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Media highlights for the week of Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2005
A sampling of NAU programs, professors, students, staff and alumni appearing in the news
Great classroom chemistry
When NAU Chain Gang walked into Wayne Hildebrant's class and tried to sell him a homecoming button with his picture on it, no one was more surprised than the Northern Arizona University associate professor of chemistry and biology. "These guys are held in great esteem," he said of past winners of the homecoming dedicatee honor. Of receiving the honor, Hildebrant said, "It's incredible. It's the most important award on campus because it's from the students. That is what we are supposed to be about."
Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ) 11/4/2005
Biotech course mapped for Arizona
At the 87th Arizona Town Hall on Wednesday, participants delved into topics ranging from the construction of freeways to health care reform. This session's topic was "Maximizing Arizona's Opportunities in the Biosciences and Biotechnology." Wendy Adams-Kelley, a student at Northern Arizona University, said her eyes were opened by the conference. "I was given an opportunity to learn about TGen and the amazing discoveries that are being made in science," she said.
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 11/3/2005
MSU effort leads war against bird flu, terrorism germs
The nation will look to Michigan for answers about bird flu, terrorist plagues and other microbial scourges. Michigan State University will get $10 million over five years to begin a quest for information about how some of mankind's deadliest enemies spread. MSU will be the headquarters for the Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment, which will also include researchers from the University of Michigan, Drexel University in Philadelphia, Carnegie Mellon University, Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona and the University of California at Berkeley.
Bay City Times (Bay City, MI) 11/3/2005
Governor orders state contractors to ensure hirings are legal
Governor Janet Napolitano recently ordered state contractors to guarantee their employees aren't illegal immigrants and to let state agencies inspect employment eligibility records for those workers to see whether the rule is being followed. "The immigration issue was brought to her doorstep, and it wasn't an issue she campaigned on a few years ago," said Fred Solop, a political science professor and pollster at Northern Arizona University. Solop said the governor is turning around that vulnerability and remains politically strong.
KPHO-TV (Phoenix, AZ) 11/2/2005
Gilbert High grad taking students to Boston
In 1994, Amber Dudley was playing viola at Gilbert High School. Then she went to Northern Arizona University on a scholarship. With the ink on her NAU diploma barely dry, Dudley signed up to head up Mesquite High School's orchestra. This year she hopes to take her group to Boston for a once-in-a-lifetime educational experience. Not only will the group have the opportunity to perform, members also will get to see and hear from some of the well-known conductors in the area, Dudley said. Recently the group of more than 80 musicians won a Superior with Distinction award at the fall festival. The award is the highest honor available.
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 11/1/2005
More going the distance at NAU
Gary Martin teaches for NAU's Educational Leadership Department wholly online, and has done so for the past five years. "In actuality," says Martin of online classes, "you have increased communication between student and teacher. I think the time is better spent." He adds that Web classes have many advantages and are, "as good or better than face to face." According to Martin, Web courses may get even better with the advent of advanced technology such as streaming video.
Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ) 10/31/2005
Residence halls take on social edge
A trend is rapidly developing on college campuses nationwide to build and
renovate facilities that release students from the confines of their residence
halls and promote social interaction. Cathy Small, an anthropology professor at Northern Arizona University and author
of My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student feels that
social evolution on college campuses seems a bit strained. "Students are finding community at college, but how they define community is changing," she said in an interview with The Heights. Rather than identifying community on a grand scale, students are tending to find community "in the four or five people they go out and spend time with, who they watch the Super Bowl with," Small continued. As for the efforts of college administrators to encourage community through new and improved facilities, "I think it's a good idea, but I don't know how well it will work. You can't always fight culture," she said.
The Heights (Chestnut Hill, MA) 10/31/2005
Web enrollment NAU's fastest-growing segment
"It's an exciting place to be with this kind of growth," said Assistant Director of Distance Learning Terri Hayes. Hayes oversees online advisement and educational student services. Advising for online students is done almost entirely via phone or email. "Our mission in this department," Hayes said, "is to make the programs accessible to students off campus." NAU's academic departments work with Distance Learning to develop the degree programs that will be offered on the Web. "We negotiate with the departments," Hayes said, "but they decide what they are going to offer online. Think of us (Distance Learning) as a clearinghouse for disseminating the course."
Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ) 10/31/2005
Editorial: NAU's restrictive speech code is an unconstitutional disgrace
Northern Arizona University has received some dubious recognition for its clumsy efforts to stamp out incivility and bias among students with a speech code that clearly violates the First Amendment. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (www.thefire.org) has singled out NAU's "Safe Working and Learning Environment Policy" for its Speech Code of the Month award for October. The NAU policy states that "[p]rohibited harassment includes, but is not limited to, stereotyping, negative comments or jokes, explicit threats, segregation, and verbal or physical assault when any of these are based upon a person's race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation. When these harassing behaviors become severe, pervasive or persistent, they may also violate federal and state law." While certain of these actions, including segregation, assault and serious threats, are against the law, other actions, such as stereotyping and making negative comments or jokes, are not. And trying to ban them by force at a public institution violates the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, there's enough court precedent protecting students' free-speech rights that NAU administrators ought to know better than to allow such a sweeping speech code.
East Valley Tribune (Phoenix, Arizona) 10/30/2005
Public undecided on migrant bills
Arizonans do not yet have an overwhelming preference regarding several of the immigration-reform plans put forward in Washington by their members of Congress, a new poll shows. Results of the Grand Canyon Poll, conducted by the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University and released Thursday, show 60 percent of Arizonans support GOP Rep. J.D. Hayworth's "enforcement-first" immigration reform strategy, while 29 percent oppose it.
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 10/30/2005
Want to work with state? Prove you dont hire illegals
More than twice as many people questioned by the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University listed immigration issues as the main issue than specified either environment or education.By contrast, only 6 percent of those questioned in the spring of 2003 right after Napolitano was elected listed immigration as the top concern.
Sierra Vista Herald (Sierra Vista, AZ) 10/29/2005
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