Around NMU

Northern Michigan University's Music Department will host a jazz concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, in Reynolds Recital Hall. The free event will feature the NMU Jazz Band, a standard big band with close to 20 members, directed by Patrick Booth, and two smaller jazz combos directed by Mark Flaherty.

Award-winning Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis will perform as the Marquette Symphony Orchestra's guest artist at Northern Michigan University. The recital is at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8, in Reynolds Recital Hall. A masterclass with Kilphuis will also be offered from 3-4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, in Reynolds Recital Hall.

College for Kids is returning to Northern Michigan University's Seaborg Center for children in grades K-6. Several hands-on, age-appropriate STEM classes will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 21, and on Saturday, Nov. 11. They address motion, engineering, gravity and other subjects.

Elizabeth Smart, the kidnapping survivor whose nine-month abduction garnered national news coverage and later compelled her to light the way for others as a child safety advocate and author, will speak at Northern Michigan University on Monday, Oct. 2. Her talk begins at 7 p.m. in the Northern Center Grand Ballroom and will be followed by a book signing. Tickets are $5 for the general public and free for NMU students with ID.

Two Books Two Communities is hosting a series of events surrounding its 2023 selections: Chevy in the Hole, a novel set in Flint, Mich., by Kelsey Ronan; and A Psalm for the Wild-Built, a “solar punk” sci fi novella set on a rewilding moon, by Becky Chambers. 

Northern Michigan University held a rededication ceremony and open house for the newly renovated Jacobetti Complex. The facility and its labs are equipped to provide students in STEM and technical programs the required tools to be successful in industrial, engineering and service-related fields that are critical to the support of economic growth in the region and state.

Faculty and students from Northern Michigan University's Upper Michigan Brain Tumor Center (UMBTC) and the medicinal plant chemistry program are engaged in collaborative research on a U.P. plant's potential to slow the growth of brain tumor cells. Faculty representing both areas gave a presentation on the project to the NMU Board of Trustees during its formal session on Friday.

Northern Michigan University's School of Health and Human Performance is now offering a master's degree program in applied sport psychology. The interdisciplinary degree is designed to prepare students with the knowledge and ability to earn certifications/licensures that will facilitate meaningful employment as coaches, mental performance consultants, and clinical sport psychologists.

Northern Michigan University Professor Sarah Mittlefehldt has been awarded the Grace Magnaghi Upper Peninsula Research Grant for her project, “Distilling the Forest: A History of Liquid Biofuels in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.” The project focuses on the production of methanol out of wood, the unintended consequences of doing so, and what can be learned from what was once the largest wood distillery in the world—the Cliffs Dow Chemical Company in Marquette, Mich.

Northern Michigan University students, a faculty member and an alumna recently completed a 10-day immersive experience in Puerto Rico. The trip complements a course that explores community resilience in the face of adversity and the intricate interplay of human needs, services and communications systems.