Titles

• Senior Global Futures Scholar, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory
• Lecturer, Community Resources and Development, Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions
• Faculty Affiliate, Lincoln Center Aplied Ethics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Biography

Sandra Price has called Arizona home since she was 18. She has been fortunate to develop clients and colleagues in every corner of the state -- major urban centers, small communities and Indian reservations. She counts many individuals, institutions and organizations among her clients and collaborators. Early in her career, she was privileged to work for Greater Phoenix Growth Corporation under Dr. Ioanna Morfessis, a renowned economic development expert. Sandra assisted Morfessis in founding Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and was GPEC’s marketing and special projects director until she entered law school. While at GPEC, Sandra supervised marketing aspects of the Sky Harbor Center International Airport expansion, conducted community-based research with stakeholders in downtown and midtown Phoenix for the office of the Mayor, and worked with city and county elected and appointed officials on assorted special projects.

As a student (cum laude) at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Sandra specialized in environmental, natural resources and administrative law, and consequently was selected by ASU’s law school dean to represent the law school in Governor Symington’s office as the aide to natural resources cabinet chair, Rita Pearson. Later, when Pearson was appointed as director of the Department of Water Resources, Price accompanied her to the agency. The education and relationships built at the governor's office and ADWR created a foundation for her later career in public policy.

As a lawyer, Sandra had a legislative, regulatory and administrative practice. Water, environmental and natural resources law comprised the largest share of her work. Highlights include representation of the City of Tucson, the town of Prescott Valley, and water and conservation issues for two Indian communities. She also served as public affairs director for the Nature Conservancy Arizona chapter. During those years, Price worked on QWARF (groundwater) clean-up legislation, water rights, land trust issues, forest fire management, and other laws and regulations. In 2004, Sandra co-lead a Pima County coalition of environmental organizations to victory on a voter-approved bond measure, which enabled Pima County to purchase 53 properties totaling 47,000 acres and 192 miles of rivers and washes, along with 130,000 acres of State grazing leases, all now managed for conservation (according to Pima County). Sandra built a tight network with the representatives of other municipalities and organizations including the Lincoln family’s Sonoran Institute, Trust for Public Lands, the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, Arizona Land and Water Trust, and organizations. Sandra also represented a variety of other clients, with issues as diverse as real estate, women’s health, hospital law, taxation, and more.

Following the successful Pima County bond measure, Dr. Price left her policy practice to pursue a PhD in Public Administration and Affairs. Her dissertation topic addressed the removal of barriers to implementing sustainability measures in organizations. In the intervening years, she has served a varied community and nonprofit client base, through her own relationships and through organizations such as Vitalyst Foundation and the Jewish Community Foundation. She has twice served as a nonprofit interim director, most recently for the American Academy of Pediatrics Arizona Chapter, where she designed and implemented AZAAP’s recovery from a significant financial disaster. While consulting for O’Connor House, Sandra spearheaded two successful projects, a collaboration with ASU College of Law, Volunteer Lawyers Program and others to increase the number of lawyers serving victims of domestic violence, and a second project in collaboration with Maricopa Association of Governments to help the victim advocate community assess its needs for professional development and implement training programs. She assisted the State Parks Foundation in repurposing itself for advocacy and fundraising in light of shifting economic trends, and has helped organizations and communities such as the Town of Apache Junction, the Grand Canyon National Park Science Department, the Tohono Chul Park in Tucson, The Alwun House and others do strategic planning and capacity building. She was recently engaged to guide the local Jewish community through the establishment of a Phoenix Jewish Community Relations Council. Sandra's work with nonprofit organizations has been strengthened by her work at ASU, where she has built a willing network of nonprofits to help prepare the next generation of nonprofit professional. Her office has become a popular student stop for identifying the right internship fit.

All of Sandra's career choices have enabled her to contribute to the wellbeing of individuals, organizations and communities. As a student at University of Missouri, she was awarded a coveted Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship, and later was granted the only student position on the Diversity Infusion Institute. Particularly the latter program increased her awareness and significantly shifted her lens on the importance of inclusion in ways that have reverberated throughout her work, and, of course, her teaching. At ASU, Sandra supervised the development of a bilingual cookbook featuring local produce to educate food insecure Maricopa County communities to utilize fresh food available in the Valley. She initiated and collaborated with The Ed Pastor Center for Politics and Public Solutions and the Center for the Study of Race & Democracy [CSRD] to bring legal experts and other resource agencies and organizations together to aid ASU’s Dreamer students and their families impacted by President Trump’s roll-back of DACA. She collaborated with CSRD to hold a community-wide post-election conversation in 2016, co-facilitated a CSRD girls mentoring program, planned and implemented an Advocacy Institute for nonprofit organizations and community groups, and is currently working with CSRD to asset map the ASU community to identify all research, programs and services dealing with diversity, inclusion, social justice and equity.

Education

• PhD, Public Administration/Public Affairs, University of Missouri, 2013
• JD, College of Law, Arizona State University, 1993
• BS, Communications Studies, Arizona State University, 1981

Expertise

• sustainability in business