News Briefs

The new Old Capitol dome arrived in Iowa City the morning of Jan. 6, following a trip of more than four hours from the site of its construction at Renaissance Restoration, Inc., of Galena, Ill. As workers prepared to start the trip at dawn, the dome top was covered with snow (above). Photos by Kirk Murray.

Wide load, indeed To get to Iowa City, a bridge over the Mississippi River had to close to other traffic for five minutes to get the 18-foot-wide dome across. The 12,000-pound dome will replace the original that was destroyed in a fire Nov. 20, 2001. Workers plan to gild the dome in a hangar at the Iowa City Municipal Airport before hoisting it into place atop the Old Capitol.

Orange Bowl turns sour for Hawkeyes

After a storybook season for head football coach Kirk Ferentz and his 2002 Iowa squad, the Hawkeyes were unable to score a victory over the University of Southern California Trojans in the 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl Jan. 2 in Miami.

The Hawkeyes (11-2 overall, 8-0 conference) lost the game, 38-17, before an estimated 47,000 Iowa fans. The appearance marked the first time Iowa has played in the postseason Bowl Championship Series.

The team shared the 2002 Big Ten Conference title with national champions Ohio State and finished eighth in the final college football rankings, the highest finish by an Iowa football team in a national poll since the 1985 team placed ninth.

Time to apply for AHI grants

The Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI) Program competition for projects to be conducted during the 2003-04 year has been announced by the Offices of the Provost and the Vice President for Research and External Relations.

AHI is a state-supported grants program that supports humanities scholarship and work in the creative, visual, and performing arts. Tenured, tenure-track, and clinical faculty as well as full-time P&S staff members with a graduate degree or equivalent and professional achievement in the arts or humanities may apply.

Three types of grant support will be available:

• Standard grants for individual or collaborative projects that provide up to $7,500 per award.

• Conference grants of up to $10,000 per award. Limited funding is available for conferences and symposia.

• Major projects grants: one or two awards to projects of special magnitude and positive impact, up to $50,000 per award.

Application deadline is Feb. 17.

For more information or to check eligibility, contact Larry Rettig, 201 GILH, (33)5-2119, lawrence-rettig@uiowa.edu.

Ida Beam nominations sought

The Office of the Provost is seeking nominations for the 2003-2004 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professorships Program. Proposals are due to departmental executive officers by Jan. 31, to deans by Feb. 7, and to the provost by Feb. 21.

The program funds proposals that bring to the University scholars of distinction who offer something new and interesting to undergraduates as well as graduate students, colleagues, and the public at large.

Guidelines and information are available at www.uiowa.edu/~provost/idabeam or by contacting Jan Swartzendruber at jan-swartzendruber@uiowa.edu or (33)5-0146.

A presidents’ book by UI ex-president

Just in time for the announcement of a new University president, University of Iowa Press has published Liberal Education and the Public Interest, by James O. Freedman, president emeritus of both The University of Iowa and Dartmouth College.

The book concentrates on problems facing university presidents and administrators, urging current presidents to use their positions to defend higher education from its challenges and detractors and to make a strong case for the importance of the liberal arts and intellectual pursuits.

Freedman was president at Iowa from 1982 to 1987.