Strategic Plan

High school seniors who reside in the Upper Peninsula and plan to pursue studies in a healthcare-related field at a college or university next fall are invited to participate in the fifth annual National Rural Health Day Essay Contest. The Northern Michigan University Center for Rural Health is coordinating the contest with the Michigan Center for Rural Health and the Literacy Legacy Fund of Michigan. The essay submission deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Northern Michigan University is collaborating with Alpena Community College and Central Michigan University to create the Northeast Michigan Teacher Pipeline for aspiring educators. This partnership aims to address the regional teacher shortage by offering students an affordable, seamless, and locally rooted pathway to pursue a career in education.

Indigenous artists from across the region will gather at Northern Michigan University to share their perspectives on film, paintings, music, sculpture, literature and other arts.  The inaugural Indigenous Perspectives Symposium is free to the public and scheduled for Friday, Nov. 1, in the Northern Center.

The Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Asexual College Conference (MBLGTACC) will be held at Northern Michigan University Oct. 25-27. Now in its 32nd year, it is the nation's largest and oldest-continuously running conference for queer and trans+ college students and young adults, designed to catalyze conversation and action around relevant issues. Each year, MBLGTACC makes one Midwest community a destination for a diverse gathering of 2,000+ college students.

Northern Michigan University will hold the fourth annual Upper Peninsula Association for Behavior Analysis (UPABA) conference Nov. 7-8. This year's event focuses on language acquisition strategies and features national speakers, practical workshops and networking opportunities. The goals of the annual conference are to increase knowledge, improve client support and collaborate with institutions for effective care across the Great Lakes region.

Northern Michigan University assistant professor Jongeun You was invited to serve as the 2024 Harold Hotelling Memorial Lecturer at Lawrence Technological University. Named for the accomplished economist, the lecture series marked its 14th anniversary on Oct. 17. It addresses timely and relevant topics in the guest speaker's area of research. Dr. You, who teaches in NMU's Political Science and Public Administration Department, presented “Policy Conflict in U.S. Energy Infrastructure Siting.”

Outdoor Recreation and Leadership Management majors from Northern Michigan University were responsible for planning and leading morning tours of various Marquette-area locations during last weekend's Fresh Coast Film Festival (FCFF). The annual festival features documentaries celebrating the outdoor lifestyle, water-rich environment and resilient spirit of the Great Lakes region.

As part of its 125th anniversary celebration, Northern held a grand opening garden party Oct. 1 for its new Campus Nursery, which will be used to grow native trees and shrubs for future campus landscaping projects. The 150-foot x 75-foot parcel—complete with an irrigation system—is located behind Central Receiving, revitalizing the same site where NMU had established a tree nursery decades ago that later fell into disrepair.

Northern Michigan University graduate student and basketball career scoring record-holder Makaylee Kuhn will screen a video at next weekend's Fresh Coast Film Festival that highlights the sustainability efforts of Wildcat volleyball, initiated by assistant coach and former standout player Sarah Kuehn. Both say the intent is to inspire other teams at NMU and beyond to incorporate small changes that will benefit the environment. Kuhn also established the Green Athletics working group last year with the goal of making Northern the greenest school in the GLIAC (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference). 

Northern Michigan University participated as one of 40 host institutions for the nationwide Amplifying Student Voices (ASV) Convening on Oct. 5. The hybrid event brought together more than 400 student leaders to engage in both virtual and in-person dialogues on the future of belonging, diversity and equity in higher education, and on strategies for fulfilling the promise of an inclusive democracy.