Articles Tagged: Iowa Board of Regents

After eight years on the Board of Regents and nearly seven as its president, Michael Richards on Tuesday announced he’s stepping down from his presidential post and will leave the board at the end of April — three years before his term expires.

Instead of the nearly $40 million Legislative appropriations increase Iowa’s Board of Regents wanted in the next budget year, Gov. Kim Reynolds has recommended a $12.3 million bump — amounting to a 2.5 percent increase for each of Iowa’s public universities.

Speaker of the Iowa House Pat Grassley has served in the Legislature nearly 18 years and has never — over that span — seen it undertake a broad review of “how we deliver higher education.”

The University of Iowa shift in leadership and decision-making power has meant “significant” challenges for the $525.6 million hospital campus it’s building in North Liberty, according to an Oct. 18 audit by Baker Tilly, provided to The Gazette through an open records request.

Universities nationwide, including those across Iowa, are prioritizing access and affordability to higher education among their recruiting strategies – even as tuition rises – and many hope a first update to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid in many decades will help.

Although only a fraction of the students who graduate in more traditional spring ceremonies do so in December, Iowa’s public universities this weekend will celebrate thousands participating in fall commencements across their respective campuses.

A month after Iowa’s Board of Regents approved a list of diversity, equity and inclusion recommendations, like restructuring DEI offices and cutting unnecessary positions, its public universities have started to “review and reimagine” their campus DEI efforts.

With University of Northern Iowa strapped for cash and its tuition revenue sliding, unionized faculty members are criticizing the administration for giving nearly $4.3 million of the campus’ general university funds to athletics in the 2023 budget year – which was almost $1 million more than planned.

With a rise in pet ownership has come a spike in pet health care, along with growth across the pet insurance industry, all driving a bump in demand for more advanced pet medicine — including cancer care, like the novel and expanding veterinary oncology services offered at Iowa State University.

“The students that issued the statement have every right to their opinion,” Board of Regents President Michael Richards said. “I continue to strongly disagree with what they said and stand by that. However, I should not have used insulting language towards the students.”

Despite warnings of a looming enrollment cliff threatening to decimate crops of high school graduates feeding thousands of colleges nationally, Iowa’s high school graduate numbers aren’t expected to dip below 2019 levels any time soon — at least through 2036.

Despite uncharacteristic discord on the Board of Regents over a list of diversity, equity, and inclusion recommendations, the board on Thursday approved the suggestions and asked the universities to produce progress reports and implementation plans by April.

But the University of Iowa is the only state campus where tuition income beat expectations in fiscal 2023.

Continuing its local and regional explosion in growth – including a pending $28 million purchase of Mercy Iowa City – the University of Iowa next week will ask Board of Regents permission to move forward with another $36.5 million in health care-related construction, including a $17.5 million “new road” paving the way for a $1 billion inpatient tower.

Iowa State University’s Catt Hall -- honoring the women’s suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt, accused by some of holding racist views -- will permanently retain its name after an ISU name-removal committee voted 11-4 to keep it.