Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs.
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- NAU’s online nursing program was named one of The Princeton Review’s 2025 Best Online Nursing School Master’s Programs. This list highlights schools with virtual nursing programs that offer flexibility for part-time students and training in advanced nursing specialties.
- Marissa Griffin, NAU’s assistant director of leadership and engagement, earned the North American Interfraternity Conference’s Outstanding Interfraternity Council Advisor award. This honor recognizes on-campus professionals working in fraternity and sorority life who provide exceptional support to interfraternity councils and the representatives, advisors and alumni within them.
- Monica Ketchum-Cárdenas, a faculty member for the NAU-Yuma Department of Sociology, was selected to serve as a delegate at the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March. Ketchum-Cárdenas will represent the Southeast Asia and Pacific branch of Soroptimist International, a gender-focused volunteer movement.
- Rita Stageman, an associate clinical professor for the Department of Social Work, earned a $340,000 Department of Education grant for initiatives preparing social work students entering disability-related fields. In partnership with the Flagstaff Unified School District, this grant will place up to 15 social work student interns annually in special education programs across the district for 450 hours of field training. To support this project, the Department of Social Work has also partnered with the Institute for Human Development’s Disabilities Studies Program to revise aspects of the social work curriculum and provide updated faculty training.
- Department of Politics and International Affairs associate professor Sean Parson co-authored the article “Caelum Nullius: Outer Space and the Colonial Logic of Property Rights,” published in Theory & Event. The paper argues that viewing space exploration as a practice of conquering planets and galaxies reinforces settler colonialism mindsets.
- Department of Sociology professor Janine Schipper’s book, “Conservation is Not Enough,” will be published March 17. The book analyses water issues in the Southwest and asserts water conservation efforts are limited in their efficacy, drawing from Indigenous cultures and mindsets to build water use recommendations.
- Katy Montoya, an associate clinical professor for the Department of Social Work, earned the Transformational Educator of the Year award from the Arizona chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. The association bestows this award to social work educators who display extraordinary leadership skills, mentor capabilities and a dedication to the field.
- EmiLee Smart, an assistant professor for the Department of Politics and International Affairs, co-authored the article “Women Robed in Independence: How Women Judges Influence Perceptions of Judicial Independence in Europe,” published in The Journal of Law and Courts. The paper uses survey data from respondents in 27 European countries to examine how the increasing number of female judges in Europe influences public perceptions of the court system.
- Department of Anthropology professor Kelley Hays-Gilpin co-authored a chapter of the book “The Routledge Handbook of Gender Archaeology.” Hays-Gilpin’s chapter, titled “Uncloaking Non-Male Agency in Rock Art Production and Use,” explores how female and nonbinary creators and subjects of rock art are often excluded from historical reports due to implicit biases.
- Department of Anthropology professor Jaime Awe co-authored the article “Biocultural Taphonomies and Analysis of an Emerging Terminal Classic (AD 750-900) Maya Deathway,” published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. Awe also co-presented the poster “The Rise of Ek Tzul: Developing Radiocarbon Chronologies to Assess Relationships with the Site of Baking Pot, Belize” at the annual Archaeological Institute of America meeting in Philadelphia.
- Kellam Throgmorton, an assistant professor for the Department of Anthropology, and his graduate student Ben Wandishin attended the 2025 Southwest Symposium in Casas Grandes, Mexico. Kellam co-organized a session entitled “Trajectories of Change and Transformation in the Northern US Southwest” and presented a paper called “Cycles of (In)Congruence in the Four Corners.”