Visitor Information Center (1985)

‌In 1982, Director of Alumni Services Lee Miller announced a fundraising project for a flag display to be built near a proposed visitor center. President John Kamerick appointed a Committee on Visitor Assistance to help plan the center. After several years of work by the committee, construction began in the first week of August 1985.

Special Collections & University Archives

The architectural firm of Flinn, Saito, Andersen, and Devoe of Waterloo designed the building. The initial estimate of cost was $101,000, and the final cost was $127,000. The building opened for service in early July 1986 at the south entrance to campus along University Avenue. It was designed to allow visitors to drive to an information window for assistance with directions, maps, brochures and more. 

Roger Eich was the first coordinator of the center. In its first year of operation, the center provided assistance to over 5,000 people. Mike Hager managed a staff of six students in the center in 1988 and handled about 55 requests for service per day. Staff gathered information by direct contact with UNI offices and from published calendars, bulletins, and newsletters.

Outdoor work area with foundation for small building partially laid, construction materials scattered
Model of three structures along a road; to the left, two small archways; to the right, a small building between two pillars and a smaller double-wall
Decorative archways beside a road, one reads University of Northern Iowa, another Information, and between them there is a small building
Night view of decorative archways reading University of Northern Iowa and Information with a small structure between them; larger building in background

Compiled by Library Assistant Susan Basye and Student Assistant Julie Tilton; edited by University Archivist Gerald L. Peterson, September 1996; substantially revised by Gerald L. Peterson, July 2001; updated November 10, 2011 (GP); photos updated and citations added by Student Assistant Nicholas Steffens, December 6, 2021; updated by Graduate Intern Marcea Seible, January 30, 2025; updated by Library Assistant Hannah Bernhard, March 2026.