It’s not hard to see why Alison Altstatt’s friends call her “the Indiana Jones of medieval manuscripts.”
Though Altstatt may not be fighting Hollywood villains while sporting a fedora, her adventures have taken her around the globe – discovering long lost artifacts of the past.
Her mission: to recover and reassemble the pages of a precious 13th-century musical manuscript – all while balancing a full teaching schedule at the UNI School of Music.
The renovation of the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center has received a $200,000 gift from Cecelia and Jim Mudd, Sr. The gift from the Mudds will support the estimated $14.5 million renovation of the 20-year old facility.
“I never went there without having a wonderful time and enjoying myself immensely, along with Ceceilia. We went there often, and we enjoyed every single minute,” said Jim Mudd, Sr., chairman of Mudd Advertising and chief spiritual advisor for the company.
A University of Northern Iowa alumna and pioneering political figure in women’s and family rights was posthumously honored with the 2020 Women of Achievement Award, which will be commemorated with a plaque on the Iowa Women of Achievement Bridge in Des Moines.
While COVID-19 made for a challenging end to their college careers, our graduating seniors continued to impress with their academic brilliance, strong relationships with faculty and other students, and wide variety of out-of-class experiences to create a strong foundation for their future. These are but a few of our promising Class of Fall 2020 graduates:
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life in every sense, particularly for businesses. Offices may never be the same. A variety of data shows that even after the pandemic ends, many companies expect their employees will work from home at least a few days a week. These dramatic shifts could have lasting implications for corporate America. Will competition for office space in urban hubs be less fierce?
2020 brought plenty to be angry about. There’s been a global pandemic, a national reckoning with racial injustice, an economic crisis and a presidential election - all of it debated each day on social media. But UNI education professor Suzanne Freedman, who has specialized in forgiveness research over nearly three decades and teaches a course on the subject, said now may be a good time to remember the benefits of forgiveness, empathy and understanding.
