Working Toward a Sustainable Tucson: Myriam Sandoval, '20

Myriam Sandoval, who is earning a B.S. in Urban and Regional Development, is the recipient of the SBS Excellence in Leadership and Community Engagement Award for winter 2020. This award recognizes a graduating senior who has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills through their involvement on and off campus and their impact on the lives of others.

“Myriam is a strong student who has taken on a variety of leadership and engagement roles during her undergraduate career,” said Mark Kear, assistant professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment.

Myriam has had internships with the Manzo Elementary School Garden Program, the Kear and Wilder Manufactured Housing Research Team, the City of Tucson’s Ward 3 Council Office, and the UArizona Museum of Art.

“These substantial commitments to engaged learning in support of both the university and Tucson communities is made more impressive by the fact that they have been balanced with substantial family obligations and the challenges of being a first-generation college student,” Kear said. 

Myriam joined the Manufactured Housing Research collaboration with Habitat for Humanity Tucson and the City of Tucson as an intern in the fall of 2018.

“She was one of our first interns and played an important role in strengthening connections between our research team and our partners at the Ward 3 Council Office,” Kear said. “Myriam contributed to our outreach efforts by attending neighborhood association meetings, translating flyers into Spanish, using personal networks to recruit hard-to-reach resident groups, and canvassing door-to-door – often in 100-plus degree heat.”

“Myriam is adept at linking her Tucson-based research and engagement activities to global issues of inequality and rights,” said Elizabeth Oglesby, associate professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment and the Center for Latin American Studies. ”She was the top student in my Global Human Rights class (Geography 378) in spring 2020. Her ability to synthesize a wide range of material and draw analytical comparisons with her own work is unparalleled, as are her written and oral communication skills.”

Myriam will also be completing her B.S. in Sustainable Built Systems in May 2021.

“My career goals include being able to work in Tucson to aid the city's revitalization, to create a sustainable Tucson,” Myriam said.

“Throughout my journey at the UA, I have had the great joy of creating new experiences and obtaining great wealth in knowledge through the support of my instructors,” Myriam said. “I am excited to take the next steps in my future, and I’m grateful for the growth I have seen in myself throughout my time here. Thank you to all my instructors for contributing to this growth and for being exceptional mentors. I will always remember you!”