February 9, 2012

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University presidents make direct money pitch to legislators

February 9, 2012 By

Members of the Board of Regents and the presidents the state-supported universities made their pitch for state funding at the capitol Wednesday. Iowa State University President, Steven Leath, says they need money to deal with a combination of a growing student body and rising infrastructure costs.

“If we are going to continue to provide a quality education, we need funds just to keep up and give all the students, including these new students, the same quality education there predecessors had,” Leath said. Representative Ron Jorgenson, a Republican from Sioux City, said there’s a public relations issue about how the schools operate, and asked the presidents if they should bring in someone to do an outside evaluation.

“Do you think that would be a good idea to counter this perception that’s out there that you are too costly and too inefficient?, Jorgenson asked. University of Iowa President, Sally Mason, responded that she didn’t want to waste money to learn what she already knows. She says they have already had and outside review.

“It showed that we were a $6-billion asset to the state of Iowa, and yet people then turned to me and said ‘well I don’t believe that.’ So, tell me what would convince people of what we know we’re doing and were doing well,” Mason said. Mason says what they are doing well at is cutting costs– she says all three colleges have slashed administrative costs, while at the same time trying to maintain higher educational standards.

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Report suggests state support of higher education lagging

February 7, 2012 By

A coalition of liberal-leaning groups has issued its own analysis of Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s spending priorities for higher education. Andrew Cannon authored the report for the Iowa Fiscal Partnership, to call lawmakers’ attention to the level of funding for the state universities and community colleges.

“Our hope is we’ll look at what is needed,” Cannon says.

According to Cannon’s calculations, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa are getting 3.5 percent less state support this year compared to last year. Cannon also suggests state support of the 15 area community colleges is still less than it was in 2008 or in 2009.

“Over that same period, community college enrollment has grown from 88,000 students to over 106,000 students,” Cannon says. “So the questions we need to be asking: Are we meeting the needs or are students going to be faced with larger debt burdens as they move on to their careers?”

Governor Branstad’s spokesman says Iowa’s higher education institutions “are a priority for the governor, which is why they were one of the few institutions to receive increased funding in the governor’s recommended budget.” The governor’s aide noted the “overwhelming majority” of state agencies are seeing no increase or a reduction in funding during this time of “scarce” state resources.

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Architect gives update on plans for new U-I children’s hospital

February 7, 2012 By

Aerial view shows the parking ramp in front of U-I Hospitals that will be replaced by the new children's hospital.

Designers gave the Board of Regents an update Monday on the plans for the new children’s hospital at the University of Iowa.

The plan calls for removing a parking ramp at the front entrance of the main hospital and putting the new children’s facility in its place.

Architect Kim Stanley says the new building will be just east of Kinnick Stadium, where Iowa plays football. “I’d say hands down this is a once in lifetime kind of site for a children’s hospital, adjacent to the stadium as it is, it will be a big crowd pleaser inside the hospital,” Stanley says.

She says the existing parking ramp has been an impediment to letting light into the hospital and removing it will open up the entire layout of the facility.

An architect's rendition of the new children's hospital building. It's the oval at the right.

Two floors of the $285-million children’s hospital will be underground, but the rest will rise up and give views to the west.

“So everything basically above the fourth floor will actually have views into the stadium, which I think will be a very exciting component of the children’s hospital,” Stanley says.

The building will have 11 floors above ground, but she says it is designed in an oval shape and positioned to give it more of a human scale that doesn’t appear to be so large.

 ”But also, buildings of this size create somewhat of a microclimate around them, and we wanted to make sure the prevailing winds moved fluidly around this form, and so the shape of the oval does facilitate that, and it also does certainly allow more natural light into the building,” Stanley explains.

Construction is scheduled to begin on the new building in October and it is expected to be open by 2016.

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U-I students rate Super Bowl advertisers

February 6, 2012 By

Advertisers spent three-and-a-half million dollars for each 30-second commercial during last night’s Super Bowl, but many of them weren’t new to viewers. Marketing students from the University of Iowa gathered to watch the game — and the ads.

Sara Mouw, a U-of-I graduate student in marketing, says many of the ads were on-line before they were on TV during the big game. “Social media is starting to play a big role in it,” Mouw says. “The brands kind of want to promote their brands prior to it.” Advertisers are releasing commercials before game day on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

The technique may be risky as it could keep more than half of the Super Bowl’s viewers from tuning in to just watch the ads, since they’ve already seen them. “The ads will be a little less shocking, because people have seen part of them,” said Mouw. “They won’t be so surprised or maybe the humor is gone a little bit, too.”

Some students say putting an ad out early isn’t a total game-changer. Ben Van Someren, who’s also in the U-of-I’s graduate program, says the spot will still hit its mark with the audience, as long as the commercial gets to the point and leaves a lasting impression.

“There’s three key things that an advertiser should do,” Van Someren says. “That’s brand recognition, memorability, and then, did you get the message?” Each year, the students rank the commercials based on several criteria putting the ads in categories, including: funny, boring, memorable, and “What was that brand again?”

One ad demonstrated how a car’s headlights were so bright, they could vaporize vampires as if it were daylight. U-of-I graduate assistant Pat Downes says that commercial had humor, it was fast-paced and still focused on the Audi’s L-E-D headlights.

“That’s brand recognition for them,” Downes said, “so they really hit right on that. I thought it was really interesting and entertaining. Lots of people in here were laughing during that.”

The group ranked their overall favorites as: The M&M’s “Naked” ad, the Honda CRV ad with Matthew Broderick and the Chevy “Graduation Gift” ad.

By Jillian Petrus, KCRG, Cedar Rapids

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Bid to deny pay hikes to college presidents dies

February 3, 2012 By

A proposal to deny pay raises to the presidents of Iowa, Iowa State and UNI if tuition rates for students go up has died in the Iowa House. Representative Jeremy Taylor, a high school teacher from Sioux City, was pushing the idea.

“There’s an age-old fallacy within education institutions that you either give us more money or students are going to suffer,” Taylor said. “Now I think there is a third-rail and a third option and that option is to look at administrative expense, and the cuts should come from the top.”

A three-member subcommittee rejected Taylor’s bill after more than 20 minutes of discussion on Thursday. Representative Mary Mascher is a Democrat from Iowa City, which is home to the University of Iowa. She told Taylor tuition hikes are really the fault of legislators who’ve failed to provide the state universities enough money.

“You seem to think there isn’t a correlation between what we allocate in the legislature and tuition increases and what I’m telling you there’s a direct relationship,” Mascher said.

Representative Josh Bynes, a Republican Osage, suggested the bill’s death doesn’t mean the “critique” of university administrators is over.

“I realize that this bill has got some heartburn all the way around,” Byrnes said. “I think that sometimes legislation can also be used as raising awareness and I think the awareness piece here on this piece of legislation is that there’s a serious concern about rising tuition costs.”

In December, the board that governs the state universities voted for a 3.75 percent increase in tuition rates for undergraduates who are residents of Iowa. That higher rate goes into effect for the fall semester. This past August the Board of Regents voted to hike the base salaries for the presidents of Iowa, Iowa State and UNI by four percent. UNI president Ben Allen and his wife have donated his salary hike to a university scholarship fund. Iowa State’s president retired in January and his replacement has taken over in Ames.

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U-I pianos saved from 2008 flood are damaged by water leak

January 27, 2012 By

Hancher Auditorium surrounded by floodwaters in 2008.

When record flooding hit the University of Iowa in 2008, several pianos from Hancher Auditorium and the School of Music were quickly moved to buildings on higher ground.

 This week, six of those rescued pianos were badly damaged — by a water leak.

U-I spokesman Tom Moore says it’s not clear yet if all six pianos will have to be junked. “We’re going to bring in a restoration specialist to take a look at the gem of the group, the 1979 Model D Steinway, nine-foot long concert grand piano,” Moore says.

“It has been signed by many of the artists who played it on the Hancher stage.” That single piano is worth $120,000, not to mention the value of its many signatures, including Russian virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz, who died more than 20 years ago.

Moore says it’s hard to comprehend how these pianos, saved nearly four years ago from the fast-rising floodwaters of the Iowa River, could have been done in by a leaking pipe to a sink and a toilet.

“This is indeed a highly ironic occurance,” Moore says. “We were doing our best to try to protect these instruments and to have them damaged by water is indeed unfortunate.”

An Iowa City police officer spotted water coming from the storage building early Tuesday morning and reported it, but by the time the leak was traced, the damage had been done.

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Survey shows seatbelt use among teens could improve

December 22, 2011 By

A statewide survey by the University of Iowa’s Injury Prevention Center (IPRC) shows the older kids get, the more likely it is they won’t be properly buckled up in a car. IPRC deputy director, John Lundell was pleased to see the numbers for kids age one to five.

“Practically 98% of them that we observed were properly restrained in a child safety seat in a vehicle. You know I think that’s an emphasis through education efforts, as well as the hospitals, anymore most hospitals will not discharge a new mother unless she says the proper care seat to go with a child when they get ready to send them home,” according the Lundell.

He says it’s important to note the children were “properly restrained.” “It’s very tragic when you see a parent that’s certainly trying to do what they feel is best for their child, and just through the improper restraint use, it ends up causing and unnecessary injury in the event of a crash,” Lundell says.

The survey showed less encouraging results in the compliance for kids age 14 to 17 — with almost 25% not wearing any restraint.

“You know I think that’s a function of once they get in the backseat and they get to be that 10 to 14 to 17-year-old age range, they’re old enough to control their own belt usage and they can also saying no to their mom and dad once in awhile,” Lundell says. “It’s just a function I think of of where they try to become a little bit more independent, although that’s not the safe route.”

Lundell says adults have to work with kids from early on, so they aren’t reluctant to wear the belts as they get older. “So it starts with the parents, showing the good example and wearing their seatbelt, and then it’s developing good habits as they are younger so it becomes second nature when they get in the vehicle where they automatically put that seatbelt on,” Lundell says.

Overall Lundell is happy with the results of the survey as about 78% of the passengers observed in the survey were in the back seat of the cars, the place he says is the safest, regardless of age. “So that was an encouraging observation,” Lundell says.

You can see the complete list of communities and local survey results at: www.public-health.uiowa.edu/iprc. The annual survey is funded by the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau.

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