Photo Essay

Santa Fe College administration, faculty and guests traveled to London and Scotland to meet with artists and alumni. The trip included a tour of the home of Charles Dickens by Lucinda Hawksly, the great-great-great granddaughter of the famous author and an animal encounter at the Edinburgh Zoo with a graduate of Santa Fe College. The group also met with a variety of artists and scholars around Scotland to help broaden  the internationalization of the college. 

The Santa Fe College Saints Softball team made their deepest run ever in the FCSAA State Tournament in 2025. They lost in the Championship game of the B bracket, falling one game short of automatically advancing to the national tournament. Going 3-2 during the week, including knocking off eventual national champion Northwest Florida State College. 

Staff and faculty at the College of Veterinary Medicine took on a special case of a foal that was born two months premature.

Due to the early birth, the foal was born underdeveloped with no bone in his knees or hocks— only cartilage that had not mineralized. However, his heart, lungs, and brain were developed enough to sustain him.

Our staff provided the foal with around-the-clock care, custom orthotics, and therapy for eight months. Eventually, he graduated and was able to return home to lead the best life possible. 

A collection of my favorite moments and details from this spring's Commencement 2025.  

In February 2025, the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program traveled to Kenya, Africa to learn about African agricultural practices. The OALP program spends 18 months in Oklahoma, traveling to the state to see and learn about a wide variety of agricultural practices. The last part of the program is to compare Oklahoma agriculture to that of another country. While in Kenya, the OALP participants got to experience livestock, agronomy, natural conservation, small acreage farming and large production. One of the group favorites was seeing the roses and flower production, something you don't see in Oklahoma. 

Along with seeing agriculture, the participants also had the experience of going on safaris, spending a day at a university, visiting local orphanages and primary schools and experiencing a travel abroad situation. I was there to document the trip, and the agriculture seen. 

In May 2025, we embarked on a three-week journey through Cameroon — an immersive expedition rooted in field research, environmental education and a deeper understanding of conservation alongside experts in the field. At the heart of this trip was Katy Gonder, Ph.D., an evolutionary biologist and head of the Texas A&M Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Bryan-College Station. Her work has shaped not only our understanding of chimpanzee evolution in Central and West Africa but also how research can meaningfully engage with the communities living alongside biodiversity.

From the team’s first steps in Yaoundé to the forest trails and winding river leading to the Gangah Research Station in Mbam & Djerem National Park, we followed the path of Gonder’s legacy. Along the way, we met the people — students, scientists, educators and wildlife protectors — who now carry that legacy forward. This is the story of what happens when science steps out of the lab and into the hands of people committed to protecting it.

U-M engineering students, as part of the student group "Pantanal Partnership", speed two weeks annually in remote regions of Brazil. In these regions of the Amazon Rainforest and Pantanal Wetlands, these students install solar panels as well as come up with creative engineering solutions while working within local communities.

The Fowkles triplets sitting in studio for a portrait session. 

I’m typically personally and photographically connected to my natural environment during this time of year, embracing the subtle landscape changes in color, the onset of bird song, the alluring scent of petrichor after a spring rain and the magnetic energy of new growth. 

This spring was significantly different. The rebirth I experienced was in the form of human connection.

Unite UP, has been a highlight of my life’s renewal, personally and professionally.  

The University Participant program, a program that I have had the privilege of documenting and being a part of since its inception in 2007 to the honor of it being the first fully accredited post-secondary inclusive program in the nation in 2023, focuses on raising expectations, providing opportunity, and transforming outcomes for college-aged persons with intellectual disability.

During March, WCU faculty, staff and students worked with and gathered for a celebration of our University Participant students as they prepared for and played their inaugural basketball game in the Liston B. Ramsey Center at Western Carolina University. 

Over 500 students, faculty, family members and staff were there to commemorate the event. 

My cup was literally overflowing after seeing these students raising their own expectations and transforming their own life outcomes. They were not asked to do this. They had full control of who, what, where, when and why to the very end. I will be forever grateful that they accepted and trusted me and our team to be a part of their experience. 

I chose to present their practices in black and white and move into color to signify the transition and growth that each one of these participants achieved. 

 

Northeastern women’s rowing coach Joe Wilhelm launched his 27th season at Henderson Boathouse and ultimately coached the team to their 11th straight Coastal Athletic Association championship. Wilhelm was once again named couch of the year at the conclusion of the 2024/2025 season as the team advances to the NCAA women's roinw championship.