Campus Board Members Serving Previous Terms

Amy Belk, is the manager of Pima County’s Native Plant Nursery, growing and salvaging native plants for public spaces as part of the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. She has been an ISA certified arborist for 14 years, and has worked in plant nurseries, botanical gardens, private gardens, and public green spaces in Arizona as well as the Eastern United States. Amy is currently pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Sciences at the University of Arizona, and her research and professional interests include the role native plants play in ecological restoration that supports native pollinators.

Ann Audrey is an alumna of the U of A, and has spent many happy hours over the years walking among the wonderful trees in the Campus Arboretum. As a board member, she tirelessly uses her experience as a fundraiser and expertise in running non-profits to help with marketing, fundraising and landscape development. Learn more about Ann!

Hank Verbais, graduated from the University of Arizona in 1975 and 1976 with bachelors and masters degrees in vocational rehabilitation. He later earned a law degree from the Santa Barbara College of Law. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and U.S Navy Reserve. He was a school administrator in Santa Barbara, CA for a number of years before becoming an air traffic controller. After retiring from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2013, he pursued his love of the outdoors by becoming a docent at Tohono Chul Park where he leads butterfly and wildflower tours. He is a certified master gardener, certified master naturalist, a trained local phenology leader and docent at the Watershed Management Group. He leads arboretum tours and coordinates the tour program with other master gardener volunteer tour guides and the University visitor center. He is an avid fly fisher and a woodworker who enjoys creating Shaker-inspired furniture.

Pauline Savage is an artist both as painter and sculptor. She earned a B.S. in Art, a B.S. in Art Education and a M.A in painting and ceramics from Fort Hays State University, and the University of Kansas. She also has a certificate in Expressive Art Therapy. Through her company, Savage Design Studio in Seattle her paintings were marketed and sold nationally through The Seattle Gift Mart and Picture Source. She has experience as Assistant Director of Admissions for the Kansas City Art Institute and also experience in Market and Research in the training and seminar industry. She is a member of the Southwest Society of Botanical Artists, Botanical Artist Guild of Southern California, the Americans Society of Botanical Artist, the National Guild of Scientific Illustrators. In a quest to learn about the flora a fauna of the desert, after moving to Tucson in 2017, she became a member of Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society, Tucson Native Plant Society, Native Seed Search, Tohono Chul, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and The Tucson Botanical Gardens. Pauline is actively involved in the Campus Arboretum's Krutch Garden Florilegium project. For more information on Pauline, visit: paulinesavage.com

Kathryn Stamps is a volunteer copywriter and editor for the Campus Arboretum's e-newsletter. She earned an MFA from Hunter College, NY; BFA, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst; and ASA in Fine Art from Greenfield Community College. Kathryn grew up hiking and camping in New England, where she developed a passion for learning about the local natural environment anywhere she goes. Her favorite book about the outdoors is "Reading the Forested Landscape" by Tom Wessels

Leonard Sciulli, is an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona. Lenny is professionally interested in urban horticulture and helps the arboretum with research and outreach. He is working on an analysis of the climate adaptation of our campus and created and hosts an outreach tour relating to desert plant adaptations. Both of these projects aim to provide practical learning and guidance to the community seeking to build sustainable landscapes.

Jackie Lyle, Vice President of Operations and Communications for Civano Growers in Tucson, Arizona. As an ISA Certified Arborist and member of the City of Tucson Landscape Advisory Committee, Jackie is well-versed in urban and residential horticulture for the Southwest. She is also a Pima County Master Gardener and she sits on the board of the Arizona Community Tree Council. In her free time, Jackie volunteers as a docent at the University of Arizona Campus Arboretum. She also enjoys visiting famous trees around the world.

William Lampman, is an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona. William is double majoring in Plant Sciences (BS) and Natural Resources (Wildlife Conservation Emphasis) in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. William provides leadership on the board in establishing a new desert plant conservatory, and in providing reserach of plant species proposed or existing in the Campus Arboretum collection. Learn more about William!

Peter Price is currently a Ph.D. Student at Arizona State University studying native and desert-adapted succulent plants that employ crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) for green roof design applications in the Sonoran Desert. Peter earned a B.S. in Plant Sciences from the University of Arizona in 2011, and a Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) from Arizona State University in 2016, and has experience in natural resource management with the US Forest Service as well as state agencies in Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota. Learn more about Peter!

Sandra Obenour-Dowd is the Grounds Superintendent for the University of Arizona. She earned her B.S. degree in Horticulture from Texas A&M University. From wholesale and retail nurseries, to tissue culture at the Biosphere, to golf course horticulturist, to university grounds maintenance, she has a deep horticultural background. Sandra has lived in all three of the southwestern United States deserts and has a great interest in promoting the beauty and functionality of native and adapted plants in the landscape.

Margaret Pope is a scientific illustrator who has done commissioned work for private individuals, businesses and organizations. Solo exhibits of her work have been held at Tohono Chul Park and Tucson Botanical Gardens and her work has been juried into both local and international exhibits. She has also curated several exhibits. In 2008 she began The Sonoran Desert Florilegium Program, a non-profit organization sponsored by the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society, whose mission it is to promote and preserve botanical art of the Sonoran Desert region. Prior to becoming an artist Margaret received a B.S. in Science, from the University of San Francisco and a Masters in Public Health and Nurse-Midwifery from The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She was in the Peace Corps in India from 1965 -1968 and worked as a nurse-midwife on the Navajo Reservation and in Tucson from in 1970 through 1979.

Dr. Steven Leavitt, Steven Leavitt has a B.S. degree in Geology from the University of Illinois, M.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia, and Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the University of Arizona. Leavitt is the Associate Director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona. His specialty is isotope dendrochronology as applied to paleoclimate and ecology questions. He has been author or co-author on more than 150 papers, and has been Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on 20 grants from various agencies including National Science Foundation, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, U.S. Dept. of Energy, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Leavitt teaches classes related to global change, biogeochemical cycles and isotope dendrochronology, and he has also been editor of the international journal Tree-Ring Research since 2001.

Nick Shipley, co-owner and Chief Operations Officer of Civano Growers was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. He is an ISA Certified Arborist. From 1997-2004 he served as Reclamation Manager for Civano Nursery, Inc. where he oversaw salvage of trees and cacti from development sites. From 2004-2017 he served as Farm Manager of Civano Growers where he oversaw all aspects of plant production at the nursery. Nick was raised in the horticulture industry and started working summers in his father's greenhouses at the age of 11. he has an incredible passion for plants and is driven to see them thrive in our urban landscapes.

David Yetman is an academic expert on Sonora, Mexico and an Emmy award-winning media presenter on the world's deserts. He is a research social scientist at the University of Arizona. Yetman is a known as the 'voice' for the people and desert regions of the south-west USA and Northern Mexico. His publications date back to the 1980s and often deal with the plant use of particular tribes and peoples. 

Jane Evans was born and raised in Tucson and graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Plant Science in 1976. After a brief one year stint as Assistant Extension Agent at the Tucson Garden Center Jane struck out on her own. She purchased the Garden Flower Shop property at 2936 N Stone in 1978. In 1986 her not yet husband, Gene Joseph, started Plants for the Southwest, a cactus and succulent nursery, on this property and Jane and Gene continue to run the nursery to this day. This property is the longest continuous nursery property in Tucson! Growing Lithops, a South African Succulent is her speciality however her plant interests are wide ranging.

Bethany Vos is an undergraduate student pursuing two degrees: one, in Nutritional Sciences and one in Plant Sciences. She expects to graduate in 2021. She is an exceptionally organized, meticulous student who has enrolled for course credit doing projects for the Campus Arboretum. Most recently, she has assumed responsibility for curating the arboretum's extensive botanical photo inventory. As the Campus Arboretum photographer, she ensure all plants in the collection have botanically identifying photos, publishes these to the web and maintains accuracy of all records, including updating current taxonomic classification in the database. As a member of the board, Bethany assists by organizing meetings, compiling the agenda, taking minutes and providing valuable perspectives and insights.

Judith Ratliff (MLA, UA 1991) has been designing Tucson landscapes for 25 years. She's also known for the articles she's written on plantings, design issues and architecture for various publications.

Bob Baker, UA Alumnus, and community representative.

Bob Hutchinson, retired faculty University of Louisiana

Linda Drew retired University of Arizona Computing Manager