{"id":77845,"date":"2026-04-27T13:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T20:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77845"},"modified":"2026-04-27T14:08:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:08:49","slug":"in-the-spotlight-april-27-may-1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/in-the-spotlight-april-27-may-1-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Spotlight: April 27-May 1, 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\">,\u00a0or 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>Former NAU wide receiver <strong>Kolbe Katsis<\/strong> signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Denver Broncos on Saturday. Katsis joins the Broncos, the reigning AFC West champions, following an All-American senior season with the Lumberjacks in 2025.<\/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;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The U.S. News and World Report included multiple\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">NAU<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0programs in its\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/best-graduate-schools\/northern-arizona-university-105330\/overall-rankings\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">2026 Best Graduate Schools rankings<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. School rankings are\u00a0determined\u00a0using surveys administered to academic leaders in each discipline. NAU\u2019s highest rankings include:\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\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;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">No. 51 in occupational therapy\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\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;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">No. 57 in physical therapy<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\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;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">No. 64 in public affairs\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\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;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-aria-level=\"2\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">No. 139 in speech language pathology<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559685&quot;:1440,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/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;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Big Sky Conference announced Friday that 57\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">NAU\u00a0student-athletes<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0earned 2025-26 Big Sky Winter All-Academic honors, being named to the conference\u2019s Winter All-Academic Team. To be eligible, a student-athlete must\u00a0participate\u00a0in at least half of the team\u2019s competitions, achieve a 3.2 cumulative GPA at the end of their most recently completed term and complete at least one academic term at a Big Sky institution. Of the 57 honorees, 12 hold a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA, 24 hold at least a 3.7 and 38 have a 3.5 or better.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360}\">\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;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">During their annual philanthropy week,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">NAU Sigma Chi<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and the<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0NAU sororities<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> raised $201,099 for the Huntsman Cancer Institute, about $83,000 more than last year. This money contributes to Sigma Chi\u2019s broader goal of raising $5.1 million for the institute through its U.S. and Canadian chapters and their campus sororities.\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-april-27-may-1-2026\/\">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,\u00a0or use\u00a0our\u00a0online submission form. Former NAU wide receiver Kolbe Katsis signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Denver Broncos on Saturday. Katsis joins the Broncos, the reigning AFC West champions, following an&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-77845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77845","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=77845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}