In the Spotlight: June 20-24, 2022

Kudos to these faculty, staff, students and programs. 

Do you have a spotlight item to share with the NAU community? 

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  • On top of earning a third consecutive Big Sky Conference championship, as well as a third NCAA Tournament berth, the NAU’s women’s tennis team landed No. 8 in the ITA Division I Women’s Mountain Region Rankings released this week, finishing among the Top 10 of the ITA Mountain Region for the sixth straight year. 
  • NAU’s Center for International Education welcomed 15 colleagues from 13 institutions representing 10 countries during the first week of June.   The visitors toured NAU, explored downtown Flagstaff and visited the Grand Canyon and Sedona to take in the natural landscape of northern Arizona.  
  • Ricardo Guthrie, associate professor of ethnic studies and the lead artist for the Historic Southside Mural at the Murdoch Center in Flagstaff, is a recipient of the Dan Schilling Humanities Public Scholar by Arizona Humanities. As a communications scholar specializing in ethnic studies and media analysis, Guthrie focuses on Black and Indigenous presence in racial landscapes and the Route 66 corridor. 
  • Men’s basketball assistant coach Tyler Ojanen was named to Silver Waves Media’s Most Impactful Mid-Major Assistant Coaches list. Ojanen, who was recognized by Silver Waves Media for the second time in three years following distinction in 2020, was selected after the global media company consulted with a panel of basketball professionals. 
  • Several professors and alumni from NAU, including Andrew J. Sánchez Meador, director of NAU’s Ecological Restoration Institute, Jose “Pepe” Iñiguez, a research ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station, Peter Fulé, Regents’ professor of forestry, Alicia Azpeleta-Tarancón, the study’s lead author and an NAU professor, and Catrina Jenkins, the emergency response manager for Navajo County; were part of the Arizona Republic’s look at the northern Arizona landscape two decades after the Rodeo-Chediski Fire. Arizona’s first modern megafire raged through ponderosa pines 20 years ago this month, burning deep scars that still reveal themselves on the landscape atop the Mogollon Rim. If and how the forest recovers are dependent on the actions of forest and land managers two decades later and the effects of a changing climate in the future. 
  • Yeon-Su Kim, executive director of the School of Forestry, was selected as one of 20 E. Kika De La Garza Fellows. The U.S. Department of Agriculture selects faculty and staff from Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Hispanic-Serving School Districts around the nation for the E. Kika De La Garza Fellowship Program, which links USDA and HSIs to help build awareness in Hispanic communities of USDA services, resources and employment opportunities. 
  • NAU is one of 11 teams selected to compete in the 2023 Hydropower and Marine Energy Collegiate Competitions (MECC). The MECC calls on multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate and graduate students to propose new ideas for marine energy to capture the power of the ocean. Teams also will gain direct hydropower industry experience, valuable exposure to potential career pathways, and a greater understanding of hydropower’s role in a clean energy future.