Around NMU

The Northern Michigan University Music Department will host its first NMU choral concert of the fall semester at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, in a new location: St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Marquette. Admission to the "Sacred Currents" concert is free and open to the public. 

Northern Michigan University nursing student Courtney Rajala of Cooperville, Mich., has been selected as one of four recipients of Lake Trust Foundation's 2025 New Beginnings Scholarship.

STORM, a historical multi-media performance on Great Lakes storms and shipwrecks, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, in Jamrich Hall 1100 at Northern Michigan University. It is hosted by NMU's Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center. Maritime historian Ric Mixter returns to his hometown of Marquette with musician Dan Hall to tell the Edmund Fitzgerald story in a unique way: with Hall's custom music on key characters in the storm and Mixter's exclusive interviews from those who were eyewitnesses to the search and discoveries made 550 feet below Lake Superior. 

The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University is hosting an exhibition titled "Gales of November: Shipwrecks on Lake Superior," which explores the fascinating and tragic history of shipwrecks that occurred during that most dangerous month of the year for sailors on the Great Lakes. 

Northern Michigan University Theatre and Dance will host its production of The Rocky Horror Show Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 23-25, in Forest Roberts Theatre. 

Northern Michigan University honored the three recipients of its 2025 Alumni Awards at a luncheon during Homecoming. Dr. Peter LaPine ('76 MA) of East Lansing received the Distinguished Alumni Award. Retired NMU professor and alumna Barb Coleman ('77 BS, '81 MS) of Marquette was recognized for Alumni Achievement, and Ian Lewis ('18 BS, '22 MPA) of Laurium received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

Many players and the lone surviving coach from the 1975 Wildcat football team, which achieved the most remarkable turnaround in sports history by following a winless season with a championship, reflected on their improbable journey to the NCAA Division II title during a 50th anniversary reunion last weekend. A production team planning to give “the greatest story never told” a feature-film treatment was also on campus for the event.

Former Wildcat quarterback Steve Mariucci approached the storied 1975 football season third on the position's depth chart. Injuries to the starter during a practice before the first game and later to the backup five minutes into his first quarter of action propelled the Iron Mountain native into the leading role.

Students in Northern Michigan University's advanced lighting design course will head to Blackrocks Brewery to light up the stage for a Total Head concert Saturday, Oct. 18. This hands-on project brings their classroom lessons directly into the world of live entertainment.