Iowa's close-knit community welcomes Lickliter to basketball's biggest stage


	Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

If Todd Lickliter didn't realize he was stepping into the state's spotlight when he accepted the University of Iowa men's basketball head coach position this spring, he found out soon after his plane landed in Iowa City—his son sent him a message asking if he really had been on the ground for seven minutes.

A web site had been tracking Lickliter's flight, you see.

Lickliter, named the 2006–07 Division I Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, sees his new position with the University as a chance to compete at the highest level within a close-knit community. He welcomes the rabid fan following, and hopes they can feel a sense of ownership in the program. And Lickliter stresses team accomplishments, with one notable exception: the academic achievements of his players.

Choose it or lose it! Many staff, faculty must select new health care plan for 2008

Staff and faculty members at The University of Iowa will this month be choosing among health insurance and other benefit options for 2008. Most of them must take action and make a choice of health insurance or run the risk of starting the new year without health care coverage.

Due to changes in available health care packages, many employees will be required to choose a new health insurance plan, says Richard Saunders, senior associate director of Human Resources. In previous years, employees could allow their choices to continue year-to-year. That's not possible this year for many.

Photo feature: Restoring Mississippi River's Mussel Mass

A freshwater mussel once plentiful along the muddy bottom of the Mississippi River was nearly wiped out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by a booming demand for buttons and pearls. University of Iowa engineer Tatsuaki Nakato worked with state and federal officials to release some 5,000 of the mollusks into the river near the UI Lucille A. Carver Mississippi Riverside Environmental Research Station at Fairport, Iowa, in an effort to bolster the small, native population of freshwater mussels, thereby enhancing the river basin's natural biodiversity and health.

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