When junior instrumental music education student Nicole Loftus arrived on campus this fall in the midst of a global pandemic, she didn’t know what to expect.
“I was hopeful that we would stay in-person for the entire semester, but I didn’t actually think we would,” Loftus said. “I had people telling me that I shouldn’t bring warm clothes down here or set my room up too much because we would move home.”
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:
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.
The University of Northern Iowa is creating change on campus, and faculty, staff, and students are working together to make it happen. This past fall, President Nook announced twelve action items to address needs, challenges, and opportunities expressed by the campus community.
In the early months of the pandemic, University of Northern Iowa student Hannah Van Theemsche realized it was society’s most vulnerable who were most in danger.
