Rick White
—John McPhee
Contact
- riwhite@mtu.edu
- 906-487-3510
- Administration Building G23
- Public Relations Specialist, University Marketing and Communications
Biography
Rick joined Michigan Tech in 2022 after earning his MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Montana. His essays have been nominated for Best American Essays and published in LitHub, High Desert Journal, The A.V. Club and elsewhere. He also holds an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a BA in Geography from the University of Central Arkansas.
About Rick
- Rick specializes in narrative nonfiction, literary criticism and the personal essay form. He's been fortunate to learn his craft from authors Judy Blunt, Chris Dombrowski, Rebecca Solnit, Melissa Febos and Edwin Dobb.
- To support his writing habit, he has variously sold vegetables, taught middle school, tended bar, managed elder care services, and worked as a cellarhand in a local cidery, among other jobs.
- Rick enjoys cooking, gardening, attempting to catch trout and cross-country skiing with his girlfriend Monica and their dog Jude.
Recent Stories
MTU Board of Trustees Approves Plans for New Residence Hall, Nursing Program
Michigan Tech’s new residence hall will house more than 500 second-year and upper-division students, tentatively beginning in fall 2025. It will be located at the east side of campus on Highway 41, just east of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, and is slated to offer suites with both single- and double-occupancy bedrooms and semiprivate baths. Planning activities will begin this summer, and construction will start later this year. Read More
Home Ice Advantage: GLRC Hosts MIT Engineers on Huron Bay for Ice Fracturing Research
Researchers Ben Evans and Dave Whelihan from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) came to Michigan Tech in March to deploy an array of sensors and other measuring equipment used to collect acoustic, seismic and weather data related to ice fracturing events. The GLRC team helped the two MIT LL researchers scout locations for their fieldwork, eventually settling on a patch of Huron Bay ice near Skanee. Read More
Redefining Tenacity
In January 2010, Ashley Kern returned to Houghton after her first winter break driving a black 1997 Chevy Silverado. The body of the truck was speckled with rust. Its bed was big enough to haul the sticks, pucks, pads, and helmets of an entire recreational hockey team, and the extended cab had room enough for a full line of forwards and defense. Its dashboard was a shade of nosebleed maroon that, depending on your aesthetic inclinations, was either painful to look at or beautiful to behold. The seats, console, and what was left of the floor liner were the same audacious crimson, as was the fabric headliner, from which dangled an assortment of jigs, spoons, spinners, cranks, and sundry other fishing lures. Its gas mileage registered, by today's fuel efficiency standards, somewhere between pitiful and offensive. Read More
Best Fit, Top Value: MTU Alums' College Shopper Makes Choosing the Right College Easier
While Michigan Technological University continues to offer an outstanding value to an increasing number of students every year, the same cannot be said of many other colleges and universities. For over a decade, demographics have pointed to fewer students graduating from high school nationwide, which has translated into falling enrollment at most institutes of higher education. The pandemic added fuel to the flame. Now, with student debt burdens making headlines and traditional college rankings like those of the U.S. News & World Report falling out of favor, how are students and parents supposed to evaluate a college’s value? Read More
MTU Arctic Warriors Ranked No. 1 ROTC Program in Midwest
Michigan Tech’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps unit was unanimously selected to receive the MacArthur Award for the 2022-23 academic year, given to the best among the Midwest’s 42 university ROTC programs. The Arctic Warriors will now compete with seven other regional winners for the honor of top overall ROTC program in the nation. Read More
The Pack is Back and Smarter Than Ever
Following last year’s record-breaking enrollment, Michigan Technological University welcomed 7,073 students to campus this fall, including 1,388 incoming first-year students. John Lehman, vice president for university relations and enrollment, said last year’s class of new first-year students and this year’s class represent the two largest since 1984. He also noted that the average GPA of 3.83 for this year’s incoming class is a new University record. Overall enrollment grew 1%. Read More
Caryn Heldt Recognized for Exceptional Service to Campus and Community
"Solutions always start small."
That’s the advice Caryn Heldt offers anyone feeling daunted by all the big problems facing the world right now, and she is well-qualified to offer it. Heldt — a professor and the James and Lorna Mack Endowed Chair of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering in Michigan Tech’s Department of Chemical Engineering, and also the director of Tech’s Health Research Institute — helped solve one of the largest problems the University has ever faced. Read More