Meet the GCS faculty
Ted Martinez
Ted Martinez holds degrees in botany and environmental science and policy from Northern Arizona University. In 2005 he moved to Yuma AZ to what is essentially the “end of the line” for the Colorado River before the US and Mexico take their allocations of water. In Yuma he was able to perform conservation, education and restoration in the Lower Colorado River (LCR) Valley. He received grants from the Sonoran Joint Venture, Xerces Society, and Arizona Game and Fish to perform wetland restoration, Monarch conservation, and Bighorn Sheep education and outreach respectively. Ted has also worked with Mexican partners, ProNatura, to perform bi-national wetland restoration along the Colorado River region dividing the US and Mexico. Ted is also Co-PI on an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant in env/sci and biology at NAU. This program offers research opportunities to underrepresented populations in the sciences and invites them to participate in research at NAU. Students come from across the country to participate in the research program. Ted is happy to have found a home in the NAU Honors College teaching classes on plants, water, and the environment.
Andi Rogers
Andi Rogers has been working with Southwest Decisions Resources (SDR) a professional facilitation and collaboration company since 2013. This is her first-year teaching at Northern Arizona University. Before joining Southwest Decision Resources, she worked for the AZ Game and Fish Department and focused primarily on habitat restoration, endangered species recovery, and environmental policy. As a facilitator and mediator working with SDR, her career primarily focuses on convening partners and the public to engage in productive dialogue surrounding complex natural resources issues. In addition, Andi has a particular interest in, and experience with, navigating conflict at multiple levels (1 on 1, team dynamics, multiparty). Her approach to conflict resolution focuses on normalizing, addressing directly and honestly, and holding safe space for meaningful contributions.
Andi has a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from the University of Montana and a Master’s degree in Wildlife Science from the University of Arizona.
Robert G. Breunig
Robert G. Breunig is President Emeritus of the Museum of Northern Arizona and the museum’s former Director and CEO, a position he held from 2003-2014. A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. Breunig holds a BA degree from Indiana University and a Ph. D. from the University of Kansas, both in Anthropology. In the early 1970’s he served as an anthropology professor at Northern Arizona University and from 1975 to 1982 as an Educator and Curator at the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA). In 1982 he became the Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Heard Museum of Anthropology, Phoenix, Arizona. He also served as Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Arizona State University from 1986 to 1994. In 1985 he became the Executive Director of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona and served as director of the garden until 1994 when he accepted a position as Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, in Santa Barbara, California. In 1997 he became the executive director of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. Throughout his museum career Dr. Breunig has been active in many professional organizations and has served on many boards. In 1991 President George Bush appointed Dr. Breunig to the fifteen-member National Museum Services Board, the governing board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. In 1994 President Bill Clinton re-appointed him to this board, on which he served until November 2002. More recently Dr. Breunig served six years as a Commissioner of the Arizona Commission on the Arts. In December 2013 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Northern Arizona University. In May 2015, Dr. Breunig accepted the National Medal for Museum Service on behalf of the Museum of Northern Arizona from Michele Obama at a White House ceremony.
Kent Linthicum
Dr. Kent Linthicum is faculty in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies at NAU. He earned his Ph.D. in English from Arizona State University in 2016 and was a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He teaches courses in the environmental humanities, energy humanities, environmental justice, media studies, and writing. Dr. Linthicum’s research focuses on energy—especially fossil fuels—in culture. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Environmental Humanities, European Romantic Review, Nineteenth Century-Contexts, and Studies in English Literature. Public essays by Dr. Linthicum have been published in The Atlantic and Slate among other venues. Dr. Linthicum’s current book project, “Crowning Coal: Slavery, Fossil Fuels, and Literature 1755–1865” shows how print culture facilitated the expansion of British coal and American slavery through metaphor, comparison, metonymy, and other literary devices. His research was most recently supported by the American Council of Learned Societies in 2021-22. At NAU he is the faculty advisor for the Environment Humanities and the Medical Humanities minors.
Rob Wallace
Writer, musician, and teacher Rob Wallace holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His recordings can be found on the pfMentum, Ambiances Magnétiques, and Nonessential record labels. He is the author of Improvisation and the Making of American Literary Modernism (Bloomsbury) and co-editor (with Ajay Heble) of People Get Ready: The Future of Jazz is Now! (Duke). He is an Associate Teaching Professor at the Honors College of Northern Arizona University, where he teaches courses on poetry, improvisation, popular and “world” musics, global studies, comic books, and intermedia arts, as well as leading an experimental/improvised music ensemble. He is a part of many ensemble projects including Summit Dub Squad, G.D. Music, and the NAU Faculty Jazz Combo, and is the co-curator of the Interference Series. Wallace has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians from around the globe. Born and raised in Flagstaff, he has a deep connection with the Colorado Plateau region.