month-long community screening campaign that kicked off in Sebastopol, California, and went as far as Johannesburg, South Africa, “Children Of The Vine” is now being released on Amazon Prime Video. It’s a huge opportunity to reach global audiences. Brian is feeling re-invigorated to keep the dialogue alive regarding how to help communities shift away from the toxic herbicide Roundup. He hopes you enjoy the film, and any considerations to help spread the word are greatly appreciated! Click here to rent or buy now.

Amanda Giracca ’03
Amanda is a new member of the Literacy Network Board of Directors. Amanda joined the LitNet team in 2020 and recently served as the organization’s Grants and Communications Coordinator. Her new full-time and additional role is that of New Programs Coordinator. Congratulations, Amanda. Click here to read more.

Amy Haney ’15
Amy’s exhibit, “Aviate,” opened Monday and will remain open to the public through April 12 in the Mills Gallery. A reception for the artist will be held in the Mills Gallery from 11 AM to 5 PM Thursday, April 11. The Mills Gallery, Lubbers Center for the Visual Arts on Central’s campus, is open from 9 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday. Click here to learn more.

Ericha Hitchcock Scott (’04)
Ericha invites you to participate in her upcoming workshops like, “Transformational Love, Letters, Poetry, and Art.” Ericha writes: “Participation in this workshop may evoke intense emotions at times. The aim is to learn from and understand these therapeutic exercises and how they can be used within a variety of contexts with individuals, groups and family members of all ages. By following the guidelines included in this presentation, you will improve your “love letter literacy,” and be able to help clients work toward greater connection, enhanced intimacy and love grounded in concrete reality!” Click here to learn more.

Julika von Stackelberg ’20
Julika is a new board member for the Hudson Valley Patern for Progress. The River Reporter writes, “She is a leader of innovative community-based approaches to increasing public health through programs like the Master Community Builder Program, a research-based program she developed, piloted, and launched in 2023. The program is built on a culturally responsive and sustaining framework that centers on human and planetary well-being and expertly trains individuals to build resilient communities. Julika serves on several community coalitions and organization boards and holds appointments on statewide advisory and advocacy committees.” Congratulations, Julika. Click here to read more.

Janet Ross ’74
Janet invites you to purchase her book, “A Place Called Home: Quilting a Life of Joy on the Colorado Plateau,” because it’s not too late to send your sweetheart her Place-Based Memoir. Terry Tempest Williams, author of “Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place,” said, “Janet Ross has a crucial story to tell about what it means to create not only a sense of place in the rural Southwest, but embody and foster an ethic of place. Through the metaphor of quilting, she shows how one creates a meaningful life by piecing together what appear to be disparate fabrics into a cohesive whole. Janet Ross’s story belongs to the tradition of western women from Mary Austin to Maureen Whipple to Ellen Meloy. What this woman knows about independence and interdependence in the name of community and social change, we need to hear.”. Click here to purchase now.

Lisa Popeil (’76)
Lisa Popeil is a renowned vocal coach, singer, and expert in voice science and vocal technique. With over 40 years of experience, she has become a prominent figure in the music industry, providing vocal training to a wide range of clients, including professional singers, actors, and public speakers. Click here to learn more.

New Prescott College Dean of Academic Affairs Pavel Cenkl
Pavel Cenkl is the Founder and Director of the Regenerative Learning Network, where he focuses his energies on the intersection of transformative learning, community, and ecology and on finding the tangible steps we can take together to follow a pathway toward a more regenerative and resilient educational future. Previously Head of Schumacher College (Devon, UK) and Dean of Sterling College (VT), Pavel writes and speaks widely about curriculum design and pedagogy, global learning networks, environmental humanities, and philosophy and has developed programs in ecology, humanities, outdoor skills and recreation, regenerative food and farming, and more. Please join us in welcoming Pavel. We’re happy to have you here.

Impact Careers Series from Prescott College Dean of Graduate Admissions Pamela Delany
Videos of the Helping Professions sessions from the Impact Careers Series have been posted. If you missed out on going to the session but wanted to see what they consisted of, view the videos at the end of this webpage here. Thank you for creating this opportunity for our community, Pamela.

Kino Bay Center Contract
Prescott College’s Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies is proud to announce a groundbreaking alliance with Mexico Pacific for marine species monitoring, marking the first-ever collaboration with a private industry partner in the Gulf of California. Mexico Pacific is committed to responsible development, which extends to monitoring programs outside its own direct project area. The alliance aims to provide crucial summary information about the status and trends of priority species in the broader region to effectively inform conservation and management strategies.  

Prescott College Faculty Member Emily Affolter on the project for the Advisory Board for the National Science Foundation TIME
Prescott College Faculty Member Emily Affolter recently presented a project she has been working on with the Advisory Board for the National Science Foundation: The Institute for Meaningful Engagement focused on pedagogical equity centering racially minoritized undergraduate student experiences in the STEM fields. Emily writes, “I’m excited for my presentation today— delving into anti-racist, decolonizing, and culturally responsive and sustaining education theory and methods with University of California STEM faculty members. We are going to unveil systemic inequities at play in STEM and reimagine classrooms (and our own accountability in and through them).” Congratulations, Emily.

A Farewell from Marie Smith in Advancement and Alumni Relations
Upon retirement, I look back on my time at Prescott College and realize I have lived a good portion of my life here. I came into a small admissions office on Valentine’s Day in 2005 and was immediately introduced to a vivid congregation of colorful and committed people. I can still hear President Dan Garvey’s wonderful talks and presentations, envision Liz Faller’s dance troupe presentations, or go back in history with Doug Hulme’s chautauqua of John Muir. Traveling the country and recruiting those just so special PC students was just the start. I was thrilled to be entrusted with starting a robust alumni recruitment program for the admissions office, which led me to working as the Director of Alumni Relations for many years. I loved creating events for alumni to connect, whether at a Moroccan restaurant in Portland, a tea house in Boulder, at alumni homes, with presentations at various gardens, museums, and galleries, or especially the on-campus reunions of 2010 and 2014. Re-establishing the alumni newsletter, Ecos, and sending monthly news of the College back to the PC community for 17 years was my privilege. Working with many alumni from the charter class to the present has been an honor. For the last few years I have been working remotely as the Advancement database system manager. I have so enjoyed creating so many connections with people who have truly shared their life and talents at Prescott College. Bravo to you all. Farewell. I will miss you.