Marion, Iowa, and Rawalpindi, Pakistan are separated by a distance of over 7,000 miles. Mahlia Brown grew up dreaming of a career in human resources, while Farhan Amjad’s interest in technology led him to study computer science with a desire to make his own impact on Silicon Valley. Their paths converged at UNI as the 2020 Lux Service Award recipients.
The award is the most prestigious given by the Office of the Dean of Students each year to honor graduating seniors with a track record of serving others on campus.
It was 1976 and Arthur Cox was at his first day on the job as salesperson at a Quad Cities real estate firm. Excited to learn the ins and outs of his new position, he followed his boss to the open-office area where the company’s brokers spent a portion of their workdays. Rows of desks filled the space, and Cox’s then-boss pointed to an empty workstation and left Cox to do his job without any more introductions or training.
Growing up in a tight-knit neighborhood community in Waterloo, Wilfred “Mickye” Johnson learned the importance of helping your neighbor. Johnson has 12 siblings, and his parents often struggled to make ends meet. But his community’s generosity helped his family thrive and instilled values in Johnson that guide him even today.
“Everybody uses the phrase, ‘It takes a village…’ and we truly had a village that raised all of us,” Johnson recalled. “We would share everything we had. ... We knew we were loved by our family and by the total community.”
The University of Northern Iowa College of Business Administration once again earned the “gold standard” for business colleges worldwide after the AACSB extended its accreditation for another five years in recognition of its continued excellence in education.
Only 5% of business schools worldwide have earned AACSB accreditation, and UNI was one of just 38 business schools in the country to receive the extension in this recent quarter.
The rapid global spread of COVID-19 has forced some health care providers to make gut-wrenching choices. In Italy, doctors had to decide which terminally-ill patients received ventilators. And in New York, there have been reports of patients unable to get lifesaving treatments.
Fortunately Cedar Valley physicians have so far been spared making those momentous life-or-death choices about who receives care. But they’ve turned to a UNI professor and bioethics expert for guidance in case that day ever comes.
Each year, hundreds of students pack Lang Hall Auditorium for the annual Catwalk fashion show. The show is run by students in UNI’s textiles and apparel program (TAPP) and showcases their original designs. Students dive into planning and creating pieces for the event at the start of every spring semester. Senior TAPP major Jenna Vermost had already made six pieces, including four elaborate wedding dresses, for this year’s show when COVID-19 threatened to end the event altogether.
University of Northern Iowa junior Ashley Campbell had just made the biggest scientific discovery of her life, but it took a moment for the truth to sink in.
Campbell is part of a group of UNI undergraduates researching the genetic makeup of the chewing louse, a grain-sized parasite similar to lice in humans that makes its home on furry animals. The research, which aims to expand our knowledge of evolutionary biology for use in medical applications, is exacting and sometimes tedious.
In early March, before mandated bar and restaurant closures and social distancing guidelines brought the Cedar Valley economy to a grinding halt, University of Northern Iowa business and manufacturing instructor Heath Wilken could see that the looming COVD-19 pandemic would spell trouble for local small businesses.
So, he decided to do something about it. On March 15, he started the #CedarValleyStrong movement, a social media and business outreach campaign designed to bring awareness to area small businesses and encourage local shopping.
At first glance, it looks like something sprung from the mind of Jackson Pollock.
But the vibrant colors strewn across the image represent not the paint strokes of an artist, but the tiny, mineralogical components of a rock. And they were produced by a new set of scientific instruments at the University of Northern Iowa that will give students a deeper, more detailed look into geology than was previously possible.
With Cedar Valley hospitals, health clinics and nursing homes still in critical need of personal protective equipment, the University of Northern Iowa continues to be part of the supply effort.
