Downtown Tucson

Tucson is an ethnically diverse city with a unique mix of Native American, Spanish, Mexican, African-American, Asian and Anglo heritages. The city’s name comes from the Indian word, “Chuk-son,” which means “village of the dark spring at the foot of the mountains.” The picture on the left shows downtown Tucson with The University of Arizonain the background.

Tucson was officially founded in 1775 and was named the Presidio of San Augustin de Tucson – part of the New Spain (Spanish) territory. In 1821, Tucson then became part of Mexico when Mexico won its independence from Spain. However, it was soon thereafter passed over to the United States as part of the Gadsen Purchase in 1854.

Tucson boasts the best of both worlds, the progress and innovation of a metropolitan community and the friendly, caring atmosphere of a small town. Tucson's rich cultural heritage centers around a unique blend of Native American, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo-American influences. Blessed with the natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert and an unsurpassed climate of 360 sunny days a year, Tucsonans embrace a rare lifestyle and are committed to preserving that quality of life.

Located in the heart of Tucson on 352 acres, The University of Arizona is one of the top ranked research universities in the nation, providing high-quality educational programs that excel in basic and applied research as well as creative achievement.

Surrounded by mountains and the high Sonoran desert, the campus boasts a distinctive look dotted with bountiful cactus and palm trees and enjoys more than 300 days of sunshine each year. With an internationally known faculty and over 100 programs, The University of Arizona offer students all the tools to create an exceptional educational experience. Research opportunities abound in all areas. And this integration of academic talent, top-ranked programs, and access to state-of-the-art resources continues to receive national attention.

The 35,000 students enrolled at The University of Arizona, coming from all 50 states and more than 100 foreign countries, have an exceptional number of opportunities both on and off campus. There are numerous organizations and activities that make living in Tucson fun and rewarding.
 

This year, 2001, the University of Arizona hosted 18 Humphrey Fellows for their Pre-Academic Orientation Program which involves academic English, public speaking skills, professional networking, field trips, home visits to homes in the Tucson community and working in small groups with University of Arizona graduate students.

On weekdays we had a very busy schedule, attending classes and conferences, giving presentations in our fields, doing interviews, knowing the educational system in the UA, etc. But on weekends we had the opportunity to visit homes in the Tucson community and go to some of the many points of interest around Tucson. We also went to other cities in Arizona like Phoenix, Sedona, Nogales (USA & Mexico), and of course the Wonder: The Grand Canyon.

This was one of the points of interest around Tucson we visited. The Mission church San Xavier Indian Reservation is nine miles south of Tucson. It is the best preserved mission church in the US.

Mission San Xavier del Bac is a Catholic church founded by a Jesuit priest, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, a European spreading the word of God in a new land in 1692. While traveling to what is now known as California, Kino found a Pima Indian village near a stream bed ("Bac" means "where a stream emerges") in the Sonoran Desert. He stopped and preached to the people who were receptive to his teachings.

The picture of the left shows the magnificent San Xavier Church facade. Touria (Morocco), Olga (Ukraine) on the right.

Today San Xavier has more than a church to visit. A museum including many artifacts of the church is attached. There you will also see old gowns, books, dishes, etc. that were once used at the church. There are also several displays including maps of the surrounding area, historic photographs and explanations of the traditions of San Xavier. A gift shop where southwestern goods are sold is also attached to the church.

San Xavier is under continual restoration. Decades of dirt and soot from devotional candles lit inside the church lead to a thick, dark build-up on the walls and statues. Therefore, a move to preserve the beauty of the church began and cleaning of the soot is done on a regular basis. The exterior of the church is whitewashed as needed to keep its bright white appearance. Donations are always accepted for restoration.

A spectacular museum we had the opportunity to visit. This is a zoo-cum-garden explaining the regional geology, fauna and flora. With live bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and other seldom-seen desert denizens.

Bordering Saguaro National Park west of Tucson, is a world-class natural history museum: the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. This place is a montage, a collage of elements, beautifully laced together to form what is at once a zoo, a natural history museum and a botanical garden. The interpretive displays are alive and the animals live in their natural desert setting. Exhibits re-create the natural landscape of the Sonora Desert Region so you find yourself eye-to-eye with mountain lions, prairie dogs, Gila monsters, and more. Within the Museum grounds, you will see more than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants. There are almost 2 miles of trails in 21 acres of beautiful desert. The museum is divided into sections, so you can easily head for your favorite animals or plants, but the discoveries made on the way are wonderful, too.

Built in the late 1980s with $150 million in funding from Texas oil magnate Edward Bass, Biosphere 2 was designed as an airtight replica of Earth's environment (Biosphere 1) to discover if 8 people could sustain themselves in a sealed, energy-rich environment. This 7,200,000-cubic-foot sealed glass and space-frame structure contains 5 biomes, including a 900,000-gallon ocean, a rain forest, a desert, agricultural areas and a human habitat. The first two-year mission began in September 1991 and was followed by a second, shorter mission in 1993-1994. Following these experiments, the owners of Biosphere 2 decided to radically change its use and asked for scientists at Columbia University to advise them as to what might be done. This advisory role led to an acceptance by Columbia of full responsibility for the conduct of research, education and public outreach activities on the site. The current management agreement with Columbia University extends through 2010.

The picture of the left shows the inside of biosphere 2. The picture of the middle and on the right shows one of the two spherical air handling stations for the dome.

Colossal cave is one of the few "dry" or "dormant" caves in North America. This means that due to a lack of water the formations are not growing at present, nor have they been growing for the past four thousand years. It's located 17 miles from Tucson and the cave has accompanying park, picnic grounds, campsites and gift shop. Colossal Cave is a natural phenomenon, created by intricate geologic forces. The first people who used the Cave that we know of were the Hohokam Indians about 1100 years ago. The Cave was later “rediscovered” by Solomon Lick in 1879.

The Cave extends into the mountain approximately 600 feet and descends approximately 40 feet below the entrance. Colossal Cave has many different twisting passages, leading through millions of years of history. The walkways, bridges, hand-rails, and wiring on the tour route were installed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Our tour took about 45-50 minutes to complete. As our guide related the Cave's history, legends, and geology, we walked down and back up about six and a half stories and saw beautiful cave formations like stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and helictites.

Stalactites grow according to the conditions that prevail where they are formed. Some may take thousands of years to grow an inch whereas others may grow an inch in six months.

The world's largest collection of optical telescopes is located high above the Sonoran Desert under some of the finest night skies in the world. It was founded in 1958, it ope-rates 3 major nighttime telescopes and hosts operations of the National Solar Observatory and university consortia run-ning 19 optical telescopes and two radio telescopes. Kitt Peak is located 56 miles southwest of Tucson, AZ, and has a Visitor Center open daily to the public.

Kitt Peak was selected in 1958 as the site for a national observatory after a 3-year survey that included more than 150 mountain ranges across the U.S. The Observatories on Kitt Peak are supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In 1957, the NSF entered into contract with the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for the operation of Kitt Peak as a national center for optical astronomy. In 1982 the National Optical Astrono-my Observatories (NOAO) was formed, consolidating manage-ment of the three national ground-based optical observatories which are Kitt Peak National Observatory, the National Solar Observatory with facilities at Kitt Peak and Sacramento Peak, New Mexico, and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Headquarters for NOAO are in Tucson, Arizona.

Kitt Peak, located in the Quinlan Mountains of the Sonoran Desert, comprises 200 acres of the nearly 3 million acre Tohono O'odham Nation. This land is leased by NOAO from the Tohono O'odham under a perpetual agreement that is valid for as long as scientific research facilities are maintained at the site.