Vanessa Miller

The University of Iowa is seeking help hiring temporary workers for its State Hygienic Lab that – like many other industries – is facing a labor shortage stretching its staff thin as it aims to process an average of 1,000 tests a day for things like COVID-19, newborn and maternal screenings, and tuberculosis.

After shedding students annually for more than a decade – a post-recession trend aggravated by the pandemic – Iowa’s 15 community colleges this fall recorded their first collective enrollment uptick since 2010: a half percentage point bump, pushing the student tally to 82,251.

Spelling out its contention with a $12.8 million jury verdict awarded to a contractor on its Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the state – on behalf of the University of Iowa and Board of Regents – is accusing jurors of leveling “excessive” damages and of being “influenced by passion or prejudice.”

Meanwhile, contractor Modern Piping the day after its favorable verdict Oct. 27 asked the court to require the state, UI and regents to pay an additional $16 million related to bond issues and questions that arose at the start of the disagreement in April 2016.

Going back to fiscal 2018, University of Iowa Student Health psychiatry visits are up 40 percent, even though total enrollment is down 8 percent over the same period.

Reported crimes tied to social interaction jumped at the University of Iowa last year, with rape reports surging to 64 in 2021 from 38 in 2020, 50 in 2019, and 22 in 2015.

Adding to the hundreds of millions in new construction, renovations, and expansions already planned or underway across its Johnson County campuses, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics this week wants Board of Regents approval to spend another $16 million upgrading its main Iowa City location.

A push to raise $250 million for the 146-year-old University of Northern Iowa began quietly four years ago, starting with fundraising for a $14.9 million renovation of the campus’ Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.

Four years after taking over the sprawling Kirkwood Community College system in 2018 as its fifth president and first female head, Lori Sundberg, 64, on Monday announced plans to retire next fall.

“The health and safety of students is a priority at the University of Iowa, and many students enjoy opening their windows in their living spaces for fresh air,” UI spokesman Chris Brewer told The Gazette.

Although Iowa’s regent universities still enroll far more Iowans than out-of-state residents, the gap between the two groups of students is narrowing – with all three campuses reporting fewer resident students this fall than last fall.

Through her work on “The 1619 Project” in its many iterations – and again Wednesday evening on the Iowa State University campus – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones argued for making slavery central to the American story, rather than just an asterisk.

Initial reports are the fall was an accident, as students said they were “playing around in a residence hall room when one student leaned back and fell through the screen of an open window,” a UI spokeswoman said.

More than seven years after a Cedar Rapids contractor first sued the University of Iowa over payment for work on a pair of high-profile projects – its new Hancher Auditorium and children’s hospital – a jury has delivered another blow to UI, ordering it pay $12.8 million more.

Despite massive deficits during the pandemic for both University of Iowa and Iowa State University athletics, both programs not only are reporting a rebound but record-breaking revenue in the budget year that just ended.