The year is wrapping for many K-12 schools, and already has for tri-state regional colleges. Leaders of those institutions of learning who are board members or administrators aim to make sure that people are being well educated.
For this episode, we are checking in with a Northwest Iowa native who leads a public university in the state. Mark Nook has been president of the University of Northern Iowa since February 2017.
He describes an idyllic upbringing in a family of five in Holstein, his love of academic life and how that became his long career.
President Nook addresses how universities function in 2025, with many challenging dynamics in educating students to longstanding or new fields, at a time of changing demographics and increasing outside influences.
Nook said it is fair to still see UNI in large part as a training ground for teachers and for accountants who get high pass rates on the CPA exam, but he describes new new growing programs.
Promoting the university is a big part of the job of a university president, and he describes that means not only working for growing the college through fundraising, but also with recent wry social media videos from Finals Week.
He also previews a big celebration coming up in 2026, with the 150th year anniversary for UNI being marked.
The Iowa Legislature continued this past year to tinker with measures designed to reduce diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, in colleges. Nook discusses how those moves have been viewed by UNI students, and pondered whether advocating for DEI work falls into the realm of academic freedom.
Nook also addresses the UNI Panther sports programs, and the challenges of mid major universities in the new world of athletes being paid by booster collectives via Name Image and Likeness and the wide movement of athletes via the transfer portal.
*Click on the audio link above to hear the entire show.
What's The Frequency, Episode 65.
