University of Northern Iowa Homepage Stories & News

Windmills

UNI awarded more than $800,000 for energy-focused projects

The Iowa Energy Center announced more than $800,000 in grant funding to two University of Northern Iowa projects working to boost energy efficiency in underserved rural areas and educate the next generation about career opportunities in an ever-evolving energy market.

The IEC awarded $418,696 to the Developing an Iowa Energy Curriculum for Secondary Classrooms project proposed by UNI’s Earth and Environmental Sciences department, which will develop and disseminate an energy curriculum for Iowa middle and high school students that incorporates career connections into each topic.

The RAs of Lawther Hall

RAs bringing normality to an unprecedented semester

Although COVID-19 has forced students to keep the residence hall doors of Lawther Hall closed, there are still signs of life taped to hallways in the form of small, origami creations of Baby Yoda.

The characters, from the television series “The Mandalorian,” were created during an origami-folding grab-and-go event, one of several efforts of the dorm’s nine resident assistants to bring students together during a global pandemic that is forcing everyone to stay apart.

UNI campus

#PanthersVote: Register now

With early polling locations in the November general election opening next week, college students across the country are preparing to vote, some of them for the first time.

Issues including the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare, the environment and racial justice have made this an election that some are describing as perhaps the most important in a generation. And with an ongoing pandemic, voting will look much different this year. 

Retired judge and UNI alumnus George Stigler

Pioneering judge reflects on a life in law

George Stigler (UNI ’72), who retired July 30 as Iowa’s longest active serving judge and only its second Black district jurist, credits an impromptu hallway chat with two of his University of Northern Iowa professors with changing his life’s course.

“In fall semester of my senior year, I was waiting for class to start in Seerley Hall when Professor Thomas Ryan asked me to come into his office,” recalled Stigler, 70, who earned his bachelor’s degree in History in three-and-a-half years. 

Admissions director Terri Crumley.

Meet UNI’s new Admissions Director

She’s a classically trained vocalist who as a grad student co-authored a paper on health issues among Gulf War veterans. Born to a music-teacher mom and college-administrator dad, UNI’s new admissions director Terri Crumley’s life has straddled both worlds in a career that led from The Juilliard School to teaching to admissions posts in Iowa and Wisconsin. Through it all, she kept singing. Here she talks about her goals in rebuilding enrollment during a global pandemic, the importance of saying yes and why UNI’s push to recruit a more diverse student body drew her here.   

UNI associate director of freshmen recruitment and access Jesus Lizarraga-Estrada

20 under 40: Breaking down barriers

As a first-generation, low-income Latino from a single parent household, Jesus Lizarraga-Estrada can relate to the struggles of underrepresented students.

Now the associate director of freshmen recruitment and access at UNI, Lizarraga-Estrada is working to break down the barriers for minoritized populations to access higher education and succeed on campus, and his work landed him on the Waterloo Courier’s “20 under 40” list in 2020.Jesus Lizarraga-Estrada

UNI federal government relations officer Andrew Morse

20 under 40: Federal advocacy meets local impact

In a normal year, barring a global pandemic, Andrew Morse travels a lot.

As the University of Northern Iowa’s primary federal government relations officer, he frequently jets off to Washington D.C. or Department of Defense sites or conferences across the country to advocate for legislative change. But don’t let that fool you. While he’s often away, his focus is solely on the local community.Andrew Morse

UNI associate professor Kelli Snyder

20 under 40: UNI professor a pillar of community service

When Kelli Snyder moved from her hometown of Dunkerton to Milwaukee to complete her master’s degree, she swore she’d never move back.

But then she received a job offer from Cedar Valley Medical Specialists for the athletic training position at Waterloo Columbus High School. And her husband, Andy, was working as a deputy sheriff for Black Hawk County. And her grandparents’ acreage, just down the road from the farm where she grew up, went up for sale.Kelli Snyder

Masked UNI students walk on campus.

Contact tracers help UNI answer the call

Answering the phone has never been more important.

Since the beginning of the semester, UNI contact tracers have been hard at work helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 by notifying students of their required quarantine for those in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

UNI marching band

Panthers marching to a different drum

They may not be marching this year, but the Panther Marching Band will play on. 

Like just about every other aspect of life on campus, COVID-19 has drastically altered marching band. This wasn’t the 120th season the nearly 300 members anticipated, but the group is pressing on, finding creative ways to stay safe, socialize and continue doing what they love even during a pandemic that has delayed the fall football season. They have performances scheduled throughout the semester, beginning on September 11th.