Press stop.
Hello,
this is Caroline Livingston and Matthew Gernstead interviewing Abby Long
Logsdon.
Addie,
uh,
I,
I think I said Addie,
my bad.
Addie Logsdon on November 5th at 2 o'clock at in Vice Dean Foot's office.
This interview is part of the Barrett Oral History Project.
Our goal is to preserve a record of
Barrett's history in honor of our 30th anniversary.
Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with us and share your experience.
So just to get started,
what's your affiliation with Barrett?
So I came to ASU in 1994 from Washington State,
and I didn't know anything about the Honors College.
And in,
I think 1996,
I also discovered that there was no Women's coalition on campus.
So I set about to found the Women's Coalition.
I thought it was
outrageous it didn't exist,
and so I met with various faculty and staff
and administrators across campus and ultimately someone said,
you need to meet with Michael Cochise Young.
She works in the Honors College.
So I called her and made an appointment with her,
and I talked to her about
forming a women's coalition,
and she was very,
very helpful.
But at the end of the time I had with her,
she said,
Why aren't you in the honors college?
And I said,
I don't know what the honors college is.
So she insisted I apply as an upperclassman and I started in the honors college.
I think as a junior,
but I,
I was just telling Dean Jacobs that I switched my major in my senior year,
so I ended up having 3 years with Barrett.
It wasn't Barrett then though.
What was it called then?
University Honors College.
Yeah.
So I got to know um Dean Humphrey really well.
I spent a lot of time with Dean Michael Cochise Young and then Dean Burke too.
As an undergrad,
and I did a summer study abroad,
um,
to the British Isles,
and I wrote a really fun thesis on Yvonne Boland,
who's an Irish,
uh,
author and poet.
I think she was at Stanford still.
Um,
so it was great.
I loved my
time as an underclassman.
That's,
yeah,
undergrad,
I believe you also worked as a staffer here at there.
Yes.
So when I graduate,
one of the reasons I did,
uh,
took 5 years to graduate instead of 4
is I was in the education department and I did
a 11 year of their 2 year professional program.
And after doing one year,
I said,
I have made a mistake and I don't want to be a teacher.
So I changed my major to English literature and I needed a foreign language.
So I did a,
I think a semester at ASU,
a summer session,
and then I transferred to the Sorbonne in Paris,
my
freshman semester,
my first semester of my senior,
my 5th senior year,
my 5th year.
And so I spent August to December in Paris,
where I took the LSAT because I was going to graduate from ASU and go to law school
and come home and do that here.
But while I was living in Paris,
going to the Sorbonne,
I met a ton of French people and I really loved Paris and I changed my mind.
So when I came back to Barrett,
my final semester,
I finished.
Finished up some courses.
I did a really great internship at APS because I had met Dick and Dinky Snell
while I was at ASU doing Devil's advocate tours.
And they
hooked me up with a really great internship at APS.
When I graduated and I'd saved up my money,
I moved back to Paris
and I lived in Paris for a little over a year
and
taught English.
I was an English assistant in a public high school there,
and I
didn't really keep in touch with anybody here at ASU.
And when I came back and needed a job,
I
asked Assistant Dean
Janet Burke if we could have coffee,
and we had coffee right over at the,
um,
business school there was,
it wasn't Starbucks at the time,
it was something else.
And she.
Encouraged me and told me all sorts of great stuff and um.
I said,
well,
I'd love to use you as a reference,
and she says,
you're welcome to use me as a reference,
and she walked back to her office
and her event coordinator walked in and quit.
So she called me that night and she says,
Ted and I want you to come and work for us as an event coordinator.
And I said,
I don't want to be an event coordinator.
That is not my life goal.
That
I don't think I'd be good at that.
Planning parties is what.
I thought it sounded like.
And she says,
we know you're going to be great at it,
and we want you to come work for us.
So I came and worked.
It was then called Barrett,
because Barbara and Craig had done the big gift by then.
And,
um,
I started in March of 2001.
Working
here and
within a month I had Nieve Leakey come.
I managed the Centennial lecture series and the Rhodes lecture series
and all sorts of other speaking engagements on campus and I worked a lot with.
I wasn't in development,
but I really wanted to be in development,
so I spent a lot of time with our donors
and um
it was great.
I really,
really loved it
and I had a lot of flexibility which I wanted.
And because I've been a student of Ted and Janet,
it,
it was a very wonderful relationship for me to work
for them because they believed in me and I had,
I would come to them with ideas and they would just say,
yeah,
you should do that.
So,
how long were you working at Barrett for?
I worked for Barrett for 5 years.
Wow,
yeah,
that's,
that's a lot.
So what are some of the projects that you're the
most proud of working on or any initiatives that you're,
yeah,
you just
feel the most?
So here's one of the things that happened.
So when I started,
there's donors still that give to the school,
and they used to be really involved with the Phoenix Symphony,
and they would donate a ton of Phoenix Symphony tickets to Barrett.
And one of my jobs was to go resell them for like $12 a ticket to students,
and no student ever bought them.
Tickets to the symphony,
tickets to the ballet.
And I said I walked into Janet's office and I said,
no one is buying these tickets because they're 18,
they've never been to the symphony.
They're scared.
They don't know where to park,
they don't know what to wear,
they don't know when to clap,
they don't know what the heck they're listening to.
This is ridiculous.
a context and a group environment,
and they should have this.
And she said,
you
should teach that class,
and we will pay you extra to teach it.
So I developed cultural encounters,
and it was a one credit hour class,
and I taught it and I did all the research.
I also did not come from a family that knew anything about the arts.
So I was really
capable
to be like a student and I think,
well,
what would be,
what would scare me,
and what would be my questions.
And so we
developed these relationships around the community where
we could go and see Wicked,
and then the person playing the wizard would come
out afterwards for coffee and dessert with my students.
Or like the lead dancer of Riverdance,
that the Irish dance Company would come to class.
And talk about what it was like
to be the lead dancer in Riverdance.
But also we would have people like Gwen Hillis,
who's a donor to the college and who I spend a lot of time with.
Um,
she
is,
is credited with saving Ballet Arizona.
It was going to go under and she,
as the board president stayed and raised a bunch
of money and kept the ballet in business.
She came and talked about what,
how much do shoes cost for the ballet?
How much does it really cost to run arts.
In a community
and why it's so important to support the arts.
So my students had this
really great experience of learning about the arts in this kind of careful,
protected way,
and I loved it.
And I also needed the money.
Like it was great that they were paying me extra money
and it kept evolving that way.
I would have an idea and I'd go
and Ted and Janet ultimately retired and then Dean,
uh,
Jacobs came and Peggy
and Kristen and so I would still be able to go to them and say,
You know,
I have this idea.
I,
I'm a product of the honors college and I lived in France,
but I've never been to New York City.
And I think that's actually happening for students.
The
study abroad is an accessible thing,
but going to New York City is not.
You're not likely to be 20 years old and buy your own plane ticket and figure it out.
I said,
so I've developed this and I'd already worked it out on a spreadsheet.
I said,
Here's the numbers.
Um,
if I took,
you know,
even 7 students to New York City,
this is how much the plane tickets cost.
This is where we'd stay near Times Square in a hostel,
and this is the program,
and their,
their expenses would cover my expenses,
you know,
and I worked it out,
and Mark said,
you should do that,
and we'll and I said,
we should call it Great American Cities.
And so that still exists and I'm really happy that that does because I,
when I.
I was doing it and I think still now we we have students who
go,
I've never been on an airplane before.
I'm a college student
and I'm going to be a leader
someday in our community,
but I've never left the state of Arizona
or I've never been east of the Mississippi
and I think it's really important to change
the way you think about the world by travel.
Mhm.
That's wonderful.
So you touched on this a little bit,
but.
What do you believe that you studied abroad some,
so what do you believe the greater value
of travel is for honor students specifically?
I think when you're young,
you're especially malleable,
and I think before you
firm up your ideas about what it means to be.
A human or what it means to be you or what you really want in the world,
it's very valuable to sit and have a pint
of beer with someone who is different from you.
And when you travel,
you have that chance.
When you don't travel,
you get to be around people just like yourselves.
And so I think I see,
I used to see it all the time when I travel with students and as a student and as a staff.
People really change when they get to
be kind of confronted by
different cultures.
And it's really uncomfortable for some students,
and I think that's really valuable.
I had a really,
really,
really uptight,
sanctimonious
sophomore college student go with me to Washington DC and she was so uncomfortable.
And we,
it makes me cry.
We went to the largest homeless shelter in the country and volunteered.
And she absolutely
bawled at the end of it
and was completely transformed.
I think she came home and changed her major.
She was completely transformed and so uncomfortable,
and I thought,
well,
there you go.
I'm,
I,
I'm,
I've done my job here.
So I think that happens.
Did you have a standout moment like that in your study abroad experience?
At your time at Barrett,
that you felt like you just changed as a person or changed your outlook?
Well,
I mean,
when I studied in Paris,
I,
I took the LSATs,
but I never even applied to law school and I'm,
I went back to Paris and
did things that were so difficult
that
they're funny now,
you know,
I slept on people's floors for 2.5 months while I looked for a job in an apartment and.
I mean,
now it's funny,
but at the time it was awful,
and I think it made me
realize how resilient I am and capable and
I,
I could probably live anywhere in the world,
but I only know that because I've traveled
and people really are the same everywhere,
even though it's really uncomfortable.
And along that track
for the great American cities,
obviously it's cities in America.
So how do you think domestic
study abroads compared to international ones?
Well,
I think you know we had access.
In New York City
to people who hadn't
had very different lifestyles and very different.
Backgrounds than typical Arizona kids.
And that was really interesting to show them
what life could look like,
you know,
what it would feel like to live in a big city and
and take the subway every day and,
and,
you know,
work in these high rise buildings.
And
I think it really changed their outlook on what is possible.
A lot of people only think as far as what they know and what they see.
touch and feel.
And you wouldn't know that you love lingonberry jam
if you've never had it.
And so just making it accessible to them,
people might think,
I would never want to work as a stockbroker until they went to New York City or
work for a designing house,
you know,
at Prada or something.
And until they went there and they thought,
This is really different and I really like it.
I don't think Most,
I don't think most people have any idea what's possible
in terms of careers and being fulfilled as a human,
until you get out and meet other people
who are doing things you've never heard about,
right?
I mean
there are companies where I live,
because I live in an agricultural industry,
that have fleets of helicopters,
and the only reason they have multi-million dollar companies,
they hover over cherry.
Orchards in the spring right before harvest
with their helicopter blades,
it whips the water off the top of the cherry,
because the water on top of the cherry after it rains can ruin the cherry.
It can ruin the whole crop.
It splits the cherry.
Like how would you know that exists?
You wouldn't,
right?
Who knew you could just put a helicopter hovered
over a cherry orchard and whip the water off?
It's a whole industry.
Right?
So how would you know that?
And there's probably super similar things in New
York City or DC or Philadelphia or Seattle
that people have no idea exist and would be really fulfilling and interesting to do.
Um.
Do you have a favorite,
um,
great American cities trip that you went on?
You know,
New York City was always my,
I love New York City.
So,
and we had really,
I always,
I mean,
Mark's son lived,
still lives there,
but he lived there and he was really young,
and we're the same age,
and he had,
um,
lived through 9/11.
And it was really short,
shortly thereafter that he sat down with our students
and,
and cried in front of them and talked about that experience.
And I just think that was
so great
that he was willing to do that for those students.
And I think there's other alumni,
he's not an alumni,
but other grownups and people out in the in the business world that
we've been able to encounter.
And that was the thing that turned for the students is meeting those people.
The homeless shelter in DC at that moment,
I'll never forget that that girl.
I wish I remembered her name,
but
it was transformational.
For her,
so.
It's very self-serving.
I mean,
I,
I did these things for Barrett,
but I also got tickets to really great shows and I got to see
really great things,
and I met really great people and I got to travel,
you know,
they paid me to do it.
So
I,
it wasn't all altruistic.
Mark likes to talk about it as though I'm some kind of saint,
but,
um,
you know,
I didn't,
I wasn't going to be able to go to New York City by myself.
Or take the vacation time if Barrett didn't figure out a way for me to go.
About how many trips did you end up going on?
You know,
I probably did 4.
And really great American cities,
I used to also for some reason,
be in charge of the Flynn scholar money.
So the Flynn scholars would get this bucket of
money and we would have to take them someplace.
And it was like,
well,
who can take them?
Addie,
go.
Rent an ASU van and
get these Flynn scholars and we used to,
Eric Cesser was a professor here then,
and we would 2 or 3 times took them to Los Angeles
on Flynn money and we,
we even met President Ford in an In N-Out Burger on the way there once.
They recently found a picture of it and sent it to me
because the Secret Service details took pictures and said,
yeah,
I'll send you a picture.
Because Mike sent them all to me,
yeah,
and,
um,
Megan Cox is in the picture,
who's I hope you're interviewing.
She's an alum too,
yeah,
uh,
so Megan was on that trip and we were inside an In N-Out Burger
in like Palm Desert on the way to LA and
here was the president with all of his security,
Secret Service.
You just went in there.
Oh no,
and he was there and his Secret Service took pictures and said.
Um,
if you send me these pictures,
I'll make sure he autographs them and send them back to you
because he wasn't suggestive of that.
And so we did,
we printed 5 pictures or 6 and we sent them,
and then like 4 months,
it took a long time,
4 months later he came,
they came back.
Secret Service had made sure the president signed them,
but we stayed in this hostel in Venice Beach,
which a lot,
if you've never been to Venice Beach,
it's a.
Completely different world.
I mean that alone for people who had grown
up in Tempe or Scottsdale was absolutely shocking.
And so we'd stay in this really funky
hostel,
and we'd go to the Huntington Library and Gardens,
and we'd go to the Getty,
and they'd go and see a show,
see The Lion King or something.
And
so Flynn's got to do that.
And then I started doing it for other students.
So.
So at that point,
the Flynns didn't,
you know,
now they all go to China as a,
as a did that.
So it was pre,
yeah,
we as a,
as a university got per capita a bunch of money from Flynn.
So I wonder if your trips planted the seed
for the Foundation that I'm glad should group trips.
Yeah,
we should ask.
We should.
Were you doing the Flynn trips before you started Great American Cities?
I was.
And so we couldn't go far with Flynn money.
We can drive to LA in an ASU van,
which
is that part of what helped you think of the Great American Cities
project?
I mean,
it depends on the day.
Sometimes I remember it differently.
You know,
I I listened to this podcast by Malcolm Gladwell about how incorrect our memory is.
So
Part of me wants to say,
I just really wanted to go to New York City and I wanted somebody else to pay for it,
but part of me remembers
being young enough.
I was really young when I worked for Barrett,
and I was so close to the same age as these students,
and I could see all the things we were missing
because I had lived it,
you know,
I really had been on two study abroad trips
and traveled around Europe,
backpacked twice,
and I'd never been to New York City
because it wasn't accessible.
And so.
I don't know.
I guess the Flynn,
I bet the Flynns did influence me quite a bit,
but any time we added faculty,
it made it so expensive because of the the academic unit,
so the great American cities can doesn't.
Pretend to be an academic experience.
It is a cultural
life experience that I think is still really valuable in an academic setting,
if that makes sense.
Um,
I believe you also um fund a scholarship for the Great American Cities Program.
What motivated you to start that?
Well,
when I was an undergrad,
I was in devil's advocates and I did a lot of student recruitment.
So we walked backwards and gave student tours,
as you all probably know.
But we also at that time spent a lot of time with donors
and I got to meet people who were
really invested in the university and I didn't grow up in a home
where we did philanthropy and I didn't know much about it at all,
but I was always interested in
that you would get to a stage of life and you would.
Be invested this way you would give back
and then when I worked at Barrett,
I worked really closely also with donors to the university to Barrett,
even though I wasn't in development.
I spent a lot of time.
You know,
hanging out with Gwen Hillis and spending time with Scott and Addie Rhodes,
and
I just really liked them and I liked that they.
Did something other than what they wanted to do with their money.
And it always made sense for me and then.
So even then,
I think,
I think I was donating,
you know,
here and there to things.
And then I did a class once and,
and really
started believing
in the value of philanthropy for yourself like
that.
You know,
all of the money I make doesn't really belong to me.
Like what I do with my money
is what's going to be fulfilling in my life.
And sometimes that's a car or a trip,
and sometimes that really is giving your money away.
And so,
Lexi Noyce
was my intern when she was at ASU,
a Barrett student.
She worked for me as a paid intern.
Um,
and then when I left Barrett and went to work for Banner Health Foundation,
they gave Lexi my job
part time.
She was still a college student,
but she was so great.
And then she left and went out into the world and worked someplace else.
You should get a hold of Lexi too for this.
And then she came back.
I had had my third child in 2013,
and I came out to the Michael Pollan lecture.
He was here for Centennial.
And Lexi convinced
Dean Jacobs,
who would never ever in the whole world ever ask me for money.
Um,
convinced him to take me to breakfast at Mimi's cafe in Awatuki,
and they sat down at breakfast and asked me for a $25,000 gift,
and I almost spit orange juice across the table.
I thought it was so lovely
that Lexi thought that I had actually was like successful
enough that I could give somebody that kind of.
Money.
And so I said,
that's really kind of you.
It's so nice because she was then the development officer.
Here was my college intern
who is now a development officer
who's sitting across the table from me asking me for this vast,
what felt like a vast amount of money.
And I in 4 great American cities because they continue to say,
oh,
it's still working,
it's still going.
And let me back up.
I had already been giving about $1000 a year
to great American cities to make sure that kids had scholarships with some,
you know,
terms.
I didn't want anybody to have a full ride scholarship.
You still got to come up with half of it,
and Mark was pretty good about keeping in touch with me about that,
so.
I,
it was 2013,
and I was like,
well,
that's not going to happen,
but thank you for asking for that kind of money from me.
And then in 2015,
I was thinking ahead because I was going to turn 40 in 2016.
And I'll be honest with you,
I thought of all sorts of ways to spend money to like celebrate turning 40,
including cosmetic surgery or some
ridiculous
trip around the world,
but I've kind of been to a lot of places.
I travel a lot and.
I didn't need to go to Paris or London or anything silly like that.
And so
I sat down and I said,
what I would really like is to actually do that endowment.
And so my husband agreed and um in addition to that endowment,
I sat down and I wrote 40 letters of gratitude,
many of which went to like Gwen Hillis
and Scott Rhodes and Mark Jacobs and people here
who had been so.
Much a part of my youth and becoming who I am,
so I called,
uh,
Barrett.
I sat down,
met with them,
and said,
I'm going to endow that scholarship for my 40th birthday.
And so we had this fun celebration here and
I invited staff and faculty from across campus and.
My friends in the community and um
people like Gwendon Darrell Hillis,
who,
you know,
I just wanted to be like them when I grew up.
Like not just wealthy and successful,
but
like really do give back.
And so we decided to do that endowment and started that in 2016.
Are you glad you did it?
Yeah,
in fact,
I,
I was just telling Mark,
because of the tax law,
we're probably going to finish it this year.
It won't make sense for us to keep giving $5000 a year.
So,
we'll finish off the whole payment this year or next year depending on our taxes.
Do you ever meet the students that receive your money from the endowment?
I try.
I,
it's really,
Important to me that I do.
Um,
I had one student who wrote me
very frequently,
they write a letter to me.
Sometimes they call me on the telephone.
It's very awkward for students,
I think
they don't really know that I'm just like them.
Like they think that I'm somebody that I that I'm different than them
and they don't know how to talk to me on the phone,
and that is a bummer,
but um.
Like today I'm meeting with
some students who've been on Great American Cities,
um,
but when I do meet them and I get to talk to them,
it's really fulfilling.
I really like it.
That's awesome.
So do you keep in,
so you keep in touch with other students that you
were a faculty on the Great American Cities trip?
Yeah,
I have,
um,
Maliyah Fletcher.
She lives in Philadelphia and I keep track of her and Will Penrose,
um,
Damien Stahmer,
whose artwork is in Mark Jacobs' office.
I saw him in New York City,
not last time,
but the time before,
and
I do.
I have sometimes I have students who,
um.
Get a,
you know,
Facebook or whatever,
they get in touch with me kind of out of the blue and,
and say,
you know,
I really want to thank you for doing that.
That was really
impactful for me and
I really like that.
But I do,
I feel like I keep in touch with people pretty well and.
I'm really grateful for my time at Barrett.
I recently asked somebody on campus,
um,
she's at the foundation of,
but she used to be in charge of financial aid.
I said,
Is it possible for you to look at my financial aid records and give me
a record of all the money I received?
You know,
I've received a lot of scholarships and I received a lot of grants,
and I'd like to know like what
the total is because that could be a way to measure.
How I give,
you know.
Um-hum.
Because I couldn't possibly have gone to college without other people's help.
Like I remember Ed and Janet Sands,
who probably aren't around anymore,
they gave me a huge scholarship to study abroad,
and that's the only way I could do the Barrett Summer study abroad program.
So,
did,
was she able to get the records for you?
She hasn't yet,
but I haven't,
I've been busy
tracking down other things,
but,
Yeah,
I think it's important.
I don't think that I,
I think a lot of students are here because of
a lot of people,
and I think it would be really nice
to be able to give back
whenever they can.
I met with Barrett students,
other Barrett,
really,
really young alumni in,
um,
New York City two years ago,
two or a summer and a half ago,
2017 maybe.
Adrian Monaco and.
Oh yeah,
and I met all of them then.
And I said,
you know,
you're not,
you're not too young to start paying it forward.
Like it's,
you're just like me.
I'm just 10 years older than you.
I'm not actually more successful than you.
I don't actually have even
more to say for myself,
right?
Like they,
philanthropy really can belong to everyone.
And I'm a fundraising consultant.
That's what I do now for a living.
Um,
and so I really,
I think it's important to
give back,
but I also think.
It's important to do it,
not when you arrive,
right?
Like you,
you don't have to put it off until
you're a millionaire.
You can start doing it now.
What do you think you learned from
Barrett that you couldn't have learned somewhere else
or what thing that did Barrett specifically
help you with that you've brought into your
career?
I really didn't understand how cool and sexy it could be to be so smart.
I mean,
I really felt.
That I want,
I didn't want to be a nerd and it wouldn't have occurred to me
to apply to the honors college and I'm so grateful I finished my ASU experience
as an undergrad in the honors college but then worked for the honors college because
they're just really great people.
They're really interesting people.
It's not.
It's not like it used to be.
I don't know.
Smart is,
is really cool now.
And I like being smart and I like being around smart people.
Did your views on Barrett change from the time you
were a student to the time you were a staffer?
Oh yeah,
I mean,
I think you get
in the nitty gritty as a staff person,
you know,
I mean,
I see people now who work here and I didn't like them at all when I worked with them,
but I like them fine now,
you know,
I don't have to report to them,
so.
Yeah,
I mean,
you,
you know things as a staff member that you just don't know as a student.
So,
but I really,
I,
I had a really unique experience.
I had been a student for Ted and Janet,
and they had been the ones who offered me the job and convinced me to take it.
But then that,
so it made sense that they gave me a lot of things.
Like I walked in.
And said,
oh,
this cultural encounters thing,
we should do this.
And they said,
yes,
do it,
and we'll pay you to do it.
That's,
that's,
that wasn't what everybody had.
Like I knew that even then as a staff member.
Like not everybody as a staff member could walk in with an idea,
and they'd pay you more to create something.
And I didn't even have my master's degree then,
so I was teaching without even a master's.
Um.
But it was a one credit hour class.
But then it stayed that way,
even though Mark and Peggy
hadn't been my deans as a student.
So it was a really neat
place
as a young professional to have ideas,
and they said yes to them.
I mean,
they said yes all of the time to me.
It was really neat.
One time.
Um,
Regina Mattos was over,
she worked in student services at the honors program in business.
They don't have that division anymore,
but
she came over and she said to me,
we have an honors study abroad program this summer
to the south of France and to Glasgow,
Scotland,
and I was going to go,
but I'm pregnant with my first child.
Can you go?
And I said,
really?
So,
you're going to pay me to go to Europe with ASU students?
So,
she said,
yeah,
can you go?
And so I said,
sure.
And then I negotiated.
You can ask Kristen Nelson.
She'll probably be like,
oh,
yeah.
I said,
I went in and I said,
well,
I have to go to Europe for 4 weeks.
They'd cleared this with the deans that I can go.
Um,
in the summer,
but because I'm basically working
all of the time for 4 weeks,
I need to have a month off paid after that.
So I went to Europe for 4 weeks,
and some of those students I'm really close with still.
Um,
I was in the south of France for 1 week in Glasgow,
Scotland for 3 weeks,
and then I rented an apartment in.
Paris for the whole next month and like had paid paid time off.
But I asked for a lot when I worked here.
I pushed
constantly
and it's a completely different
school now.
It's so much bigger than when I worked here.
Is there anything else that you're really,
really surprised that they said yes to?
Um,
I worked from San Diego one summer
because I said,
I can't,
it's too hot in the summer.
I've got to be able to work from San Diego
and Mark was really irritated and he was like,
oh,
Addie,
fine,
but you've got to be on your email,
you've gotta be working,
and so I did that.
I was surprised.
That was kind of my last summer.
They'd kind of had it.
I was constantly asking for time off
because I like to travel so much.
So no,
I think they,
I think it was a really unique
place for me to ask
for things,
but I think it worked out in everyone's favor.
I don't feel now that it wasn't a big contribution.
I look at it now and I go,
look what you've done with my ideas.
This is great.
So,
what do you think of the initiatives you
started has had the biggest impact on Barrett?
Oh,
I think great American cities.
Yeah.
I mean,
that's what Mark tells me.
He goes around and talks to other honors colleges,
and they all want something like that.
Because I think people realize
how inequitable it is if you cannot travel.
Like you can sit in the same classes and you can read the same things,
and you can learn the same science,
but if you've never left here,
you don't have access in the same way that people whose parents have.
The ability to take them around and expose them to things.
It's just very different.
So I think it makes it more equitable when you have
travel opportunities.
It really it makes the playing field more,
more even,
more equal.
You talked about the accessibility gap between foreign and domestic travel.
Uh,
so in the years since you founded the Great American Cities Project,
have you seen that gap begin to narrow,
not only here at Barrett,
uh,
but perhaps,
you know,
statewide or nationwide?
And if so,
what have you done to try to get other
honors programs to replicate the success of that program?
You know,
I,
when I travel now,
I'm just,
I mean,
there's so many more people who can travel
than when I was younger.
And I haven't tried to replicate it.
I've thought about it even in the town I live in now.
Could I go to the college and convince them to do something like this?
And I just don't have the energy.
It's different when you really work in the building and you know the students.
And you really want to be with them.
Um-hum.
Um,
But no,
I don't,
I,
I think travel is more equitable now in the country,
but I don't think travel for travel's sake is the aim of the program.
I think when you go with an informed staff member
and you have a specific itinerary,
that that's more valuable than just being a tourist,
so.
I do think that more people travel,
but do they still all eat at Starbucks and McDonald's and Chili's?
Unfortunately,
um,
I don't know that people,
because they can afford a plane ticket,
can,
can afford the mental expansion necessary
to really be a traveler.
If someone came to you and wanted to,
uh,
replicate the program let's say a different honors college,
uh,
what would you recommend doing?
What attributes do you think,
um,
you know,
lead to success in a program like this if you're heading that program?
Well,
I think you need someone who really knows the students to run it,
you know,
I wasn't,
I was in events and I wasn't even in student services.
We didn't have all the same categories that you have now,
but I,
because I was teaching cultural encounters,
I knew students really well,
so students wanted to be with me.
I was fun to be around and I was pretty young,
you know,
I wasn't.
I didn't.
I wasn't as old as him.
I don't know if they want to be,
yeah,
I think we're the same age,
so
they want to be with us too,
so.
Um,
I think you,
it's so important in a university setting that you have people working with
students in student services who really understand what it means to be a student
and to be
a mentor to them,
even without the title of being a mentor.
So this program won't work ever if you don't have good people.
Good staff who
like being around young people,
who value their opinions,
who are patient,
but also set boundaries,
you know,
I think that's vital to it.
You could go almost anywhere and learn something interesting.
I also think,
and I hope that this is happening,
I really would like it if there were volunteer.
Volunteer happening
every place,
you know,
the,
the homeless shelter was really
eye opening.
But it's unique to every city,
you know,
what is,
what,
how is Portland doing something different
than Washington DC different from Philadelphia?
And I also think it's a really good and
unique place to interact with alumni in those places.
So I think
if Barrett's not already doing it,
I hope that they have,
you know,
this group of students is going to Philadelphia and who's in Philadelphia?
Either parents or of current students or alumni who can have
an evening with these students and talk about their work and.
What why they live in Philadelphia and all about it
and then find out the major
kind of thing that Philadelphia is doing really well in terms of nonprofit work
because every city has its gem in terms of we've figured it out
we're we've done this with homelessness or we've done this with literacy and
go and see how that works
because without a doubt most Barrett students will sit on a board of a nonprofit
at some point because they will be asked and it's important that they do so
and so the the.
The sooner you can realize other communities are doing things different,
the better.
Do you believe nonprofits are the best way to get to the
heart of a community or get to understand that community the best?
I think it's
it's a way to access a part of the community.
It goes
back to equity.
There's lots of people who are
mayors of cities or run big corporations who
don't understand how the other half live.
And I think that
in order to be a good human,
Whether you're just,
you know,
stay in Tempe forever or go someplace out in the world,
you need to understand how lots of different people live
and how lots of different people think,
because you're already
elite,
like you're already at university,
you are doing what most people don't get to do,
and you're at Barrett,
and it's that's another layer.
It removes you from
a lot of people.
And I think it's important.
To remember how other people live because
inevitably you're going to serve them.
You're going to be the CEO of a company,
you're going to start your own company,
you're going to run a nonprofit,
you're going to run for mayor,
you're going to run for governor.
You can't lose access to
the population at large.
What do you believe you do now to continue like connecting with the community?
Well,
because I own my own company and all I do is fundraising consulting.
I do a little travel writing too because it's a really great
gig,
but um.
I think that
I have found the perfect way to kind of be a life coach.
So nonprofits hire me
to teach their board of directors
and or their volunteers or their executive director
how to fundraise,
whether it's the very beginnings of this is how many times in all the ways.
Thank a donor in a given calendar year
to
running a big capital campaign.
Like we have to raise $10 million we have this much time.
How do you even build a gift chart around that?
But I like philanthropy
and I think that I'm changing the world
with what I do
because I know for sure.
This group needs to raise this money to serve these people.
Like this group needs $5 million to build this clinic to serve these people.
But what this group doesn't understand is that the people
giving them money are fundamentally changed by that action.
Like your life changes when you become a donor,
because it stops being
your money.
And
I,
I guess it's
this bigger idea of like money's just always going to come to me and flow through me,
and I get to decide if,
if how I use my money
is for the good of society
or not,
you know,
and did I
buy boots that,
you know,
like they look good,
but what did they do,
you know,
like what's the point?
So.
I like doing philanthropy.
I like to get people to give money.
Um-hum.
And I like to see things succeed
in smart and interesting ways.
You know,
I'm always surprised at how.
Successful nonprofits can be when they just get a little bump.
Is it interesting to be on both sides of both the
donating your own money,
but also trying to manage people who are
giving their money to other nonprofits?
Yes,
I love to say,
you know,
we shouldn't shit on people.
Nobody likes to be shit on.
And that,
you know,
when I talk about philanthropy and asking people for money,
I would say,
we aren't the IRS.
They don't owe us anything.
They don't have to give their money.
In fact,
there's not even a lot of incentive anymore to give your money away,
especially if you're middle class.
There's not even a write off
anymore.
So,
people don't have to give them their money away.
They can go buy another car or put it in their retirement account.
Um.
So,
when you approach people with reverence
about money,
then it works different than you,
you're wealthy.
You should give back.
And so,
but it makes it tricky for me as a donor,
because I know exactly how I want to be treated.
So,
I'm pretty clear about that.
I mean,
I tell development officers,
I want to be called and thanked and I want to be celebrated.
Like I have no qualms about the ego that I have.
Like it's important to me to be acknowledged.
This isn't an anonymous gift.
It has my name on it,
right?
Like I'm,
I,
but I'm really clear about that.
So
I think it makes me trickier as a donor because I,
I've,
I've given lots and lots of money away and not been thanked right,
and then I just stopped giving.
Cause I don't like that.
So right now,
we're celebrating Barrett's 30th anniversary.
So at
our 50th anniversary or at the 100th anniversary,
what do you think will be the legacy of the
projects you worked on like the Great American Cities trip?
Gosh,
I don't know.
I hope they continue to have all of these things and,
um,
and maybe even have sister cities,
you know,
sister,
like
in other
cities where they could spend even more time and
or maybe even exchanges within the continental United States,
right?
Like instead of foreign exchanges,
you could do exchanges within
like a week or two here or there.
I don't know.
I hope that lots of people.
Travel,
but they travel in a way that exposes them
to
how other people live and think.
That's wonderful,
um.
Trying to look through my list of questions.
What do you think is the future of Barrett even in the short term?
Gosh,
I don't know.
I think everybody's doing such a great job.
Um,
You know,
I saw,
I saw Michael Crow speak in
2017 in April 2017.
I came for a big devil's advocate reunion,
and he talked a lot about
how
the university was working so hard to make this a
place that everyone could access and how equitable it is.
And so I'm curious I am always curious if the measurement is.
SAT scores,
if that really is a measurement of intellectual capacity.
Um-hum.
And if that,
cause Barrett is a place about,
about being smart,
right,
and capable,
and this,
these kinds of students.
But I would encourage,
The evolution of beyond standardized testing,
how do we look at intelligence
and
it's been here long enough that you could go back to the alumni community and say,
are our graduates really the leaders we thought they would be?
You know,
are they the leaders
in,
in terms of being smarty pants out in the community,
or are they community leaders and they're
right,
because there's all different ways to be.
An adult and have a career and give back and do meaningful work.
So is Barrett producing
Even equitable to say devil's advocate alumni,
right?
Have you seen
that in your peers?
Have you seen the peers that you went to Barrett with become leaders?
Oh yeah,
we have super smarty pants out in the world.
So my friend Ryan Gleh,
who I went to college with,
who you guys should hopefully interview,
he's,
uh,
been in the US State Department for a long time
and he's now back in Saudi Arabia running a consulate.
He was one of the outstanding alumni a few years ago.
He won that award,
um.
My friend Nina Huerta,
she is a big deal attorney in Los Angeles,
mommy of two,
and
really involved with the Hispanic leadership of that community.
So
sometimes I think of people and I think,
well,
are they Barrett alums or they did I know of some other ways?
I mean,
Megan Cox is really extraordinary young woman and.
Um-hum.
I don't know.
I don't,
I'm not positive that Barrett's kept in touch with our alumni as well.
So,
so,
I've tried to fill in the gaps here and there.
Um,
Malaya Fletcher,
I mean,
she finished,
I think,
her PhD at Columbia in public health,
and now she kind of runs public health for Philadelphia and.
Um-hum.
She's wicked smart and just a great gal.
Um,
yeah,
I think,
I think a lot of the,
but then,
you know,
I,
I said to Mark at lunch,
like I don't have a fancy title.
I work really part time.
I'm not likely to be celebrated as
a great example of a Barrett graduate because I didn't
go out and do something really intellectual.
Like I'm not
typical.
I'm not running a state department.
I'm,
my primary goal is my 3 young children.
Like I'm their mom.
Um-hum.
And then I work 10 hours a week.
It's not.
That a company.
I mean,
yeah,
right,
right.
But that is,
is valuable to point out that there are probably alums who
are mommies,
but we don't want to use the word just
mommies
because they're really valuable too,
you know,
Katie Akamp,
I don't know if she was a Barrett,
but maybe she was.
She's,
I don't know,
she has 7 kids now,
but she's a professor at BYU and she's a mommy,
and
I hope she's a Barrett alumni.
She was an advocates with me.
But there's a lot of ways to measure like the value of
of what you learn and do here and how you impact the world.
Is,
is there a Barrett initiative that you were not,
that you didn't have a hand in starting that you think
is doing a particularly good job of advancing Barrett's goals or
helping the community?
Well,
I think the summer study abroad is really great.
I did that program when I was here and I really liked it.
I think that,
um,
focus on internships is really valuable.
Um-hum.
I think it should be required just
to travel,
to,
to have an internship
and even to do community service,
you know.
Um-hum.
And if you could do all of them at the same time,
that would be.
Yeah.
There are ways to do that.
Yeah,
there sure are,
aren't there?
Yeah,
I didn't have a hand in all of that,
so.
Perfect.
So you said you were involved with Devil's advocates on campus.
I actually did that last year on the downtown campus.
Oh good.
So
between the two of them,
did one of them like impact your development as a student more,
or how did they develop you as a student in different ways?
Well,
I think the devil's advocate alumni group,
like we're all in touch with each other a lot more.
Barrett doesn't,
at least when I was a student here,
I didn't have.
A ton of time with just honor students,
except for the the study abroad.
Like I just had dinner last night with a girlfriend from my time in Europe,
which is funny,
I forgot we went on that together.
Um,
but besides like a summer study abroad,
you don't have,
or I didn't have really tight bonds with my peers in the honors college.
So I have much closer relationships with advocates
from when I was in college.
But maybe it's.
Different now that you all live together and
have that.
I think that's one of the,
the,
the hardest things about a huge university.
I mean,
I came to the block party and I literally saw,
I ran into two people I knew.
I mean,
obviously I know
hundreds of people who went to school here,
but none of the people I saw looked familiar and I didn't go to school.
If I went to school with them,
I didn't know it.
But when I went to the advocate reunion,
there were 40 or 500 people in the room and I knew solidly half of them.
So there was a camaraderie there that I think at a large university,
it's really difficult to capture,
and that's why we have a hard time with alumni in general.
Um-hum.
Do you think it's important that Barrett starts to reach out more to its alumni.
Yes,
and not even ask them for money,
just ask them how they're doing and.
Talk to them about their time here.
You know,
you're still in college,
but you'll,
you'll look back on college as,
as this moment in your life.
There's nothing else like it.
If there were,
I wouldn't even want this many people to go to college.
But there's no place else where you could take these malleable young people
and put them in a safe environment,
relatively
safe,
and have them be together.
And think and talk and do
over a course of years when your brain is still developing,
and then form you.
Right?
If you graduate from high school and you go and work,
you do not have the same forming
that happens here in a university environment.
And that is really important.
And how can you capture that and
You know,
call alumni and have them speak to you about it.
You know,
there will be a lot of really big emotions about what it meant
to be in college,
because it is such a spectacular time in your life.
You won't know that for years to come,
but you'll remember this,
that I told you so.
I think that's a pretty good place to wrap up.
Do either of you have any follow up questions?
Do you?
No,
I think you did a fabulous job of leading the interview.
Well done.
All right,
OK.
Thank you for your participation.
If you have any more thoughts to share later,
please feel free to reach out.
And if you have any questions about this interview or the 30th
anniversary oral History Project,
please contact Vice Dean Foot.
OK.