All News Releases

Northern Michigan University Biology Assistant Professor Diana Lafferty received the 2021-22 Excellence in Teaching Award at a March 17 Celebration of Excellence on campus. The award recognizes faculty who have outstanding peer and student evaluations, are dedicated and enthusiastic, create safe and open learning environments, and experiment with innovative teaching and learning paradigms.

Northern Michigan University Biology Associate Professor Josh Sharp is the recipient of a 2021-22 NMU Excellence in Scholarship Award. The award gives special consideration to faculty who involve students in their research and creative activities, which Sharp does on a regular basis, supervising students in his lab.

Northern Michigan University Professor of Education Christi Edge is a recipient of NMU's 2021-22 Excellence in Scholarship Award. 

Ryan Stock, assistant professor in the Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences Department at Northern Michigan University, is the 2021-22 recipient of the Faculty Emerging Leadership Award. He is a political ecologist whose work utilizes an intersectional perspective to examine the environmental injustices of climate change interventions and energy transitions.

Northern Michigan University alumna and Nursing Professor Melissa Romero is the 2021-22 recipient of NMU's Online Teaching Award. She is also the School of Nursing's graduate program coordinator and serves as a family nurse practitioner at NMU's Health Center as part of a joint appointment. 

Kathryn Johnson, a contingent senior instructor in Northern Michigan University's History Department, is a recipient of the 2021-22 NMU Excellence in Part-Time Teaching Award.

Grace Chaillier, a Northern Michigan University alumna and recently retired adjunct professor in the Center for Native American Studies, was selected as a recipient of NMU's 2021-2022 Excellence in Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award. 

The Northern Michigan University Board of Trustees and senior administrators participated in an All-Student Forum hosted by ASNMU student government on Tuesday, March 15. They fielded student-submitted questions via Zoom for nearly two hours.

The Scottish folk-rock group Skerryvore will perform a concert hosted by Northern Michigan University's Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center as part of the 2022 Winter Roots Festival. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, in Forest Roberts Theatre. 

The Northern Michigan University Foundation has issued an open Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for prospective master developers interested in revitalizing the former hospital property adjacent to the NMU campus. This action was taken following a period of due diligence to assess the feasibility of enabling a significant mixed-use development to proceed.

Northern Michigan University associate professor Jeffrey Horn has been awarded $92,500 from the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization (MTRAC) Innovation Hub for Advanced Computing for a next-generation computing project. Horn received the funding for a Deep-Scale Evolution (DSE) algorithm that he invented that has practical implications for minimizing material waste in industrial production. 

During Women's History Month, it is worth noting that NMU's History Department was led by two trailblazing women who served as department head. The first was Catherine Maxwell, who taught from 1904 until her death in 1918. Ruth Roebke-Berens was the second woman to fill the role, from 1981-88.

Kelly Reed, a 2007 Northern Michigan University business management graduate and former Wildcat quarterback, is the new CEO at VAST in Marquette. He has been with the insurance and risk management firm for 15 years, most recently as a risk adviser for health care providers throughout the United States.

Northern Michigan University Women's Club Hockey is among 16 teams that will compete at the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 2 National Championship starting Tuesday, March 15, in St. Louis, Mo. 

Entries for the annual "North of the 45th" juried exhibition at Northern Michigan University's DeVos Art Museum are due by March 22. Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin residents who live north of the 45th parallel and are 18 or older are invited to submit works.

Former Northern Michigan University Trustee Donna Murray-Brown will join the National Council of Nonprofits based in Washington, D.C. on July 1, as vice president of strategy and development. She recently concluded an eight-year tenure as president and CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit Association. 

Tamiko Nimura, coauthor of the new nonfiction graphic novel We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, will give a free virtual presentation accessible to the public as part of Northern Michigan University's Diversity Common Reader Program. She will discuss Japanese American incarceration during World War II, the resisters described in the book, and her own connection to their stories.

Northern Michigan University professor Scott Jordan spent NMU spring break week leading a Wilderness First Responder certification course for nine students and a faculty member from Montreat College in North Carolina. 

After serving as a writer for NBC sitcoms, Northern Michigan University theater alumnus William Missouri Downs realized his “heart was always on the stage,” so he left Hollywood for a cabin in Colorado to focus on his passion for playwriting. Downs' latest play, a pandemic-inspired comedy titled “Asking Strangers the Meaning of Life,” is being performed at the Detroit Repertory Theatre through April 3.