Space Utilization Software Saves Money

New energy-saving opportunities have been identified with the help of course scheduling/utilization software, as referenced in President Les Wong’s recent e-mail to employees and this week’s announcement of reduced hours for Jamrich Hall. The NMU Space Utilization Committee used the software to monitor when and where courses are held across campus and recommended two plans for maximizing facility use, particularly during evening and weekend hours. Both will save the university about $37,000 over the winter 2010 semester. Full Story

NMU Hosts Central American Students

Northern’s International Programs Office introduced 22 Central American high school students and four adult mentors to university, the Marquette area and U.P. winter recreation during a Jan. 28-Feb. 3 visit. The students, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and hadn’t previously traveled beyond borders, also received lessons on leadership and entrepreneurship that they can put into practice when they return to their respective countries. Full Story

Faculty Research Grants, Reassigned Time Awards Announced

Eleven NMU faculty members will receive grants worth up to $7,000 each to conduct research or other scholarly activities in 2010-11. The list of recipients and brief descriptions of their projects can be found here. On a related note, 10 faculty members were selected for a reassigned time award this semester to focus on projects outside the classroom. For more information, click here.

Loukinen Retrospective Begins Friday

NMU will celebrate the 30-year filmmaking career of Michael Loukinen (Sociology and Social Work) with a retrospective featuring six of his finest documentaries. The films will be shown to the public free of charge. Most have not been viewed by audiences for several years.

Medicine Fiddle will kick off the tribute at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5, in 102 Jamrich Hall. The 81-minute, award-winning documentary celebrates the fiddling and dancing traditions of Native and Metis families on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. Full Story

Golf Course Revenue Used to Endow Scholarship

A $5,000 endowed scholarship was established with first-season revenues from the NMU Golf Course. According to Art Gischia (Business and Auxiliary Services), interest earnings will be used to fund unrestricted scholarships for NMU students. An Interlochen couple donated the course to NMU a year ago.

"Our first season of ownership went pretty well," Gischia said. "We ended fiscal year 2009 with a net positive of $14,000 after investing in improvements to the irrigation system, greens, tees and fairways to improve the golfing experience. We hope that each year we'll have some dollars to contribute to raise the base scholarship amount above and beyond our investments in maintenance and improvements."

Gischia said club membership also increased from 175 in its last year of operation under the previous owners to 225 last season. Early bird rates for 2010 memberships are available through March 1. For more information, visit NMU Golf Course.