Controversy yields conversation. Conversation generates action. Action sculpts the future. The University of Iowa explores these ideas with the fall 2015 course Race and Social Justice After Ferguson.

The weekly class gives students a chance to learn about nonprofit organization branding and donor communication and gain practical experience planning and writing fundraising materials. It’s also a core course in the Fundraising and Philanthropy Communication certificate program.

More than 20 UI faculty representing diverse disciplines and backgrounds were selected to participate in a two-day “Write to Change the World” workshop Nov. 7 and 8 through The Op Ed Project. This is the first time the workshop has been offered on the UI campus.

Mars has been all over the news, from the finding of seasonal water on the Red Planet to the successful film "The Martian." Now, researchers, including those at the UI, have learned more about what happened to Mars' climate since it was a warm, watery planet billions of years ago.

The UI will celebrate International Education Week Nov. 10–20 with activities including a public ceremony to honor 2015 International Impact Award recipient Rebecca Arnold and publishing an online photo gallery showcasing winning photos from the International Programs' annual photo contest.

The University of Iowa will hold the second of two public meetings to discuss the proposed repurposement (Feasibility and Adaptive Reuse Study) of the existing 1936 Art Building. The meeting is set for Nov. 16 in Room 2520D of University Capitol Centre.

Jasper Halekas, a space scientist at the University of Iowa, will be a panelist in a NASA news briefing on Thursday, Nov. 5, in which the agency will provide details of a significant finding in its ongoing exploration of Mars.

Dale Whitacre, a College of Education alumnus, was awarded teacher of the year by the Missouri State Teachers' Association.

Deanne Wortman, a printmaker, was hired to lead the College of Engineering's new Nexus of Engineering and Art program, one that puts the college at the forefront of a national trend.

University of Iowa professor Philip Kaaret has won a $3.7 million NASA grant to build a satellite that will search for missing matter in hot gases associated with the Milky Way galaxy.

A first-of-its-kind study discovered that many hard-of-hearing children who receive optimal, early services are able to “catch up or significantly close the gaps with their hearing peers,” say researchers at the University of Iowa, Boys Town National Research Hospital, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

With Don Gurnett, and James Van Allen before him, the University of Iowa has a strong legacy of leading the scientific community in the exploration and understanding of space.