Transitions Magazine - Fall 2012 - Prescott College

In Memoriam
In Memoriam
Derk Janssen M.A. ’99
Submitted by faculty member Sam Henrie
Derk was one of the important leaders of Prescott College who helped us create the second
iteration of the school where it stands today, in town. From the late 1970s through
the early 1990s he fulfilled several roles.
As Director of Marketing and Admissions he was responsible for developing our iconic logo
and the Prescott College motto—a version of which we still use today. He captured and communicated
our uniqueness deftly, winning prestigious awards for his work. Derk was an enthusiastic
and creative educator who helped create ECOSA and other projects; he was a sought-after
academic adviser among students, and he occasionally taught courses. Faculty, administrators, and
board members often sought his support and advice as well. He was an advocate for the College
when we needed it most.
When he left Prescott College he returned to his original educational vocation, as a teacher and coach at the local high
school. A well-known and loved member of the broader Prescott community, Derk passed away suddenly while teaching on
February 27, 2014.
Derk was a poet with a unique and gentle style. He published several books of poems about nature and the goodness of
people, as well as ongoing issues in the world. Derk was an educational philosopher, and that is what drew him to Prescott
College. We all learned from his insights. Derk was ethically consistent, always trying to live by his educational and life commitments.
He lived a good life.
Kenneth Karl Asplund
Information submitted by Ilse Asplund
Former faculty and board member Kenneth Asplund passed away at the age of 74 on February
5, 2014. He was born in 1939, the youngest son of Karl and Kaia (Siggerud) Asplund
of Oslo and Trondheim Norway. From an early age he immersed himself in the natural
world, exploring and collecting reptiles in the undeveloped lands around his home in northern
Pennsylvania. Kenneth completed undergraduate studies in zoology at Yale University and studied
desert ecology with the late Charles H. Lowe at the University of Arizona. He received a Ph.D.
in biology from UCLA in 1968, conducting dissertation research in remote regions of the Baja
California peninsula in the 1960s.
Kenneth arrived at Prescott College in 1973 and taught in Environmental Studies. In 1978
he developed a widely popular and visionary course, The Ecology of History, synthesizing the relationship of culture, religion,
and environment in shaping human history. He served on the College Board of Trustees from 1975 to 1977 and was a Prescott
city councilman for four years. With alumnus Ted Rose ’75 he started a local nursery, the Greenery, and was a founding board
member of the Arizona Native Plant Society. His love for and curiosity about natural history was unabated. He was a natural
teacher and generous mentor whose support for the curiosity and intellectual growth of his students was of a fabric with his
own interests. About his work, Kenneth once said, “There was never a difference between who I was and what I did.”
After leaving Prescott College in 1987, Kenneth worked as curator of living collections at the Arboretum at Flagstaff.
He then returned to the desert and worked at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum. Kenneth died in Tucson after a lengthy
decline. He is survived by three children: Jennifer, Julia, and Adam.
Arizona Cactus Wren
Anne Scofield ’70
Prescott College remembers charter class alumna Anne Scofield: Fellow classmate and friend
Kirk Gray ’69 wrote, “Anne passed away [earlier this spring] in Upland, Calif. She was quite
the avid and accomplished birder and had a wry sense of humor. I was fortunate to have the
opportunity to get to know Anne and to call her a friend.”
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Transitions Fall 2014