2026 Schedule of Events - United Conference

7:45 AM to 8:00 AM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Teal Lake Singers | Opening Drum Circle

8:00 AM to 9:00 AM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Networking Breakfast

8:45 AM to 9:00 AM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• President Olsen welcoming remarks

9:00 AM to 9:50 AM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Dr. Yan Ciupak, Grief, Resilience, and Healing

10:00 AM to 11:30 AM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Dr. Michael Lynn Wellman, and Dr. Tayla Shanaye Ealom, We The Earth: Sanctuary at the Nexus of Rest, Resilience, and Resistance

11:30 AM | Lunch | Ballrooms 1 & 2

12:00 PM to 1:00 PM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Dr. Kathy Allen: Leading from the Roots - Sustainability Summit Keynote Speaker

1:00 PM to 1:50 PM

• Dr. Kathy Allen Book Signing | Founders Room
  • Each copy of her book will be $12.00 - exact change/check/venmo
• Justin Schapp, Ganonyok: Gratitude as Resilience and Everyday Resistance | Pen 1
• Chloe Ravenscraft and Delaney Frank, Student-led Sustainability and Resilience Panel | Pen 2
• Rosie Brito, From Busy to Balanced | Pen 4
• Ann Crandell-Williams & Elissa Kent, Rest as Professional Resilience for Human Services Providers | Ballrooms 1 & 2

1:15 PM to 2:30 PM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Elizabeth Slater, Reclaiming Power Through Resilience and Resistance

2:00 PM to 2:50 PM

• Mike Rutledge, Successful Transition to Civilian Life through Education | Pen 1
• Dr. Sarah Mittlefehldt, Ezra Dedenbach, Dr. Adam Naito, Dr. April Lindala, Dr. Matt Van Grinsven, Madi Williams, and Dr. Diana Lafferty, The Northern Woodshed Project: Cultivating Rural Resilience through Local Bioenergy Production in the UP | Pen 2
• Marna Franson - Closed: session full, Portals of Grief Training | Pen 3
• Emily Meier, WellBeing Planning: How to build your resilience through self-reflection | Pen 4
• Dr. Lesley Larkin, Author Book Signing: Reading in the Postgenomic Age: Race, Discipline, and Bionarrativity in Contemporary North American Literature | Founders Room

2:00 PM to 4:00 PM | Ballrooms 3 & 4

• Dr. BlackDeer, Mino-bimose'idiwag! From Resilience to Survivance: Reclaiming Indigenous Healing Journeys 

3:00 PM to 5:00 PM | Founders Room

Seed Swap & Plant: Growing with NMU's Hoop House

5:30 PM to 7:30 PM | Ballroom 3 & 4

• Dr. Anna Zimmer, Poetry Without Borders 
• Reception to follow

8:00 AM to 9:00 AM |  Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Networking Breakfast and Women in Entrepreneurship

9:00 AM to 9:50 AM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Alex West Steinman, Crowdfunding Your Way to Launch

10:00 AM to 10:50 AM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Lucy Seitz of Read My Lips and Girly Pop, Women in Business Panel Discussion

10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

• Dr. Kathy Allen, Deans and Department Heads Circle | Founders Room
• Marna Franson, Holding Space for the Portals of Grief | Pen 1

10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

• Wildcat WellBeing Fair | Ballrooms 3 & 4
• WellBeing Hearing Test | Pen 3

11:00 AM to 11:50 AM

• Jason Williams, Anyone Can Be An Innovator | Pen 2
• Joe Thiel, Making Entrepreneurship Approachable | Pen 4

11:30 AM | Lunch | Ballrooms 1 & 2

1:00 PM to 1:50 PM

• Adela Piper, Effective Communication Strategies For Building Customer Loyalty That You Can Activate Today | Ballrooms 1 & 2
• Julie Olson & Lisa DeCaire, Financial Clarity for Business Growth and Financing | Pen 1
• Eileen Boekestein, EGLE, Transformative Hope for the Climate Crisis | Pen 2

2:00 PM to 2:50 PM

• Katie Korpi, Learn Your Leadership Style with Clifton Strengths | Ballrooms 1 & 2
• Bonnie Fahoome, How to Lead A More Inclusive Design Process | Founders Room
• NMU Math Department, Secrets of the Surface: The Mathematical Vision of Maryam Mirzakhani | Pen 1
• Tesse Sayen and the College of Graduate Studies, Buzz Session | Pen 4

2:30 PM to 4:00 PM | Behind Northern Center

• Jes Thompson, Walking the Talk on Sustainability at NMU

3:00 PM to 3:50 PM

• Tai Chi Qigong | Pen 3
• Jill Compton, Digital Accessibility: Small Changes, Big Impact | Pen 1
• Mattea Muscat, Individual Actions Matter: Reducing Waste | Pen 4

3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

• Research and Innovation Summit Posters + Sustainability Summit Posters Gallery Stroll | Upper Northern Center Hallway

3:00 PM to 4:30 PM | Ballrooms 1 & 2

• Makers Fair: Bird Houses

4:00 PM to 4:50 PM

• Krystyna Rickauer, Asahi Nordic Health Practice | Pen III
• VIRTUAL: Stephen Kuussito Workshop: Disability aesthetics, guide-dog culture, and access-centered storytelling | Pen II
• The NMU Hoop House members & Dr. Pucan from the Center for Native American Studies, Anishinaabe Tea Break | Pen IV
• NMU Library and SHINE, Read out loud to children | The Founders Room

5:00 PM to 7:00 PM | Ore Dock Brewing Company

• Innovation Party

8:00 AM to 9:00 AM |  Innovation Hall

• Networking Breakfast

9:00 AM to 9:50 AM

• Bill Hawker, Keynote Session | Innovation Hall
• Common Reader Program (CRP) virtual session with CRP keynote, Tourmaline: Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P Johnson | Pen 2

KCP Student Conference | 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM | Registration and Breakfast | The Founders Room

KCP Student Conference | 9:45 AM to 10:00 AM | The Founders Room

Dr. Shawnrece Butler, Welcoming Remarks

KCP Student Conference | 10:00 AM to 10:45 AM | The Founders Room

• Bianca Mercado-Velez, Resilience Through Doubt: Navigating Imposter Syndrome in My PhD Journey

10:00 AM to 10:50 AM

• Tourmaline breakout session | Pen 2
• Dr. Jongeun You, Responsible AI for Environmental Management | Pen 1 | Bringing your laptop is required. The target audience is Northern students.
• Ashlyn Albert, Book Swap: Encouraging Rest and Resilience through Literature | Penn 3
• Katie Buhrmann, Intentional Documentation of Lived Experience via Poetry (IDLE Poetry) | Pen 4
• Bianca Mercado-Velez, Resilience Through Doubt: Navigating Imposter Syndrome in My PhD Journey | Founders Room

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM | Innovation Hall

• Design Jam

11:00 to 11:50 | Pen 3

• Dr. Lucy Miller, With Great Lakes Comes Great Responsibility: Digital Outragicity and Data Center Resistance | Pen 3
• Leslie Warren, Digital Accessibility: Small Changes, Big Impact | Pen 4

KCP Student Conference | 11:00 AM to 11:50 AM | The Founders Room

• Amy Berglund, Its who you know, not what you know

KCP Student Conference | 11:45 AM to 1:00 PM | Lunch | The Founders Room

KCP Student Conference | 11:45 PM to 1:00 PM | The Founders Room

• Session 1: Lynne Vedin and Becca Redmond, Burnout-proof your semester (systems, not willpower)

• Session 2: Carol Johnson, First Paycheck to First Apartment: Budgeting, Credit, Debt, and Taxes  

12:30 PM | Lunch | Innovation Hall

• Keynote Nancy Lyons, Kick Your Fear in the Face

KCP Student Conference |  1:00 PM to 1:50 PM | The Founders Room

• Session 1: Grant Langdon, AI in Your Job Search: Resume Tailoring, Cover Letters, Interview Prep, Disclosure/Ethics
• Session 2: Dr. Matt Kilgas, AI Literacy for Any Major

KCP Student Conference | 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM | Peninsula 3

• Stephanie Zadrogra-Langlois, David Nyberg, Steve VandenAvond, Brad Hamel, Evergreen at NMU: Learning That Grows With Your Career

KCP Student Conference | 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM | Pen 4

• Carol Johnson, Salary Negotiation and Total Compensation 101

1:00 PM to 3:00 PM | Behind Northern Center

• Tyler Dettloff, More-than-Human Relative: Giizhik (Cedar) Workshop

1:00 PM to 4:00 PM | Innovation Hall

• Big Pitch & Outdoor Pitch

KCP Student Conference | 2:00 PM to 2:15 PM | Break

KCP Student Conference | 2:15 PM to 2:45 PM | The Founders Room

• Dr. Angie Stebbins, Boundaries and Time Management Session

KCP Student Conference | 2:45 PM to 2:55 PM | The Founders Room

• Dr. Shawnrece Butler, Closing remarks

3:00 PM to 5:00 PM | Pen 1 & 2

• Christopher Shawa, Indigenous Fashion Show

5:00 to 7:00 | Innovation Hall

• Big Pitch & Reception