Outstanding Alumni - 2009
Dr. Linda (Christofferson) Shadiow
Bemidji State University Graduate 1969
Dr. Linda Shadiow earned a double major in English and Speech and Theater from BSC in 1969. She later went on to earn a master's in Secondary Education from Montana State University and a Ph.D. in Secondary English Education from Arizona State University. Upon graduation from BSU, she taught high school English for six years. After earning her masters, she started her career in higher education serving as the Supervisor of English at the Office of Public Instruction in Montana where she worked to bring instructional resources to rural and reservation schools. During that period, she also served as the Assistant Director of Advance by Choice, an academic support program for nontraditional college students. After earning her Ph.D. at Arizona State, Dr. Shadiow returned to Bozeman as an English professor. In 1985 she joined the Northern Arizona University (NAU) faculty as the first Associate Executive Director of the Center for Excellence in Education where she worked on policy issues, curriculum development, and interdisciplinary partnerships. She currently serves as the director of the university's faculty development program, with responsibilities for coordinating university-wide discussions on teaching, as well as a professor of Educational Foundations and English. She is the author of over 50 articles in professional books and journals and has given speeches and workshops at over 100 national and international educational conferences. Additionally she was one of the American scholars invited to deliver a paper at a Cuban-American educational conference in Havana and to lead a workshop on educational policy development at Oxford University. Dr. Shadiow was selected by the students at NAU to be the commencement speaker in 2005 and colleagues have recognized her as Faculty Scholar of the Year, Administrator of the Year and as one of the Centennial Class of 100 representing the university's first century. Dr. Shadiow and her husband, Robert '70, make their home in Flagstaff, Arizona.