Alumni

In her 1990 student commencement address at Northern Michigan University, Rebecca Slough encouraged her fellow graduates “to lead with integrity, not because anyone is looking, but because it's who you are.” Twenty-five years later, her daughter Kylee (Slough) Deckert stood behind the podium, urging peers to approach the future with courage and “embrace success in all of its forms—not only what we achieve in our respective careers, but the type of people we become.” It is no surprise they expressed similar themes, because Kylee said her mom and dad instilled those qualities in their three children.

Five Northern Michigan University alumni who have taken diverse academic paths to find success in the cannabis industry will participate in a “Wildcats in the Weeds” panel discussion at the Great Lakes Cannabis Collaboration Conference at NMU on Tuesday, April 23. They commented in advance on how NMU prepared them for their careers.

Northern Michigan University alumnus Joe Tinti has been named Athletic Director of the Year by the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administration Association for Region 1. Tinti is the athletic director and principal at Norway High School. He was presented with the award on March 16 at the annual MIAAA Mid-Winter Conference in Traverse City.

Teri List, a 1984 alumna who holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and an honorary doctorate from NMU, has been appointed to the lululemon athletica inc. Board of Directors. She also serves on the boards of Microsoft, Visa and Danaher Corporation.

As part of its 125th anniversary celebration this year, Northern Michigan University is collecting stories and reflections from alumni, faculty, staff and community members to share throughout 2024 across various NMU platforms. Photos and recordings up to a minute in length are also welcome.

Emily Lanctot, director/curator of NMU's DeVos Art Museum and a 2008 BFA alumna, is profiled in a recent video as part of Travel Marquette's "Made in Marquette" artist series. The video was produced by fellow Art & Design alumni Matthew Hill, a 2011 BFA grad, and Elliot Kennedy, who earned his bachelor's in 2021. Both majored in digital cinema and now form The Elm Creative, a video production and marketing firm based in Marquette. Watch the video here. 

Dallas Seavey, who trained as a wrestler at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at NMU, won a record-breaking sixth Iditarod. The victory came despite a fatal encounter with a moose that his team became entangled with on the trail, which resulted in a two-hour penalty for insufficiently gutting the animal.

Actor Eric Roberts, star of “Intent Unknown,” the first screenplay by Northern Michigan University alumna Beth Rondeau Deacon, delivers a video message to NMU. The shoutout is timed with today's campus visit by Deacon and director/producer Terence Gordon. They are screening the film and conducting a casting call for NMU students for the upcoming sequel and another project on a prominent female pilot. Deacon is also the author of “Seven Doors In: One Teacher's Mission within Prison Walls,” which has been optioned by a prominent production company for a streaming series. View the video here. Read more about the visit by Deacon and Gordon here.

A new college scholarship that honors the memory of former Northern student Barbara (Golenda) Forsberg will be available beginning this year from the Alger Regional Community Foundation.

NMU 2016 graphic communications alumna Alexa Haferkorn is a website design specialist with Packerland Websites, a Green Bay-based digital marketing company that recently opened an office in Marquette. She will also manage the new location.