Former Iowa governor Robert Ray, former Iowa Board of Regents president Stanley Redeker, and pharmacy leader Robert Osterhaus will receive honorary University of Iowa doctorates at May 2012 commencement ceremonies.

Critics have difficulty labeling what University of Iowa School of Music alumnus Rinde Eckert does, but they agree that he does it very well. Recording Academy voters concurred this year, awarding him and the chamber ensemble eighth blackbird a Grammy for Best Small Ensemble Performance.

Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty member Marilynne Robinson's new essay collection, When I was a Child I Read Books, is reviewed and recommended: "They're enlightening and a pleasure to read."

Fifteen University of Iowa faculty members received support to fund research projects that represent educational research at its best: “critical, purposeful, and solutions-oriented,” according to UI College of Education Dean and Professor Margaret S. Crocco.

Cassandra Storlie, a third-year counselor education and supervision doctoral student in the University of Iowa College of Education, was selected as a recipient of the Chi Sigma Iota Leadership Internship for 2012-13.