January 2026

Six Northern Michigan University faculty members have received Reassigned Time Awards for the winter 2026 semester that kicked off this week. Each award provides up to four credit hours of release time to support scholarly activities.

“Letters Jim Harrison May Never Read.” “Walt Whitman and His Lake Superior Baptism.” “John Lennon at the Old Marquette Inn.” “Chagall Taught Me How to Drive.” These are some of the titles featured in Northern Michigan University English Professor Russell Thorburn's latest collection of poetry, And the Heart Will Not Quicken. The book is populated by imaginative scenarios featuring pop culture, artistic and literary legends who move freely across various decades and countries.

Northern Michigan University 1973 English alumna Linda Fitzgerald's second mystery novel, A Superior Way to Die, is an Upper Peninsula–based story that draws deeply on her Munising roots and lifelong love of writing.

Three Northern Michigan University students have been selected to participate in the third cohort of NMU's Rural Leadership Fellowship Program, a public-private partnership with InvestUP that promotes immersive, project-based learning while also supporting U.P. economic and community development projects. The fellows and their project partners are: Anna Tousley, City of Marquette Climate Adaptation Plan; Kaysie Bakke, Forsyth Forward; and Thomas Rousch, Headwaters North SmartZone in Sault Ste. Marie.

The newly renovated Olson Library in Harden Hall opened today, and guided tours are being offered all week to introduce the campus community to the new space and services. The facility has a brighter aesthetic and appears more roomy, with plenty of soft seating and study areas.

Northern Michigan University's CO/LAB Dance Company will present a concert anchored by the premiere of “Love is a Burning Thing: A choreography tribute to Johnny Cash.” CO/LAB artistic director and assistant professor Karina Johnson choreographed the contemporary ballet piece, which uses several familiar Cash songs to showcase how people experience relationships in their lives. 

Northern Michigan University alumna Maryka Biaggio recently published her new book, “Gun Girl and the Tall Guy,” a historical novel about the 1924 crime spree of Celia and Ed Cooney in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“Northern didn't just educate me; it gave me the courage to believe I belonged in spaces where people like me weren't always welcomed, and that belief has driven everything since.” Those words are from alumna Charlita Anderson White, keynote speaker for NMU's upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service luncheon on Monday, Jan. 19. She is a retired magistrate of the Lorain County Domestic and Juvenile Court in Ohio. She is also a member of the NMU Alumni Association Advisory Board, adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan University and founder of the Outside Circle Theater Project.

Northern Michigan University will mark the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, Jan. 19, with three activities: a luncheon with keynote speaker Charlita Anderson White, a 1983 NMU alumna and retired magistrate of the Lorain County Domestic and Juvenile Court in Ohio; an early-access, curated tour of “Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate”—the first national art exhibition hosted by NMU's Devos Art Museum; and hands-on service projects.