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.
- Department of Educational Specialties professor Patricia Peterson secured a five-year $1.24 million Preparation of Administrators in Special Education (PASE) grant from the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs. The award will support six new doctoral scholars pursuing special education administration and is part of a national collaboration between NAU, the University of South Carolina and Rutgers University.
- Donelle Ruwe, associate dean of professional education programs, was featured in an essay published in the summer 2025 issue of Victorians: A Journal of Culture and Literature. Titled “Interview with Donelle Ruwe and Roxanne Eberle: Reflections on Thirty Years with the British Women Writers Association and the Future of Conference Organizing,” the work discusses Ruwe’s efforts to found one of the first scholarly conferences dedicated to the recovery and republication of early women writers.
- Ted Schuur, a Regent’s professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was featured in the NPR article “3 massive changes you’ll see as the climate careens toward tipping points.” The article, which details the devastating impacts of climate change, was updated this month to include record-breaking data on methane and carbon dioxide emissions from the past few years. Schuur was sourced as an expert on permafrost, which is sediment that remains frozen for more than two years and is thawing as a result of climate change.
- NAU quarterback Ty Pennington was one of 15 players named to the Walter Camp Football Foundation’s 2025 Player of the Year Watch List. Pennington is one of only two Big Sky Conference athletes on the list, as well as one of four quarterbacks. The foundation will announce its third annual Player of the Year in December.
- The Department of Physician Assistant Studies had an abstract and poster selected for display at the 2026 International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare. The abstract, titled “Improving care for people with substance use disorder in Arizona with Project ECHO,” highlights the department’s successes with the titular project’s teleclinic provider training. Professor Alison Essary will present the poster on behalf of the department.
- Sarah Bolander, an assistant professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, was accepted as a Harvard Macy Institute scholar into the highly competitive Technology and AI: Transforming Health Professions Education program. Throughout eight weeks of training sessions, Bolander will learn how to effectively integrate generative AI and digital design into her curriculum.
- NAU cross country earned two eighth-place team finishes at the NCAA Division I Championships on Nov. 22. The program was one of three in the nation to place both its men’s and women’s teams inside the top 10, surging upward in the ranks with four All-Americans.
- The NAU Police Department earned two grants from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, which totaled about $12,800 for a variety of roadway safety initiatives. The first award will dedicate officers to a multi-agency DUI task force active on all major NAU holidays, and the second will fund bicycle patrols to educate cyclists and pedestrians on applicable road safety laws.
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics professor Shannon Guerrero, Department of Educational Leadership Chair Angelina Castagno, school psychology graduate student Crystal Macias and NAU alumna Priscilla Black co-authored an article published in the Journal of American Indian Education. The paper, titled “Culturally Responsive Mathematics Curriculum Development Among Teachers in the Diné Institute for Navajo Nation Educators,” highlights how one professional development program in the Southwest is helping teachers develop culturally responsive mathematics curricula.