Strategic Plan

Northern Michigan University is partnering with Michigan Technological University to prepare 30 middle school science teachers to become leaders in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. The National Science Foundation is providing $2.7 million through the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program to support this six-year initiative, named Partnering to Prepare STEM Master Teachers for Michigan's Middle Schools. 

A half-dozen NMU entities collaborated on a new summer initiative to provide students in need with free bikes that had been abandoned on campus and unclaimed after reasonable efforts to contact the owners. A total of 16 bikes were distributed.

Northern Michigan University has launched the Northern Shores Storywork Writing Project Site, an initiative that aims to support teachers in developing their own writing skills and teaching practices, ultimately enhancing student achievement in writing across the Upper Great Lakes region. It is part of the prestigious National Writing Project (NWP) network.

Northern Michigan University has received $35,000 from the U.S. Department of State to initiate study-abroad opportunities for education students that will better prepare them to humanize diverse populations and cultures in their teaching careers. NMU was one of 37 universities—and the only one in Michigan—to share in $1.3 million awarded via the 2024 Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students (IDEAS) program grant competition.

Northern Michigan University's Board of Trustees has approved 2024-25 tuition and fee rates that support strategic goals of removing barriers to student access, investing in faculty/staff and infrastructure, and maintaining the university's financial strength and sustainability. The cost of attending NMU also will remain competitive, continuing as second-most affordable among the state's 15 public institutions.

In an effort to increase the state's behavioral health workforce, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHSS) is providing 12 universities, including Northern, with $5 million in funding to support one-time $30,000 stipends for students seeking a master's degree in social work. Eligible students must already hold a bachelor's in the field and commit to two years of public sector behavioral health work in Michigan upon graduation.

Northern Michigan University's Glenn T. Seaborg Center is partnering with the Michigan Council of Women in Technology to offer Camp Infinity, a series of week-long, hands-on sessions that introduce Marquette County girls entering grades 5-8 to computer and internet technologies. The camp will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, July 22 through Friday, July 26 at NMU. 

The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University has launched a new website, "Walking Together - Finding Common Ground," as a companion to an exhibition by the same name that is touring Indigenous communities throughout the Upper Peninsula and the Midwest. The site includes historical information about Indigenous experiences in the Michigan Native American Boarding Schools, as well as interviews with boarding school survivors. 

Aoi Hirose is the 42nd Sister City Scholar to study at Northern from Higashiomi, Japan. Marquette and Higashiomi have been developing deep connections since 1979, and the Sister City Scholar program provides opportunities for university students to enact and revitalize this relationship.