{"id":79405,"date":"2026-09-21T16:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T23:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=79405"},"modified":"2026-09-21T16:43:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T23:43:27","slug":"kathleen-king-named-the-2026-homecoming-dedicatee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/kathleen-king-named-the-2026-homecoming-dedicatee\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathleen King named the 2026 Homecoming dedicatee!"},"content":{"rendered":"

While rain sprinkled outside, a group of 30 faculty, staff and students gathered with anticipation in an empty School of Hotel and Restaurant Management classroom on Sept. 16. Down the hall, <\/span>Kathleen King<\/span><\/b> was facilitating a headshot and resume writing session for freshmen. Little did she know that an ambush was headed her way.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kathleen<\/a><\/p>\n

Equipped with pompoms and buttons, the crew paraded down the hall cheering loudly as they approached King who stood, wide-eyed, wondering what the commotion was about.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle Gardner<\/span><\/b>, co-director of the Community, Leadership, Alliances, and Belonging (CoLAB) Center who has been facilitating NAU\u2019s Homecoming dedicatee tapping for more than six years, spoke after the circle formed around King.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, students nominate a dedicated staff member to be the year\u2019s Homecoming dedicatee,\u201d she said. \u201cThis year, that person is you!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSHUT UP!\u201d King shouted as she covered her mouth and burst into tears.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

King, a two-time Lumberjack alumna who has worked at NAU for more 22 years, is an associate teaching professor in NAU\u2019s School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, where she teaches courses on the connections between food, culture and history, as well as guest service management. She primarily teaches freshmen and has made it her mission to help make the transition to college easier. Last year, she was named one of NAU\u2019s 2025 Teachers of the Year.\u201cI absolutely love my students,\u201d King said. \u201cI love when they come in wide-eyed and fresh faced and so eager to learn. I see them at graduation, after they\u2019ve accomplished this really hard thing, and it\u2019s so special knowing I was a part of the beginning.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, King joins a long line of beloved NAU faculty and staff as the 86<\/span>th<\/span> Homecoming dedicatee. Every year since 1936, student organization leaders have chosen to honor someone who has made a big impact on campus over 10 or more years. In keeping with Homecoming tradition, King will be honored at a luncheon, serve as a judge for the annual chili cookoff and be acknowledged at halftime during the Homecoming football game against Portland State.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kathleen<\/a>
Kathleen King (middle) poses with her family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“I am just stunned,\u201d King said. \u201cI like flying under the radar\u2014I live under the radar\u2014and I assumed I was doing that. I read about NAU\u2019s Homecoming dedicatees every year and think they are such amazing people. I never thought I would fall into that category. Never.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What made the tapping even more special? Her family<\/span> was part of the cheering crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI found out about a month ago, and because my mom and I talk every day, it was incredibly difficult to keep the secret from her,\u201d said daughter Victoria Birch<\/b>, an NAU senior studying physical education. \u201cI am just so proud. It makes me so happy. She is so deserving.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

King said she looks forward to celebrating Homecoming in a different way. In the meantime, she will continue doing what she does best: quietly transforming the lives of freshmen in ways that will impact them for years to come.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

View the photos from Wednesday’s dedicatee tapping.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Group<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While rain sprinkled outside, a group of 30 faculty, staff and students gathered with anticipation in an empty School of Hotel and Restaurant Management classroom on Sept. 16. Down the hall, Kathleen King was facilitating a headshot and resume writing session for freshmen. Little did she know that an ambush was headed her way.\u00a0\u00a0 Equipped…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":394,"featured_media":79406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79405","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\/394"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79405"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79415,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79405\/revisions\/79415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}