UNI receives regents’ approval to form center housing Grassley papers

The University of Northern Iowa is furthering its work into civic education and stewardship of historical government resources through two centers, one created from a directive by the Iowa Board of Regents and the other approved by it Thursday.

The board of regents approved the formation of a “center for public engagement, leadership development and archival stewardship” at UNI during its Thursday meeting, with the vote amended to clarify that once U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley retires, the center will be named for him and his wife, Barbara.

UNI President Mark Nook told the board the center has been in development since before he arrived in 2017, and the university has spent “many years” working on it with the knowledge the university would receive Grassley’s documents once he leaves the Senate.

The board approved the center on its future namesake’s 93rd birthday.

“The center will be a nationally recognized resource for civic engagement, leadership development, archival stewardship, and public program programming that connects Iowa to the nation through learning, dialog, scholarship, and public service,” Nook said. “To accomplish that, the mission that will drive this center is to preserve and provide access to Sen. Grassley’s historic career while advancing civic education, student leadership development, public engagement, and educational programming that strengthens the understanding of American government and representative democracy.”

Regent Christine Hensley voiced her support for the center, but said she “feel(s) strongly” that the board needs to have a fundraising update from the university at its November meeting. According to a news release from UNI, the university is creating a fundraising and implementation strategy for the center and expects funding to come from donations, endowment earnings, grants, sponsorships, program revenue and support from UNI.

Board documents stated the center will launch a scholarship and leadership development program, host events like lectures and exhibits for both students and the public, preserve and provide access to the Grassley Collection and work with partners to “expand civic learning opportunities.”

One of these partnerships will be with the UNI Center for Civic Education, the document stated, though their missions are distinct. The center for civic education is focused on educational outreach and programming in support of civic learning.

UNI civics education center receives federal grant

Allison Rank, director of the center for civic education, presented to the board of regents Wednesday about its work and priorities. Over the past 15 months, Rank said the center has put on events to introduce students to diverse viewpoints, group activities to learn more about civic culture at UNI and other training and activities off campus and across the state.

“We want to be a nationally recognized leader in research, teaching, and public outreach in free speech and civic education,” Rank said.

The center is focused on civic engagement on and off campus related to free speech, Rank said, as well as providing professional development and civic learning to current and future Iowa educators and promoting civic education through curricular changes with faculty across the state.

The first year of the center’s “Challenging Perspectives Series” focused on the “future of the American family,” an event Rank said more than 60 students attended. From student-led brainstorming sessions with small groups came 17 solutions for bolstering UNI civic culture, which Rank said they used to apply for and receive a national grant to become an anchor campus for deliberative dialogue focused on faith-based institutions “and service provision.”

Another challenging perspectives event, as well as deliberative dialogues, will take place this academic year.

Rank said the center also received a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to create the “Iowa Civic Educators Institute” for Iowa standards-based civic education professional development for pre- and in-service teachers. A focus of this work is providing primary resources that are “connected to politics, but not politicized.”

“It’s hard to find content-rich information that they can trust, and we see ourselves as being able to fill that gap for faculty or for faculty in K-12,” Rank said.

Training sessions have already been held with the support of the three-year grant, Rank said, and she is working to find spaces in other areas of the state so educators don’t have to make their way to Cedar Falls. She’s also completed professional development and curriculum work both at UNI and at Iowa community colleges.

When asked by Hensley about what percentage of the student body is aware of the center, Rank said probably less than one-fifth. However, her goal isn’t to ensure every student knows her and her work but to ensure that the ones who need her can find her.

Rank provided the example of running a program with residence assistants in student dorms “to help them understand that what they’re doing is building students’ neighborhoods,” saying that it doesn’t matter if every student on the floor knows her as long as their leaders know to turn to her when they have questions or concerns.

“I care about reaching students where they are,” Rank said. “I don’t need them to know me, I need them to want to do civics.”