April 2020

Manistique native Nicole Johnson is the new marketing manager of Innovate Marquette SmartZone, which partners with Invent@NMU to support economic development from a shared location on Northern Michigan University's campus. 

With COVID-19 closing schools, WNMU-TV at Northern Michigan University is working with Upper Peninsula school superintendents and educators to provide alternative options for online learning. WNMU-TV (channel 13) will modify its main-channel content beginning Monday, April 13, to broadcast special educational content for students in grades 6-12.

Jamie Crabb, NMU assistant professor and Practical Nursing program coordinator, has been selected to serve on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing as a volunteer item writer and reviewer on NCSBN's panel of judges. Crabb will aid in the development of the New Generation NCLEX-PN exam.

In response to the economic impacts posed to the Marquette community by COVID-19, Invent@NMU will now be offering free services to local small businesses. This effort is part of Northern Michigan University's #WildcatsMeanBusiness initiative, and in collaboration with Innovate Marquette SmartZone, LucidCoast and Campfire CoWorks. 

Northern Michigan University has launched a #WildcatsMeanBusiness campaign to encourage the NMU and Marquette communities to support businesses that sponsor NMU events and programming, as well as local businesses owned by alumni.

Northern Michigan University continues to adhere to CDC guidelines with its latest announcement that employees and student employees will be required to wear facial coverage of some type when working on campus.

Senior medicinal plant chemistry major Michael Cole won first place in the New Business Venture Competition sponsored by the Northern Michigan University College of Business. His proposal, Cannoptic Labs, will provide patients, cultivators, producers and dispensaries with important information about the safety, quality and potency of their medicinal/recreational cannabis products. The competition's final activities took place virtually because of the COVID-19 situation. 

The Northern Michigan University Foundation has established the Wildcat 2020 Student Relief Fund in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The fund is designed to ensure the safety and success of NMU students during this historic event by providing immediate and impactful support to those confronting financial distress.

In the latest WNMU-TV Wildcat Minute, producer and host Elizabeth Peterson talks via Zoom with NMU Social Media Manager Carley Saint-Onge about keeping the campus community informed during the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. 

NMU human-centered design professor Peter Pless is putting his expertise and studio's resources to work developing plexiglass canopies that will encase patients being intubated in the ER, helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19. He is working on the project in collaboration with UPHS-Marquette emergency medicine specialist Dr. Scott Hagle.