NMU Board of Trustees says farewell to two members

MARQUETTE — NMU’s Board of Trustees met Friday morning and said farewell to two departing board members.

It was the final meeting for both Stephen Adamini and Gil Ziegler, both of whom have been involved with NMU for decades. In his outgoing speech Ziegler stressed the importance of keeping the cost of higher education down to relieve students of such a financial burden.

NMU President Fritz Erickson echoed those sentiments.

“If we can have a student graduate a semester earlier than they normally would or a year earlier, that’s where the real savings is because tuition is about 38 to 40% of the cost of the student’s education,” he said.

Dr. Erickson also said he’ll be announcing initiatives toward that cause next semester. He is excited to welcome the two new board members into the NMU family and plans to give them a comprehensive rundown on the university.

“Board members have a big responsibility providing the oversight of the financial operations of the university,” he said. “We’ll be giving them a lot of detail in terms of how the finances work, where we’re at, but also a lot of detail into what we do in academics because, after all, that is what we do as a university.”

Incoming board members Robert Mahaney and Tami Seavoy are both longtime Marquette-area residents.

The board also honored this semester’s valedictorian and Saturday’s student commencement speaker.