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Staff and Board Biographies

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

Raffi E. Andonian

PRESIDENT:

Tom Harper, Socorro,
is a retired electronics engineer from National Semiconductor Corp. and IBM, where he participated in the Apollo program. Since 2000 he has managed the annual Festival of the Cranes for the Friends of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. At the 10th Annual Camino Real Colloquium in Socorro, Tom presented the results of using camera-equipped radio-controlled model airplanes to locate tracks and swales that may be associated with El Camino Real. He is a member of the Board of Directors of El Camino Real International Heritage Center Foundation.

VICE-PRESIDENT:

Sim Middleton, Las Cruces,
is a graduate of the University of San Francisco, Sim retired after serving thirty years with the Sheriff’s Department in Orange County, California, where he taught criminal investigation and criminal law at a community college. He also taught English at a college in Queretero, Mexico. Sim was on the Sheriff’s Historical Committee in Orange County, and is a member of the Doña Ana County Historical Society.

SECRETARY:

Claire Odenheim, Las Cruces,
retired as librarian in the Gadsden and Las Cruces school districts and the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. She has a BA in Spanish and Education from Michigan State University, a Masters in Library Science from the University of Michigan, and a Masters in Education from New Mexico State University. Before moving to the Southwest, she lived in Washington, DC, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, where she developed a deep interest in Latin American issues and history.

INTERIM TREASURER:

Ron Kneebone, PhD, Albuquerque,
has worked for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers for more than fifteen years. He has served in various capacities including Native American Liaison/Outreach; Project Director; and Senior Cultural Resources Specialist. He earned his PhD and MA in Anthropology from UNM, and a History degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. He has taught at the university level and served as a research associate for the Maxwell Museum.

INTERNATIONAL LIAISON:

Roy “Ben” Brown, PhD, El Paso,
received his MA in Anthropology from the Universidad de las Américas (Cholula, Puebla), and both an MA and PhD in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. He has directed a number of archaeological, historical, and paleontological projects in northern Mexico, including a five-year term directing the conservation of Paquimé, the largest adobe city in northern Mexico. In 2001, he joined the staff of the Museo Historico ex-Aduana Fronteriza de Ciudad Juárez.

BOARD MEMBERS

Term ending in 2011

Catherine López Kurland, Santa Fe,
is a historic preservation consultant. Currently she is working to preserve the intangible heritage of the mariachis of Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Prior to moving to Santa Fe, Catherine was co-owner of a New York gallery specializing in the Arts & Crafts Movement. She completed the Graduate Certificate Program in Historic Preservation & Regionalism at UNM, and has a BA in International Relations from USC.

Terms ending in 2012

Troy Ainsworth, PhD, Los Lunas,
earned a BA in English and History, an MA in English, and a PhD in Land-use Planning, Management, and Design with a specialization in Historic Preservation at Texas Tech University. After completing his doctoral program, he worked as an architectural historian for Geo-Marine, Inc., in Plano, TX. One year later, he became the Historic Preservation Officer for the City of El Paso. He serves on the board of directors of Preservation Texas, Mesilla Valley Preservation, and West Texas Historical Association. Troy was born and raised in Texas.

Paul Deason, PhD, Las Cruces,
has degrees in physics, mathematics, physical education, and public administration. He is currently working toward a MA in Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology at NMSU. As part of his graduate coursework, he is conducting research for CARTA involving maps, field notes, and papers belonging to surveyor Herbert W. Yeo. Paul has wide experience working for the Department of Defense in the U.S., England, Germany and Homeland Security.

Michael Miller, La Puebla,
has served as Director of the New Mexico Records Center and Archives, founding Director of the Center for Southwest Research at UNM, and retired as the first Director of Research and Literary Arts at the National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico in 1998. He has authored or co-written twelve books on New Mexico and the Southwest, and is a freelance writer on a variety of topics for regional and national periodicals. Michael serves on the volunteer staff of the New Mexico Digital History Project, and has been a commissioner and parciante for Acequia de la Puebla for thirty years. He provides consulting services in historical research and writing for many community organizations throughout the state, and writes fiction and poetry.

VanAnn Moore, Belen,
has been associated with the Santa Fe and Camino Real Trails since the 1980s. She is known for her interpretations of historic personages, based on research partially derived from journals of women who traveled these trails, including Susan Magoffin and Mamie Aguirre. She was Artist-in-Residence for the New Mexico Endowment for the Arts, scholar/performer for the New Mexico Humanities Council, and is on the Speakers Bureau of the New Mexico Historical Society. VanAnn has taught at UNM, Valencia, for ten years.

Wendy Gabriela Suarez Tena, Chihuahua, Mexico,
is an architect with wide experience in the rehabilitation and restoration of historical properties and monuments in Mexico. She has degrees from the Institute of Architecture and Design of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, and the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Wendy worked with Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) assessing Jesuit missions of the Sierra Tarahumara, and cataloging World Heritage Sites in Jalisco for UNESCO. Currently she manages RENUEVA Architects, where she directs rehabilitation and restoration, and also teaches at the Institute of Architecture and Design of Chihuahua.

Francisco Uviña Contreras, Bernalillo,
teaches Design Studio and Historic Preservation in the School of Architecture at UNM, where he received a BA in Architecture with a minor in Art History, a Masters of Architecture, and a Graduate Certificate in Preservation and Regionalism. He worked for Cornerstones Community Partnerships from 1994 to 2008 to assist with field assessments and the documentation of historic buildings as the Architectural/Technical Manager. He currently performs contract work for Cornerstones. Francisco is co-author and illustrator of Adobe Architecture: A Conservation Handbook, published by Cornerstones.