Around NMU

Wika Nadera from the Philippines completed a semester at NMU through the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program, which provides scholarships to outstanding undergraduate students from around the world for non-degree full-time study combined with community service, professional development and cultural enrichment. He focused on art and design classes at NMU; in his home country, he is a fourth-year student in visual communication.

One of Northern Michigan University's charter schools, Walton Charter Academy in Pontiac, is among five 2022 Building the Hope Schools in Michigan recognized by the Education Trust-Midwest for outstanding pre-pandemic academic progress and growth among underserved student groups. All offer strategies that can be leveraged to help students recover from learning loss attributed to COVID-19.

Northern Michigan University's Julie Rochester received the prestigious David Knight Award at the 2022 NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative Association (FARA) Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. The award is presented yearly to an individual who has provided outstanding service to the organization. Rochester spent six years on the FARA Executive Committee, in capacities including D2 representative, vice president and president. 

Northern Michigan University students enrolled in a new course this semester had to interview for a spot on the limited roster, undergo a background check and sign a non-disclosure agreement. They also lock up their cell phones and laptop computers before they enter the associated classroom/lab, and pore over materials retrieved from a storage room that was re-keyed for restricted access. Such precautions are necessary because the students are tasked with re-examining and digitizing the entire file for an actual Upper Peninsula cold case that began as a missing person's report and shifted to a homicide.

For the first time in Northern Michigan University history, the student commencement speaker will be an NMU Global Campus graduate. Jeff Ferrington has completed a bachelor's in Applied Workplace Leadership entirely online from his home base in Macomb Township, but he will bridge the distance and deliver his speech in person at the Superior Dome on Saturday, Dec. 17. Ferrington calls himself a “second chancer” for getting the opportunity to finish the NMU degree he first started as an on-campus student in 1996.

Diana Lafferty, assistant professor of wildlife ecology, will be the faculty keynote speaker for Northern Michigan University's Dec. 17 commencement. She was selected through a nomination process overseen by ASNMU, the student government organization. 

Higher education and public policy leader Linda Thompson will receive an honorary doctorate degree in nursing at Northern Michigan University's Dec. 17 commencement. She has served as president of Westfield State University in Massachusetts since July 2021. In a previous capacity as dean of nursing at Oakland University, Thompson played an instrumental role in facilitating the creation of NMU's Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program.

Northern Michigan University ranks as the top Division 2 school in the nation in the 2022 Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report released by Rival IQ. The social media analysis company said NMU dominated D2 overall by ranking 5th on Facebook, 9th on both Instagram and Twitter and 12th on Tik Tok through “prolific posting and high-quality content.”

Northern Michigan University student Rev Derek Baluyut is a 2022-2023 American Chemical Society (ACS) Scholar. The program awards renewable scholarships of up to $5,000 per academic year to undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups in the chemical sciences, majoring in chemistry-related disciplines, and intending to pursue chemistry-related careers.

Northern Michigan University's sixth annual Day of Giving event on Nov. 29 has raised $950,000 in gifts and pledges to date, offering a blend of support to build endowments, increase scholarship dollars and provide direct funding to departments and programs.