Program Recognition To activate the Program Recognition tab, press your spacebar.
- NAU’s professional education programs are the first in Arizona to be accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (now the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation).
- In its “Best for Vets: Business Schools” rankings, Military Times named The W. A. Franke College of Business one of the nation’s top business schools for veterans in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
- BestColleges.com ranked NAU’s online hospitality management program among the top ten in the country.
- NAU ranked first on Best College Reviews’ 2015 list of the 25 Best Online Colleges in 2015 and 2016.
- College Factual named NAU among the top nursing colleges in the Southwest, ranking our bachelor’s and graduate nursing programs 10th of 36 universities.
- PolicyMic named NAU the 15th most popular university in the country based on a 220% growth rate in admissions applications since 2003.
- The 2014 S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools” ranked NAU’s graduate physical therapy program 34th in the nation.
- In 2013, the engineering program earned a ranking of 44th in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” among all engineering schools whose highest degree offered is a bachelor’s or master’s.
- The university received a multimillion-dollar NAUTeach grant that seeks to double the number of students pursuing teaching careers in science and math. NAU is one of only 12 colleges and universities in the nation—and the only one in the state of Arizona—to receive this grant.
- NAU’s accelerated master’s in business administration program earned a spot in the Princeton Review’s “The Best 296 Business Schools for 2013,” which recognized the program’s “fast-paced, invigorating environment.”
- thebestschools.org ranked the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management 12th among “The 20 Best Hospitality Programs in the United States.
- To promote public engagement and facilitate nonpartisan discourse on public issues, NAU’s Consortium for Public Life and Learning was invited to affiliate with the internationally renowned Kettering Foundation as a Center for Public Life. Nationwide, there are 66 Centers for Public Life; NAU will have one of two in Arizona.
- In a January 2010 statistical study of bachelor’s degrees in physics, the American Institute of Physics ranked the university’s Department of Physics and Astronomy fifth of all master’s-granting programs nationwide in the number of physics bachelor’s degrees awarded. The university ranked second in the nation for bachelor’s-granting departments in a December 2011 study of bachelor’s degrees in astronomy.
Student Success To activate the Student Success tab, press your spacebar.
- NAU was recognized as one of six highly-influential universities in American Indian and Alaska Native education in a recent study published by Hollie J. Mackey, assistant professor of education at the University of Oklahoma, and Linda Sue Warner, special assistant to the president on tribal affairs at Northeastern A&M College.
- All seven winners of the 2013 Rodel Exemplary Principal award—which recognizes outstanding principals in Arizona’s high-need schools—are NAU alumni, as are six of the 12 winners of the 2013 Rodel Exemplary Teachers award.
- A 2012 report by Diverse: Issues in Higher Educationranked NAU 11th in the nation for awarding undergraduate degrees in all disciplines to Native American students and 55th in the nation for awarding undergraduate degrees in all disciplines to Hispanic students.
- In 2012, Hispanic Outlook in Higher Educationranked Northern Arizona University 53rd in the nation in awarding undergraduate degrees to Hispanic students, and 23rd in the nation in awarding master’s degrees.
- A graduate student in the applied physics program, Evan Bucklin won the award for Best Poster at the International Optical Society of America Network of Students (IONS13) meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, for his presentation “Holographic Interferometry of Semiconductor Flaws.”
- Alumnus James Ward Byrkit (Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1991) won a Best Animated Feature Film Oscar for Rango at the 84th Annual Academy Awards. He was a member of the film’s creative team.
- According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, graduating seniors rank NAU higher than its Carnegie peer institutions in several areas that focus on student success, including:
- student-faculty interaction
- academic rigor
- supportive campus environment
Research To activate the Research tab, press your spacebar.
- The Department of Energy designated the university as the Western Regional Center of the National Institute for Climatic Change Research.
- The university’s Sustainable Energy Laboratory is a leader in higher education for providing students instructional research opportunities in renewable energy, specifically wind mapping and wind integration.
- A team of students and faculty in the university’s Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics (MGGen) discovered the source of anthrax-tainted heroin in Scotland. The MGGen team is also tracking the spread of a fungal disease killing bats in the U.S. and Canada.
- Greg Caporaso, assistant professor of computer science, is researching the effects of microbes in office environments.
- The Department of Anthropology is conducting various research projects that include:
- archaeology
- linguistic anthropology
- sociocultural anthropology
Global Reach To activate the Global Reach tab, press your spacebar.
- The Center for International Education offers undergraduate and graduate students hundreds of study abroad programs in dozens of countries.
- Each year, nursing and health sciences students earn credit while traveling to locales such as India, Guatemala, and the Netherlands to participate in field research and community-based health initiatives.
- The university’s Global Engineering Outreach organization regularly travels to Africa and Central America to provide expertise, supplies, and technology to communities with critical needs. Recent projects include designing and installing solar water pumps and building a local nursing facility for a village in Ghana.
- Every summer, the School of Music and Northern Arizona University Opera sponsor the Flagstaff in Fidenza program, bringing talented young singers from across the world to further their education with intensive training and performance experiences.
- NAU was one of five universities to receive the 2012 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization, which recognizes efforts to incorporate global and cross-cultural learning into higher education.
Sustainability To activate the Sustainability tab, press your spacebar.
- NAU is one of only 40 universities to earn a gold rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS).
- Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges cited NAU’s “exemplary commitment to sustainability.”
- NAU was one of 15 institutions nationwide awarded a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to educate and inspire interest among rural and Native American students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs, and to increase public awareness of global climate change.
- Led by George “Wolf” Gumerman, the Footprints project promotes the cultural sustainability of Hopi communities by engaging Hopi high school students in programs that focus on traditions, culture, and history.
- NAU is leading the way in sustainable practices and promotions, fostering student-driven organizations:
- The NAU Green Fund promotes student-led and student-funded sustainability projects.
- The Green Jacks provide student leadership opportunities in a variety of sustainability initiatives.
- No Impact Jacks are leaders in “green” residence hall living.