Northern Michigan University’s physical campus is made up of more than 50 facilities. It is located just minutes from the shore of Lake Superior and from downtown Marquette, Mich.
The campus was named one of the “most unwired” (wireless) campuses in the United States in 2005. It is also completely wired.
The campus’s main quad, or academic mall as it is called at NMU, consists of Harden Hall, Jamrich Hall, Weston Hall and The Science Building, and the C.B. Hedgcock Building. The arts plaza is right down the sidewalk from Jamrich and includes Forest Roberts Theatre, Thomas Fine Arts and McClintock buildings. Across the street is the award-winning Art and Design Building that includes the DeVos Art Museum. The other main academic facilities are Whitman Hall and the Jacobetti Complex.
There are 10 residential areas on the campus. The campus also features several high-end specialty computer labs, a speech and hearing clinic, two art galleries, two on-campus radio stations, a public TV station, a university center with a bookstore and one of the premier sports complexes of the Midwest, which includes the Superior Dome – the largest wooden dome in the world.
One aspect of the NMU campus that students say they enjoy is that everything is within easy walking distance.
For information and a brief history, click each building below.
Art and Design
Opening in 1996, the former Services Building was renovated and renamed, "Art Annex North." In 2004-05, a major renovation of Art and Design North was undertaken, which included a significant addition. The renovation was completed and the building reopened in January 2005, marking the first time since the 1960s that all art and design studios, classrooms and faculty offices were in one building.
The DeVos Art Museum is part of the School of Art and Design at Northern Michigan University and serves as a regional art museum for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The museum has been endowed by a generous grant from the Daniel and Pamella and Richard and Helen DeVos Foundations of Grand Rapids.
Constructed: 1956 Major renovation: 2004
Building number: 40
101,428 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
Berry Events Center
The Berry Events Center, which opened its doors in October 1999, is home to the NMU men’s and women’s basketball teams, hockey team and the USOEC short track speed skating squad. The facility is named in honor of the John Berry family, who made a gift of $2 million to Northern Michigan University to help build the facility. John Berry is a 1971 NMU alumnus.
The facility provides individual seating for approximately 3,800 fans, in addition to seats in 16 luxury boxes. Along the perimeter of the arena are four large concession areas, as well as standing room for approximately 400 fans.
When used for hockey, the Berry Events Center has an Olympic-sized ice sheet measuring 200 feet by 100 feet. When rigged for basketball, the court sits on protective flooring which is placed over the ice, providing an additional court side seating for 500 fans. Conversion from hockey to basketball is completed in approximately five hours.
The Berry Events Center features locker rooms for each of its home teams, as well as four general-use locker rooms. In addition, skate rental and changing areas are located on the lower level of the facility. A weight room, athletic training room and meeting rooms are located in the hockey area.
The Berry was the site of a 2003 ISU World Cup Short Track Speed skating events where two world records were set. It also held the 2006 U.S. Short Track Speed skating Championships, which served as the Olympic Trials for the U.S. Team that competed at the Torino Winter Games.
Also designed to host concerts and community events, the Berry Events Center is equipped with moveable theatrical rigging and lighting. Some of the entertainers to recently perform at the Berry have been Maya Angelou, Dierks Bentley, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Jason Mraz.
Constructed: 1999
Building number: 20
133,060 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
Sam M. Cohodas Administrative Center
Located on the site of the original campus buildings, construction on the six-story Cohodas Building began in October 1973 and was completed by the end of July 1975. Most major administrative offices, along with several academic department offices, are located in this building. The structure was named after Upper Peninsula banker, produce entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Sam M. Cohodas.
Constructed: 1975
Building number: 2
105,009 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
- Lot 12 - Faculty/Staff
- Lot 13 - Faculty/Staff and General Parking Area (University Registered/Visitor)
Walter F. Gries Hall
Named in honor of Walter Gries, Gries Hall was constructed as a residence hall in 1961. It remained a residence hall until 1995 when it was converted into a building for faculty offices, classrooms, and laboratories. The Ada Vielmetti Health Center is located on the ground floor of the east wing.
Constructed: 1961
Building number: 64
58,226 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
D.J. Jacobetti Center
In 1977, plans were made to consolidate the seven school buildings known as the Area Training Center and NMU Skills Center scattered throughout the Marquette area. Construction began near campus on County Road 550. The building, which covers five acres under the roof, was dedicated in May of 1981 as the D.J. Jacobetti Vocational Skills Center. It was renamed the D.J. Jacobetti Center in 1987.
Constructed: 1980
Building number: 19
209,179 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
John X. Jamrich Hall
Construction on the hall began in the summer of 1968 and was completed in the spring of 1970. Jamrich Hall, named for University president John X. Jamrich, contains 28 classrooms and two learning laboratories on the second floor. The first floor holds one 500-seat lecture hall, two 300-seat halls, and two 150-seat halls.
Constructed: 1969
Building number:15
126,112 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
Harry D. Lee Hall
Through the 1950s, Lee Hall was the social center of campus life. Now used as storage, Lee Hall was home to the Department of Public Safety and Police Services from the late 1970s until the completion of the Services Building complex on Sugarloaf Avenue in the mid-1990s.
Constructed: 1951
Building number: 7
42,507 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
Wayne B. McClintock Building
Kathleen Shingler Weston Hall
In 2019, the Northern Michigan University's Board of Trustees approved the renaming of the New Science Facility to Kathleen Shingler Weston Hall. Kathleen Shingler Weston was one of NMU's first female graduates who went on to complete a medical degree. She became part of the team that developed the Salk polio vaccine and was honored by President Lyndon B. Johnson as one of the nation's "Outstanding Medical Women."
Constructed: 2000
Building number: 131
124,600 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
Physical Education and Instructional Facility (PEIF)
More commonly called the PEIF (rhymes with beef), the Physical Education Instructional Facility opened in 1976. The facility houses the PEIF Pool, which is home to the NMU swimming and diving team, and Vandament Arena, where the Wildcat volleyball team plays.
The PEIF also houses a two-level recreation center, renovated in December 1999, complete with a climbing wall, weight room, cardiovascular area, two basketball courts, two lounge areas, and a spinning room. Also located in the PEIF are seven racquetball courts, a dance studio, athletic training facilities, locker rooms, and classrooms, as well as an auxiliary gymnasium that the Wildcat men’s and women’s basketball teams use for practice.
The PEIF Pool features eight lanes and a diving tank with one and three-meter springboards.
Constructed: 1976 Major renovation: 1999
Building number: 18
179,627 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
Services Building
Located on Sugarloaf Avenue, the cinder-block structure was constructed in 1946 and used as a sawmill by the Birdseye Veneer Company (giving it the name "Birdseye Building"). In 1966, the University purchased the building. In the mid-1990s, the new complex was constructed and opened in the fall of 1996. The Services Building houses NMU Public Safety.
Constructed: 1946 Major renovation: 1996
Building number: 46
94,028 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
Superior Dome
The Superior Dome has been home to the Wildcat football team since its construction in 1991 and is now also home to the Wildcat soccer team and the Wildcat track teams. The Dome stands 14 stories high and encompasses 5.1 acres under its roof. Constructed of 781 Douglas Fir beams and 108.5 miles of fir decking, the Dome has a permanent seating capacity of 8,000, although the building can hold as many as 16,000 people.
In the "Book of World Records - 2010," the Superior Dome is listed as the fifth-largest dome structure in the world (largest being measured by diameter). The four other structures that are larger are made of steel, making it the largest wooden dome structure.The facility has a diameter of 536 feet. It has the ability to withstand 60 pounds per square foot of snow and 80 mile per hour winds.
The Dome's features include a retractable artificial turf carpet, the largest of its kind in the world. When extended, the turf has the ability to accommodate football, soccer (120 x 72 ft. field) and field hockey. Underneath the carpet is a synthetic playing surface that features three basketball/volleyball courts, two tennis courts and a 200-meter track. Three concession areas provide service to all events.
Twelve computerized winches extend the carpet over a cushion of air. It takes 30 minutes to retract the artificial turf carpet and approximately two hours for full set up to be completed.
The Superior Dome is also home of the United States Olympic Education Center offices, as well as special training areas for the USOEC's boxing, weightlifting and wrestling teams.
Constructed: 1991
Major renovation: 2011
Building number: 21
251,436 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking:
The Science Building
As enrollments increased in the late 1950s and the usefulness of the Peter White Science Hall had run its course, plans for a new science facility developed. The building underwent a major renovation and expansion in 2001 as part of the Glenn T. Seaborg Science Complex.
Constructed: 1966 Major renovation: 2001
Building number: 130
159,319 sq. ft.
Adjacent parking: