Higher Ed

In less than two months, thousands of freshmen will be moving into their new college digs — with the fall semester for Iowa’s three public universities starting Aug. 26. Orientation sessions this summer are attracting thousands.

Despite a plan to transfer University of Iowa costs for use of the Macbride Nature Recreation Area from the College of Education to the campus’ general fund, UI administrators in March told the education dean that won’t be happening – and the dean then passed on the bad news to his staff.

Under four months after launching a search for a new head of its nationally-ranked Stead Family Children’s Hospital — a position that has seen significant turnover for the past seven years — University of Iowa Health Care this week announced Jim Leste, vice president of operations for Children’s Minnesota, has accepted an offer.

In Kansas, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled in a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general, Kris Kobach, on behalf of his state and 10 others.

Both the University of Iowa and Iowa State University lost meaningful ground in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-2025 “Best Global Universities Rankings” — which were released Tuesday, revealing a 45-spot slide for the Hawkeyes and an 81-position drop for Iowa State.

A federal bankruptcy judge on Friday swiftly shutdown a request to pause implementation of a Mercy Iowa City liquidation plan that exposes its former financial manager MercyOne to future lawsuits.

Responding to demands from a state lawmaker and Iowa’s Human Society director – made last week after “disturbing” Capitol Hill testimony about “painful” research involving dogs – the University of Iowa reiterated its “unwavering commitment to the health and well-being of research animals.”

Six-plus decades after the University of Iowa began managing a 485-acre swath of mostly woodland known as the Macbride Nature Recreation Area — host to popular UI programs like School of the Wild, the Iowa Raptor Project, and Iowa Wildlife Camps — the university is reviewing its use of that land “to ensure fiscal sustainability and consistency with the university’s mission of excellent education and research opportunities for a broad array of students.”

Interspersed with their chants opposing tuition and fee increases during last week’s Board of Regents meeting, protesting graduate students demanded their universities divest from companies tied to Israel – echoing a refrain heard from campus protesters nationally in recent weeks and months.

For one-third of Kirkwood Community College’s 58-year existence, James Mollenhauer has served on the campus’ Board of Trustees, including as chair for the last seven years. But after 20 years of service, Mollenhauer – at age 85 – officially will retire Oct. 10.

In the 40 years since the UI formed an autonomous Department of Theatre Arts in 1984 — about 10 years after it founded the Iowa Playwrights Workshop — the iconic writing campus never has had an alumni win a Tony Award. But that could change Sunday.

Despite graduate student calls for a tuition freeze and eliminiation of fees -- alongside undergraduate testimony about mounting financial pressure on Iowa’s public university students -- Iowa’s Board of Regents on Thursday unanimously approved across-the-board rate hikes for upcoming academic year.