Reminder: UI forum on flood mitigation is Thursday

This is a reminder that the University of Iowa's Flood Mitigation Task Force and Campus Planning Committee will host an open forum at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday March 26 in the UI Libraries' Shambaugh Auditorium. The hosting groups will provide updates on the ongoing process of evaluating options and strategies for protecting the campus from future flood events. The forum will then be open to questions and comments from the audience.

All interested members of the community including UI faculty, staff, and students as well as other residents of the surrounding municipalities are welcome to attend. For more information contact Gregg Oden, 319-335-2455 or gregg-oden@uiowa.edu.

Tickets go on sale March 23 for Joffrey Ballet benefit for Hancher/School of Music

When times are tough, you learn who your friends are. Soon after the flood of June 2008 extensively damaged the University of Iowa Hancher Auditorium/Voxman Music Building complex, UI arts administrators heard from both the Joffrey Ballet and the Des Moines Civic Center, wondering if there was anything they could do to help. [more]

UI evaluates replacement for two flood-damaged building complexes

The University of Iowa next week will present the Iowa Board of Regents with its analysis of the costs to replace two major building complexes damaged in the flood of 2008. The analysis examines the costs of replacing the Art Building East complex, which houses much of the School of Art and Art History; and the Hancher/Voxman/Clapp complex, which houses the UI School of Music and Hancher Auditorium, the UI's principal performing arts venue. No site recommendations for new buildings will be made at the meeting, but that issue remains under active consideration. [more]

Campus, public invited to UI forum on flood mitigation March 26

The University of Iowa's Flood Mitigation Task Force and Campus Planning Committee will host an open forum at 7:30 p.m. Thursday March 26 in the UI Libraries' Shambaugh Auditorium. The hosting groups will provide updates on the ongoing process of evaluating options and strategies for protecting the campus from future flood events. The forum will then be open to questions and comments from the audience.

All interested members of the community including UI faculty, staff, and students as well as other residents of the surrounding municipalities are welcome to attend. For more information contact Gregg Oden, 319-335-2455 or gregg-oden@uiowa.edu.

Group invites flood victims to use writing for healing

University of Iowa faculty, staff and students affected by the flood of 2008 are invited to share their stories of the disaster and its aftermath through written expression or journaling in a safe, supportive community for six weeks starting March 26 at the Johnson County Crisis Center, 1121 Gilbert Court in Iowa City.

Hosted by the center, the "Swept Away-Brought Together" writers group is open to people with all levels of writing skill. It will meet from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on six consecutive Thursdays: March 26 and April 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30.

Group members will be invited to share their heart's needs and use poetry, prose and essays as a source of healing and recovery and as a creative way to make meaning out of life's traumatic circumstances. Participants will be encouraged to record events, describe places and belongings, and explore emotions, thoughts and beliefs that came with the waters of last June.

To reserve a spot contact Diane Yagla, flood case advocate, 319-351-0140.

UI Museum of Art to open IMU and Levitt Center galleries; receives NEH grant

The University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) -- whose former building was severely damaged during the flood of 2008 -- has received an Emergency Flood Assistance grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to help turn the Iowa Memorial Union's (IMU) Richey Ballroom into an art gallery.

This gallery is one of three on-campus spaces specifically designed for classroom use that the UIMA will open for viewing this year. Two of the new art venues will be on the IMU's third floor; the third will be in the Levitt Center for University Advancement's Stanley Gallery. [more]