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Northern Michigan University will host its 31st annual Lighting Up the Holidays, a free family event for campus and community members. It will be held from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, in the University Center.

The event includes a tree lighting with President Fritz Erickson and Wildcat Willy, pictures with Santa by Daniele Carol Photography, cookies and refreshments, holiday card and ornament making, games, face painting, free books and performances by the NMU Cheer Team and New Attitudes dancers. 

Invent@NMU launched a remote kiosk at Keweenaw Coffee Works in Calumet this week—its second in the Upper Peninsula. The kiosk allows inventors and entrepreneurs to learn about the services offered, submit an idea for a product or business and receive a response from the Invent@NMU team within three business days. Read a Mining Gazette story on the launch here. Invent@NMU placed its first remote kiosk in Gogebic County in October.

On Tuesday, Nov. 27, Northern Michigan University will hold a Day of Giving to coincide with the global charitable event, Giving Tuesday. As happened last year, faculty, staff, friends and alumni will come together at this special time to give and pledge resources. This year the focus is on support for the Northern Fund, the Flexible Aid Fund, student scholarships and the NMU Food Pantry.

NMU alumnus Matthew Barbercheck ('11 AAS, '14 BA), who teaches welding and woodworking at Republic-Michigamme Schools, has won $50,000 for his school. He was one of 15 second-place winners of the 2018 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence. A representative of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools made a surprise presentation of a large rolling tool box and big check. Barbercheck can spend $15,000 of it at his discretion and the rest will go to the school's skilled trades program.

Dan Truckey, director of the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at NMU, was awarded the Peninsulas Prize by the Michigan Museums Association at its annual meeting Oct. 29 in Dearborn. The statewide prize honors an individual or organization that has demonstrated the significance and impact of community engagement over the last year.

Students who present behavioral difficulties in western Marquette County schools will gain greater access to applied behavior analysis services through a new collaboration with the Behavioral Education Assessment and Research (BEAR) Center at Northern Michigan University. NMU students will also gain practical experience before they graduate and become practitioners. The Western Marquette County Health Foundation (WMCHF) spearheaded the project.

At the Northern Michigan University Veterans Day Concert on Nov. 11, distinguished student veteran Traci Dietz received a commemorative coin from President Fritz Erickson for her dedicated time and service.

“I am honored to have been recognized by [Rep.] Sara Cambensy and President Erickson,” she said. “I have worked hard to make the lives of my fellow veterans easier through my work-study position in the Veteran Services Office with Mike Rutledge and his service dog, Welles, who has helped countless students through rough times.”

NMU recently unveiled Something Curious, a new podcast series targeting current and prospective NMU students. The podcast aims to connect community through conversation, highlighting aspects of the university and the Marquette area. This series will address subjects that relate to NMU’s core values: community, opportunity, inclusion, rigor, environment, connections and innovation.

Josh Cahatol, from the Province of Bohol in the Philippines, is one of three students attending NMU this fall as a participant in the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (UGRAD). The program is designed to increase students’ understanding of the United States and give them opportunities to take academic coursework and participate in other community activities.

The International Education Services Office at NMU is collaborating with World Learning to bring students from other nations to campus for cultural exchange and opportunities to learn at American institutions. Ahmad is one student attending NMU this fall through the Global UGRAD Pakistan Program (IREX), which enables youth leaders from underserved populations across Pakistan to have opportunities to study abroad. He was selected for the program by his alma mater back home.

Veterans Day on Nov. 11 coincides with the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Under the leadership of President James Kaye, Northern State Normal School (now Northern Michigan University) participated in WWI regionally, nationally and abroad. War-time concerns were exacerbated by another significant threat a century ago: a Spanish flu pandemic that ultimately shut down Northern for three months in the fall 1918 semester.

NMU alumnus and podiatrist Dr. Brad Benson ('10) has returned to his hometown to join UP Health System-Marquette. He said his training has provided him with a diverse background in all foot and ankle problems, but one of his passions is limb salvage, especially in the diabetic cohort. Benson went to medical school at Kent State University and served as a podiatric medicine and surgery resident at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. After completing his residency, Benson decided to move back to Marquette.

Northern Michigan University’s Native American Student Association will screen the documentary Trudell at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, in the Whitman Hall commons. The event is free and open to the public.

The documentary traces American Indian activist and poet John Trudell's life, from his childhood in Omaha, Neb., through his role as a leader of the American Indian Movement and his rebirth as a musician and spoken word poet.

November is Native American Heritage Month. For more information, visit www.nmu.edu/nativeamericanstudies.

Eleven Northern Michigan University students attended the annual Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) National Conference marking the 50th anniversary of the organization. The group traveled to Austin, Texas, and attended several workshops and sessions with internationally renowned speakers. Presenters included Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, and Jonathan Mildenhall, former vice president of marketing at the Coca-Cola Corporation and chief marketing officer for Airbnb who now owns his own firm, Twenty First Century Brand.