The Faculty Senate Executive Committee and the Faculty Senate Council for Non-Tenure Track Faculty Issues is proud to feature the following non-tenure track faculty for our Inaugural NTT Spotlight. Chairs and colleagues nominated the faculty below for public recognition of their professional dedication to the university, highlighting examples of the significant teaching, research, and service contributions non-tenure track faculty provide to the NAU community and beyond.
Ijeoma Ononuju, Ph.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Educational Leadership in the College of Education
Dr. Ijeoma Ononuju serves NAU in the College of Education (COE) and his home department of Educational Leadership (EDL) in exceptional teaching, service, and research. He has contributed significantly to growth in the COE and EDL capacity to meaningfully engage in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work for our students, staff, faculty, and communities that they serve, such as in his role as co-chair the COE Diversity Committee. As part of his story, Dr. Ononuju was one of the many non-tenure track faculty who were non-renewed during Summer 2020, but returned in the fall 2020 and redoubled his commitment to seeing that his students were well served during the pandemic, that the COE reflected and acted upon their strengths and weaknesses regarding DEI efforts, and much more. Additionally, Dr. Ononuju, as an Educational Foundations sub-unit faculty member, suppported the Community College and Higher Education (CCHE) Leadership sub-unit by chairing student dissertations, rewriting and teaching a new CCHE doctoral course on justice in higher education, attending optional meetings for the department and sub-units, serving on a tenure-track search committee for the CCHE sub-unit, serving on the EDL department diversity committee, and engaging in ongoing dialogue with students and colleagues about DEI in education. His work also extends beyond the institution through his non-profit, Immersion Foundation, an organization focused on providing academic support to youth and families via a community-based learning hub, an online platform for virtual Saturday school, and organizing food drives for those experiencing food insecurity.