G o o d

B e t t e r

B e s t

I O W A

CAMPUS BEAUTIFICATION
Education is an endeavor that is highly sensitive to location. Students and alumni respond all their lives to memories of the place that nourished their intellectual
State leaders who established The University of Iowa more than 150 years ago are gone, but their work is alive today. The UI Pentacrest and campus are a living testimony to the state’s history and its legacy of support for education.

growth. The physical environment of a campus does much to stimulate and support the mind, body, and spirit of those who study, live, and work there. The beauty and serenity of the UI campus stir imaginations and motivate students, faculty, and staff to give their best efforts. The charm and splendor of the campus are also enormously advantageous in recruiting the best students, faculty, and staff to the University.

During the University’s 150th anniversary in 1997-98, the Sesquicentennial Campus Plan was prepared as a guide for future campus physical development—a plan that would help fulfill aesthetic potential and build on the work of our predecessors who created this wonderful campus.

SHARING A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Nature has a commanding influence on the UI campus environment, both nurturing and destructive. The Iowa River is a powerful force on the University’s entire campus, and several graceful bridges unite east to west. Tamed by a dam and reservoir
“Sixty percent of collegebound students told the Carnegie Foundation that visual environment was the most important factor in choosing a college.”
Thomas A. Gaines The Campus as a Work of Art Praeger Publishers, 1991

constructed in the 1940s and 1950s, the river still presents many challenges. During the flood of 1993, vehicular and pedestrian traffic stalled, campus buildings were closed, and the river corridors suffered water and debris damage. In June 1998 a 100-mph, straight-line wind claimed many of the Pentacrest’s 100-year-old oak trees.

To counteract the ravages of nature, University staff and volunteers have for several years dedicated themselves to introducing new beauty throughout the campus by planting perennial and annual flowers, shrubs, and trees. Much more needs to be done. Campus beautification is an ongoing requirement of any top-ranked university. To complete this work, the UI needs financial assistance from private contributors. Alumni and friends are encouraged to join with others to make campus beautification plans a reality.

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The following is a summary of campus beautification priorities within the University’s comprehensive campaign:

Preservation—The

Pentacrest represents the historic heart of the University and

is the focal point of the main campus. Its surroundings, and the visual corridors that frame the Pentacrest, evoke the University’s origins and the ideals of its founders.
A recent Noel-Levitz market research study of collegebound high school seniors indicates that the most notable experiences seniors encounter on their best college visit have to do with the appearance of the campus and its facilities. When students were asked what they noted most during their visit, seven of the top ten responses related to the appearance of the campus.

Future campus development must preserve the Pentacrest’s buildings, natural features, and outdoor spaces that provide significant historic, cultural, and aesthetic value for the University community. Through these preservation efforts, we aim to:

• Enhance the pedestrian orientation of the campus using interconnected open spaces and landscaping to link the diverse architectural styles of buildings and land uses • Restore and preserve Old Capitol as the state’s most historically significant building and a repository of Iowa’s heritage

Landscape—Campus

development must create a landscape character that reflects

and encourages an atmosphere of academic quality and collaboration. The planned landscaping projects will: • Develop entrance points to the University campus at selected significant locations to provide a pleasing sense of arrival

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• Create gathering places and provide benches where students, faculty, staff, and visitors can share ideas and inspiration • Improve maintenance for buildings and grounds, and enhance the beauty of the natural environment by planting more trees, shrubs, and flowers • Improve the traffic flow for vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians by providing more open spaces, trails, bikeways, and bike parking

Environment—A

cohesive vista embracing the powerful presence of the Iowa

River and the UI Pentacrest must be established and preserved by enhancing the river’s environment—topography, vegetation, and natural aesthetic—and maintaining the University’s unique sense of place. This component of the campaign will: • Address the ecological challenges of maintaining the river corridor using buffer strips and the natural environment to reduce the impact of periodic flood cycles • Create a River Garden between the Voxman Music Building and the Theatre Building to provide spaces for seasonal activities—biking, walking, and skating— by creating riparian buffers that allow for intermittent flooding, and by restoring the original water detention basin and wetland • Preserve and create views to and across the Iowa River to enhance the river as a unifying element between the east and west campuses; establish more greenways providing a direct visual and spatial connection between the campus and Iowa River
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• Preserve and enhance other existing natural elements of the campus, such as the Quadrangle Ravine, that provide unique features or connecting views between campus areas

HELP PRESERVE IOWA’S FUTURE

During its more than 150-year history, The University of Iowa has been able to achieve many significant milestones only with the help of generous gifts from alumni and friends. Increased private support will provide the necessary resources to dramatically enhance the University’s exceptional environment and continue its role of providing the best possible education for our students into the 21st century.

Achieving our campaign goal of $14 million will provide the necessary resources to accomplish the campus beautification plans described above. Of that goal, $8 million will support immediate campus beautification projects, and $2 million will go toward supporting projects for Old Capitol (funding opportunities for Old Capitol are described more fully in a separate case statement). The remaining $4 million will create a permanent endowment fund for campus beautification, assuring that resources will be available in perpetuity for maintaining campus beautification projects.

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Gifts to The University of Iowa Foundation for campus beautification projects provide a very meaningful and visible way for alumni, friends, corporations, foundations, and organizations to provide lasting, valuable, and visible support for the entire University community. For more information about how you can support our campus beautification campaign, contact:
Deb Woods Director, Donor Relations and Event Services The University of Iowa Foundation Levitt Center for University Advancement P.O. Box 4550 Iowa City, Iowa 52244-4550 Phone: (319) 335-3305 / Fax: (319) 335-2568 e-mail: deb-woods@uiowa.edu www.GoodBetterBestIowa.org

The Campaign to Advance Our Great University