Ongoing efforts of faculty, staff assist University in flood recovery, future planning

The phrase “other duties as assigned” is a common component of job descriptions. But few would have envisioned some of the “other duties” taken on by UI employees this past summer. And while some were assigned, many were simply taken up on the fly, in the face of rising waters.

The tales of this past summer’s flood heroics and the Hawkeye Spirit are legion. The three people (read complete article) we’ve chosen to profile below will be the first to tell you, in that typically Iowa way, that they were just one of the many, many people who rose to the occasion and went well beyond it; who found themselves doing work they never imagined in areas in which they had little previous experience. fyi chose to interview them in part because of their visibility during the flood, but also for their ongoing efforts in helping the University deal with the flood’s aftermath and the planning for the future.

Joe Kearney, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Each day, each rise in the river, left Joe Kearney, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, grappling with a different challenge.

	Joe Kearney, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is serving as a liaison between Facilities Management and displaced faculty and staff. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

“First, there were music camps,” he says of the early days in June. “The river was rising and we were concerned about the students walking across the footbridge.” So buses were arranged first to transport students from their east-side residence halls to Voxman Music Building and then to West High.

“Next the theatre folks had to move 50,000 costumes and props to the first floor, and then again to the second floor,” he says. “The arts people moved slides, equipment, irreplaceable items. Each day was something new. You’d think it was under control when you left at night, but in the morning it would be worse.”

Kearney says there were “thousands of people working on problems simultaneously.”

“Many things were not anyone’s job,” he remembers. “We’d be together in a room or on the phone and someone would say, ‘I’ll do that.’ People just stepped up and did what needed to be done.”

And people, like Kearney, are still doing it. Post-flood, he moved from Schaeffer Hall to University Services Building, serving as a liaison between Facilities Management and displaced faculty and staff, as well as with departments who would be moving into alternate spaces. He credits teams of people for the reopening of critical classroom buildings, as well as for creating new venues as required.

“We had to move quickly to get these temporary spaces ready without knowing many things—how long would they be needed? How would they be paid for? Again, it was no one’s assigned problem to solve, but people got together and got it done.”

Kearney says the temporary spaces are a work in progress and part of what he continues to address daily. He notes the unexpected sound of water whooshing in the Clinton Street building choral room whenever an upstairs toilet is flushed. Theatre movement classes relocated above Devotay and Linn St. Café were moved again after their vigorous activity caused wine glasses to topple in the restaurants below. And the transformation of a home improvement store into an arts facility brought unique challenges.

“The lighting in Studio Arts is very high and very diffuse,” Kearney says. “I got a call saying, ‘We need shadows to paint and draw!’ So, we’re working on some task lighting.”

“Buildings are complicated and there are reasons they take years to build,” he says. “We’re using them for purposes they weren’t designed for and so compromises were made. That said, it’s nothing short of miraculous that we were able to open buildings when we did.”

Kearney admits he sometimes asks himself “What did I used to do?” because dealing with flood matters occupies much of his day. He says upcoming issues are even more challenging.

“Originally, our concerns were immediate: ‘Will it flood? What do we do?’” he says. “Now we’ve got bigger, long-term questions to tackle: How do we live with the river? How do we make buildings that can live with river, perhaps tolerate flooding? Our greatest concern changes over time.”

by Linzee Kull McCray