Gerdin family gives again to support University of Iowa student athletes

IOWA CITY - Fifteen years after giving $5 million to the University of Iowa for what would become the Gerdin Athletic Learning Center, the Ann Gerdin family is doing it again - giving another $5 million for renovations and programming at the center that bears its name.

The Board of Regents in September gave final approval for the $6.3 million project to remodel the three-story, 28,240-square-foot Gerdin Athletic Learning Center's first and second floors and build out its third floor.

The renovation, being funded by Athletic Department gifts and earnings, aims to address 'the needs of student athletes by providing collaborative study rooms, lounge space, an improved ‘refueling station' and new furnishings,” according to board documents.

The center opened in 2003 in support of the UI Student-Athlete Academic Services department's mission to develop the student-athlete as a 'whole person.” The board in 2002, following a large Gerdin donation, agreed to name the center after the family.

The UI Athletics Department on Monday announced the family is giving again - supporting not only facility upgrades, but improved programming.

'While the facility will see additional study rooms, a commons, and a cafe, programming such as the Hawkeye Life Program - a life skills and leadership development program - will gain added support to help student-athletes succeed professionally,” according to a news release.

Currently, according to Athletics Department officials, all 689 UI student athletes use the Gerdin center - with hundreds studying together, meeting with tutors, and accessing the nutrition center on any given night.

In justifying the project to the Board of Regents, UI officials have reported student-athletes need 'more collaborative study rooms as opposed to the large study hall type spaces that exist the facility today.”

'The building is also lacking student commons space, which facilitate casual study and student-athlete interaction,” according to regent documents, which add, 'The existing ‘refueling station' is unable to provide sufficient nourishment that student-athletes may require in between meals.”

Liz Tovar, UI associate athletics director of student-athlete academic services, said in a statement that student-athletes 'have extremely busy lives, and that means they learn and study at all hours.”

'Our student-athletes also learn and study in varying ways,” she said. 'And thanks to support from the Gerdin family, we can continue to provide all student-athletes with a safe and stable environment to achieve academic success.”

Ann Gerdin and her late husband Russell Gerdin, who died in 2011, founded Heartland Express - a national logistics and transportation company. They began giving to UI in 1980. Their children have continued the Hawkeye giving tradition, and officials say, 'Countless student-athletes and Hawkeye fans have benefited from the family's consistent support of Hawkeye athletics, while patients have benefited from the family's generous gifts to the new UI Stead Family Children's Hospital.”

Mike Gerdin, president and chief executive officer of Heartland Express Inc., said in a statement his family is glad to help student-athletes 'win, graduate, and do it right.”

A recent NCAA annual report on academic success shows UI student-athletes are graduating at an all-time high of 90 percent - second in the Big Ten Conference. That, according to athletics officials, is paramount as only a small percent go on to play sports professionally.

'Thanks to the generous support of people like the Gerdin family, we are able to provide our student-athletes with the resources to help them succeed,” UI Athletics Director Gary Barta said in a statement.

Construction at the learning center begins this summer, with the project planned for completion in spring 2018.

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