LINCOLN, NEBRASKA (August 27, 2026) — Hannah Highberger of Bettendorf, Iowa, a recent graduate of Pleasant Valley High School, is among 41 incoming first-year students selected to join the Nebraska Business Honors Academy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this fall. Comprising the academy's fourteenth cohort, the students hail from eight US states and sixteen Nebraska communities.

Highberger is majoring in accounting.

MOLINE, ILLINOIS (August 27, 2026) — Western Illinois University (WIU) Museum Studies graduate Kelly Lao ('11) has been named the next director of the Muscatine Art Center in Muscatine, Iowa, following a three-month national search.

Lao began her new role on August 3. She succeeds former Muscatine Art Center Director Melanie Alexander, who resigned in April.

Faculty member James Godde (on bike) is pictured with the four students he led on a tour of Wisconsin. From the left are Calvin Cotton, Grant Haste, Lennon Klinck and Lexi Serpette

MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS (August 25, 2026) — Steep hills. Dehydration. Uncooperative tents. Cold. Flat tires. Balky gears. The police.

WEST DES MOINES, IOWA (August 25, 2026) — Whether they studied osteopathic medicine, public health, or biomedical sciences at 722 Sixth Avenue, 3200 Grand Avenue or the new campus at 8025 Grand Avenue, graduates of Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences share one thing in common: the degrees they earned prepared them to care, to lead and to serve.

It's a physical therapist helping patients regain balance and confidence after the disorienting effects of dizziness.