NAU’s summer term offers convenient, unique learning opportunities for community members and current students

FLAGSTAFF — Northern Arizona University offers summer courses for the whole family—in Flagstaff, Phoenix and online. NAU students can supplement their studies or get ahead, and community members can explore topics of personal or professional interest.

From finding more effective ways to communicate at the workplace, to brewing quality beer or learning about the world of Esports at a youth camp, it is easy to learn something new at NAU this summer.

NAU students, community members and future Lumberjacks can choose from more than 1,400 classes.

“We are excited to engage our students and community members in a wide range of learning opportunities this summer,” said Gayla Stoner, vice provost and dean of Online and Innovative Educational Initiatives. “Students of all ages can benefit from these quality educational experiences.”

Summer course highlights

This summer, NAU is offering exciting courses that interest anyone and help students progress towards their degrees. Courses are offered online and in-person at the Flagstaff campus and North Valley location in Phoenix.

Professional and personal development

Course title: Workplace Communication: Utilizing Tools that Get Results

Audience: Adult professional

Location: Online

Tired of putting out fires that result from lack of communication? Looking for simple solutions to address email blizzards, no results meetings and misunderstandings at work? Interested in exploring how to manage diverse teams? This live workshop is a crash course in how communication can improve employee retention, sales and productivity.

Course title: Self-Publishing Your Book

Audience: Adult enrichment/professional

Location: Online

Ready to self-publish? It’s a challenging job, and even more so at the end of the pandemic. This workshop will guide you through it. First tip? You’ll need to profile the target audience for your book. Then we’ll discuss the steps to self-publishing your print book and establishing distributors. You will be guided by the instructor in developing tactics for your own book. You’ll also have time to learn about and discuss the effects of the pandemic on the publishing industry during this live workshop.

Course title: Intro to Brewing Quality

Audience: Adult professional

Location: Hybrid (Online with an in-person session in Flagstaff)

Brewing is a complex manufacturing process that takes raw, agricultural products and produces a food product with limited shelf stability. Quality assurance and control programs utilize common chemical analysis techniques and organoleptic assessment to ensure beer meets manufacturers’ and consumers’ expectations. You will be equipped throughout the course with knowledge and experience that will help you ensure this quality. The course will be online with a face-to-face boot camp over a single weekend in Flagstaff. Must be 21 or over to enroll.

Featured camps for youth and young adults

NAU is offering many fun opportunities for youth and teens to explore new topics during the summer months.

Camp: The World of Olympians: Myths, Monsters, Gods, and Heroes (Ages 10-14)

In this fun and interactive online day camp, you will explore the mythological landscape through the lens of monsters, gods and heroes. Become immersed in the field of classical studies through the lens of ancient Greek language, mythology, art and history. Explore ancient Greek mythology as a knowledgeable instructor leads you on a journey through time. Experience a taste of Greek life through the incredible stories and art of the age—and the pivotal role they played in the lives of the ancient Greeks. Learn about ancient Greek language, mythology, history and art while role playing and creating projects that demonstrate your knowledge.

Camp: ESports Day Camp (Ages 14-18)

With career opportunities in Esports exploding, you will be put in the hot seat of competition and the production of Esports events in this day camp. Engage in Esports while learning about stream casting, social media and strategies for competitive gaming. You will participate in practice sessions, scrimmages and tournament-style competition to enhance your abilities to become college-level competitors in League of Legends and Rainbow Six Siege. You will receive group and individual coaching. The workshop will be designed to inform you about Esports competition, event staging and management, public relations and social media practices to promote Esports competitors and events and shout casting/stream casting (similar to sports broadcasting play-by-play and color announcing).

Summer programs for incoming freshmen

These NAU programs support students in exploring, enrolling and transitioning to college.

Program: Nizhoni Academy

Audience: High school students

Location: Online

The Nizhoni Academy is a pre-college enrichment program for high-achieving Native American high school students who are interested in STEM fields. This is a five-week program that is offered as a virtual experience this summer to help students explore the fields of science, technology, engineering and math within a university setting.

Program: Upward Bound

Audience: Incoming high school freshmen

Location: Online

Upward Bound in an excellent opportunity for students from select high schools in Northern Arizona who will be starting at NAU this fall. This five-week program will provide a unique glimpse into NAU and is offered virtually this summer.

For information about the summer term, visit the NAU summer website or call Brenda Sipe, director of NAU online academic support at (928) 523-6826.