I AM UAA: Stanfill Marcus Stanfill

B.A. Interdisciplinary Studies '03
Hometown: Anchorage, AK
Fun Fact: His mother was one of the longest tenured professors in the UA system

A man of many talents. That's the quick way to sum up Stanfill Marcus Stanfill. As a high school student at Steller Secondary in Anchorage; a college student in New York, Texas, San Francisco and finally UAA; and a co-director of the nonprofit aid organization Solace International, Stanfill has honed skills ranging from technical writing, web media and communications to graphic design, illustration and theatre. Presently, we find him gearing up to start an M.B.A. program at Niagara University in Buffalo, New York, among other things.

Stanfill was born in Colorado in 1969 while his father was finishing his law degree, after which the family transplanted back to Alaska. His mother, Silver Stanfill, earned her master's degree in English from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and began her 28-year career in 1970 when UAA was still Anchorage Community College.

A life-changing and transforming event occurred at age 7, when Stanfill lost an eye to a rare form of cancer. Through his mother's UA health insurance, he was able to be a part of cutting-edge research at Iowa University and underwent experimental treatment for the usually fatal disease.

"I'm in a medical textbook somewhere!" he says. "It was definitely a hard thing to go through but my mom could weather anything and the doctors and nurses were extra special to me. Overall, getting through that gave me the confidence to define myself and know myself better."

Also part of his growing up was developing as an artist. His senior year at Steller, Stanfill painted a mural depicting the hypocrisy of racism. Two years later, the artwork became controversial and stirred debate during heated school board meetings as to whether the topic was appropriate for students.

Shortly after high school, he explored educational opportunities in the Lower 48 before coming back to Anchorage in 1992 to settle down and focus on finishing a degree. Working full-time in and around Anchorage while taking classes and being involved extracurricularly with UAA's theatre and art departments, Stanfill graduated with his B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies in the winter of 2002.

It was toward the end of his college career that he became involved with Solace International. A friend of his (Solace founder Nate York) was working on a project to open the first Internet-capable girls' school in Afghanistan, and he asked Stanfill for help with the fundraising. Since then, with a budget of about $3.7M over the last 10 years, Solace has built or renovated 27 schools, three orphanages and three clinics, and developed dozens of small businesses, all across 13 countries in Central Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. Over the last decade, Solace has created hundreds of jobs, small businesses and educational opportunities for communities in developing countries.

"With the Board and financial operations still based in Anchorage, Solace really is an Alaska nonprofit," he says, also noting that he and the company have always nurtured connections with UAA. In 2004-05, UAA Student Activities helped raise $15,000 for a project in Afghanistan. One of the student's who coordinated the funding efforts also traveled to Afghanistan. During that year, Stanfill supervised the construction of the first Internet-capable classroom in an Afghan public school and organized an opening event that included a live conversation between students in Sheberghan, Afghanistan and UAA students in Anchorage.

Soon after returning to the U.S., Stanfill moved to Seattle where in 2006, he worked with the UAA Alumni Association on a database of alumni in Washington in the hopes of starting a Seattle chapter.

Also while living in Seattle, he founded Stanfill Media and committed to a variety of work projects. He worked as a graphic artist and layout specialist for several Seattle newspapers, for a company that developed music learning software for kids and adults, and did some communications consulting for a number of public initiatives. At the same time, he continued to be involved with Solace International, and has since become their administrative director of media and communications, producing marketing and web materials as well as giving fundraising support.

In 2011, Stanfill moved from Seattle to Portland, and on a Solace fundraising trip to New York that year, he met his girlfriend, Adrienne. They've since decided to marry, which prompted his most recent move to New York at the beginning of 2012. As he prepares for his M.B.A. program to start, he's working on a screenplay for a television series, picking up video projects for city businesses, continuing his web and communications consulting, and doing spot work for illustrations and logo design "here and there." In his free time, he's trying to convince Adrienne to take salsa dancing lessons with him.

We can't wait to find out what he puts his mind to next.