Gumerman Professor in Honors

Dr. Morgan Vigil-Hayes has joined the Honors College as the second Gumerman Professor of Honors. Established through a generous gift, this first endowed Honors professorship is named after George “Wolf” Gumerman, former Director of the NAU Honors College and founding Dean of the NAU Honors College.

Dr. Vigil-Hayes joined the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems at NAU in 2017 after the completion of her doctorate in computer science at UC Santa Barbara. She is currently an associate professor of computer science and pursues research that combines social computing, computer networks, and human-computer interaction to characterize and design information and community systems that better serve community knowledge. For the past decade, her research has focused specifically on supporting Indigenous knowledge and action with innovative computer networked systems.

Dr. Vigil-Hayes has received international acclaim and is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, which recognizes her leadership in scholarship and teaching in her field. As Gumerman Professor, she will deliver a public lecture, mentor Honors Engineering students, and teach an Honors seminar based on the dynamic topic of cyber ethics. The generous gift of the Gumerman Professorship will give NAU Honors students the chance to work directly with this world-class researcher and educator.