Vanessa Miller

A University of Iowa epidemiologist takes questions from The Gazette as children head back to school.

“My biggest concern is there are equity issues, where some children had a lot more resources. ... And then there are other kids who just didn't have those same resources and support. And I'm worried that those are the kids that are going to fall a lot more behind.”

Despite predictions for a vastly different academic year than last, University of Iowa faculty again are raising safety concerns as they head into a fall semester with COVID cases rising — echoing demands from a year ago for stronger administrative stances and public health precautions.

Although administrators leading Iowa’s public universities say they can’t mandate vaccines or masks heading into a fall semester that arrives with COVID cases again on the rise, they’re encouraging their tens of thousands of campus community members to get a shot before returning.

The State of Iowa last month agreed to pay a former University of Iowa secretary $35,000 after she was fired for sleeping on the job – despite reporting a related disability necessitating workplace accommodations she said UI failed to provide.

Even before the pandemic upended education in 2020, fewer Iowans were filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — a key indicator of college enrollment and, for many, a “door” to higher education.

Following a stinging denial in February and another unexpected delay over the summer, University of Iowa Health Care’s revamped application to build a new $230 million facility off Interstate-380 in North Liberty is set to have a second shot before the State Health Facilities Council on Aug. 31.

After just three years as part of University of Iowa Health Care’s new administrative team, Chief Financial Officer Bradley Haws on Friday is leaving UIHC for the same position at

UNI on Monday unveiled a new articulation agreement with the entire Illinois Community College System — a 48-college collective serving nearly 700,000 students annually — that commits to recognize Illinois transfers with associate of arts degrees as having met UNI’s general education requirements.

While maintaining its standing as the top-ranked hospital in Iowa, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has lost ground nationally in its ranked specialties, according to new U.S. News & World Report “best hospitals” list.

“The marquee lounge is the heart of the entire renovation project,” Gallagher Bluedorn Executive Director Steve Carignan said in a statement. “The marquee lounge will be a world class gathering place to match world class performances that take place on our stage.”

“What we see is the medalist who is the most happy is the gold medalist — because they just won the event. But then the next medalist that’s expressing the most happiness is the bronze medalist,” a University of Iowa researcher says.

As it promised, University of Iowa Health Care is rewarding via one-time payout the more than 12,000 employees who it required over the last year to either forfeit raises, absorb pay cuts, shed earned vacation time, or take unpaid leave to ease UIHC budget woes in the throes of COVID-19.

Stepping into the University of Iowa presidency as her campus emerges from an historically tumultuous year that stressed the budget and prompted her predecessor to trim programs, eliminate sports, and

Athletics deficits that the University of Iowa and Iowa State University projected for the last pandemic-plagued season were not as steep as anticipated, according to new Board of Regents budget recaps showing Hawkeye income was $35.8 million above expectations.