Points of Pride

Northern Arizona UniversityPoints of Pride

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Points of Pride
Faculty Excellence

Faculty Excellence

Our faculty members have distinguished themselves as researchers, authors, speakers, and thought leaders. Read below to learn more about the accomplishments of some of our faculty members.

College of Arts and Letters

Awards

Constance DeVereaux, senior lecturer of Comparative Cultural Studies, earned first place for her feature story “Al-Haj’s Sacred Oud,” which aired on KUYI Hopi Radio, in the category of Radio Stations Feature and Human Interest Story, All Markets, as part of the 79th National Headliner Awards.
Mark Gula, a professional writing instructor, received an Elizabeth George Foundation artistic grant for unpublished fiction writers, poets, and emerging playwrights.

Viola Awards

The Viola Awards are presented by the Flagstaff Cultural Partners to recognize artists, educators, organizations, and leaders who make positive contributions to the arts and sciences in Flagstaff, Arizona. Northern Arizona University faculty members and affiliates won a number of awards in 2013.

Clifford E. White, Emeritus Faculty and former chair of the Speech and Theater Department, was honored posthumously with the Viola Legacy Award for his significant contributions to the local theater community.
Ryan Lamfers, an adjunct faculty member for the School of Art, received the 2013 Emerging Artist Award.
Steve Schaeffer, Assistant Professor of Practice in the School of Art, received the 2013 Visual Arts Award.
Nicole Walker, Assistant Professor of English, and the English Department’s Thin Air magazine, received the 2013 Literature Award.
David Williams, a professor in the School of Art, received the 2013 Arts Educator Award.
Karin Hallberg, Senior Lecturer in the School of Music, received the 2013 Arts Educator Award.
Michael Vincent, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, received the 2013 Leadership Award.

2013 Mayor’s Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Arts

Three university affiliates won the Mayor’s Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Arts:

Joe Cornet Sr., Emeritus Professor for the School of Art
Paula Rice, Emeritus Professor for the School of Art
Jon Eder, Orchestra and Jazz Band Director for the Community Music and Dance Academy

Recent Publications

Karen Renner, English lecturer, recently published The ‘Evil Child’ in Literature, Film and Popular Culture, a compilation of multiple authors’ analyses of popular films, television shows and books. Renner wrote the introduction and edited the text, which is available online.
History professor Michael Amundson published Passage to Wonderland: Rephotographing Joseph Stimson’s Views of the Cody Road to Yellowstone National Park, 1903 and 2008.
Professor of German Marilya Veteto Reese translated a German short story that was one of 35 stories accepted for the Best European Fiction anthology published annually by Dalkey Archive Press.
Bruce M. Sullivan, professor of Religious Studies, is publishing an article, “Religions of the World at the Phoenix Art Museum,” in Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief.
Constance DeVereaux, senior lecturer of Comparative Cultural Studies and coordinator for Arts and Cultural Management, and Kristen Swanson, professor for the School of Communication, have published a book chapter, “Empowerment, Entrepreneurship and Cultural Sustainability: Hopi Tourism Policy,” in Africa and Beyond: Arts and Development, by Cambridge Scholars Publishers.

Scholarship

Rodrigo de Toledo, associate professor of Visual Communication, made a short video/animation called Hollow Null, a whimsical adaptation from part of de Toledo’s illustrated book, Chronicles of Entanglement, about the search for identity and integration in a foreign land—the search for creative balance, beauty and the muse. He also composed the video’s original music, and shot footage in downtown Flagstaff. Watch the video. Hollow Null was recently presented at these international events:
- ResExtenza, contemporary art exhibition at the Living Gallery in Lecce, Italy, from September 2012 through April, 2013
- Viewpoints 2013, contemporary art exhibition at the Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, in Newark, New Jersey, April 10 through May 4, where his project received an honorable mention.
- Fifth FIVAC, International Video Art Festival of Camagüey, Cuba. Part of the Hybrid Identities Cuba, from April 24-28
- Hybrid Identities/UK, exhibition at the Old Ambulance Depot in Edinburgh, UK, March 29-30.
Alexandra Carpino, professor of Art History and chair of the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies, presented a lecture sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America titled “Beauty and Violence: Matricide Myths on Etruscan Bronze Mirrors,” at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She also participated in a roundtable discussion, hosted by the UMass Classics Department, on the theme of Etruscan womanhood and identity.

Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies

The Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico is the world’s oldest Latin American Studies association. Five faculty members represented NAU at the 60th annual meeting:

Judith Costello, instructor in Humanities and Cinema Studies, presented “The Farce of the Frontera: Blurring the Border on Film.”
Susan M. Deeds, Emeritus Professor of History, presented “Can Witches and Guajalotes Fly?” on authenticity and reliability in Mexican history, and she served as commentator for a second panel on the subject.
Jack R. Ferrell, Associate Professor of Sociology at NAU-Yuma, presented his paper, “Rebels, Reform and Reparations: Ending the Civil War in Colombia.”
Edward Waters Hood, Professor of Spanish, presented “El Anticlericalismo y el Motivo de los Papas en la Obra Narrativa de Gabriel Garcia Marquez.”
Ryan Kashanipour, Assistant Professor of History, served as a panelist on intercollegiate pedagogical strategies and as commentator for two other panels on Latin American history

College of Education

Awards

Susan Marks, a professor in the College of Education, produced the documentary Vectors of Autism, which won the 2013 American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Media Award.

Recent publications

Mary I. Dereshiwsky, Professor of Educational Leadership, published Continual Engagement: Fostering Online Discussion.
Linda Shadiow, Professor of Educational Leadership, recently released the book, What Our Stories Teach Us: A Guide to Critical Reflection for College Teachers. Shadiow’s book draws on nearly three decades of teaching at NAU in order to guide other faculty in the process of thinking deeply about the relationship between teaching and student learning.

Scholarship

Rosemary Papa, the Del and Jewel Lewis Endowed Chair in Learning Centered Leadership and professor of Educational Leadership, co-hosted a meeting of international scholars working toward improving educational opportunities for girls around the globe. The Flagstaff Seminar, Educational Leaders without Borders, met in San Francisco on May 1. Among the 18 educators who attended were Michael Sampson, dean of the College of Education, and Richard Brown, adjunct professor of Educational Statistics.

College of Engineering, Forestry, and Natural Sciences

Awards

Tom Sisk, Olajos-Goslow Chair of Environmental Science and Policy, received the Grand Canyon Trust’s 2013 John Wesley Powell Award. The award is presented to individuals or institutions with significant contributions to the conservation of the Grand Canyon and Colorado Plateau.
Tina Ayers, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences received the 2013 Science Educator Award.
Paul Keim, Regents' Professor of Biological Sciences, Cowden Endowed Chair in Microbiology, and Director of the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics, was named the 2012 Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year.
Stan Lindstedt was named a Regent’s Professor of Biological Sciences by the American Physiological Society.
Kathy Eastwood is the 2013 Northern Arizona University Outstanding Faculty Advisor of the Year.

Recent publications

Forestry professor Thomas Kolb was a contributing writer on the article “Climate Control of Terrestrial Carbon Exchange Across Biomes and Continents,” which received the 2012 Norbert Gerbier-MUMM International Award from the World Meteorological Organization.
Three Northern Arizona University faculty members were contributors on an article published in mBio. Amy Vogler, Assistant Director of the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics (MGGen), was the lead author on “A Decade of Plague in Mahajanga, Madagascar: Insights into the Global Maritime Spread of Pandemic Plague.” Contributing authors include:
- Paul Keim
- Stephen M. Beckstrom-Sternberg, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
- David Wagner, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
James Sample, a professor in the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, is a co-author of “Stress State in the Largest Displacement Area of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake,” which was published in Science.
J. Gregory Caporaso, Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics in the Department of Computer Science, is coauthor of the paper, “Evidence for a persistent microbial seed bank throughout the global ocean,” which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

College of Health and Human Services

Recent publications

Dennis C. Tanner, Professor of Health Sciences, and Stephanie Christensen, Senior Lecturer of Health Sciences, contributed a section on swallowing disorders to the Nursing Diagnosis Handbook, 10th Edition.
PLoS Medicine published a review by Bill Wiist, professor of Health Sciences, of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Moss’s most recent book Salt Sugar Fat.

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Awards

The American Physiological Society recently awarded Stan Lindstedt, Regents’ Professor of Biological Sciences, with the August Krogh Distinguished Lectureship of the APS Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Section for the Society’s 2013 meeting.
Constance Smith, Professor of Psychology, was named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Sciences. Fellow status is awarded to association members who have sustained outstanding contributions to the science of psychology in the areas of research, teaching, service and application.

Recent publications

Natalie Cawood, Associate Professor of Social Work, published her article, “Addressing Interpersonal Violence in the School Context: Awareness and Use of Evidenced-Supported Programs,” in Children and Schools.
Dr. Lori Poloni-Staudinger, Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs, recently released the book Terrorism and Violent Conflict: Women’s Agency, Leadership and Responses.
Ricardo Guthrie, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies, recently published a chapter entitled, “Oprah Winfrey and the Trauma Drama: What’s So Good About Feeling Bad?” in Presenting Oprah Winfrey: Her Films, and African American Literature.

International scholarship

School of Communications professors Laura Camden and Kurt Lancaster visited the Universty of Wollongong near Sydney, Australia, where they contributed to the document, "Crossing Borders and Documenting Communities," conducted a multimedia lecture and workshop, and produced a short documentary on Wollongong's convergence journalism class.

W.A. Franke College of Business

Awards

Levi Esquerra, program director of the Center for American Indian Economic Development, and the Alliance Bank Business Outreach Center at Northern Arizona University, received the 2013 award for Economic Development Distinguished by Excellence Award in Tribal Community from the Arizona Association for Economic Development.