Community - NMU Events and Announcements

Community

In partnership with PEAK26 and UNITED, SHINE will be hosting the annual Campus Sustainability Summit on March 25 - 27 in the Northern Center. These events are free and open to everyone! 

Collaborating with UNITED and PEAK26 provides a dynamic conference experience that features wellness, leadership, sustainability, and equity. We invite every student, employee, and community member to learn, lead, and thrive together. 

This year's theme is Rest: Reclaiming Power Through Resilience & Resistance.

The full program includes keynote speakers, lunch buffets, invited presenters and panelists, interactive workshops, and a variety of learning experiences. 

Community

The 2026 UNITED Conference celebrates 20 years of community, collaboration, and innovation in this three-day multiconference experience hosted in partnership with the Sustainability Summit and PEAK 26 - bringing together our people, our place, and our potential under one shared vision.

Anchored in Our Compass and guided by NMU’s core values of inclusion, wellbeing, and empowerment, UNITED 2026 weaves together several cornerstone initiatives, including the Common Reader Program, the Wildcat WellBeing Fair, Poetry Without Borders, and the inaugural UNITED - KCP 4S Student Conference, into one cohesive experience. In partnership with PEAK 2026 and the Campus Sustainability Summit, these events form a dynamic ecosystem that uplifts wellness, leadership, sustainability, and equity, inviting every student, employee, and community member to learn, lead, and thrive together. 

Community

Join NAE for a night of comedy featuring Impractical Joker Sal Vulcano! The event, part of the Everything’s Fine Tour, will take place on Thursday, April 23, 2026, at Vandament Arena, with doors opening at 6:15 PM and the show beginning at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $5 for NMU students (limit one per ID) and $15 for community members, and can be purchased at tickets.nmu.edu

Community

WAAWIYEYAA is coming to NMU's Forest Roberts Theatre on Wed. March 11 and offers a FREE performance from 7-9pm! The Anishinaabe rock-fusion band will share original music inspired by balance and harmony in creation and the name "Waawiyeyaa" which means "the circle" in Anishinaabemowin.

Attend for a chance to win door prizes!

Waawiyeyaa's members include current and former Center for Native American Studies faculty!

Local musician and CNAS Director Tyler Dettloff will perform an opening set 🎶

Community

UNITED 2026 is not simply a series of events — it is collective growth and transformation in action. By linking academic inquiry, sustainability, wellness, and cultural dialogue, UNITED 2026 will position itself as a national model for how a region can integrate innovation, well-being, equity, and environmental stewardship into the fabric of its learning community.

Each signature event contributes a unique perspective:

• PEAK 2026: Focuses on personal and professional growth through leadership, career readiness, and reflection on purpose.
• Campus Sustainability Summit: Showcases NMU’s and the greater U.P.’s environmental commitment through innovation, community partnerships, and solutions-driven dialogue.
• Common Reader Program: Cultivates empathy and shared understanding through literature, dialogue, and diverse perspectives.
• Wellbeing Fair: Promotes holistic health through access to screenings, demonstrations, and resources to support the eight dimensions of wellbeing.
• Poetry Without Borders: Celebrates the U.P.'s linguistic diversity by featuring poetry recitations in languages other than English (English translations are provided).
• KCP 4S Student Conference

Together, they offer a unified journey: from self-awareness to social responsibility.

Community

The Open Educational Resources (OER) Working Group invites you to celebrate Open Education at NMU! This event recognizes the importance of OER in making higher education more affordable and equitable and acknowledges the work of NMU faculty who have adopted, adapted, or created open course materials. Light refreshments will be served.

Community

The 9th Annual NMU Gender Fair will take place on Friday, March 20, 10am-3pm in the Northern Center Ballrooms! Join us and check out student projects and campus and community organizations. And pick up some sweet swag while you're there!

Community

We invite NMU faculty, staff, and students, as well as the broader NMU community, to an opening reception for the Zekelman Holocaust Center's traveling exhibit, "The Holocaust: History, Memory & Michigan Voices," on Monday, March 9, at 4 pm in the Library Atrium. 

Community

Olson Library is pleased to announce that a new traveling exhibit created by the Zekelman Holocaust Center, entitled "The Holocaust: History, Memory & Michigan Voices," is now open in the Library. Along with the main exhibit, there is also a smaller exhibit on Art as Resistance. These exhibits will be on display from March 2 until April 30. We will be sharing more information soon regarding the student-led tours of the exhibit.

We invite NMU faculty, staff, and students, as well as the broader NMU community, to an opening reception on Monday, March 9 at 4 pm in the Library Atrium.

In addition to the exhibit and class visits, the Zekelman Center will also be giving a presentation as part of the UNITED Conference. Rick Schaffner will be giving a talk on "Reclaiming Power Through Resilience and Resistance" on Wednesday, March 25, 1:15 PM - 2:30 PM, Northern Center Ballrooms.

This exhibit and the associated events have been made possible through generous support from the Provost’s Office, Departments of History, Political Science, English, and Languages, Literatures & International Studies, and the School of Education, Leadership & Public Service.

For more information or to request accommodations, please contact Emera Bridger Wilson (ebridger@nmu.edu).

Community

As part of its America 250 speaker series, the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center is hosting a presentation by NMU history professor Emily Romeo, titled “Armed and Disguised: The Revolutionary Life of Deborah Sampson.” The event will take place on Thursday, March 19, at 7 p.m. in the Lydia Olson Library Atrium in Harden Hall on the campus of Northern Michigan University. It is free and open to the public.

It’s 1782 near Tarrytown, New York. A young patriot soldier, not yet even able to grow a beard, fights bravely before being shot in the thigh and slashed on the forehead in a heated battle with local Tories. While the other wounded seek out medical attention, this soldier digs the musket ball out themselves with a pen knife and a sewing needle. Why? After 17 months in the Continental Army, Robert Shurtliff was terrified that soon every member of the 4th Massachusetts would learn the secret beneath his breeches: this soldier was a woman.

Historians don’t have a clear answer about why Deborah Sampson decided to join the army and fight for the American cause. Perhaps poverty made the promise of a signing bounty irresistible - she was among the servant class at the time - or she had a genuine belief in the Revolution. Or possibly both. Regardless of why she signed up, Sampson earned the respect of her fellow soldiers and commanding officers, challenging gender norms along the way. After the war, she would learn to balance her multiple identities: as wife and mother, soldier and performer. Together, let’s explore the Revolutionary life of Deborah Sampson.

Dr. Emily Romeo, Associate Professor in NMU’s history department, received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where she began her research on the lives of women in seventeenth and early eighteenth-century America. Her book, The Virtuous and Violent Women of Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020), explores women’s expressions of violence in the context of the social, cultural, and religious upheavals of that period. Before coming to NMU, she taught history at DePaul University.