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'The Garden of Education'--New CLAS dean Chaden Djalali relishes the diversity of the liberal arts

The University of Iowa will observe the 100th anniversary of Homecoming with a variety of festivities during the last week of September, including Sports Night at the Hall of Fame, the Iowa Shout, a parade, a free concert on the Pentacrest, and, of course, a football game. Visit the official Homecoming website and the UI Alumni Association page for more details.

ENROLLMENT

UI enrollment reaches record high

With 31,498 students attending the university this fall, total enrollment has reached a record high. That number includes 21,999 undergraduates, 4,470 of whom are first-year students, and a record 16.2 percent of the incoming class identify as minorities. More

K-12 EDUCATION

UI, Kirkwood partner to boost interest in STEM careers

The UI is partnering with Kirkwood Community College to create a joint regional center focused on enhancing technical education and examining new models to stimulate additional student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers and four-year degrees. More

UI PRESS

New book highlights 60 years of Iowa life

The UI Press has published a collection of tips from columnist and Iowa farm wife Evelyn Birkby—dubbed “Iowa’s best-known homemaker”—as part of its Bur Oak Books series. More

FOOTBALL

Hawkeyes invade Chicago

When the UI football team kicked off its 2012 season Sept. 1 at Soldier Field in Chicago, thousands of Hawkeye fans tagged along, seeing the sights and spreading Hawkeye cheer. Check out the scenes from Navy Pier, Wrigley Field, and the game against the Northern Illinois Huskies. More

Related: Nile Kinnick Collection, including letters, clippings, and photos, now online

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Future teachers take on bullying

The Teacher Leader Center in the UI College of Education will host a variety of workshops and community discussion panels on the topic of bullying this fall. Teachers, parents, students, and community members are invited to join the conversation. More

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Nonfiction writing student picks up prestigious award

Inara Verzemnieks, a graduate student in the UI Nonfiction Writing Program, was named one of six 2012 winners of the Rona Jaffe Writers' Award. She follows in the footsteps of past UI recipients Eula Biss, Amy Leach, Lan Samantha Chang, and ZZ Packer. More

RESEARCH

UI selects Microsoft executive to lead research, economic development

Daniel Reed, an executive at Microsoft Corp. and longtime academic, was recently named UI vice president for research and economic development, effective Oct. 15. He succeeds Jordan Cohen. More

CAMPAIGN 2012

President Obama returns to campus

Making a rare joint appearance, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, first lady Michelle Obama, and Jill Biden stopped on the UI campus Sept. 7, addressing a crowd of thousands on the Pentacrest and T. Anne Cleary Walkway. More

“Astronomers like to think of distances in terms of ‘light-years.’ Well, we’re not anything like a ‘light-year,’ but we’re now a substantial fraction of a ‘light-day’ from the Earth. And I just find that extremely impressive.”

Don Gurnett, UI professor of physics and astronomy who has worked on NASA’s Voyager 1 mission since the mid-1970s, reflecting on the 35th anniversary of the spacecraft, which continues to remit valuable data as it approaches the end of the solar system (NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Sept. 5).

More UI national news

“There is life after basketball.”

Former NBA player and coach Don Nelson, who in May completed the requirements for a UI bachelor’s degree and in September was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, on starting several successful businesses in Hawaii (Silicon Valley Mercury News, Aug. 28).