Articles tagged with "in the news"

When Hualing Nieh Engle first suggested bringing together a group of established writers from around the globe to nurture their artistic creativity on the University of Iowa campus, Paul Engle told her it was a crazy idea.

While the security threat North Korea poses is often discussed, little is known about the severe human-rights crisis the country is suffering.

This is something the organization Liberty in North Korea, commonly referred to as LiNK, wants to change. The University of Iowa LiNK rescue team hosted its biggest event of the semester Wednesday night. Representatives from LiNK showed a documentary created by the non-governmental organization entitled “The People’s Crisis.” They also presented their Shift campaign, in which their goal is to change the way the media talk about North Korea, moving away from military issues to more humanitarian concerns.

Vicki Ruiz knows Latino culture.

“Latinos are the biggest minority group in the United States, but their contributions and legacies in the United States often remain invisible to the general public and contribute to the unfortunate notion that Latinos are peoples who arrived the day before yesterday,” said the professor of history and Chicano/Latino Studies. Around 16 percent of the United States is made up of Latinos, and that demographic is only going to grow, according to the 2010 Census. Being the fastest growing minority group in the United States, it is estimated that this 16 percent will jump up to 30 percent by 2050.

Earlier this year, Iowa Chief Justice Mark Cady used his annual State of the Judiciary address to give Iowa lawmakers a somewhat unexpected reason why the state needs to support a healthy court system: because it’s good for business.

On Thursday, Cady visited with the Press-Citizen Editorial Board and made a similar pitch invoking the language of economic development.

And that’s not surprising. Like every other business or governmental venture, Iowa’s court system needs to keep pace with the rapid changes in information technology.

A recent gift from Dean and Tammy Oskvig of Stilwell, Kan., to the University of Iowa Foundation will establish the Oskvig Global Engineering Scholarship within the UI College of Engineering.

The endowed gift will support one or more annual scholarships for engineering students interested in serving communities in developing countries through work in energy and/or water for a meaningful part of their professional career.

What’s your favorite Iowa place? A University of Iowa professor is encouraging Iowans to bring their heritage, memories, and fondness for the state to a creative process that will inspire floats, costumes, and more for an Iowa City Carnaval Parade planned for June 2013.

“A carnaval parade is art on parade to celebrate both individuality and community,” says Carnaval organizer Loyce Arthur, who is also head of design, director of undergraduate studies, and associate professor in the UI Theatre Arts Department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “In an increasingly technological and impersonal world, the carnaval arts can be used to bridge differences and celebrate human resilience and creativity.”