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. 23, 2021 11:22 am1487d ago
Iowa State University has agreed to pay a former professor and lab director $275,000 as part of a settlement stemming from years of accusations both from her and against her — including that her department chair and his domestic partner made unwanted sexual advances.
Higher Ed Nov. 18, 2021 7:31 pm1492d ago
Coe College community members protested Thursday in response to diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns following the private college’s recent presidential search – prompting two trustees to resign and issue scathing letters accusing colleagues of deceit.
Higher Ed Nov. 17, 2021 6:00 am1493d ago
Even with COVID crippling community services and hampering projects and initiatives last year, a “heart safe community campaign” in honor of the late University of Iowa cardiology professor Richard Kerber did not skip a beat — so to speak.
Higher Ed Nov. 17, 2021 12:40 pm1493d ago
Once again, fewer students enrolled in Iowa’s 15 community colleges this fall — continuing a decadelong slide that COVID exacerbated, driving a 7.5 percent drop from fall 2019 to fall 2021.
Higher Ed Nov. 15, 2021 6:00 am1495d ago
Though total enrollment across Iowa’s public universities has been sliding for the last five years — including big drops from COVID since 2019 — the University of Iowa is predicting a 4-percent one-year jump next fall and 6-percent bump by 2026, according to new data UI provided to lawmakers.
Higher Ed Nov. 12, 2021 6:00 am1498d ago
With Iowa eager to put COVID in the rear view mirror, Board of Regents President Mike Richards in May lifted the state of emergency he imposed in March 2020 and mandated Iowa’s public universities return to pre-pandemic operations.
Higher Ed Sep. 29, 2023 2:11 pm812d ago
Like other award recipients from the upended 2020-21 term, Dizdarevic said she’s glad to get any experience at all through an esteemed Fulbright program – the world’s largest international exchange program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2021.
Higher Ed Nov. 10, 2021 2:45 pm1500d ago
Protests that enveloped the University of Iowa’s Phi Gamma Delta fraternity this fall caused more than $200,000 in damage to the chapter house and displaced 28 members for the semester.
Higher Ed Nov. 9, 2021 8:31 am1501d ago
Although the retreat from daylight saving time might have worn off by Nov. 19, anyone still riding that extra hour into predawn wakefulness might get to see this month’s beaver moon turn “blood” red when North American gets a front-row seat for the century’s longest lunar eclipse.
Higher Ed Nov. 8, 2021 11:53 am1502d ago
The University of Iowa-based State Hygienic Laboratory – which for the last nearly two years has been on the front lines of Iowa’s COVID response – hasn’t been consistently charging customers or collecting documentation, leaving on the table as much as $1.1 million, according to a recent audit.
Higher Ed Nov. 7, 2021 9:33 am1503d ago
A national nonprofit civil-liberties group is calling on the University of Iowa College of Law to remove or revise a new question it added to faculty evaluation forms asking how the professors have improved their law school’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” — calling those terms “broad,” “subjective,” and “political.”
Crime & Courts Nov. 4, 2021 2:53 pm1506d ago
A 41-year-old former immigration attorney facing numerous theft charges in Colorado is being held in the Johnson County Jail in Iowa City, accused of fabricating a positive COVID test from the University of Iowa in an attempt to avoid a mandatory in-person court appearance in Boulder.
Higher Ed Nov. 5, 2021 3:49 pm1505d ago
In a fall semester already plagued by fraternity-related controversy, the University of Iowa has placed on interim suspension three more Greek chapters accused of alcohol violations — among other things.
Higher Ed Nov. 2, 2021 4:25 pm1508d ago
COVID-19 altered how faculty members across Iowa’s public universities spent their work days in the last academic year – draining hours spent in a classroom and decreasing time on research and scholarship while spiking virtual instruction and online grading and preparation.
Crime & Courts Nov. 2, 2021 10:00 am1508d ago
A 22-year-old Cedar Rapids man is facing felony robbery and trafficking of stolen weapons charges after Iowa City police say he robbed someone at a Kum & Go near the University of Iowa campus in the early morning hours of Oct. 3.

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