In the Spotlight: Nov. 22, 2019

Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs

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  • Ecoss professors Yiqi Luo (environment and ecology), Andrew Richardson (environment and ecology and agricultural sciences) and Ted Schuur (cross-field) along with PMI professor Greg Caporaso (microbiology) were on Web of Science Group’s directory of highly cited researchers. This designation is based on the number of papers that are ranked in the top 1 percent of citations for any given field.
  • Michael Smith, director of the men’s cross country team, earned his third consecutive Chick Hislop Award and was named Men’s Coach of the Year in the Mountain Region by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). His contributions to the Northern Arizona team helped earn the team title at the Mountain Region Championships this year. They have also earned team titles at the Big Sky Conference Championships, Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, John McNichols Invitational and the George Kyte Invitational. The team is competing for its fourth consecutive national championship on Saturday.
  • Physical therapy professor Amit Kumar was interviewed for a piece on KJZZ about a study he authored that was published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society. Kumar’s study explores notions of Medicare providers cherry-picking healthier patients in hopes of reducing costs. Kumar found that older Mexican-Americans were more likely to be less healthy and socioeconomically disadvantaged than those in Medicare Advantage plans.
  • The Princeton Review featured the W. A. Franke College of Business in its non-hierarchical, 248-university list of Best Business Schools 2020 for earning an MBA. The listing is based on data from Princeton’s surveys of 20,700 students and administrators at business schools throughout the country. Other factors include career outcomes, admissions selectivity and academic rigor.
  • NAU was ranked No. 7, up from No. 12, in the recent Open Doors report of institutions with the largest long-term study abroad student population by the Institute of International Education (IIE). The IIE has been conducting the survey since 1919 and has expanded to nearly 3,000 institutions throughout the United States.
  • EDsmart ranked NAU No. 8 on its list of Best Online Hospitality Management Degree Programs. The program offers hands-on experience, internship programs and comprehensive coursework that prepares students to step out into the field.
  • Students, faculty and staff in The W. A. Franke College of Business (FCB) reported several accomplishments:
    • Executive Director of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management Fred DeMicco recently released a medical tourism portal. GloMed is a site for research, education and training within the global medical tourism industry.
    • Associate accounting professor Jap Efendi was invited to be a visiting scholar at the University of Sydney Business School, Australia during winter break.
    • Julie Mueller, associate professor of economics, is a co-investigator on a team in the School of Earth and Sustainability. The group is developing a hydroeconomic model designed to assist local water managers with balancing future water supplies and growing water demand.
    • Accounting lecturer Neal Smith had his proposal, “Increase Profitability Managing Constraints: Throughput Accounting, A New Perspective,” accepted for the Institute of Management Accountant annual conference in Atlanta next summer.
    • Management professors Joe Anderson and Susan Williams co-authored the article, “Turning data into better decision making: Asking questions, collecting and analyzing data in a personal analytics project,” published in the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education.
    • The FCB held its annual casino night during family weekend. Students from the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management staffed the event and were managed by the Casino Gaming Management Class (HA477). This year they sold 1,122 tickets that have contributed to more than $700,000 raised for scholarships over the past 26 years.  
    • Professors Scott Hoefle, Chris Scherpereel and Susan Williams, along with emeritus faculty member Will Ott, published the article, “Course Design Process to Create a Coordinated, Integrated, Experiential Core Operations Management Course for Business Majors,” in Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education.
    • Associate professor of business law Eric Yordy received an offer to publish his article, “Secondary Meaning and Religion: An Analysis of Religious Symbols in the Courts,” in the No. 3 ranked constitutional law journal in the country, William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal.
  • Tommy Rock of the School of Earth and Sustainability co-authored a paper with Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) assistant professor Ricky Camplain; CHER assistant director Nicolette I. Teufel-Shone and Jani C. Ingram, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The study, “Traditional Sheep Consumption by Navajo People in Cameron, Arizona,” examines uranium exposure from traditional Navajo food, particularly mutton.