Staff and faculty members recently celebrated their professional milestones at the 2025 Years of Service Ceremony, and among the group were two individuals who were recognized for working at NAU for 40 years. Colleen Rice, advising manager at the University Advising Department, and Lucy Sullivan, senior application programmer at the Office of Strategic Planning, Institutional Research and Analytics, answered some questions about how NAU, and the work they do, has changed over the years.
Tell me about your NAU journey. When and how did you start?
C: I first came to NAU as a student in the early 1980s. I met my husband at NAU and got engaged that summer. He is a Flagstaff native, so I became a permanent resident of Flagstaff and shortly after that, I got my first job at NAU in the College of Education.
L: I came here as a student in the middle of a snowstorm in 1978. I graduated in 1981 with a degree in data processing and after a couple of years in Phoenix, I was successfully rehired by NAU in the ITS department where I worked as a student.
Why NAU?
C: After I got married, I was looking for a job and I loved NAU as a student. Also, my father-in-law, who worked at NAU in the transportation area, spoke highly about working here, and I completely understand why he loved it so much. It is such a joy to be at NAU and I love the culture and the history.
L: Having grown up in the desert, I found I didn’t have to be hot all the time. I really enjoyed the outdoors and being able to cross country ski. I met my husband while we were students. He worked at the post office in Flagstaff, so when I moved back here, we got married shortly after.
Have you changed positions or departments?
C: I started working in the College of Education and just kind of evolved. I had several different jobs, all related to student services and advisement. Now, I am an advising manager and have a team of advisers that I work with. I have always worked at the College of Education and with students, which is what I love to do.
L: I was in ITS for 33 years as a programmer analyst. Back then we were a very small department, and we did a lot of everything. In 2017 I moved from ITS to Strategic Planning and Institutional Research, and I have been working remotely ever since doing data analytics and supporting the tableau environment. I have worn a lot of hats over the years, mostly very technical and very data centered.
What made you stay at NAU?
C: I think what really keeps me here are the people. I love all the people I have worked with over the years, from our student workers to our administrators. I feel like they are my second family. I love coming to work every day and doing what I am doing. I really enjoy working with students and watching them grow and progress through their programs and being successful. The people have been the key that kept me here. I have always felt very blessed to have started working at NAU at a young age.
L: The work environment and the lifestyle in Flagstaff. I enjoyed my job throughout the years. At times, it has been challenging. I like change and I like things that happen every day. Work is like a puzzle and the pieces are constantly moving and I get to put it back together—it is great. The people have really helped as well—the lifestyle of Flagstaff and getting outdoors is wonderful.
What are the main differences you see working at NAU now versus when you first started?
C: One of the biggest things, and this has been in the last five or 10 years, is the opportunity to have more flexible work schedules. When I started, we worked Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Everybody followed the same schedule and remote work was not an option. I never imagined we would be where we are now, with the opportunity for people to have flexible schedules and work from home a few days. It is just crazy to me, and I love it. I have also seen a change in the student population. It is quite different from when I started. We did not have online education which gradually changed along with our statewide programs. It began in the College of Education, and I have seen that grow from a few statewide locations to a large part of what NAU is now. That has been another fun thing to watch over the years.
L: A lot has changed throughout the years. In ITS, we started out with the huge machines, Macintosh and the floppy disk, then we moved to where we can work fully remote. So, technology has changed significantly. When I started, the IT department was in a little building where the College of Business is now. There were only around 50 of us at that time. There have been a lot of improvements on campus. It has gotten much bigger.
How has technology changed your work? Has it made it easier or harder?
C: When I started, we had typewriters and Xerox machines and so much paper, so many files. I clearly remember when we got our first computers. They just came in, set them up and gave us a user manual to go through and learn how to use them. The computers slowly replaced typewriters, although we did still have typewriters for a long time in the office because there were certain things that we had to type. It is just crazy how things have changed. Now, we don’t keep paper files anymore, everything is all electronic, we rarely use the copy machine. We don’t even fax anymore because it is all via email, everything is sent electronically.
L: It is much easier now to get a lot of things done. Back in the day, we had hardwired computers and we could not install our own apps; we had to use what was provided. It is a lot easier now to produce analytics that are meaningful to the campus. When I started, we had huge stacks of paper that we shipped all over campus, and people had to flip through them to find the information they wanted. Now, we update the information every night so leadership can use it to make decisions and avoid having to dig through all that paper. They can also do their own analysis. The information has come a long way. It is a lot more fun now.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
C: I work with great people in the College of Education and University Advising. I have worked with so many wonderful people throughout my time here. COE is a wonderful place. I am kind of biased, but I really feel like the people here are very special. Flagstaff is a special city, and NAU is a special place.
L: I am doing what I love, and NAU makes it very easy to do. I’ve worked with some wonderful people who have supported me, and I have supported them, so it has been wonderful. It is just a great environment and has afforded me the lifestyle that I wanted. NAU really has prioritized family life throughout the years, and it is very much appreciated.