The Student News Site of Northern Michigan University

The North Wind

The North Wind

The North Wind

Meet the Staff
Katarina Rothhorn
Katarina Rothhorn
Features Writer

The first message I ever sent from my Northern Michigan University sanctioned email was to the editor-in-chief of the North Wind asking if there was any way I could join the staff. Classes hadn't even...

The North Wind Editorial Sessions
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The North Wind is an independent student publication serving the Northern Michigan University community. It is partially funded by the Student Activity Fee. The North Wind digital paper is published daily during the fall and winter semesters except on university holidays and during exam weeks. The North Wind Board of Directors is composed of representatives of the student body, faculty, administration and area media.

RECORDS ON RECORDS — Teichman shows a variety of records on display at the Vinyl Emporium. With 10,000 records being brought in from downstate, there is something for everyone at the record show. Photo courtesy of Jon Teichman
Local record show promotes community connectivity
Megan VoorheesMarch 28, 2024

CAPS finalizes split

AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE—Dwight Brady holds an Emmy he earned for his contribution to a Michigan television series.
AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE—Dwight Brady holds an Emmy he earned for his contribution to a Michigan television series.

The soon-to-be finalized department of theater and dance and the now diminished department of communications, broadcasting, and journalism are planning to release new programs and majors as a part of their rebranding process.

Robert Winn, dean of the college of arts and sciences is excited about the new opportunities for visibility that these changes will offer for the college. He hopes that the new department of theater and dance will draw students to the university and even be able to offer non-theater students opportunities to get involved in the performance arts by broadening their scope. 

The theater and dance aspects of the former multimedia department are growing and this creates opportunities for students to do more with, Winn said.

“Before they were part of a department where we had a lot of different things together,” Winn said. “Now we have communications and multimedia together, and that fits much better than what we had before.”

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Now, these two separate departments will be more focused in their respective fields, Winn said. The department of theater and dance will be grouped into the tentatively named school of theater, music and dance in order to ensure collaboration between the departments.

“I think this is exciting,” Winn said. “This will be great for students who are not only in the theater, but with its higher profile students who just want to be involved in theater. You don’t have to be a theater major to be involved in their productions. I think we’ll see in the future more collaboration with music, and that’s a positive also.”

Bill Digneit, assistant professor and director of the Forest Roberts Theatre, is planned to be named as the new department head for theater and dance. Digneit’s stipend as department head has yet to be negotiated, but he has thus far accepted the responsibility as head. Winn said he hopes Digneit will officially be named as the department head in the coming week. At this point, the two departments will officially become separated.

Currently, the curriculum for both departments has remained unchanged. However, alterations are in the works. These include curriculum updates, and the bringing in of a possible bachelor of fine arts degree in theater, and possibly a dance major. These changes have made it through the faculty review and are being reviewed by the committee on undergraduate programs and will soon see the academic senate, Winn said. These new programs may, depending on the speed of this process, even be offered in the coming fall semester.

As part of the abundance of curricular changes which happened this past year as a result of the proceedings of the Strategic Resource Allocations (SRA) process, the College of Business and the School of Art & Design are now offering a brand new program in social media design management.

This program was formed as a result of alumni feedback, Winn said. Communications majors who went out in the working field reported that their employers expected them to handle both marketing and company social media presence.

In order to meet demand for this need, NMU created a degree specifically to prepare graduates for the changing media landscape. This program has gone through the SRA process and currently has four students, although the university has not yet marketed the program.

Robert Winn, dean of the college of arts and sciences to which both departments belong, is excited about the new opportunities for visibility that these changes will offer for the college. He hopes that the new department of theater and dance will draw students to the university and even be able to offer non-theater students opportunities to get involved in the performance arts by broadening their scope. 

The theater and dance aspects of the former multimedia department are growing, Winn said, and this creates opportunities for students to do more with.

“Before they were part of a department where we had a lot of different things together,” Winn said. “Now we have communications and multimedia together, and that fits much better than what we had before.”

Now, these two separate departments will be more focused in their respective fields, Winn said. The department of theater and dance will be grouped into the tentatively named school of theater, music and dance in order to ensure collaboration between the departments.

“I think this is exciting,” Winn said. “This will be great for students who are not only in the theater, but with its higher profile, students who just want to be involved in theater. You don’t have to be a theater major to be involved in their productions. I think we’ll see in the future more collaboration with music, and that’s a positive also.”

Bill Digneit, Assistant Professor and Director of the Forest Roberts Theatre, is planned to be named as the new department head for theater and dance. His stipend as department head has yet to be negotiated, but he has thus far accepted the responsibility as head. It is hoped by Winn that Digneit will officially be named as the department head in the coming week. At this point, the two departments will officially become separated.

Currently, the curriculum for both departments has remained unchanged. However, alterations are in the works. These include curriculum updates, and the bringing in of a possible bachelor of fine arts degree in theater, and possibly a dance major. These changes have made it through the faculty review and are being reviewed by the committee on undergraduate programs and will soon see the senate, Winn said. These new programs may, depending on the speed of this process, even be offered in the coming fall semester.

As part of the abundance of curricular changes which happened this past year as a result of the proceedings of the Strategic Resource Allocations (SRA) process, the multimedia department is now offering a brand new program in Social Media Design Management. This program was formed as a result of alumni feedback, Winn said. Communications majors who went out to the working world reported that their employers expected them to handle both marketing and company social media presence. In order to meet demand for this need in businesses, the college of arts and sciences created a degree specifically to prepare graduates for the changing media landscape. This program has gone through the SRA process and currently has four students, although the university has not yet marketed the program.

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