Alameda-Stone Cemetery, commonly called the National cemetery, was used as Tucson's first cemetery from about 1860 to 1875. It was the direct successor of the cemetery inside the Tucson Presidio. The City of Tucson closed the cemetery in 1875 in anticipation of the coming of the railroad and the sale of the cemetery land for residential and commercial uses. In 1881, the city directed that all burials be removed from the National Cemetery and re-interred at the Court Street Cemetery. However, many burials were not removed before the land was subdivided and developed. These volumes document the archaeological investigation of the area from 2006-2008 before construction of a new court building.

To help commemorate Arizona’s centennial on February 14, 2012, a centennial project was begun to inventory and promote the protection of historic cemeteries throughout the state. Historic cemeteries were chosen as the focus of a centennial project because they are important irreplaceable resources many of which are in danger of being lost through neglect, natural erosion, and vandalism. As the Arizona Centennial approached, it seemed appropriate that an organized statewide effort be undertaken to locate, inventory and provide guidance for the conservation and maintenance of these significant properties.

If Arizona is going to be successful not only in improving minority access to higher education, but more importantly, minority student success in higher education, a systematic approach needs to be developed. The answers to improving minority access and achievement in higher education requires a holistic view of education as a system as well as an integrated look into the drivers of academic success. A fundamental problem exists with current policies designed to improve minority representation in higher education. Arizona’s lack of both a systematic view of the problem and the creation of a framework to evaluate policy ideas are sources of these disappointing results. The purpose of this paper is to fill in the gap by providing a framework of focus for academic success to be used to enhance Arizona’s approach to higher education policy.