March 2023

Officials at Northern Michigan University announced the appointment of William (Bill) Vajda as the new director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute (UPCI).

Rock and roll will never die. That's what members of Sunstone, a band made up of Marquette natives and former Northern Michigan University students had to say when they recently reunited after 50 years to record and release their original song, “Marquette County Line.” Despite living in different parts of the United States, songwriter Barry Seymour found a way to keep the spirit alive by recording the song remotely.

Members of Marquette's Superior String Alliance will perform at Northern Michigan University on Thursday, April 6. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Recital Hall.

The Northern Michigan University Percussion Ensemble will present its annual winter semester concert under the direction of professor James Strain at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 1. The concert will be held at Reynolds Recital Hall or can be virtually streamed via subscription through the School of Music, Theater and Dance Broadcast Network. 

Four women who graduated from Northern Michigan University and hold leadership positions will participate in a panel discussion to celebrate Women's History Month as part of the next Northern Now digital event hosted by NMU Alumni Relations. They will share how NMU prepared them for their careers, any obstacles they have overcome, and ways they impact the communities in which they live. The event is scheduled at 7 p.m. EST Tuesday, March 28. 

Northern Michigan University's annual Gender Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, March 31. The event will feature student projects, tables staffed by student and community organizations, and main conversation space in the Northern Center Ballroom I. Sociology assistant professor Heather Mooney will give a presentation titled "A Call for Institutional Courage" at 1:30 p.m. in the Northern Center Founders Room.

The culminating event in the NMU's College of Business' annual new business venture competition for students from all majors featured a trade show and Business After Hours, along with two "Shark Tank"-style competitions. Student Rachel Harvey won the Big Pitch, crowd favorite and best trade show presentation for Superior K9 Aquatic Therapy. 

Standing 75 yards away from two Alaskan brown bears playing in a river, NMU biology graduate teaching assistant Rylee Jensen was able to snap an award-winning photo while she was working at Brooks Camp in Katmai National Park. The picture was entered into the PetaPixel photo competition and won the grand prize: a trip to the Galapagos Islands on the National Geographic Islander II and an OM System camera with two M. Zuiko lenses.

In honor of Women's History Month, Northern Michigan University First Lady Kristin Tessman shares a short list of the historical and contemporary women she most admires, effective qualities possessed by female leaders she has encountered, and her deliberate efforts to demonstrate to her young daughters that they are capable of becoming or achieving anything they desire.

Northern Michigan University's online applied workplace leadership program is one of the best organizational leadership bachelor's degrees in the nation, according to a 2023 listing compiled by OrganizationalLeadershipEdu.org.