Person wearing dark jacket, hat, and pants, carrying a backpack and standing near a rocky stream in a forested area.

Study finds warmer streams may weaken river food webs

Projector on wheels projecting the word 'ART' on a building.

Faculty & Staff

Animations on the move

With the help of a bicycle and a custom-made trailer, a professor of visual communication is bringing moving image experiences into public spaces, inviting people to encounter animation as part of their everyday environment.

Moonlight and Platinum, a statue that Vicky Oldham sculpted

Campus & Community

50 years after starting college, NAU Online grad receiving her diploma

Vicky Oldham left college when she was 20, confident she could have a career as an artist without a degree. She did—but more than four decades later, she wanted to return to the classroom and finish what she’d started. She graduates with a degree in liberal arts in May, the same day she celebrates her birthday.

Two people posing with Louie the Lumberjack at Mother Road in Flagstaff

Faculty & Staff

Your guide to NAU Giving Day 2026

Not sure where to swing your Axe of Kindness this NAU Giving Day? Let us help! We’ve shared a few inspiring stories that illustrate the power your gift can wield, whether you donate to NAU’s general fund or choose a specific area of impact. Your Axe of Kindness will change lives and transform Arizona for the better, no matter how you give.

Research & Academics

Person wearing dark jacket, hat, and pants, carrying a backpack and standing near a rocky stream in a forested area.

Study finds warmer streams may weaken river food webs

Rising stream temperatures may be weakening the foundation of river food webs by altering how carbon moves through these watery ecosystems.

A Playful Health Technology lab student explains tech to a client.

Play can improve health. Tech is making that happen.

An early-career grant from the Flinn Foundation is funding research in Jared Duval’s Playful Health Technology Lab. Duval’s work, the seeds of which were planted watching his parents work with people with disabilities, looks for low-cost, accessible ways to improve public health. Those efforts include games to collect data on rural broadband and fun app-based speech therapy for children who have had cleft palate surgery; this latest grant is allowing him to move forward with an exciting project that not only benefits the community but also allows Duval to collect data on what his users need.

Crystal Hepp looking at a test tube at Frances Short Pond in Flagstaff

How one NAU researcher studies wastewater to protect Arizonans’ health

With funding from the Arizona Department of Health Services, NAU genomicist Crystal Hepp is sequencing the genomes of viruses that have had substantial public health impacts for Arizona’s kids and adults in recent years. Her research could help Arizona communities prepare for surges in infections and prevent widespread illness.

Campus & Community

Moonlight and Platinum, a statue that Vicky Oldham sculpted

50 years after starting college, NAU Online grad receiving her diploma

Vicky Oldham left college when she was 20, confident she could have a career as an artist without a degree. She did—but more than four decades later, she wanted to return to the classroom and finish what she’d started. She graduates with a degree in liberal arts in May, the same day she celebrates her birthday.

Six President's Prize winners and President Cruz Rivera

NAU honors President's Prize, Gold Axe winners and Distinguished Seniors

President José Luis Cruz Rivera and other university leaders honored 50 Gold Axe winners, including six President's Prize winners, and Distinguished Seniors. Recognizing their service, leadership and academic accomplishments, Cruz Rivera said, "each of these students has left a mark on NAU—they’ve led, they’ve served, they’ve spoken up and they’ve lifted others along the way.”

A woman does schoolwork from a laptop on her couch drinking coffee and petting a husky.

Making college more accessible for online transfer students

Thanks to a partnership with the online community college Campus, students who graduate with an associate’s degree from Campus will see a transfer process at NAU aimed at maximizing credits and minimizing challenges, helping students achieve their goal of earning a bachelor’s degree.

Lumberjack Features

The Lady Sharks rugby team members pose in their blue and gold uniforms on a rugby field.

Club Spotlight: Lady Sharks Women’s Rugby

There's nothing scary about swimming with these fishes. The Lady Sharks women's rugby team spends its academic year combining heart-pumping physical competition and heart-warming, often quirky, team building. Learn more about this thrilling contact sport and the women devoted to it.

Vianesa Reid working in a lab

Lumberjacks Abroad: Spain

Viansa Reid put her life on hold for a year to live the experience of a lifetime. This modern language and environmental science major packed her bags and moved to Alicante, Spain, for a year to learn more about the language and work at a bioplastics lab through the Interdisciplinary Global Programs at NAU. Learn what she found most different about her host country and how she overcame homesickness.

Humans of NAU: Ramona Mellott

If you had to sum up Ramona Mellott in two words, it would be these: teaching and cakes. As a child in India, she daydreamed of becoming an educator while baking with her mother. As dean of the College of Education, Mellott is known for her compassionate leadership and her delicious cake confections. After 12 years at the helm of the college, Mellott is stepping down to resume teaching in the Department of Educational Psychology—but don’t worry, she’ll never stop bringing dessert to work. Read on to find out when Mellott first came to NAU and where she’s headed this summer.