In the Spotlight: Aug. 1-5, 2022

Kudos to these faculty, staff, students and programs 

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  • Basketball player Lauren Orndoff and cross country and track and field athlete Theo Quax are NAU’s 2021-22 Big Sky Scholar-Athletes of the Year. During her five-year career with the Lumberjacks, Orndoff, who graduated with her master’s degree in communication, scored 922 career points in 104 games. She started 96 of those games, including 76 consecutive starts to end her career, and led the team with 342 points scored last season. In her final year, the three-time Big Sky All-Academic selection averaged 11.0 points per game. Quax placed 114th in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in the fall as the NAU men captured its fifth Division I National Championship. He placed fourth in both the indoor and outdoor 800-meter at the Big Sky Track & Field Championships and 28th in the NCAA West Regional in the 1500-meter. Quax also was an eight-time Big Sky All-Academic honoree and earned a third career USTFCCCA track & field all-academic nod. 
  • Professor of political science Maiah Jaskoski published her most recent book, The Politics of Extraction: Territorial Rights, Participatory Institutions, and Conflict in Latin America (Oxford University Press, July 2022). The Politics of Extraction is the first systematic study of how participatory institutions channel and exacerbate hydrocarbon and mining conflict. It shows how communities impacted by extraction have employed participatory institutions creatively to block, alter, and/or benefit from extractive projects, though the institutions formally do not grant them these powers. The book analyzes 30 major extractive conflicts in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, drawing on Jaskoski’s fieldwork in the three countries.
  • NAU hosted a statewide emergency preparedness training last week, with participants coming from the University of Arizona, Grand Canyon University, Coconino Community College, Yavapai College, the Tuba City Unified School District and the Flagstaff Unified School District. Representatives from the NAU Police Department, Cline Library, Contracts, Purchasing, and Risk Management, Facilities Services, Environmental Health and Safety, the Office of the Dean of Students and NAU Communications joined FEMA trainers and statewide counterparts in the exercise. 
  • Sprinter Alyssa Colbert will serve as the alternate for Team USA’s 4×100-meter relay team at the 2022 U20 World Championships in Colombia. The preliminary round for the women’s 4×100-meter relay will take place at 1 p.m. MST Thursday. Colbert had an outstanding freshman season for NAU last spring, sweeping the Big Sky’s Women’s Freshman of the Year awards during the indoor and outdoor track & field season.  Lumberjack fans can follow live results from the event at the tournament website. 
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