University of Iowa to replace ‘ISIS’ with newly named website this month

By the end of April, tens of thousands of current, future, and former University of Iowa students needing to access registration and financial information — among other things — no longer will log into an 'ISIS' website to do so.

The university has created a new website — with a new name — for its 'Iowa Student Information System,' which was established in 1989 but had the recent misfortune of sharing an acronym with the Islamic State terrorist group.

University officials set out to replace the ISIS website and references across campus following a handful of complaints and concerns — including from some worried about typing ISIS into a search engine.

MyUI is the name of the website that will replace ISIS, which housed a range of services — including registration and financial information, university email, and course deadlines. The new site, which is expected to launch later this month, will offer all the same services as ISIS — including the ability to register for classes, view grades, pay university bills, and check course schedules — along with access to the university's Iowa Courses Online portal and a host of student life resources, like events calendars, bus locations, dining menus and maps.

'MyUI will combine resources for student learning, student information, and student life into one location, making for a better and more convenient experience for students,' Lon Moeller, associate provost for undergraduate education, said in a statement.

Because so many ISIS references exist across campus, administrators are urging staff and faculty to update ISIS references with the new MyUI name and MyUI.uiowa.edu website. As soon as the new site becomes live this month, all traffic to the ISIS page will be redirected to the appropriate location within MyUI, according to Nicole Dahya, communications manager for UI Information Technology Services.

'We will keep an eye on traffic to the old URL and decommission it when usage has dropped off,' she said.

Staff responsible for the new site's operation worked with the Division and Student Life, the Dean of Students, along with academic advising and orientation offices to come up with the new name.

'The final choice was determined by student feedback,' Dahya said.

Because the work was all done 'in house,' she said, the university did not incur an additional cost to create the new site.