When north came south - NAU-Yuma marks 20 years

In 1988 Northern Arizona University opened a satellite campus in Yuma. It began primarily as a local college for teachers and an extension of Flagstaff's arm across the state.

Twenty years later, Northern Arizona University in Yuma has grown into a branch campus in its own right. It has gradually changed over the years, strengthening its partnership with Arizona Western College to put more students in more fields on the path to bachelor's and master's degrees.

But NAU-Yuma's greatest evolution is just beginning.

"I call this the second stage of the partnership," NAU President John Haeger said. "We have really pumped up our effort, our interest, our numbers of faculty."

NAU has 37 satellite campuses around the state but those are geared toward distance learning. Yuma is its only full branch campus.

The Arizona Board of Regents approved the designation of NAU-Yuma as a branch campus in September 2006. This has allowed the campus to develop its own programs, rather than offering only those taught on the main campus in Flagstaff.

Since that time NAU-Yuma staff has worked with the local government and business community to expand high-demand programs such as nursing, biology and engineering.

These changes are driven by the needs Yuma Regional Medical Center and the military outlets of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma and the Yuma Proving Ground. They also address shortages of qualified scientists and math and science teachers at local wildlife offices and schools.

Krista Rodin, a former vice provost at the University of Connecticut, was hired in 2007 NAU-Yuma's first associate vice president and campus executive director. She has spearheaded coordination efforts with local entities and talked with AWC about what course offerings it could beef up to dovetail into higher-degree programs.

This designation has also allowed the Yuma campus to apply for more sources of federal funding and grants. Due to its large population of Hispanic students, it was a declared a Hispanic serving Institution. More than half of NAU-Yuma's students are of Hispanic descent but NAU as a whole did not have a high enough population to meet the designation.

The demographic and professional uniqueness of Yuma made a branch campus a necessity and a good investment for NAU.

"Arizona Western College campus is undergoing a construction boom, which is wonderful to see, and we will be breaking ground in the next month," Haeger said.

Construction for a new NAU research and teaching laboratory building is set to begin soon. The building will house one large classroom and four large labs that if needed can be subdivided into smaller labs by putting up removable walls. It will take approximately eight months to complete the $6.5 million project, which will be located next to AWC's new laboratory building.

AWC and NAU-Yuma operate in a "two-plus-two" partnership. This means AWC students can take their lower-level classes and then proceed directly to NAU-Yuma to finish their undergraduate work without the need to reenroll.

However, not every AWC student takes advantage of this. Getting those degrees to more students will be a major priority.

"Students really have to aspire to a higher education degree. In today's Arizona and in the 21st-century economy, one is an absolute necessity," Haeger said.

Lusia Gaona is one example of a student who would not have sought a higher education without NAU-Yuma. She is a lifelong Yuma resident who is currently attending AWC. She plans to go on to NAU-Yuma to get a bachelor's degree in nursing.

Gaona said that with a family to take care of, she could never have left Yuma to get her degree, but it is possible here.

"They've been great. I've learned a lot. I came after a few years off and I'm just wanting to be accepted into the nursing program," she said.

Haeger arrived at AWC Thursday to kick off the celebration of NAU-Yuma's anniversary. The anniversary celebration will continue tomorrow, starting with a town hall forum at 7:30 a.m. in St. Paul's Cultural Center, 645 S. Second Ave. The public is invited to participate in the discussion, which will feature Haeger and a panel of local education and business officials.

There will also be a block party in the evening, from 4 to 10:30 p.m., in the downtown area on Main Street.

"In the morning we look toward the next 20 years and in the evening we look to and celebrate what has been accomplished," Rodin said.

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Sarah Reynolds can be reached at

sreynolds@yumasun.com or 539-6847.