Tallie Valverde

by Leave a Comment

The only local news station in northern Arizona, NAZ Today, turns 10 years old this fall.

The Northern Arizona University program is student-run and gives workers the experience they need for jobs in television news, by working with experienced professionals in a real-world environment. Students, who earn credit by working 4-12 hours a week, can work in a variety of positions, including reporters, anchors, producers, directors, technical directors and multimedia journalists.

“Our program is unique in that it allows students to start during their freshman year working in a real newsroom, under real deadlines covering important stories in northern Arizona,” said Brian Rackham, director of the School of Communications Media Innovation Center.

Former students have gone to work for NBC’s “Today Show,” local TV sports, directing news in Phoenix and Denver, producing news in Phoenix and other TV newsrooms throughout the country.

Alumnae Tresa Tudrick and Yesenia Garcia both graduated in 2017 and now have jobs at news stations in Phoenix. Tudrick works as a sports reporter for Channel 12, and Garcia works for FOX 10. Both said NAZ Today was an impactful experience.

“NAZ Today definitely helped me get to where I am today,” Garcia said. “I truly believe the hands-on experience I got there, I could have not gotten it elsewhere. I was allowed to learn at my own pace and with great people around to help me.”

Throughout the years, students have won several awards while in the program in categories that include TV Sports Story and TV Hard News Reporting. Most recently, NAZ Today won first place for Student Newscasts by the Broadcast Education Association.

“Our students have shown that their work is competitive with some of the largest and best-known universities in the country, and we are grateful for this award,” Rackham said.

NAZ Today is on five times a week on UTV 62 and Flagstaff Cable 4. Viewers can also stream live from the NAZ Today website.

by Leave a Comment

Kudos to these students

Do you have a spotlight item to share with the NAU community?

E-mail your announcements to Inside@nau.edu, or use our online submission form.

  • During the summer, STEM students Carmen Robles Baron and Keyla Falcon were selected for a fully funded eight-week international biomedical nanotechnology training program in Hermosillo, Mexico. They trained at the Núcleo de Investigación Científica y Desarrollo Tecnológico laborites, where they conducted their own research using high-tech materials and cross-cultural research. This opportunity was made possible by the Global Research and Internship Program.
  • NAU alumnus Lionel Whitehair published a new landscape-scale study of forest fire history from the Lukachukai area of the Chuska Mountains on the Navajo Nation. Whitehair and colleagues sampled more than 200 fire-scarred trees surrounding Buffalo Pass to retrieve this information. His research will be valued by Navajo Nation resource managers.
  • Peijie Qiu, Xilun Liu, Siwei Wen and Yuchang Zhang received the Best Student Paper Award after presenting their capstone paper at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, in Shanghai, China. Their paper, “Development of instrumented bikes for assessment of road and bike trail conditions” is an example of cross-disciplinary student-centered research.

by Leave a Comment

A new art exhibit at the Northern Arizona University Art Museum responds to life’s challenges with large, fluid-like graphite and water media works.

Artist Lydia Gravis uses a repetitive mark-making technique in abstract drawings to visually communicate. “Lydia Gravis: Mark-making in Liminal Spaces” is on display through Nov. 16. An artist presentation will be at 4 p.m. Nov. 16.

Gravis lives and works in Ogden, Utah. She is the gallery director of the Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery within the Department of Visual Art and Design at Weber State University.

art work by Lydia Gravis
“Metastasis” by Lydia Gravis

“Instead of taking something specific and abstracting its essence, my work attempts to take something abstract, like the idea of liminal psychological space, and suggest its specificity through visual language,” Gravis said.

Her current works use personal experiences as source material for a new direction. Using numerous shades of blacks, browns and blues with graphite, her pieces have a flow-like quality. Creating these works helped Gravis navigate a friend’s terminal cancer with the power of being able to communicate with art.

The NAU Art Museum is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 620 S. Knoles Drive on NAU’s Flagstaff campus. Entrance to the museum is free, although a $2 donation is suggested.

by Leave a Comment

Interim Provost Brian Levin-Stankevich announced this week that John Masserini will be the next vice provost for academic affairs at Northern Arizona University.

Masserini, who is the associate dean for the Graduate College, will assist in expertise, practices and internal and external relationships to ensure quality and integrity and advance NAU in its mission of student success.

“I am honored and thrilled to be joining the Provost’s Office in this important role,” Masserini said. “Collaborating with units across campus to maintain, develop and build student success initiatives at NAU will be tremendously rewarding, as will identifying and highlighting the many ways NAU’s academic and institutional efforts positively impact student retention and persistence toward degree completion. Providing students with meaningful experiences coupled with robust resources is our priority as we carry out our mission to prepare and graduate an educated and engaged citizenry.”

Masserini has many years of experience contributing to student success at NAU. Prior to working at the Graduate College, he was associate director for the School of Music, and he remains a professor of clarinet in the school.

He received his bachelor’s in music performance from the University of New Mexico and his master’s and doctoral degrees in music performance from Michigan State University.

Levin-Stankevich said he was pleased Masserini would become part of the provost’s office and thanked the other internal candidates.

“I want to thank those of our colleagues who allowed themselves to be considered for this position,” Levin-Stankevich said. “Doing so within one’s own university is a difficult challenge, and I appreciate their forbearance and courage in doing so.  I also want to thank the members of the screening committee for their diligence in achieving a balanced and thorough assessment of our candidates and campus input.”

Masserini will begin his role as vice provost on Oct. 1.

by Leave a Comment

People interested in mentoring and supporting first-generation college students can learn the best ways to help at the First Generation Southwest Symposium Sept. 27-28 at the DuBois Center at Northern Arizona University. Attendees will hear from first-generation students, discuss their own experiences and insights and help find creative solutions to challenges these students face.

Presentations will include information on the transition to college, working on non-cognitive skills, engaging with students beyond the classroom, finding mentors and other skills that will help first generation students succeed.

Sonja Ardoin, a first-generation college student and now an assistant professor of student affairs administration at Appalachian State University, will be the keynote speaker. Her research focuses on social class identity in higher education, college access and success, leadership and career strategies in student affairs.

Registration for the symposium closes Sept. 20. For more information, visit the symposium’s website or email firstgen.syposium@nau.edu.

by Leave a Comment

Got an ache or pain that just won’t go away? The Northern Arizona University pro bono physical therapy clinic can help with that. The clinic offers three free visits for anyone who is uninsured or underinsured and is in need of physical therapy treatments.

The clinic is run by physical therapy doctoral students each with an overseeing professional. This gives students the opportunity to get practice hours and hands-on experience.

The clinic focuses on musculoskeletal therapeutics. At a patient’s first visit, the student therapist will review the patient’s medical history and discuss possible treatments, and during the second and third visit, therapists provide the treatments and help the patient create a self-care plan.

The physical therapy clinic is open every Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It is located in the Health and Human Services building, room 129. To make an appointment, call (928) 523-4092.