U of I looking to 'take it slow' on former AIB campus

The director of the University of Iowa's programs in Des Moines envisions big things for the AIB College of Business campus, even the potential to be a full branch campus for all three of Iowa's regent universities.

But until then, he said,  UI and Iowa Board of Regents officials are content to "take it slow" as the university prepares for its July 1 takeover of the nearly 20-acre campus at 2500 Fleur Drive in Des Moines.

“We’re waiting to see how this unfolds with the Board of Regents and the other two state universities, but for the fall, we will be out here with four undergraduate majors and one graduate major,” said Tom Rice, director of UI-Des Moines programs.

The regents' discussions of expanded university programming in Des Moines have raised concerns among private college officials in the metropolitan area. The president of Iowa State University, likewise, has questioned whether the AIB campus is the best location for such programming.

A recent marketing study commissioned by the regents found that the AIB campus would be an "acceptable" starting point for new programming in the area. But it may be several years until enrollment at the campus under UI's management even begins to match the number of students who once studied at the soon-to-be former business college.

For this fall, each of the five programs — political science, enterprise leadership, sport and recreation management, and two social work programs — will have at least two in-person classes offered on the campus south of downtown, Rice said. And each class is expected to attract eight to 20 students, four days a week.

That’s significantly fewer than the more than 1,000 students enrolled in AIB in January 2015, when the board of trustees announced that the college was gifting itself to UI. AIB officials speculated at the time that UI's takeover of the campus could double the enrollment.

"Everyone I talk to about opening a new campus says it takes time," Rice said. "We’re beginning to do some marketing now. We see this as at least a two- or three-year project just to get the community aware of what’s out here and to get us truly set up."

The smaller number of students will require an even smaller number of faculty and staff members on campus.

Rice said UI is retaining only a handful of former AIB employees, mainly to oversee maintenance of the campus, and the level of programming for the fall means that there will be fewer than 15 full-time employees on campus.

Until its programming needs expand, UI is beginning the process of “mothballing” all of the residential buildings and much of the office and classroom spaces. The campus’ City View Diner, a retro, 1950s-themed cafeteria, likewise will be closed, except for the occasional rental.

Programming for the fall semester will be focused on the campus' Fenton Administration Building and the AIB Activities Center. Some of the open office space will be leased to nonprofit organizations like Iowa Campus Compact.

“We’ve done assessments of the properties,” Rice said. “We’re going to make a few minor changes — some code differences that apply to AIB and Iowa — but we don’t plan to make any major renovations to start with.”

Fall programming

One area that won’t be mothballed is the college’s gym, locker rooms and workout area. The facilities are scheduled to be used as a learning laboratory for UI’s sports and recreation management degree program.

The decision to keep the gym open is somewhat surprising, since UI officials said early on in the gifting process that they had no plans for developing athletic programs on the campus.

“I think it’s fair to say that when we inherited the property — when the gift was announced — we were scratching our heads a bit about how we were going to use a full-service gym,” Rice said. “But it dovetailed perfectly with sports and recreation, one of our most popular majors in Iowa City.”

AIB shut down its athletic programming at the end of the 2014-15 academic year. During the years before that, the college had been expanding the number of sports offered. In 2010, AIB joined the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics as a member of the Midwest Collegiate Conference, and it had been recruiting a growing number of students from across the country and world through athletic scholarships.

Once it became clear last year that UI wasn’t going to come in and simply replace the AIB Eagle mascot with a Tiger Hawk, AIB officials focused on what they needed to do to ensure that their remaining students were able to graduate or transfer before the college closed June 30. Students who were looking to continue as student-athletes had to find new a new educational home.

AIB supplemented the funding for its athletic facilities, in part, by regularly renting out its gym to area private high schools for basketball games. Those arrangements will continue and expand under UI’s watch, but with sport and recreation management students being hired to oversee the facilities.

Clint Huntrods, director of the degree program in Des Moines, said he already has advertised for students to manage the facilities and plans are in place for practicum students to work with faculty to learn how to plan, market and facilitate events in the gym.

"They were eager to get into the Des Moines market," Rice said of the program. "... There are a lot of semipro teams here, a lot of internship possibilities, and they were sending a lot of kids here anyway for those possibilities. So the gym gives that program the opportunity to use as a teaching tool for students."

UI already had undergraduate and graduate programs for social work at the Pappajohn Educational Center in downtown Des Moines. Those programs, along with their faculty and staff, are being relocated to the AIB campus for the fall.

The programs held their graduation ceremony for the spring semester at AIB, with UI President Bruce Harreld in attendance.

“It was great,” Rice said. “Before, we always had to rent a place.”

Students in the new enterprise leadership and political science programs will be able to take advantage of the campus' proximity to lawmakers and business leaders in downtown Des Moines.

But UI's graduate business programs will remain at the Pappajohn Education Center.

The AIB campus will follow the same semester calendar as the Iowa City campus, but the prospective students for the Des Moines campus have until Aug. 1 to submit applications. The deadline for applying to the Iowa City campus was May 1.

Students on the Des Moines campus will pay the same tuition as those in Iowa City, but they won't be subject to all the same fees. Students also will have options for online classes to supplement what courses aren't available in person on the campus.

Evolving campus

During the past 18 months, UI officials have had to adjust their plans for the AIB campus multiple times.

UI officials initially announced that AIB would operate as a branch campus for the university. Within two weeks of the gifting announcement in January 2015, the campus was being described as a potential regional regents resource center.

Although the gift was offered to UI, the regents have to approve all transfers of property at UI, ISU and the University of Northern Iowa.

The name for the AIB campus is now listed as the Iowa Center for Higher Education.

“That doesn't refer to the University of Iowa, but to the state of Iowa,” Rice said.

Last fall, the regents commissioned a marketing analysis to study whether the campus would be a good, long-term site for expanded undergraduate programming in the Des Moines metropolitan area. The report, produced by MGT Consulting, found that downtown would be the ideal location for a regents resource center in the metropolitan area, but that the AIB campus would be an "acceptable" starting point.

Rice, who helped write the proposal for the marketing study, said he sees potential for a full branch campus of the regent system on the AIB campus — something similar to the joint Indiana University-Purdue University campus in Indianapolis.

"At IUPUI, when you graduate, you either get an Indiana University degree or a Purdue University degree, depending on your major," he said.

It is yet to be seen whether Iowa's universities could cooperate to offer a similar partnership at the AIB campus. But it if they do, Rice said, the campus is ready to accommodate more programs.

“At the regents meeting, (regents President) Bruce Rastetter made it clear that this is a good place to start,” he said. “It probably also is a good place to stay.”

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Follow him on Twitter at @jeffcharis.