Foreword

Janet K. Weir

History is not truth

Truth is the telling.

—Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989)

August 15, 2025

The truth of the early days of Central Arizona College lies in the telling—in the experiences and memories shared by the students, staff, and teachers of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

For more than forty years, we have known each other as teachers and friends —Jeffrey Ross, an English professor at Central Arizona College, and I, Janet K. Weir, the Public Services Librarian at the same college. I regularly presented in-depth “Library Research” sessions to his students and many others.

These stories—and the book* that supplements them—would not exist without the determination of a community that saw the need for higher education there, in the desert between Phoenix and Tucson—and they made it happen. They carved it out of Pinal County’s 3,439,369 acres.

The college gave local students a place to begin, helped workers gain new skills, and became a center for art and community life.

This book is our way of saving those memories. We want you to hear the voices, feel the times, and know what Central Arizona College—CAC—meant to the people who lived it.

*A Community College District’s History. Coolidge: Pinal County Community College District, 1976. (Available in the Signal Peak Library Archive Collection)

Preface

Jeffrey Ross

August 11, 2025

Janet Weir and I had no plans to write a book such as this as recently as December 2024. But the passing of several long-term CAC employees (beloved employees, I might add) during early 2025 alerted Janet to the fact that CAC’s unofficial history, life stories, and memories were slipping away. She contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in helping her put together a book of recollections- – from “the old days”—about the college. I couldn’t say no.

I was 25 years of age when I became a full-time CAC employee in 1979. Most of the staff then were in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. The math is painful…but revealing. We are a dwindling group of “old” friends and colleagues. Time and age are relentless and unforgiving.

So, back in March 2025, Janet and I began reaching out to our former colleagues and students through social media, emails, snail mail, over lunch or coffee, phone calls, and newspaper articles. We asked for memories and tributes and bits of official college history from students, faculty, and staff who were at Central Arizona College in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Over 50 contributors responded.

Call this a historical document…or ethnography with a twist…or a multimethod compilation. The specific genre is debatable.

But it was certainly a labor of love. And we are pleased with the outcome.

We think it is a unique effort and approach at preserving a community college’s history.

Surely, the stories will remind you how different higher education has become in the 21st century. Maybe better, maybe not. But certainly different.

By the way…let me apologize in advance for any name misspellings, date confusions, job title spellings, capitalizations, and errors with positions held when and where. All of that. I have a pretty good handle on “member-checking” and the “audit trail” as they pertain to qualitative research.

But please grant some leeway, some room for error, in this book. My sense is that we are 98% standard and accurate with grammar and spelling in this text, but remember, this book is built around memories and perceptions.

In our informal “requests for submissions,” we asked for appropriate time period memories about people, places, and events- – with a positive vibe. By and large, that is exactly what we received. (Mostly. Hah.)

Sometimes the language is a bit colloquial, sometimes very formal. We have tried to provide only basic editing in relation to mechanics, spelling, and obvious syntax issues. We just didn’t want to interfere much with the context, the content, or the passion of these wonderful memories. Just go with the flow and enjoy this detail and name-rich trip down CAC Memory Lane.

We did not include photographs in this book. Although there is no doubt the text would be enhanced by images, our focus, from the beginning, was clearly on preserving written memories.

Also, sadly, many significant people and events from the time period reviewed in this book did not get mentioned.

It really is my sincere hope that this is the beginning of a collection of published CAC Memories. A collection of photographs, and another 250 memories and celebrations of past staff and activities, would be wonderful.

Perhaps a web site should be established which would encourage ongoing informal posts about CAC’s past- – and provide for a rich and constantly expanding historical data base (for text and images).

Thank you so much to all our contributors. And readers. And a very special thank you to Janet K. Weir, an excellent librarian, teacher, and researcher who had the idea to put this book together!

Sequel, anyone? Volume 2? Volume 3?

Let’s Get Ready to REEEEAAAAAD!

Introduction

Dr. Terry Calaway

CAC President 2003-2007

CAC Vice President 1999-2003

When Dr. Jeff Ross asked me to write an introduction to his latest book, I was quite honored but also intimidated. I always viewed Dr. Ross and many of his faculty colleagues as icons at Central Arizona College. The college in the 1990s was an institution in flux…enrollment was static, relationships in the community and with local employers were broken, the financials of the college were difficult if not impossible to understand, and the College Board was deeply divided. I had several colleagues ask me if I knew what I was getting myself into, but being young and probably a little overconfident, I felt I could help lead us to a better place.

Throughout my days at Central Arizona College, I found we had exceptional faculty and staff at all three campuses; they simply needed to be supported in their efforts. On my first day at the college, I met Professors George Fridell and Al Chew. They were “crusty old guys” who had each been at the college for twenty-plus years. They had taken turns over the previous few years serving as Chair of the Faculty Association, and they saw their job as fighting anything that came from the administration. They felt many administrators didn’t really understand what educating a college student was all about. My plan was to understand what motivated George and Al as faculty members and leaders, but also how we could make a better environment for all at the college together.

I found that Al and George met early every morning for coffee and to do crossword puzzles, so I would head to the cafeteria several times a week and join them to talk and understand their perspectives. In the process, I heard many stories of the battles they had been fighting and began to understand the culture of the college as well as their teaching/professional motivations. I came to admire them in a very deep and real way. They were exceptional teachers, and they loved their students. I found the battles were very personal for them. Over the course of the next nine years I spent at the college, I always considered the values Al and George brought to the classroom every day; I leaned on them regularly for advice and counsel; I learned as much from them about leadership at a community college as I had from many others in my career.

Along the way, I also made an intentional connection with Dr. Mel Everingham, the second president of the college and one of the most respected leaders in the college’s history. Mel and his wife Lucy were very welcoming and gracious to me; they had me to their home on more than one occasion, during which we would talk over coffee about the college and the players who were influencing perceptions at the college. Mel was probably my first true mentor in presidential leadership.

He cared deeply for Central Arizona College. He never minced words, and he never had much use for self-centered administrators. Mel would coach me on how to go about engaging in the college and community to best serve our students. While he never wanted to come to campus, he would call on occasion and let me know when he heard we were making some good progress. He also would call if he heard that I had messed up something from his perspective, and he would share his advice on how to move forward in a better way. Mel passed in 2002, just a short time after I had moved into the president’s role. I missed his good advice, and I know the college will always honor his legacy as colleague and leader.

As I began to meet the faculty and staff at the three campuses (Superstition Mountain, Aravaipa, and Signal Peak), I found the culture and perspectives were very different. Each campus had a very different “feel.” The dynamics and the motivations that influenced the organizational culture and how the culture manifested at each of the campuses were intriguing. The team at Superstition Mountain was, to a person, exceptional. They had done more with such limited resources than any group I have ever seen. I was inspired by their creativity and commitment to students. The faculty and staff all knew each student by name, and the students were extremely bright and very focused on their next steps. This group understood the power of “engagement” with students before anyone was even considering the word.

The campus had been pretty much ignored by leadership, and, if given the opportunity, I am sure they would have preferred to separate from the district and form their own community college. They certainly had the talent to do so. Jeff Ross, Ellen Elson, and Terry Kochenderfer were the faculty who set the pace in those early days, but the campus had an innate ability to recruit experienced faculty talent in the Apache Junction area. I think of Janet Weir, Mary Puglia, and Leslie Alexander—amazingly talented teachers. John Neibling and Joanna Michelich each served in the early days as campus Deans. They were instrumental in influencing the campus culture and establishing the campus as a pivotal resource within the community. They fought hard for SMC and then went on to very successful community college leadership careers after leaving the college—John as a President and Joanna as an Academic Vice President. Today, the SMC campus is a critical partner in the economic development structure in the Apache Junction/Gold Canyon community, and these faculty and academic leaders set the cornerstone for that success.

Aravaipa Campus had initially been developed as a technical college designed to support the local mining industry. In the early days the campus thrived with thousands of mining employees getting their initial training at the campus. Over the course of the years the campus’s enrollment grew or got smaller in direct correlation to how the local copper mining business fluctuated. Unfortunately, as mining profits waned in the 1990s, so did the campus enrollments and the community populations. One thing which never waned, however, was the support from local communities like Ray, Mammoth, Winkelman, etc.

I was always struck by how close the community ties were with the Aravaipa campus. Everyone in the area knew each other and each other’s children and always asked how they were and what they were doing, even if they had not seen each other for years. The campus enrollment was small in the 1990s, sometimes as few as 200 students per term, but a student once on campus was forever a part of the Aravaipa family. Commencement was a very special day in the life of the Aravaipa community. Everyone came to celebrate the success of the grads, even if they didn’t have a student on campus at the time. The community joined in the celebration and the after-party potluck was like nothing I had ever experienced.

Some years we might have had only fifteen or twenty grads, but every individual was special in the eyes of this community. In the same way faculty and staff were committed to each other, they were proud to be a part of the college. The faculty were celebrities in the local community. And everyone was very formal. Anytime I was on campus, faculty, staff and community members referred to me as Dr. Calaway, even though I preferred to be called by my first name. I think of faculty like Professor of Science Dr. Jeff Bunkleman, who was so committed to students.

Another faculty member, Dr. Linda Leigh, taught earth science and was an original Biosphere II crew member. One semester she created a mini biosphere in a science lab for the students to explore. The students conducted experiments and recorded oxygen readings being produced by the plants in the mini biosphere. Incredible really. The campus also had some strong leaders in this time period—people like Dixon Faucette, Jim Lamb, and Joan Warren—but no one person epitomized Aravaipa more than Gloria Anne Guzman.

Mrs. Guzman was an elementary school teacher in the area and served as the CAC Board member in that district for nearly thirty years. She was Aravaipa through and through and celebrated every person who stepped foot on campus. She was everything a community college board member should strive to be when they choose to serve. Mrs. Guzman was a beloved local elementary school teacher; her career spanned over forty years, and when she was elected to our Board of Governors, she set the tone in many ways for the future. She became deeply involved in the national Trustees Association (Association of Community College Trustees) and served on its national board. She loved going to Washington D.C. and telling the CAC story on Capitol Hill. I came to admire her very deeply, and her family in a very real way adopted us into the Guzman family.

Signal Peak Campus was called by many the main campus, but really it was just the largest campus due to its location being the closest to a larger population area in Pinal County. The Casa Grande and Coolidge communities were nearby, and each community saw the campus as their home college. While the college was in an unincorporated section of the county and was surrounded by dairy farms, cotton fields, and other agriculturally related businesses, the campus and the community wanted us to be more than just a local rural college.

The first president of CAC, Dr. Don Pence, was a musician by training and so one of the early buildings was a quality performing arts facility. The acoustics in the building were surprisingly strong. As a result, the music program was always prominent and brought in faculty like Jim Lee and Kim Freyermouth who were exceptional musicians. Kim was also a world class singer. They drew in good students with their musical talent. Years later, with the addition of Norm Wigton, who had the theater management talent, we were able to present high quality theater productions.

Later, Rick Moore joined us from Wyoming. He raised the talent and production level to an even higher place, and his energy and entrepreneurial skill encouraged students from across the state to come to study at the college. We also had a sensational visual arts team led by Tom Belden. Tom is a renowned artist in his own right, but under his leadership we opened a small but mighty art gallery and began showing work from local artists Tom knew. Several were Native American artists who brought their work to the college; for a few, this played a part in launching their careers. A year or two into the gallery shows we even had a couple of “controversial” pieces on display. That concerned a few Board members, but we helped them understand that art can be used as a learning tool and is often the reflection of an artist’s life and experiences. There is no question Tom raised local awareness on the power of art, and maybe even deepened this rough and tumbling rural community’s appreciation for art.

The campus had a number of really wonderful personal interest stories including that of Terry May, the first successful heart and lung dual transplant patient. Olympic medal winning track athlete George Young served for decades as the college athletic director. Lin Laursen served for nearly thirty years as our women’s basketball coach and retired as a Basketball Hall of Fame member and, at the time, the winningest coach in NJCAA D-I history. Dr. Steven Gonzales, who came to us as a twenty-something year old high school math teacher, today is the much-respected Chancellor/CEO of the Maricopa Community Colleges, our nation’s largest and most respected community college district.

But my fondest memory of Central Arizona College is the students. Every year on the first day of class we had the opportunity to welcome so many excited young people to our campuses and then just a couple of years later give them hugs and their diplomas as they walked across the stage at graduation. For me, it always was about the students—being a part of helping create wonderful opportunities, bringing the best faculty and staff to the campus to guide their educational journey, and along the way learning from them how we could be even better for the next cohort that came to us.

I do know that the happiest days of my forty-seven year career were spent at CAC working with the best faculty one could ever desire. I just hope I didn’t get in the way too often. Even more so, I hope I was a part of bringing the best opportunities to them to create great learning opportunities for the Pinal County students. When I am in Arizona, I still stop by the campuses. I generally don’t tell anyone I am there or what role I played back in the day. I just love to sit in the cafeteria and watch the students engage with their teachers or each other, or I go watch a few innings of a baseball or softball game. It always does feel like home.