Our goal is to provide comprehensive support for individuals throughout their relationship with the university, beginning by attracting and retaining talented students, faculty, and staff who will contribute to a thriving university community.

To accomplish this goal, the university plans to embed well-being and mental health into all aspects of campus culture to better support students, faculty, and staff.

This includes evaluating and improving existing well-being programs, creating a cohesive framework of services and resources for well-being, increasing access and awareness of mental health resources, and expanding curricular and co-curricular learning for all students. Additionally, we will work toward innovative new strategies to recruit, retain, and recognize talented students, faculty, and staff, as well as cultivate a campus culture of data-informed assessment and continuous improvement.

Promoting well-being and success is critical to our future. By providing the appropriate resources for students, faculty, and staff, we can become a destination university for talented individuals who support the achievement of the university's mission and goals.

Highlights and Success

Photo of researchers at the National Advanced Driving Simulator

Instilling employee pride through engagement and discovery

The Discover Your University program provides faculty and staff – as individuals or as teams – with opportunities to visit campus sites to learn about the innovative programs and incredible work happening at the University of Iowa.

Iowa Memorial Union

Iowa Memorial Union to house Well-Being and Mental Health Center

Renovations beginning in summer 2024 will enhance student well-being and support by bringing clinical health services, mental health counseling, wellness programs, and student care resources together into one central location. 

Iowa banner on walkway

Cultivating faculty excellence

The Iowa Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award recognizes outstanding UI faculty members and provides each awardee with central funds for a period of three years to enhance their scholarly activities with the goal of developing and supporting a cadre of UI scholars across a broad array of academic disciplines. 

Students at Iowa City High School

Becoming a leader in mental health research and resources

The Scanlan Center for School Mental Health provides social, emotional behavioral, and psychological services to all of Iowa’s schools, building capacity for immediate and future delivery of mental health supports across the state.

T Anne Cleary walkway

Expanding leadership development to everyone on campus

The University of Iowa offers courses, workshops, coaching, mentoring, programs, and other professional development opportunities for faculty and staff. 

Block I on Pentacrest

Welcoming a new, highly-engaged incoming class

The University of Iowa Class of 2026 is the third-largest incoming first-year class on record, with 5,178 students. These new Hawkeyes boast an average high school GPA of 3.82 and have been highly engaged in their first year. 

Measuring Our Progress

The university has set specific targets or high-level indicators to monitor our institutional progress. We will regularly measure and assess improvements in these areas.

Faculty and Staff Success

METRICS AND INDICATORS:

  • Faculty retention and turnover rates
  • Staff retention and turnover rates
  • Data from campus surveys 

Funding for Faculty Recognition

TARGETED PROGRESS INDICATOR:

  • Raise $21.6M in philanthropic support for faculty prizes, awards, fellowships, professorships, chairs, and deanships by 2027

Campus Engagement

TARGETED PROGRESS INDICATOR:

  • Increase campus participation in campus climate surveys to 60% by 2027