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Mary (Aho) Brunet, a 1991 Northern Michigan University graduate with a bachelor's degree in management, received the Hankookin Heikki Award for preserving and promoting Finnish culture in the Copper Country.

Seven Northern Michigan University faculty members have been selected to receive 2023 Faculty Research Grants. The awards of $7,000 each support scholarly activities such as publications, the creation of artistic works, manuscript development and research projects. The recipients and their project titles are:

Current and recently admitted Northern Michigan University students are invited to apply for NMU Foundation donor-funded scholarships for the 2023-24 school year. About 500 scholarships are available. The application system is open through Monday, Feb. 20.

A new exhibition titled "It's All Downhill: Alpine Skiing in the U.P." will open at the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University on Saturday, Jan. 21. It focuses on the region's skiing roots introduced by Scandanavians and the Alpine ski hills that have operated across the U.P. for the past 80 years. 

Northern Michigan University 1998 alumnus Kelsey Mann is directing "Inside Out 2," the sequel to the Academy Award-winning best animated feature. The movie is slated for release in June 2024. It will follow the original human, Riley, as a teenager encountering new emotions. The returning voices of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black will introduce familiar characters Joy, Sadness and Anger.

Beginning this semester, Northern Michigan University is partnering with Bark River-Harris (BR-H) High School to offer NMU's first dual enrollment course in the field of education. Sixteen students from BR-H and three to five students from Nah Tah Wahsh Public School Academy are participating in the course, Schooling in America. The goals are to give students the opportunity to gain college credits while in high school, and to potentially interest them in pursuing a career in education.

An exhibition of creative works by Northern Michigan University School of Art & Design faculty will open with a free, public reception from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at NMU's DeVos Art Museum. The Faculty Biennial Exhibition highlights diverse achievements in all media and concentrations.

Mark Hares, a 1989 Northern Michigan University alumnus who serves as mental health services manager at Marquette Branch Prison, will present "Psychology in Corrections" at 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, in The Science Building, room 2902.

Two Northern Michigan University alumni collaborated on a 20-minute independent documentary titled The Iron Town, which delves into Negaunee's mining history, current issues, and the key role that outdoor recreation is playing in guiding the city's future. Both will discuss the making of the film, with a screening to follow, at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum. The project premiered at the 2022 Fresh Coast Film Festival. 

NMU Philosophy Professor Antony Aumann is featured prominently in a "New York Times" story on how students' increasing use of A.I. chatbots is prompting universities to restructure courses and take preventive measures. He continues to field numerous interview requests as other media worldwide have focused on the topic. Aumann said a red flag went up in response to a paper submitted in his world religions class last semester. After confronting the student, who ultimately confessed to using ChatGPT to write it, Aumann planned to implement changes in his courses this month. 

As Russian forces continue with heavy artillery shelling and frequent missile strikes that have resulted in thousands of deaths and extensive destruction in Ukraine, Northern Michigan University alumnus Matt Maki has no plans to leave the country he has called home for the past decade. The Negaunee High School graduate lives in Kyiv, the nation's capital and most populous city.

NMU theater alumnus and Marquette native Orion Couling has been profiled by pridesource.com for directing short fan films inspired by “Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars” that portray differently abled people as heroic protagonists. He recently walked the red carpet alongside four actors with Down syndrome to celebrate the world premiere of his second project, “Gemseeker.” His first film, “No Easy Target,” was about a colony that welcomes people of all abilities and proves their worth to a violent and dismissive First Order commander.

WNMU-FM, Public Radio 90, is inviting students from the region in grades 5-8 and 9-12 to enter National Public Radio's Student Podcast Challenge to compete for a chance to have their work featured on NPR. The contest is open now and closes April 28.

Two Northern Michigan University student-athletes, along with a recent transfer student, will represent their home countries at the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games, which opened Jan. 12 in Lake Placid, N.Y. The 11-day festival is the largest international multi-sport collegiate event. It combines high-level competition with educational and cultural activities.

NMU alumnus Bill Thompson wrote a tribute on Outside's Climbing.com to his former professor and mentor Phil Watts, who passed away in late December and was known locally as the "Godfather of Marquette Climbing." Watts had retired in 2016 after 38 years at NMU, "directly introducing more than a thousand people to climbing through his classes and indirectly influencing many more through his internationally acclaimed rock climbing and mountaineering research," Thompson wrote.

NMU senior Andie Balenger of Gladstone writes a weekly column on college life for the Daily Press newspaper in Escanaba. In her most recent entry, "Finding comfort in fellowship," she talks about how other political science majors at Northern—particularly those in an international studies and human rights course her junior year—have provided fellowship through the discussion-based nature of the discipline.

Northern Michigan University will honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. with a Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16, at The Woods residence hall complex. All activities are open to the public. The day will kick off with a noon program and free lunch, followed by four service projects and a workshop on volunteerism.

Seventeen Northern Michigan University students who attended during the fall semester, along with NMU alumni, are among the 150 soldiers from the Michigan Army National Guard's 107th Engineer Battalion deployed Jan. 7. The unit is based in Marquette and Ishpeming. Soldiers gathered with their families and invited guests on campus before departing for southwest Asia for up to a year of duty. 

Local archeologist and Northern Michigan University alumnus Jim Paquette will present “The Find of a Thousand Lifetimes,” the story of the historic 1987 discovery and subsequent excavation of one of the most celebrated archeological finds ever uncovered in the Upper Great Lakes Region. He and fellow NMU graduate John Gorto discovered a large treasure trove of 10,000-year-old Late Paleo-Indian/Early Archaic period projectile points within the drained reservoir bed of the Deer Lake Basin near Ishpeming, confirming Paquette's belief that ancient Native American peoples had once inhabited the central Marquette County area as far back as the end of the last Ice Age.

Jimmy Bruce, a Northern Michigan University alumnus from Escanaba, is serving as a member of the Commission on Services to the Aging (CSA) through July 28, 2025. He was appointed to the role by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.