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.
Rick Kempa
Rick Kempa first hiked in Grand Canyon in 1974. Since then, he has spent hundreds of days beneath the rim on foot and thirty days on the river. He has served as Artist-in-Residence at Grand Canyon on both the South and North Rims, as well as at Mesa Verde National Park and Hubbell Trading Post. Rick has edited two Grand Canyon-centered collections, On Foot: Grand Canyon Backpacking Stories (Vishnu Temple Press, 2014) and, with Peter Anderson, Going Down Grand: Poems from the Canyon (Lithic Press 2015). He is the founding editor of the literary journal Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry. Rick has authored three books of poems, most recently Too Vast for Sleep (Lithic Press, 2020), and a collection of short essays about the backpacking life, Truths of the Trail (Deep Wild Press, 2024). He holds a BA from St John’s College in Santa Fe and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. He taught English and Humanities for 31 years at Western Wyoming College and directed the college’s Honors Program for ten of those years.
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.
Alicyn Gitlin
Alicyn Gitlin manages Sierra Club’s Campaign to Protect the Greater Grand Canyon Ecoregion. In her work, she partners with Tribes, community advocates, scientists, business owners, and elected officials to advance environmental policy solutions where people and nature thrive. She was a founding board member of the watershed group Friends of the Rio de Flag, and currently serves on the boards of the Colorado Plateau Water Advisory Council and Friends of Flagstaff National Monuments. Alicyn is the Creator of Colorado River Days Flagstaff, a two week community celebration of the river that flows through Flagstaff’s culture and economy. She has a decade of experience mentoring students, where her focus is on building their professional networks and helping them to become lifelong advocates for people, land, water, and wildlife. She has an M.S. in Biology from Northern Arizona University and a B.A. in Humanities from Arizona State University. Alicyn enjoys running, biking, backpacking, climbing, caving, canyoneering, and paddling – getting out by any means necessary to explore and learn about the landscape.