Articles Tagged: Iowa Board of Regents

The campaign contributor, Iowa Board of Regents member David Barker, said he is not involved in the day-to-day operations at Indian Ridge Apartments and was unaware the Republican incumbent was living there.

As technology has made the world seem smaller, college campuses have gotten bigger — expanding not just in place but over oceans, mountain ranges and glaciers under the northern lights of Iceland through university-sponsored study abroad programs that have reignited since the pandemic has waned.

Gov. Kim Reynolds this week tapped another longtime Republican, supporter, and collaborator to serve on Iowa’s nine-member Board of Regents — charged with governing the state’s three public universities, including the sprawling University of Iowa Health Care system, and their combined $7.8 billion budget.

Both of Iowa’s public research universities slipped in this year’s national U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, with the University of Iowa sliding five spots to No. 98 and Iowa State University dropping six to No. 121.

Although more “post-mortem” is needed to determine the full impact of the massive delays and widespread confusion that plagued the government’s botched rollout of its revised Free Application for Federal Student Aid last term, admissions directors across Iowa’s public universities last week recounted the ramifications for their campuses, their applicants, and their returning students.

Just under a year from the July 1, 2025, deadline for Iowa’s public universities to comply with a new state law restricting their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and staffing, Board of Regents President Sherry Bates on Thursday promised the campuses will be fully compliant early — by Dec. 31.

Adding to nearly $1 billion in construction University of Iowa Health Care is pursuing across its main Iowa City campus and new North Liberty site, system officials Wednesday aired preliminary plans to spend more than $25 million upgrading its new downtown campus to meet UIHC standards.

Two years after first mentioning the prospect of building a new “health sciences research facility” on campus, University of Iowa Health Care this week aired more details -- including the project’s focus on cancer.

Following a pre-pandemic enrollment slide that COVID aggravated in 2020 and 2021 -- amid larger long-term fears of a looming high school-graduate “cliff” -- all three of Iowa’s public universities this fall are reporting student body increases.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Board of Regents is only seeking a base appropriation increase from the state for one of its campuses -- the University of Northern Iowa.

In addition to the $943,635 a former University of Iowa Department of Physics and Astronomy machine shop manager diverted from the campus’ pocketbook to his own, according to a recent state auditor investigation, the university paid him and two other involved employees nearly $473,250 while they were on leave pending the lengthy investigation – bringing the total UI hit to about $1.4 million.

Five years after discovering damaged and cracking windows throughout its 7-year-old Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the University of Iowa is about one-third through its massive window-replacement project — with work expected to continue through the end of 2025 or into early 2026.

Within a matter of days, college and university communities across the state will experience the annual population swell of students returning to campus for another academic year.

With a new increase in state appropriations — after lawmakers withheld one last year — paired with a strong enrollment outlook and recently-approved tuition bumps, all three of Iowa’s public universities are anticipating a total revenue boost in the new budget year.

Propelled by a 27-percent spike in women’s basketball income, a favorable home football schedule paired with ticket “price adjustments,” and a first-ever revenue line item for its new women’s wrestling team, University of Iowa Athletics is projecting another year of record-setting revenue.