As the ice gave way below his feet and plunged Jeff Tamplin into the frigid waters of the Cedar River, one thought flashed through his head: I’m going to die.
Jerrell Bates arrived at UNI as an introvert wondering whether he’d ever leave his dorm room. Three years later, Bates is a campus leader whose efforts to destigmatize mental health issues were recognized with a national award.
A string of handwritten inspirational Post-it notes have mysteriously popped up across campus.
They adorn exterior building doors, light posts, handrails and more. On Thursday morning, the notes were crumbled and damp from the morning showers, but the message during a pandemic is clear.
“You are powerful.” “Smile. You are beautiful.” “You are so loved.”
For marginalized students from low-income backgrounds, unexpected expenses like a $500 car repair can make or break their chances of finishing college. Nobody knows this better than the staff of UNI’s Center for Urban Education (UNI-CUE), which serves around 15,000 people annually with several programs designed to promote continued education in marginalized communities.
When UNI’s advising offices moved into a new location, the wheels in Danielle Weide’s head started turning. As assistant director of transfer recruitment, she’s long dreamed of opening a center to provide services to UNI’s significant population of incoming transfer students.
That dream of a dedicated space for transfer students came to fruition in January when the new Transfer Student Center opened in Gilchrist 028.
UNI Director of Athletics David Harris has been named an Athletics Director of the Year for 2020-21 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
Harris is in his fifth year leading the departments and is one of four FCS Directors of Athletics to earn the ADOY honor for 2020-21. The other honorees are Wofford’s Richard Johnson, Princeton’s Mollie Marcoux Samaan and fellow Valley Football AD David Herbster from South Dakota.
A UNI professor has helped shine a spotlight on an important Black voice in Chicago history. Ada S. McKinley was a Black educator who founded a settlement house in 1919 to help veterans returning from World War I and homeless families migrating from the South. Her work was continued by others and today the Ada S. McKinley Community Services helps more than 7,000 people a year in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
