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Finlandia, NMU explore ways to collaborate

HANCOCK -- Finlandia University and Northern Michigan University have launched a task force exploring ways the two universities can collaborate.

Finlandia President Philip Johnson and NMU President Fritz Erickson signed papers formalizing the initiative at a ceremony at the Finnish American Heritage Center Wednesday.

The partnership sprung out of the agreement two years ago allowing Finlandia students to enter NMU's masters of social work program. The two presidents have continued conversations since, and described a shared commitment to a diverse higher education environment.

"What we're doing today is regularizing these collaborations," Johnson said. "I think what's important to Fritz and to me is that we are making public this commitment to one another, and commitments between our institutions."

Erickson said the main focus would be on academic collaborations. They may also be able to work together in areas such as grant development and funding structures, he said. A press release from Finlandia mentioned several ideas being considered by the task force, such as early acceptance programs for Finlandia undergraduates into NMU graduate programs, areas of possible technology integration, program synergies and enhancements, and assessing potential operating efficiencies.

"The uniqueness of a truly public-private partnership I think gives us great opportunities, an entree to different kinds of resources that neither of us will be able to get to individually," he said. "In so many ways, the sky's really the limit."

Finlandia is a private school affiliated with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) that has about 400 students. Northern is a regional public institution with about 7,400 students.

The presidents did not specify a time frame for the task force's conclusions. Johnson said he and Erickson would assemble administrators and campus leadership from both universities that would split into exploratory teams to look at "various buckets of opportunity."

"We want them to be democratic, and the oversight will be provided primarily by a team that we create together," he said.