UNI alum and classically trained singer MaKayla McDonald never envisioned a place in the industry for a young, Black queer singer. Now the dynamic, up-and-coming soprano - who performs Friday through Sunday as Ida B. Wells in “The Suffragist” at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center - is winning lead roles in opera houses across the country.
A group of UNI students is curating a collection of preserved crabs for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City that will help future researchers study the species and the human impacts on its habitat.
Four UNI students are taking part in field research operated out of UNI’s Tallgrass Prairie Center this summer to help prevent the rapid decline of the monarch butterfly.
The UNI Alumni Studio at the Red House Studios – a partnership between the Hearst Center for the Arts and the UNI Department of Art – was awarded in July to a recent graduate of UNI’s studio art program.
Andrew Dickerson (BFA Photography, 2019) will be using the space, located on the Hearst property, to further his art practice over the next year.
Jess Cruz, outreach educator and exhibit preparator for the UNI Museum, doesn’t just help prepare students for careers in museum studies through her work. As a proud Hispanic and bisexual woman, Cruz also serves as an advocate for students across campus.
A nationally recognized painter training program at the University of Northern Iowa has been awarded a federal contract to provide training at 20 U.S. military sites across the country.
The Pauline R. Barrett Charitable Foundation has invested $2 million in the renovation and expansion of the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.
“Pauline was known throughout the Cedar Valley for her philanthropy and volunteerism,” said UNI President Mark A. Nook. “During her lifetime, the university was fortunate to have her support for student scholarships as well as various capital projects across campus. UNI and the Cedar Valley are stronger because of Pauline’s transformational support of her community.”
The University of Northern Iowa has received its third and largest allotment of federal COVID-19 relief funding, which will provide additional financial assistance to qualifying students impacted by the pandemic.
A new partnership between UNI’s Department of Theatre and its Classic Upward Bound program is helping prepare low-income and first-generation Waterloo high school students for college, by using the skills gained through acting and improvising.
Waterloo native DaQuan Campbell, a business management graduate, has grown the market from 15 vendors to more than 40 while launching a fresh produce venture of his own. “I wanted to make sure it had an impact on the community,” he says.
