Heidi Toth

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The cofounder of a Bay Area global investment firm is donating $1 million to the College of Education at Northern Arizona University.

George Roberts, who is the co-chairman and co-CEO of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, will donate $1 million, which will be used to provide $5,000 scholarships to support students during their student-teaching semester. He is establishing the fund in honor of William A. Franke, cofounder and managing partner of Indigo Partners, for whom the W. A. Franke College of Business at NAU is named. Franke has spent much of his life working to improve the lives of Arizonans by raising their educational attainment level.

“We are incredibly grateful for George Roberts’ generosity,” said Rita Hartung Cheng, president of NAU. “There is a significant need for high-quality teachers and through this gift, George Roberts and Bill Franke will ensure that NAU students will become those exceptional teachers.”

The scholarships will be available to students with demonstrated financial need who are first-generation college students and from traditionally underrepresented demographic groups. Recipients of these awards will be known as Franke Scholars.

NAU opened in 1899 as a teacher preparation program and has continued to produce teachers who are able to step into the classroom and effectively teach. It is the only teacher preparation program in the state that is accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.

The College of Education has worked to increase outreach to high-risk schools and nontraditional teachers, including offering support to teachers who are in schools but do not have a teaching certification.

Most of Roberts’ philanthropic efforts are in California, and education has been a priority for him. He has served as a director or trustee of several cultural and educational institutions, including Claremont McKenna College. Roberts’ spouse, Linnea, sits on the board of Teach for America.

Roberts is founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund, a San Francisco nonprofit organization that focuses on job creation. He founded the Roberts Foundation in 1985 and has used the foundation to provide funding to nonprofits in the area of education, poverty and the environment.

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Northern Arizona University is coming at student success from the core—faculty.

The university, which is at the forefront of implementing new ways to motivate and prepare students to be catalysts in their own success, is partnering with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) to launch another approach to help faculty members deepen their commitment to student success.

ACUE’s Online Course in Effective Teaching Practices will help NAU create a comprehensive resource that prepares faculty to apply innovative teaching methods proven to improve student learning. The program’s cohort model enables faculty to collaborate across disciplines and build on the methods they already use to reach students.

“Ensuring our students succeed in their studies and leave NAU prepared to excel as 21st-century citizens starts with instructional excellence,” said Rita Hartung Cheng, NAU’s president. “This partnership with ACUE recognizes the crucial role our faculty play in student success, which is central to our university’s mission. The ACUE experience will enable our faculty to build on their deep commitments and rich skills as we continue our quest to serve students.”

This focus is another step in raising the bar for student success. NAU is one of 31 institutions nationwide to lead the Frontier Set, an innovative project from the Association of American State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), which is designed to identify and close opportunity gaps for college students.

NAU also is part of another AASCU program, Re-Imagining the First Year, which aims to improve the quality of learning and student experience in the first year of college with the goal of ensuring success for all students, especially those groups that traditionally have lower rates of attainment in higher education.

The ACUE partnership, a faculty-focused initiative, which starts in August, allows 60 educators to work toward a national Certificate in Effective College Instruction. The program consists of 25 discrete learning modules across five units of study and presents participants with more than 200 evidence-based teaching practices. Aligned to ACUE’s Effective Practice Framework, the course addresses major areas of pedagogical practice that are applicable regardless of student level or discipline. ACUE’s course is based on 30 years of research in higher education and effective teaching practices.

The five units of study that make up ACUE’s course are:

  • Designing an effective course and class
  • Establishing a productive learning environment
  • Using active learning techniques
  • Promoting higher order thinking
  • Assessing to inform instruction and promote learning

 

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An author who said her life changed forever when she lived in Grand Canyon National Park will be at the Northern Arizona University Bookstore for a Leisure Reading for Summer event next week.

At the event, Nancy Rivest Green will discuss her two books—“On the Brink of Shards,” a novel about a young Anasazi woman trying to save her civilization; and “Stalking the Wild Dragonfly: Stories of Experiences in Nature,” a nonfiction work about her encounters with wildlife and research about the animals in question, including some on the brink of extinction. She gained much of her love for nature and the American Southwest while working as a teacher in the national park, where she lived with her husband, a Grand Canyon park ranger.

Green will be reading from her books and sign copies for attendees from noon to 2 p.m. June 27 at the bookstore, 1015 S. San Francisco St. Parking is available in the garage just south of the bookstore.

 

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As NAU grows, an increasing number of Lumberjacks come to Flagstaff for the first time to graduate.

To better serve the statewide population, Northern Arizona University has expanded outward and online, looking for ways to provide a high-quality education where people are—sometimes literally, right to where people work.

Such is the case for partnerships with the City of Tempe and a number of school districts throughout the state who have created cohorts of students within their own areas, allowing NAU faculty members to bring curriculum directly to them, said Doug Small, director of strategic partnerships. Students have the same criteria and same rigorous coursework, but they’re learning with their peers and around their schedules just a few miles from where they live and work.

“They’re busy working and balancing family life and school, so students are happy with how hassle-free it’s been,” Small said. “These have been really good partnerships.”

Grow Your Own Administrators

After spending eight hours a day in the classroom, most teachers aren’t all that jazzed about driving to a university campus and spending another few hours in the classroom, this time as students.

So NAU brought the classes to them. Grow Your Own Administrators has a variety of cohorts in the Phoenix and Tucson areas; each participating school district has its own cohort that meets in a district building, so no one has far to commute. The cohorts are small, just 10-15 students each, and the courses include instruction both from NAU faculty members and from district administrators who have expertise in specific areas.

“They’re still teaching our content about leadership or budgeting, but they can bring in examples of how that’s applies in their own district,” Small said. “It provides that kind of real-world experience administrators need.”

Teachers need at least three years of teaching experience to apply for the program and need to meet all of the Graduate College’s requirements for admission into a graduate program. In addition to their coursework they shadow administrators from their district, focusing on challenges in their classrooms and schools instead of case studies from a textbook.

When the cohort is complete, participants earn a master’s degree in educational leadership and have the courses necessary to get their principal certification from the state. They also have built a network of contacts throughout their district and with NAU.

New cohorts this spring include Chandler, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Deer Valley unified school districts, along with the Phoenix Elementary School District, Agua Fria Union and the Vail School District in Tucson.

City of Tempe partnership

One night a week, two dozen people gather at the City of Tempe Public Library, pens in hand, laptops open, ready for class. By day, each of these people work for the City of Tempe, fulfilling a variety of services. By night, they are NAU Lumberjacks working toward a bachelor’s degree.

This partnership, which NAU and the city began a year ago, will help 24 city employees earn bachelor’s degrees in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in public administration. All of the employees had at least 60 transferrable college credits prior to beginning the program, so NAU is providing the last two years of their degree.

The city pays $5,000 per person per year in tuition, so Small and his team organized classes to keep tuition and fees at less than that amount. Classes are eight weeks long, some in person and some online.

Wydale Holmes, who works in the Office of Strategic Management & Diversity for the city of Tempe, is the point of contact between the city and NAU. She said Tempe selected NAU after a competitive bid process, which included orientation specifically for adult students, delivering books to the site and offering academic counseling.

City officials decided to make this investment to help provide a better customer experience for our residents, businesses and visitors. They have also found this, and similar programs, to increase satisfaction among employees, who can go to school in their hometown with other city employees.

“Employees have said they never would have gone to school without this program,” she said. “The knowledge and confidence helps them face new challenges and be prepared for opportunities, both personal and professional. We know from our history that employees appreciate the program and their relationship with NAU, and they value the experience.

“Our experience with NAU is a model for successful partnerships, for developing skilled workforce members and for better customer experiences.”

About NAU’s Extended Campuses and online offerings

Almost a third of NAU students take online courses or attend classes somewhere other than the Flagstaff campus. NAU has partnerships with 22 community colleges and other entities so students throughout the state can earn degrees in their hometowns, allowing them to fit their coursework around careers and family responsibilities. A number of these are hybrid programs, with some online and some in-person learning. NAU also offers a number of online-only degrees. To learn more about the degrees offered and how to apply, visit the Extended Campuses website.

 

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The W. A. Franke College of Business is holding a workshop in July to help non-tenure-track faculty get their research published.

The workshop, the first of its kind at Northern Arizona University, is intended to provide open scholarly and instructional practitioner faculty with guidelines and tips about getting their scholarly work published in peer-reviewed journals. Knowledge about basic research methodology is not required.

Workshop organizer Carol Saunders, a research professor in the Franke College of Business, will lead several of the classes in the five-day workshop. Saunders has earned two lifetime achievement awards, held research chairs at several universities throughout the world and served on a number of editorial boards. She researches interorganizational systems, overload, sourcing, virtual teams and time.

Janis Gogan, a professor of information and process management at Bentley University in Massachusetts, will teach the case study component of the workshop. She conducts case research on strategic IT management in health care and other industries and effective information security incident response and management. She has more than 100 publications to her name and numerous industry awards.

The workshop runs from July 17-21 and costs $475. Registration is available online. Contact Saunders at carol.saunders@nau.edu with questions.

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The Arizona Board of Regents approved a new master of social work (MSW) program at Northern Arizona University at its meeting in Flagstaff last week.

The degree program, which will accept students for the fall 2018 semester will build on the bachelor of social work (BSW) program offered through the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. It will be offered online and, by fall 2019, also at the Flagstaff campus. Administrators said the MSW is the most marketable, most transferable and most requested degree by social service employers.

“Prospective graduate students and regional agency representatives frequently inquire about the MSW degree, and it has been a long-time goal of the Social Work Program to expand our degree offerings to serve this need,” program director Natalie Cawood said. “This degree broadens career possibilities for our graduates and allows for greater opportunities for social work practitioners to serve clients in varied settings.

“By offering the MSW degree, we hope to contribute to the enhancement of the social service workforce, while also maintaining the quality student-centered learning experience for which our program is known.”

There is a real need for this type of training, which, similar to the BSW, will focus on working with diverse populations and is geared toward practice with rural and indigenous populations in the Southwest. This new degree plan also answers the market need for social workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected the employment of social workers will grow 12 percent from 2014 to 2024, while in the subset of health care, mental health and substance abuse social work, employment is projected to grow 19 percent in the same time period. Both are faster than average growth for all occupations.

The MSW program will be accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, building on existing accreditation for the bachelor of social work degree, which is in its 30th year.