Weekly Wave: Reflections: Looking Back 20 Years and a Call to Action

February 14 is an important date for me – and not only because it is Valentine’s Day and Arizona Statehood Day. February 14 is also the anniversary date of my joining the Water Resources Research Center and Arizona Cooperative Extension faculty. This year marks 20 years! How did statehood day come to be my work anniversary? There is a story to that. As has occurred over the years, state budget considerations were causing the University of Arizona to tighten its belt and look carefully at its hiring. Eugene Sander, then Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was key to my returning to the University of Arizona. He and then WRRC Director Peter Wierenga were in negotiations with me when, in late January 2002, Dean Sander asked, “How soon can you start?” There was some worry of a hiring freeze. It did not take me long to identify Arizona Statehood Day as a fitting day to return to the University of Arizona, and I joined the WRRC as Associate Director on February 14, 2002. (I became WRRC Director on July 1, 2004.) Twenty years later, I am truly grateful for the opportunity to get to know the many individuals and communities, broadly construed, with whom I have worked over the years to foster understanding of the critical water issues faced by Arizona and other semi-arid regions and explore pathways to address them.