August 2021

The Wisconsin Brass Quintet (WBQ) will kick off the Northern Michigan University Department of Music's 2021-22 Siril Concert Series with a free 7:30 p.m. performance at the NMU Shoreline Theatre Friday, Sept. 17. The performance, titled “A Night at the Movies,” will feature Matthew Endres as a special guest.

Northern Michigan University's Department of Theatre and Dance is presenting its Spotlight Variety Show at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3, and Saturday, Sept. 4, at the Shoreline Theatre. A sensory-friendly Theatre for All performance will be offered at 2 p.m. Sept. 4. 

Northern Michigan University's Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center will host a free “Welcome Back” reception in its Gries Hall gallery at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2. Attendees will have an opportunity to view the current exhibition, “A Beautiful Location: The Architecture of NMU.” Hors d'oeuvres and light refreshments will be available. Masks are required.

How many Greco-Roman wrestlers does it take to change a tire? Only one, but in a case of perfect timing, a group of them happened to walk by NMU executive secretary Cindi Carlson after she left work at 6 p.m. Wednesday and discovered her car had a flat. The athletes are enrolled as students while pursuing their Olympic dreams at NMU's National Training Site.

Harger Boal, coordinator of Disability Services at Northern Michigan University, earned a Director's Challenge Coin from the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency for his service to veterans at NMU in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. MVAA Partnership Coordinator Ryan Engle recently visited campus to present the coin.

Northern Michigan University English Professor Robert Whalen has been awarded a $300,000 Scholarly Editions and Translations Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The funding will support George Herbert: Complete Works, now under contract with Oxford University Press, the world's leading publisher of scholarly editions. This is the project's fourth NEH award.

Northern Michigan University alumnus James Winkler Jr. of Allendale was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to the Michigan Athletic Trainer Board. He holds a bachelor's degree in health and fitness management (1998) and a master's in exercise science (2000) from NMU. Winkler is a senior staff athletic trainer at Grand Valley State University.

Effective today (Aug. 24), Northern Michigan University has revised its mask protocol so that all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, must wear masks when indoors at all campus facilities. President Fritz Erickson said the change aligns with CDC recommendations for areas with "substantial" COVID levels. Marquette County's classification recently shifted from moderate to substantial.

When 5-year-old Millie Gauthier fulfilled her wish of setting up a lemonade stand at her grandparents' summer home in Marquette, not far from campus at the corner of Spruce and Albert Streets, two NMU football players were among her first customers. The Wildcats not only paid generously for the lemonade, which was available by donation; they also texted their teammates. More than a dozen players showed up, helping young Millie earn a whopping $117 in the one-hour window her stand was open.  

Former NMU student C. William “Bill” Hager was announced as the 2021 U.P. Veteran of the Year during an Aug. 19 ceremony at the U.P. State Fair. The National Mine resident served more than 20 years in the military, including two tours in Vietnam. He attended Northern before and after serving with the U.S. Navy from 1963-67, and was president of the NMU Vets Club.