Over 500 students and staff at the University of Iowa and members in the Iowa City community came together to plant 2,000 seedlings for a Miyawaki Forest on April 24 and 25 in front of the UI College of Public Health building, after planting the state’s largest Miyawaki Forest in 2025.

Farrukh Bashir has been named associate vice president and director of University of Iowa Facilities Management. Bashir succeeds Lynne Finn, who will retire after a decade of service to the university. Bashir, assistant director of Facilities Management at the University of Minnesota, will begin on Feb. 2.

Brad Rohrer has been named the university’s next chief information officer and associate vice president. Rohrer succeeds Steve Fleagle, who will retire this spring after 40 years of service to UI. Rohrer, vice president for information technology at the University of Miami, will begin on Feb. 23.

The University of Iowa’s Cambus has been selected to receive $6,171,174 in grant funding from the Federal Transit Administration’s Low and No Emissions Program. The funding will support the replacement of six buses that were purchased in 2008 and 2009, and were due for retirement by 2022, with new diesel-electric hybrid buses.

As 2025 comes to a close, one thing is clear: artificial intelligence continues to evolve at a pace that’s hard to keep up with. The landscape is complex, the tools are multiplying, and the questions are big. Our goal as the AI Support Team is to help the University of Iowa navigate this space with confidence. We’re here to provide guidance, training, and hands-on support so that AI adoption is thoughtful, practical, and aligned with campus needs.