Articles Tagged: Iowa Board of Regents

About 12,000 students will graduate from Iowa’s public universities this weekend – many of whom will commemorate the achievement by participating in one or more of the dozens of ceremonies and receptions scheduled across the three campuses.

The Board of Regents on Thursday -- without much discussion -- held its first of two required readings on a tuition increase for all students across its three public universities, with final approval expected in June.

In-state undergraduate students across Iowa’s three public universities could face a 3.5 percent tuition hike in the next academic year under a proposal the Board of Regents will consider later this week.

The education appropriations proposal scheduled to be considered by the full House and Senate on Wednesday includes a combined $7.1 million more for specific programs across Iowa’s three public universities – well below the $32 million spike in general fund dollars the Board of Regents sought for its campuses in the upcoming budget year.

Attorneys representing the University of Iowa want a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit the campus’ new private utilities operator filed against it in January – ignoring, for now, the substance of the accusations and arguing its utilities operator made procedural and jurisdictional mistakes in filing the suit.

Given the uncertainty of Mercy Iowa City, Steindler now is considering performing surgery at hospitals in Cedar Rapids too – including UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital and Mercy Medical Center, both Cedar Rapids, and other in-patient hospitals regionally.

A change in the federal student aid formula could mean lower levels of financial aid for children whose parents run family farms or small businesses. Currently, a family with an adjusted gross income of $60,000 and a farm worth $1 million would be expected to contribute $7,626 annually for college. Under the new formula, that same family would be expected to contribute $41,056.

A day after getting Board of Regents OK to proceed with $185 million worth of health care and medicine-related projects in the coming months, the University of Iowa on Friday issued a request for qualifications from firms interested in designing and developing a massive new North Inpatient Tower next to Kinnick Stadium.

Nearly two-thirds of the 299 University of Northern Iowa faculty members who responded to a campus climate survey in the fall said they had “seriously considered leaving UNI” — citing an array of reasons including low pay, growing workload, and unwelcoming “climate in the State of Iowa.”

The University of Iowa this month agreed to separate from and settle employment disputes with two employees in leadership positions – one of whom had been on the job just over a year.

A handful of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ picks to lead state agencies and serve on state boards and commissions were confirmed to their roles with little to no bipartisan support under a new Republican super majority in the Iowa Senate.

Views: It expands rights and freedom. It makes ‘zero sense’

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ picks to lead Iowa's state education agency and serve on the board that governs its three state universities met some push back Tuesday by Iowa Senate Democrats.

One of those projects is a $40 to $49 million expansion and build-out of its six-year-old Stead Family Children’s Hospital that -- with price escalations during construction, court-ordered payouts post-construction, and faulty work requiring widespread window repair -- already has seen its price swell from a $270.8 million budget to up to $450 million.

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh – as part of his nationwide “What is a Woman” documentary tour – is planning a visit to the University of Iowa this month, inciting some complaints, concerns and an online petition to shut down his lecture.