With snowfall this year in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan dwarfing the annual average of 120 inches, Lake Superior State University continues its 51-year tradition of melting even the coldest of hearts by hosting a Snowman Burning to signal the spring season. The event served as the centerpiece of a flurry of activities that comprises LSSU’s Springfest, 

“This is no snow job,” said LSSU President Dr. Rodney S. Hanley. “Lake State gathers Laker students, faculty, staff, and alumni, along with community members, as the first day of spring approaches to burn a paper effigy of Old Man Winter as a giant snowman. Don’t get me wrong. We love the winter wonderland that the region becomes. But given the sheer volume of snow and ice that blankets the area for months on end, I am not shoveling it when I say that Lakers believe the rising smoke will ward off blizzard conditions and usher in moderate weather.” Read More.

Lake Superior State University announces two new memorial scholarships that benefit distinct undergraduates and that honor beloved alumni community members. The pair of scholarships will be bestowed to recipients effective the 2022-23 academic year, with dollar amount to be determined.

The Martin (Beau) Korson Chippewa County Sunrise Rotary Club Award will be given to an incoming freshman who is pursuing any course of study at LSSU and who graduated from a Chippewa County high school. The scholarship commemorates Korson, who grew up in Suttons Bay, MI, graduated from LSSU in 1998 with a degree in mechanical engineering, and spent most of his career in drafting. A transplant to Sault Ste. Marie, MI, and a devotee of the outdoors, photography, music, and the Chippewa Theater Guild, he died in 2019 at age 43, surrounded by family, after fighting cancer. Read More.

Robear Assinewe-Beaupre joins the staff of Lake Superior State University in the new role of Native American Center student support advisor. In this position, he will help provide wrap-around student support for at-risk students, working in a team approach to connect students to campus resources such as supplemental instruction, academic counseling, and tutoring.

Assinewe-Beaupre will also coordinate campus events and cultural learning opportunities at LSSU’s Native American Center. The Native American Center is a campus resource dedicated to supporting Native American students throughout their educational endeavors. The center also serves as a resource in preserving and teaching local Native American culture, history, and traditions through educational, ceremonial, and social activities for the campus and surrounding communities. Read More.

Students looking for a high-demand, interdisciplinary, technology-based degree will be excited to learn about Lake Superior State University’s newest degree: a bachelor of science in mechatronics.

LSSU is now accepting applications for new and transfer students to start in the fall 2022 semester.

“The faculty in the School of Engineering and Technology designed the new mechatronics program with input from our Industrial Advisory Board,” stated Dr. Lynn Gillette, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Graduates of the program will be able to utilize, design, test, and customize new smart technologies.” Read More.

Mass communication? Miscommunication!

If you’re going to turn to the vernacular to make yourself known, be sure you’re accurate and concise. Avoid error in and exploitation of everyday language. In short, do the opposite of what the public and the media did this year.

The irked and the amused from around the country and across the world sent that mock-serious message in their entries for Lake Superior State University’s annual tongue-in-cheek Banished Words List. LSSU announces the results of the yearly compendium on Dec. 31 to start the New Year on the right foot, er, tongue. Read More.