A cup of coffee in the morning is a daily ritual for millions of America, but for University of Northern Iowa alumnus Pernell Cezar, it’s something more.
Under the shade of a tree in a courtyard of Bartlett Hall, a group of masked students sat in a widely spaced semicircle of chairs arrayed around a podium where University of Northern Iowa languages and literature professor Grant Tracey gave a lecture for his Introduction to Film course.
Extension cords snaked across the grass to power a television Tracey used to show film clips and lecture slides. A microphone carried his voice to students in the back.
The University of Northern Iowa campus is once again alive.
After a long layoff due to COVID-19, the first day of class on Aug. 17 unfolded with the everyday sights and sounds of college life. Masked students walked to and from class or lounged in the Adirondack chairs in the shade of elm and ash trees.
The electronic beep of scanned student ID cards and the whir of espresso machines filled the background while students waited six feet apart for their coffee or tea at Chats in Maucker Union, the baristas protected by a sheet of Plexiglass.
With just under a week to go until the fall semester was set to begin, UNI senior and Marion native Blake Allington was focused on settling into his new home in Cedar Falls. When a late morning thunderstorm hit Cedar Falls with torrential rain, he didn’t think much of it other than hoping he’d stay dry. Everything changed when storm reports started coming out of the greater Cedar Rapids area.
What if you could locate a cancer cell, and use the cell’s natural repair process to destroy it? You’d be one step closer to a cure for cancer.
And that’s exactly what students in the UNI Department of Physics are working on.
This summer, a group of three undergraduate students in the department have partnered with the University of Iowa Department of Biochemistry in a unique, collaborative research effort to study cells, and their natural self-repairing mechanisms.
University of Northern Iowa President Mark A. Nook’s annual address to campus was a little different this year, and not just because he was speaking to his audience virtually.
This year, Nook eschewed the traditional topics of budgetary and legislative issues to focus on two of the most pressing concerns facing the university: dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing problems with UNI’s diversity and inclusion.
UNI professor and linguist Juan Carlos Castillo has been in love with languages since his childhood growing up in Spain. The pandemic has ushered in a host of new or revived words and phrases from “flattening the curve” to “social distancing” to “coronabeard.” In this conversation, Castillo discusses how new words are born (think the power of Cardi B), the growth of gender-neutral language and how advancements in machine learning are changing how we all communicate.
What new words have entered our lexicon since the pandemic began?
From their home in Punta Gorda, Florida, Annette and Bob Morden watched the memorial service for George Floyd, whose May death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers sparked a national protest movement that drew millions into the streets.
Both retired University of Wisconsin-Superior faculty, the Mordens listened as speakers eulogized Floyd. During his remarks, Scott Hagan, president of North Central University in downtown Minneapolis where the memorial service was held, challenged every college in America to establish scholarship funds in memory of Floyd.
By the time Nolan Ford was in second grade, he had learned lessons in courage and dedication that would last a lifetime and define a career path. That’s when his sister MacKenzie lost her fight with a rare, deadly form of cancer she had struggled with for most of her life. She was only 9.
When students begin classes at the University of Northern Iowa next week they’ll notice not only a new culture of wearing masks but also physical spaces that have been changed since COVID-19 emerged last spring.
