MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University plans to make a $2.4 million investment that will directly impact the majority of its employees through one-time payments this fall.

The NMU Board of Trustees said in a university news release that it made this decision due to the elevated strategic priority of support for people and their well-being, facilitated by solid financial footing attributed in part to increased enrollment.

These payments are on top of any bargaining unit contractual increases previously negotiated. Members of NMU’s Technical and Office Professionals Union will receive a one-time payment of $3,500 each. Administrative/Professional, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and NMUFA union members — along with nonrepresented workers making less than $100,000 per year — will receive $3,000. The payments to graduate assistants will be $300.

“The investment in our employees is significant, but equally important is the way we arrived at it through meaningful conversations with the Staff Labor Council and other union leadership,” said NMU President Brock Tessman. “There is growing trust and collaborative energy on this campus, and I am confident that we can all use this positive momentum to further promote the success of the students we serve and Northern Michigan University as a whole.”

“The collaborative effort of the staff and NMUFA faculty unions to effectively convey how much of an impact a bonus such as this would have and the diligent work of President Tessman, the Board of Trustees and select senior administrators to see it come to fruition was encouraging,” said Tyler Thompson, president of UAW Local 1950 TOP union. “My hope is that this will be the first of many relationship-building exchanges that all of the above will capitalize on. I am excited to see what we can continue to accomplish for employees in the future.”

The university previously invested in the AAUP faculty union in April via a memorandum of understanding that provides wage increases covering the next two years of the five-year contract, and in the newly established Police Officer Association of Michigan union through a three-year contract with wage increases that was ratified in July.

“Today’s action is a continuation of this board’s good-faith effort to invest in people, which is one of our key strategies moving forward,” said board Chair Steve Young. “To attract students and grow the university, we need top-level faculty, staff and facilities. Today we’re able to continue efforts to focus on people and place. I thank the board for its commitment to the goal we set as a group, and I thank our union partners, nonrepresented employees and GAs for all they do. NMU is a world-class university.”

Supporting people by highlighting their interconnectedness with their place and the planet is among a trio of “grand challenges” that NMU is focused on moving forward, as Tessman stated during his fall convocation. The remaining two are developing purposeful partnerships that strengthen NMU’s connection to the community and foster a thriving Upper Peninsula, and realizing the potential of all students by providing them with equal opportunity to graduate on time and achieve lifelong success.

The three grand challenges are also reflected in the university’s new vision statement: “Like the lake that inspires us, Northern Michigan University will be known as Superior — in the ways we support our people, partner with our place, and realize the potential of all our students.”