Summer 2021
Welcome to the Summer 2021 issue of the UNI College of Education's Premier Magazine.
Premier is published for University of Northern Iowa College of Education alumni, friends, faculty and staff.
From the Dean: Delighted, determined and ready to go
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Last December, I wrote of finding a new rhythm as we transitioned from the initial disruption of COVID-19 into a full semester of life that was not-yet-normal. As spring semester unfolded, the first vaccinations were beginning. As the semester ended, our new graduates had the option to walk the commencement platform --. many took the opportunity.
I cannot help but be amazed, delighted, and humbled by the collective effort that carried us all from March 2020 to now.
For this past year’s incoming students, the “altered reality” of their first academic year is all they have known. Through the most challenging of years, our faculty remained remarkably focused and flexible. Then there are our partners, many of them our alumni and friends.
From clinical and community preceptors to cooperating and mentor teachers , the level of your support is unique and part of the lifeblood of this institution. As our alumni features in this issue of Premier attest, you had your own professional and personal challenges this past year. And yet, so many of you were there for our students once again. I find your support truly extraordinary.
After a year unlike any other, we now face a new academic year shaped by our recent past, but fully focused on the future, led by our strategic guideposts:
- Amplify student success
- Actively engage in diversity, equity and inclusion
- Transform our status quo
- Enrich our partnerships
We plan to give greater meaning to those goals over the next year. In the next few weeks, we look forward to welcoming new leaders, starting new programs and engaging on and off campus.
Through these past 15 months, our determination and commitment to our students has never waned. But as the new year beckons, you can feel something that, not too long ago, seemed out of place: a sense of excitement.
Perspective remains as we follow continuing developments in the world around us. But, yes, we’re back. We’re ready.
Forward!
Colleen S. Mulholland
Dean, College of Education