Meet your 2024 – 2025 Leadership Team
Board Members
President – Position Open
Secretary Treasurer – Sharon Powers
Membership Chair – Debbie Kurz
Program Chair – Position Open
Public Policy Chair – Maria Doucette
DEI Chair – Position Open
Scholarships and Grants – Jill Donley
Past President and Advisor to the Board – Faye Schrater
Committee Officers
NCCWSL and VAP Travel Grants – Kathy Fine-Dare
Programs – Jeannie Nadel
Biographic Information on Board Members & Committee Officers
President – Position Open
Sharon Powers – Secretary Treasurer
I was born and raised in Northern California. I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from California State University, Chico and then a Masters in International Business Studies from the University of South Carolina. I joined Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers or PwC) in 1988, working and living in many locations including Houston, Kazakhstan and Russia before landing back in San Francisco. While in San Francisco with PwC I served for 10 years on the board of Professional Business Women of California (PBWC), a non-profit founded in 1989 by Congresswoman Jackie Speier to advance the role of women in the workplace. I retired from PwC in 2015 and settled in Durango in 2019.
Debbie Kurz – Membership Chair
Debbie Kurz was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and earned a BS in Pharmacy from Purdue University in 1979. She enjoyed a varied career using her pharmacy background in nontraditional settings. She worked as a Cosmetic Chemist for Elizabeth Arden, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly at the time. She then joined Lilly working in clinical research to collect, analyze and submit safety and efficacy data for new drugs. Debbie ultimately specialized in Clinical Quality Assurance. She left Lilly to join a start-up company that provided clinical trial data management services to pharmaceutical companies. She spent the last eight years of her career as president of DSK Consulting: Quality in Global Clinical Research. Her career allowed her to travel extensively both domestically and internationally.
Both drawn to the mountains, Debbie and her husband Ken moved to Durango in 2004 when he retired. They enjoyed skiing, hiking, Jazzercise and Pilates for many years. Debbie has been active with Big Brothers Big Sisters for nearly 20 years, including 6 years serving on their board. For the past 7 years, she has enjoyed a sweet friendship as a Big Sister to a wonderful Little. She has volunteered with Snowdown as a writer for the Schedule of Events since 2013 and is proud to have been on stage for three years of Snowdown Follies. She also loves playing Mah Jong with the AAUW interest group!
Program Chair – Position Open
Public Policy Chair – Maria Doucette
Maria Doucette, newly appointed Public Policy Chair for the Durango Branch of AAUW, is a proud Durango native who now resides in Mancos, Colorado. A graduate of Durango High School’s Class of 1994, Maria began her higher education journey as a non-traditional student and mother of three. She earned her Associate of Science degree from Pueblo Community College in Durango in 2004, followed by a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor in Psychology from Fort Lewis College in 2008.
Maria currently works as a social worker in senior affordable housing, where she advocates passionately for older adults and individuals with disabilities. She is deeply committed to promoting equity, dignity, and quality of life for all.
Outside of her professional and advocacy work, Maria enjoys spending time with her family—including her husband, Tim, and their children, whose ages range from 13 to 31. In her free time, she loves playing Mah Jongg, reading, listening to audiobooks, and tackling word puzzles.
DEI Chair – Position Open
Scholarships and Grants – Jill Donley
Jill Donley was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in the Bay Area with her four siblings, including her twin brother, Jack. She attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies. Jill began her career as an elementary school teacher in Castle Rock, Colorado, where she taught for ten years and earned two master’s degrees—one in Technology in Education and another in Supervision and Evaluation. She went on to serve as an elementary school principal and later as the Director of Professional Development in the St. Vrain Valley School District. Jill also served as an elementary principal in Cody, Wyoming.
In addition to her administrative roles, Jill has worked as an adjunct professor for Colorado State University and collaborated with the University of Wyoming to coach principals in struggling schools. Jill’s commitment to education and community service extends beyond the classroom—she was the Board President of the Front Range Board of Cooperative Educational Services (FRBOCES) and a long-time Board Member of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) in Cody.
In 2023, Jill and her husband relocated to Durango to be closer to family. She enjoys gardening, hiking, and spending time with her grandchildren.
Committee Officers
NCCWSL and VAP Travel Grants – Kathy Fine-Dare
Kathy Fine-Dare is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Gender/Women’s Studies at Fort Lewis College (FLC) in Durango, Colorado. She was born and raised in Indianapolis and received degrees in anthropology from DePauw University (BA) and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (MA, PhD). At FLC she served as anthropology department chair, coordinator of the gender/women’s Studies program, and as NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) compliance officer.
She continues active NAGPRA scholarship as well as collaborative research with an Indigenous community in Quito, Ecuador. She has authored and co-edited several articles and books, including Grave Injustice: The American Indian Repatriation Movement and NAGPRA (Nebraska), The Andean World (Routledge, co-edited with Linda Seligmann) and a revised Spanish translation of Urban Mountain Beings: History, Indigeneity, and Geographies of Time in Quito, Ecuador (Lexington 2020; USFQ Press and Abya- Yala 2024).
In addition to her work with the Durango AAUW fundraising for FLC students active in the Village Aid Project (VAP) and who attend the AAUW National Conference of College Women Leaders (NCCWSL), Kathy currently serves on the boards of the Colorado Fulbright Association and the Mesa Verde Association.
Programs – Jeannie Nadel
Jeannie was born February 16 1954 in Killeen Texas. A 4th generation Texan, her family moved from the Gulf Coast north to Houston and then continuing north to Dallas by the mid 60s. She attended Stephen F Austin State University and graduated BS Ed in elementary and special education. A career in magazine publishing culminated in her final career of teaching special needs children from ages 3-5. She is now retired and lives full time in Durango.
Faye Schrater – Past President and Advisor to the Board
Faye was born and raised in rural Wyoming. She earned a B.S. and M.S. in Microbiology from the University of Wyoming, then spent two years in the Peace Corps in Guatemala. After the Peace Corps she worked as a research technician, then earned a Ph.D. in Immunology and Infectious Disease from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and academic career included positions at New York University Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and Smith College. At Smith, in addition to teaching, she worked with the Project on Women and Social Change to study gender issues in science.
She served as a consultant on the development of new contraceptive methods for women for the World Health Organization, and was the U.S. liaison to WHO’s Gender Advisory Panel. Throughout her professional career she advised, consulted, worked on, and advocated for gender equality and reproductive rights.
Faye moved to Durango in 2003. She has served on Round Up Board for LPEA, the Scholarship Committee for Women’s Resource Center, and the Ethics Committee for Mercy Regional Medical Center.
She is proud to be a member of AAUW, whose mission to support women in achieving their goals aligns with her own. She has been a Board member since 2016, has served as Public Policy Liaison, and Member-at Large. Faye is the recently elected President of AAUW Durango and will bring to the Branch and membership the continuation of her dedication to solving issues relevant to women.