Articles

Northern Michigan University Theatre & Dance has finalized a merger between its Wildcat Performing Arts Academy (WPAA) and Superior Arts Youth Theater (SAYT), which has been part of the Marquette community for more than 20 years and recently performed The Wizard of Oz on campus. WPAA will continue to focus on education and training, with workshops, summer intensives and other programming. SAYT will remain as the performance and design branch as it moves forward under the WPAA umbrella.

Five Green Fund project proposals for student-led sustainability initiatives on campus have been selected for implementation this year. They include pollinator habitats, bat boxes, a bike share program, birdfeeders, and apartment composting. The combined budget for all is nearly $27,000, and will be covered by the Green Fund, a student-paid fee that supports sustainable project ideas submitted by students from any major and approved through a selection process.

Over spring break, 43 Northern Michigan University students and faculty members traveled to St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, for immersive field courses in marine and terrestrial ecology, research, and destination catering. The experience provided hands-on learning opportunities in diverse environmental and culinary settings and fostered interdisciplinary collaboration.

Northern Michigan University 2017 outdoor recreation leadership and management graduate Samantha LaLonde was named Rookie of the Year at the 2025 Iditarod race in Alaska. She recorded the best time by a first-time musher, completing the longest route in Iditarod history—1,128 miles—in 15th place. 

Lexi Hagan, a 2024 Northern Michigan University business management alumna and one of the first NMU Rural Leadership Fellowship Program participants, is the new executive director of the Menominee Business Development Corporation. Her role is to attract new businesses to the area, retain existing businesses, and help them identify available grant opportunities.

Northern Michigan University's Platform Personalities will host "An Evening with Rachel Dratch." The multifaceted comedian, actress and writer is perhaps best known for her seven-year run on "Saturday Night Live," where she created many memorable characters, including Debbie Downer. She will participate in a conversation at 7 p.m. Monday, March 31, in the Northern Center Grand Ballroom. Admission is free for NMU students with ID and $5 for the general public.

Eleven students from NMU Theater and Dance recently attended the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) annual conference and stage expo in Columbus, Ohio. Four of the students were selected as conference assistants, and one presented a poster presentation.

Northern Michigan University students at Radio X (WUPX-FM) will broadcast an all-day NMU 125th Anniversary Alumni Show from 6 a.m. to midnight Saturday, March 22. Radio X alumni are scheduled to guest-DJ radio shows, and there will be interviews with other alumni. Radio X announcements from the past will air, and students will present NMU history moments that they have researched in the NMU Archives. 

As part of Northern Michigan University's 125th Anniversary Celebration, a special public event is planned to recognize the 30th anniversary of "Haywire," the Forest Roberts Theatre musical about an 1880s logging camp that was one of five productions selected from more than 900 national submissions to perform at the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival. 

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held March 11 for Gretchen's House-Marquette,  the newest satellite location for the Ann Arbor-based childcare provider, which is offered in partnership with Northern Michigan University. It is located close to campus in Messiah Lutheran Church, with its own secure entrance, three classrooms and two playgrounds.