Tom Rice took over as director of the University of Iowa’s John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center in downtown Des Moines in late October. In that role, he will look to boost the University of Iowa’s offerings and status in the Des Moines market. He had been on the job just a few months when the public learned that AIB College of Business planned to donate its Des Moines campus to UI, which will run the campus as a center also open to the other state universities. Pappajohn will remain open, and that’s where Rice’s focus is.

Rice was on the faculty in political science at Iowa State University from 1996 to 1999, and the University of Northern Iowa from 1999 to 2003. He joined the University of Iowa in 2003 and served as associate provost.

“In everything I do I try to stress the high quality of education at all three state universities and I’m always looking for ways to work together,” Rice said. 

Spend much time at business receptions in Des Moines, and it becomes clear that Rice is serious about making connections in the area. We checked in with him to see how he is settling in, and how the donation of the AIB campus might affect his work.

How does the planned donation of AIB College of Business to the University of Iowa affect your job?
The gift of the AIB campus to the University of Iowa creates a wonderful opportunity to bring high-quality education from the three state universities to Central Iowa. As currently envisioned by the Board of Regents and the University of Iowa, the campus will serve as a regional Regents center operated by Iowa. We certainly plan on offering a selection of our undergraduate degrees and certificates at the campus, and we are looking at a few graduate programs as well. We also anticipate that Iowa State and Northern Iowa may want to offer classes on the campus, and we look forward to working with them if that is the case. We have three great state universities, and the people of Des Moines and Central Iowa will benefit by having access to all of them on the campus. UI does plan on continuing to offer some educational programs from UI’s John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center downtown. This venue is perfect for serving downtown working professionals.    

The AIB gift doesn’t change my job much right now. AIB will continue to operate the campus until probably June 2016 to graduate as many students as possible. During this time, I will continue to work with the Greater Des Moines community to determine which of our Iowa degrees and certificates best meet the needs of Central Iowa residents, and I’ll be working with faculty back in Iowa City to help them plan to deliver this educational programming. In addition, I’ll be constantly looking for opportunities for our faculty and students to provide assistance to Central Iowa businesses and organizations.

How did you come to take this position?
I was working on the Iowa City campus as associate provost for faculty. I was involved in hiring and firing. I handled faculty matters, including human resources, discipline, faculty support, cross-disciplinary programs and cluster hires. All the hiring went through me. I made reports to the administration and handled tenure cases. I worked with the deans all the time.

This is a brand-new job. I have talked with (Provost) Barry (Butler) for some time about how it would be useful to have a senior manager living in Des Moines and immersed in the city. The Regents’ recent decision to focus on in-state enrollment helped us focus on talking about education outside Iowa City. 

What is different now? 
One goal is to bring more degree programs and certifications to Central Iowa. Part of the challenge is to convince the deans and faculty that it makes sense to offer degrees here. Down the road, what I see is offering a dozen or more majors.

What subject areas will you offer at Pappajohn?
We’re not sure yet. Maybe nursing. Maybe professional education and social sciences. Maybe undergraduate business administration.

How do you balance the need to recruit students to attend the Iowa City classes with the goal to increase outreach?
We want them to come to Iowa City, but we also want to be more aggressive in enabling Iowans wherever they live to earn degrees from us. Des Moines is a good starting place. If it works in Des Moines, we would look to take it to other urban areas.