Spotlight

In the Spotlight: July 2025

Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs.

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  • The W.A. Franke College of Business was one of 213 schools named to The Princeton Review’s Best On-Campus MBA Programs list, which was included in the education service company’s Best Business Schools for 2025 report. NAU was also ranked No. 4 on the report’s Best MBA for Human Resources list. The Princeton Review’s editors rank MBA programs based on categories like career readiness, admissions selectivity and academic rigor using surveys from university administrators and more than 22,000 business students.   
  • NAU alumnus Alan Saquella was featured on The Public Pulse, a radio show produced by the East Valley Institute of Technology. During the interview, Saquella discussed his experience teaching in the College of Business, Security and Intelligence at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott. 
  • NAU’s Shrine of the Ages Choir embarked on a two-week international exchange tour in Argentina this June. The group’s 42 singers learned to perform tango and malambo dances, sang Andean arrangements with choir partners and attended the San Juan Canta International Choir Competition and Festival from June 19-24. Singing alongside 15 choirs from across South America, the Shrine of the Ages Choir won first prize in the festival’s Universal Choral Repertoire category and second prize in the Popular Folkloric category.  
  • Visiting scholar Ling Liu presented her research, titled “Progressive Pedagogy and Revolutionary Aesthetics in Tao Xingzhi’s Early 20th-Century Children’s Poetics,” at the international Children’s Literature Association Conference on June 12.  
  • Fred DeMicco, professor in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, co-authored the paper “Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Assisted Content Tools in the Generation of a Prototype Course,” which was presented at the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education Global Conference in Indianapolis. The paper demonstrates how educators can use AI tools to quickly develop high-quality informative materials.  
  • Cline Library Special Collections and Archives librarian emeritus Richard Quartaroli had a chapter published in “Those Who Made a Difference,” a written recounting of the 2023 Grand Canyon History Symposium. Quartaroli’s chapter, “In the Campsites of John Wesley Powell: Grand Canyon, 1869,” is based on his presentation at the original symposium covering Grand Canyon river runner John Wesley Powell. 
  • Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science (APS) associate professor Mark Salvatore had a proposal recently funded by the National Science Foundation to become a co-primary investigator for the Zooniverse citizen science platform. Salvatore aims to expand Zooniverse’s expertise in astronomy through a citizen science collaboration with the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project. 
  • APS assistant research professor Jean-Francois Smekens had his proposal to NASA’s Commercial Satellite Data Earth Science Research and Applications program selected for funding. The two-year project will test the efficacy of the EarthDEM project, which develops high-resolution terrain maps, by looking at the pre- and post-eruption topography of several volcanic eruptions worldwide. 
  • Andrew Sánchez Meador, executive director for the Ecological Restoration Institute and professor for the School of Forestry, was selected as a 2025 Society of American Foresters Fellow. The organization’s fellowship status is awarded to members who advance the forestry profession through consistent volunteer work and outstanding leadership. 
  • The Pat Tillman Foundation chose Emerald Arnold, a senior student development coordinator for the Office of Indigenous Student Success, as a 2025 Tillman Scholar. Tillman Scholars are military service members, veterans and spouses across all industries who have demonstrated a continued commitment to leadership, education and service.  
  • Hanson Mike, who recently earned his master’s degree in environmental science and policy at NAU, was one of 16 students honored with the River Management Society’s 2025 River Studies and Leadership Certificate. Award recipients complete rigorous interdisciplinary coursework and hands-on field experience in subjects like river science, conservation and policy to prepare for future careers as environmental stewards.  
  • During the 2024-25 academic year, NAU Sigma Chi and the NAU sororities raised over $118,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. These donations will help fund the institute’s new Sigma Chi Center for Advanced Therapeutics and Innovation in Salt Lake City. 
  • APS doctoral student Alicia Allen was featured in a video produced by the American Astronomical Society discussing her research on Near-Earth Object light curves with astronomer Joe Hora. Alumna Amber Young was also featured in an American Astronomical Society video to discuss her work characterizing Earthlike exoplanets.  
  • Peer Jacks Mentoring and Transfer and Online Connections have merged to create the Peer Jacks Mentoring Department. Under its new name, the department aims to house three distinct mentorship programs—Mountain Jacks, Transfer Jacks and Jacks State—supporting a diverse population of first-time and transfer Lumberjacks. 
The NAU Review