Nancy Hill Cobb, professor of music, composition and theory at the University of Northern Iowa, is this year’s recipient of the American Association of University Women-Iowa Chapter Distinguished Faculty Award. The award recognizes women faculty’s contributions toward gender equity in the state of Iowa. Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier 

You’ll rarely see Zoey Mauck in a car. That’s because the Iowa State University senior is an avid cyclist on a mission to make communities more bicycle- and pedestrian-accessible through a career in planning and design. Iowa State University

In the more than three decades that Susan Leander has owned and operated Olathea Golf Course she has not golfed it “more than once.” Quad-City Times 

So who’s the Julia of Julia-n-LeChef? “Nobody,” chuckles Jennifer Heller. “They were trying to come up with something that would speak to the level of cuisine. They didn’t want to cater just standard food. They wanted to kind of bring it up a notch for the area.” Cedar Rapids Gazette

Rachel Rinner’s storefront just off the square in Washington is a symbol of what concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, can mean for a community. Cedar Rapids Gazette

Combining an eye for the unusual with a passion for travel, Nikki Kettelkamp has opened Scout of Marion — a retail boutique one of her friends described as Anthopologie meets Dean & Deluca. Corridor Business Journal

For the second consecutive year, Marion Hy-Vee Chef Elizabeth Hill has won Best of Show honors in the Riverside Culinary Classic, held May 6 with 40 competitors and more than 450 spectators. Corridor Business Journal 

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