RG13: Oral Interview Transcripts
These oral interviews were conducted by Richard Felnagle for the purpose of gathering information and materials to write his book Maricopa’s Community Colleges: The Turbulent Evolution of an Education Giant, which was published in 2000. Felnagle was an English instructor at Mesa Community College. The interviews are recorded on cassette tapes which are stored in RG10 SG 6 Box 1. These transcriptions are true to the audio recordings except in some places indicated with “(unintelligible)” where the sound quality of the cassette tape was poor or where the voices were not clear.
Box 1:1 Allen Benedict
This interview was conducted in either 1996 or 1997 (there is a discrepancy between the date on the cassette label and the sound recording.) Allen Benedict started at MCC in 1972. He taught Health Education classes and coached football, baseball and golf. He was the PE Department Chair and the Athletic Director during his tenure with MCC. This interview focuses mostly on recruiting practices in the early years at MCC and throughout the district, and how those changed through controversy with Scottsdale Community College and accusations by Roger Brooks. The cassette tape of this interview is in RG 10 Media SG 6 Oral Interviews Box 1 Item 1.
1:2 Carl Matthusen
This interview is undated but was probably conducted in 1996 or 1997 based on the mention of Matthusen’s years with the district and his mention of serving as chairman of the NPR board. Carl Matthusen started with the district in 1975 as operations coordinator for Rio’s radio station, KMRC, which is now KJZZ, and later expanded to include KBAQ. He was promoted to general manager in 1978 and served in that position until he retired in 2009. He served as chairman of the NPR Board from 1992-1996. This interview focuses on how he built listenership for the radios, the expansion from one to two stations in the district, moves to new buildings and the district’s support for the radio stations. He also discusses his work with Sun Sounds. The cassette tape of this interview is in RG 10 Media SG 6 Oral Interviews Box 1 Item 2 and 3
1:3 Paul Elsner
This is a follow-up interview that only lasts a few minutes regarding clarification of an earlier interview (which is not in this collection) regarding the Code of Ethics that Elsner wrote. Elsner clarifies that he did write a version of a code of ethics that was supposed to serve in the interim before an official code of ethics was created. This recording can be found on the first part of RG 10 Media SG 6 Oral Interviews Box 1 Item 3 Side A--and is followed by the continuation of the Carl Matthusen interview.
1:4 Lynn Milner
This interview was mainly about the Artichoke Movement at Scottsdale Community College in the 1970s. Milner, a faculty member at Mesa Community College at the time of this interview, was the new journalism teacher and editor of the SCC school newspaper at the time. She discusses the intimidation and issues that arose from the Artichoke Movement, how it affected the school newspaper and her specifically as the editor of that paper. The cassette tape of this interview can be found in RG 10 Media SG 6 Oral Interviews Box 1 Item 4.
1:5 Millie Noble
The sound quality on this cassette tape of Felnagle’s interview with Millie Noble is poor and was not transcribed. The cassette tape of this interview can be found in RG 10 Media SG 6 Oral Interviews Box 1 Item 5.