Executive Director of Hancher Auditorium Chuck Swanson hails from Spencer, Iowa, the first overnight stop on the 2017 RAGBRAI route. Swanson shares not only his but the University of Iowa’s connection to the town, including a permanent mural in Hancher that Spencer middle school students worked on.

Thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation, the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History is upgrading the storage of its ornithology collection, which features more than 31,000 bird, nest, and egg specimens. Meanwhile, students are getting valuable experience in museum collections management.