Northern Michigan University Art and Design students Keall Emmers, Lex Klamer and Keziah Arrington, along with alumnus James Asava, have recently been recognized for their work in a variety of ways, including an award, scholarship, exhibitions and acceptance into a graduate program.

Northern Michigan University's 12th annual Anderton's Earth Week will be held April 19-25. This year's schedule has more than 30 events and activities to celebrate the arrival of spring. Gamma Theta Upsilon, NMU's geographic honors society, is working with the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geographic Sciences and the Sustainability Hub for Innovation and Environment (SHINE) to host an action-packed week of Earth-themed activities. 

Northern Michigan University Theatre & Dance will highlight the talents of the department's 21 graduating students with its second annual Senior Showcase at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 24. A second performance will be held on Mackinac Island for industry professionals from New York, Los Angeles and Chicago on Tuesday, May 5.

Northern Michigan University senior Elise Crossman is one of 65 students nationwide selected to receive a highly competitive fellowship through the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX). After graduating in early May, she will spend the 2026-2027 academic year in Germany studying, interning and living with hosts on a cultural immersion program. The accounting and international studies major from Charlotte, Mich., is the second NMU recipient in two years.

Mark Ruge, a 1980 Northern Michigan University political science alumnus who grew up in Menominee, will serve as the keynote speaker for NMU's May 2 commencement. As a partner at K&L Gates, one of the largest global law firms, his practice includes a focus on the American maritime industry and the Great Lakes. He is the only lawyer ever inducted into the Great Lakes Marine Hall of Fame. Ruge previously worked for former U.P. and northern Michigan Congressman Bob Davis.

Blake Stenberg, who will earn a bachelor's degree from Northern Michigan University in social studies secondary education, has been selected as the student speaker for NMU's commencement on Saturday, May 2. The Bark River native will deliver his speech not long after returning from a student teaching assignment in New Zealand.

Detroit Red Wings player Dominik Shine, a former member of the NMU Wildcat hockey team from 2013-2017, has been nominated for the 2026 Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy. This award is granted each year to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Shine has a puck commemorating his first NHL goal, scored at age 32. His resolve to stick with the game contributed to his nomination by the Detroit chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA).

Northern Michigan University Biology Professor Diana Lafferty and some of her students recently concluded efforts to capture and collar moose as part of cooperative research team that also involves members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Michigan DNR. The team focused its winter work on the core moose population area in the western Upper Peninsula.

A collaborative mural is nearing completion in the newly-remodeled Lydia M. Olson Library at Northern Michigan University. The artwork, by graphic design and ecology student Sydney Kuipers, depicts a variety of animals native to the Upper Peninsula arranged in a geometric-like pattern. It is located front and center along the wall near the information services desk. Campus and community members have assisted in painting the mural.