Faculty & Staff

Lumberjack Flashback: September

By Matt Tantau, associate vice president for Economic Mobility and Social Impact and NAU alumnus Class of 2003 and 2005

Looking back at NAU history not only allows us to see where we have been, but also provides great historical context for who we are as Lumberjacks and what the future might have in store for us. As NAU prepares to celebrate its 125th anniversary, I wanted to help highlight NAU’s history for students, faculty, staff and alumni. As I begin the Lumberjack Flashback spot in The NAU Review, I must give a big shout-out to staff with the Cline Library Special Collections and Archives team, who digitized 100+ years of The Pine and The Lumberjack student newspaper; making this project much more doable. Keep an eye out for my monthly flashbacks in The NAU Review, and I hope you enjoy looking back at the archives of these news outlets over NAU’s 100+ year history!

September

75 Years Ago – 1948 

  • Happy 60th! Arizona State College (ASC) in Flagstaff celebrates its Golden Jubilee. 
  • The ASC Lumberjacks beat the New Mexico State University Aggies 13-7 in the first night football game played at Skidmore Field. 
  • Almost 200 students started classes at the ASC Training School, which gave future elementary school teachers experience working with children. They were taught by seven supervising teachers and 18 ASC teachers under the direction of J. Lawrence Walkup. 

50 Years Ago – 1973 

  • American Pie singer songwriter Don McLean performed at the Men’s Gym last Saturday night and entertained an audience of approximately 1,600. 
  • A committee led by Dr. E.R. Kuchel will address class scheduling issues between north and south campuses and recommend a solution to the University Cabinet for a final decision. Dewey Hogue proposes a bike route between campuses for fast transportation, but funding is currently unavailable. 

25 Years Ago – 1998 

  • On March 5, the Greek chapters at NAU voted in favor of making Mountain View Hall, housing members of seven sororities and eight fraternities on campus, alcohol-free.  
  • NAU hires a director of compliance as part of its efforts to attain Division I certification.  
  • Expecting worldwide catastrophe the minute we hit the year 2000? Lois Johnson said, “don’t.” Johnson, who has been on NAU’s Year 2000 team since July, is working on getting the year 2000 problem under control. Johnson and the Y2 team are installing software into the database to correct the glitch. 

 

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