Dazzling light shows, interactive video projections and audio feedback loops dotted the College Hill area last weekend with the debut of the first-ever Cedar Valley Illuminate Art and Light Festival. The projection art showcase featured 15 installations from local artists, students and community organizations conceived around a theme of promoting social justice and societal change.
Angela Waseskuk was only in kindergarten, and the third grade boy had backed her up against a wall and was yelling in her face.
Waseskuk was a shy child, trying to blend in as a South Korean brought to Iowa by her foster parents, who adopted her when she was 2. But she was out in the open and in tears as the boy hurled racial epithets.
“What’s wrong with your face? Can you even see out of those eyes? Why don’t you go back where you came from?”
More than 1,000 students, faculty and staff have been vaccinated on campus in the last few weeks. InsideUNI asked a few who become fully vaccinated this week why they did it.
A gift from Robert and Annette Morden, both two-time graduates of UNI, supports campus initiatives that promote cultural acceptance, collaboration, awareness and education. Two new projects – a student-driven film from the theater department and an art project about Indigenous land rights – are underway with help from the fund.
A new grant awarded to the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Urban Education will provide 15 summer internship opportunities to local high school students from historically marginalized populations.
The $87,000 grant from Iowa Workforce Development will provide summer employment for youths who are at risk of not graduating, from low-income households or from communities under-represented in the Iowa workforce. Companies participating in the program include UnityPoint Health, MasterBrand Cabinets, Experience Waterloo, Viking Pump and VGM & Associates.
The University of Northern Iowa has announced the first finalist in the search for its next Provost.
Vandana Kohli, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at California State University, Channel Islands, will interview remotely on Wednesday, April 28 and Thursday, April 29. Dr. Kohli will meet with faculty, staff, students and other members of the campus community. Kohli’s curriculum vitae is available here.
For the second year, UNI’s celebrated the annual Student Leadership Awards with a four-part virtual ceremony. The ceremony, which runs from Monday, April 19, through Thursday, April 22, recognizes students from across campus for their contributions to key programs and campus culture.
A geology educator found information on St. Peter’s sandstone. An Australian researcher discovered an early paper on the physiology of oats. Both a Pennsylvania graduate student and a Colombian graduate student in France tracked down important research on education.
A new University of Northern Iowa program will help aspiring gardeners start their own home garden at no cost to them.
Starting this spring, A Garden in Every Lot will provide new gardeners in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls metro area with site assessment, tilling, mulching and compost, and planting services as part of a multi-year effort by UNI’s Center for Energy and Environmental Education to improve community access to healthy foods.