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.

Northern Michigan University will host its 30th annual Celebration of Student Scholarship from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, April 16, in Jamrich Hall. The event highlights scholarly and creative work by undergraduate and graduate students across all disciplines. Presentations include posters, oral presentations, artistic performances and visual art displays. This follows another celebration of student scholarly activity: the inaugural Winter Research Day held earlier this semester.  

Northern Michigan University business students placed in every event they entered at the Michigan Collegiate DECA State Conference, marking a strong debut for the university's newly established DECA chapter. First-place winners Maya Van Berkum and Autumn Brutyn will advance to the International Career Development Conference in Louisville, Ky., in late April.

Northern Michigan University will host its annual Middle School Women in Construction Career Exploration event on Friday, April 10, in the Jacobetti complex. About 175 students from regional school districts are scheduled to participate.

Northern Michigan University Director of Choral Activities Erin Colwitz recently collaborated with colleague and friend Gabriela Hristova from the University of Michigan–Flint to host a panel discussion at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Midwestern conference. Their panel focused on one of the most pressing challenges facing higher education music programs today: how to serve a student population that arrives with wildly varying levels of preparation, while still maintaining the rigor the profession demands.

The Michigan Association of Broadcasters has announced that WNMU-FM, Public Radio 90, has received two awards for the 2025 Broadcast Excellence Awards in the categories of Music Feature or Special and Special Interest & Cultural Programming. 

Northern Michigan University's Music Department will present its final ensemble concerts of the semester featuring Symphonic Band & Wind Ensemble, Trombone Choir and the NMU Orchestra. The University Choir and Arts Chorale will also join the Marquette Choral Society for two performances later this month. Admission to all but the latter is free. 

Northern Michigan University Theatre & Dance will present “9 to 5,” a musical based on the 1980 film featuring an original score by country music singer Dolly Parton. Show dates are Thursday-Saturday, April 9-11 and 16-18.

Eight representatives of the Northern Michigan University Eta Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, presented their scholarly, creative and collaborative work at the 2026 Sigma Tau Delta Annual International Convention March 29–April 1 in New Orleans, La. Chapter President Kailey Buettner won first place in creative nonfiction; Alexandria Bournonville won an honorable mention in the alumni award category; and Isabel Nameth-Beck won the chapter display award. NMU's chapter will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year.

After leading the Ishpeming girls' basketball team to its second MHSAA Division 4 state championship in three years, head coach and NMU alumnus Ryan Reichel announced he will step down after 14 years at the helm to spend more time watching his daughter play the sport. 

NMU alumnus J.C. Vande Zande (‘93 BS) released a new horror novel set in Michigan that continues his exploration of psychological storytelling and human struggle. “Blood of the Witness Tree” is a sequel to his earlier novel, “The Dance of Rotten Sticks,” and is set in Northern Michigan's Pigeon River Forest. It blends elements of literary fiction with horror, focusing on deeper themes such as anxiety, grief and the human condition.

Each spring, blue-spotted salamanders emerge from their underground burrows at Presque Isle Park in Marquette and venture across the road to lay their eggs. Northern Michigan University students have been involved in conservation, data collection and public education efforts for this annual event, but this year, the general public is invited to play a more active role in salamander migration research. Northern Michigan University Biology Department Head Jill Leonard encourages community members to participate in the Marquette Citizen Science Project.

Northern Michigan University's Seaborg Center will offer College For Kids Jr., a hands-on, minds-on STEM program for students in grades K-6. Classes will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 28, and/or Saturday, April 18, at the Seaborg Center. Pre-registration is required with a $15 fee per class.