The University of Northern Iowa is set to honor its past and drum up excitement for its future over the next two years as part of the university’s sesquicentennial celebrations and other milestones.
UNI will welcome its 150th class next fall, UNI spokesperson Pete Moris said, leading the way to commemorating the school’s opening on Sept. 6, 1876. Other anniversaries include 50 years of the UNI-Dome and 100 years of the campanile on campus. The university will also end its Our Tomorrow fundraising campaign, which was extended after exceeding its goal.
President Mark Nook has worked hard to make the events and celebrations not only reflective of the past, but also anticipatory of the future, Moris said.
“It’s really more than just a birthday, you know, it’s a celebration of all that’s occurred over 150 years,” Moris said. “But it’s also very much a look forward.”
UNI opened its doors in 1876 as the Iowa State Normal School after operating for a decade as an orphanage. The university has formed a steering committee and dispensed stipends and other aid to those developing curriculum and projects that will fit in with the goals of the sesquicentennial, according to a news release.
The steering committee includes UNI faculty, staff and students, as well as representatives from the cities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo and other organizations. Nook wanted to ensure students have a voice in the early parts of the process as well as the events themselves, Moris said.
“I think any time our students are actively involved … it just brings more life and enthusiasm and authenticity to (events),” Moris said. “So that was one of the things the president was very adamant about, that we need to have students actively participating in not only the activities and celebration, but also in the planning.”
Faculty from across campus received $750 stipends to use for projects conducted by students in their classes, according to a news release, including creating commemorative materials for the 150th anniversary, conducting interviews with alumni to compile oral histories from the university and preparing gallery exhibitions and an anthology of poetry.
Celebrations won’t only be on campus, Moris said, but will spread across the state and maybe even beyond. He said the university is working to find ways of commemorating the sesquicentennial in Cedar Falls and surrounding areas, at the Iowa State Fair, during athletic events and more.
Each of the events and programming planned for the next two years will fall under one of five guiding principles developed for the sesquicentennial, Moris said. Those include raising the university’s profile; enhancing connections among alumni, friends and others both locally and throughout the state; increasing student enrollment and increasing engagement with events.
Moris said these principles help provide a framework for the celebrations and remind everyone why they’re celebrating. UNI’s future matters just as much as its past, he said, and the principles are helping to keep that in mind.
“We’ve got a lot of exciting things planned,” Moris said. “Some of them have taken more form, shape and definition than others, but it should be really kind of a two year celebration of not only the past, but what is coming for UNI.”
