Before Mason Shepherd was born, his mother, Cindy, went in for her 20-week ultrasound where doctors discovered that her son had stopped growing. The Shepherds were transferred to UI Children’s Hospital for genetic testing, and Mason was diagnosed with Russell-Silver syndrome, a disorder characterized by slow growth before and after birth.

The UI's selection for 2013 Mom and Dad of the Year are, respectively, Tammy Taylor of Callender, Iowa, and Willie Delfs of Sioux City, Iowa. The parents were nominated by their students and then honored during Family Weekend festivities.

Kyleigh Burlingame of Webster City, Iowa, was diagnosed with Doose syndrome, a form of childhood epilepsy. With this particular disorder, seizures can originate from all over the brain as opposed to one focal point. She will be the Kid Captain for the Iowa vs. Ohio game Saturday, Oct. 19.

With an unprecedented rate of flood recovery, health care, and other construction projects taking place around the UI campus including University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, officials remind students, faculty and staff, patients and other visitors to campus to follow the designated alternate routes of travel, obey all traffic signals and signs, and stay alert near construction zones.

The University of Iowa Connie Belin and Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development will celebrate 470 outstanding fourth through 12th grade students and the teachers who inspired them at its annual recognition ceremony at 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 13, in the Iowa Memorial Union Main Lounge.

In 2009, 11-year-old Alex Kirby learned he had a rare genetic kidney disorder. After his transplant, doctors determined his sister, Molly, had the same disorder and would also need a transplant.

Johnny Appleseed isn’t just a symbolic folk hero. He was a real pioneer apple farmer named John Chapman whose dream was to produce so many apples no one would ever go hungry. The UI has its own folk hero. His name is Andy Dahl, and he is an arborist.

New University Librarian John Culshaw takes a gander at predicting what current library essentials might just go the way of card catalogs and rubber date stamps by the time current students reach milestone reunions.

Six-year-old Stella Turnbull has spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that significantly weakens all of her muscles. When she was diagnosed at 1 month of age, her doctors didn't expect her to live. Her parents turned to UI Children's Hospital, where doctors created the proper treatment regimen.

Michaela Inman had just made a competitive gymnastics team. She was spending more time in the gym and running frequently. So when she began complaining of pain in her right ankle in May 2011, Michaela’s parents and local pediatrician thought it was nothing more than a sprain.

Even in "forced triples," rooms designed for two students that house three, "students who live in campus housing...do better socially, emotionally, and often academically than those who live off campus or at home," says Von Stange, the UI director of residence services.

Carson Thomas, 14, kicks off the fifth year of the Kid Captain program, a collaboration between UI Children's Hospital and the Iowa Hawkeyes.