Community Corner
Sally Mason Talks International Recruiting, Flood Recovery, New Dorm: DI Reader, June 14
Also inside: UI and IC mark four-year flood anniversary, Uthoff drafted for Prime Time League, and local band Funkdaddies keeps it real.
Q&A with UI President Sally Mason
The Daily Iowan sat down with President Sally Mason on Wednesday to talk about the upcoming residence hall, her trip to Asia at the end of June, and plans for the new UI Children’s Hospital.
Read more here.
Find out what's happening in Iowa Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Officials: Main Library construction won’t disrupt students
Though the second phase of construction for the new learning commons at the University of Iowa Main Library was expected to start in May, UI officials say construction is on track to be completed in August 2013.
The first floor of the Main Library will be converted into the new learning commons, which will be 37,000-square-feet of student study space. The space will include around 18 group-study spaces, 100 desktop and laptop computers, a 45-seat TILE classroom, and study space to accommodate more than 500 students, The Daily Iowan has previously reported. The cost to renovate the space will be $14.5 million.
Find out what's happening in Iowa Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Read more here.
New residence hall designed to focus on living learning communities
The new dorm, scheduled to begin construction on the west side of the river this fall, will be ready for students in Spring 2015. With a budget of more than $53 million, the space will provide housing for 501 freshmen and returning students on 10 floors.
But what are some UI officials most excited about? The hall will feature community and study spaces, and food service on an open floor plan, all in an effort to promote community.
“We know that the sooner a freshman makes connections with other students and becomes friends with other students, the easier it is for them to adapt to life away from home, life away from family,” said University of Iowa President Sally Mason in a Daily Iowan interview on Wednesday.
Read more here.
Iowa City, UI officials talk recovery on flood’s four-year anniversary
Four years ago this week, the Iowa River flooded a large section of the University of Iowa campus and parts of Iowa City.
Today, officials said that while much has been restored since the record-breaking, building-busting 2008 flood, the recovery process is far from over.
Don Guckert, the UI associate vice president for Facilities Management, remembers the 500-year flood.
“This is actually the anniversary,” he said Wednesday. “Friday the 13th was the morning the water flooded our buildings.”
Read more here.
Players drafted for Prime Time League
Incoming Iowa transfer Jarrod Uthoff was selected as the top overall pick in the 2012 Prime Time League draft on Wednesday.
The Wisconsin redshirt freshman went first in a draft, in which eight of the top 10 players selected were Hawkeyes or Iowa alumni. Head coach and league Commissioner Randy Larson, who possessed the No. 1 pick, said choosing the 6-8 forward to lead his team was a no-brainer.
“I had him in the Prime Time League before, and I loved coaching him,” Larson said. “[Jarrod] had a great feel for the game and it’s going to be a special coming out party.”
Read more here.
80 Hours: FunkDaddies keeps the funk alive
Many ’60s trends have faded in the last 50 years, from bell-bottoms and beehive haircuts to such words such as “groovy.”
But at least one 60s-originating trend has remained relevant today, and that’s funk, according to the Iowa City-based band FunkDaddies. Despite the pressures of the modern mainstream music industry, FunkDaddies strives to remind people of the tradition of funk and soul.
The five members of FunkDaddies, which will perform for the Friday Night Concert series at 7 p.m. Friday on the Pedestrian Mall fountain stage, have been playing funk, soul and R&B since the band’s formation in 2003.
Read more here.
Editorial: F+ for Iowa’s education system
One thing the state of Iowa has been proud of is the high-quality education students receive from kindergarten through the 12th grade. Postsecondary education that the state offers at all of its Board of Regents’ schools is not lacking either. What can we say? Iowa is a state full of smarties.
However, in a 2011 CNN “Money” report, Iowa didn’t even make the top 10. In fact, over the last 13 years, enrollment in Iowa public schools has been steadily declining, and in some districts, the standards have been declining as well.
Read more here.