re: Anyone here familiar with Flagstaff?

Aunt Edna passed away near there...fyi

I am very close with someone in office of research there and I've lived there, worked there, etc. I strongly advise that you do grad school somewhere else.

If you've been accepted elsewhere - go there. If not, take a semester off, apply to other places and go somewhere else.

NAU has dramatically increased enrollment but not housing. Lot of spillover and no housing. Cost of living is extremely high compared to standard of living. Homelessness there is a real thing and there are students and employees that are homeless or teetering on the edge, due to this. There's been more than a few living in campgrounds while they wait for something affordable. Tuition continues to rise. Most student facilities are not adequate for the student load. Like most universities, books are about 300% of what they should be.

NAU and Flagstaff have done a horrible, horrible, horrible job at managing the growth in the city and university.

The library is one building. One fricking building. And the holdings are extremely old books, with few exceptions. You don't find many with copyright newer than 2000. Online subscriptions are nowhere close to major universities I've seen like Vandy or Florida etc.

Researchers at NAU, for the most part, are fricking lost. And yes I have the chops to say that. Unless you know you'll be working for one of the few that are legit in their field (and I hope you know how to assess that), then you are taking a big chance. They are not tops in their game, most of them are nowhere close. Most depend on latching onto people at other universities and getting subawards, or latching onto federal labs like LANL and getting subawards.

There is no research development office. None. At all.

The sponsored projects office is a fricking shitshow. That is not an exaggeration. The VP for sponsored projects is a retard that is also a shitty leader and has run off about 75% of his staff in less than a year. The univ president refuses to do anything about him because she is afraid of political blowback and she has stated she is ok with them losing staff continuously rather than firing him. Also, she has no research background of note and doesn't understand research or how to build a research university. Also that office and most offices on campus do not pay well and thus cannot attract top support staff to help the research efforts. And those that do show up or develop once there, end up leaving because of low pay and a shite job environment.

If you are some wiz and look to work on things that can lead to patents, there are a few people on campus that are good with that stuff, but none of them in the Innovations office are worth a shite. They take forever and leave faculty swinging in the breeze. This is important as you must flag items in a proposal that have proprietary info and so on.

Faculty there have no standards or accountability placed upon them for the most part and I am personally aware of several hissy fits thrown by them, demanding that others within the Office of Research do their work for them. You do not want to be around those types - that is not the example a grad student needs to see, because at real universities, that shite don't fly. I have seen faculty come from that type of environment, land in a real research setting, display that behavior, and then find they have no shot at tenure and are politely but firmly asked to leave. Again, you just don't want to be around that environment and learning from those types.

Most resist doing research. Most took jobs at NAU because it hasn't been a research university. They want an easy day of teaching and to leave early and go hiking or go to Snow Bowl to ski (when there's snow). Makes for an overall bad environment. There are a few exceptions.

There are department chairs there that have no research experience. I'm serious. They don't understand the research process or how to get funded, how to budget for a resarch project etc. Proposal writing is well below par and there is virtually no understanding of how to manage awards once funded. They are clueless on how research is funded, and do not care about audits and compliance requirements.

NAU will be very lucky to escape audit findings and fines in the next few years - you do not want to learn research in an environment like that.

There is a new VP of Research and he is fighting an uphill battle with this. NAU's research program right now is propped up by the Arizona Board of Regents. There are only 3 state universities and the other two are legit research R1 institutions. The board is subsidizing NAU's research efforts as they try to expand. But NAU is losing money, a lot of money, each year because they don't know how to get grants, write grants, budget, manage awards etc. At the current pace it is only a matter of time before the regents pull the plug. If the gov there didn't recently allocate $1 billion of state surplus money, for the 3 state schools to build infrastructure, there would probably be next to nothing getting done on that campus.

It is very, very, very important you realize these things. You will likely be a grad research assistant - meaning tuition support is dependent on grants. If they tell you it's assured through department funds, don't believe them. First of all, these are different pots of money that cannot cross - restricted v unrestricted funds - shite they don't realize. Second of all, NAU is in a precarious position and when funds get tight faculty are protected, then support staff to keep undergrad tuition chugging along, then grad student tuition support is at the bottom because they know grad students can just get loans. You're a fool if you rack up tens of thousands in school loans. Also, unless you know that you are paired up with a stud faculty member, you cannot count on grant support to get those tuition costs covered. Given how things are going there, you can't assume that your advisor missing out on a grant cycle will just be covered by the college. Too many holes there and not enough funds to fill them all, so you may get left out in the cold.

What I and the person I'm connected with found is that NAU pitches a good game but there is no substance right now. They are simply clueless on how to build a research university.

And, because the research environment there is so much an amateur hour, you will not be learning how things should be done - critical as a grad student to get to see the right way to do things. Taking a big risk at NAU with that.

Flagstaff is very, very, very liberal. Some nice people. But if you cross over into discussions of politics, beware. They are not tolerant, for the most part. It is turning into California-lite. And yes you will see a ton of license plates from CA there.

Sorry to be doom and gloom but unless someone is purely liberal arts, I would not advise anyone to go to NAU right now.

ETA - you say physics so I assume research is a desire for you.

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starsandstripes

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Thanks for the looking out. These were some things that I wasn't really aware of. I should only be there for two years, and my TA position and tuition waiver are guaranteed for that time so long as I keep the required grades.

I've done a good bit of research into the physics department, and it seems that they're actually pretty active when it comes to research. I'm not sure which professor I'll be working with yet, but I have a couple in mind.

Been there a few times on vacation trips. Lovely place in my limited experience.

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Aunt Edna passed away near there...fyi

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And yay though the Hindus speak of karma, I implore you...give her a break.

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I've done a good bit of research into the physics department, and it seems that they're actually pretty active when it comes to research. I'm not sure which professor I'll be working with yet, but I have a couple in mind.

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It's almsot all astronomy related and tied to the location of Flagstaff and persistent grants to maintain infrastructure. The hard sciences at NAU have long focused on undergrad research opportunities because it's low hanging fruit for NSF funding. Most big R1 places don't go for those programs. They are a distraction from real research and to be honest, they generally cost the university money, a big no no at serious institutions - again these are the things that faculty at NAU don't understand and don't care about. The poor stewardship by faculty, chairs, and deans is astonishing.

They consider grant money to be "free" and to be "theirs" and they are happy to give it all away. The new VP of Research does understand these things but so far he's had little success in getting faculty on board and some have pushed back. Side note....before he even started the job, once his hiring was announced, faculty there were contacting him with their own little lists of priorities, telling him what sort of priorities he would need to address and so forth. It's a fricked up bunch.

The Asst VP of Research is a former faculty member. She was "successful" by NAU standards but her shite is pedestrian to be honest. Faculty go straight to her with issues. That tells you what sort of maturity level you'd be dealing with. The last VPR won awards for 'teacher of the year' type shite and was utterly clueless about research.

Note on their webpage under "Research" you have the following:
Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Arizona Space Grant Consortium
National Undergraduate Research Observatory

Those are not core research areas.

Undergrad research programs and the associated funding are how NAU has been able to have summer programs for undergrads from other universities. And that's the vehicle that is providing the foundation for that GTA money. I would consider that money pretty safe. There were serious talks a few months ago to tell faculty there would be no more grant applications approved if they were for undergrad research stuff - because they are a net loss. Lot of assholes puckered. I think that morphed into a curtailment but not a ban. That said, the physics stuff should survive and may be the only survivor because it has persistent funding for it and it's such a long standing program. That probably works to your advantage. If that's in your wheelhouse and if the course work and research activity you know you can participate in, are right for you, then you should be fine.

Do yourself a favor and get a copy of the GRA GTA handbook - probably get it from the Grad College. They should have already provided that stuff to you. Look at max stipend policies. IIRC you can get a much larger stipend as a GRA. Check to see if you can hold both appointments at once. You may be able to hold the fort on GTA stuff while assisting on a project as a GRA for stipend only, and thus get more stipend. If you can't hold both, you may be able to just get money for assisting on a project as student employee. For compliance reasons, it does matter if you are merely a student employee hired to work or if you are under an appointment. So, read that handbook and look for the ways to maximize your money.

New VPR is a physicist.

You sho is angry

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Aunt Edna died in the car somewhere near Flagstaff. We brought her dead body to cousin Normie's in Phoenix, but he was out of town so we left her tied to a chair on the back patio.

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O God, ease our suffering in this, our moment of great dispair. Yea, admit this kind and decent woman into thy arms of thine heavenly area, up there. And Moab, he lay us upon the band of the Canaanites, and yea, though the Hindus speak of karma, I implore you: give her a break.

Much cooler in the summer there compared to Phoenix.

Stayed there two nights when Auburn played Oregon for the National championship

Flew to Vegas from Atlanta, stayed a few days, drove to Flagstaff, stayed two days (south rim) then drove down to the game

Stayed at the Embassy Suites. They had happy hour that started at 7pm and lasted till 11pm. Drank free for hours all on a $100 a night room. Love that place