Transitions Magazine Fall 2011 - Prescott College

In MemoriamIn MemoriamDerk Janssen M.A. ’99Submitted by faculty member Sam HenrieDerk was one of the important leaders of Prescott College who helped us create the seconditeration of the school where it stands today, in town. From the late 1970s throughthe early 1990s he fulfilled several roles.As Director of Marketing and Admissions he was responsible for developing our iconic logoand the Prescott College motto—a version of which we still use today. He captured and communicatedour uniqueness deftly, winning prestigious awards for his work. Derk was an enthusiasticand creative educator who helped create ECOSA and other projects; he was a sought-afteracademic adviser among students, and he occasionally taught courses. Faculty, administrators, andboard members often sought his support and advice as well. He was an advocate for the Collegewhen we needed it most.When he left Prescott College he returned to his original educational vocation, as a teacher and coach at the local highschool. A well-known and loved member of the broader Prescott community, Derk passed away suddenly while teaching onFebruary 27, 2014.Derk was a poet with a unique and gentle style. He published several books of poems about nature and the goodness ofpeople, as well as ongoing issues in the world. Derk was an educational philosopher, and that is what drew him to PrescottCollege. 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 AsplundInformation submitted by Ilse AsplundFormer faculty and board member Kenneth Asplund passed away at the age of 74 on February5, 2014. He was born in 1939, the youngest son of Karl and Kaia (Siggerud) Asplundof Oslo and Trondheim Norway. From an early age he immersed himself in the naturalworld, exploring and collecting reptiles in the undeveloped lands around his home in northernPennsylvania. Kenneth completed undergraduate studies in zoology at Yale University and studieddesert 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 BajaCalifornia peninsula in the 1960s.Kenneth arrived at Prescott College in 1973 and taught in Environmental Studies. In 1978he 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 Prescottcity councilman for four years. With alumnus Ted Rose ’75 he started a local nursery, the Greenery, and was a founding boardmember of the Arizona Native Plant Society. His love for and curiosity about natural history was unabated. He was a naturalteacher and generous mentor whose support for the curiosity and intellectual growth of his students was of a fabric with hisown 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 lengthydecline. He is survived by three children: Jennifer, Julia, and Adam.Arizona Cactus WrenAnne Scofield ’70Prescott College remembers charter class alumna Anne Scofield: Fellow classmate and friendKirk Gray ’69 wrote, “Anne passed away [earlier this spring] in Upland, Calif. She was quitethe avid and accomplished birder and had a wry sense of humor. I was fortunate to have theopportunity to get to know Anne and to call her a friend.”28Transitions Fall 2014