Students from Iowa’s neediest families who choose a private college or university will receive more tuition grant aid next year because of recent action by the Iowa Legislature. An additional $2 million in funding for the Iowa Tuition Grant (ITG) program will boost the opportunities for students who choose to attend one of Iowa’s independent, non-profit colleges or universities.

“This is a great day for students,” said Gary Steinke, President of the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. “For more than 14,000 Iowa students, the Iowa Tuition Grant program is the critical factor that allows them to choose the college or university where they have the best chance of being successful.”

On May 7, both the Iowa Senate and Iowa House of Representatives voted to approve a compromise education spending bill which provides funds for all sectors of higher education. The Iowa Tuition Grant received an increase of $2 million, bringing the total funding for the program to $45.5 million to be used for student in the upcoming academic year.

“I think the Legislature and the Governor deserve thanks for so strongly supporting the ITG,” said Steinke. “When they support the ITG they are supporting students and families from every single one of Iowa’s 99 counties.”

Steinke says that more and more Iowa families want their children to have the benefit of higher education. “But not every student is successful attending a very, very large institution. The ITG gives these students the opportunity to choose a smaller institution where it’s more likely they’ll get one-on-one support from their professors and not get lost in the crowd.”

The Iowa Tuition Grant is administered by the Iowa College Student Aid Commission. Interested students should contact the Commission by calling 877-272-4456 or visiting the Commission’s website at http://www.iowacollegeaid.org.

Nursing students at St. Luke’s College in Sioux City score highest on national licensure examinations.  Read more here…

Wartburg College will exhibit several works by famed artist Mauricio Lasansky whose recent passing has prompted many retrospectives in the art world. Read more here…

(Raynard S. Kington is the president of Grinnell College. His email is kington@grinnell.edu)

I am a proud product of the Baltimore City public school system. My high school years at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute prepared me exceptionally well for the rigorous academic studies that led to a career in medicine, health policy and economics, and now higher education.

Unfortunately, my education in Baltimore during the 1970s contrasts sharply with the experience of many urban students across America who are mired in underperforming K-12 school systems that poorly prepare them for higher education and the world of opportunities beyond. That fact is especially clear to me now, as I complete my second year as a college president.

We have no way to know how many students are slipping through our net. Because No Child Left Behind legislation allows each state to define school underperformance, we have no consistent, nationwide basis for counting the number of students trapped in bad schools. A promising child in a bad school is essentially lost from view — and almost impossible for colleges to recruit.

So where did the money go? When operating in disadvantaged communities, college admissions programs often use financial aid and other recruitment tools to “skim” candidates from the best public and private schools, such as Poly, City College and Gilman in Baltimore. This approach may be effective for improving campus diversity — an important goal — but it is largely irrelevant to retrieving promising students from underperforming or dysfunctional K-12 schools.

The task is not impossible, however. Among the many possible approaches, one of the most promising may be academic redshirting, an idea referenced by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in his Jan. 11 speech to the 2012 NCAA convention. “Redshirting” refers to the practice of giving college athletes a fifth year over which to spread their undergraduate education, helping them to increase their size and strength and making them more competitive.

Could we provide promising scholars with an extra, “redshirt” year to maximize their academic strengths and become more intellectually competitive? Following are three among the many possible options for implementing this idea:

•The prep school model. Many private secondary schools already offer one-year postgraduate programs to help students address their academic weaknesses and build up Advanced Placement credits and grades before going to college. These programs are extraordinarily expensive and accessible only to students from the wealthiest families. But by pooling our resources and skills, selective colleges and universities could create a national network of accessible, prep school-based programs that would educate a meaningful number of promising students from underserved communities.

•The academy model. Early in our nation’s history, America had no comprehensive system of universal secondary education. Instead, many colleges operated their own secondary academies to prepare students for the rigors of higher education. At Grinnell College, where I serve as president, the Grinnell Academy educated generations of boys and girls in Latin, Greek, English, ancient history, mathematics, physiology and mental science. While it might be difficult for most colleges to replicate this model today, we could jointly establish preparatory academies for disadvantaged students. In addition to underwriting these programs, we should commit to admitting graduates and supporting them with financial aid.

•The community college model. Collaborations between four-year institutions and community colleges, such as the Frances Perkins Program at Mount Holyoke College and the efforts of the Des Moines Area Community College, already help students earn credits toward their bachelor’s degree. A redshirt partnership would not count toward college but would offer students an intensive year to overcome gaps in knowledge and skills, preparing them for success at a four-year institution. Again, pooling resources on a national scale would enable us to underwrite a sizable number of such ventures and educate a meaningful number of students.

We need to answer many questions before we can implement academic redshirting on a nationwide scale: What constitutes an underperforming school? How do we identify the most promising students in the absence of meaningful grading standards or test scores? Do we need to continue supporting redshirting graduates beyond their preparatory year?

But these questions should not deter us from experimentation. As leaders, we need to embrace our responsibility for developing all promising students, even those from the poorest-performing K-12 systems. Such commitment, followed up with bold action, could help an entire generation of bright, young people overcome academic deficiencies and financial barriers, access the lifelong advantages of a world-class higher education, and contribute to societal leadership in incalculable ways.

Loras College Media Studies students were recognized for their talent and hard work during the Midwest Journalism Conference, March 30-31, 2012 in Bloomington, MN. Loras students received the following awards from the Northwest Broadcast News Association (NBNA):

Eric Sevareid Award for 1st Place:

Talk/Public Affairs – LCTV News Special: 2011 Dubuque City Council Election Coverage

Documentary/Special – Mannaseh – produced by Jacob Spiekermeier (’12, Robins, IA) & Lauren DeWitt (’13, Barrington, IL)

Eric Sevareid Award of Merit:

Newscast – LCTV News

Sportscast – SportsZONE

Sports Play-by-Play – LCTV Live Sports: Loras vs. Wartburg Football

Website – Myduhawk.com

In addition, Junior Ellen Reiss (Ryan, Iowa) was awarded the Jack Shelley Scholarship, NBNA’s most coveted student award. The Jack Shelley Scholarship is presented by the NBNA to recognize outstanding promise in the field of broadcasting. The award is named for Jack Shelley, long-time anchor and News Director at WHO/Des Moines and Professor Emeritus at Iowa State University. The NBNA awards one $1,250 scholarship each year to be used for broadcast education. The scholarship is awarded based on three criteria: dedication to broadcast journalism as a career; academic achievement; and experience in the field of broadcast journalism, which includes internships, part-time or full-time jobs and volunteer work.

The Northwest Broadcast News Association is an organization, chartered in 1949, of radio and television journalists working in the six-state Upper Midwest region including Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. NBNA’s mission is to serve and improve the broadcast industry through educational and professional programs.

Although Loras College students submit their work to a handful of competitions throughout the year, the Eric Sevareid Awards are by far one of the most prestigious. Loras media studies student award winners had the chance to showcase their work in front of news directors, producers, and reporters from all over the Midwest.

According to Craig Schaefer, professor of media studies, “To be honored at this level is really a testament to the talent and commitment that our students showcase on a daily basis. You don’t succeed at this level by accident. Their success is a direct result of their desire to be the very best they can be, and they make it pretty easy to be proud of them.”

Construction crews at Northwestern College have begun site preparation for a new $14 million Learning Commons building at the campus in Orange City. The 58,000-square-foot learning commons—to be located just west of Christ Chapel—will house the college’s library, academic support center, writing center, multimedia center and institutional technology help desk. It will be open for use in the fall of 2013.

Architect's rendering of new learning commons at Northwestern College

“We are excited to officially commemorate the beginning of construction on the learning commons,” says President Greg Christy. “This building will transform how learning takes place at Northwestern. While the facility will be a beautiful addition to the campus, even more important is the programming planned for the building, which will further our academic goals and bring together several key student academic support services. This is the most significant facility to be built at Northwestern since Christ Chapel in the 1980s and it will have a lasting impact for generations of future students.”

According to Jay Wielenga, vice president for advancement, successful fundraising efforts combined with lower-than-anticipated construction costs resulted in the decision to break ground this spring.

“We’re still asking individuals and businesses to consider a gift to the learning commons to help us complete funding,” he says. “That said, we’ve made wonderful progress. We consider it a great blessing to be moving forward with this project.”

The learning commons, Wielenga says, is a building that will serve all of the college’s students, “a gathering space for academic exercise,” as he calls it. “Traditional library services are a part of this building, but certainly not all of this building,” he explains.

“There’s an integration of function,” says Schlak, Northwestern’s library director. “We’re bringing key departments that are integral to what happens in the classroom and placing them in one convenient, accessible location.”

The learning commons, he says, will be geared toward the way students learn today, with more spaces that support collaboration and group projects. Located together, the various departments housed in the building will be better able to help students learn how to access information, evaluate that information, and synthesize it in their own writing and work.

Construction of the learning commons will also include the creation of a new campus entrance for Northwestern, to be located at the intersection of Central Avenue and 6th Street South. A tree-lined boulevard, fronted on either side by college signage, will extend south from 6th Street toward Zwemer Hall and end in a roundabout positioned between the learning commons and Christ Chapel.

“Orange City has a number of projects going on right now,” says Wielenga. “We’re excited to be a part of a community that’s growing. This is another project that will help make our town a great place to live.”

With an opening celebration and press conference scheduled for Friday, April 20, 11 am CT, Maharishi University of Management’s new Sustainable Living Center will have the distinction of being one of the few net-zero energy buildings in the country—it will produce as much if not more energy than it uses.

“We will be net-zero for energy, including for electricity and for heating and cooling,” said sustainable living faculty member Lonnie Gamble. “Many net-zero buildings are net-zero just for electricity. Our aspiration is to set an example that elevates the building industry to higher standards for a truly long-term sustainable future for our children and our planet.”

Maharishi University's new sustainable living center will open April 20.

The building is designed to eventually be completely off the grid, including for water usage and waste treatment, as more funds are available. However, it will initially be connected to the grid, using electricity as needed during extreme weather conditions. At those times when the solar arrays and wind turbine produce more than the building uses, it will feed excess energy into the campus grid for use in other buildings.

Annually the building will produce more energy that it will consume.

The building’s 58 solar panels are capable of producing 15 kilowatts, and the 100-foot wind turbine is capable of producing 10 kilowatts. In addition, energy savings result from the use of technologies such as a heat pump and geothermal tubing. Many passive methods of alternative energy also contribute, such as extensive use of daylighting, the use of earth block walls to moderate temperature extremes and insulate, and strategic placement of windows and verandas.

As more funds are raised, more features will be added until the Sustainable Living Center is completely off the grid with respect to electricity, heating, cooling, water, and waste. A rain catchment system will provide water, and there will be on-site sewage treatment.

“Even in this phase of development, the building is one of the best of the current generation of green buildings,” Mr. Gamble said. Eventually the building will be carbon neutral, which entails being completely off the grid.

“Our carbon footprint is much smaller than most new buildings as we used earth block, earth plasters, and many other low-embodied energy and low-carbon materials in construction,” Mr. Gamble said.

The building currently qualifies for gold LEED certification, said construction manager Tim Messenger. But the application is being held until the water and waste systems are in place, which will raise the Sustainable Living Center to the highest level of LEED certification, that of platinum.

The opening of the Sustainable Living Center will coincide with the EcoFairfield weekend being organized by students, and also with Earth Day on April 22.

EcoFairfield events will begin Friday afternoon with community service tree planting, and a keynote presentation by Seth Braun on Friday evening on shaping a collective vision for the future of Fairfield. See ecofairfield.wordpress.com.

Justin Pannkuk, a 2009 religion graduate of Northwestern College, has received a Fulbright Fellowship to study the Dead Sea Scrolls at the University of Göttingen in Germany during the 2012–13 academic year, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Pannkuk plans to use the database of Dead Sea Scrolls information at Göttingen to conduct research on the relationship between the Hebrew and Aramaic materials found among the Scrolls. His research will be overseen by Dr. Reinhard Kratz, director of both the Qumran Research Institute and the Centre for Ancient and Oriental Studies. Pannkuk also will work with Dr. Annette Steudel, leader of the Qumran-Lexicon research unit; Dr. Ingo Kottsieper, an Aramaist; and Dr. Noam Mizrahi, a Hebraist.

In addition to copies of texts from the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls also contain extra-biblical documents written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Pannkuk’s research will focus on how the patriarchal traditions from the book of Genesis were received and interpreted in the Aramaic corpus of scrolls and in the Hebrew composition called “Book of Jubilees.” Pannkuk hopes his comparative study will “open up ways in which to comprehend early Judaism better.”

Pannkuk credits Northwestern College religion professor Dr. James Mead, his undergraduate adviser and author of a recommendation to the Fulbright Scholarship board, with playing a role in his successful application. “I’m proud of the education I’ve gotten from my alma mater,” he says, “and indebted for all the support I’ve received over the years.”Pannkuk, originally from Webster City, Iowa, will graduate in May with a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. After a year of study in Germany, he plans to pursue his doctorate in New Testament studies. He is one of more than 1,500 U.S. students—graduate and undergraduate—receiving Fulbright Fellowships this year.

The Fulbright Program, the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The program operates in over 155 countries and is funded primarily by an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has given approximately 310,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in government, science, business, media and the arts, with 16 receiving Presidential Medals of Freedom, 43 awarded the Nobel Prize, and 78 winning Pulitzer Prizes.

Pannkuk is Northwestern College’s second Fulbright winner in two years. Dr. Jennifer Feenstra, associate professor of psychology, is using her Fulbright to spend this school year teaching and conducting research in Romania.

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee David Kilgour

Nobel Peace Prize nominee (2010) and human rights activist David Kilgour will serve as the keynote speaker for the University of Dubuque Lester and Michael Lester Wendt Center for Character Education’s sixth annual Wendt Lecture on Wednesday, April 12, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in the Stoltz Center.

The theme of the 2012 lecture is China and the West: An Uncomfortable Connection. The event is free and open to the public.

“To have a Nobel Peace Prize nominee on campus for a week is a distinct privilege,” commented Henry Pitman, director of the Wendt Center for Character Education. “David Kilgour’s active involvement in International Human Rights Issues brings immediacy to issues that are often distant from us.”

David Kilgour served as an elected member of the Canadian Parliament for a number of years and has been engaged in international human rights since leaving his role in government. He is co-chair of the Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran; past chair of the Latin America and Caribbean policy working group of the Ottawa branch of the Canadian International Council; Fellow of the Queen’s University Centre for the Study of Democracy; and a director of the Washington-based Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD).

Elected to the Canadian Parliament in 1979, he was re-elected seven times, most recently in 2004. During his almost 27 years of service in the House of Commons, Kilgour held a wide variety of portfolios, including Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader, the Minister of External Relations, the Minister of Indian Affairs and the Minister of Transport.

Kilgour’s career has been marked by tough decisions and having to stand up for his beliefs. In April of 1987, he was dismissed as Parliamentary Secretary by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney for criticizing his government’s ethics and its treatment of Western Canadians. Three years later, after voting against the Goods and Services Tax, he was expelled from the Conservative caucus. Kilgour briefly sat as an independent Progressive Conservative before joining the Liberal Party in 1991. After joining the Liberals, he served as Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Committees of the Whole House.

Kilgour then became Secretary of State for Latin America and Africa (1997-2002) and later Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific (2002-2003). Kilgour has traveled to over 75 countries and represented Canada abroad on numerous occasions, most recently as a member of the Canadian delegation to Rwanda in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the genocide. In April 2005, he chose to become an independent Member of Parliament and did not stand in the general election of January 2006.

Kilgour continues to be active in issues of human rights and international concern. A recent book, Uneasy Neighbo(u)rs, co-authored with David Jones, a former American diplomat, discusses the relationship of Canada and the USA in the dynamics of state, industry and culture. Kilgour has also published with David Matas, Bloody Harvest–The Killing of Falun Gong for their Organs, and they were recently awarded the 2009 Human Rights Prize of the International Society for Human Rights In Switzerland for their work in raising awareness of state-sponsored organ pillaging in China.

“Apart from the evening lecture David will be engaging with multiple student groups and classes during his time on campus,” stated Pitman. “I have had requests from more than 40 faculty members to have him participate in their classes while he is on campus. It is very evident that the message he brings is important to our faculty and students.”

The Wendt Character Initiative was established in 2004 at the University of Dubuque by the endowed Lester and Michael Lester Wendt Character Initiative Fund. The Initiative operates under the care of the Wendt Center for Character Education. This Initiative promotes a campus culture that nurtures the formation of excellent moral character, and that encourages all members of the community to live lives of purpose. The work of the Wendt Character Initiative is centered in the University’s Mission and values, a commitment to its Reformed Christian identity, and a sense of creative vocation in faithful response to the Creator. This Initiative is part of the total educational experience of all University of Dubuque students through curricular and co-curricular programs. Faculty and staff also participate in the Initiative through special programs during the school year.