UNI alum and Alaskan Park Ranger Sam Braband didn’t experience the pandemic like many people. After all, when your job can range from responding to a wildfire to chasing wildlife from a campground, working from home isn’t an option.
Keyaira Miller is making her mark in the fashion world. In April, oversaw the launch of Amazon’s new Gen Y fashion brand, Wild Meadow, and this September, she will launch her own line of children’s clothes.
Michelle Hall raised four children, overcame domestic violence and first enrolled at UNI at age 41. She now works at a Waterloo nonprofit that serves people affected by homelessness, domestic violence and sexual assault.
Jym Ganahl, an Associated Press Broadcasting Hall of Famer, credits his studies at UNI for launching his career as a TV weatherman. And now the 55-year meteorological veteran is seeking the Guinness Record for longest-serving TV weatherman.
Panther alum Yulia Dannen, a Russian immigrant and single mother who has built a successful accounting business, recently won a statewide entrepreneur of the year award. “(They) said UNI’s accounting program is the best and now I know it is,” she said.
For Brandon Purvis, undergraduate research at UNI was a career-changing experience. A year-long stint as a researcher with assistant professor of computer science Dheryta Jaisinghani has him considering graduate school after they developed a preliminary system for enforcing social distancing guidelines in classrooms using the revolutionary field known as the Internet of Things.
The estimated 10,000 cyclists pedaling into Waterloo today are rolling under a whimsical passage built from bicycle parts. It’s the latest piece of public art from Victoria Reed (‘10) an accomplished sculptor who has public art installations throughout Iowa. This one will be moved onto the city’s bike trails after RAGBRAI ends.
UNI senior Aaron Brown is already weighing three job offers - and he won’t even graduate until December. The construction management major is part of a Panther program that has doubled in size over the last five years as industry demand accelerated. UNI is the only university in Iowa that offers a four-year construction management degree.
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.
