30 years ago

Marquette – Professor Phil Watts of Northern Michigan University admits to being one of those daring people sometimes seen dangling from the sides of cliffs and knotting the stomachs of casual observers. In fact, this soft-spoken and bespectacled professor with a warm southern drawl has written a new book about it. “Rock Climbing” by Dr. Phillip B. Watts of NMU’s Heath, Physical Education and Recreation Department can already be found in some bookstores. Watts has already instructed hundreds of rock climbers through various outdoor programs and university courses. He hopes Rock Climbing will educate many other beginners and students to enjoy this “high road to outdoor adventure.”

60 years ago

MARQUETTE – Northern Michigan University has been awarded a $26,260 grant from the National Science Foundation for a televised in-service institute in the history of science during the 1966-67 academic year. It will be the second consecutive TV institute in science to be offered to elementary and secondary school teachers in the Upper Peninsula. Last Year Northern received a $26,500 NSF grant to conduct a basic science program. The institute, to be conducted for approximately 200 teachers, will be distributed through Northern’s Peninsula-wide educational television system from the studios of WNMR-TV on the campus beginning in September.