Myrna Harrison, former president of Rio Salado, Gateway, and Phoenix College, passed away at the age of 93.
Myrna Harrison was born in Hollywood, Calif., in 1932. Her father was an animator and director at Screen Gems, the animated division of Columbia pictures; her mother a hat designer. Her family moved to New York City in 1943, where she attended Music and Art High School. After briefly attending the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, she returned to New York City to study art, first with Morris Davidson, then Jack Tworkov, finally at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Art, in New York, and Provincetown, Mass.
She showed her works in numerous shows in the 1950s, and supported herself with a variety of jobs: night shift at Western Union; sales clerk at a department store, a tourist shop and a custom sandal shop; temporary office help. She married Earl Pierce, a painter in 1954. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master’s Degree in English from New York University.
In 1960, Myrna and Earl moved to California, where she was a teaching assistant at UC, Berkeley. She remained in California for the next fifteen years, teaching in North Richmond and at Laney College in Oakland. She served as Assistant Dean of Instruction at Contra Costa College and Dean of Instruction at San Jose City College. While in California she showed at various private and public galleries.
In 1980, Myrna moved to Phoenix to serve as President of Rio Salado College from 1980 to 1985. She then served as President of Gateway Community College from 1985 to 1988, and President of Phoenix College from 1988 to 1993.
Harrison was Rio Salado’s second president. Under her leadership, the college launched its Incarcerated Re-entry Program and established Valley-wide locations, which led to the school being known as “a college without walls.” She also established Sun Sounds of Arizona, an Information service for people who have difficulty reading print publications.
She retired in Wickenburg to a studio overlooking a saguaro-filled canyon. Her expressionist, color-saturated paintings of the Sonoran Desert, canyons and mountains surrounding her studio and home evoke the vibrant, fierce landscape of the southwest. Her art is displayed in a number of locations across Maricopa Community Colleges, including the Rio Salado Conference Center.
An active member of her community, she served on the Board and as Acting Director of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg as well as a Board Member and President of the Phoenix Art Museum’s Asian Art Council.
Harrison recently had solo exhibitions at the Sedona Art Center and Sedona Heritage Museum (2024), James Ratliff Gallery, Sedona, AZ (2001, 2002); Cortland Jessup Gallery, Provincetown, MA (1994, 1995); Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, AZ. (1995) She has also shown in group shows throughout the US, Europe and Japan. She frequently traveled in Asia -- Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam. In 2000 she spent three months in Beijing studying Chinese and touring the Silk Road. Her work is currently carried by the Sedona Art Center. Her work has been collected by various art museums in the United States including the Phoenix Art Museum, the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, the Provincetown and Cape Cod museums in Massachusetts.
Myrna Harrison was a remarkable advocate for education. In honor of her legacy across the Maricopa Community Colleges, an endowment in her name has been established at the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, supporting students across MCCCD.
In honor of her legacy across the Maricopa Community Colleges, an endowment in her name has been established at the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation, supporting students across MCCCD.
Donations can be made online at phoenixcollege.edu/memorial or by check. Please make checks payable to the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation (MCCF) and mail them to 2419 W. 14th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281. Kindly include Myrna Harrison Endowment Fund #5759 in the memo line.
Special thanks to Phoenix College for contributing content for this memorial.