All News Releases

The Northern Michigan University Celebration of Student Scholarship will be held on April 14 on the NMU campus and online. The annual event recognizes the academic contributions of undergraduate and graduate students in all disciplines. Students share their work with the NMU and Marquette communities by presenting research posters, recording oral presentations, and submitting creative written work, and artwork. 

Northern Michigan University alumnus Nick VanCourt is one of six inaugural winners of the Traverse Magazine Tastemakers of the Year Awards, which celebrate “six innovators who are changing the food and beverage conversation in northern Michigan.” The 2004 media production and new technology graduate is brewer and superior saisonnier at Barrel + Beam Brewery in Marquette, which he co-owns with his wife and 2003 NMU speech communication alumna, Marina Dupler.

Northern Michigan University alumnus and former Wildcat football player Jim Mansfield has found retirement fulfillment in his role as a volunteer blood courier in Spokane, Wash. The 84-year-old loves to drive and it shows. Mansfield has logged more than 256,000 road miles delivering life-saving blood to rural hospitals over two decades of volunteer service.

Northern Michigan University social work students recently had a rare opportunity to participate alongside faculty members and community clinicians in a full-day Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk (AMSR) training on campus. One of the students used her AMSR handbook earlier this week to identify the level of risk for one of her teenage clients at her field placement location.

Northern Michigan University undergraduate students are participating in cutting-edge chemistry research with Professor Yu "Leo" Liu, who is among 14 faculty members nationwide recently awarded two-year summer research grants from Organic Synthesis Inc. His project advances “green chemistry” by eliminating the use of metal-based catalysts. Instead of organic solvents, it carries the catalytic reactions in a more environmentally friendly solvent: water.

Marcus Robyns began his collegiate studies as a secondary education social studies major at the University of Oregon, yet he felt a personal sense of dissonance while pursuing that field. While organizing an undergraduate history club, he discovered there was a university archive and arranged a tour. When the archivist showed him a menagerie of old artifacts representative of the school's history, he said, “You work with all this stuff? Are there jobs in this field?” 

Northern Michigan University Alumni Relations will continue its Northern Now digital event series with a family-friendly book reading with author, TikTok influencer and alumnus Mylan Murphy '12, '14. He will begin by reading his motivational children's book, It Only Takes 1, which tells his story of becoming an entrepreneur at the young age of 13. Murphy will also answer questions about being a TikTok influencer, building his Motivated by Mylan brand, and how to overcome challenges along the way. 

Northern Michigan University students have an opportunity to present their ideas for products or services to a panel of judges at the first-ever Mini Pitch competition, a complement to the annual Big Pitch event hosted by NMU's College of Business. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 4. Five teams will be chosen to compete in the "Shark Tank" style format for a chance to win one of two $500 cash prizes.

Northern Michigan University will host the first-of-its-kind Great Lakes Cannabis Education Conference on Tuesday, April 19. The conference will showcase best practices in cannabis teaching and research, summarize the industry's current state and developing trends, and provide insights from employers and experts.

Northern Michigan University's Percussion Ensemble presents its spring performance at 3 p.m., Saturday April 2, in Reynolds Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. 

Northern Michigan University alumnus Ryan Grim is Marquette's new chief of police and harbor master, effective April 11. He previously served as lieutenant and acting patrol captain. The Marquette City Commission approved the appointment and held a swearing-in ceremony at its March 28 meeting.  

Phyllis Michael Wong, historian, educator and former first lady of Northern Michigan University from 2004-12, will return to NMU to give a presentation on the research and writing process for her novel titled We Kept Our Towns Going: The Gossard Girls of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in room 224 of Lydia M. Olson Library. It will be preceded by an April 13 presentation at the Marquette Regional History Center, where Wong will discuss her novel in more detail.

Northern Michigan University alumnus Cole Klein, recently assumed a new role as elementary school principal with Houghton-Portage Township Schools. He fills a vacancy left by another NMU graduate, Anders Hill, who is the district's new superintendent. 

Northern Michigan University alumna Meghan Lane of Wakefield recently joined the Superior Health Foundation's Board of Directors as the representative for Gogebic County and the western Upper Peninsula. She graduated in 2003 with a major in media production and new technology and a minor in journalism.

Northern Michigan University alumnus Steve Kass received the 2022 Innovative Leader Award from the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning. He was honored during the March 17 opening keynote at MACUL's annual conference in Grand Rapids.

The Northern Michigan University Theatre and Dance program presents “The Producers,” a Mel Brooks musical. The cast will perform at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, April 8-9 and Wednesday-Saturday, April 13-16. A sensory-friendly performance is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, April 16. 

Northern Michigan University's Native American Student Association (NASA) and the Center for Native American Studies will host "Powwow 102: Learning to Walk Together (While Apart)." The event will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 26 on Zoom and on NASA's Facebook Live @nmunasa. This event is free and open to the public, but donations are encouraged. 

Northern Michigan University associate professor Weronika Kusek is actively monitoring the situation in Ukraine. Her interest is partly professional because she addresses the topic of refugees in her human and population geography courses. It is also personal, as recent Russian missile strikes hit perilously close to the border of her home country of Poland, where her entire family still resides.

Paul Mann of Northern Michigan University's School of Clinical Sciences is the 2022 recipient of the Stephen Young & Tricia Kinley Distinguished Faculty Award, NMU's top honor for significant professional contributions to teaching, scholarship and service. Mann is associate dean and director of the school in addition to professor. He will be recognized at NMU's April 30 commencement.

Northern Michigan University faculty members selected to receive 2021-22 awards for teaching, scholarship and leadership were honored at a March 17 celebration on campus.