From high school dropout flipping burgers and whipping up shakes to published author has been a long and challenging journey for Curtis Vickers – one made easier by faculty and staff at Mesa Community College.

“The impact MCC has had on my life can’t be overstated,” said Curtis, who attended MCC from 2001-2003. “They took in this high school dropout, took my dreams seriously and did everything they could to help me realize them. I had all kinds of amazing experiences.” In fact, he still refers back to lessons learned in Hebrew class nearly 20 years later and his introduction to philosophy and symbolic logic classes “absolutely changed the way I think about the world.”

Having studied the humanities at MCC, the budding writer whose dream was to become a novelist, went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Arizona State University; a Master’s in English, with emphasis on writing, from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and an MFA from the Ohio State University. Today Curtis has realized his dream of becoming a published author --his novel about wildland firefighters, This Here is Devil’s Work, came out in early 2021 from the University of Nevada Press.

Currently, he is conducting preliminary research on the Comstock Lode for his next novel. When he isn’t writing, Curtis handles marketing, editorial and acquisitions for the University of Nevada Press. “Whenever I tell people about the journey my life has taken, MCC is a huge part of my story, and I am proud to tell others of the impact that the time and care its faculty gave so willingly has had on me.“