Story by Emily Nelson, University of Iowa
Gul Rukh Mehboob has ensured that a part of herself will remain on the University of Iowa campus after she leaves.
“I believe that wherever you go, you leave a part of yourself there,” says the PhD student studying health economics related to public health at Iowa on a Fulbright scholarship from Peshawar, Pakistan.
Mehboob’s watercolor painting of Old Capitol was selected to celebrate the university’s 175 years as an institution and to commemorate the installation of Barbara Wilson as UI’s 22nd president.
While Mehboob has only been on campus since the start of the fall 2021 semester, she says the university has already left its mark on her.
“After so many years and all the struggles and everything that I saw, I made it here,” Mehboob says. “I love the university and I have so many hopes for my future. All of that was in my mind, and I really wanted to convey my own experience with education and coming here, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to voice my feelings through this art piece.”