Academic - NMU Events and Announcements

Academic

Last year, February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Three scholars will share their perspectives on this war. Steven Nystrom will provide an update on the status of this war. Petra Hendrickson will discuss human rights violations. Robert Kulisheck will discuss the war in the context of broader international relations. 

Academic

David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, is the author of the award-winning crime thriller novel Winter Counts (Ecco, 2020). The novel was a national bestseller, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and named a Best Book of the year by NPR, Amazon Best Book of 2020/Best Mystery and Thriller of the year, and Best Book of the year by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The Guardian, and other magazines. Weiden was named by the New York Times as one of “the most critically acclaimed young novelists working now.” Winter Counts was called a “once-in-a-generation thriller” by the Los Angeles Times, a “worthy addition to the burgeoning canon of indigenous literature” by Library Journal, and one of the “best crime novels of all time” by Parade magazine. Winter Counts was also selected as CrimeReads Best Noir Fiction, Best Debut, and Notable Selection for Best Crime Novel.

Weiden has short stories appearing or forthcoming in the anthologies The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories 2022, Denver Noir, Midnight Hour, This Time for Sure, Never Whistle at Night, and The Perfect Crime. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, Shenandoah, and Writer’s Digest. He’s the series editor of Native Edge, an imprint of the University of New Mexico Press specializing in Indigenous literature. Weiden received the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship and is the recipient of fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, Ucross, Ragdale, Vermont Studio Center, Sewanee, and Tin House.

Weiden received his MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts, his law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He’s professor of Native American studies and Political Science at Metropolitan State University of Denver and serves on the faculty of the Cedar Crest Pan-European MFA Program and also the Mile-High MFA Program at Regis University.

Academic

A Relational Approach to the Environmental Humanities

How can literature and other forms of culture impact ecological systems? This talk will present a relational approach to the environmental humanities that seeks to reshape our environmental relationships by tracing the wider systemic effects of various forms of cultural engagement. It will illustrate this approach by describing how nineteenth-century environmental authors like William Wordsworth, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir became associated with specific landscapes in ways that shaped the modern significance of nature and the emergence and development of the environmental movement.

Scott Hess is Professor of English and Environmental Sustainability at Earlham College. He currently serves as Conference Chair on the Executive Council of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE).

Co-sponsored by the Department of English and Sustainability Hub for Innovation and Environment (SHINE)

Academic

Purchase your commencement regalia (SAVE $10 by purchasing your regalia package at the Grad Fair!), graduation announcements, class rings, and have your professional photos taken by GradImages! Plus - you can register to win a free diploma frame! We'll also have cookies and punch to help celebrate.

Academic

Northern Michigan University's Lydia M. Olson Library and Center for Teaching and Learning are excited to announce a panel discussion on the topic of open educational resources (OER) for faculty and graduate students. The event will take place on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, from 4-5:30 pm in the Olson Library Atrium, with a reception to follow. The panel will serve as the kick-off event for a two year pilot program to increase OER use on NMU's campus. 

Open educational resources (OER) are materials available at little or often no cost and can be used for teaching, learning, or research. These resources may include: textbooks, readings, videos, simulations, games, and course content such as quizzes/exams, assignments, and assessment tools (EDUCAUSE, 2010). OER materials are often digital and available to faculty under a Creative Commons or similar usage license. OERs are part of the Open Solutions movement that seeks to ensure that information is freely and fairly available for everyone (UNESCO, 2022).

“The open education resource movement is another way that faculty can remove barriers and support students. Olson Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning are committed to working with NMU faculty to reduce textbook costs and make higher education more affordable,” said Leslie Warren, Interim Associate Provost and Dean of Library and Instructional Support.” I'm proud of the OER groundwork that is being laid at NMU. Our faculty, librarians, and instructional design staff are working hard to expand OER's availability to students, bridging equity gaps and helping more students complete their degrees.” 

The panel will feature guest speaker Joseph Mold, Executive Director of Online Learning and Instructional Design at Bay College, who will share his experiences using OER in over 40 courses at Bay College, saving students over $1.9 million since 2015. In addition, NMU faculty members Dr. Jim Marquardson (Computer Information Systems) and Dr. Heather Mooney (Sociology), and Nancy Gold (English) will speak about their own experiences using OER in their classrooms at NMU.

Dr. Emera Bridger Wilson, Collection Management Librarian, will also discuss opportunities to learn more about OER and the resources available at Olson Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

To request accessibility arrangements, please contact Dr. Emera Bridger Wilson at ebridger@nmu.edu.

Academic

The Celebration of Student Scholarship is an annual event held on the NMU campus to recognize the academic contributions of undergraduate and graduate students in all disciplines. Students share their work with the NMU and Marquette communities by presenting research posters, recording oral presentations, and submitting creative written work, and artwork.

Academic

The UNITED Conference is Northern's day of diversity education. This conference is designed to bring both the NMU community and the greater Marquette community together to learn and dialogue around diversity, equity, & inclusion.

This year’s conference theme will be Writing Our Own Stories and will celebrate the 10th anniversary of NMU’s Diversity Common Reader Program. UNITED 2023 will feature workshops and presentations focused on self-authorship, diverse perspectives, and the voices of those often silenced. Programs will run from 8 am - 9 pm on Monday, March 20th.

Topics this year include social justice in athletics, fat studies, Implicit bias in the classroom, critical race theory, language deprivation, best practices in research for marginalized populations, and more!

Keynote Presentations By

Nyshell Lawrence
Celebrator, Creator & Curator, Socialight Society

Elsa Sjunneson
Professor, Historian, Media Critic, Author & Editor

Workshops By

Dr. Abby Knoblauch • Callie Youngman • Dr. Carter Wilson • Jaime VanEnkevort • Kedzie Stark •  Kenton Mack • Dr. Lau Romero • Lee Xiong • Virginia Keeler 

Access the Program Here

Academic

In the decades following World War II, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula underwent economic, social, and environmental change. Deindustrialization, outmigration, and localized recession shaped economic realities of the region. In the wake of these economic changes, boosters, politicians, and local residents began to reimagine the future of the Upper Peninsula. Some hoped to restore the industrial economy. Others hoped to develop a tourist economy. Others yet hoped to protect and restore the local environments, championing the rhetoric of the burgeoning environmental movement. These debates revealed the complex political and social landscape of the Upper Peninsula.

Camden Burd is an assistant professor of history at Eastern Illinois University where he teaches courses on American, environmental, and public history. His research on the history of the Midwest has been published in multiple venues including The Michigan Historical Review as well as various edited collections focused on the history of the region.” Please include that snacks and refreshments will be provided at no charge.

Academic

Come and learn more about the Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program (URFP), which provides paid research experience for any undergraduate student in any major.

Be one of the ten student researchers in our join our pilot cohort! Accepted researchers will complete their research project any time between summer '23-summer '24 and will be paid a minimum of $2,000 as they work.

The Program's only requirements are that students commit to completing their research as outlined in their proposal and will present at the Celebration of Student Scholarship. There are no workshops or other requirements beyond research completion and presentation.

Academic

Come and learn more about the Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program (URFP), which provides paid research experience for any undergraduate student in any major.

Be one of the ten student researchers in our join our pilot cohort! Accepted researchers will complete their research project any time between summer '23-summer '24 and will be paid a minimum of $2,000 as they work.

The Program's only requirements are that students commit to completing their research as outlined in their proposal and will present at the Celebration of Student Scholarship. There are no workshops or other requirements beyond research completion and presentation.