Around NMU

The Northern Michigan University DeVos Art Museum is hosting its School of Art & Design Faculty Biennial Exhibition through March 29. The 2025 Faculty Biennial Exhibition highlights a diversity of creative achievements by participating faculty from across the School of Art & Design. 

Northern Michigan University's Berry Events Center will host an opportunity for members of the campus and Marquette-area communities to try out sled hockey, a sport adapted for athletes with physical disabilities. This free event begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16; no registration is required. Protective equipment such as helmets, elbow pads and hockey gloves will be loaned to attendees who participate.

Northern Michigan University has announced Black History Month activities in February, including a Soul Food Sunday buffet-style feast prepared by Madison chef Yusuf Bin-Rella, a community roller skating event, and film screenings.

Three Northern Michigan University Theatre & Dance students earned awards at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's (KCACTF) Region 3 conference in Madison. Mark Simons from Cadillac became the second NMU student ever to advance to nationals at the Kennedy Center with a win in the Musical Theater Intensive. Maya Moreau of Dearborn, who made history last year as the first from NMU to advance to nationals, won the Classical Acting Award. Liam Fisher of Grand Rapids received a scholarship to attend the Open Jar Institute, New York City's premiere Broadway actor training program, this summer.

The Northern Michigan University Foundation's Giving Tuesday event in December raised more than $81,000 from 143 donors. The gifts will elevate the student experience by helping to increase the number of available scholarships, enhance programming related to the university's strategic priority of well-being, support the NMU Food Pantry, and assist students struggling with financial hardship.

Northern Michigan University students are invited to participate in the NMU Money Games from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7. in the McClintock Building room 106. This interactive team-based game puts students in control of a budget as they aim for the highest net worth, credit score and quality of life. 

The book selected for this year's Diversity Common Reader Program (DCRP) at Northern Michigan University is As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Held annually since 2013, the DCRP revolves around a nonfiction book of interdisciplinary interest that advances discussions of diversity, inclusion and social justice.

Northern Michigan University's Northern Shores Storywork Writing Project has announced the 31 Upper Peninsula teens selected as regional award winners for the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the country's longest-running and most prestigious scholarship and recognition program for creative students in grades 7-12. There were 113 submissions from the Upper Peninsula, a significant increase over the eight received last year.

The Finnish folk supergroup Frigg will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27 in Reynolds Recital Hall at Northern Michigan University. This concert will be part of the 2025 Winter Roots Festival, a collaboration between the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at NMU, Hiawatha Traditional Music Co-op, the Peter White Public Library, and the City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center. Frigg's new album, "Dreamscapes," is scheduled for release on Feb. 21.

Northern Michigan University's Center for Forensic Science Director Jane Harris has elevated her professional reputation, the center's profile and student hands-on learning opportunities by contributing her expertise to Operation UNITED, an effort by the FBI and law enforcement agencies in Detroit and Philadelphia to exhume the remains of unidentified victims of decades-old homicide cases. The hope is that advanced DNA testing can provide names and answers for their respective families. She was highly commended for her most recent work in letters from the former FBI director and the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD).