FORD BURKHART
Live in Montclair, N.J., 12 miles west of Times
Square. Work at the NY Times, mostly on the Foreign
Desk, with some expertise in Arabic language and
style, and in the Middle East. We also have a house
in Tucson, near Roskruge Junior High, where my wife
Carolyn winters and helps care for my mother, Dorothy
Burkhart, who is at Cypress Court, an excellent
assisted living center at Swan near River Road. (We
should all make reservations now for Cypress Court and
have TGIF parties; they have memory care, which we
will all need when we forget punch lines and each
others' names.)
Travels: Lots. Peace Corps in Malaysia, 1967-69; lived
in a Chinese village. With the AP to China, in 1973.
Then, as a journalism prof from 76 to 96, I spent a
Fulbright year in Jos, Nigeria, in 1979-80; and
another in Uganda, 1993-94. Two years at American
University in Cairo, 1983-85. And a chilling two
weeks in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, in 1996, training
midcareer journalists, in January/February -- not the
best season for weather, which ran to 20 below.
FAMILY:
My mother, Dorothy, is fine for almost 92. Wife
Carolyn writes books on the Southwest (buy "West of
Paradise," her best yet, on southeast corner of the
state). We have an African 'son' who adopted us in
Uganda, and enjoy our e-mail relationship with
Walakira Godfrey. If you are going to Kampala, be
sure to visit him; he's a fascinating young man, now
an auditor and entrepreneur.
EDUCATION AND CAREER:
I got a Ph.D. in public administration, just for fun,
at ASU in 1992. It forces you to read and think
systematically about politics and government (you'll
never take anything they say at face value again). An
M.A. at Stanford in mass comm. research; B.A. at
Arizona, double major in history and journalism.
I am proud of three years as chair of the Fulbright
selection committee for central and southern Africa,
ending last year. And of two years as associate dean
of Arts and Sciences at the UA -- I think I helped
move the place along toward a reorganization that has
helped modernize the place into separate colleges.
OPINIONS/PASSIONS:
Politics? Increasingly skeptical about all of it.
Great passion: doing something about global warming
and loss of species (biodiversity is the 50 cent
word). We just must do more, soon, to reverse our
harm to our home -- the planet.
AVOCATIONS:
Sports? Try to get to the Y 3 or 4 times a week, to
run 2 miles, do the circuits, a little basketball.
Hobby? Sailing the Hudson the last 8 years. Now,
being my own little "This Old House", reworking every
corner of a 1917 house in Montclair (plumbing,
electric, etc.) Happiness is having a new tool.
STORY:
See the 9/11 story in Ray's story box. And one source
of pleasure is Ray's fabulous CHS 1959 Web site; we
owe him a big debt of gratitude. Thanks, Ray.
RELATED SITES:
Ford's wife, Carolyn Neithammer's site, click here.
