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Media highlights for the week of June 28-July 4, 2005
A sampling of NAU programs, professors, students, staff and alumni appearing in the news
Bat study taking wing
More than 30 people have traveled from Tucson and the San Francisco Bay Area to wade through stagnant pools in a vacant pasture at night netting bats for a Northern Arizona University professor's study. Forestry professor Carol Chambers is studying the spotted bat and four other species, trying to map out where they live, what they eat and where they forage based on hair samples, guano, and triangulation. "We know a lot about things like antelope and deer, but we know very little about bats because they're hard to study," Chambers says.
— Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ), 7/3/2005
Group looks for north college site
Leaders of the Havasu Foundation for Higher Education are convinced that a site north of Lake Havasu City would be good for a four-year university. The 1,800-member, non-profit foundation has raised over $50,000 in its quest to build a residential campus here, possibly in cooperation with Northern Arizona University.
— Today's News-Herald (Lake Havasu City, AZ), 7/3/2005
Legendary coaches convene for seminar
The Center for High Altitude Training will host the Distance Coaching Classic, an educational seminar July 28-29 featuring the legendary coach Joe Vigil and the acclaimed Jack Daniels, the new head distance running coach at the center.
— Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ), 7/3/2005
State has very deep impact on space work
Northern Arizona University doesn't have the same kind of connection to the space program of its two sister schools, but there is a presence. For instance, Assistant Professor Nadine Barlow mapped Martian craters in support of Mars missions. And Stephen Tegler, professor of physics and astronomy, is doing research on comets and the Kuiper Belt for future NASA missions.
— The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), 7/3/2005
Attorney seeks order to ease AIMS for English learners
The help that students need [to learn English] does not come cheaply, said John Reyhner, a Northern Arizona University professor. They need small classes with better-trained teachers using special teaching materials. Reyhner said these students, many of them poor, must learn faster than their middle-class peers, who grew up speaking, reading and writing English. "It's a race and if we don't reward them for their efforts, they're going to drop out and drop out earlier," Reyhner said.
— KVOA-TV (Tucson, AZ), 7/2/2005
[this clip also appeared in The Arizona Republic]
But what about Esperanto?
Language scholars gathered in May at National Science Foundation headquarters in Arlington to brief journalists on plans to document more than 70 vanishing tongues and explain why they are worth preserving before they become extinct. The efforts include a project by scientists at Cornell University and Northern Arizona University, who will gather ultrasound and airflow data to determine how the 'click' sounds of South Africa's N/u language are produced. There are only 13 fluent N/u speakers still living.
— The Washington Post (Washington, DC), 7/2/2005
Deaf actor overcame odds to do what he loves
Deaf actor Anthony Natale of "Mr. Hollands Opus" and other television and stage productions gives a speech in sign language at the Cline Library on the campus of NAU.
— Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ), 7/1/2005
Flying on the Edge: Bluebirds make use of habitat corridors
A study showing that small-scale observations of animal behavior can be used to predict how animals move through larger landscapes has conservation bilogists excited. "It is comforting to conservation planners that one of the first attempts to scale up has proven quite successful," says Paul Beier of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
— Science (Washington, DC), 7/1/2005
Kyl announces new interior funding for Arizona
Senator Jon Kyl has secured $1.6 million for continuing research programs at the Ecological Research Institute at Northern Arizona University. "The Senate recognizes the crucial value of the science produced by the Ecological Research Institute at NAU," said Kyl. "Their research furthers the mission of the Forest Service to reduce hazardous fuels in our national forests and to restore forest health."
— PHXNews (Phoenix, AZ), 7/1/2005
New principals appointed at Florence K-8 and FHS
Kacy Lewis will begin the new year as K-8 principal. Lewis, 29, has been with the Florence district since 2000. She holds bachelor's degrees in special education and elementary education from Northern Arizona University, and a master's in educational leadership from NAU.
— Tri-Valley Central (Pinal County, AZ), 7/1/2005
He's representing
You don't have to drive all the way to Flagstaff to see Jason Murrietta, Northern Arizona's record-setting quarterback. You can see him right outside Eloy at the Toltec exit from Interstate 10 if you happen to be driving from Tucson to Phoenix. Zorro Outdoor Media of Chandler donated the billboard, which also features the school's new logo, to NAU's athletic department. Officials estimate that 60,000 vehicles will pass it per day on average. "It might not be Times Square, but Eloy is not bad," notes Steve Shaff, NAU's assistant athletic director for media relations.
— The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), 6/30/2005
New dinosaur species has scientists excited
Scientists have a fearsome creature buried in a bed of shale. They've excavated bones, that when fitted together in a museum will be a nearly complete skeleton of a plesiosaur. David Gillette, Northern Arizona University: "A nasty bugger, yeah. It was an ambush predator. Probably loafed in the water just under the surface or even at depth, waiting for its prey to come by, and then would make a burst as an ambush and take its prey without their even knowing it was there." Becky Schmeisser, Northern Arizona University: "This is something that can be pieced together in the lab. That's what glue is for. So we can definitely fit this all back." David Gillette: "Others that we found are a third complete or half complete or missing a skull or missing flippers. So to find a complete one is what we dream about."
— KSL-TV (Salt Lake City, UT), 6/30/2005
Digging it — again
"This is a treasure trove for research and education," said Gillette, the museum's Colbert Curator of Paleontology [and NAU geology research professor]. "I could support a dozen graduate students for their master's thesis projects out here on the animals and plants we're just getting out of this formation alone in Glen Canyon ... Glen Canyon is, I think, a rising star in the world of paleontology."
— Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ), 6/29/2005
HHS appoints members to National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity
Paul Keim is one of 24 new members appointed to the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB). The board will provide advice and recommend specific strategies for efficient and effective oversight of federally conducted or supported dual-use biological research taking into consideration both national security concerns and the needs of the research community. Keim is the director of pathogen genomics at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, holding an endowed chair of microbiology at Northern Arizona University.
— PharmaLive.com (online), 6/29/2005
HP awards $2.1 million in technology for teaching leadership grants
NAU is one of 10 two- and four- year colleges and universities across the United States awarded a total of $1.3 million in cash and equipment. Each grantee will receive an award package valued at more than $120,000. Recipients selected one of two HP technology packages, both of which feature HP Tablet PCs, docking stations, printers, digital cameras and digital projectors for faculty, plus either 40 Tablet PCs or 100 HP iPAQ Pocket PCs and 14 Tablet PCs for student use.
- BusinessWire.com (San Francisco, CA), 6/29/2005
[this clip also appeared in GISuser.com, TMCnet.com, Yahoo! Finance, Providence Journal, and Stockwatch]
Officer promotes web site for students to report crime, leads, suspicious activity
A web site conceived by Phoenix police officer Cecil Jackson is gaining momentum across the nation in promoting school safety. Students, parents and community members can now access www.alertrecall.com to report leads, criminal or suspicious activity on school campuses nationwide. Jackson earned his master's in education at Northern Arizona University.
- TriValley Central (Pinal County, AZ), 6/29/2005
Plesiosaur fossil find excites scientists
The best-preserved plesiosaur ever discovered in the region is being removed from the shale and taken to a museum in Flagstaff, Ariz. Scientists say it's a new species, judging by its morphology. Becky Schmeisser, a graduate student at Northern Arizona University (where chief excavator David Gillette is a research professor of geology), showed how the jaws were "kind of closed down tight, which is really cool." The master's degree candidate from Lake Mills, Wis., will write her dissertation about the discovery.
- RedNova.com (Dallas, TX), 6/29/2005
[this clip also appeared at deseretnews.com]
Poll: City's 3 main taxes backed
A majority of Flagstaff voters would be willing to continue three major taxes here as well as up the transit tax, according to the 2004 Citizen Survey. The phone poll conducted by the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University consists of information collected from a random survey of 410 adults living within Flagstaff city limits. "Most of the time, people do not make extremely informed decisions," but rely on media sound bites and the influence of friends and family to formulate an opinion, said Kristi Hagen, associate director of the research laboratory during her presentation of results to the Flagstaff City Council this week.
- Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff, AZ), 6/29/2005
Phase 1 adds 2 veterans to restaurant staff
Matt Austerberry was hired as assistant catering manager at Phase 1. Austerberry received his bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management in 2000 from Northern Arizona University.
- The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), 6/28/2005
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