Dr Alice receives Viola Legacy Award
The Legacy Award, one of the highest honors presented through the Viola Awards, recognizes an individual whose long-term contributions have had a lasting and transformative impact on the arts and cultural landscape of the Flagstaff community. The Legacy Award is about decades of dedication, meaningful influence on the community, inspiring others, and leaving something that endures.
Recipients of the Legacy Award are people who have shaped Flagstaff’s cultural identity, have contributed through leadership, education, advocacy, or creation, have supported access, inclusion, and growth in the arts, and are widely respected for their commitment and impact over time.
The award represents a recognition of lifetime or career-spanning achievement, a celebration of community-building through creativity, and a public acknowledgment that the recipient’s work has left a permanent mark on Flagstaff. In short, the Legacy Award is about enduring impact—honoring those whose work continues to benefit the community long after it was created.
Dr. Alice Christie, Ph.D., is the Founder and Executive Director of Tynkertopia, Inc., a nonprofit STEAM community center in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the visionary behind its expansion into TynkerSpace, a workforce-focused MakerSpace for teens and young adults. A lifelong educator and innovator, Dr. Christie spent 20 years teaching at the K–12 level before serving 23 years as a professor at Arizona State University, where she prepared future educators and advanced the integration of technology and inquiry-based learning in classrooms nationwide. Her passion for hands-on, curiosity-driven learning began in her own childhood, where she spent countless hours tinkering, exploring, and discovering how things work, an experience that continues to shape her philosophy that meaningful learning happens through doing, questioning, and creating.
Since founding Tynkertopia in 2017, Dr. Christie has transformed her vision into a thriving, inclusive community hub that serves thousands of children and families each year through accessible, creative STEAM experiences. Under her leadership, Tynkertopia has become a cornerstone of the Flagstaff community, removing barriers to participation through free and low-cost programs and fostering confidence, collaboration, and problem-solving skills in learners of all ages. The recent launch of TynkerSpace extends this impact by providing teens and young adults with hands-on access to advanced tools, mentorship, and career pathways in STEAM fields. Known affectionately as “Dr. Alice,” she has built a culture rooted in curiosity, innovation, and service, which has strengthened connections across schools, families, and community partners, and helped position Flagstaff as a leader in community-based STEAM education.
The impact of Dr. Christie’s work in Flagstaff is both deep and far-reaching. Through Tynkertopia and TynkerSpace, she has created pathways for thousands of young people, many from underserved communities, to access meaningful learning experiences that spark curiosity and open doors to future opportunities. Her work has strengthened connections between education, community organizations, and local industry, contributing to a more vibrant, innovative, and inclusive local ecosystem. By championing creativity, equity, and lifelong learning, Dr. Alice has not only influenced individual lives but has also helped shape Flagstaff’s identity as a place where imagination, learning, and community come together to build a stronger future.
