ARIZONA'S CENTENNIAL: FOCUSING ON LEGACY

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona Week on Friday will focus on the state's legacy as manifest in its people and customs and in the plans and projects under way for statehood centennial next year.

Interviews for Friday's program will include:

-- Dora Vasquez, chair of the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission, which is reviewing proposals for Arizona Legacy Projects. They are described as projects that portray significant aspects of Arizona history, offer wide public wide access and sustainable beyond 2012.

-- Karen Churchard, director of the Arizona Centennial Commission, which is raising money for the celebrations and coordinating the planning of numerous activities statewide for the Feb. 14, 2012 anniversary.

-- Thomas Sheridan, a University of Arizona anthropologist who has written a history of the state and of Tucson's Mexican-American population in the 19th and 20th centuries.

-- Ned Norris, chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation, descendants of the Pima people who have lived in Arizona the longest -- 4,000 years or more -- and whose ancient language gave Arizona its name.