Northern Arizona University

Overview

Northern Arizona Institution (NAU) is an Arizona public research university located in Flagstaff. In 1899, NAU was established as the last public institution in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona became the 48th state.

NAU is one of three Arizona Board of Regents-governed. It is a Higher Learning Commission-accredited institution. The university gets rated as "R2: Doctoral Universities - High research activity". The university has seven colleges:

• College of Arts and Letters
• College of Education
• College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences
• College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences
• College of Health and Human Services
• College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
• The W. A. Franke College of Business.

NAU is home to the state's first Honors program. Honors College students have unique study abroad possibilities and can join in extracurricular activities such as Canyon Country Aesthetics. NAU provides graduate students with hands-on mentorship as well as various research, and creative opportunities. Students have access to a variety of research labs, including the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, the Merriam Powell Center for Environmental Research, the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, and others. The institution also manages the NAU Art Museum, the Martin-Springer Institute (which promotes Holocaust education), the Northern Arizona Writing Project, the Ardrey Memorial Auditorium, and Kitt Recital Hall. The 2,000-square-foot lab allows undergraduate and graduate students to work on grant-funded projects such as mobile development, augmented and virtual reality, videography, aerial drones, motion capture, and Esports.

There are over 350 recognized professional, academic, service, and social groups at NAU, as well as an intramural sports program, The Lumberjack student newspaper, and active resident hall organizations. The Media Innovation Center (MIC) at the School of Communication of the Social and Behavioral Sciences sponsors many immersive learning programs in which students practice journalism and filmmaking in real-world contexts. The student-run newspaper "The Lumberjack" has been in operation for almost a century and has won several journalism honors.

Flagstaff Mountain Campus, located in the mountain town of Flagstaff and surrounded by the world's biggest ponderosa pine forest, is NAU's primary campus. It is a beautiful environment, with about 300 days of sunshine each year and snowfall in the winter. NAU has more than 20 extended campuses, allowing students from all throughout Arizona to study at NAU.