Making Our Tomorrow Stronger

Three years of momentum set UNI up for success

In fiscal year 2021–2022, the University of Northern Iowa saw $36.6 million in giving for the students, staff, programs and spaces that make our university strong. The success of the past three years — the three highest years of philanthropic support in UNI's history — meant the UNI Foundation was well poised for the public launch of the Our Tomorrow campaign this fall. 

Thanks to our wonderful community of UNI alumni, donors and friends, this campaign is off to an impressive start. The 2021–2022 fiscal year brought UNI $36.6 million closer to realizing the $250 million goal for the Our Tomorrow campaign.

Together, we will build the UNI tomorrow needs. Together, we will create a brighter tomorrow for our students.
 

Highlights

During fiscal year 2022, over $6.6 million in scholarship support was awarded by the UNI Foundation to 1,936 students.

The campaign to transform the UNI-Dome for the next generation received a major lift thanks to the largest private gift in UNI Athleticsʼ history. Marilyn Bohl, '62 , invested $5 million in the UNI-Dome renovation project. Through the Our Tomorrow campaign, the university is seeking $50 million to support a three-phased renovation of the UNI-Dome facility, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2026.
 

Donors are jumpstarting the gerontology program to support the rising population of aging adults in Iowa. Spring of 2022 saw the launch of a cutting edge university and community learning space — the UNI Dementia Simulation House. The residential space provides students and community members the opportunity to experience what it’s like to live with dementia.

A $300,000 grant from the Waterloo Schools Foundation, matched by $100,000 from John Deere, will fund the expansion of a thriving partnership between the Waterloo Community School District and UNI. Teach Waterloo aims to diversify the K-12 teacher workforce in support of student success. The initiative provides paraeducators and other support personnel of color at Waterloo Schools a streamlined path to earning teacher licensure through UNI.

Gifts from UNI College of Business alumni established the Steven B. Corbin Endowed Fellowship in Professional Sales in the UNI Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship, far surpassing the fundraising goal and establishing a lasting reminder of one of the most celebrated professors and mentors at the college.

With employer demand and student interest in data science on the rise, UNI is scaling up its academic offerings with the help of a $363,676 grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust will allow UNI to use high-performance computing equipment to augment some 20 courses in the departments of physics, chemistry and biochemistry, mathematics, and biology in addition to computer science.

UNI was recognized again this past year for its strength in educating student veterans, receiving the highest designation for veteran-friendly colleges of its size in the U.S.

In June 2022, UNI leadership, representatives from John Deere and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds broke ground on the new Applied Engineering Building. The $4 million project is a renovation and expansion of the former Industrial Technology Center (ITC) to create a modernized hub for UNI’s industry programs on the south side of campus.

An outpouring of donor support is bringing the vision to life for tomorrowʼs Gallagher Bluedorn. In 2021–2022, generous gifts from Barbara Corson, ʼ70, Marge Polacek, and Dick, ʼ74, and Kathy, ʼ77, Redfern — among others — pushed the campaign closer to its $14.9 million goal. A $1.5 million investment from the Friends of the Gallagher Bluedorn included funds to match gifts dollar per dollar up to $500,000.

A $5,000 grant from the Wellmark Foundation provided resources for local families to start their own vegetable gardens through A Garden in Every Lot, a UNI Center for Energy and Environmental Education (CEEE) program.