FEMA announces financing options for flood-damaged UI buildings

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will finance either the replacement or restoration and mitigation of two major University of Iowa building complexes damaged in the flood of June 2008, UI President Sally Mason announced today. Those buildings include Hancher Auditorium, Voxman Music Building and Clapp Recital Hall and the Art Building East complex.

"It is important to understand that FEMA is not directing the university to replace the Hancher/Voxman/Clapp complex or the Art Building East complex," Mason said. "The university, with proper campus consultation, will examine the costs and benefits of both options and make a recommendation to the Board of Regents as soon as possible." Additional background information on the FEMA determinations will be provided to the Board of Regents at its meeting on Feb. 3 in Ankeny. [Full Story]

NOTE: Listen to an mp3 audio file of today's media briefing on the flood recovery. Or watch it when UITV broadcasts the briefing at 6:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. today, Monday, Jan. 26; 12:45 a.m., 10 a.m. and 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27; and 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28.

University Housing to return Parklawn residence hall to apartment complex

After seven years as a single-student residence hall, Parklawn Hall at the University of Iowa will return to serving families and others as an apartment complex beginning in July.

Built in 1955, the building served as apartments for married students and families through 2002. During the summer of 2002, Parklawn was designated as a residence hall in response to a record number of incoming freshmen requesting housing. Parklawn's re-designation is in response to the loss of 76 apartments at Hawkeye Court during the June 2008 flood and the opening in August 2009 of a new wing at Burge Hall that will include additional beds, said Von Stange, director of University Housing. [Full Story]

Media Advisory: UI to hold flood recovery briefing Monday

University of Iowa President Sally Mason, Senior Vice President and Treasurer Doug True and Iowa Board of Regents President David Miles will provide information and answer media's questions in regard to the latest developments relating to flood recovery at a briefing 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26 in 2520D of the University Capitol Centre. [Full Story]

Law school program to examine Cedar Rapids flood, update city's status

The University of Iowa College of Law will provide a status report of Cedar Rapids' efforts to recover from last summer's floods with a program on Thursday, Jan. 29. "Anatomy of a Disaster: The Cedar Rapids Flood and its Aftermath" begins at 12:40 p.m. in Room 245 of the Boyd Law Building. Admission is free and open to the public. [Full Story]

University of Iowa Museum of Art collection will return to home state

An intra-state alliance will soon bring the University of Iowa Museum of Art's (UIMA) collection back to Iowa.

The Figge Art Museum, Iowa's oldest art museum, has offered the UIMA significant space for display and storage of its permanent collection, Museum of Art-organized exhibitions and traveling shows in its three-year-old, state-of-the-art museum building in Davenport, Iowa.

"The Figge Art Museum is honored to partner with the University of Iowa Museum of Art," said Figge Director Sean O'Harrow. "Having the UIMA at the Figge will allow Iowa residents and tourists to visit the banks of the Mississippi and appreciate two great collections from two great institutions. The Figge is looking forward to hosting our new friends and celebrating art in Eastern Iowa." [Full Story]

University Theatres celebrates return to Theatre Building with 'As You Like It'

The University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts will celebrate its return to the Theatre Building with a University Theatres Mainstage production of Shakespeare's sunny romantic comedy "As You Like It," opening at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in the David Thayer Theatre. Additional performances will be at 8 p.m. Feb. 6-7 and 11-15, and at 2 p.m. Feb. 8 and 15.

The play includes some of Shakespeare's most famous lines -- including "All the world's a stage," "too much of a good thing," "for ever and a day" and "sweet are the uses of adversity" -- and comic devices that are familiar to Shakespeare's audiences: gender-bending disguises, mistaken identities, games of make-believe and the contrast between the simplicity and hardships of the natural world and the intrigue, deceit and artifice of human society. [Full Story]

Graduate students help UI upgrade Studio Arts building for second semester

If you want renovate a building, talk to the people who use it.

That's what Steve McGuire, head of Studio Arts for the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, did for the new Studio Arts Building. Prepared in only 30 days last summer to replace studios lost to the June floods, the Studio Arts Building is in the location of the old Menard's store at 1375 Highway 1 West in Iowa City.

But turning a big-box retail space into classroom space for art isn't easy.
"When we moved in we recognized that there are some things that can't be done in 30 days," McGuire said. "All of our programs were accommodated, but the space was not as productive as it needed to be, especially for the graduate programs in studio arts."

Knowing the building needed to be improved for the graduate students to achieve their potential, the School of Art and Art History held a "charette" -- a collaborative session to solve a design problem -- with the students, architects and designers.

"We wanted to find out what needed to be in place for the work of the graduate students in studio arts," McGuire said. "The input of the students was critical to the success of the plans for upgrading the facility to make it more suitable for graduate programs. This involved such issues as lighting, layout of space and opportunities for students to see each others' work."

That work has now been completed for the beginning of the second semester. "With these improvements in place, we feel the building will be much more suitable for the studio classes in the arts," McGuire said. "It is very important for us to be attentive to art students' needs so as to be consistent with our standing as one of the top graduate programs in the country."

For UI arts information and calendar updates, visit http://www.uiowa.edu/artsiowa. To receive UI arts news by e-mail, go to http://list.uiowa.edu/archives/acr-news.html and click the link "Join or Leave ACR News," then follow the instructions.

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa Arts Center Relations, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite 351, Iowa City, IA 52242-2500

MEDIA CONTACT: Peter Alexander, 319-384-0072 (office) 319-541-2846 (cell), peter-alexander@uiowa.edu

UI sponsors Jan. 15 program on collaboration during the flood crisis

The University of Iowa will present a public program, "Lessons from the Flood: Collaborating in a Crisis," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15 in Meeting Room A at the Iowa City Public Library. A public reception will follow at the Englert Theatre.

Featured speaker Michael Lombardo, Iowa City city manager, will discuss his experience working across the community and the campus to address problems left by the flood.

Barbara Eckstein, a UI professor of English and associate provost, will share her perspective on pollution in the Iowa River in her talk, "Before the Flood: An Endangered River Runs Through Us."

Gregg Oden, a UI professor of psychology and computer science, will present "After the Flood: Co-Chairing the UI Flood Mitigation Task Force."

The event is sponsored by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the Graduate College. Co-sponsors are the UI Center for Teaching, UI Civic Engagement Program, the City of Iowa City, the Women's Resource and Action Center and the Associate Provost for Diversity.
For more information, call 319-335-4034 or visit http://www.uiowa.edu/~obermann/.