116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401

Vanessa Miller
I’ve covered lots of beats over my decades as a reporter, and one reason I really enjoy higher education is because it touches on them all. One day I’m writing about science and interviewing University of Iowa NASA researchers, the next I’m writing about health care, or agriculture, or a new Iowa State-supported business, or athletic budgets, or criminal justice, or the Legislature and potential bills affecting Iowa’s university and college campuses. I also love that I get to investigate and dig deep on some stories, report hard news, and then also share incredible and sometimes harrowing tales of survival or discovery. When I’m not working, I’m playing with my kids or following them around to wrestling tournaments. Get the news delivered right to your inbox.
Latest Articles by Vanessa Miller
Higher Ed Mar. 24, 2023 12:33 pm1d ago
A Board of Regents pause on new diversity, equity, and inclusion programming – enacted last week in response to a Republican-led bill
Higher Ed Mar. 23, 2023 7:48 am2d ago
Iowa’s jointly-enrolled high schoolers last year earned a total 1,804 degrees, diplomas, or certificates alongside their high school diplomas – marking a 61 percent jump in a single year from 2021, according to the new report.
Higher Ed Mar. 22, 2023 6:30 am4d ago
Best practice for K-12 schools is to offer one psychologist per 500 students, but Iowa is far lacking — at one per 1,900 students, with its outlook “worsening,” according to the National Association of School Psychologists.
Health Care and Medicine Mar. 21, 2023 12:04 pm4d ago
Moody’s Investors Service again has downgraded Mercy Iowa City Hospital’s credit rating following “severe cash flow deterioration, from historically weak levels, which has resulted in material and rapid cash burn.”
Higher Ed Mar. 9, 2023 4:39 pm20d ago
Fifty years after Iowa began collecting and analyzing data on residents diagnosed with cancer through its Iowa Cancer Registry, statistics reveal Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the nation and is the only state with a rising rate of cancer.
Higher Ed Mar. 9, 2023 5:17 pm16d ago
The union representing 3,800 University of Iowa Health Care workers has announced the ratification of its “strongest contract for our members in Iowa since the changes to Chapter 20 in 2017.”
Iowa Hawkeyes Mar. 9, 2023 5:10 pm16d ago
University of Iowa Athletics will reimburse the state for the $2 million taxpayers covered of a $4.2 million deal to settle a discrimination lawsuit 12 former football players filed against UI Athletics and its coaches, UI President Barbara Wilson said Thursday morning.
Higher Ed Mar. 8, 2023 6:04 pm17d ago
University of Iowa Athletics’ 2023 “diversity, equity, and inclusion five-year action plan” — which the department will get help operationalizing under terms of a new discrimination lawsuit settlement — lists 20-plus “actionable activities,” like designing “spotlight recognition awards for DE&I teams and departments who exemplify our values.”
Iowa Hawkeyes Mar. 6, 2023 8:18 pm19d ago
Despite State Auditor Rob Sand’s opposition to taxpayers footing nearly half the $4.2 million bill to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by former Hawkeye football players against the University of Iowa, the State Appeal Board on Monday OK’d the agreement — including the $2 million cost to taxpayers.
Higher Ed Mar. 4, 2023 5:00 am22d ago
Despite pushback from accused former University of Iowa students and the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity with which they were involved, a lawsuit alleging alcohol- and drug-assisted sexual violence and “malicious and intentional circulation” of photos and videos is ongoing and headed for trial in July.
Higher Ed Mar. 3, 2023 7:14 pm22d ago
Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday reappointed two regents charged with governing Iowa’s public universities and named one new appointee to the nine-member board — former Republican congressional candidate Robert Cramer.
Higher Ed Mar. 2, 2023 3:21 pm23d ago
Mercy Iowa City Hospital in recent months had to retain a “strategic and operational performance improvement” consultant after breaching debt coverage obligations amid declining patient days and occupancy percentages. Just two miles west, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is overrun with as many as 70 people waiting in the emergency room at one time.
Higher Ed Mar. 1, 2023 8:05 pm24d ago
Republican lawmakers Wednesday began “dismantling the (diversity, equity, and inclusion/critical race theory) bureaucracies existing at our regional institutions” by advancing a bill barring Iowa’s public universities from spending money on DEI offices, employees, and programming.
Higher Ed Mar. 1, 2023 9:16 am24d ago
Fifty years after Iowa began collecting and analyzing data on residents diagnosed with cancer through its Iowa Cancer Registry, statistics reveal Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the nation and is the only state with a rising rate of cancer.
Iowa Football Feb. 28, 2023 4:15 pm25d ago
The former Hawkeye football players who in 2020 filed a lawsuit accusing the UI football program of racial discrimination and harassment have dropped their claims against head coach Kirk Ferentz, offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, Athletic Director Gary Barta, and former strength coach Chris Doyle.