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.
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.
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 Career Services didn’t let a global pandemic stop them from giving students an opportunity to safely find their future career.
With restrictions on face-to-face interaction due to COVID-19, UNI will hold its Career Fair virtually from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 21. Attendees will be able to interact and network with representatives from more than 120 different companies via video chat through the Handshake app.
The year 2020 marks 100 years of women having the right to vote. But the ratification of the 19th Amendment only gave some women the right to vote. African American women were almost completely excluded.
Iowa has many prominent African American suffragists in its history, yet they receive little recognition. A new traveling exhibit at the UNI Museum in the Rod Library seeks to change that.
To maintain classroom safety, keep face-to-face instruction and prevent healthy students from being asked to quarantine, UNI has reassigned a total of 160 classes to new locations, and redesigned seating in over 100 classrooms, to further increase physical distancing and reduce the need for students to quarantine because of potential exposure.
UNI NEWS SERVICES - The University of Northern Iowa’s fall 2020 census numbers reflect a growing freshman class, a strong increase in out-of-state students, a near record-high retention rate, and the most diverse freshman class of all time.
By UNI President Mark A. Nook and DMACC President Rod Denson
Long before the pandemic, Iowa’s business and higher education communities had been laying plans for the future of our state in a period of profound disruption to our workforce and economy. Automation, robotics and artificial intelligence are re-envisioning our workforces and elevating the skill pre-requisites for proficiency at every level of employment.
When the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for Game 5 of the NBA playoffs in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, it sparked a wave of similar wildcat strikes across the NBA and MLB as athletes called for an end to police brutality.
Belinda Creighton-Smith has never let adversity stand in her way. To become a pastor, community leader and inspiration to many on campus, she’s had to overcome the death of her son during her graduate studies and five-hour commutes to start her education.
She now has a doctorate in education and is taking her determination to a new role in her fight for diversity on campus at UNI, as a member of UNI President Mark A. Nook’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee.
