University of Denver Fall 2022

PASSION PROJECT Professor’s work at internment camp rewarded as Amache designated a National Historic Site

Clark, a professor of anthropology, began researching Amache just before the site received state-protected status as a historic landmark in 2005. At the time, the camp remained in its postwar state of de-constructed housing and living facilities. In the years since then, Clark and her team of archaeologists, many of them students, have discovered much more lying just below the surface. Amache is one of several internment camps in the U.S., which Clark calls “a reminder of what happens when a nation forgets its values.” Torn from their homes and livelihoods, Japanese-Americans along the West Coast were forcibly moved to and kept at these relocation camps. Over the years, Clark’s work at Amache revealed that it contained a productive, beautiful garden community created from the minimal resources then at hand. These are the subject of her recent book, “Finding Solace in the Soil: An Archaeology of Gardens and Gardeners at Amache” (University Press of Colorado, 2020). Clark’s fascination with Amache’s gardens was rewarded over the summer, when a rose bush planted by an Amache resident experienced its first bloom in nearly 80 years. Up until the bloom, there was no way of knowing what color the buds, a vibrant pink, would be.

Amache, a World War II internment camp that incarcer ated over 10,000 Americans of Japanese descent, has been designated a National Historic Site within the National Park Service. President Joe Biden signed the Amache National Historic Site Act into law in March, thanks in large part to the work of DU’s own Bonnie Clark. This move means greater protections for the historically important site and the resources needed to maintain Amache.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Liniger Center on Franchising to foster industry leaders

center’s research focuses on issues facing franchisees and franchisors today. The launch of the Liniger Center comes at a propitious time. The growing franchise industry is projected to do more than $826 billion in business in 2022. The industry employs more than 8 million people, a number expected to rise. The center is made possible by a $3 million gift from Dave and Gail Liniger, co-founders of RE/MAX, an international real estate

The first of its kind west of the Mississippi, DU’s new Liniger Center on Franchising will provide non-credit coursework, networking and research opportunities for students interested in the possibilities of franchising. Frommarketing and finance to real estate and franchising law, the center will provide students the experience and knowledge necessary to be a successful franchisor or fran chisee. Additional courses will build students’ conflict-man agement, negotiation and leadership skills. The center also will provide students an in-depth understanding of what it takes to succeed and lead in the industry while preparing them for the Certified Franchise Executive Exam. Beyond classroom experiences, the Liniger Center will host workshops on current trends and serve as a site for peer-to-peer networking. Franchisees and franchisors will be able to collaborate and develop innovative solutions to problems challenging the industry. Housed within the Daniels College of Business, the center aims to facilitate timely research through collaboration with the Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management, the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management and the Reiman School of Finance. Additional partnerships with industry leaders will ensure that the

company. The couple launched their company in Denver in 1973. Since then, RE/MAX has grown to nearly 7,000 offices and more than 125,000 agents across the world.

“We’ve spent 50 years seeing amazing things happen when entrepreneurs come together, share their experiences and support each other,” Dave Liniger says. “The center will be a hub of learning and growing in that same spirit.”

8 | UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE • FALL 2022