History
Northern Michigan University was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School with the original purpose of providing teacher preparation programs in Michigan's then-wild and sparsely populated Upper Peninsula. When it opened its doors in 1899, NMU enrolled thirty-two students who were taught by six faculty members utilizing rented rooms in Marquette City Hall. The original 20-acre (81,000 m2) campus-site at the corner of Presque Isle and Kaye Avenues was on land donated by local businessman and philanthropist John M. Longyear, whose namesake academic building, Longyear Hall, opened its doors to students in 1900.
Throughout the school's first half-century, education and teacher training was the primary focus of the small regional school. During this time, the school built the native sandstone buildings Kaye and Peter White Halls, as well as a manual training school adjacent to the campus buildings, J.D. Pierce School. Modest increases in enrollment resulted in several name changes throughout the years:
- Northern State Normal, 1899
- Northern State Teachers College, 1927
- Northern Michigan College of Education, 1942
- Northern Michigan College, 1955
In 1963, through the adoption of a new state constitution in Michigan, Northern was designated as a comprehensive university serving the diverse educational needs of Upper Michigan. During this time, enrollment at the small state school swelled (due in large part to the opening in 1957 of the Mackinac Bridge, linking the Upper and Lower Peninsulas to vehicle traffic) and as a result, the campus expanded rapidly, roughly to the size it remains to this day. Accredited undergraduate and graduate degree programs are offered by the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, the College of Professional Studies.
Graduate education was inaugurated in 1928 when courses at the master’s degree level were offered in cooperation with the University of Michigan.
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