Arizona Humanities, the state chapter of the National Endowment for the Humanities, announced its four newly elected board of directors members on Tuesday, July 15, including Jaclyn Roessel who won the 2013 Arizona Humanities Council Rising Star Award.
Arizona Humanities' goal is to help organizations that promote understanding of the humanities and to work with museums, libraries, and others to offer Arizona residents humanities programs, involving things like history, literature, and philosophy dealing with the human condition. With their past experience and backgrounds, Roessel, Andrea Ahmed, Reginald Adams Jr., and Carlos L. Velasco could be catalysts in furthering that goal.
See also: Arizona Humanities Seeking Nominations for 2014 Humanities Awards
Knowing our state and its culture was a crucial aspect Arizona Humanities was looking for in its new board members. As an Arizona native born and raised on the Navajo Nation, Roessel fit the bill. Besides working as the Education and Public Programs Director at the Heard Museum, she also received AH's Rising Star Award last year for her work promoting humanities in her community.
Roessel wasn't the only Arizona native elected. Ahmed is a tribal member of the Tohono O' Odham Nation, where he works as the director of recreation in Sells, Arizona. But neither Adams nor Velasco are new to the desert. Velasco, who owns a consulting firm that helps clients better understand the diverse communities they are trying to serve, has worked with Local First Arizona in addition to other community-based organizations. Similarly, Adams works with clients to help them streamline their system of transferring knowledge and information while he also attends the University of Phoenix, studying toward a doctorate degree in educational leadership.
Arizona Humanities board members are mostly elected by the existing board from a pool of statewide applicants. The governor does appoint one-fourth of the board, though. Members serve three-year terms, with the possibility of extending those terms for an additional three years.
Board members act as links with the communities that AH and their partnering organizations serve, meaning diversity within the board is key while they consider grants, plan and oversee activities, and set policy among other duties.
Additional information about all board members as well as information about Arizona Humanities' upcoming events can be found at www.azhumanities.org.
