UNI receives $2.5 million federal grant for mental health access

CAROLINE CHRISTENSEN Staff Writer

After extensive research and collaboration with numerous Iowa Area Education Agencies (AEAs), UNI has received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to train 15 new school psychologists for various schools across Iowa in the next five years.

Nicole Skaar, an associate professor and School Psychology Program coordinator, is hopeful the grant will relieve current school psychologists of an overloaded schedule. Currently the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) recommends the ratio of school psychologists to students should be about one psychologist to 500 students. In Iowa, the current ratio of school psychologists to students is about one to 1,800 or 1,900. In places like Great

With this federal grant, UNI hopes to help address the shortage of school psychologists in Iowa schools. The recommended ratio of school psychologists to students is one to 500, while Iowa’s current ratio is about one to 1,800 or 1,900, some regions having a much higher disparity.

Prairie Education Agency, an AEA UNI is collaborating with on this grant, the ratio is one to 4,379 students.

“There is a real need for school psychologists in Iowa

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

MALLORY SCHMITZ News Editor “The first women who were able to attend college are the ones that created sororities,” she said. “[Sororities] were initially places where women could be safe, and women could get together and talk about things that they wanted to talk about in a place that was not a man’s space.”

UNI student Cassie Williams has always known that she wanted to be part of a sorority. However, starting with those first days of recruitment her freshman year, she stumbled across a community at UNI with stronger bonds, deeper roots and vast opportunities beyond what she initially expected.

“Running home on bid day was probably the first time at college that I felt like I knew where I’m fitting in. I know who my people are,” Williams said. “I think that has just provided me with the best sense of belonging.”

That desire for belonging is exactly what brought sororities to college campuses in the first place. Ana Muell is the current president of UNI’s Panhellenic Council, a six-member student board that oversees sorority life as a whole on campus.

UNI’s first sorority, Sigma Phi, was formed in 1896. It merged with another local sorority in 1918 before becoming nationally affiliated with Alpha Chi Omega in 1968.

While Alpha Chi Omega is one of five national sorori- just to get to that optimal place where we can actually do the things we need to do,” Skaar said. “What often happens is that school psychologists have to do a lot of the legally required work, and we are not doing a lot of the great stuff that would be very beneficial to students.”

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Conectando ex-alumnos con estudiantes (CATS por sus siglas en inglés) alienta a todos los estudiantes a participar en el anuario digital de UNI—el desafío de tradiciones. Las tradiciones tienen que estar entregadas el viernes, 21 de abril 2023. La ceremonia de guardianes de tradición será el martes, 25 de abril a las 5:30 p.m. en el Great Reading Room–Seerly 116 ties that are no longer active at UNI, women today can participate in any of the six existing sororities on campus. They include five National Panhellenic Conference sororities and one cultural sorority, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority.

El desafío de tradiciones lista 63 tradiciones para completar dentro y fuera del campus. ¡También tienes la opción de crear 10 de tus propias tradiciones!

In creating a space for belonging, early sorority leaders also created a space for growth. Williams has progressed from being just a sorority member to being co-vice president of recruitment in UNI’s Panhellenic Council.

“I had never been a leader in high school or before college, so sorority life was the first time I even considered stepping into a leadership position, and it was because my sorority sisters and other people in the community told me ‘you should run for co-VP of recruitment, I think you’d do a really good job.’ And that was the first time I really felt empowered to do something like that,” Williams said.

Laura Harms, the other co-vice president of recruitment, has had a similar experience through Greek life.

“If I would’ve gone back, I would’ve never expected to ever get as much out of it as I did,” Harms said.

“I have been given endless, endless, endless leadership opportunities, and they continue to arise, and I have grown tremendously as a leader since joining sorority life here on campus,” she said.

Sorority Life

continued from page 1

While all three women interviewed spoke of their rich and positive experiences in Greek life at UNI, it hasn’t been without its struggles. Muell first joined her sorority during the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of which are still being felt by many student organizations on campus, fraternities and sororities included.

According to UNI Fraternity & Sorority Life academic reports, in fall 2019 before the pandemic, 309 women were active in sororities on campus, equating to 6.22% of female students on campus.

In comparison, according to Muell, as of Jan. 31, 2023, UNI’s sororities had approximately 147 active members, which amounts to about 3% of the female full time undergraduate student population.

In addition, last semester saw the permanent departure of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity from UNI’s campus due to a lack of new members, showing the significant effects low recruitment can have on Greek organizations. compared to other universities is part of what makes the experience so special.

As a response to lower participation due to the effects of the pandemic and decreasing enrollment at UNI, Muell says that her and the Panhellenic Council are taking steps to increase engagement.

“Right now we’re working on changing a couple things, especially internally, because we’ve started to realize that as much as recruitment is a problem, retention is also a problem for us,” she said.

In addressing retention, Muell said that the current council has been working to host more all-sorority events to help bring the community together. In addition, individual chapters have been working on addressing their own internal problems.

“It’s a long-term thing. It really is, but I think that there are steps that we can take to try and start that change and turn our community into more of a community again, postcovid,” she said.

“I think sometimes looking from the outside in, you see all of these different chapters, but truly the community is so close-knit, and we are all constantly supporting each other,” Harms said. “I consider everyone in the community to be my friend one way or the other. Even if we haven’t talked one-on-one, there’s some type of connection there.”

Williams added, “There’s a lot of stereotypes surrounding Greek life, and I get where a lot of them come from, especially from bigger universities and southern universities especially. At UNI, rather than having 200 people in one sorority where there’s no way that you can get to know everybody, we have 30 or so members in each chapter, so you can get really close to everybody.” would be like if we hadn’t had those spaces to be safe when we were first attending college, and I’m so grateful that they were able to do that and able to create this amazing thing that I get to be a part of now.”

Despite how much sorority life has changed since 1896, the leaders of today want to keep the vision of their founders alive.

Harms took a similar stance saying, “I appreciate everything that the sorority life community has done and everything it continues to do because each day we are challenging ourselves and our ideas, and I think that is such a huge part of women’s history, is continuing to challenge your ideas and not just staying comfortable. I think sorority life is the perfect stepping stone onto just that.”

EMILY EAVES/NORTHERN IOWAN

To respond to low recruitment and retention, UNI sororities are still working to restore the sense of community and level of involvement present before the COVID-19 pandemic

DESAFÍO DE TRADICIONES extendida from página 1

“El desafío de tradiciones ayuda a sacar el máximo provecho de tu tiempo aquí en UNI y te da una manera de recordarlo para siempre. Es una lista de lo que ‘debes hacer’ sobre actividades en campus que estás motivado en participar, muchas de las cuales ya harás durante tus años en la universidad. ¡Solamente necesitas documentarlo con fotos!” dijo la vicepresidenta de tradiciones Kelsi Kruise.

El desafío de tradiciones es una parte considerable de involucramiento en el campus de UNI. Estudiantes de UNI crean memorias y conectan con otras panteras de todo el mundo. Estas tradiciones y actividades conectarán a los estudiantes con los exalumnos por experiencias compartidas y continuará la historia de UNI.

“El desafío de tradiciones fue creado en 2009 para

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Managing Editor koehlere@uni.edu 319.273.6420 reemplazar el anuario. Se volvió en ‘crear tu propio anuario’ de tu experiencia pantera y sirve como una guía para recibir la máxima de tu experiencia en UNI”, dijo Kruise.

“Hay algunas maneras para tener acceso al desafío de tradiciones, primero, puedes ir a la página web de alumni.uni.edu/ traditions. Desplace hasta que llegas a la sección que se llama “How do I Participate?” Allí, encontrarás la lista de todas las tradiciones que puedes completar y la presentación que puedes usar para pegar todos tus fotos. En la presentación, todas las tradiciones están seccionadas por ellas mismas, entonces puedes desplazarte hasta que encuentras cual estás buscando y meter tu foto”, dijo Kruise.

La otra manera donde puedes tener acceso es por la app MyUNI. Cuando los estudiantes cliquen la app, verán una pantalla principal de portales; también pueden ir al menú y ver todos los portales

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However, sororities with smaller member populations aren’t always a bad thing. For Harms and Williams, UNI’s small sorority community allí. Los estudiantes pueden desplazarse hasta que ven el portal de desafío de tradiciones y cliquear. Cuando el portal abre, los estudiantes pueden ver información adicional del desafío de tradiciones. ¡Las tradiciones incluyen comer en el centro de cena, asistir a un festival de música o un presentación de evento teatro y más!

Cuando los estudiantes entregan sus presentaciones sobre el desafío de tradiciones, serán invitados a una ceremonia donde les darán el título de “Guardián Oficial de las Tradiciones”. Si los estudiantes completan 25 tradiciones, recibirán un pin de solapa y si completan 45 tradiciones, ¡recibirán un medallón para llevar puesto durante la graduación!

El desafío de tradiciones permite a estudiantes a experimentar todo lo que ofrece UNI y posibilitará a los estudiantes a crear memorias para toda la vida y algo para reflejar cuando salgan de la universidad.

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“I sometimes think back to our founders and all the things that they probably had to go through, and I am so grateful that they did that,” Muell said. “I can’t even imagine what life

“Cuando participes en las tradiciones, estarás ayudando a mantener la vida de nuestras tradiciones para la próxima generación de panteras. Continuar este legado te permitirá mantener un título especial, ‘Guardián

“We’ve continued to not stay comfortable and continue to grow and push ourselves and take advantage of those opportunities that sometimes are even harder to take on because they may be so big,” she said. “But when you push yourself, you get into these amazing positions. Me pushing myself to interview for a Panhel position was scary, but it has been the most rewarding opportunity, and I’m becoming the person that I am today because of it.”

Oficial de las Tradiciones.’ Esto es importante porque enseña que tu experiencia en UNI era significativa y quieres permitir a las generaciones del futuro la misma experiencia”, dijo Kruise.

El desafío de

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