Model U.N. team garners honors

NMU’s Model United Nations team won three awards at the annual Chicago competition Nov. 22-25. The members of Northern’s Model U.N. Club represented the countries of Costa Rica and Somalia at the four-day event, which serves as a role-play of actual U.N. operations. Club vice-president Karl Mercer invoked the words of the club’s president in describing what the club does at competitions. “(Model UN President) Lauren (Mattioli) said it best when she said, ‘Model U.N. is like Dungeons and Dragons for Political Science majors,'” Mercer said. At this year’s competition, Northern’s 30-person team competed against more than 1,000 students from over 60 universities from around the world. Awards were given out based on how well students represented the countries they were portraying. “It’s difficult sometimes because you have to know what viewpoint you are supposed to represent,” Mercer said. “For example, if you are dealing with the subject of women’s rights and you are Saudia Arabia, you have to take a different approach to it.” Northern’s three awards accounted for 10 percent of the awards given out at the conference.

– Carson LeMahieu

Performers needed for folk festival

The Beaumier Upper Peninsula Heritage Center is accepting applications from folk artists interested in participating in the second annual U.P. Folklife Festival. Applications and supporting materials are due by Friday, Dec. 12. The festival will be held March 12-22 at NMU. It will feature folk artisans, musicians and storytellers representing the Upper Peninsula’s diverse cultural, ethnic and artistic traditions. “The festival is about the heritage of the Upper Peninsula,” Beaumier Curator Dan Truckey said. “Everything from quilting, chainsaw artists, folk-art and story-telling will be on display. The selected presenters will receive an honorarium for their participation in the festival along with hotel accommodations. There will be an opening concert and celebration on March 12 in the Forest Roberts Theatre and some evening events the following week. The festival culminates in a full weekend of demonstrations, dancing and workshops on March 20-22 in the University Center. To apply to be a presenter at the U.P. Folklife Festival, download the application from the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center Web site (www.nmu.edu/beaumier), e-mail the center at [email protected] or call 906-227-1219.

– Carson LeMahieu

Commencement speaker named

Gloria Jackson, secretary/treasurer and owner of CableAmerica Corp. in Mesa, Ariz., will be the keynote speaker at Northern’s Dec. 13 commencement ceremony. The Marquette native and NMU alumna will also receive an honorary doctor of business degree. Jackson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from NMU in 1968. She has maintained strong ties to her alma mater, hosting many alumni gatherings at her Arizona home and serving as an NMU Foundation trustee for 19 years. Her passion for higher education has inspired her support of students throughout the Upper Peninsula. She has established endowed scholarships at NMU, Michigan Technological University and Finlandia University. She has also served as chair, secretary and member of the Finlandia Board of Trustees. Pride in her Finnish heritage has kept Jackson active in the American-Finnish community and has led her to travel overseas frequently. She has been a delegate to the Parliament of Expatriates in Helsinki, Finland, a former chair of the Finnish Council in America and a member of the Suomi Seura (Finland Society). She is the honorary consul of Finland for the State of Arizona and chair of the Consular Corps of America. Jackson also is a generous patron of the arts and has helped to build bridges between the arts communities of the Americas and Finland by sponsoring the 2000-03 North American tour of F2F: New Media Art from Finland, an international touring exhibition showcasing works by contemporary media artists. She is a recipient of the Alumni Service Award from NMU, the Silver Award of Merit for promoting Finnish culture from Suomi Seura, the Lion Award from the former Suomi College (now Finlandia University) and an honorary doctor of humane letters from Finlandia University.

– NMU News Bureau