Students Blog Campus Life

Follow the ups and downs of student life with the UI Daily Mayhem, a collection of student blogs written by UIAA Student Ambassadors. These students have committed to sharing their stories, opinions, and insights with the University and web community all semester long. More >>

UI Quality, Affordability Lead To 'Best Buy' Designation In New Fiske Guide

As the costs of higher education increase nationwide, students and parents are searching for the highest-quality education they can afford. The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2006 has the answer: The University of Iowa, a "Best Buy" university. The UI is one of 17 public colleges from across the country selected as "Best Buys" based on the quality of academic offerings in relation to the cost of attendance. The UI is the only public university in the state to make the list and one of only two Big Ten universities included. More >>

$2.85 Million Carver Grant To Aid Chemistry Building, Faculty

The University of Iowa Department of Chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has received a $2.85 million grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine to help renovate research laboratories in the Chemistry Building and permit the department to continue its strong faculty hiring initiative. More >>

Department of Chemistry: http://www.uiowa.edu/~chemdept/
The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences: http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/

UI Mobilizes To Help Gulf Coast Residents, Students, Faculty Displaced By Katrina

The University of Iowa community has opened its arms, classrooms and lab space to students and faculty from Louisiana and other parts of the Gulf Coast whose own schools were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, and groups on campus have launched fundraisers and other initiatives to aid victims of what many consider the worst natural disaster in American history. Meanwhile, the UI Hygienic Lab is providing routine newborn screening of Louisiana infants until medical labs there can reopen for business.

UI relief efforts: http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/hurricane/news.html
UI Hurricane Aid Website: http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/hurricane/index.html

UI Law Professor Thinks Iraq Constitution Will Have Little Impact

Regardless of when a new Iraqi constitution is drafted, it will likely have little effect on the lives of most Iraqis and rendered mostly irrelevant by real world events, according to Adrien Wing, a University of Iowa law professor and expert in constitutional drafting. More >>

College of Law: http://www.law.uiowa.edu/

Researchers Will Use Grant To Study Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Researchers in the UI Carver College of Medicine who seek to reduce fetal alcohol syndrome cases have received a major grant to study how a certain pathway in the brain protects against toxic effects of alcohol. The two-year, $387,187 grant is funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health. More >>

Carver College of Medicine: http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/

University Of Iowa Student Honored For Support Of Kidney Research

A 19-year-old University of Iowa sophomore's extraordinary efforts on behalf of people with chronic kidney disease have earned her the "Spirit of Service" award from the American Association of Kidney Patients. More >>

UI Hospitals & Clinics: http://www.uihealthcare.com/

Bacteria In Household Dust May Trigger Asthma Symptoms

New University of Iowa research shows that bacteria lurking in household dust produce chemicals that may trigger asthma and asthma-related symptoms such as wheezing. These bacterial chemicals, called endotoxins, particularly those found on bedroom floors, were linked with increased respiratory problems in adults. More >>

College of Public Health: http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/
Environmental Health Sciences Research Center: http://www.ehsrc.uiowa.edu/

UI International Writing Program Assembles 2005 Global Literary Community

The University of Iowa International Writing program (IWP) continues its unique residency program by welcoming 36 writers — representing 29 countries — who will join the UI literary community for three months, Aug. 27 through Nov. 21. More >>

International Writing Program: http://www.uiowa.edu/~iwp/

Hancher Auditorium Opens Season Sept. 24 With Festive Party And Latin Music

The University of Iowa Hancher Auditorium will open its 2005-06 performing arts season with a festive party on Saturday, Sept. 24, featuring the popular Puerto Rican dance band Plena Libre. More >>

Hancher Auditorium: http://www.hancher.uiowa.edu/

Fisher's Research On Tax Breaks Included In Book (Business Week, Sept. 5)

A review of "The Great American Job Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation," by Greg LeRoy, says the most disturbing information in the book is evidence that states and cities are usually paying companies to do what they would have done anyway. Using both specific examples as well as broader studies, LeRoy shows how companies pit prospective sites against one another to get the best tax deal — then usually locate the new facilities in the region they had chosen in the first place. In fact, an estimated 96 percent of company tax breaks are such windfalls, according to work LeRoy cites by University of Iowa professor PETER FISHER. To put it another way, officials are handing out millions to influence a minute number of job shifts. "I think of it like using dynamite to catch fish," writes LeRoy. More >>

Department of Urban & Regional Planning: http://www.urban.uiowa.edu/

Gantz Comments on Cochlear Implants
(Washington Post, Sept. 2)

King Jordan, the man who for 17 years has symbolized the rights, the abilities and the strength of deaf people, announced yesterday that he will step down from the presidency of Gallaudet University. He was named president in 1988. About the same time Jordan took office, cochlear implant technology was approved. The technology has improved to become standard treatment, said BRUCE GANTZ of the University of Iowa. Most infants are screened for hearing problems, and in studies, Gantz said, researchers have found that babies given cochlear implants grow up speaking, developing language and learning to read just as their hearing peers do. Some in the deaf community have fought those changes. They worry that deaf people might no longer speak a common language, that there would no longer be a deaf community. "We understand where the deaf culture is coming from — we're a threat to their culture," he said. Doctors don't want to wipe that out, Gantz said, but they do want to be able to offer the opportunity to hear. More >>

Department of Otolaryngology: http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/med/otolaryngology/index.html

Barkan: Museveni Harasses Opponents
(Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 23)

Uganda 's government is becoming more authoritarian, evidenced by its recent crackdown on a critical journalist, as the country's first multi-party election approaches, according to JOEL BARKAN, a University of Iowa professor and expert in East African politics. "President Museveni's approach to the onset of multiparty politics in Uganda is nearly identical to the approach of former president [Daniel arap] Moi in Kenya a decade ago," he says. "Agree to multiparty democracy in form, but harass the opposition and the press, create an unlevel playing field and try to orchestrate the outcome through the disbursement of patronage and money." More >>

Department of Political Science: http://www.polisci.uiowa.edu/

Cornell, Lee Study Zebrafish Link To Cancer
( Munster Times, Aug. 22)

The embryo of the 2-inch striped zebrafish, usually the last living swimmer in your kid's aquarium, is providing cancer researchers at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine with new insights into the development of the deadliest form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma. A study described in the August issue of Developmental Dynamics Magazine reports that skin cancer cells stopped growing when injected into zebrafish embryos. The laboratory groups of Dr. Mary Hendrix, president and scientific director of the Children's Memorial Research Center in Chicago, and ROBERT CORNELL, assistant professor at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, conducted the research and experiments. "Putting human cells into embryos is quite rare," said LISA M.J. LEE, University of Iowa graduate student and the study's lead author, who conducted hundreds of experiments. "In fact, this is the first time skin cells have been injected into zebrafish embryos." The Times is based in Munster, Ind. More >>

Carver College of Medicine: http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology: http://www.anatomy.uiowa.edu/

Baldus: 'Blatant Disregard' Of Discrimination
Law In Case (MSNBC, Aug. 22)

As recently as 2002, Dallas County prosecutors were excluding eligible black prospects from juries at more than twice the rate they turned down whites, a newspaper reported Sunday. The issue surfaced earlier this year when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1986 murder conviction of a black man accused of killing a white motel clerk, saying the Dallas County jury that convicted Thomas Miller-El was unfairly stacked with whites. The Supreme Court cited a manual, written in 1969 and used until at least 1980 that instructed prosecutors on how to exclude minorities from Texas juries. Justice David Souter wrote that racial discrimination in the Miller-El case was unquestionable. The dueling tactics of defense attorneys and prosecutors during jury selection produce only an illusion of equal rights that flouts the intent of several U.S. Supreme Court rulings, said University of Iowa law professor DAVID BALDUS, a leading researcher on jury selection. Racial discrimination in selecting jurors has long been federally prohibited. A 1986 Supreme Court ruling cited in the Miller-El case barred prosecutors from disqualifying potential jurors based on race. "We're talking about the court of law, and there is blatant disregard and violation of the law going on," Baldus said. Versions of the article also ran on the websites of the NEW YORK TIMES, MACON (Ga.) TELEGRAPH, TALLAHASSEE.COM in Florida, the FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE in Indiana, MIAMI HERALD, NEW YORK NEWSDAY and other media outlets. More >>

College of Law: http://www.law.uiowa.edu/

Back to School: Testing Debate Centers On What Students Should Learn

After Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, it isn’t just students who are getting butterflies during yearly standardized tests. As educators around the country hustle to maximize their students’ scores, finger-pointing predominates. In the center of this complicated standoff lies the question we have grappled unsuccessfully with throughout the 150-year history of public education in America: what should public schools teach, and who are they supposed to teach it to? How can we know if schools are failing if we can’t agree what schools are for? Educators at the UI say it's hard to test students when you can't agree on what they should learn. More >>

A Love for Iowa: UI At the Heart Of Couple’s Work, Life

The University of Iowa made a world of difference, both professionally and personally, for Gordon and Faye Strayer. From their respective vantage points in the university—Gordon as a student and longtime public relations leader at the UI and Faye as a student, test item writer, medical researcher, and Museum of Art docent—they have spent their lives participating in and promoting the university’s greatest strengths, as well as ensuring that such excellence is able to continue in the future. More >>

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UI National News Highlights: http://www.uiowa.edu:80/~ournews/national.html

UI Alumni Association: http://www.iowalum.com

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