AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR JIM NORTHRUP TO RECEIVE HONORARY DOCTORATE OF LETTERS

Washington, D.C., May 16 – Award-winning Anishinaabe author Jim Northrup will receive an honorary doctorate of letters from Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (2101 14th Street) in Cloquet, Minnesota. Northrup will receive his honorary doctorate tomorrow, May 17, during the College’s 2012 commencement ceremony, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

“This way is easier than the usual way – no student loans, no papers to write, no parking hassles or oral exams,” said Northrup when he heard about his honorary degree. “Does this mean I don’t have to do the dishes anymore?”

Northrup is an award-winning author, poet, journalist and playwright. He is the author of three books: Walking the Rez Road (Voyageur Press, 1993), Rez Road Follies, Canoes, Casinos, Computers, and Birchbark Baskets (University of Minnesota Press, 1999) and Anishinaabe Syndicated: A View from the Rez (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2011). Walking the Rez Road won the Minnesota Book Award and Northeast Minnesota Book Award. In 2012, Anishinaabe Syndicated was a finalist for both of these awards. Northrup’s new book, titled Rez Salute, will be published by Fulcrum Publishing this fall.

Northrup’s monthly column, Fond du Lac Follies, is syndicated in several American Indian newspapers, including The Circle, The Native American Press, and News From Indian Country. The column has won countless awards and is known for its warm humor and sharp, political commentary. Northrup also has been a commentator on the Superior (Wisc.) Radio Network, National Public Radio, Fresh Air Radio, and the BBC-Scotland. One of his plays, Rez Road 2000, was performed at the Great American History Theatre in Saint Paul for a five-week run in January 2000.

In addition to his literary and journalistic work, Northrup has been a mentor in the Loft Inroads Program, a judge for the Lake Superior Contemporary Writers Series and The Jerome Fellowship, and a member of the Minnesota State Arts Board Prose Panel.

Northrup was also featured in a Jim Northrup: With Reservations, a video by Mike Hazard of the Center for International Education at the University of California-Irvine.

“I was born on the Rez, live on the Rez, and will probably die on the Rez,” says Northrup, referring to the Fond du Lac Reservation in northeastern Minnesota where he lives in the community of Sawyer. “’Twas a lot that happened in between, but was just details. And from those details I make my stories.”

About Fond du Lac Community and Tribal College

Through a close Tribal and State partnership, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College has a unique mission in providing education to the public. This unique collaboration offers all students, regardless of demographic background, the opportunity to learn in a comfortable and diverse environment.

Founded in 1987, the College offers two-year associate degrees and certificates across a wide range of program areas, including Law Enforcement, Human Services, Nursing, Business, Clean Energy, Early Childhood Development, and Environmental Science. Through the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum, the College’s liberal arts curriculum provides a solid undergraduate transfer education for approximately 40 percent of the College’s students each year.