NMU Priorities - Office of the President

In April 2023, Northern Michigan University was the 17th adopter of the Okanagan Charter in the United States, which now boasts 29 higher education institutions, four of which are based in Michigan.

Origins of The Okanagan Charter

The Okanagan Charter was an outcome of the 2015 International Conference on Health Promoting Universities and Colleges. The Charter development process engaged researchers, practitioners, administrators, students and policy makers from 45 countries. At the Conference, 380 delegates critiqued and refined the Charter in a design lab and development sessions. On the final conference day, higher education leaders and delegates signed a pledge to bring the Charter back to their settings to inspire and catalyze further action towards the creation of health promoting universities and colleges. 

The Progress

Since adopting the Okanagan Charter, Northern has thoughtfully implemented multiple changes through the Charter’s calls to action, including:

• Finalizing an organizational structure earlier this year with an intentional focus on wellbeing of person and wellbeing of place, with the appointments of AVPs of Campus WellBeing, Diversity & Inclusion, and Sustainability.
   
• Developing a Multicultural Advisory Council, a Sustainability Advisory Council, and a WellBeing Advisory Council. These councils will include collaboration and input from all facets of the university and community.
   
• Utilizing the Healthy Minds Survey and other tools within a health equity framework to more deeply examine mental health, service utilization, sense of belonging and related issues among Northern students and employees to identify areas for improvement.
   
• Adopting a Carbon Neutrality plan and making a commitment to reduce energy use  and carbon footprint by 2050. The plan also articulates a commitment to divest from fossil fuels and increase investments in sustainable endeavors. 
   
• Hosting holistic wellbeing experiences, which integrate the environment, inclusivity and wellbeing.
   
• Providing staff and students culturally responsive development opportunities to build resilience, competence, personal capacity and life enhancing skills.
   
• Creating collaborative protocols and systems between the Health Center and Counseling and Consultations Services to increase accessibility.

The Okanagan Charter empowers us to develop and deliver inclusive, person-centered, culturally responsive programming and events–within a health equity framework–to students, staff, and faculty that demonstrate that we know, value, see, and understand them as a people,” said Shawnrece Campbell, Ph.D., assistant vice president of diversity & inclusion.

WellBeing Center and Care Team

In August 2023, Northern opened its newly constructed WellBeing Center, which houses both the Health Center and Counseling and Consultation Services. The $6.5 million 13,500-square-foot WellBeing Center can comprehensively address the mental and physical healthcare needs of Northern employees and students under one roof.

Northern also created a Case Administration and Resource Education (CARE) Team, a critical extension of Northern’s commitment to wellbeing, and consists of a campus-wide team of experts to provide free support services to vulnerable students. It uses a case management system to provide standardized, yet individually tailored interventions to help clients achieve their goals, as well as connect students and others visiting the office to the myriad of resources available through the WellBeing Center and other campus departments.

In its first year, the CARE Team has already connected with more than 700 students, and opened more than 100 formal cases. Students average more than 2.5 hours of contact time per case with the CARE Team, which consists of personnel with expertise in student affairs, academic affairs, human resources, mental and physical health, student conduct and campus safety.

Over the past year, we have worked diligently toward our goal of integrating health and wellbeing into every level of campus, a strategy which has informed how we connect with our students and each other,” said Abigail Wyche, assistant vice president of Campus WellBeing. “The Okanagan Charter provides us with the framework we need to make thoughtful decisions and prioritize initiatives focused on holistic health that will positively impact our students, our employees, our community and beyond.

Aligned with State Population Growth Objectives

The Work Scholars Program aligns with one of the state population growth objectives, "enhance job placement and retention." 

Note: Research findings from Boston Consulting Group revealed that work-based learning partnerships and post-graduation incentives were the only recommendations forecasted to drive direct population growth

Growing Michigan Together Council – Higher Education Workgroup Recommendations

Recomended Strategies

These recommendations will have a significant impact on population growth and higher education attainment, likely reversing the state's current brain drain and bringing us to a top-quartile state in attainment. 

Opportunity

• Three medical device manufacturers in the Marquette area (Able Medical Devices, Resolve Medical Technologies, Mount Mfg, & Longyear) are poised for short- and long-term growth, which is inhibited primarily by the number and quality of CNC machining and CNC programming professionals
  
  
• Enrollment opportunity for NMU Engineering Technology programs
  
  
• Collaboration with K-12 school districts for career exploration opportunities

Pilot: Medical Device Manufacturing

Mapping NMU CNC Certificate Curriculum with Work-Based Learning Modules

Dr. Cale Polkinghorne led a working group w/industry partners to align learning objectives for Engineering Technology courses with work-based learning modules  

Multiple Pathways - This important work is key to ensuring that students can achieve academic credit through their Work Scholars experience at either at Able Medical Devices, Resolve Surgical Technologies, or Mount Mfg 

Special thanks - Wes Sramek (Resolve Surgical), Jesse Nye (Mount Mfg), and Rob Kinney (Able Medical) for their time and dedication to this effort!