Two years after Iowa’s Board of Regents gave the University of Iowa permission to build a new 469,000-square-foot hospital on 60 acres of vacant land in North Liberty, regents on Wednesday donned hard hats to tour the highly-technical steel and concrete structure that has emerged from the visionary renderings they first OK’d in September 2021.
As part of Iowa State University’s goal to trim $15 million from its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences by 2025 — in response to waning enrollment, swelling expenses, and other higher education headwinds — the campus last year offered a retirement incentive that has persuaded 17 participants to leave.
Taking a cue from last year’s Legislature, Iowa’s public universities for the upcoming session have made significant “special purpose” funding requests that would focus on rural health care, rural development and teacher recruitment.
The University of Iowa next week will ask the Board of Regents to give various forms of approval for up to $180 million worth of construction in the coming months and years — including a new $20 million gymnastics and spirit squad training center and an updated Hawkeye football team locker room.
Receiving no increase in general education funding from the Legislature in its last session, Iowa’s Board of Regents for the upcoming term has more than halved its ask from last year’s $32 million to $14.8 million.
The State of Iowa, on behalf of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, has agreed to pay a former pediatrics fellow more than a quarter million dollars to settle a lawsuit in which she accused UIHC of denying her disability accommodations, retaliating against her, and breaching its contract with her – “kneecapping Dr. Riley’s career aspirations.”
On U.S. News & World Report’s list of “2024 Best Colleges” – which involved “the most significant methodological change in the rankings’ history” following widespread criticism of its wealth- and prestige-favoring metrics – Iowa’s public universities experienced meaningful movement, both up and down the charts.
The University of Iowa is moving ahead with a $75 million modernization of its nearly century-old memorial union, including plans to transform its former Iowa House Hotel into a new student well-being center and create a new “public plaza” overlooking the Iowa River.
Iowa’s public universities are back in session, with students kicking off the fall semester this week under sweltering heat — making the start especially uncomfortable for some of the tens of thousands who moved into residence hall rooms without air conditioning.
The Board of Regents on Tuesday morning unanimously approved a University of Iowa request to buy most of Iowa City-based Mercy Hospital’s assets for $20 million — without asking any questions about the deal’s finances, including how they came to the $20 million figure, where that money will come from, and what will happen with the $63 million Mercy owes on publicly-issued bonds.
Just over a year after starting as Iowa State University’s director of equal opportunity and Title IX coordinator, Carl Wells on Tuesday left for a job back in South Carolina as associate dean for campus life at Newberry College — a 167-year-old private Lutheran college.
As the University of Iowa makes moves to fill out its nearly 500-acre Oakdale Campus in Coralville, it’s seeking Board of Regents approval to build a new $20 million addition onto its eight-year-old Biomedical Research Support Facility.
Five years after buying its community’s 80-year-old student bookstore for $2.4 million, the University of Northern Iowa wants to partner with a private chain to operate it – following in the footsteps of the University of Iowa.
A realtor selling the University of Iowa’s 326,000-square-foot Mayflower Residence Hall for $45 million said four “very qualified, interested people are actively pursuing it.” The realtor said only one interested person early on raised the idea of tearing down the eight-story dorm, which, given zoning constraints, may not be feasible.
State relations remain a preeminent concern for Iowa’s public university system, compelling the regents to try something new. With the recent retirement of UNI’s state relations officer Mary Braun, the board is looking to hire a firm – instead of just one person – to replace her.
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