Bugs. Lots of bugs. Who knew such a lowly and frequently squished creature could lead Christina Francois to her dream career as a field station director?
Francois doesn’t remember particularly ‘loving’ bugs but her mother told her that even as a tot growing up in Southern California, she seemed to be watching, collecting and studying them. This led her to enroll at California State University, Fullerton as a biology major eventually earning a master’s degree in biological science. Along with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fullerton, she ‘acquired’ and married her husband, John, also a biologist.
Francois became familiar with southern Arizona in 2005 while working on her master’s studying moth diversity on Mount Lemon outside of Tucson. After graduation, in 2009, Francois moved to Kingman, Arizona where she worked at the cooperative extension for the BLM where she was introduced to the challenging position of range management, working as a liaison between the ranchers and the government. It was a difficult position because the ranchers and the BLM were frequently at odds as to how to properly maintain the grazing areas. This did, however hone Francois’ skills as an educator and sometimes a referee. Through this experience, she discovered a love of teaching that she still enjoys today.
Southern Arizona and the bugs kept ‘calling’ so after frequent visits to the area, and a decision to further her studies in entomology, Francois started her journey in 2012 towards her PhD at the U of A. Her husband also started working for the Forest Service out of Sierra Vista as a field biologist at that time.
In 2017 Francois began to volunteer at the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch of the National Audubon Society in Elgin, which celebrated its 50th year in 2018 as a research facility for natural scientists seeking to further their studies in a more natural setting.
It is there that she was able to carry out her passion for field station research. She sees the 4,000-acre ranch as a magical place because of the remoteness and the unlimited flora and fauna to study and enjoy.
While working on her dissertation for her PhD, Francois won the position of Field Director, vacated due to the retirement of Linda Kennedy, who had served there for 20 years.
Now in her dream career, sharing the wild beauty of this remote area that has been relatively untouched by farmers, miners and ranchers since 1968, Francois shares her passion with the many students from all over the country who come to temporarily live and study the plants, mammals, reptiles, fish and insects.
Upon the arrival of each new student, she stated that seeing the reaction of the people discovering that magic allows her to rediscover that same wonder. Driving the six, sometimes-sketchy dirt road miles to the paved Elgin Canelo Road and then into town for supplies becomes effortless when she is doing what she truly loves, and Francois has achieved that. Now to just finish that dissertation!