Heading into this pandemic winter, staff and faculty knew it was more important than ever to get students outdoors—to socialize, recreate, and find inspiration. With the help of donors, faculty, and staff from all corners of campus collaborated to transform Northland into a winter wonderland. Memorial Medical Center, the Bock Foundation, and Northland Trustee Jim…
The February 2021 wolf hunting and trapping season will be remembered as a dark mark on a state with a rich history of sound and effective wildlife management. Unlike past hunting and trapping seasons, which were highly regulated, based on sound science, and informed by an open and transparent public process, the February 2021 season…
Platypuses do it. Opossums do it. Even three species of North American flying squirrel do it. Tasmanian devils, echidnas and wombats may also do it, although the evidence is not quite so robust. And, breaking news: Two species of rabbit-size rodents called springhares do it. That is, they glow under black light, that perplexing quirk…
Instructor Gina Kirsten‘s Writing and Inquiry class have been taking Thursday adventures tied into their reading and writing. Last week, students read a chapter from Gary Paulsen’s Winterdance and took a tour of the developing ski trail on campus via dog power—with assistance from Director of Communications Julie Buckles who brought her small team to…
What inspired you to teach this new class? All my life, I have read Science Fiction—the literature of change—and have taught it at Northland for decades in one of my favorite courses: The Science Fiction Seminar. Can you define climate fiction? Science fiction is a very broad field which goes from hardcore to fantasy, to…
In 2015, the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation initiated the Penokee Lakes project to provide an assessment of the quality of eleven inland lakes located in the Penokee Hills at the headwaters of the Bad River watershed. This largely undeveloped suite of lakes is located in and around a site that was proposed…
About the time Sigurd F. Olson was crafting his first book, The Singing Wilderness, Donna Arbaugh and her new husband, George, were building a summer place near the Boundary Waters. It was 1954 and using only hand tools, they built a small, off-the-grid cabin on a lot they leased from the government for $50 per…
The grievous attack on the United States Capitol on the sixth of January 2021, has left many Americans searching for a way to heal and reform national politics, and rededicate to our country’s commitment to ensuring equality for all. Northland College was founded on the principle of justice, a search for truth, and a commitment…
In September of 2019, the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation hosted a conference with the International Joint Commission (IJC). The purpose was to give local experts and the public an opportunity to share their water quality concerns for Lake Superior and the larger Great Lakes basin. The public hearing portion of the event…
Margaret Koosmann ’10 grew up on a five-generation beef farm, twenty minutes south of campus. She attended Northland, played sports, and went on to graduate from UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. She now owns Ashland Area Veterinary Clinic, located near campus, and employs four other veterinarians, including her sister Fay ’15, another Northland graduate. “Attending…
