     
|
|
|
A campus transformed: Alumni support breathes new life into the campus landscape
Posted August 18, 2005
IOWA CITY -- When it comes to University of Iowa campus construction and renovation projects, Rodney Lehnertz (2002 M.B.A.) is quite literally at the center of it all. Walk into the campus and facilities planning director's office and you'll see building schematics stretching from floor to ceiling on almost every wall surrounding his desk. To the right is Kinnick Stadium. Behind you is the Dey House addition for the Iowa Writers' Workshop. To the left is the Pomerantz Center. An architect by training, with an M.B.A. from the UI, Lehnertz has his hand in nearly every major building project under way at The University of Iowa. And there have been quite a few. During the past five years, the UI has created modern academic buildings, such as the Philip D. Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building, and refurbished the president's home at 102 Church Street. The university also is just months away from unveiling the breathtaking new Art and Art History building. Although some of the new facilities projects have been funded entirely by private gifts, the majority are the result of a public-private funding partnership including the State of Iowa, the UI, and the UI Foundation. In all, 14 facilities costing more than $400 million have emerged as part of the UI's comprehensive fund-raising effort called Good. Better. Best. Iowa: The Campaign to Advance Our Great University. And many of the projects are being guided by alumni who are employing skills they acquired while they were Iowa students. These alumni are helping to transform the UI into an even more modern, functional, and aesthetically pleasing campus. Among them are Lehnertz; Shalla Wilson (1995 B.A.), who earned her cultural history degree at Iowa; and Tom Lowenberg (1962 B.S.C.E., 1963, M.S.), who earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering at the UI nearly 40 years ago. "It's wonderful to see so many of our alumni come full circle to share their talents and resources to help the very campus where they once walked as students," says UI President David Skorton. "Because of their pride in their alma mater, and the pride they bring to their work, the UI can boast about having one of the best learning and creative environments anywhere." Amazing changes In the past five years, the UI has seen unprecedented growth in building and renovation. Much of it has been made possible by the generosity of alumni and friends of the university. Private fund raising has been completed for eight new UI facilities that combined will provide nearly 500,000 square feet of state-of-the-art classroom, lab, and meeting space to UI students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Fund raising is in progress for six other UI projects as well. Lehnertz says the changes to the campus landscape over the past several years have been remarkable. "People who have not visited our campus in the last five years would find that many areas have a brand-new appearance," he says. "All of these changes have enabled us to maintain our focus on becoming a top-ten public institution." Lehnertz says he knows he has a unique career at the university. "I can be part of all of these amazing changes and give back to the university that has given me so much. I can watch over its current development, but also have a hand in plans for five, 10, 20 years, and beyond. I think that's the most exciting part of my job." Old Cap's new life
Shalla Wilson still gets teary when she talks about the fire that burned the Old Capitol Museum in the heart of the UI campus nearly four years ago. But the assistant museum director's smile quickly returns when she outlines the work she and others are doing to resurrect this important piece of Iowa history. Wilson shares Lehnertz's vision for stewardship in her position as curator for -- and caretaker of -- the Old Capitol Museum. Before the fire on November 20, 2001, Old Capitol served about 30,000 visitors a year, including 8,000 schoolchildren. For the past four years, Wilson has worked with many people to oversee a three-phase restoration of the building in the hopes of reopening it in May 2006. By that time, Old Capitol Museum will feature an exciting new humanities gallery space, an exhibit on the history of Old Capitol, enhanced archive storage, a discovery center with hands-on activities, and an improved gift shop -- all made possible by the generosity of private contributors. While she mourns what was lost in the 2001 fire, Wilson says the rebuilding process has brought together hundreds of people and inspired many new ideas for showcasing Old Capitol Museum and its rich history. "The fire was a very unfortunate event and we lost some very precious, irreplaceable things," she says. "But we are getting wonderful support not just from alumni and friends, but also from College of Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty and the administration. This is a new life for Old Capitol Museum. In fact, Old Cap has had many new lives -- this is a just a new stage we are entering, and we are excited about it." Engineering new dreams
Another new facility that links the past with the present is the Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences, a 143,000-square-foot facility completed the same year Old Capitol's dome caught fire. Tom Lowenberg, who now lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was part of the UI College of Engineering Development Advisory Council that oversaw the creation of the new building. He brought tremendous credentials to the task. Lowenberg was an undergraduate civil engineering student and later a graduate-level environmental engineering student at Iowa. For more than 30 years, he managed facilities planning and design for the multinational corporation 3M. During that time, he also was the internship and job-placement liaison between 3M and the UI. Retired in 1997 and currently a member of the UI Alumni Association board of directors, he says he never dreamed as a student that, one day, he would play a formative role in fund raising and facilities planning for such an impressive facility as the $31 million Seamans Center. "The college is really producing a product for companies like 3M; they are producing engineers who are vital to the success of 3M," says Lowenberg, whose wife, Sue, is a 1963 UI graduate and whose son, Michael, holds three degrees from the UI (1988 B.S.E., 1993 M.A., 1993 M.B.A). "I wanted to support the UI in any way that would help improve that product. The Seamans Center is only one aspect of that, but the college recognizes that you need a good facility to attract outstanding students into the program. I'm honored to be part of the University of Iowa's continuing effort to achieve its highest potential." Building our university Private funding has been completed on nine new UI facilities that provide valuable resources to UI students, faculty, staff, and visitors:
Fund raising is still in progress for five other UI projects, including new construction and renovation:
The UI acknowledges the UI Foundation as the preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. For more information about the Good. Better. Best. Iowa campaign, visit its web site at www.GoodBetterBestIowa.org. Contact Information
Susan Shullaw Additional information about facilities projects on the UI campus also is available on this site. |
