President John Haeger updated on the status of the university’s partnership with the Arizona Cardinals, given the three-year contract for the team’s annual training camp at NAU expires this year. He said the university wants the team back because it is good for NAU, for Flagstaff and for athletics. Vice president Jennus Burton is heading a group of key stakeholders to consider both the Cardinals camp specifications and what the university needs to make the partnership successful.
The United Way campaign is about to kick off across campus, and campus representatives Amanda Loveless, Brian Loveless and Matthew Tantau challenged university leadership to contribute to the momentum by participating in the “pacesetter” phase of the campaign.
Philip Gerrod, M.D., and nursing manager Cindy Roth, both from Campus Health Services, updated the cabinet on the international student with a likely case of active tuberculosis. No newly suspected cases of active tuberculosis have been reported, while the student is continuing to receive treatment. Gerrod said the risk to campus is low. Cabinet members suggested an update be sent out to campus before students arrive.
Diane Verkest, associate vice president for Human Resources, reviewed the university’s new CERT program, which stands for Conduct, Ethics, Reporting and Transparency. The program includes a tutorial, quiz and links to policies and resources that will remind faculty and staff of their ethical obligations as public employees. The program will generally address the standards and expectations of conduct as it relates to the integrity of transactions; creating a respectful environment; stewardship of resources; compliance; confidentiality; reporting criminal, unsafe or fraudulent activities; disclosing and managing conflicts of interest; and compliance with related policies and laws. Currently in its initial stage, it is being rolled out to campus leaders and administrators. Later this semester it will be implemented across campus and will become an annual practice for all employees.
President Haeger is bringing independent consultant Ann Duffield to campus in August and September to meet with cabinet members and departments across campus. The visits are intended to help frame the direction campus would like to see the university headed over the next few years.
There is a grand opening planned for Oct. 5 for the new Phoenix Biomedical Center, which has helped launch a major presence for NAU’s health professions programs in Phoenix. The facility and NAU’s partnership with UA garnered a good mention in a recent editorial in the Arizona Republic.
In light of recent events across the nation that point to the importance of maintaining safety in public settings, Haeger and university legal counsel Mark Neumayr discussed the need for additional education about laws and policies that govern the possession of weapons on campus, and the processes that are in place for assessing and responding to such incidents.
Eileen Mahoney, executive director of the University College, and Harper Johnson, director of ITS, gave a presentation about the ePlanning Project, which is showing success as a new method of communicating critical information with students.