Around NMU

NoMAD, a Northern Michigan University student organization that promotes local and underground music, is hosting an event featuring female-led rock and punk bands titled “Ra Ra Rock for Your Rights” at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 8 in the Northern Center Grand Ballroom. NoMAD is short for Northern Michigan Artist Discovery.

The top three finishers in Northern Michigan University's March 29 performance competition for music majors, all of whom will receive scholarships, were: Darren Hicks, a senior from Manistique, who received first place for his performance on the marimba; Nicholas Wegrzyn, a sophomore from Buckley, who earned second on saxophone; and Noah Nettell, a sophomore from Chassell, who placed third for his piano piece. 

Officials at Northern Michigan University announced the appointment of William (Bill) Vajda as the new director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute (UPCI).

Rock and roll will never die. That's what members of Sunstone, a band made up of Marquette natives and former Northern Michigan University students had to say when they recently reunited after 50 years to record and release their original song, “Marquette County Line.” Despite living in different parts of the United States, songwriter Barry Seymour found a way to keep the spirit alive by recording the song remotely.

Members of Marquette's Superior String Alliance will perform at Northern Michigan University on Thursday, April 6. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Recital Hall.

The Northern Michigan University Percussion Ensemble will present its annual winter semester concert under the direction of professor James Strain at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 1. The concert will be held at Reynolds Recital Hall or can be virtually streamed via subscription through the School of Music, Theater and Dance Broadcast Network. 

Northern Michigan University's annual Gender Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, March 31. The event will feature student projects, tables staffed by student and community organizations, and main conversation space in the Northern Center Ballroom I. Sociology assistant professor Heather Mooney will give a presentation titled "A Call for Institutional Courage" at 1:30 p.m. in the Northern Center Founders Room.

The culminating event in the NMU's College of Business' annual new business venture competition for students from all majors featured a trade show and Business After Hours, along with two "Shark Tank"-style competitions. Student Rachel Harvey won the Big Pitch, crowd favorite and best trade show presentation for Superior K9 Aquatic Therapy. 

Standing 75 yards away from two Alaskan brown bears playing in a river, NMU biology graduate teaching assistant Rylee Jensen was able to snap an award-winning photo while she was working at Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park. The picture was entered into the PetaPixel photo competition and won the grand prize: a trip to the Galapagos Islands on the National Geographic Islander II and an OM System camera with two M. Zuiko lenses.

In honor of Women's History Month, Northern Michigan University First Lady Kristin Tessman shares a short list of the historical and contemporary women she most admires, effective qualities possessed by female leaders she has encountered, and her deliberate efforts to demonstrate to her young daughters that they are capable of becoming or achieving anything they desire.