Students enrolled in the School of Planning and Public Affairs Public Policy and Persuasion course worked with key stakeholders in Maquoketa to develop a set of proposed policy initiatives to enhance youth civic engagement opportunities and involvement in the community.  

Young people under the age of 21 make up 28.3% of Maquoketa’s population. Opportunities for youth civic participation in Maquoketa are limited, and community leaders are looking to find new, more effective ways to engage with the young population.  

Graduate students in the School of Library & Information Science partnered with Jackson County Historical Society to perform a technical evaluation for building an online compendium of Jackson County, Iowa history. 

Students enrolled in the School of Planning and Public Affairs Public Policy and Persuasion course worked with Maquoketa leaders to develop a set of proposed policy initiatives for welcoming newcomers to the Maquoketa community.  

Students enrolled in the School of Planning and Public Affairs Public Policy and Persuasion course worked with Maquoketa leaders to develop a set of proposed policy solutions for increasing civic volunteerism across all demographics in Maquoketa.  

Students enrolled in the School of Planning and Public Affairs Public Policy and Persuasion course worked with Maquoketa leaders to develop a set of proposed policy solutions to balance the gender distribution of individuals in public positions.  

In conjunction with the Maquoketa City Council, second-year students in the Master of Public Affairs program assisted the Council in goal setting, updating best practices for governance, and developing onboarding materials for future elected officials.  

The City of Maquoketa has a population of about 6,100 and is located in Jackson County in east-central Iowa along Highways 61 and 64. Maquoketa is a county seat and a regional leader in arts and entertainment, healthcare, historic preservation, and recreation. 

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the School of Planning & Public Affairs created a watershed management plan for the Maquoketa River Watershed.  This project was completed as part of IISC's partnership with the City of Manchester for the 2020-21 academic year.  

Through an independent study project, second-year Urban & Regional Planning student Zach Harland worked with the Jackson county Economic Alliance and the City of Bellevue to assess downtown parking and make recommendations for improvements.

Project #1: Public Space One recently completed a strategic planning process that captured the organization’s evolution and expansion over the past few years and set the stage for a new period of positive growth and change. In its strategic plan, Public Space One identifies practices around governance and decision-making as areas of strategic importance, including the desire to further democratize decision-making within the organization.

Students in the Tippie College of Business course Non-Profit Organizational Effectiveness developed frameworks for interagency collaboration and strategic planning for local arts organizations in Maquoketa, Iowa.

Courses from two University of Iowa departments - the Department of Theatre Arts and The School of Planning & Public Affairs - merged to explore the role of arts & culture in community and economic development, with a focus on economic inclusion and Black advancement in Iowa City.  

As part of their Senior Capstone Course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students identified and connected points of interest on the Camp Courageous grounds with ADA-compliant nature trails for all campers to use.

Civil & Environmental Engineering students enrolled in the Senior Design Capstone course designed a site plan for an ADA-compliant cultural education center at Camp Courageous. 

Civil & Environmental Engineering students designed stormwater management facilities to improve stormwater quality and promote habitat growth. 

As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students explored alternatives and made recommendations to reduce contaminants in the source water that serves Camp Courageous. 

Working in conjunction with the Jackson Clean Energy District (Jackson CED), graduate students in the School of Planning & Public Affairs developed a Clean Energy Plan for Jackson County, Iowa.  

Jackson CED exists to strengthen Jackson County communities in Jackson County by leading the transition away from fossil fuels toward local and inclusive clean energy.  Jackson CED has a three-pronged community building mission:

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the School of Planning & Public Affairs developed a second phase of a watershed management plan for the Maquoketa River Watershed.  This phase focused on prioritizing subwatersheds for site-specific interventions. 

Background

As part of the ICIGO student organization within the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, students conducted an on-site tree study and created a GIS-based digital inventory tool for city-owned trees in Manchester, Iowa.

As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students created designs for flood impact mitigation measures in Bellevue, Iowa, including culvert improvements, drainage channels, and residentail flood walls.

As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students created designs for an Event Center in Clinton, Iowa.