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Roger Schamp (above) introduced Prof Allen Franz, who was born in Long Beach to a military family and graduated from Palos Verdes High School and UC Santa Barbara. He received a PhD in Anthropology from the American University in Washington, DC, and has done field work in Mexico, Kenya, Egypt, Spain, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Cuba. He has taught at Marymount College for over 30 years in anthropology, physical geography, ecology and interdisciplinary studies. He also coaches soccer and other sports, and is director of Marymount’s Center for Community Studies. He is on the boards of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy and the Peninsula Heritage School.

Prof Franz recently led a Marymount College Alternative Spring Break March 25-30 in Lake County, 2 hours north of San Francisco, with a group of 18 students for a service project, both on community projects and to help prepare a new Northern California campus (in a former hotel facility) for Marymount. The new campus will open there in autumn 2014 with upper division and graduate studies, complementing the 2 junior colleges in the area since there are no nearby 4-year colleges. (Marymount’s new name will be Marymount California University.)  Marymount has had Alternate Spring Breaks for 20 years, with recreational and educational activities to promote a values-based education, real world experience and community service in an academic environment. They have worked with community organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.

During their recent Alternative Spring Break work week, they removed debris from Clear Lake and a tributary stream, tutored local elementary students, helped to rehabilitate habitat for the Lake County Land Trust, learned about tree grafting, pruning, packing and shipping from a commercial pear grower, and worked on green houses and gardens for low income and homeless people and on a playground in a community shelter for victims of domestic violence and drug abuse. They also hiked up Mount Konockti, the volcanic centerpiece of Lake County.

Professor Franz stayed in that area last July through December for preparatory work, and will do some teaching there (although his base will still be at the local Marymount campus here). Lake County has only 65,000 population with an economy based on agriculture and on tourism related to nearby national and state forests and parks. Its average income is only half of the California average, and local community leaders are excited to have Marymount establish a new facility there.