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Northern Michigan University's Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will launch a new Okanagan Charter Concert Series, which highlights musical themes that support NMU's strategic commitment to well-being, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, in Reynolds Recital Hall. Both groups will perform pieces that advance the dialogue of mental health awareness. New Director of Bands Steven Riley will also mark his first NMU concert by incorporating a multi-movement suite by a Michigan composer that features the melodies of numerous folk tunes to honor the agricultural, maritime and lumbering history of the state.

Northern Michigan University 1977 alumnus and former Wildcat basketball player/assistant coach Tom Izzo became the winningest head coach in Big Ten Conference history Saturday night, when his Michigan State Spartans came from behind to beat Illinois 79-65. Izzo's 354th conference win surpassed former Indiana coach Bob Knight's record, which had stood for almost 25 years.

Northern Michigan University's Department of Music will host three performance events next week. All will be held in Reynolds Recital Hall. The first is a Superior String Alliance Pop-in Piano Trio Concert at noon Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Julie Bless, a 2010 Northern Michigan University graduate with a major in environmental conservation and a minor in biology, was honored as a "Twenty Under 40 Awards" finalist by the Reno Tahoe Young Professionals Network at a Jan. 24 ceremony. 

One of the remaining Black History Month activities planned at NMU this month is a “Soul Food Sunday” buffet-style feast prepared by Yusuf Bin-Rella. The celebrated chef, farmer and advocate for cultural foodways has worked alongside Michael Twitty, culinary historian and author of The Cooking Gene. Bin-Rella is a chef at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Dejope Residence Hall, and at the TradeRoots Culinary Collective he co-founded, which is a group of Afro-culinary genealogists exploring lineage through food.

Northern Michigan University alumni played important roles in two of the 2025 Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Feature Film. Three were involved in Disney and Pixar's "Inside Out 2," the highest-grossing animated film in history: Kelsey Mann ('98), director; Dan Scanlon ('87), executive producer; and Neil Helm ('05), lead supervising crowds animator. Northern graduate Joshua Brock ('09) served as modeling lead for "The Wild Robot," DreamWorks Animation's nominee in the same category. The Oscars will be presented Sunday, March 2.