All News Releases

Northern Michigan University continues to lead a collaborative effort to monitor data on weather and wave conditions at three locations along the southeastern shore of Lake Superior. The goal is to enhance safety among commercial and recreational users by generating real-time data that can aid in their decision-making. The first buoy was placed July 3 near Munising, 4.5 miles offshore. Two more will be deployed near Grand Marais and at Granite Island, about 12 miles north of Marquette.

Crissa Karavas, who earned her NMU degree in hospitality and tourism management with a minor in entrepreneurship in May, recently received the Martha Griffiths Award from the American Association of University Women Marquette Branch. The award is presented annually to a “high-achieving graduating female senior at NMU with high involvement in her discipline.”

NMU public relations professor and alumna Jes Thompson co-edited the recently published America's Largest Classroom: What We Learn From Our National Parks, which has been nominated for the National Nonfiction Book Award. Thompson recruited NMU art and design alumna Abigail Cook to create graphics and help with the final layout and photo rendering for the book's publisher, University of California Press.

NMU's English Department has compiled a list of dozens of suggested readings related to African American culture, including titles that help provide a context for the Black Lives Matter movement, along with some materials addressing Native American history and culture. 

Northern Michigan University has received a highly competitive National Endowment for the Humanities grant worth $170,000 to support a Native American studies sustainable online programming project. Only 14% of the 2,300 eligible applications were funded through a new round of NEH Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act grants, according to a press release.

The Two Books Two Communities program, a partnership between Northern Michigan University and the Marquette and Alger County communities, has chosen The Women of the Copper Country and To the Copper Country as the books for the 2020 community read.

NMU geography alumnus Nick Spittlemeister is one of three experts from Lake County Forest Preserves in Illinois who will participate in a free GPS World webinar on how the district uses HD aerial imagery to protect and maintain natural resources. He has worked there since 2016 and has more than 15 years' experience in GIS. 

Charlie Mesloh, NMU criminal justice professor and certified instructor on the use of police projectiles, shares his expertise in a June 22 USA Today report on serious injuries that have resulted from "less-lethal" projectiles fired at protesters. 

Viewers who rely on an indoor or outdoor antenna to watch WNMU-TV will need to rescan their televisions to continue receiving the signal. The station will switch frequencies at 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 1, as required by the Federal Communications Commission, so that its original channel can be repurposed for high-speed wireless services.

Northern Michigan University is offering 11 self-paced, online educational modules related to the COVID-19 pandemic free of charge. NMU faculty members from a variety of disciplines developed the short, non-credit courses. Topics range from the scientific aspects of coronaviruses and testing to the impacts on communities, businesses and families.

Northern Michigan University is suspending the per-credit online fee for all distance learning courses this fall, as it did for the winter and summer semester. This also applies to Global Campus students. 

Northern Michigan University is piloting a “test-blind” admissions policy, in which freshmen applicants are not required to submit SAT or ACT test scores to be admitted. The change was prompted in part by barriers to administering standardized tests during the coronavirus pandemic. It is also supported by statistical evidence from national sources and NMU analyses that high school grade-point average, not SAT/ACT scores, is the most reliable gauge of how students will perform in college. 

Northern Michigan University's Technical and Office Professionals union (UAW 1950) has ratified a one-year contract extension, with 96% support among those who cast virtual ballots on Monday.

The new NMU Center for Rural Health has received a $100,000 federal development grant that will focus on diabetes prevention and treatment, as well as access to emergency medical services, across much of the Upper Peninsula. It also has its first director. Elise Bur of Marquette has most recently served as administrative director of Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center.

The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University has announced its 2020 Upper Peninsula Folklife Awardees: musician Randy Seppala of Watton; folklorist Yvonne Lockwood, an Ironwood native who resides in Chelsea; and woodcarver Peter "Pekka" Olson of Chassell. The awards will be presented on Friday, Nov. 6, at NMU's Sonderegger Symposium. 

Cindy Steele, who attended Northern from 1986-88, played a role in the historic SpaceX launch to the International Space Station. As chief of NASA's Public Engagement Division, she coordinated the logistics of VIPs at the launch site.

NMU alumnus and former Wildcat basketball player Rod Coe ('58 BS) traveled extensively over his 26-year career with World Book Encyclopedia, before retiring as an executive vice president. His job put him in contact with NBA legend Bob Cousy, Mount Everest climber Sir Edmund Hillary, “Mercury Seven” astronauts, First Lady Rosalynn Carter and others. Coe later formed an RV tour company. At 83, he continues to share his enthusiasm for travel, along with the knowledge gleaned from actually reading the encylopedias he sold.

Northern Michigan University today donated 24 refurbished notebook computers to Norlite Nursing Center in Marquette, which has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the Upper Peninsula. All Norlite residents who have been isolated in their rooms since mid-March now have the technology to communicate with friends and family and engage in online group activities.