2018 Hall of Fame
Celebrating the success of graduates from NAU’s Social and Behavioral Sciences
Northern Arizona University and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences enjoys sharing stories of our graduates who have gone on to make a difference in the world.
President’s Alumni Award
Dr. Kipyego “Kip” Cheluget
1984 PhD Arts and Sciences
Ambassador Dr. Kipyego Cheluget is Director of The Nyerere Centre for Peace Resarch based in Arusha, Tanzania at the East African Community Secretariat. NCPR is a collaborative effort between the EAC Secretariat, Arcadia University and the American Graduate School in Paris. The aim is to offer opportunities for students from East Africa and the rest of the world to pursue graduate studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution and also support EAC’s Peace efforts by providing a research forum on Conflict Resolution.
Dr. Cheluget was formerly appointed COMESA Assistant Secretary General (Programmes) by the Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Kampala, Uganda from 2013 to 2023. Dr. Cheluget was formerly Kenya’s High Commissioner to Zambia and Malawi and Permanent Representative to COMESA,
Cheluget a long serving Kenyan diplomat and is formerly the Deputy High Commissioner of Kenya to New Delhi, India. Ambassador Cheluget has extensive experience working for Africa.
Regional Economic Communities. He served at IGAD as Chief, Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution officer in the late 90s before joining the East African Community as Deputy Secretary-General for Projects and Programmes from 2001-2007. He also served in various capacities at Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Director, Foreign Service Institute, Asia and Australasia, Middle East, Research and as Deputy Chief of Protocol.
Dr. Kipyego’s academic background includes a doctorate in Political Science from Northern Arizona University, and BSc and MSc degrees from Illinois State University, all in the USA. He has also previously taught at Kenyatta, Moi and USIU universities in Kenya.
Amb Cheluget’s publications include ” 50 Years of Kenya’s Diplomatic Engagement: From Kenyatta to Kenyatta” by Moran Publishers of Nairobi, “Cheluget, Kipyego and Stephen Wright, The Making of the African Economic Community; The Role of COMESA in the Tripartite Arrangements”, The South African Journal of International Affairs in 2017, amongst others.
He is married to Ruth and is blessed with adult children.
Hall of Fame 2018 Inductees
Jonathan Nez
2002 BS Political Sciences, 2005 MA Public Administration
Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez was born in Tuba City, Arizona and raised in Shonto, Arizona. Vice President Nez is married to Phefelia Herbert-Nez and they have two children, Christopher and Alexander. He is the son of John H. Nez and Mabel H. Nez. His grandfather, H.T. Donald, was the former Navajo Nation Council Delegate for Shonto Chapter, and his grandmother was Mae Donald from Shonto.
Vice President Nez is born into the Áshįįhí Clan (Salt People) and born for the Ta’neeszahnii Clan (Tangle clan). His maternal grandfather’s clan is Tódích’íi’nii Clan (Bitter Water Clan) and his paternal grandfather’s clan is the Táchii’nii Clan (Red-Running-Into-The-Water Clan).
Vice President Nez began his political career after being elected as Shonto Chapter Vice President. He was later elected to serve three terms as a Navajo Nation Council Delegate, representing the chapters of Shonto, Oljato, Tsah Bi Kin and Navajo Mountain. Vice President Nez was also elected as a Navajo County Board of Supervisor for District 1 and served two terms (he had to resign after he was elected Navajo Nation Vice President).
With more than 10 years of dedicated public service, Vice President Nez was asked to be a running mate to Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye. On April 21, 2015, the Navajo people elected President Begaye and Vice President Nez to be their leaders for the next four years. On May 12, they took the oath of office and began serving as the Navajo Nation President and Vice President.
Vice President Nez believes strongly in education. He is currently a doctoral student in political science and completed research on local empowerment and mobilizing local communities of the Navajo Nation to reinstate their inherent local way of governance. His research focuses on the reduction of dependence on the central tribal government, upholding and enhancing the local inherent sovereignty of the chapter areas. He is an alumni of Northland Pioneer College and Northern Arizona University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and a Masters of Public Administration from NAU.
Vice President Nez is an avid runner and advocate for healthy living. He enjoys training and competing in long-distance events, and has competed in multiple marathons. Vice President Nez participated in the 2015 Running for a Stronger and Healthier Navajo Nation, a 435-mile run circling the Navajo Nation. He ran more than 150 miles for the event. His current goal is to run a marathon in each of the 50 states.
Dr. Katrina Rogers
1988 MA History and 1992 PhD Political Science
Katrina S. Rogers, PhD, is President of Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, Calif., known for transformational learning in psychology, leadership and education, and as the home of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education and the Worldwide Network for Gender Empowerment. As faculty, Dr. Rogers has taught in global environmental politics and policy, social movements, research, and theory.
With doctorates in political science and history from Northern Arizona University, she led the European campus for Thunderbird School of Global Management in Geneva, Switzerland, for a decade, working with the Red Cross, World Trade Organization, United Nations Development Program, and European Union, and developing externships for students at Renault, Nestle, and EuroDisney (now Disneyland Paris). Dr. Rogers has also worked in fundraising and program development with the Arboretum at Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon Trust, and currently serves on the Boards of the Toda Institute for Global Policy & Peace Research, the Public Dialogue Consortium, and Prescott College. She received a Presidential post-doctoral fellowship from the Humboldt Foundation and was a Fulbright scholar to Germany, where she taught environmental politics and history.
Anthony “Tony” Gibson
2001 BS Political Science
Tony is the Executive Director of Federal Relations for the University of Pittsburgh, serving as the point of contact to federal policy makers and running the University’s Washington, DC office.
He joined Pitt after his fifteen-year tenure at the National Science Foundation, where he served as Senior Advisor for Legislative Affairs in the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs. His duties included oversight of Congressional processes relating to the Foundation, including liaison responsibilities for members of Congress and senior Congressional staff. He joined the Foundation after serving as a senior advisor to three Presidential Science Advisors in the White House Office Science and Technology Policy (1997-2002).
Before serving in the White House, Mr. Gibson worked in several key policy positions in the Senate and House of Representatives (1992-1997). He finished his tenure on Capitol Hill serving as a Legislative Director overseeing the legislative strategy and policy direction for a member of the House Science Committee.
Tony graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. He completed his Master of Arts, with Distinction, in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, as well as post-graduate executive-level training at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the U.S. Government’s Federal Executive Institute.