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Through recent board discussions, we thought it was timely to again provide an overview of our Parents Association. Every parent of a current University of Iowa undergraduate student is automatically a member of our group, which is dedicated to addressing the needs that affect the quality of the student experience.
Originally formed as the Dad’s Association in 1955, it became the UI Parents Association in 1971. It was created to bring about a closer relationship among parents, students, and the University, and to enable parents to learn more about the University and its goals. The Association is closely linked to the campus Office of Student Services, which often serves as the needed link to specific departments and offices for individual questions from parents.
The Parents Board is comprised of parents from a wide variety of backgrounds. We also strive for a balance of board members who represent each of the undergraduate classes, to be sure we are listening to as broad of a group as possible. We have always felt, the more diverse the group, the better.
For anyone who is interested in participating on the Parents Board, our on-campus meetings are limited to three meetings per year. These are all-day meetings held on the Friday of Family Weekend each fall, as well as a Saturday meeting in February and one Saturday in April. We also like each board member to attend a day or two of the summer orientation meetings if possible. We welcome any advocacy efforts within individual communities or with elected officials as circumstances warrant.
We are a very active group and welcome creative thoughts and constructive criticism to help us reach our goals of communication to University officials. Based on our experiences on the board, we can unconditionally say that our input is heard and appreciated. The meetings always have a full agenda of timely topics that require some reading to understand the underlying issues. Quite often, we have speakers from the University giving us updates on developments in their particular areas of responsibility.
As parents, we know there are many benefits to serving on the board, the least of which is the added opportunity to stay in better touch with everyday issues our students face. And especially if we’re writing the tuition checks, we appreciate the added understanding of the great value we receive from the outstanding academic and campus experience that our students enjoy.
We are here to serve you and always welcome you to contact any board member or the University’s Office of Student Services for more information. We especially like to hear from those parents who would like to get involved with the board, as we have continual turnover of members each academic year. For more specifics, please visit the University web site, or contact the Office of Student Services at parents-association@uiowa.edu.
And finally, please be sure to mark the weekend of October 14-16, 2005 on your calendar for the next Family Weekend, which is always filled with enjoyable activities. Make it a memorable weekend with your student, as these precious years go by so quickly.
