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 Nov. 10, 2023 11:04 am691d ago
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.
Higher Ed Nov. 9, 2023 9:38 am692d ago
Although Mercy Iowa City – given its pending sale to the University of Iowa – now has more resources to pay all the attorneys and restructuring agents it hired to navigate its bankruptcy, a U.S. trustee has objected to fees for one law firm, arguing the amount “shocks the conscience.”
Iowa Hawkeyes Sports Nov. 8, 2023 2:00 pm693d ago
Nearly two years after first bringing to the Board of Regents its intentions to renovate the nearly 50-year-old Duane Banks Baseball Stadium, University of Iowa this week released renderings and details not shared before -- including its plans to double the stadium’s size and construct a new and larger “seating bowl.”
Higher Ed Nov. 8, 2023 9:23 am693d ago
A Board of Regents “DEI study group” – having spent six months reviewing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across Iowa’s public universities following Legislative criticism – has pitched 10 recommendations of new policies and actions the campuses can take, including one ensuring no student, employee, applicant, or campus visitor is compelled to disclose their pronouns.
Higher Ed Nov. 7, 2023 9:57 am694d ago
In a return paired with a side of reconnection, former University of Iowa Health Care Chief Financial Officer Bradley Haws — who left two years ago for the CFO post at Emory Healthcare — has been chosen to come back as UI Hospitals & Clinics CEO, a role vacated by Suresh Gunasekaran in early 2022.
Higher Ed Nov. 6, 2023 5:50 pm695d ago
With little debate or discord — after months of twists and turns and objections — a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Monday approved the sale of Iowa City’s only community hospital Mercy Iowa City to the University of Iowa for $28 million.
Higher Ed Nov. 6, 2023 3:48 pm695d ago
The state of Iowa will consider paying $2 million to the daughters of a Muscatine woman who died during an MRI at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in 2018 from an allergic reaction to the contrast dye administered intravenously.
Higher Ed Nov. 6, 2023 7:45 am695d ago
As Monday’s final sale hearing approaches in the historic and heated bankruptcy of Iowa City’s oldest and only-remaining community hospital, precarious deals are being tested by objections and rising tempers – including from Mercy Hospital partners and creditors unlikely to get the millions they’re due.
Higher Ed Nov. 3, 2023 3:47 pm698d ago
A day after Iowa Democratic Party leadership condemned the University of Iowa student Democrats for an “antisemitic” social media post, calling on student organization leaders to resign, the chair of the state party’s Arab American caucus accused his party leadership of misquoting the students and called for an apology.
Nation and World Nov. 2, 2023 5:31 pm699d ago
The University Democrats of Iowa statement expressed support for Palestine while using the phrase ‘from the river to the sea,’ which has a complex and sometimes antisemitic history.
Higher Ed Nov. 2, 2023 5:00 am699d ago
Nearly a year after Kirkwood Community College announced the closure of its 32-year-old Iowa City campus on the southeast side of town, Oral-B Laboratories has agreed to buy the 84,277-square-foot property for $6.4 million – pending 120 days of “due diligence.”
Higher Ed Nov. 1, 2023 11:32 am700d ago
Just southeast of where the ballooning University of Iowa Health Care operation is planning to build a new $1 billion inpatient tower, UI President Barbara Wilson on Tuesday surveyed a hole in the ground that will – among many things – make that new tower possible.
Higher Ed Oct. 31, 2023 9:49 am701d ago
History is full of tales and texts of ghosts and goblins and demons and haunts that — in some ways — remain relevant today and should not be forgotten, according to a University of Iowa professor who teaches a course to that end on one specific sect of storied boogeyman: witches.
Higher Ed Oct. 29, 2023 5:00 am703d ago
The path Kristie Fisher took from student at Prairie High School in the 1980s to president of Kirkwood Community College today was a lot longer and more winding than the two miles of physical distance that separate the schools on the south end of Cedar Rapids.
Higher Ed Oct. 30, 2023 9:16 am702d ago
Food pantries on each of Iowa’s public universities have seen huge usage spikes of late – coinciding with rising tuition rates, soaring food prices and shifting demographics in a state seeing more first-generation, low-income and minority high school graduates headed to college.