Northern Michigan University is one of 38 colleges and universities nationwide to receive the 2026 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award from Insight Into Academia magazine, the university announced Thursday, Aug. 6.

The award recognizes NMU's campus-wide approach to mental health, which extends beyond a single counseling office to include programs for students, faculty and staff across departments in Marquette. The university will be profiled alongside the other 37 recipients in the magazine's September 2026 issue.

Dr. Angela Stebbins, assistant vice president for Holistic Wellbeing at NMU, said the recognition reflects years of collaborative work.

"By signing the Okanagan Charter, NMU confirmed its commitment to embedding health and wellbeing into campus culture and leading health promotion through collaboration," Stebbins said in a university news release. "This award is a meaningful example of that commitment in action."

The Okanagan Charter is an international framework developed in 2015 that calls on universities to weave health into all aspects of campus life. As of early 2025, 34 U.S. universities had formally adopted it. The university has not said when it signed.

Specific programs cited in the award include the Wellbeing Ambassador program, Critical Incident Stress Management for postvention response, GreenDot and the Wellbeing Advisory Committee. Rather than housing mental health in one office, NMU has distributed responsibility across campus partnerships, policies and daily operations, according to the release.

Lenore Pearlstein, owner and publisher of Insight Into Academia, said colleges are not always recognized for prioritizing mental health services for students and employees, and that the need for such resources continues to grow.

NMU's profile will appear in the September 2026 edition of the magazine, which Pearlstein's publication describes as focused on advancing best practices in higher education.