Kudos to these faculty, staff, students and programs.
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- A team from The W. A. Franke College of Business at NAU won the annual Desert Regional CFA research challenge, competing against teams from throughout the Southwest and advancing to the West Coast Regional competition in New York City; the team, coached by associate professor Blake Rayfield and assistant teaching professor Tristan Nighswander, included Matt Evans, Jacob Hardin and Noah James.
- The Economic Policy Institute played a pivotal role in estimating the economic impacts of post-wildfire flooding on the Rio de Flag watershed, which includes much of the mountain slopes overlooking Flagstaff, in a recent study by Coconino County. Institute Director Nancy Baca discussed the cost of floods to the local economy, which can be difficult to estimate. She is quoted in coverage of this study in KJZZ and the Arizona Daily Sun.
- NAU has been recognized as one of the top 10% of universities worldwide by Study Abroad Aide. This recognition stems from the university’s inclusion in the annual Best Value Rankings for International Students, which evaluates more than 8,000 institutions across 69 countries based on academic quality and affordability.
- John Doherty, head of research and instruction services at Cline Library, presented his paper “Librarians of Time and Space: The Librarian-Hero in Speculative Fiction” at the 2024 Southwest Popular/American Culture Association annual conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The paper explores the influence of Jorge Luis Borges’ “Library of Babel” in more recent works, including those by Terry Pratchett, Matt Haig and Genevieve Cogman, and contrasts it to the current demonization of librarians and libraries in the nation’s culture wars.
- Mike Smith was named the Big Sky Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year. Smith led the NAU track & field teams to a sweep of the conference championships, the fourth consecutive sweep of the team titles. This marks his seventh consecutive Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year Award and his fourth consecutive Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year honor. Last week’s conference victory marked the 26th championship for the men and the 16th for the women.