Iowa Magazine | Winter 2023 by iowamagazine

MAGAZINE

FOR UNIVERSITY OF IOWA ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

Sp eci a l I ss

r e h t e g o T Hawkeyes chapter write the next to e it n u es y ry. Hawke ty of Iowa’s sto si er iv n U e th in

, a w o I m o r f y a “F ar aw , g n o l e y b a m s r a ye s t r a e h r u o n i h t i w l St il " . ." g n o r t s s i r e h r o f t he love Ch ee rs fo r Iowa” ―Lyri cs fro m “T hr ee 1921 by Sa die He ss Fo rd ,

s t n e t Con

EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF

Shelbi Thomas (05BA) ART DIRECTOR

Nick Beecher (03BA) MANAGING EDITOR

Josh O’Leary (00BA) CONTRIBUTING WRITERS/EDITORS

Ben Frotscher Leah Klevar (93BA, 95MA) Tyler Strand Ellen Yandel Jared Salasberry

CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS

Danette Angerer (85BFA) Jodi Schmucker e m a i l : uimagazine@foriowa.org w e b s i t e : magazine.foriowa.org

DIGITAL SENIOR WEB DESIGNER/DEVELOPER

Jimmy Losasso (09BFA)

... BRING IT HOME

TOGETHER, HAWKEYES…

WEB DEVELOPERS

Mike Miersen Heidi Schmidt

SENIOR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIST

Nicole Knoll (08BA, 22MS)

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIST

Megan Walsh

MULTIMEDIA SPECIALISTS

John Emigh (11BBA, 13BFA) Jason Smith

LEADERSHIP PRESIDENT AND CEO

Lynette Marshall

VICE PRESIDENT, ALUMNI & DONOR ENGAGEMENT

Colin Hennessy (01BA)

ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

Leslie Prideaux (08BA, 12MA) ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING

Rebekah Tilley

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MARKETING & DIGITAL STRATEGY

Zack Schmidt (03BA)

TOGETHER HAWKEYES CAMPAIGN CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS

... CHANGE LIVES

Sue Beckwith (80BS, 84MD, 15MBA) Susan Bennett (88BM, 92JD) Andy (80BBA, 81MBA) and Susie (79BSN) Code Tom (80BBA) and Debbie (81BSPh) Veale

... LEAD THE WAY

CAMPAIGN HONORARY CO-CHAIRS

Jerre (65BBA, 11LHD) and Mary Joy Stead CAMPAIGN MANAGER

Jen Smith Wyatt (06BLS) CAMPAIGN MAGAZINE CO-EDITORS

Sara O’Leary Shelbi Thomas

OFFICE OF ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT One West Park Road Iowa City, IA 52242

phone : 319-335-3305 | email: uiowa@foriowa.org w e b s i t e : foriowa.org

Iowa Magazine, Volume 76, Number 4 © 2024 University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The UI Center for Advancement publishes Iowa Magazine four times a year. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Iowa Magazine, UI Center for Advancement, One West Park Road, Iowa City, IA 52242. Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the university, the publishers, or the editors.

... FUEL DISCOVERIES

... FORGE AHEAD

PRESIDENT PHOTO: JOHN EMIGH; WAVE PHOTO: ALEX BUSH; CROSSOVER PHOTO: STEPHEN MALLY/HAWKE YESPORTS.COM; VOYAGER PATCH COURTESY UI PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY DEPARTMENT; BUILDING ILLUSTR ATION: NICK BEECHER

GRAPHICS MANAGER

ILLUSTR ATION: JIMMY LOSASSO

We interrupt your regularly scheduled reading for an important announcement. This Iowa Magazine issue may look a little different than usual, but we have a reason for changing it up. As you page through our special edition, we hope you’ll join us in celebrating the launch of an ambitious and innovative campaign for our beloved University of Iowa. As Hawkeyes, we understand the power of uniting for a common cause. The Together Hawkeyes campaign will change lives and ensure a bright future for Iowa’s people and programs. Thank you for going along on the journey.

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE

Q &A

‘It’s About Supporting People’ University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson outlines an ambitious and innovative campaign to strengthen the Hawkeye community. supporting people: supporting students, supporting faculty, supporting staff. We are in a fiercely competitive environment to attract and retain talent, so the more support we can create, the better we’ll be as a university. A lot of our campaign will be focused on students: How do we support students? How do we attract them to Iowa, and how do we keep them here? And how do we help them graduate? There’ll be support avenues for faculty and staff too: How do we recruit the smartest faculty and staff, and how do we keep them here at Iowa?

W I N T E R L I N: What are the major goals of the campaign, and why is involvement from alumni and friends—whether through engagement or private support—so crucial to our university success?

W I N T E R LI N: I love that, and one of the things I’m most excited for with the campaign is the engagement aspect, and that it’s not just about giving. There are a lot of ways to contribute. I’m also grateful to Hawkeyes who invest in students, including through supporting scholarships and programs like First Gen Hawks. I was the first in my

W I L SO N: When I boil down the most critical aspects of the campaign for me, it’s about 4

IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

family to go to college, and First Gen Hawks provided the resources I needed to navigate my first year at Iowa. And now I have the opportunity to help other first-gen students. How can all Hawkeyes contribute to student success? And what difference do programs like First Gen Hawks make?

WILSON: More t ha n one i n f ive of ou r undergraduates is first-in-family to go to college. And many of those students come to campus and feel unsure they’re going to succeed, so the First Gen Hawks program is one that we know works well. We can increase retention by 10 percentage points for students who are in that program during their first year. The goal is to enlarge the program in terms of the number of students it serves and extend it to year two. It’s a great example of the different ways that alumni, donors, and friends can contribute. You can help support students financially, you can help by mentoring students,

PHOTOS: JOHN EMIGH

This past October, the University of Iowa launched the Together Hawkeyes campaign, which strives to reach 300,000 alumni and friends, provide 3 million points of connection, and raise $3 billion to help make the UI’s aspirations a reality. From introducing new student support programs to developing initiatives to boost mental health on campus, UI President Barbara Wilson recently broke down her biggest campaign priorities in a Q& A with UI Undergraduate Student Government president and senior Mitch Winterlin.

and you can help by providing internships for students. It’s not all about the financial aspect, but certainly that’s a big part of it. W I N T E R LI N: My favorite part of the First Gen Hawks program is the three different tracks. Those are leadership and engagement, research, and employment. I love that students can choose. WIL SON: Exactly! And on the employment side, another program I’m proud of is the Iowa GROW (Guided Reflection on Work) program. If you have a student who’s employed in your office or your unit at Iowa, you can sign up for the program, and it commits you to a couple conversations every month with the student, asking questions such as, “How does this job influence your career aspirations? What are you learning? How are you defining and honing your communication skills?” That staff person then becomes a mentor for that student. The student is getting paid, the staff member is contributing on a mentoring basis, and we’ve got campus employment covered, so it’s a great program, and it’s part of what we’re encouraging for first-gen Hawks and for all students. W I N T E R LI N : I remember doing that. Being able to talk about my skills was a positive thing. And I think, especially for many first-gen students coming in, they may not realize, “Oh, the job I have on campus is helping me build skills that I can use in my career.” WILSON: And it's valuable to have a staff member who cares about you enough to say, “When’s your next exam? How did you do on that last one? Do you need more study time?” Those are the kinds of relationships that make a difference for students. W I N T E R LI N: The University of Iowa has made it a

priority to care for the mental health and well-being of our campus community. Can you share what strides Iowa is making in this area and your vision for what resources we can build together as Hawkeyes?

W I L SO N: Holistic well-being is one of the five priorities in our strategic plan, and that is not true of every university out there. We have made a point to say to students, faculty, and staff, “You can’t be a fully functioning leader without taking care of both your physical and your mental health.” So, we’re paying attention to things we can do as a campus to ensure that all of our community gets access to resources and opportunities that foster mental health. One of the resources we created was a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week phone/text/chat service that students can use for mental health emergencies. And the great thing is the person on the other end is a local professional who specializes in student mental health.

“

There’s something here that makes people feel connected early on, and when they join the Hawkeye family, whether they went to school here or not, they feel a part of a supportive community.” —UI President Barbara Wi lson

We’re a lso embedding menta l hea lth professionals in some of our colleges. And we’re embedding them in some of our residence halls. These individuals make sure students are thinking about how much sleep they’re getting and whether they’re managing stress OK. You can go in there and have a quick conversation with someone: “I’m struggling with time management; can I get some tips?” Such opportunities are more preventative in building resiliency and coping skills. We’re trying to create a range of options and services for students. And then the ultimate goal is to get more services in the Iowa Memorial Union. We’re revamping the IMU, and it’s going to have, front and center, a large student wellness component that’s easy to access. Our clothing closet and food pantry are there, but we also want to include a range of professionals who are ready to help students think about mental health on a daily basis. WINTE R LIN: I love seeing the priorities with mental health and well-being. It’s not just, “We’re going to have a therapist here now; everything’s cured.” Instead, we’re looking at it from the holistic mindset of basic needs, like: Do we have food security for students? Do we have accessibility to clothing? W I L SO N: And then there’s teaching people how to identify their levels of stress and how to manage those stresses, how to talk about them, and how to build in coping skills and preventative strategies. We don’t want to wait until the crisis occurs. We can’t take away the stress in society, but we can build resilient individuals in the face of stress, and then occasionally we’ll deal with crises too. But I think the more preventative and open we can be about stress and anxiety, the better off we’re going to be in the long run. And we’re going to help the next generation manage the issues that can cause stress—and they’ve changed considerably, even in the last 10 years. When I was a student, I never thought about a pandemic, and there was no social media. If somebody was bugging me, I could go

back to my apartment, and it was over. Now you all are carrying phones around, and everything’s in your face 24/7. I think sometimes we forget that’s a different level of stress. WINTER LIN: We never unplug. We never disconnect. But I think helping students develop those skills is something that’s so critical. OK, last question: The campaign is called Together Hawkeyes, so I’m curious what qualities come to mind when you think of our Hawkeye community. Personally, one of my favorite qualities that has drawn me into Iowa is passion. I feel like every Hawkeye I meet—whether it’s a fan, a friend, or a student on campus—is happy to be a Hawkeye. My cousin who lives in California has Hawkeye merch on all the time. She will be walking around Sacramento, and someone will say, “Go, Hawks!” I don’t see that same energy with other universities. I think that’s a sign of pride and passion. That’s why I’m excited to see what this campaign does, because Hawkeyes know how to get passionate.

WILSON: The qualities I always mention are, number one, comprehensive excellence. I love the fact that we are strong across different disciplines, from neuroscience to nursing to nonfiction writing. It’s such an array of stunning disciplines and strengths across different aspects of the university. Not every university is as balanced in its excellence as we are. Two, creativity. We’re oozing creativity everywhere here. And it’s not just because of our strength in writing, but it’s in the STEM fields and the performing arts. Three, community. This is a place where people can get connected easily, and people care. We hear over and over when people come to visit, “This place is amazing!” There’s something here that makes people feel connected early on, and when they join the Hawkeye family, whether they went to school here or not, they feel a part of a supportive community. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE

IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

g n i Br R, HA TOGE THE

WKEYES

There’s no place like Iowa, and for generations of Hawkeyes, this is where it all began. Together, we’re strengthening our communities, forging meaningful friendships, and mapping out successful futures. 8 H AW K E Y E WAV E

12 DA N C E M A R AT H O N

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE

f o e m o He e th Wav

It all started with a grassroots effort from Hawkeye fans. Now it’s become—according to ESPN—college football’s “coolest” tradition. The Hawkeye Wave, during which fans in Kinnick Stadium wave to pediatric patients at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, means so much to so many who call Iowa home. Hear from two Hawkeyes who have experienced both sides of this fall ritual: 11-year-old Kinley Albrecht and 76-year-old George Scully (70BBA). 8

IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

Once a pediatric patient who received waves of love from Kinnick Stadium, Kinley Albrecht recently saw the Hawkeye Wave from a new perspective on the field.

Full Circle

WAVE PHOTOS: ALEX BUSH; ALBRECHT PORTR AIT: JOHN EMIGH

Kinley Albrecht was just 5 when she was diagnosed with cancer. Now she’s happy, healthy, and lending encouraging words to Iowa’s pediatric patients.

Watch Kinley and her family tell their story.

Eleven-year-old Kinley Albrecht remembers her first experience with the Hawkeye Wave like it was yesterday. Just two months after being diagnosed at age 5 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia—a type of blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow—Kinley and her family took part in the Hawkeye Wave at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. It was a moment of mixed emotions for the entire family, including Kinley. “We were up on the 12th floor—the highest floor in the hospital,” says Kinley, of LeClaire, Iowa. “It was so cool to experience the Wave because they’re waving back at you. It meant a lot. It shows that they know you’re here, what you’re going through, and trying to understand.” Throughout her 802 days of treatments, Kinley was fortunate to have Iowa’s top children’s hospital just an hour from home. Her no-nonsense attitude didn’t hurt, either. “She never once complained,” says her mother, Katie Albrecht. “Every day she did her best. She never once asked, ‘Why me?’ She just continued to fight.” Kinley’s persistence—along with the work of Iowa’s doctors and nurses—paid off. To mark five years since Kinley’s final chemo treatment, the Albrechts recently attended a game at Kinnick Stadium and waved to patients who were facing their own diagnoses. “Never give up,” says Kinley, the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals 2023 Champion, when asked what she would tell other pediatric patients. “You’ll have your ups and downs. Just know that you’ll be OK, and you have great doctors and nurses who will take care of you. I beat it, and if I can do it, you can do it.” BY BE N FROTSCHE R

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE

ily and frie this pas t season with fam rn to watch the Hawkeyes retu his ed rish che rt) e. a Hawkeye tailgat tured center in gold shi Scully plays cornhole at ABOVE: George Scully (pic pitals & Clinics. AT RIGHT: Hos UI at nt tme trea cer after undergoing can

nds

Inspirational Return George Scully (70BBA) has been a diehard Iowa Hawkeye fan

since he attended his first football game at age 7. “Legendary Kinnick Stadium is a second home to me,” says Scully, a season ticket holder for nearly 50 years. “I love being in the stadium with the fans and friends around us. It’s just a special time, special place.” Game days in Iowa City are a fall ritual for Scully and his family and closest friends. That is, except for the 2022 Iowa football season. A few months before the season opener, Scully went to see his local doctor in Waterloo, Iowa, about persistent back pain. It was pancreatic cancer. “My life changed immediately because I didn’t have the ability to be out and about like I usually am,” says Scully, who overcame prostate cancer a few years prior. Scully began pancreatic cancer treatment at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, where chemotherapy and radiation sessions left him too fatigued to attend Iowa’s games. 1 0 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

At Scully’s last appointment in January 2023, his wife, Mary, and son Ben helped surprise him with some of the energy and excitement of Iowa athletic events. Family, friends, and members of the Hawkeye Marching Band showed up to demonstrate their support. “It was kind of a special celebration that my treatments were over,” says Scully. “It was very surprising, kind of emotional. It was a special day.” Now that Scully is back to cheering on Hawkeye football, his opportunity to take part in the Hawkeye Wave—during which fans, at the end of the first quarter, wave to pediatric patients at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital—takes on much more significance. “When you wave to those kids in the hospital, you realize that they’re the real warriors,” says Scully. BY BE N FROTSCHE R

PHOTOS: JASON SMITH

After two bouts with cancer, Iowa alumnus George Scully finds more joy than ever in the Wave.

Watch Hawkeye Marching Band members surprise George Scully with a performance during his last cancer treatment. MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE

e c n Da t i on u l o v e R This February, University of Iowa Dance Marathon celebrates 30 years of fundraising to support pediatric oncolog y, hematolog y, and bone marrow transplant patients at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Volunteers from the UI’s largest student organization work year-round to visit patients, plan programming, and attract sponsors and dancers leading up to the Big Event. Then, on Feb. 2-3, participants dance for 24 hours to advance research and care that supports over 1,300 families. One of the founding five Dance Marathon programs launched to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, UI Dance Marathon has raised over $34 million and inspired tens of thousands of participants since it began in Iowa in 1994. The funding has led to everything from endowed positions in child life and pediatric oncology to a $5 million lead gift for the UI Dance Marathon Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at the hospital. As Hawkeyes prepare for their next Big Event, here are a few stories of how Dance Marathon is continuing its 30-year legacy of making a difference. B Y M A D DY W I L S O N

Support UI Dance Marathon. foriowa.info/im-dm23

1 2 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

PHOTOS: TIM SCHOON/UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION

In University of Iowa Dance Marathon’s 30th year, supporters, families, and student leaders reflect on how the organization has transformed lives.

“

S U S HM A S A N T H A N A

After the [Big Event] in

Lead Dance Partner

BY BRIAN MORE LLI

1 4 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

February, it was such a great experience, and I met so many great families. That gave me the push to want to do more.” —Sushma Sant hana, Dance Marat hon executive director

PHOTO: JOHN EMIGH

As a seventh grader, Sushma Santhana, like many in Eastern Iowa, prayed for Austin “Flash” Schroeder, a 14-year-old from Coralville who battled and eventually succumbed to a form of T-cell lymphoma in 2014. Inspired by Flash, Santhana volunteered with Dance Marathon and started a Dance Marathon chapter, which raised $130,000 during her time at the newly opened Liberty High School in North Liberty. Now a senior studying biomedical engineering at the University of Iowa, Santhana is executive director of UI Dance Marathon 30. “I wasn’t originally planning to apply because it seems like a big commitment,” says Santhana. “After the event in February, it was such a great experience, and I met so many great families. That gave me the push to want to do more.” Santhana’s task is much more than overseeing the Big Event—the annual student dance-a-thon that raises money to support the UI’s pediatric patients. She leads a 200-person team of student leaders—including 13 directors and 40 chairpersons—and works with two professional staff to put on their event, which attracts approximately 1,000 participants annually. The next dance will be the second to return to inperson after two years of virtual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A priority this year is connecting student dancers with families, such as through volunteering at the hospital, so the students can truly see the impact of Dance Marathon. Santhana’s passion for making a difference for cancer patients extends beyond Dance Marathon into her professional aspirations. She is focused on becoming an engineer who designs medical devices for children with cancer. “I see Dance Marathon as providing emotional support for children and families when they feel the world is terrible,” says Santhana. “And then on other side as an engineer, I can approach it by making devices that support them physically.”

UI DANCE MARATHON BY THE NUMBERS

1,100

UI Dance Marathon participants in 2023

$34M Raised for pediatric patients since 1994

4TH

Largest Children’s Miracle Network Dance Marathon

30TH

Year since its founding at Iowa

$50M+

Raised over the past 30 years by Dance Marathons across Iowa— including 15 collegiate programs and numerous K-12 schools—to support UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital

AT FAR LEFT: Aidan Cunningham attends Dance Marathon with his sister, Maddy, a former pediatric cancer patient. LEFT: Cunningham shaves his head in support of pediatric cancer patients at the last Big Event.

A ID A N CUNNINGH A M (23BS)

From Big Brother to the Big Event

feeling I wanted to do something that helped others. And that stemmed from this feeling as a kid that I couldn’t help my sister.” —A idan Cun n ingham 1 6 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

friends I had made—other siblings and oncology patients,” he says. “We would be at the event and just stay up the entire time.” Lessons for a Lifetime Aidan’s positive experiences with Dance Marathon as a kid and passion for giving back were motivating factors in his decision to serve on its leadership team and attend the UI. “I always had this feeling I wanted to do something that helped others,” he says, “and that stemmed from this feeling as a kid that I couldn’t help my sister.” Dance Marathon students are encouraged to find their “why”—their purpose for joining the organization. For Aidan, his reason was clear long before he became a student but continued to grow when he became director of operations during his senior year in 2022-23. As director, Aidan oversaw the committee that plans events, ensures the event is environmentally sustainable, and problem-solves any issues that arise. He learned how planning details of events can affect the family experience and help build connections between students and families. That experience provided him with enduring friendships and the opportunity to share his story as a sibling. “Dance Marathon matters to me because it gave me a sense of purpose as I was growing up,” says Aidan, who was inspired by his work with the organization to become a physical therapist. “It matters to me now because I want to keep witnessing that [passion for Dance Marathon at Iowa] and, even as an alumnus, giving it my all.” B Y M A D DY W I L S O N

FAMILY PHOTO COURTESY AIDAN CUNNINGHAM; EVENT PHOTO COURTESY DANCE MAR ATHON

“

I always had this

Three years old. Nine cycles of chemotherapy. Six weeks of radiation. Maddy Cunningham of Des Moines was diagnosed in 2007 with medulloblastoma, a cancerous brain tumor, after experiencing persistent headaches and flu-like symptoms. Her treatment at the University of Iowa’s children’s hospital lasted almost a year, starting with weekly chemotherapy and daily radiation, and ending with maintenance chemotherapy. UI Dance Marathon was there throughout her treatment, and she and her family were guests for 16 Big Events. Maddy has since been declared cancer-free and is now a college student at Des Moines Area Community College. And while it has been just shy of two decades since the Cunninghams’ first interaction with UI Dance Marathon, the family’s involvement continues. Aidan Cunningham (23BS), Maddy's brother and the operations director for Dance Marathon 29, dedicated his time as an Iowa student to serving Dance Marathon families like his. He's held leadership positions in the organization since his first year of college, including with volunteer recruitment and retention, family relations, and operations. Aidan has considered himself part of the Dance Marathon family ever since Maddie was diagnosed when he was in kindergarten. “I just knew that she was really sick and that she was going to be in the hospital every once in a while, so I wouldn’t be seeing much of her,” he says. “But I didn’t really understand what was happening.” Some of his favorite childhood memories involved attending the Big Events. “It was being with all the

Each year, over 1,000 students join UI Dance Marathon. Through fundraising and supporting local families, the organization is changing the future for pediatric cancer patients. “The ability to cure childhood cancers for me is the major driving force about why we would support Dance Marathon,” says Bassuk. “Before I was born, if you had a diagnosis of pediatric leukemia, you had a 90 percent chance of dying within five years. By the time I was in medical school, you had a 90 percent chance of surviving if you had that same diagnosis. That is because of research and because of excellent clinical care that has changed the lives of countless children and future generations.” UI Stead Family Children's Hospital physicians David Dickens (left) and Alexander Bassuk (below) show dedication to their patients both through their careers and their participation in Dance Marathon.

A L E X A NDER B A S S UK A ND D AV ID DICK ENS

Dance Marathon Doctor Duo

PHOTOS COURTESY DANCE MAR ATHON

Physicians Alexander Bassuk and David Dickens have shown they’ll do what it takes to support pediatric patients at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. At the last UI Dance Marathon Big Event, Bassuk was challenged to energize the crowd by doing a cartwheel on stage in exchange for a $100 pledge to the cause. “I said, ‘Sure, if it’s for the kids, I’ll do it,” recalls Bassuk, professor and chair of the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief of UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. “I did stick the landing.” Bassuk first became passionate about Dance Marathon when he attended mini marathon events with his kids at Horn Elementary School in Iowa City and saw the younger generation rally behind the cause. The mini marathons are programs at the primary or secondary school level that fundraise for UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital with the support of a collegiate Dance Marathon program. Meanwhile, Dickens—who never thought he’d go into pediatrics—became interested in the field after volunteering to hold magic shows for kids undergoing cancer treatment at the hospital. Now the UI Dance Marathon endowed clinical professor of pediatric oncology, who also serves as a pediatric hematology-oncology specialist at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital, leads a team of medical professionals toward the goal of curing cancer. Fundraise for the Future Dickens says one of the most compelling aspects of being connected to Dance Marathon is the grassroots nature of the organization. “There’s a certain level of elevation in mood that educators get when they are interacting with the next generation of people who are going to care for the world, and [we] feel a level of excitement, energy, and sacrifice for a greater cause,” he says. “That’s why I like interacting with Dance Marathon students. It’s a hope for a better future.”

Dance Marathon has new opportunities each year to support research that leads to cures for childhood cancer. Dickens explains that while we are making progress with research, there is more need in the community than there are dollars to give. “Progress in medicine is going to be proportional to the investment,” Dickens says. “UI Dance Marathon is our largest financial supporter for [the hospital's pediatric oncology, hematology, and bone marrow transplant] program, and it’s helping me see that progress is happening at a faster pace than it otherwise would have been. How we deliver our care, the cures that we have available today, the research that we have giving us hope for the future is all happening at a faster pace as a direct result of Dance Marathon’s investment.” In its 30th year of fundraising for pediatric cancer, Dance Marathon aims to increase its support for medical advancements. Bassuk says the organization’s commitment to endowing a new research professorship at Iowa can go a long way toward finding a cure. He says, “The idea is that this will allow us to bring the absolute best and brightest minds to the University of Iowa to move the field forward.” B Y M A D DY W I L S O N

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 1 7

T HE UL RICHE S

One Family’s Cancer Journey

Aid for Families Brianne says she felt Dance Marathon’s support throughout her family’s first stay in the hospital. “Within the next week, the social worker reached out to me and said, ‘Here are some gift cards. Here are some pamphlets. There’s a student-led organization; it’s called Dance Marathon, and they want to help you in any way, shape, or form.’” For new Dance Marathon families, Brianne advises, “This is going to be the hardest journey that you have ever been on, so if it’s $15 in a Casey’s gas card, take it. If it’s free lunch, take it. If somebody wants to come in and color with your kids so you can go have a conversation with insurance, take it.” 1 8 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

ABOVE: Alicea and Haidyn Ulrich participate in "Short Hair, Don't Care," a Dance Marathon event where volunteers cut and donate their hair to help children affected by hair loss. LEFT: Haidyn Ulrich celebrates five years cancer-free at last year's Dance Marathon Kiddo Graduation.

Dance Marathon funds programs such as the hospital food pantry, gift cards for meals, and gas vouchers for travel. These projects not only support the child undergoing treatment but also the family members dedicating time and energy. Cancer-Free Celebration Haidyn, now 15, has completed her treatment and officially celebrated five years cancer-free at the Dance Marathon 29 Kiddo Graduation during the Big Event in 2023. “I had a friend of mine that got diagnosed the year after me on Christmas, but she sadly wasn’t able to finish her journey,” says Haidyn. “I was thinking it is so weird how I [graduated], but at the same time, I can be the voice of all these kiddos that didn’t get to. It was kind of a bittersweet moment.” For Brianne and Nick, Haidyn’s graduation elicited feelings of pride because it was also the first year Alicea was a UI student and family representative for Dance Marathon. Brianne says, “For me it was cool to see both sides of it, because we’ve been a Dance Marathon family and we’ve raised money for all these dancers. I was so proud of Haidyn, but, at the same time, I was so proud of Alicea because she was ... with another family, getting to show them what it feels like to be loved in the worst [time] of your life.”

Why Dance Marathon Matters Haidyn says the highlight of Dance Marathon is having fun with college students who have a passion for the cause and take time out of their busy schedules to spend time with the children. “You always feel like a normal kid; you just have this label on you,” she says. “But when you’re with Dance Marathon people, [you] could be bald for the second time or have a whole head of hair and be running around [and feel accepted].” Her older sister, Alicea, now serves as a Lime Captain for Dance Marathon 30—responsible for recruiting volunteers, helping dancers fundraise, and supporting families. Alicea says being a leader has strengthened her drive for Dance Marathon’s mission because she can share from personal experience how the organization benefits families at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Proud to support families fighting for a future where all childhood cancers have a cure, Alicea says, “We are trying from the outside to come in and give them a glimmer of hope and brightness for the future of their kiddos.” B Y M A D DY W I L S O N

What are your favorite memories from 30 years of Dance Marathon? Email uimagazine@foriowa.org.

PHOTOS COURTESY DANCE MAR ATHON

“Why wasn’t it me? Why was it her?” This was Alicea Ulrich’s first reaction to hearing her younger sister, Haidyn Ulrich— then 7 years old—had cancer in February 2016. After a ride in an ambulance from Cedar Rapids and a six-hour visit to the children’s hospital in Iowa City, Haidyn was admitted overnight and later received her diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It can be scary the first time a family enters the hospital’s University of Iowa Dance Marathon Pediatric Cancer Center, named after the student organization that helped fund its creation. Families are navigating a slew of new medical information, requiring parents to be alert and focused. Brianne Ulrich, Alicea and Haidyn’s mom, says UI Dance Marathon volunteers brought meaningful support to that overwhelming time. Brianne recalls that after being transferred to multiple rooms, “I had just had it. I worked all day. I was frustrated with what was happening, and this gentleman [came] in with a lime shirt, with crayons and a coloring book.” That volunteer spent time coloring with Haidyn. “I didn’t have to think about her,” says Brianne. “I could step out in the hallway. I could have my frustrations out with the insurance. I could finally figure out what room we were going to be in. … I didn’t have to do any of that in front of her.” The Ulrich family soon made the connection that the student in lime was from Dance Marathon. Nick Ulrich, Alicea and Haidyn’s dad, had a family member who was a part of the organization, and the Ulrich family had supported Dance Marathon five years prior. It was a full-circle moment for the family to see the impact of the organization on families like theirs.

ASPIRING ENGINEER DANCING QUEEN

Sushma Santhana Class of 2024 Executive director UI Dance Marathon

Bring students’ dreams to life. Join the campaign at together.foriowa.org MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 1 9

e g n a h C R, HA TOGE THE

2 0 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

WKEYES

We believe in building a healthier world—and that starts with healthy citizens. Together, we’re caring for one another, finding cures, and saving lives.

22 MENTAL HEALTH 24 CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL DOGS 26 SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY 28 VETERAN SUPPORT

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 2 1

The UI-based Scanlan Center for School Mental Health supports student wellness in Fairfield and throughout the state.

2 2 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

PHOTO ILLUSTR ATION: NICK BEECHER (SOURCE IMAGES: BYRON HOULGR AVE/ USA TODAY; KEITH TURRILL/ AL AMY LIVE NEWS; WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

How Iowa Helped One Community Heal from Tragedy

In fall 2021, the communit y of Fairfield, Iowa, was already grieving the loss of one of its students to suicide. Two weeks later, it was shaken again by the death of Nohema Graber, a Spanish teacher at Fairfield High School who was killed in a park by two students—one of whom was upset with the grade she’d given him. The questions that arise from such events are fundamentally unanswerable. The central question is why. People say it shouldn’t happen here, but it shouldn’t happen anywhere. Trauma describes how we are affected by something we can neither fight nor run away from nor understand. The suffering that must be endured, absorbed, and somehow processed, is prolonged and complex. Laurie Noll, the superintendent of schools for the Fairfield Community School District at the time, says she had no training in how to respond to something like this. Neither did her staff. “I reached out to as many resources as I could find,” says Noll. “The Scanlan Center was just forming. They came in to meet with students, one-on-one or in small groups, to make sure the mental health of our students was sustained and supported.” The Scanlan Center for School Mental Health, a partnership between the UI College of Education and Iowa Department of Education, launched in June 2021 with the mission to support mental health research, training, and clinical services in schools across the state. Createdthrough a gift from the Scanlan Family Foundation and support from the state of Iowa, the center educates teachers, counselors, and administrators in how to recognize and address mental health issues. “We don’t expect teachers to be mental health providers, but they’re the first-line responders,” says executive director Allison Bruhn. Alissa Doobay (04BS, 10PhD), director of clinical services for the Scanlan Center, understands how hard it is to restore a community’s sense of certainty after a tragedy, particularly at a time when social media and the news amplify such events 24/7. “We don’t know what the future holds, so how do we continue living our lives, knowing everything is uncertain? Things happen, and it’s scary,” she says. “Humans have to learn to live with discomfort, building a tolerance for distress and anxiety and developing coping strategies. We can’t promise people who are afraid of flying that the plane won’t go down, but there’s a pretty good chance things will be OK, most of the time.” A school tragedy like the one in Fairfield requires both a short-term and long-term response, first to stabilize the crisis and then to mediate the

DID YOU KNOW…

NO.

Mental health is the No. 1 problem facing schools, according to the Iowa Department of Education and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

“

Self-awareness means knowing how you’ve been affected by an event. ... Being able to identify your distress—what you feel in your body—allows you to communicate your emotions and transform your awareness.”

50%

More than half of college faculty, staff, and students don’t feel adequately prepared to recognize when a student is exhibiting signs of psychological distress, according to the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health.

—Tev in Midd leton, UI doctora l student

77%

Seventy-seven percent of counties in the U.S. have a severe shortage of mental health providers, according to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

effects of trauma. The Scanlan Center creates individualized plans for schools that include psychological education for the staff, drop-in wellness clinics, and mindfulness exercises or wellness-based activities. With parental consent, the center also provides therapeutic services to students in-person or through telehealth. “Our role is to provide ongoing support,” says Doobay. “At Fairfield, we ended up sticking with them for quite a while.” Trauma is not always easily diagnosed, so the Scanlan Center helps students and staff look for the signs. “Self-awareness means knowing how you’ve been affected by an event,” says Tevin Middleton, who is currently completing his graduate work with the Scanlan Center. “How has the student embodied the experience? Are they walking frantically? Are they talking faster? Are they breathing hard? Do they slam the door and not realize it? Being able to identify your distress, what you feel in your body, allows you to communicate your emotions and transform your awareness.” We want our kids to feel safe. We want them to remain innocent, for as long as possible, though in today’s world, that’s not as long as it used to be. When a tragedy occurs, pretending everything is

the same afterward doesn’t work. The irony is, we want to remember, and we want to forget. “That’s the push and pull,” says Doobay. “We want to give people time to acknowledge their grief and to process it, but I’ve seen situations where it goes the other way, where students feel like their entire high school experience was about the one thing that overshadows everything else. We have to find a happy medium.” Noll says the Scanlan Center’s work in Fairfield has helped the community cope with trauma and prioritize its mental health. “Even [now], we have people doing teletherapy counseling through Scanlan,” she says. “People are noticing that it’s a support. I don’t see a stigma, like it used to be.” BY PE TE R N E LSON

Join the Scanlan Center’s mission by making a gift at foriowa.info/im-scsmh23.

The Scanlan Center for School Mental Health equips schools in all 99 Iowa counties with resources to support the mental health and wellness of their students, faculty, and staff.

HOW TO FIND HELP—FOR YOURSELF OR A CHILD

· Reach out to friends and family. · See a doctor for an exam and get a referral to a mental health professional.

Visit foriowa.info/scsmhresources to find a local therapist and other resources for support.

· If you need immediate help, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 2 3

Nacho (left) and Corrin (right) bring delight and comfort to patients at UI Stead Family Children's Hospital.

2 4 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

Paws for a Cause A pair of compassionate canines are helping kids cope and heal during their hospital visits. Two new employees at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital are comforting patients and their families without saying a word. This past August, Corrin and Nacho became the first members of the hospital’s Wags and Waves Facility Dog Program. These fourlegged, full-time staff members work alongside their handlers to motivate, encourage, and offer companionship—making hospital stays more manageable through their calming presence. The extensively trained golden retriever mixes visit 10 to 15 patients each day and ease worries by demonstrating how to take medicine or undergo an imaging scan. During procedures, they offer support through distraction and help patients establish positive coping skills. Additionally, they promote healing by walking with patients during physical therapy and after procedures. “The Wags and Waves Facility Dog Program provides an advanced standard of care for patients and families at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital,” says Emily Bradley (12BS), Nacho's primary handler. “Through evidence-based practice, facility dog interventions assist in decreasing stress and anxiety amongst patients, family members, and staff, and create a welcoming environment for all within the children’s hospital.”

PHOTOS: LIZ MARTIN/UI HEALTH CARE

BY T YLE R STR AN D

The Wags and Waves Facility Dog Program is funded entirely by donations. To support the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital Facility Dog Program fund, visit foriowa.info/facility-dogs23. MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 2 5

TIP TIME If you have children competing in sports— at any level—sports psychologist Patricia Espe-Pfeifer offers the following tips to help them maintain a healthy mindset:

Help your child foster a growth mindset by emphasizing the importance of practice, effort, and skill development— rather than winning or losing.

Hawkeye forward Payton Sandfort, last season's Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year

Emphasize the importance of learning to be a good teammate.

Talking It Out

It’s a basketball player’s worst nightmare: a shooting slump. That's where Iowa men’s basketball sharpshooter Payton Sandfort found himself last season. Three games into Big Ten Conference play—where the Hawkeyes started 0-3—Sandfort was 0-for-19 from the field. “It was a mental block—the yips in golf,” says Sandfort. “Once I was able to rediscover who I was and find happiness and joy off the court, it all started to come back to me.” Sandfort reclaimed his shooting prowess thanks, in part, to Iowa’s team of psychologists and mental health professionals. Sandfort, a junior from Waukee, Iowa, talks with a sports psychologist throughout the season about a myriad of topics. “There are a lot of stressors as a student-athlete—school, basketball, relationships, and just daily life,” he says. “It’s challenging to put that away while you’re playing, and it’s hard to play well if your mind is cloudy and distracted.” Patricia Espe-Pfeifer, director of sports psychology and student-athlete mental health, leads a dedicated team of sports psychologists and clinical therapists who work with Iowa’s 600 student-athletes—and their unique needs—through sports performance support and mental health services. “The demands and time constraints student-athletes face are much different than your typical college student,” 2 6 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

says Espe-Pfeifer. “They have team practices, travel schedules, and classes—and, like other college students, they’re also away from home for the first time. Young adults all navigate it differently.” Recent data, according to Espe-Pfeifer, shows that 11–12% of student-athletes face some type of mental fatigue, anxiety, and depression. These concerns were only exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need for expanding mental health services continues to be a topic of discussion across college campuses. “Our student-athletes are more willing to talk about mental health concerns and be open to seeking services when needed,” she says. “While there is more of an emphasis and willingness to talk about mental health concerns, it also means even more are reaching out with concerns.” Sandfort says the resources Iowa provides are important to success both on and off the court. “Everyone is so good at the Division I level, and at times, you’re going to get beaten,” says Sandfort. “I’ve learned how to work through a lot of challenges. I’ve also learned a lot about myself and know when I need to take a little time for myself.” BY BE N FROTSCHE R

Promote healthy sleep patterns and nutrition, particularly when athletic demands increase.

Embrace your role of being your child's biggest supporter and source of encouragement.

Patricia Espe-Pfeifer

ESPE-PFEIFER PHOTO: HAWKE YESPORTS.COM; TUNNEL PHOTO: STEPHEN MALLY/HAWKE YESPORTS.COM; JERSE Y PHOTOS: BRIAN R AY/HAWKE YESPORTS.COM

Iowa’s team of trained psychologists and licensed mental health counselors help Hawkeyes thrive as students and athletes.

Teach your child to respect coaches and referees by modeling good behavior.

“

It was a mental block. Once I was able to rediscover who I was and find happiness and joy off the court, it all started to come back to me.”

CRIME SCENE PHOTO: DAILY IOWAN; AUOTO: K AREIN GOERTZ

—Pay ton Sand fort

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 27

Chuck Xander, an embedded counselor for UI student veterans, says with his hire, "Students can trust they’ll be heard, feel respected, and have a go-to person in the veteran community.”

A Model of Veteran Support The University of Iowa has hired a new embedded counselor dedicated to serving those who have served their country. Chuck Xander, an Iowa native and combat veteran, recently filled a newly created position to support veterans and military-connected students at the Iowa Veteran Education, Transition, and Support (IVETS) office. The UI has more than 600 student veterans, in addition to more than 160 National Guard and Reserve members, and more than 50 Air Force and Army ROTC cadets. Xander enlisted in the Iowa Army National Guard 234th Signal Battalion and was deployed to Iraq in 2003-04. He later received a master’s degree in mental health counseling from the University of Northern Iowa and has more than 20 years of mental health counseling experience. Xander—who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, grief, and communication skills— says his veteran status allows him to better aid others who have served. “When you’re in the military, you’re generally told not to deal with emotions, so a lot of veterans do not want to share their feelings,” he says. “I can understand, validate their feelings, and empathize with them.” 2 8 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

Embedded counselors work within a specific community and have specialized knowledge about those being served. Before Xander’s hire, the university already had embedded counselors in the College of Dentistry, College of Law, Tippie College of Business, and Catlett Residence Hall. Xander’s position became possible in 2022, when the Scanlan Family Foundation gave $15 million to the UI College of Education to expand support for school mental health and veterans through the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health. Veteran Patrick Scanlan and his wife, Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan, say it was important to them to support the mental health needs of all Iowans, but especially veterans, those serving in the military, and their families. Matthew Miller, IVETS director of student support services, says Xander is the only embedded counselor for veterans within the Big Ten and likely one of few across the country. “We want to make this a model and show our commitment to serving our students,” he says. “We want to make the University of Iowa a destination for veterans.” B Y K AY L I R E E S E

PHOTO: JUSTIN TORNER/UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION

Iowa’s newest embedded counselor brings his military background to the role.

COUNSELOR ADVOCATE

Tevin n o t e l d d Mi Graduate research assistant UI Scanlan Center for School Mental Health

Join the campaign at together.foriowa.org

World Record

3 0 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

R, H AW TOGE THE

KEYES

The Way Our students, faculty, and graduates are at the forefront of world-class teaching, research, and practice. Together, we’re shaping culture, inspiring innovation, and bettering humanity.

32 WO M E N ' S BAS K E TBA LL 42 E XC E PTIO N A L E DUCATO RS 4 3 PRIZ E D A LU M NI 44 WRITING U NIV E RSIT Y

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 3 1

‘It’s Bigger Than Basketball’ They captured the imagination of the nation in the 2023 Final Four. Now, the Iowa women’s basketball team is using its platform to make a difference in the community, inspire the next generation of players, and fill Kinnick Stadium.

The Iowa women's basketball team locks hands during the national anthem before the Hawkeyes' exhibition game Oct. 15 at Kinnick Stadium.

3 2 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

PHOTO: STEPHEN MALLY/ HAWKE YESPORTS.COM

BY JOSH O’LEARY

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 3 3

Gabbie Marshall and her teammates

were fresh off the Final Four when Iowa’s coaches hinted that something special was in the works for the upcoming year. The buzz surrounding the Hawkeye women’s basketball team had reached a fever pitch during last season’s NCAA Tournament run, which brought a dizzying amount of national fanfare and accolades. For Marshall, it was hard to imagine things getting much bigger. “We all were anxious about it for weeks,” says Marshall (23BA), a fifth-year senior, recalling how coaches teased a major announcement at the team’s annual summer golf outing. “Then, when they finally told us, we were just so shocked and excited.” Calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our women’s basketball program and the sport,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was planning something unprecedented, even for this precedent-shattering group. Bluder sought to topple the national attendance record for a women’s basketball game of 29,619, a mark that had stood since the 2002 Final Four when Sue Bird and UConn won a third-straight title. To do it, the Hawkeyes would play an outdoor exhibition game at Kinnick Stadium—dubbed the Crossover at Kinnick—and use ticket sales to raise money for UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. 3 4 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

If any team could inspire the kind of goodwill needed to fill a football stadium for a charity game, it was this group of Hawkeyes. Led by legend-inthe-making Caitlin Clark , Iowa has become one of the biggest draws in all of sports and helped vault the profile of women’s basketball to new heights. April’s NCAA tournament final drew 9.9 million television viewers, the most ever for a women’s basketball game, and Iowa sold out its season tickets for the 2023-24 campaign months ahead of the first tipoff at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. At the same time, the Hawkeyes have used their platform to give back to their university and community, while inspiring the next generation of female athletes. Everywhere you look these days, members of the team are lending their celebrity for meaningful causes. Whether it’s visiting children’s hospital patients, hosting youth basketball clinics, or building houses for Habitat for Humanity, these Hawkeye do-gooders are winning hearts alongside trophies. “It’s bigger than basketball,” says sixth-year senior Kate Martin (22BS). “Coach Bluder always preaches to us that basketball is important, but being a good person is even more important. Whatever we can do to make an impact on this community that gives us so much—that’s super important for us.”

PHOTOS: STEPHEN MALLY/HAWKE YESPORTS.COMSPORTS.COM

Gabbie Marshall takes the court at the Crossover at Kinnick.

Iowa's Hannah Stuelke (45) wins the tipoff during the exhibition win over DePaul. MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 3 5

3 6 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

she drew more attention than Ryder Cup captain and Iowa native Zach Johnson. Even when the Hawkeyes traveled to Italy and Croatia for an overseas tour in August, locals stopped Clark on the street for photos. Clark has become one of the nation’s top NIL earners thanks to high-profile endorsement deals with companies like Nike, Buick, and Hy-Vee. But she’s also found time to host youth basketball camps in Coralville and her hometown of West Des Moines and sign countless items for local fundraisers. In October, she served as grand marshal of the UI homecoming parade in downtown Iowa City with another Hawkeye great, wrestler Spencer Lee (21BS). Afterward, a crowd filled the Pentacrest to watch Clark sit down for a Q&A with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. “It’s cool to see the amount of attention our team has brought to women’s basketball,” Clark says. “Going into this year, I hope to continue to do that and show people this is something you should continue to watch. And not only watch Iowa women’s basketball—there’s tremendous basketball all across the country.” Clark hopes her legacy at Iowa will be the new fans she’s helped attract to the sport, particularly the Hawkeyes’ youngest supporters. You can find Clark still on the Carver floor signing autographs for kids long after the buzzer sounds on her latest triple-double. “I’m glad I’ve given something that little girls can scream about at the top of their lungs,” Clark said following her dramatic,

game-winning 3-pointer to beat No. 2 Indiana last season. Clark’s teammates have likewise embraced their roles as ambassadors of the sport. Martin hosted a basketball camp this past summer in DeWitt, Iowa, where she was joined by Marshall and several other Hawkeyes who passed on their love of basketball to 160 starstruck kids. “Not everybody gets to come to our Iowa team camp or gets to come to a game,” says Martin. “So being able to get out in the state and give kids the opportunity to meet us and learn some basketball skills is really important for us. We were all in that position at one point in our lives—looking up to college players and thinking they were so cool. So to go out and put on a little camp, sign autographs, talk to them one-on-one, it’s just super fun.” Their ability to inspire girls to dream big helped earn the team an Iowa Character Award, which was presented by the Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at Drake University this past summer. Bluder and associate head coach Jan Jensen —a former coach and player at Drake, respectively —were on hand to accept the honor. “As coaches, we love wins, but we also look at a lot of other things,” Bluder says. “Do our kids graduate? Are our kids great human beings? Do they grow as women while they’re here? Are we mentoring these women so they become the next generation of great female leaders? That speaks to me. That’s what gets me up in the morning.”

PHOTO COLL AGE: HAWKE YESPORTS.COM AND UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION; CL ARK PHOTO: BRIAN R AY/HAWKE YESPORTS.COM

‘Activating a New Generation’ Clark is no stranger to drawing a crowd. One afternoon this past summer, hundreds of fans flocked to the Coralville Food Pantry to donate money and goods to the small nonprofit—and to meet the reigning national player of the year. The line spilled out the door, around the building, and into the parking lot as Clark posed for pictures and signed photos. The food pantry’s director, John Boller (12BA), joked afterward that Clark’s partnership was like having a “cheat code in philanthropy.” By the end of the fundraiser, which started with a goal of $22,000 to match Clark’s No. 22 jersey, the food pantry had collected $77,000, including online donations that poured in from around the country. “We’re really grateful to Caitlin for leveraging her position and celebrity to help the local community,” says Boller, a UI School of Social Work alumnus and women’s basketball fan who reached out to Clark after her freshman year with the partnership idea. “It’s even more of an inspiration to everyone who looks up to her. We had a lot of young, first-time donors, so she’s activating a new generation of people who want to contribute to this work.” The magnetism of the Hawkeye senior has been dubbed “The Caitlin Clark Effect”—and for good reason. When Clark signed autographs in June before an Iowa Cubs game in Des Moines, fans lined up as early as 12 hours before she arrived. A month later at the John Deere Classic Pro-Am,

“

I’m glad I’ve given something that little girls can scream about at the top of their lungs.” —Cait lin Clark

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 37

PHOTOS: STEPHEN MALLY/HAWKE YESPORTS.COM

Scenes from the Crossover at Kinnick: Coach Lisa Bluder (top) addresses the crowd, Hannah Stuelke (bottom left) attacks the basket, and the team (bottom right) makes the pregame Hawk Walk into Kinnick Stadium.

3 8 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

PHOTO: STEPHEN MALLY/HAWKE YESPORTS.COM

Caitlin Clark hoists a shot on her way to a triple-double in Iowa's historymaking exhibition win Oct. 15.

‘It Gives Us More of a “Why”’ It was a classic October day in Iowa City. The tailgaters were out in force. The Hawkeye Marching Band was in midseason form. And 55,646 fans inside Kinnick Stadium sent waves of love to patients next door at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. But even if it felt like a football game day, this was something entirely new. Not only did the Crossover at Kinnick nearly double the 21-year-old NCAA attendance record for women’s basketball, the event raised $250,000 for the children’s hospital. More than an exhibition game, Iowa’s 94-72 victory over DePaul celebrated the power of women’s athletics and the deep connection between the Hawkeye program and their fans, as well as the pediatric patients they count as teammates. “I think it just puts it in perspective how much of an impact we really have on these kids—and how lucky we are to be able to be playing this sport with people we love every day,” Marshall says of the close bonds players have formed with children’s hospital patients during their regular visits. “It’s something bigger that we’re playing for, and it gives us more of a ‘why.’” For longtime fans of the program, the Kinnick contest also brought back memories of February 1985, when former UI women’s athletic director Christine Grant (70BA, 74PhD) and then-coach C. Vivian Stringer packed 22,157 fans into the 15,500-seat Carver-Hawkeye Arena—the first time Iowa set the NCAA single-game attendance record for women’s basketball. The Crossover at Kinnick came less than two years after the death of Grant, a national force for Title IX, and at the start of an ambitious new era in UI women’s athletics history. Earlier this year, Iowa announced the launch of its Hawkeye Women: RISE campaign, a crucial piece of the university’s comprehensive Together

Hawkeyes campaign. The campaign will support the basketball program and the 12 other women’s sports at Iowa by creating endowed scholarships, establishing named coaching positions, and funding international travel and other sport-specific needs. The RISE campaign will also fund two new facilities dedicated to women’s sports: a gymnastics and spirit squads training facility, as well as a field hockey operations center at Grant Field. For Bluder—whose official title is the P. Sue Beckwith, MD, Head Women’s Basketball Coach, and who marks her 40th year of coaching this season—it’s hard not to marvel at the growth of women’s sports. During her time as a player at University of Northern Iowa and early in her coaching career at St. Ambrose and Drake, game attendance was often smaller than the line these days for a Carver cone. “Nobody cared about women’s basketball, so to see how far it’s come, it’s amazing,” Bluder said after last season’s NCAA Tournament, which set a record for attendance. “It’s because we have great young women who are such good role models. They embrace the fans; they embrace the kids. I think people feel personally attached to them.” One of the most powerful moments of this spring’s NCAA tournament run was one of its quietest. At a practice inside an empty Carver before leaving for the Sweet Sixteen, Bluder and her team sat in a circle, crosslegged at center court. Coaches and players closed their eyes and joined hands. Bluder’s message was a simple one. “We’re stronger together,” she said.

Support the Iowa Women: RISE campaign at foriowa.org/athletics/rise.

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 3 9

“We’re so much stronger together than when we’re by ourselves.” —Coach Lisa Bluder

4 0 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

PHOTO: STEPHEN MALLY/ HAWKE YESPORTS.COM

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 41

Iowa’s Exceptional Educators Professors reflect on the transformative power of learning. While at the University of Iowa, students learn from classmates, work-study opportunities, and life experiences—but especially from their teachers. From the sciences to the arts, Iowa boasts creative and passionate faculty who strive to help each student reach their full potential. We asked a few of the university’s inspiring professors what it means to educate the next generation of Hawkeyes. Theatre arts professor Loyce Arthur advises a student on costume design.

Cornelia Lang

Professor of physics and astronomy and associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Expertise: Astrophysics, improving undergraduate education

Years at Iowa: 21 admire about the University of Iowa is the deep commitment that faculty have to their teaching and research. I have been so happy to have spent my career here.

Your most memorable classroom experience? One of my favorite

Loyce Arthur

Your most memorable classroom experience? Most memorable

Expertise: Costume design

are always the days when students blossom and find their creative spark. They realize what they can do and what they can become. The same satisfaction comes from the moment an actor puts on a costume and becomes the character.

Years at Iowa: 25

What makes your classroom unique?

Associate professor and coordinator of the Social Justice and the Performing Arts certificate, Department of Theatre Arts

Why Iowa? The university’s commitment to and

value of the arts; terrific facilities in the Theatre Arts Building for teaching and learning; and grant support for faculty for local, national, and global creative work.

4 2 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

I open students’ minds and imaginations to the world of artistic expression, visual cultural representations, and human stories that have been told and have yet to be told and invite them to take part in a collaborative theatre-making process with empathy, intellectual awareness, and cultural humility.

memories was when astrophysicist and author Neil DeGrasse Tyson surprised my students in an Origins of Life in the Universe course. He was visiting as a Student Lecture Committee speaker and agreed to come to my class. I’ll never forget the look on their faces when he walked in the classroom door!

What makes your classroom unique?

I believe strongly that it is our role as instructors to facilitate connections for our students between what they are learning in our courses and what experiences they bring to the subject. When students can see the relevance of their learning, they are much more deeply engaged.

ARTHUR PHOTO: JUSTIN TORNER/UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION; L ANG PHOTO: KELSE Y BAUMERT

Why Iowa? One of the things that I most

Professor David Gould (right) works with magician Nate Staniforth (05BA) to prepare for a course open to the public at the Englert Theatre.

Prized Alumni

University of Iowa alumni and faculty make a difference on the national and international stage. Here are some prestigious awards Hawkeyes have earned.

NOBEL PRIZE

David Gould (92MA)

Faculty and honors program associate professor

Expertise:

Self-actualization, student development, and community engagement

Years at Iowa: 22 Why Iowa?

I came here for graduate school and fell in love with the campus, town, and—most of all—the people.

PHOTO: JUSTIN TORNER/UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION

Your most memorable classroom experience?

From designing a social entrepreneurial course around rebuilding downtown Las Vegas, to giving seats away to local senior citizens and creating an intergenerational classroom, to moving my students to the Englert Theatre and inviting “the city to school,” there have been far too many great memories to narrow the field to just one. But in the end, it all comes down to the students and the relationships we build.

What makes your classroom unique?

Gould enlisted the help of a student leader on this question. Says Maia McLean, a peer mentor in Gould’s Life Design course: “This question has the easiest answer: Him! Dave is the type of person who never fails to dream; he has never lost his sense of wonder. And the remarkable part: He uses his innovative mind to impact those around him, whether it be on an individual level or through community events.”

In 2022, alumna Tanya Smith (85BA) was honored for her work as the legal adviser for the International Memoria l Association, which received the Nobel Peace Prize for its advocacy for human rights in Russia. Smith studied Russian and political science at Iowa and later became a human rights lawyer—all with the intention of using her education to make a global impact. Hawkeyes celebrated for the Nobel Prize in literature include past Iowa Writers’ Workshop visiting professor Louise Glück and former International Writing Program participants Mo Yan and Orhan Pamuk. Nine years after establishing the International Writing Program in 1967, Paul Engle (32MA) and Hualing Nieh Engle (66MFA) were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

PULITZER PRIZE

More than 45 Hawkeyes have ea r ned a P u l it z er, inc lud ing Te n n e s se e W i l l i a m s (38BA), Michael Cunningham (80MFA), and Marilynne Robinson (17LHD).

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

More t ha n 15 Iowa Wr iters’ Workshop graduates have won, including Justin Torres (10MFA) in 2023 for his novel Blackouts. The National Book Foundation also presented Bruna Dantas Lobato

(19MFA) with the National Book Award for Translated Literature and Rita Dove (77MFA, 22LHD) with a lifetime achievement award last year.

NATIONAL HUMANITIES MEDAL

Recipients include Robinson, Dove, Abraham Verghese (91MFA), and Ann Patchett (87MFA). In 2003, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop received the honor—the first awarded to a university. Former UI president Sandy Boyd (81LHD) was an inaugural recipient in 1989 when the award was called the Charles Frankel Prize.

NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE

Honorees include UI psychiatry chair Nancy Andreasen (70MD), psychologica l scientist Alber t Bandura (51MA, 52PhD), and space pioneer James Van Allen (36MS, 39PhD).

PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM

Williams, former Iowa Writers’ Workshop instructor Robert Penn Warren , former UI student Tom Brokaw, and wrestling great Dan Gable received this award.

U.S. POET LAUREATE

Nine alumni became U.S. poet laureates, including Dove and Joy Harjo (78MFA), the first Native American to hold the position.

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 4 3

The Write Channel Three astronauts learn they must scrap a pioneering space mission “Those speakers showed us how much power writers have to teach an and fake their Mars landing on a film set. Decades after the 1977 audience about a show,” says Egan. “I feel incredibly privileged to have had action film Capricorn One posed this fictional predicament, six a practice-round version of a writers’ room.” University of Iowa students explored how the beleaguered spacemen might Such real-life opportunities were exactly what Kevin Gruneich (80BBA) fare in a made-for-TV redux. and his wife, Donna—longtime film backers and producers—envisioned Los Angeles-based screenwriter Josh Parkinson, whose credits include when they made a gift to establish this first-of-its-kind class at Iowa. The the HBO comedy Eastbound and Down and AMC horror series The Terror, Gruneichs are among several literary-minded graduates and friends investing guided the students through this storytelling exercise in the inaugural in the UI’s budding writers and strengthening its status as the Writing Adaptation for Television course on the UI campus last spring. The University—the nation’s first and best academic home for writers. DID YOU KNOW? class chose to turn the political thriller into a three-episode TV “Iowa has an amazing group of alumni involved in writing for Iowa is the No. 1 miniseries, replicating a professional writers’ room in the process. film, TV, and theater,” says Gruneich. “We wanted to leverage public university “In a writers’ room, nobody owns the show; it’s the product of that talent for students because it’s very difficult to break into for writing in the the showrunner and the people paying you,” says Parkinson. “We this career.” country, according just work together to bring their vision to life.” The Adaptation for Television course they created will be to U.S. News & Lauren Egan (23BA) was one of a select group of undergraduate among Iowa’s yearly academic offerings; in fact, Parkinson will World Report. and graduate students—plucked from a pool of 88 applicants—who run two writers’ rooms—one focused on long-form adaptation collaborated with Parkinson on this world-building. A major in and the other on half-hour comedy writing—this spring. The English and creative writing and cinema, Egan gleaned valuable real-life classes are part of the Magid Center’s Iowa Writers’ Room program, which lessons from Parkinson and a range of guest stars who had honed their prepares students for careers in writing long-form television and has featured writing chops at Iowa. other seminars by the likes of Blue Bloods creators Robin Green (77MFA) These Hollywood heavy hitters included former UI classmates Sam Shaw and Mitchell Burgess (78BA). (04MFA), Lila Byock (04MFA), and Vinnie Wilhelm (04MFA)—creators, Storytellers such as Egan hope these hands-on courses will help them writers, and producers for award-winning shows like Castle Rock and parlay their Iowa writing experiences into industry gigs after graduation. In Manhattan—as well as David Kajganich (94MFA), a prolific screenwriter Egan’s case, they say scripting for television has been a childhood dream, and and producer who was Parkinson’s showrunner on The Terror. Kajganich Parkinson’s class moved them one step closer to realizing it: “For as long as also taught his own weeklong screenwriting masterclass, the Big Binge, at I can remember, I’ve wanted to write for television or movies—anything on Iowa during the fall 2023 semester. screen. What I learned in that room will stay with me for life.” B Y L E A H K L E VA R

4 4 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

PHOTO ILLUSTR ATION: NICK BEECHER

A groundbreaking new class teaches aspiring writers how to transform story ideas into must-see TV.

CURATOR ART AFICIONADO

Lauren g n i s e L

Director UI Stanley Museum of Art

Invest in the art of giving. Join the campaign at together.foriowa.org

4 6 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

R, H TOGE THE

AWK E Y E S

s e i r e v o c s Di At Iowa, we’re seeking solutions to some of our universe’s most pressing issues. Together, we’re sparking curiosity, pursuing breakthroughs, and bringing ideas to life.

48 V IS IO N R E S E A RC H 51 CA N C E R TRI A L S 52 IOWA I N S PAC E 54 S LE E P SC I E N C E

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 47

A northwest Iowa family launches a brewery to spread hope to those affected by vision loss. 4 8 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

PHOTO: JASON SMITH

Brews for Blindness

SUPPORT THE CAUSE Give to the Brews for Blindness Vision Research Fund, which advances treatment efforts for retinal conditions through the UI Institute for Vision Research, at foriowa.info/im-brews23.

Inwood, Iowa, and raised more than $42,000 within a year. Earlier this summer, the family launched Brews for Blindness—a nonprofit that’s organizing other community-minded breweries to join its mission. Each partner can designate a new or existing beer to the cause, allocating a portion of sales to the IVR. Together, these efforts will spread hope and empower others to help cure blindness, one beer at a time. “There’s no reason we have to leave anybody behind in this disease; we can help everyone,” says Hage. “That’s our mission—and until this disease is gone, we’re just going to keep plugging at it.”

PHOTO:JOHN EMIGH

Rob Hage opened Blind Butcher Brewing in Inwood, Iowa, to support vision research at the University of Iowa.

Rob Hage struggles to hold back the tears. Every day he thinks about his grandkids facing the same inherited eye disease that afflicts him and his son. These aren’t tears of grief, however. They’re tears of joy. Hage is overcome with hope and gratitude, because he has reason to believe his grandchildren will never have to experience the fear of blindness that he and his son have faced. He knows firsthand that the University of Iowa Institute

for Vision Research has discovered a potential cure and preventative treatments for rare heritable conditions like retinitis pigmentosa and one of the most common forms of vision loss, macular degeneration. The IVR aims to make these treatments widely affordable and available. To help expedite that process, Hage’s family is raising awareness and money for the IVR through craft beer. In September 2021, the Hages started their own brewery, Blind Butcher Brewing, in

Seeing is Believing Hage has witnessed the IVR’s “leave no one behind” mentality at work. Fourteen years ago, Hage traveled across the state to see IVR director and ophthalmologist Ed Stone (89R, 90F, 92F) in the UI Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Hage was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disorder that involves a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina that steadily narrows his central vision. Despite the discouraging diagnosis, Hage still left Iowa City with a glimmer of hope. Stone told him that his team wouldn’t quit until they found a cure. In December 2020, that potential cure came to light. Hage watched a webinar in which Stone described a promising vision-restoring treatment that was positioned to undergo clinical trials in the coming years. The challenge was making it affordable. That’s where Hage’s vision for starting a brewery came into focus. Soon after Blind Butcher Brewing opened, Hage’s son was diagnosed w ith retinitis pigmentosa. The news came as a shock, though it wasn’t nearly as daunting for the family as his own diagnosis. “Things were surprisingly a lot easier,” MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 4 9

CROSS-COUNTRY COOPERATION From ingredient and label-printing contributions to monetary donations, many partners from Iowa and across the country are helping Brews for Blindness fight eye disease, including:

BACKPOCKET BREWING Coralville

BIG RACK BREW HAUS Winterset, Iowa

BRIESS MALT & INGREDIENTS COMPANY Chilton, Wisconsin

CONFLUENCE BREWING COMPANY Des Moines

DIMENSIONAL BREWING COMPANY Dubuque, Iowa

FISHBACK & STEPHENSON CIDER

Rob Hage and his son, Alex, visit Backpocket Brewing's production facility to see the canning process of Sight for the Blind—the pilot beer for Brews for Blindness.

Fairfield, Iowa

HOLLINGBERY & SON INC. HOPS Yakima, Washington

JUBECK NEW WORLD BREWING KALONA BREWING COMPANY Kalona, Iowa

PIVO BREWERY Calmar, Iowa

TEXTILE BREWING COMPANY Dyersville, Iowa

TOPPLING GOLIATH BREWING COMPANY Decorah, Iowa

WISE I BREWING COMPANY Le Mars, Iowa

Visit brewsforblindness.org/map to view a complete list.

5 0 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

says Hage. “We’re just so confident in what’s being done [at the IVR]. We know it’s going to work. It’s just a matter of time, awareness, fundraising, and this grassroots effort that we’re involved with here in Iowa.” Collaboration for a Cause This past May, Brews for Blindness took flight with the canning of its pilot beer, Sight for the Blind. Two and a half years in the making, the hazy IPA was brewed by Coralville’s Backpocket Brewing. The can’s label features a QR code with information about the nonprofit’s mission and a link to donate online to a vision research fund. Hage has shared his mission with the brewers’ guilds in Iowa and South Dakota and aims to partner with more than 100 Iowa craft brewers. Once the nonprofit is wellestablished in Iowa, Hage will begin seeking partnerships with breweries beyond the state. “The culture of craft beer brings people together,” says Hage, who was inspired by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s worldwide campaign that raised millions to support those affected by the 2018 California wildfires.

“The industry is just perfectly aligned to raising awareness in communities across Iowa and the country.” A Beacon of Hope Blind Butcher Brewing is located a few miles northwest of Inwood, Iowa, in the middle of nowhere. But most who walk in the doors don’t find it by accident. Every weekend, Hage meets people who have lost hope, need more of it, or want to know how they can help. The Hages’ family story demonstrates how a vision, a community, and a belief can transform lives—one person at a time. “We’re shining a light on how we can bring this cure to people from around the world,” says Hage. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, or how old you are. We signed on to the mission of leaving no one behind. That’s what we’re going to do.”

BY T YLE R STR AN D

PHOTO: JOHN EMIGH

Dubuque, Iowa

Cancer Goes on Trial

ILLUSTR ATION: NICK BEECHER; PHOTO COURTESY UI HEALTH CARE

A novel new clinical trial through UI Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center may help colon cancer patients avoid surgery. It’s a disturbing trend—and one with more questions than answers. By 2030, the deadliest form of cancer for individuals 50 and under will be colorectal cancer. Saima Sharif, a medical oncologist at University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, says that changes in gut microbiome due to diet and lifestyle choices may be one reason why. “When patients in their 30s and 40s are experiencing abdominal pain or pain for more than a month when they go to the bathroom, it may not always be taken seriously,” says Sharif. “Colorectal cancer may not be on their doctors’ radar because the patient is younger, which delays their care. Continued patient and primary care doctor education is key.” To find ways to better support colon cancer patients, Sharif recently launched a clinical trial to see if immunotherapy is a viable treatment option that could potentially help individuals avoid surgery. Immunotherapy, which uses the patient’s immune system to find and destroy cancer cells, has been successful in treating other forms of cancer—especially rectal cancer. “We’re looking to see if colon cancer responds to the immunotherapy similarly to rectal cancers and only recommend surgery if the tumor grows or moves,” says Sharif, whose clinical trial is currently enrolling stage two and stage three patients. As one of only 56 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers nationwide, Holden has been recognized for its leadership in cancer prevention, clinical

services, and research. Through its clinical trials, patients have access to emerging drugs, therapies, and treatments that have the potential to improve outcomes. “Clinical trials advance cures and improve treatments every day,” says Sharif. “It’s the No. 1 thing moving the needle. We’re the only hospital in Iowa to have investigator-initiated trials, like mine. We work closely with our counterparts in the lab and bring this cutting-edge research from bench to bedside for our cancer patients.” While clinical trials rely on various funding sources, charitable gifts move these efforts forward. Sharif ’s research is funded by the donor-supported Holden Family Precision Oncology Research Fund and a colon cancer research fund created by former Iowa City mayor Darrel Courtney (72BA) and his wife, Cynthia. If the immunotherapy results are what Sharif hopes, clinical trials at the national level would follow before this practice is enacted as a standard of care. To help catch colorectal cancer as early as possible, Sharif encourages individuals to get their colonoscopy screenings at age 45—and repeat every 10 years. Based on family history of colon cancer, screening for colonoscopy sooner than 45 may be recommended. “Colorectal cancers are slow growing, and by getting your colonoscopy screening at 45, hopefully we can catch some of these cancers that aren’t showing symptoms yet,” she says.

Oncologist Saima Sharif

Learn more about how you can help advance clinical trials and support Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, which serves patients from all 99 Iowa counties and nearly every U.S. state.

BY BE N FROTSCHE R

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 5 1

Wind Van Allen Probes Mercury

Cluster

Earth

Mars Express

Venus Geotail Mars

MMS

Voyager 2

Uranus

Neptune

Juno

Jupiter

Cassini Voyager 1

Iowa’s Place in Space With his discovery of the radiation belts surrounding Earth in 1958, University of Iowa physics and astronomy professor James Van Allen (36MS, 39PhD) helped usher in an age of international space exploration that put Iowa in partnership with NASA conducting transformational research. Iowa students, faculty, and staff have since developed advanced instrumentation for more than 100 spaceflight missions that have visited nearly every planet in our solar system and rapidly expanded human understanding of the cosmos. Pictured here are some of the many NASA spacecraft—and their corresponding mission patches—that have carried UI-built instruments over the decades.

5 2 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

IMAGES COURTESY UI DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

Saturn

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 5 3

Bed Head Iowa scientist Marie Gaine knows just how debilitating it can be to not get a good night’s sleep. Last year, Gaine and her husband welcomed their first child—and all the challenges that come with being new parents. After waking up every few hours with their newborn, Gaine remembers how much of a struggle it was to function the next day. “I was extremely sleep-deprived for a long time,” Gaine says. “Sometimes I couldn’t even form words.” The cognitive effects of poor sleep came as no surprise to Gaine, an assistant professor in the UI College of Pharmacy and member of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute. Her lab inside the new UI Pharmacy Building investigates how genetic and environmental factors contribute to neurodegenerative and psychiatric disease, including the link between sleep deprivation and neurodegeneration. Sleep is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, onethird of adults in the U.S. report not getting enough rest. Poor sleep can lead to a host of health problems, and the brain is among the organs most affected. Not getting the recommended minimum of seven hours of sleep per night for adults can make you more forgetful, less able to concentrate, and more accident prone. Even more concerning, sleep disorders have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Gaine’s lab works to understand the role of epigenetics— how environmental factors can alter our DNA—in the development and treatment of psychiatric disorders. In today’s 5 4 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

age of long workdays and attention-trapping technology, chronically restricted sleep is among the most prevalent environmental factors detrimental to our health. “The main reason that we’re interested in this is because sleep disturbance is a major factor for individuals with neurodegeneration,” says Gaine. “One of the first symptoms—before the more common ones like memory loss and cognitive deficits—can be disrupted sleep. It’s common for somebody with neurodegenerative phenotype or disorder to also be sleep-deprived.” Working in collaboration with Iowa Neuroscience Institute Director Ted Abel , Gaine explores how sleep deprivation can worsen learning, memory, and anxiety in mouse models genetically predisposed to neurodegeneration. She was first author of a 2021 study that pinpointed how keeping mice awake deregulated their gene expression in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that’s important for learning and memory. Earlier this year, the Iowa Neuroscience Institute awarded Gaine a Williams-Cannon Fellowship, which provides funding annually for neurodegeneration research. The fellowship was established by INI supporters Sue (69BBA) and Frank Cannon in honor of their loved ones affected by neurodegenerative disease. Gaine, an Ireland native who came to Iowa in 2012 as a postdoctoral researcher before founding her lab three years ago, says, “This type of support is critical for any lab.” BY JOSH O’LE ARY

Marie Gaine

Get a Full Night’s Sleep Maintain a regular bedtime and wakeup schedule. Create a sleep environment that is relaxing, dark, and cool. Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol close to bedtime. Establish a relaxing bedtime routine. —Source: UI Health Care

PHOTO ILLUSTR ATION: NICK BEECHER; PHOTO: JUSTIN TORNER/UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION

An Iowa researcher investigates how a lack of sleep affects our brains.

TEACHER HEALER

Jose e d n e u c Mor

Orthopedic surgeon, UI Health Care, and chief medical director, Ponseti International Association

Join the global effort at together.foriowa.org MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 5 5

R, H AW TOGE THE

KEYES

d a e Ah 5 6 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

We’re Iowa’s flagship university. With a comprehensive academic medical center and top scholars in science and the arts and humanities, we help people throughout the state and across the globe. And we do it all the Hawkeye way— collaboratively, persistently, and with an eye toward bettering humanity. 58 I O WA' S E V O L U T I O N 62 C A M P U S V I S I O N A R I E S 6 4 J O I N T H E C A M PA I G N

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 57

The Iowa Memorial Union in 1928 (right) and today

Iowa’s Evolution The Together Hawkeyes campaign builds on more than 175 years of progress and ushers in a new era of campus growth.

In the early days of the State University of Iowa, an iron fence enclosed the modest campus and the not-so-old Old Capitol. This sturdy barrier was necessary at a time when pigs and other livestock occasionally strayed from nearby homesteads and caused mischief in what was still, in many ways, a frontier town. That was the last time anyone tried to fence in the University of Iowa. Since welcoming its inaugural class of 124 students in 1855, the UI has steadily grown to meet its core mission of education, research, and service. Today, the university is home to more than 30,000 students who populate hundreds of world-class academic buildings, scientific laboratories, medical clinics, and athletics venues across 1,900 acres. The launch of the university’s Together Hawkeyes comprehensive campaign promises to reshape our historic campus once again. In that spirit of progress, let’s look back on how far we’ve come and what’s on the horizon for the UI and its Hawkeye community. 5 8 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

CENTRAL CAMPUS W HERE W E S TA R T ED

The UI’s story, of course, begins with the Old Cap. It was here on the bluff overlooking the Iowa River that the first General Assembly in 1847 established a university to train the new state’s doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. When the state legislature moved to Des Moines a decade later, Old Cap became the university’s first permanent address. A variety of buildings sprung up around the golden dome in the 19th century but were later supplanted by the four grand Greek revival-style edifices, built between 1902 and 1924, that make up today’s Pentacrest . Meanwhile, several other landmarks took shape in the first decades of the 20th century. Currier Residence Hall, the UI’s oldest existing dormitory, opened in 1914 as a home for Hawkeye women. The Iowa Memorial Union debuted in 1925 as a hub for concerts, dances, and

OLD PHOTO: UI LIBR ARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSIT Y ARCHIVES; NEW PHOTO: JUSTIN TORNER/UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION

BY JOSH O’LEARY

dinners. And just down Madison Street from the IMU, the Main Library consolidated much of the university’s vast book collection when it opened in 1951. By the latter half of the 20th century, the UI began to commission some of the world’s most noted architects for new buildings—Frank Gehry designed the Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratories, for instance—transforming campus into what’s been called a living textbook of modern architectural history.

OLD PHOTO: UI LIBR ARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSIT Y ARCHIVES; NEW PHOTO: SUSAN MCCLELLEN/UI HEALTH CARE

W HERE W E A RE

The Pentacrest remains at the heart of university life. Its leafy lawn hosts pep rallies, homecoming concerts, and daily study sessions, while Pentacrest Museums welcome tours of the Old Cap and Museum of Natural History. The IMU, meanwhile, was swamped by the flood of 2008, leading to a renovation of its lower level and the construction of a new floodwall integrated into an outdoor terrace. In 2014, the Main Library ’s first floor was redesigned as a student learning commons with group study rooms, a café, and technology upgrades. Nearby, the UI’s newest dormitory, Elizabeth Catlett Residence Hall , opened in 2017 and is home to several Living Learning Communities. The UI has also cut the ribbon on several transformative academic and research buildings in recent years, including the Psychological and Brain Sciences Building (2019) and Nonfiction Writing House (2023). W HERE W E’RE GOING

The UI unveiled its ambitious 10-year facilities master plan last year that, while it could evolve or change, calls for renovations to some of the main campus’ most historic buildings. The plan would modernize MacLean, Jessup, and Macbride halls for academic use, and the Main Library is slated for a renewal project. The IMU is scheduled to begin a new round of renovations in 2024, including a new Well-Being and Mental Health Center that will bring together the UI’s health, counseling, and wellness resources under one roof. Other priorities on the horizon include a new location for the UI’s cultural centers and expanding the Henry B. Tippie College of Business.

The university's General Hospital in 1930 (left) and UI Stead Family Children's Hospital today

MEDICAL CAMPUS W HERE W E S TA R T ED

In 1870, the first class of 37 medical students convened in Iowa City, including eight women, making Iowa the first coeducational med school in the U.S. The first university-based teaching hospital west of the Mississippi River opened on Iowa's main campus in 1898—a 50-bed facility (later renamed Seashore Hall) built at a cost of $55,000. The medical campus took shape on the west side of the Iowa River in the early 20th century, including the opening of the original children’s hospital in 1919, the psychiatric hospital in 1921, and the General Hospital with its historic gothic tower in 1928. W HERE W E A RE

UI Hospitals & Clinics is one of the nation’s largest teaching hospitals with 16,500 employees, students,

and volunteers. Each year, patients make more than 1 million clinic visits to the main medical campus and outreach clinics from Dubuque to Sioux City. The highly ranked Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, meanwhile, is situated on an ever-growing health sciences campus that features 11 buildings housing classrooms, laboratories, and clinics. In the past decade alone, the Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building (2014), Stead Family Children’s Hospital (2017), and College of Pharmacy Building (2020) have opened their doors. W HERE W E’RE GOING

Construction at UI Health Care’s new North Liberty medical campus is ongoing and is set to open in 2025. Featuring 36 inpatient beds, 84 exam rooms, 14 emergency care treatment rooms, and 12 operating rooms, the new location will provide greater access to patients while training the next generation of physicians. Construction has also begun just south of Slater Hall on the future Health Sciences Academic Building, which will be home to three nationally ranked programs: communications sciences and disorders, physical therapy, and health and human physiology. At the same time, UI Hospitals & Clinics is in the planning stages for a new inpatient tower that would add more than 200 beds to its main medical campus, sparked by a $70 million gift from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation. MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 5 9

Built in 1929 to accommodate 53,000 football fans, Iowa Stadium was renamed Kinnick Stadium in 1972 and now holds 69,250 spectators.

ATHLETICS CAMPUS Iowa played its first football and baseball games on fields along the east banks of the Iowa River in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Close Hall, a multipurpose building downtown, was the site of the nation’s first five-on-five college basketball game in 1896, while the women’s gymnasium, Halsey Hall, opened in 1915. The Field House debuted in 1927, featuring what was at the time the world’s largest indoor collegiate pool, and Iowa Stadium—decades later renamed Nile Kinnick Stadium —opened in 1929. The latter half of the 20th century featured the 1983 construction of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a subterranean marvel that garnered Iowa’s first national architectural design award and has hosted some of Iowa basketball and wrestling’s biggest moments along with countless concerts and graduations. W HERE W E A RE

Iowa boasts some of the top athletics facilities in the Big Ten. Kinnick Stadium remains one of college football’s great cathedrals and has undergone several transformations, most recently the 6 0 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

$89 million makeover in 2019 that enhanced the north end zone. Other key additions in recent decades include the West Campus Tennis Recreation Center (2006), Campus Wellness and Recreation Center (2010), Hansen Football Performance Center (2014), and the Soccer Operations Building (2022). W HERE W E’RE GOING

The Goschke Family Wrestling Training Center, which is under construction and connects to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, will serve as the new practice home for the men’s and women’s grapplers when it opens in spring 2024. The university is also in the preliminary stages of plans to revitalize the Iowa baseball complex and Duane Banks Field. And the Hawkeye Women: RISE campaign recently kicked off with the goal of building a new women’s gymnastics and Iowa Spirit Squads training center. Long-term planning is also under way to modernize Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which turned 40 last year.

OLD PHOTO: UI LIBR ARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSIT Y ARCHIVES; NEW PHOTO: KIRK MURR AY/UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION

W HERE W E S TA R T ED

ARTS CAMPUS

OLD PHOTO: UI LIBR ARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSIT Y ARCHIVES; NEW PHOTO: SUSAN MCCLELLEN/UI HEALTH CARE

W HERE W E S TA R T ED

The 1936 opening of the original Art Building —where professors like Grant Wood and Philip Guston worked and taught —established Iowa’s renown as a haven for artists on the west banks of the Iowa River. Nearby, the Theatre Building raised its curtain a year later and would count Tennessee Williams (38BA) and Gene Wilder (55BA) among its students. In 1969, the original UI Museum of Art became the home of one of the nation’s premier academic art collections, while Hancher Auditorium, Voxman Music Building, and Clapp Recital Hall debuted in 1972 to further establish Iowa City’s reputation in the performing arts. W HERE W E A RE

The flood of 2008 changed everything at Iowa, and the arts campus was particularly devastated. The $750 million disaster led to the demolition of the original Hancher-Voxman-Clapp complex and the years-long displacement of the art museum collection and art, music, and theater programs. But the university turned disaster into a renaissance. Iowa became a national model for flood prevention and recovery as it rebuilt

Hancher (2016), a performing arts jewel that perches above the river uphill from the original site, and relocated Voxman Music Building downtown to create new campus and community connections. Meanwhile, the addition of award-winning Art Building West (2006) and the Visual Arts Building (2016)

have propelled the School of Art and Art History into the 21st century, while the new Stanley Museum of Art brought home Jackson Pollock’s Mural and countless other masterpieces with its inaugural exhibition in 2022. W HERE W E’RE GOING

The original Art Building and Museum of Art flooded in 2008, but both structures were preserved and could be given a second life as part of the UI’s 10-year facilities strategy. Plans are already taking shape to relocate the UI Dance Department from Halsey Hall to the former art museum, placing the state’s only comprehensive dance program in the heart of the arts campus. The old museum has served as a performing arts annex in recent years.

TOP LEFT: The UI School of Music relocated its headquarters downtown after the 2008 flood with the opening of the stateof-the-art Voxman Music Building in 2016. ABOVE: Following the 2008 flood that inundated the original museum (pictured here in 1969), local arts patrons rallied to help build the new UI Stanley Museum of Art that opened in 2022.

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 6 1

A view looking south from East Washington Street onto South Dubuque Street depicts a bustling Iowa City Downtown District in the early 1900s and today.

19 Hawkeye Visionaries Who Transformed Campus

A photo from 1975 shows downtown Iowa City at the 100 block of South Dubuque Street, before the introduction of the ped mall.

W HERE W E S TA R T ED

Iowa City and the state of Iowa have grown up around its flagship public research university. After Iowa’s early leaders claimed this tract of land along the river in 1839 as the territorial capital and, soon after, the state capital, Iowa City became a hub for culture, commerce, and education. It remained so even when the statehouse relocated to Des Moines in 1857, making the capitol the university’s centerpiece. From its earliest days, downtown Iowa City was a destination for scholars and artists who arrived aboard stagecoaches and steamboats, and later passenger rail and motor carriages. An urban renewal project in the 1970s transformed downtown into a vibrant pedestrian mall that has served as Iowa City’s living room ever since. W HERE W E A RE

Twenty-first century Iowa City consistently ranks among the nation’s best places to live and work thanks to its quality of life, educational opportunities, and cultural offerings. The ped mall, which saw extensive renovations this past decade, and the surrounding downtown district are known for their lively mix of shops, restaurants, and nightlife. The nearby Riverfront Crossings district has been the focus of new development in recent years, while Coralville’s Iowa River Landing 6 2 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

District has thrived with the addition of UI Health

Care’s IRL clinic. Beyond Johnson County, the UI is an economic powerhouse for the state and Iowa’s largest employer. According to a recent study commissioned by the State Board of Regents, the university supports one out of every 19 jobs in Iowa and adds $8 billion to the state’s economy. W HERE W E’RE GOING

Several major UI facilities projects will have a positive impact on the greater Iowa City community in the coming years, including upgrades to the university housing and health care systems. The UI announced earlier this year that it’s exploring the possibility of selling its 55-yearold Mayflower Residence Hall, which is located more than a mile away from the Pentacrest , while studying options for a new residence hall specially tailored to returning students. A sale could potentially reshape Iowa City’s North Dubuque Street gateway through the revitalization or redevelopment of the high-profile property. Meanwhile, UI Health Care continues to expand to meet the growing needs of Iowans. Its new campus in North Liberty will create jobs and bring more patients from across Iowa to Johnson County for care. The university also recently finalized an acquisition of Mercy Iowa City, which includes its main hospital near downtown Iowa City and clinics in surrounding counties, further strengthening the UI’s community health care network.

WIL L ARD “S ANDY” (81LHD) AND SUS AN BOYD A former law professor who served as the UI’s 15th president from 1969-81, Sandy Boyd helped expand Iowa’s reputation as a premier public university—and its campus. The Boyd Law Building and Boyd Tower at UI Hospitals & Clinics celebrate the couple’s leadership and philanthropy.

ROY J. AND L UCIL L E A. CARVER The influential Muscatine couple and their family’s charitable trust have

OLD DOWNTOWN PHOTO: UI LIBR ARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSIT Y ARCHIVES; NEW DOWNTOWN PHOTO: JASON SMITH; 1975 PHOTO: THEO LINDLE Y/IOWA CIT Y PUBLIC LIBR ARY DIGITAL HISTORY PROJECT

HAWKEYE COMMUNITY

Knowing your way around the University of Iowa means being familiar with the names of some of our most prominent Hawkeyes. You might head to a game at Carver, class at Pappajohn, or a concert at Hancher—nicknames for a few of the 64 UI buildings that pay tribute to Iowa leaders. As the Together Hawkeyes campaign rallies the next generation of Iowa visionaries, here are a few of the many Hawkeyes who left a lasting mark on campus:

The Richard O. Jacobson Football Operations Building , part of the

supported major projects such as the Carver Pavilion at UI Hospitals & Clinics, Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and the Carver Biomedical Research Building . The Roy J. and Lucille

Hansen Football Per formance Center, is home to Iowa’s storied

A. Carver College of Medicine

was named for the couple in 2002 in recognition of the family’s $63 million gift to the college.

RUS SEL L AND ANN GERDIN From health care to athletics, the Gerdin family is among Iowa’s most generous supporters. The Russell

PHIL IP HUBBARD (46BSEE, 49MS, 54PHD) As the first African American vice president at a Big Ten university, Hubbard was a guiding star as the UI grew to 28,000 students in his 46 years as a faculty member, administrator, and champion of diversity. Hubbard Park , which is the front lawn of the Iowa Memorial Union, was named for him a year after his 1990 retirement.

and Ann Gerdin American Cancer Society Hope Lodge provides 28

rooms for cancer patients and their caregivers, the Gerdin Athletic Learning Center supports studentathlete success, and the Gerdin Family Lobby greets visitors at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

PHOTO ILLUSTR ATIONS: UICA FILE PHOTOS

VIRGIL HANCHER (1918BA, 24JD, 64LLD) A UI president who served from 1940-64, Hancher shepherded an unprecedented period of growth for the campus. The original Hancher Auditorium was named in his honor in 1972, and the UI preserved the nationally known moniker when the new auditorium opened in 2016.

WALT ER JES SUP (34LITTD) During his tenure as president from 1916-34, campus expanded from 42 to 324 acres, and the student body nearly tripled to 10,000. Jessup oversaw what was then the grandest building campaign in university history, which included the completion of the Pentacrest buildings and the campus’ westward expansion across the Iowa River. Jessup Hall has housed the office of the president since 1970.

RICHARD O. JACOB SON The Belmond, Iowa, native and his foundation have been a cornerstone at Iowa in areas like business, athletics, health care, and beyond.

gridiron program. Most recently, the Jacobson Foundation donated $70 million—the largest-ever gift to the UI—to kickstart the new patient care tower project for UI Health Care.

C. MA X WEL L (26BSE, 30MS) AND EL IZ ABE T H S TANL E Y (27BA) In the 1980s, the world-traveling couple donated their vast collection of African art to the UI’s original art museum; decades later, their family continued that legacy by contributing a naming gift to the UI Stanley Museum of Art , which opened last year.

S AL LY MASON The UI’s 20 th president guided its response and recovery to the historic flood of 2008. Mason helped secure the funding to rebuild and replace many key buildings, including Hancher Auditorium, Voxman Music Building, and Visual Arts Building. Stead Family Children’s Hospital and Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building also broke ground during

her tenure.

JERRE (65BBA, 11LHD) AND MARY JOY S T E AD The Steads have been steadfast supporters of the Henry B. Tippie College of Business and pediatric medicine at Iowa. In 2013, the UI named the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics in honor of the couple’s philanthropy, and in 2017, the university cut the ribbon on UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

JOHN (52BS, 10LHD) AND MARY PAPPAJOHN The Des Moines philanthropists paved the way for an array of campus projects, including the Pappajohn P av i l i o n a nd J o h n a n d M a r y Pappajohn Clinical Cancer Center at UI Hospital & Clinics, Pappajohn Business Building , Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building, and Pappajohn Education Center in Des Moines. John, a venture capitalist, also founded the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at his alma mater and colleges across Iowa.

HENRY (49BCS, 09LHD) AND PAT RICIA TIPPIE The university named the Henry B. Tippie College of Business in 1999 in recognition of the largest single gift from an individual in UI history. The couple’s philanthropic legacy also included the creation of the Henry B. and Patricia B. Tippie Director of Athletics Chair, which was the first endowed position in the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

MAGAZINE.FORIOWA.ORG | IOWA MAGAZINE 6 3

6 4 IOWA MAGAZINE | SPECIAL ISSUE

Now’s your chance to participate in our historic campaign by staying connected, getting involved, and giving back. Together, Hawkeyes will shape the future. STAY CONNECTED

GET INVOLVED

GIVE BACK

Learn more about how Hawkeyes are making a difference in Iowa and around the globe.

Choose from a variety of programs, events, and groups—on campus and off—to fit your Hawkeye experience.

Invest in the Iowa cause that means most to you—and help change our campus, community, and world.

Connect with our Iowa alumni networks: foriowa.org/networks

Donate today: givetoiowa.org

Nominate someone you know for our Distinguished Alumni Awards: foriowa.org/daa Read about our Family Spirit Award winners: foriowa.org/family-spirit

Enter one of our online writing contests: foriowa.org/write-now

Check out our alumni resources: foriowa.org/ alumni-career-resources

Plan a reunion: foriowa.org/reunions

Discover some of our Iowa stories: foriowa.org/iowa-stories Explore our Hawkeye City Guides: foriowa.org/city-guides

PHOTOS: UI OFFICE OF STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATION

Join our Social Hawks: social.foriowa.org

Dive into our student opportunities: foriowa.org/studentopportunities Join our Hawkeye book club: pbc.guru/foriowa Attend Senior College: foriowa.org/senior-college

Find new ways to give: foriowa.org/ways-to-give Hire a Hawkeye graduate: careers.uiowa.edu/ handshake Look into our crowdfunding site: goldrush.uiowa.edu Connect with campus: foriowa.org/ways-to-getinvolved Hear from inspirational alumni and friends: foriowa.info/lecturearchive

Join the campaign at together.foriowa.org

Nonprofitt Org. Nonproﬁ U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 40 Iowa City, IA

The University of Iowa Center for Advancement One West Park Road, Iowa City, IA 52242

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

“ e v e i l Be ALL WE DID WAS

IN EACH OTHER.” Caitlin Clark, —Caitlin Clark,Iowa Iowawomen’s women’sbasketball basketball star