| Greetings!
Please take a moment to review these updates from the UPWard Initiative.
Thanks to the many UPWard members along with others that have provided content for these updates. If you have information you would like to share with the group, please email it to me. Holly Peoples
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Talent Supply and Demand
The Upper Great Lakes Talent Summit
September 20, 2013 - Harris, Michigan
This year's Summit will further explore and develop the regional collaboration needed to create connections that will result in continued economic growth.
The event continues on a local level the work that began at Governor Snyder's statewide economic development and education summits in March and April.
The Summit will provide an opportunity to weigh in on the areas of focus resulting from discussions at, and following Governor Snyder's summits.
Key Topics Include:
- Future Talent Demands
- Talent Acquisition Challenges
- Connecting Employers to the Talent Development and Education Communities
Join this year's event and provide input for our region's
Talent and Economic Development solutions.
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Business Growth and Development
Connor Flooring named Michigan Agriculture Exporter of the Year
The Daily News
AMASA - Governor Rick Snyder and representatives from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) visited Amasa on Thursday to honor Connor Sports Flooring with a Michigan Agriculture Exporter of the Year award.
Connor Sports manufactures northern hard maple sourced from Michigan into strip flooring for sports floor applications. The company also designs and manufactures proprietary subfloor technology.
Floors by Connor Sports can be found in the annual NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament, the NBA, and in more than 40 countries on six continents.
Following a tour of the Connor Sports plant, Governor Snyder thanked the company for promoting Michigan through its superior products on both a national and an international level.
"Lots of people tell me that the Final Four floors are made right here in Michigan," he said. "You bring great pride to our state."
Governor Snyder pointed out that Connor Sports uses mostly Michigan wood, manufactures products in Michigan, and employs Michigan residents.
"Made in Michigan means something special," he added. "The agricultural products grown and processed in Michigan are the best in the world and gaining a growing share of global markets."
Since Connor Sports has increased its international exports from 10 percent of its overall business to 26 percent of its overall business in just five years, Governor Snyder and MDARD Director Jamie Clover Adams felt that the company was more than deserving of the Michigan Agriculture Exporter of the Year award. more->
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Higher Education
U.P. Topics Presented at NMU Symposium
MARQUETTE, Mich.-Presentations on a variety of topics related to the Upper Peninsula will be offered at the Sonderegger Symposium XIII at Northern Michigan University on Friday, Sept. 13. The event is free and open to the public. It is hosted by the NMU Center for U.P. Studies and will take place in Mead Auditorium in the West Science Building.
Registration and a continental breakfast begin at 8 a.m., with introductory remarks at 9. The schedule of presenters and topics follows:
9:15-9:45 a.m. John Anderton, NMU geography professor, "Native American Camp in Marquette County"
9:45-10:15, Russell Magnaghi, NMU history professor, "Forgotten Frontier: Lake Michigan and the Southern Shore of the Upper Peninsula"
10:15-11:15 Don Balmer, independent scholar, "Lockin Through: Sault Ste. Marie" (slide presentation)
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., lunch break and tour of the "Lost and Found: Historic Structures of the Upper Peninsula" exhibit at the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center in 105 Cohodas Hall led by Dan Truckey, center director.
1-1:30 p.m., Ron Sundell, NMU geography professor, "An Environmental History of the Dead River"
1:30-2, Nick Pond, NMU history student, "Early Sport Fishing in the U.P."
2:15-2:30 Josh Benzie, NMU economics alumnus, "The Price of Wages in the Past"
2:30-3:30 Jack Deo, photo historian, "Life and Occupations in the Upper Peninsula" (slide presentation)
3:30-4, Jon Saari, NMU professor emeritus, "What Happened to the Great Swamp of North Marquette?"
The symposium is supported by an endowment from Marion Sonderegger of Marquette in honor of her husband, Richard Sonderegger, former head of the NMU history department. more->
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Education and Workforce Development
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is supporting the second annual Manufacturing Day on Friday, October 4, 2013. Please save the date and plan to open your manufacturing plant to visitors that day. This event is the perfect opportunity to expand knowledge about and improve the general public's perception of manufacturing careers. It is your chance to showcase manufacturing's value to the U.S. economy.
Visit www.mfgday.com to schedule your company's Manufacturing Day event and to access our easy-to-use resources.
For More Information, Please Contact:
Meredith Nethercutt
Director, Public Affairs and Grassroots Advocacy
National Association of Manufacturers
mnethercutt@nam.org
(202) 637-3121
*Please note: If October 4 is not convenient for your company, feel free to host an event on a different date in October.
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Education and Workforce Development
Michigan students to have many options for online learning
Detroit Free Press
The school year that began last week for an estimated 1.5 million Michigan public school children represents the most substantial expansion of online education in Michigan, giving students more choices than ever in deciding how they want to take their classes.
Five new cyber schools, where students take all their classes online, are opening. Many traditional school districts are boosting their online offerings. And in what may be the biggest change, public school students in Grades 5-12 will be able to take up to two online courses per semester offered by any district or the state's virtual school - classes that will be part of a statewide catalog of online classes maintained by the Michigan Virtual University (MVU) that will be running in October.
A key feature of this new option: Students will not need permission from their home district to sign up for the classes, and the home district must pay for them. Previously, students could take up to two classes in their own districts, and the districts would decide whether they would allow their students to take the classes elsewhere. more->
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Natural Resources
Local crop outlook a mixed bag
Daily Press
ESCANABA - While many crops are fairing better this summer than last year thanks to higher precipitation throughout the Upper Peninsula, some crops still may be in danger due to a late planting season.
According to Warren Schauer, business management educator for Michigan State University Extension's Institute for Agriculture and Agribusiness, forages, crops like hay or silage used to feed livestock, are the largest crops in terms of acres in the U.P. Compared to last summer, when drought damaged forage fields, this year's forage yields have been higher.
"We're in a much better moisture situation so (forages) were much better than last year," said Schauer, noting there may be variations in the yields of individual fields.
"You might have some fields that are drier and you might have some fields that have more moisture," he said.
Forages are a perennial crop, meaning the crops are planted one year and can be harvested for multiple seasons, but they are not the only perennial crops in Michigan. Other perennials, such as strawberries and other fruits, have also experienced better growing seasons compared to last summer when when weather threatened fruit fields across the region.
"We didn't have that early warm up that was a threat to the fruit crops and our perennial crops (like last year), although we are getting there now," said Schauer, referencing a recent rise in temperatures in what has otherwise been a cool summer.
Moving into the fall months, Schauer believes that U.P. hay will continue to produce a decent yield into the third cutting.
While forages have had fair to excellent yields, there is concern over this year's corn yields as we move into the fall months due to this year's late winter. The late season produced snowfall well into May and caused melt-related flooding in multiple locations across the U.P.
"Corn crops did not get planted as early as farmers would have liked to," explained Schauer.
Schauer believes if the U.P. experiences a late frost local corn crops could fair well despite the late planting season.
However, the late planting does put farmers at risk of crop loss if an early frost strikes the region.
"If we have a late frost we could have a good to very good corn crop," he said. more->
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Natural Resources
Upper Peninsula Publishers & Authors Association
Resident writers serving as contest judges have selected the winners in the First Annual UP Nature Writing Contest, sponsored by North Country Publishing of Skandia and Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore of Munising. Entries were received from residents across the peninsula. Andrea Chynoweth of Munising is the contest winner with her entry: Loving a Wild Place. Martin Achatz of Ishpeming is the First Honorable Mention for Fat Kid in a Dark Woods and Niikah Hatfield of Chocolay Township, Marquette County was awarded Second Honorable Mention for The Bounty of the U.P.
On September 19th, starting at 7 p.m. a U.P. Nature Writing Event will be held at the Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore. Free and open to the public, all contest entrants will be invited to read their writing and join in a discussion of nature writing. For information, contact Lynn at 906-942-7879 or northco@up.net.
Click HERE for more information.
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Business Growth and Development
Northern Star hiring up to 50 new workers
The Daily News
IRON MOUNTAIN - Northern Star Industries (NSI) announced Friday that it will add up to 50 professional, skilled trade and labor positions to its workforce by the end of the year.
The increase in personnel will take place in both of NSI's division, Systems Control and The BOSS Snowplow in Iron Mountain.
"We are looking for the best, brightest individuals with a strong 'northwoods work ethic,'" said David Brule Jr., president of the BOSS Snowplow.
Brule cited increasing demand in both business segments as the reason for adding more people to the workforce. He also said that delivering world-class products, on-time, to NSI's customers is of the utmost importance.
Anyone interested in applying for one of the positions at NSI should go to www.bossplow.com or www.systemscontrol.com or stop by the either of the businesses to pick up an application.
Both are located on the north side of Iron Mountain. more->
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Click HERE for more about the UPWard Initiative.
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