Iowa Now presents a brand-new platform for telling the University of Iowa story—and a brand-new philosophy for taking that story directly to our varied and widespread audiences.

The Iowa Now website offers a one-stop online shop for news, multimedia, and features about UI people and programs. The content it delivers is designed not just to inform people, but also to intrigue and inspire everyone who feels a connection to our university.

You also can subscribe to a daily email alert and to RSS feeds—for everything we publish, or for only the topics you choose.

Iowa Now recognizes that people who care about the university—students and their families, faculty and staff, alumni and friends—want more control over the information they receive, discover, and share. They want a customized interaction with the university, and they’re looking for stories that are timely, relevant, engaging, and even a little fun.

With that in mind, we’ve created a first-of-its-kind hub for University of Iowa news aimed at multiple audiences. The Iowa Now home page showcases the day’s top stories, running lists of our newest and most popular content, and windows to the university’s official Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channels.

We’ve built in easy ways for you to share the stories you like within your own social networks. More than ever, Iowa Now gives you a role in telling the UI story.

Under the hood, Iowa Now provides us with modern solutions for publishing and managing content online. It helps us post information more quickly; enhance our use of video, photos, and graphics; and deliver content to other websites.

A University Communication and Marketing project team developed Iowa Now with ideas, advice, and support from colleagues across campus. From the beginning, we set out to offer a resource that can help every university unit reach key constituents and broader audiences in a more automated, effective way.

Of course all the technology trimmings are worthless without good stories to tell. We want to share what sets our university apart, where we want to go, and how we aim to get there. We need everyone’s help in mining those interesting nuggets of human interest, discovery, and achievement that make the university such a dynamic place with far-reaching impact.

Most of all, however, we want to shift the focus of the compelling stories we will be developing and running on Iowa Now to the people who compose our UI community. Their stories bring our university’s work to life.

Our work is only beginning—we have a long list of features we hope to add over the coming months, features that are likely to make Iowa Now a groundbreaking news service in higher education. Stay tuned for what’s next.