Knoll could receive updates for next president's arrival

By mid-November, when the Iowa Board of Regents expects to hire Iowa State's next president, the board will develop a plan for improvements to the Knoll, the on-campus residence for the university president's family. During the regents' Sept. 18 meeting in Cedar Falls, board president Sherry Bates appointed regent and ISU alumnus Kurt Tjaden to lead the effort.

Generally, he will develop a plan for repairs, remediation or rebuilding, with cost estimates attached to all proposals.

Asked about waiting to involve the next president in this second step, Bates said, "Let's do our due diligence and see where we come out."

The directive was in response to senior vice president for operations and finance Sean Reeder's summary presentation of an architect's analysis of the building completed this fall at the board's request.

"The Knoll has many serious problems to address and currently doesn't provide the modern functionality for both the duties and the residence of a university president," he said. "Most universities [in the upper Midwest] have newer and more modern homes for their university presidents."

In its early years, the Knoll was strictly a home for the president's family. Now, 125 years later, the first floor serves as a meeting place for many campus and donor events, from receptions to formal dinners. The upper two floors are the president's residence.

A majority of the building has "significant deficiencies," Reeder said, that stem from its age and the construction practices of 1901. Some categories he cited are:

• Building envelope and insulation: outside air easily infiltrates the building. Reeder noted that smoke from Canadian wildfires last spring set off smoke detectors in the Knoll.
• Water leaks from both outside moisture and condensation created by air cooling system.
• Lack of privacy: The Knoll is bordered by Lincoln Way, a multi-story parking ramp and multiple pedestrian pathways.
• The residence areas of the building lack a laundry room and dining room, offer deficient home office space and generally lack "other spaces a modern home would offer."

A 1999 north wing to the Knoll added a large garage and living room/kitchenette above the garage, but most of the house is based on its original design, Reeder said.

The universities of Iowa and Northern Iowa also are completing assessments of their own presidential homes this fall at the request of the regents.

Employee personal social media posts

Following a closed-session discussion about university employee posts on personal social media accounts related to the Sept. 10 shooting death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, the regents directed the three universities to:

• Conduct, within two weeks, an investigation of all alleged violations of board policy, particularly chapter 4.2 governing use of social media.
• Place all employees being investigated on administrative leave or remove them from the classroom.
• (When each investigation is completed) Authorize the university president to take action (up to and including termination) for any employee found to have violated board policy.

The board motion also included a delegation of authority to executive director Mark Braun to direct the universities to investigate any alleged violations in the future, including placing employees on administrative leave.

"The purpose of this is to delve in and see if any of these cross the threshold to where they're so disruptive to the university that they need discipline, in an employment sense," said regent Robert Cramer. "We're not talking about punishing anyone for what they said or posted, but we're also saying there's not an absolute right to employment if that employee is disrupting the university."

Requests for additional state funding in FY27

President Wendy Wintersteen outlined three funding requests to the state for the year that begins July 1:

• $3 million for an Iowa Ag Tech Innovation Initiative that features $1.8 million more for the Agricultural Experiment Station, and $1.2 million more for Cooperative Extension Service. The first part would support breakthrough research in livestock production and health, productivity and sustainability for corn and soybeans, and safety and market value for new grains. The second would support additional research-backed education programs and on-farm workshops in crop and livestock management, evolving technologies and AI-driven decision making.
• $600,000 for Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL) operations. With the opening in 2026 of the second phase of the new VDL, leaders estimate a $3 million increase to annual operations expenses, about two-thirds of which can be earned by innovating, expanding services and increasing testing fees.
• Move three direct state appropriations into the general university appropriation next year. The three are Agriculture Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension Service and STEM workforce, which total $51.4 million this fiscal year. 

Iowa State also seeks an $8 million state investment (PDF) over two years (FY27, FY28) toward an estimated $33 million renovation of the 56-year-old Atanasoff Hall, home to the computer science department. Private gifts would pay for the rest of the project. University leaders identified the Atanasoff renovation as a priority during a presentation to the board last fall.

The board approved an addition to the education appropriations request presented by student regent Lucy Gipple, University of Iowa: $1 million to address student mental health. If the 2026 legislature appropriated it, Iowa State would receive a piece of this funding.

Two new bachelor's degrees

In other business, the regents approved two new degrees to start in fall 2026: 

• Bachelor of Arts in digital storytelling (PDF), a collaboration between the Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the music and theatre department intended to prepare students for a variety of careers that involve work in, for example, TV, documentary films, social media, podcasts, websites, news features, magazines, video games and the extended realities (augmented, virtual and mixed).
• Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration offered through the art and visual culture department, in collaboration with the graphic design department, to graduate students that are proficient in mediums such as drawing, painting, printmaking and digital art, and equipped to adapt to emerging technologies.

The digital storytelling degree is the final degree program developed for a special initiative, Degrees of the Future, supported with $1.5 million in initial funds from the 2022-31 strategic plan to address workforce and student demands. The other five are:

• Master's degree in digital health (2024)
• Bachelor's degree in game design (2024)
• Bachelor's degree in digital and precision agriculture (2025)
• Master's degree in finance technology (2025)
• Bachelor's degree in integrated health sciences (2025)