Requires masks| Using COVID Watch, an anonymous exposure notification app |  Provides contact tracing for exposure management, and more

As COVID-19 continues to surge throughout the state of Arizona, Northern Arizona University (NAU) has instituted  a number of measures in an effort to mitigate the spread of the disease.  For example, NAU requires masks  in all classrooms and academic buildings and other locations where physical distancing is not possible, and strongly encourages there use  for outdoor events and gatherings.

Masks are also required in Campus Health Services, at COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites, and on public transportation, including on NAU buses. NAU cloth masks with filters have been delivered to most students, faculty, and staff throughout the state. It also provides masks  on request.

NAU is utilizing COVID Watch, an anonymous exposure notification app, to help stop the spread of COVID-19 on campus by using a person’s  cell phone.

NAU provides contact tracing for exposure management through an integrated system with Coconino County Health and Human Services. NAU has staff who are jointly appointed to work for Coconino County in order to coordinate contact tracing/exposure management in its  campus community.

NAU  has also set up  designated housing and student support services on campus for any students who require isolation or quarantine. Support for off-campus students will be provided to the extent available.

Dr. Luis Cruz will replace Dr. Rita Cheng who announced in 2020 she would not renew her contract, which will expire in 2022

Dr. Luis Cruz

Northern Arizona University has selected Dr. Luis Cruz to replace Dr. Rita Cheng as its next president.  Last year Dr. Chen announced she would not renew her contract, which expires in 2022.

Dr. Cruz currently serves as the Vice Chancellor and Provost at The City University of New York. He has  worked for universities in California and Puerto Rico, and served at the Education Trust in Washington D.C. Cruz.  He will be the 17th president of Northern Arizona University.

Wills’ can’t provide answers to questions about NAU’s future relationship with the College

Mystery suddenly surrounds the relationship between NAU and Yavapai Community College.  Will NAU close the existing NAU/Yavapai Regional University in Prescott Valley.  Will it purchase land from a local land family for an entirely new campus?  Has the program to obtain a bachelor’s degree in three years failed? Will it join Yavapai Community College at the new Allied Health Campus?  

When President Penelope Wills was asked specifically by Representative Deb McCasland at the May 10 Governing Board meeting about the future relationship between the College and NAU, she provided no concrete answers.  Wills’ said that discussions with Rita Cheng, the NAU president, involved “what they may do with their facility” at the Prescott Valley Library.  Wills provided no details.  Wills added that NAU “may very well come over to this Center.” But then waffled.

Wills’ stated that “it was a lot more clear under the former president.  We knew exactly where we were going with the Allied Health and the Medical Center for Excellence. But those are all under discussions.”

It appears that the College has made a deal with Prescott Valley to purchase the property used by NAU as its Regional University. The property was was financed by the College back in 2007 via an intergovernmental agreement with the town of Prescott Valley.  If the property is sold back to Yavapai College, does that change NAU’s presence at the facility?

Who knows?  Certainly not the public whose money finances these projects. 

Northern Arizona University President Rita Cheng’s compensation could hit $700,000

Northern Arizona University President Rita Cheng’s compensation could hit $700,000 in 2017 if she meets performance goals set by the Arizona Board of Regents, according to a story in the Arizona Daily Sun written by Ms. Michelle McManimon. Click here to read the entire story.

Cheng receives $390,000 as her annual salary. Her housing, car allowances and pension plan contributions bring the total annual value of her compensation to about $520,000 a year. In addition to the salary and related contributions, the Board of Regents included a number of bonus clauses in her contract.

If the goals included in the bonus clauses are all met, it is estimated by the Arizona Daily Sun that by 2017 she could receive around $700,000. Some of the goals related to bonuses include the following:  a performance incentive payment of $10,000 if Cheng puts together a “high quality and effective” leadership team by July 1, 2015; $15,000 for reaching out to Arizona’s Native American communities and developing a plan to increase Native American student success rates; retaining at least 75 percent of NAU’s freshmen class in 2016-17, spending at least $39.2 million on research, awarding at least 4,625 bachelor’s degrees and having at least 3,200 community college transfer students enroll at NAU. An additional $10,000 bonus will be awarded if more than 43.2 percent of graduating seniors rate their entire educational experience at NAU as “excellent” on their senior surveys.

Other  incentives, according to the newspaper article,  require that “Cheng implement a plan to manage the growth of NAU’s extended campuses and Personalized Learning degree program, demonstrate the growth and financial stability of NAU’s allied health programs at the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, and personally lead efforts that substantially increase the amount of resources NAU brings in outside of tuition and research grants.”