Other universities have leadership programs, but Northern Michigan University is the only university in the U.S. that packs community engagement, diversity awareness, leadership development and real-world experience into one life-changing program. View our Mission and Vision.

 

"I remember senior year of high school getting excited about coming to NMU and hearing all about Superior Edge. When I got to campus, I signed up for the first Superior Edge orientation I was able to attend. Right away I knew I was going to love the program and everything it had to offer. Being involved in so many other groups and organizations with regularly scheduled meeting times, it was nice to be a part of a group that truly allowed us to move at our own pace and to be involved as much or as little as we wanted, tailoring our activities to best suit our interests and desires to grow and to serve. Each of the four edges truly impacted me as a person, deeper than I expected, to be honest."
~Katrina Salmen
Superior Edge Graduate

After you attend a 45-minute orientation session, we will upload your information, and you will be free to log hours from that semester on as long as you are registered as an NMU student.

No, you have until you graduate from NMU.

Superior Edge participants have six months to log an activity.

You are not allowed to log back hours. You can start logging hours once you attend a Superior Edge orientation.

No, only the hours obtained while enrolled as an NMU student count.

Yes, you can work towards as many edges as you want once you have attended a Superior Edge orientation.

Unfortunately, you aren’t able to double count hours.

Create one log; keep a running total during the week and update the total hours at the end of the week will be the easiest. Please make a note that it will be an ongoing log too.

Yes, if your job has something to do with your major or minor, you can count it towards the Real World Edge.  If you’re a supervisor or manager at your job, you can count those hours towards the Leadership Edge.  

It depends upon your role.  Is it a leadership position, pertinent to your major or minor, or is it a club or student organization that takes you outside your own comfort zone for diversity?  If so, then it would.

Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern.  It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy.  (Pew Charitable Trusts)  Some examples of civic engagement include:  attending or working on community/political campaigns; government, ASNMU, non-profit, or board (i.e., NMU Board of Trustee, etc.) meetings; attending public hearings; serving on a jury; working at an election, etc.  To see what civic engagement opportunities we have available now, please click here.

If it is something outside of your comfort zone (includes all characteristics which make people different from each other), then it will probably count.  Relating to those outside the groups to which you belong (i.e., age, ethnicity, socioeconomic class/income, gender, physical abilities/qualities, mental abilities/qualities, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, gender expression, educational background, geographic location, marital status, parental status, work experience, housing locale, etc.).  Are you looking for some possible opportunities?  If so, click here to find out more.

Theory and ethics must be learned in a formal setting such as a class, a presentation, a workshop (in the description it will indicate if it counts), or through training.  Look for the theory and ethics workshop, Mapping and Comparing Leadership Styles, on the The Hub NMU (click on Event Tags, Skill Builder!, and search for the Mapping and Comparing Leadership Styles workshop). 

Ethics refers to learning about ethically leading or ethics in certain sectors of professional activities/jobs.  Examples of this could be Live Learn Lead, job training, or ethics classes such as nursing ethics, business ethics, ethics in teaching, etc.

Theory refers to learning different and specific types of leadership theories such as servant leadership, democratic leadership, etc.  Examples of this could be participating in Live Learn Lead, workshops about leadership theory, or classes concentrating on leadership and types of ways to lead.

Once you have completed an edge, you will be e-mailed questions that need to be answered either in a written reflection paper or you can schedule an interview with one of our staff members to answer these questions. If you would prefer to schedule an interview, please e-mail edge@nmu.edu with the days/times you are available.

Please call the Superior Edge office at 906-227-6543 or e-mail edge@nmu.edu.

Absolutely!  We encourage you to keep logging hours.  Once you graduate, print out your logs to take with you.

If you would like to get a copy of your Student Enrichment Transcript, which shows which edges you have completed in Superior Edge, please email "Registrars - Transcripts" <tscript@nmu.edu> to request it. You will receive a PDF, and you can add the PDF to your NMU Transcript request through the clearing house.