Meet our Board Members
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Professor Audace Mbonyingingo is fascinated about multicultural understandings in the context of refugees’ integration and resettlement. His long experience in higher education and research has led him to focusing on the challenges faced by refugees and immigrants thriving to integrate the rich multicultural community in Tucson, Arizona. For the past ten months he has been volunteering with Iskashitaa Refugee Network (IRN) and since October 2024, he has been a member of the Advisory Board. Among other services, he assists in interpretation/translation, cultural advisory, representing Iskashitaa at meetings/seminars locally and nationally. At Iskashitaa he finds more interests in Gardening and Art activities organized on Wednesdays of each week from 8 to 11 a.m. and in Salas de Libros to keep him imbibed into his larger literary arena of Comparative literature and Theater for Development (TfD). More specifically drumming and artistically representing the homeland have been culminating activities that have helped community members to remain connected to their countries of origin and heal the psychological and physical wounds that were carried with up to the “safe land”. Food Harvesting and Preservation are such other activities that he participates in and put together refugees and other volunteers.
He is currently a part time faculty member at University of Arizona (UofA) at the Center for English as a Second Language (CESL) where he teaches the English language to international students who need their English proficiency to be improved.
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Stephen Farley is a nationally known public artist — creator of Tucson’s historic Broadway Underpass murals and 30 other large artworks across the U.S. — and helped bring the transformational Sun Link modern streetcar system to Tucson. An avid gardener, in the 1990s he was editor and designer of the Tucson Organic Gardeners monthly newsletter.
In 2015, in response to anti-immigrant statements from elected officials in Arizona, Stephen created Arizona Welcomes Refugees, an informal all-volunteer group that welcomed new refugees at the airport and provided both resources and community-building gatherings for these newest Americans.
The people of Tucson elected Stephen to serve six terms in the Arizona Legislature — three terms in the House, and three in the Senate — and he was elected by his peers as Assistant Minority Leader in both. He served as the Ranking Democrat on the Finance and Ways & Means Committees, as well as Member of the Appropriations, Financial Institutions, Joint Legislative Budget, and Ethics Committees.
During his legislative service, Stephen worked across the aisle to expand Medicaid healthcare to 400,000 Arizonans and, after leading the fight against cuts to public schools for years, he helped leverage the power wielded by the RedforEd teachers movement to win approval of more than $415 million in new funds for K-12 public education in 2018-19. He has won many awards including Best Debater, Best Elected Official, and Leader of the Year for Public Policy.
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Sara Haghighi is a passionate educator and lifelong learner committed to empowering individuals and fostering critical consciousness about social conditions. A former refugee from Iran, Sara brings lived experience and a deep belief in the transformative power of education to her work. She is a dedicated advocate for refugees, adult education, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, grounded in a strong commitment to social justice and equity.
Sara currently serves on the Iskashitaa Refugee Network Board of Directors, where she is honored to support the organization’s mission at the intersection of food justice, education, and community building. She is particularly drawn to Iskashitaa’s sustainable food initiatives, hands-on educational programs, and collaborative community partnerships that center dignity, self-sufficiency, and refugee leadership.
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Dimitria Clayton grew up in Oklahoma, Southern California and spent much of her adult life in Germany. She relocated to Tucson, Arizona in 2022. Due, in part to her own experiences with living and working abroad, she has always had a keen interest in all things concerning international migration – with a particular interest in contributing to a differentiated, evidence based and humane approach to migration policy.
Dimitria has a B. A. in Political Science from UCLA, an M. A. in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam and a M. Ed., in Teaching and Teacher’s Education from the University of Arizona.
While in Germany she worked for the State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia in the field of international affairs where her key tasks were developing, managing and evaluating programs in the fields of anti-discrimination, migration and sustainability policies. She was fortunate in this context to collaborate with a vast network of local non-profits, universities and international organizations, including UN entities located in the region, on activities (e. g. training programs, research projects, international events), linking, for example, the role of migration and sustainable development. A key focus of this work involved the development of grant and capacity-development programs for African diaspora organizations located in the region.
Since returning to the US she has become a certified social studies educator working closely with youth from vulnerable migrant and refugee communities.
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Mark retired from a long successful career in retail (Costco General Manager) in 1999 and moved to Tucson, where his wife of 43 years, Lynda, hails from. Determined to begin a new career in education (at age 50), he enrolled at Pima Community College where he received his associate degree in education and served as an officer with the East Campus Student Government. He went on to the University of Arizona, receiving a bachelor’s degree in education Summa Cum Laude in 2004 and a master’s degree in higher education in 2008. He served as an officer in the Future Teachers Club and vice president of Phi Lambda Theta, a teacher’s honorary, while at the University.
He began work as a teacher’s aide in a class for “at risk” students at Catalina High School (a low-income, inner-city school) in 2004 before becoming the school’s college counselor from 2006 to 2014. During that time Catalina’s post-secondary attendance went from less than 60% to over 80%. Catalina students earned in excess of $25 million dollars in scholarships. After retiring from this position, he was elected to serve on the Pima Community College Governing Board in November of 2014, which he chaired during 2016-2017. He currently serves on the Pima County Planning & Zoning Commission and as the chair of the Metropolitan Education Commission’s Executive Board. He has continued to counsel students of all academic and family income levels on being prepared for, applying to, and successfully funding their college aspirations.
Mark was awarded the Metropolitan Education Commission’s “Crystal Apple Award” in 2011 and the Century Link/Arizona Diamondbacks “All Star Teacher Award” in 2013. He has a long history of community service including serving as president of the Pima Community College Alumni Association, the Pima Community College Foundation and chair of the University Of Arizona Hillel Board Of Directors.
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Laura has 30 years of experience in adult education fostering learner autonomy, making meaning through contextualized instruction, and centering learner and community voices. She is focused on collaborative, constructivist approaches that are rooted in participatory learning theories. Her expertise includes professional development, civic engagement, media literacy, digital storytelling, instruction/curriculum, workforce development, leadership training, and advocacy.
Currently, Laura is a trainer and consultant with Creative Narrations and Elevation Educational Consulting Group. She also does free-lance consultancies for education, government, and non-profit groups. As a trainer with Creative Narrations, she trains participants representing adult education, tribal health, and community health workers to produce multimedia movies from their stories of lived experience. As a consultant with Elevation Educational Consulting Group, she does participatory research, curriculum and standards, and various trainings for education staff, teachers, and leaders. She is on the board of Odyssey Storytelling and produces local collaborative storytelling events.
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Jeannette Maré(pronounced Mar-ay), PhD, is the Director of the Science of Kindness Community Collective at the University of Arizona. Her path to becoming a community-engaged kindness researcher was a long and winding one. Jeannette's world changed drastically after the sudden death of her son in 2002. In the incredible grief of losing Ben, learning and sharing about the lifesaving, world-changing power of kindness became her sole focus. With her heart broken open, she founded Ben's Bells, a nonprofit that inspires and teaches the intentional practice of kindness. Now a research professor at the University of Arizona, Jeannette leads a research collaborative exploring how to increase kindness in interpersonal relationships, organizations and communities.
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Joan is a Tucson resident of eight years. She is a microfinance consultant and has worked all over the world. She served on nonprofit boards since 2010, including her neighborhood association board. She joined the Iskashitaa board in 2014. She is committed to improving the lives of the refugees with whom Iskashitaa works, and to making Iskashitaa a more sustainable organization with greater outreach so as to benefit more refugees.
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Devon Sanner graduated rom Rincon/University High School, he attended the University of Arizona as a Flinn Foundation Scholar and National Merit Scholar. Completing a bachelor’s degree in Russian and Political Science, he pursued graduate studies in Slavic Languages and Literatures and Language Education at Indiana University.
After a stint in Teach For America in Phoenix, Sanner decided to follow his passion and pursue a career professional cooking. Graduating with honors from Le Cordon Bleu Scottsdale Culinary Institute, he returned to Tucson to join the staff at Janos and J BAR, helmed by James Beard Award-winning chef Janos Wilder. Chef Sanner worked his way up the ranks from extern/commis to become Chef de Cuisine in 2009, honing his skills in Southwestern cuisine and classic French technique. When both Janos and J BAR closed in 2012, Chef Sanner joined Janos as Chef de Cuisine at Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, executing a truly global menu. In 2016, Chef Sanner took on the role of Executive Chef in opening The Carriage House, an event space, cooking school, and catering operation, again alongside Janos Wilder. Additionally, Chef Sanner is a founder and President of the Gastronomic Union of Tucson, a not-for-profit affiliation of more than 3 dozen of Tucson’s best and most beloved chefs, fostering a culinary community of creativity, professional development, and community engagement in the United States’ first UNESCO designated City of Gastronomy. Sanner is also Tucson City of Gastronomy Chef Ambassador, representing Tucson at public events here and abroad. Chef Sanner’s restaurant, Zio Peppe, opened in May, 2021, and has quickly garnered acclaim and a warm reception in the Tucson community and beyond.
Chef Sanner has joined the Iskashitaa Refugee Network Board of Director where his culinary skills and business knowledge will be a great addition.
In Memoriam
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We are deeply saddened to share the loss of our dear friend, supporter, volunteer extraordinaire, Roy DeBise-Loomis. Chef Roy gave tirelessly to Iskashitaa and individual refugee families, leading our culinary program, teaching food preservation workshops and directing innovative fundraising activities. The local food specialty items in our IskaShop are products of his creativity. Roy had a joyful, giving spirit that touched us all. We can only hope to continue his work and support his husband, Rolly Loomis, of 41 years during this time of grief.
"Roy fed people from all walks of life encouraging folks to gather at the table to share a meal and be in fellowship together.
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Robbie Dick was born in the Roaring Twenties in Ely, Nevada, a mining town in the northeastern Nevada high desert. She earned a degree in chemistry with a minor in math from Occidental College and worked as a chemist for a while. Then Robbie discovered she could work as a waitress and travel! So she did! First to National Parks all over and then to South America on a steamer. After marrying and having kids she and her family travelled to camp in Mexico and Europe. She has always contributed to the social activism of the Methodist Church most significantly, she and her husband were very active in the Citizen Diplomacy work at St. Francis. This involved fifteen trips to the Soviet Union to encourage dialog in an attempt to end the cold war. They have visited over twenty countries on several continents since 1995. In her lifetime of travel Robbie found that people may look different, eat different foods, and speak different languages, but are all basically the same wonderful human beings. That is why she felt passionate about Iskashitaa’s important effort, to interact with refugees and learn from them, as they learn from us. And she felt she had lived through too many wars. She wisely believed that if we get to know each other, we have a better chance for peace.
Learn about the Jim & Robbie Dick Memorial Social Justice Scholarship, dedicated in her honor, here
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Sue Troutman was a beloved long-time volunteer at the Iskashitaa Refugee Network (IRN) who sadly passed away in 2017. To honor her memory and to help continue her work supporting refugees, her husband has established the Susan Marie Troutman Refugee Advancement Fund which will be supported by the A.W. Aldag Family and local community members who would like to help our newest residents, who are currently volunteering/participating with Iskashitaaa programs, get a firm footing on their path to U.S. citizenship.
This program offers an annual award of up to $1,000 per applicant to support various educational activities. Money may be used toward driving school, tutoring, training toward certification/s (CPR, First Aid, Food Safety, etc.) and/or to obtain items/tools or services (laptop, internet access, etc.). The goal is to remove barriers that are in the way of helping individuals and families from gaining additional skills and self-reliance in their community.
The annual total funding is $5000, allowing for five or more scholarships to be awarded. Recipients will be required to account for how the funds were used with records and/or receipts.
All inquiries should be directed to: iskashitaascholarship@gmail.com
with subject line: SMT RefugeeAdvancementFund, or contact 520-440-0100.