In the Spotlight: Aug. 26, 2021
Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs
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.
- Ron Gray, associate professor of science education in the Department of STEM Education, has received a National Science Foundation award to develop and study a new set of curricular planning tools for secondary science teachers. When completed, results from the project will impact science curriculum development across the nation as science teachers work to meet the needs of the Next Generation Science Standards. The three-year, $300,000 IUSE award is in collaboration with Todd Campbell of the University of Connecticut.
- Ecologist Jut Wynne, assistant research professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Center for Western Adaptable Landscapes, recently published a paper entitled “A conservation roadmap for the subterranean biome” in Conservation Letters journal. The paper was written with 55 authors spanning 23 countries and five Indigenous groups.
- Abound ranked Northern Arizona University as one of its 2021 Top Grad School Programs. Rankings are based on the essential needs of the non-traditional student: accessibility, affordability, acceleration and advancement.
- The W. A. Franke College of Business accounting program has earned an endorsement by the Institute of Management Accountants. IMA’s Endorsement of Higher Education initiative recognizes programs that meet high educational standards. To qualify for endorsement, programs must substantially cover the CMA exam content, have adequate faculty resources to deliver this content, be accredited by a recognized accreditation organization and employ a faculty member who is designated as an IMA Campus Advocate.
- Rich Hofstetter, a professor in the School of Forestry, co-authored an article titled “New data on two gamasid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata from Russia).” The article describes the first record of the Longoseius longus, a mite associated with wood boring insects.
- Fred DeMicco, executive director and professor of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, introduced a course on leadership and ethics last spring, taught by three former Disney executives. This specialty class focused on the four foundational pillars of leadership: leading self, others, team and change.
- Sam Meier, assistant archivist at Cline Library Special Collections and Archives, presented “Archival (Re) Description and Reparative Description in the Age of Efficiency” at the 2021 Virtual Archival Education and Research Institute with co-panelists Rachel Telford from the Library of Congress and Jessica Guijarro from Queens College, CUNY. Meier detailed her preliminary research into the development of the 2019 Statement of Principles for Describing Archives: A Content Standard.
- Professor of anthropology Kelley Hays-Gilpin edited “Engaged Archaeology in the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico, published by the University Press of Colorado. She also authored a chapter about the significance of the Grand Canyon to Arizona Native American tribes, “Grand Ideas: From Engaged Ethnology to Informed Archaeology.” Associate professor and chair of anthropology Kerry Thompson contributed a chapter entitled “The Landscape of Navajo Identities.”
- School of Forestry professor Yeon-Su Kim was an invited speaker at the International Conference on the Future of Wood Science and Technology Education at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia. Her presentation was titled: “Forests for Carbon, Water, Food, Energy and Livelihoods: Trade-offs and synergies” Kim also was invited to speak at the “After 30 years of Ecosystem Management in the US” seminar for the Korean Society of Forest Science and was a guest speaker on Climate Change and REDD+ for the Sebijak Institute at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.
- Alex Steenstra, chair of the Department of Business & Administration at NAU-Yuma, and Paige Leister, clinical professor for the Department of Business & Administration at NAU-Yuma, presented in the Dr. Brenda Johnson Poster Session at the ACBSP Conference 2021 in June. Their presentation, titled “Impact of Departmental Social Media Sites on Student Retention and Enrollment in ACBSP Programs,” was chosen as one of two winning teams.
- Martin D. Sommerness, professor of journalism in the School of Communication, has been named president of the Western Association of Pre-Law Advisors. WAPLA’s goal is to enhance the skills of prelaw advisors, to advocate for the interests of undergraduate students, and to promote communication between advisors, law school admissions officers and other law-related organizations.
- Kate (Kyoungmee) Byun and Jaewook Lee, assistant professors in the School of Art, recently opened a group exhibition with other artists at Space XX, Seoul, South Korea. “The Past-Present: The Past Called by the Present” explores how the recent past is revisited to reconsider the ramifications of such events as war, diseases, and the use of illegitimate political power.
- Associate professor of rhetoric Ira Allen published an essay in Jewish Journal, “Or Worse? Climate Catastrophe and Dark Hope,” that treats Flagstaff’s recent Rafael Fire as a call to action on the world’s climate emergency. The piece was featured in the outlet’s daily Roundtable alongside other pressing news of the day from around the world.
- Joe Collentine, professor of Spanish in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures, conducted an online seminar on Python programming and natural-language processing for doctoral students in the Applied Linguistics & Language Studies Program from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil. Corpus-linguistics students learned how to use the Python programming language and related tools to analyze databases containing textual data. NAU’s Brazilian profile is set to expand going forward as Collentine and Global Languages introduce an accelerated Portuguese language program.
In the Student Spotlight: Aug. 26. 2021
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.
- Seven players of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team earned recognition on the 2021 Phil Steele Preseason All-Big Sky Teams.
- Luis Aguilar, All-Big Sky first team and All-American second team
- DJ Arnson, All-Big Sky second team and All-American second team
- Harrison Beemiller, All-Big Sky third team
- Stacy Chukwumezie, All-Big Sky third team
- Justin Hathoot, All-Big Sky third team
- Matthew Kempton, All-Big Sky third team
- Morgan Vest, All-Big Sky second team
- Jimmie Devany, a senior in the Department of Civil Engineering, Construction Management, and Environmental Engineering, is featured in the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute’s social media for his selection by the S. Department of Homeland Security Summer Research Teams Program. Devany’s research project was titled “Integration of Vehicle-Based Sensing and Vehicle Dynamic Model for Evaluating Highway Infrastructure Resilience.”
- Alpha Lambda Delta, The Honor Society for First-Year Academic Success, awarded the Jo Anne J. Trow Scholarship to biology student Bethany Robinson. This scholarship, in the amount of $2,000 for the 2021-22 academic year, is awarded for maintaining a 3.5 grade point average, academic records, participation in Alpha Lambda Delta activities, campus and community service activities and the applicant’s essay answers.
- ITS student worker Lindsey Roman led the charge on the most recent redesign of NAUgo and her work was submitted for and won first place in the “Best Student Driven App” category in the Appademy Best Campus Apps Awards. Roman also designed the featured event banners and screens on the app.