{"id":77076,"date":"2026-02-16T15:53:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77076"},"modified":"2026-02-18T16:07:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:07:53","slug":"in-the-spotlight-feb-16-20-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/in-the-spotlight-feb-16-20-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Spotlight: Feb. 16-20, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Do you have a spotlight item to share with the NAU community?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">E-mail your announcements to\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"mailto:Inside@nau.edu\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Inside@nau.edu<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, or use\u00a0our\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/news-tip\/#.YEjwNWhKg2w\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">online submission form<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Three student teams from the\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Department of Construction Management\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">placed in the 2026 Associated Schools of Construction regional student competition on Feb. 4-7. Event participants from throughout the Rocky Mountain region compiled preconstruction packages and presented them to expert judges. NAU earned first place in the mixed-use construction category, second place in the heavy civil construction category and second place in the design-build construction category. Members of these construction teams are as follows:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cb\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9675],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cb&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The mixed-use construction team\u00a0comprises\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Zachary Henson<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Bailey Bruner<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Quintin O\u2019Grady<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Krystyna\u00a0Pramowski<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Joshua\u00a0Walker<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Will Natale.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cb\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9675],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cb&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The heavy civil construction team comprises\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Graydon Bearinger<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Dylan Gebhardt<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Robert\u00a0Leerkes<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ethan Sterne<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Noah\u00a0Parker<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Wyatt Snitker<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cb\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9675],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cb&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The design-build construction team\u00a0comprises\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Jacob Casper<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0Jake Shearon<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Kysen Rios<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Olivia Bowie<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0Seth\u00a0Poulin<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0Tess Baldwin<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cb\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[9675],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cb&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"2\">Additionally, two students, <strong>Owen Kunes<\/strong> and <strong>Tyler McCarthy<\/strong>, were on a mixed-university team that took first place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Abbey Sobelman<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, an undergraduate journalism and communication studies student, was one of two students honored with the American Copy Editors Society\u2019s 2026 Bill Walsh Scholarship. The $3,500 award goes to university students displaying excellence in news editing.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">NAU\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">placed No. 7 on the World Brand Design Society\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/worldbranddesign.com\/best-design-education-ranking-2025-26\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">best design education list<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0for 2025-26. The society\u00a0determines\u00a0its rankings based on the quality of student work\u00a0entered into\u00a0its annual Student Design Awards for consumer and corporate brand design, and NAU students earned six awards from this year\u2019s competition.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Department of English professor\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Laura Gray-Rosendale\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">recently<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">published her latest book, \u201cBasic Writing in the 21st Century,\u201d co-authored by City College of New York professor Barbara Gleason. The book incorporates 33 original essays discussing writing practices,\u00a0issues\u00a0and scholarship, while touching on topics rarely discussed in the field, like accessibility, multilingual\u00a0teaching\u00a0and queer perspectives.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\u25cf\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u25cf&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"5\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Beth Staub<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, a School of Communication assistant teaching professor, won first place in the photography section of the Arizona Treasures art show on Jan. 23. The art show features its winning entries in an exhibition highlighting the Indigenous cultures, histories,\u00a0landscapes\u00a0and wildlife that make Arizona unique. Staub\u2019s winning photograph, titled \u201cRide Out on a Rail,\u201d features a cowboy lying across defunct railroad tracks in an overcast desert.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/in-the-spotlight-feb-16-20-2026\/\">Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs. Do you have a spotlight item to share with the NAU community? E-mail your announcements to\u00a0Inside@nau.edu, or use\u00a0our\u00a0online submission form. Three student teams from the\u00a0Department of Construction Management\u00a0placed in the 2026 Associated Schools of Construction regional student competition on Feb. 4-7. Event participants from throughout the Rocky Mountain&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}