Retired NMU Professor and Political Science Department Head Robert Kulisheck is a 2026 Governor Service Award winner, the recipient of the Gov. George Romney Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award, named after Michigan’s 43rd governor, honors an individual “who demonstrates a lifelong commitment to community involvement and volunteer service. This individual has taken their volunteer service to the highest level and has shown a tremendous passion for helping others. He/she is highly regarded for making a tremendous impact in their community or the state.”
Kulisheck has been involved in public service in and around the Marquette community for more than 50 years. He was instrumental in a revitalization of the Janzen House in downtown Marquette, a transitional housing facility for low-income or homeless individuals, an organization for which he still serves on the board as vice president. He also helped found Propylon Nonprofit Housing, which provides accessible housing for those with physical or visual disabilities and Trillium House, a housing facility for those in hospice care.
He serves on the Marquette County Board of Health, the Marquette Brownfield Authority and as the founding chair of the Marquette County Climate Adaptation Task Force, which strives to make the Upper Peninsula more resilient and effective in dealing with the consequences of climate change.
Kulisheck has made and continues to make, significant impacts at NMU, where, during his 38-year career, he established the university's Master of Public Administration Program, launched the Washington Center Internship Program and embedded service-learning into his coursework, preparing generations of students for careers in public service and nonprofit leadership
Kulisheck and his wife, Meredith, a retired computer science professor, have long supported NMU by establishing student scholarships and with donations that support sustainability on campus, public media and the Student Leader Fellowship Program, to name a few.
“Northern has been good to us and we feel a need to pass it along to Northern’s current students,” Kulisheck said.
Kulisheck first joined university faculty in 1969, teaching courses on public policy. His first service project involving students had them conducting community surveys in Marquette.
“In the process of doing that, I provided students with an opportunity to become involved in community service, and, in so doing I, too, became involved in community service,” Kulisheck said. “I found that once you start working with people in different organizations and local units of government they frequently ask you to do something more, and one thing leads to another. That continued throughout my teaching career.”
Kulisheck said his career at NMU was vital in his ability to be involved in public service, adding the university was supportive of his efforts and provided a perfect platform for fostering community involvement in his students.
Kulisheck will be honored, along with other 2026 Governor’s Service Awards recipients, during a ceremony in Flint on Nov. 19.