The Daily Iowan MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2021 UI COVID-19 NUMBERS Number of self-reported cases for COVID-19 Students: 11 new cases, 3,123 to-date Employees: 1 new cases, 471 to-date New cases as of April 9, 2021 Source: UI COVID-19 campus update
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It’s a good feeling University of Iowa wraps up its first week vaccinating students with the one-dose Johnson & Johnson, doling out 425 doses in the first week.
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Reaching new heights
Grant Wood Fellow Margarita Blush has taken her theatrical expertise and knowledge center stage at the University of Iowa for the final mainstage of the Department of Theatre Arts’ season. The play, titled Ascend, is an original work crafted by the nine-member ensemble.
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Guowei Qi named Churchill Scholar
After four years at the University of Iowa, Guowei Qi will move to Tate Hildyard/The Daily Iowan the University of Cambridge in University of Iowa first-year medical student, Tanner Kempton gets his COVID-19 vaccination at the Westlawn Student Health Center on April 6. With the eligibility requirements for October to conduct computavaccinations lifted, all UI students are now able to book appointments to get their vaccinations. tional biophysics research as COVID, and I don't go home a lot to see them just because on Tuesday, said Lisa James, UI Student Health’s assisBY BRADY OSBORNE one of 17 Churchill Scholars in they don't want to be potentially exposed…” Craven said. tant director for quality improvement and strategic combrady-osborne@uiowa.edu the nation. He is the fifth Hawk“Every time I looked, though, the times were taken.” munications. As of Thursday morning, more than 6,000 eye to ever win the award.
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Men’s swimming season ends, and with it, the program
Following the conclusion of its 2021 season last month, the Iowa men’s swimming and diving team is the first program slated to be discontinued next year to finish its schedule. While the emotions are still fresh, the “strongest-bonded team in Iowa swimming history” is proud of its grit during a tumultuous season.
University of Iowa senior Maeve Craven checked with local HyVee locations for open vaccine appointments once eligibility opened up to all adults last week, but she didn’t have any luck. In the past year, Craven has hardly returned home to visit her parents to prevent exposure to the virus, so getting a vaccine would be key to keeping them — and everyone else — safe. So, when the UI sent out an email inviting students to schedule an appointment for a one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Craven quickly signed up. On April 7, Craven got her shot from Student Health at Westlawn. “I've been trying to get it for a while through HyVee and stuff just because my parents are very concerned about
The University of Iowa wrapped up its first week of open eligibility to vaccinate all students and staff against COVID-19 in an effort to immunize campus before it empties for the summer. Before the state announced the public universities would receive allocations of vaccinations, the UI told its students and staff they would likely need to look outside the university to be immunized. As of April 5, all adults in the state of Iowa are eligible to receive their COVID-19 vaccine. On March 31, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that the UI, along with other colleges and universities in the state, would receive vaccines to give to their students, faculty, and staff. The UI used 425 of its 500 doses, keeping some available for appointments today before the next shipment arrives
students had filled out a survey sent to students April 2 expressing interest in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. UI leaders are urging patience with scheduling appointments, as state and federal partners determine the weekly allotment of doses. Assistant Vice President for External Relations Jeneane Beck wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan last week even as early as the day the survey was sent out, the university received a high level of interest from students — the schedules filled quickly for the first two days of vaccinations. “We are very pleased with the level of interest among our students,” Beck wrote.
Leading the way UI senior Amanda Thomas will serve as the band’s next leading Hawkeye, one of just a handful of women to do so in the band’s 140-year history.
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President finalists visit campus The first forum open to the public is on today at 3:30 p.m.
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BY SARAH WATSON
sarah-e-watson@uiowa.edu
long before that, when her grandma would bring her to her cousin’s marching band performances. She said she liked to stand next to the drumline so she could feel the vibrations the instruments made while they warmed up. A long stretch of time separated the first women to lead the band — in 1943 on a temporary basis — to Iole and Thomas’ leadership in the last five years. In 1943, Rose Day of Mason City and Mary DuMont of Anamosa led the 90-person Hawkeye Marching Band as the first female drum majors, an October 1943 issue of The Daily Iowan reported. At the time, World War II raged across Europe, and college-age men were drafted into the U.S. military to be sent overseas. Band Director Eric Bush said women were not permanently allowed into the band until after Title IX in 1972, and even after that, a long road awaited many women to be selected for leadership positions. Even so, Thomas said she had several women to look up to while she prepared for her audition. The University of Iowa
Four candidates to become the next top Hawkeye will be interviewed by campus beginning today, including hybrid online and in-person public forums scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on each candidate's first of two visit days. Hari Osofsky, dean of Penn State Law and the Penn State School of International Programs, will hold a public forum today as the first finalist to visit campus. The public will learn the names of the other three candidates at 8 a.m. the day before they come to campus for a two-day visit. It'll be another step of a search process to fill the University of Iowa presidency, which kicked off in October 2020 when President Bruce Harreld announced his retirement. Over the last few weeks, the search committee narrowed the number of finalists from nearly 80 to 12 and then to four. After campus feedback is collected, the state Board of Regents expects to make a decision by April 30. Just 40 tickets will be issued for campus members to attend the public forums — the only part of the search open to the public — in person because of COVID-19 restrictions on indoor events. Eight tickets will be allotted on a first-come, first-serve basis to each of five sectors of the UI: faculty, staff, undergraduate students, graduate and professional students, and community members. The UI will also stream the forums online, and people can submit questions for the potential presidents. Campus members can also submit feedback via an online form before April 27. The visit dates are: • Candidate 1: Today and Tuesday • Candidate 2: Thursday and Friday • Candidate 3: April 19-20 • Candidate 4: April 22-23
SEE DRUM, 2A
SEE PRESIDENT, 2A
Student government results released
Undergraduate Student Government announced election results on Sunday. The races for executive ticket, senatorial seats, and constituency senators were uncontested, meaning most of those running filled the seats. About 475 students voted. Regan Smock and José Muñiz Jr. were elected president and VP. Ayrton Breckenridge/The Daily Iowan Amanda Thomas, University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band Drum Major, performs inside the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex on April 7.
BY JOSIE FISCHELS
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josie-fischels@uiowa.edu As a high school student, Amanda Thomas declared to Twitter that she would become the Hawkeye Marching Band’s first-ever female drum major. Although that history was made before she came to the University of Iowa in 2017 by Analisa Iole as the first woman to hold the position since World War II, Thomas will now follow in Iole’s footsteps to lead 260 marching Hawkeyes into Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeye Marching Band drum major is the highest rank an undergraduate band member can hold. They teach marching fundamentals to the band, play a large role in outreach and community engagement, and perform energetic routines spinning a mace during pregame and halftime shows alongside the band’s Golden Girl, the marching band’s feature twirler. Thomas will be a fifth-year music education and horn performance major next year, and previously served as the mellophone section leader for the past two seasons. She’s played in band since age 12, and became interested in marching band