Strategic Plan

Beginning this year, the sled dog race that starts and finishes in Marquette and serves as an Iditarod qualifier is officially known as the “UP200 Powered by NMU.” As a Gold Sled Sponsor, Northern Michigan University is planning more activities around the event, which will be held on Friday, Feb. 17. Its partnership with the U.P. Sled Dog Association also enhances volunteer and service-learning opportunities for students, faculty and staff, and elevates the race's branding and marketing efforts.

Northern Michigan University's Black Student Union is celebrating Black History Month with several events in February. They include a Black History 101 Mobile Museum making a stop at Jamrich Hall, a comedy show featuring comedians who have appeared on network television programs, film screenings and a Black Love Day bake sale. All events are free, unless otherwise noted.

Beginning this semester, Northern Michigan University is partnering with Bark River-Harris (BR-H) High School to offer NMU's first dual enrollment course in the field of education. Sixteen students from BR-H and three to five students from Nah Tah Wahsh Public School Academy are participating in the course, Schooling in America. The goals are to give students the opportunity to gain college credits while in high school, and to potentially interest them in pursuing a career in education.

The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) has again selected Northern Michigan University for its list of Top 200 Colleges for Indigenous Students. The 2022-2023 list appears in the 29th annual Special College Issue of AISES' quarterly magazine, Winds of Change. 

Northern Michigan University is among four project partners awarded a $700,000 Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support the creation and management of the Marquette Outdoor Venture (MOV) Innovation Center. The funding was awarded to Innovate Marquette SmartZone, along with partners NMU, Lake Superior Community Partnership, and Michigan Works!

The Northern Michigan University Center for Rural Health has announced the winners of its annual essay competition for U.P. high school seniors to coincide with National Rural Health Day. This year's contest was sponsored by the Literacy Legacy Fund of Michigan and the Michigan Center for Rural Health. The top three prizes in each U.P. region—east, central and west—were $500, $250 and $100.

High school seniors who attend school and reside in the Upper Peninsula and plan to pursue studies in a health care-related field at a college or university next fall are invited to participate in an essay contest. The Northern Michigan University Center for Rural Health is coordinating the contest in partnership with the Michigan Center for Rural Health and the Literacy Legacy Fund of Michigan. The essay submission deadline is Sunday, Oct. 16.

To honor Indigenous Peoples' Day, Northern Michigan University's Center for Native American Studies (CNAS) and the Native American Student Association (NASA) are planning an event that begins at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 10, at the Land Acknowledgment Sign on the academic mall. The public is invited.

Northern Michigan University's Lydia M. Olson Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries selected from more than 250 applicants to host the “Americans and the Holocaust” traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The exhibition examines the motives, pressures and fears that shaped Americans' responses to Nazism, war and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.