The University of Iowa Center for the Book has secured $5.35 million in contributions by raising $2.85 million in donations and triggering a matching $2.5 million grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation (WCF).

In early 2020, the UICB launched UICB 2021, a challenge grant initiative sponsored by the WCF that generously proposed the following: if the UICB raised $2.5 million in donations, the WCF would match with a $2.5 million grant.

The UICB is pleased to report that with community generosity, word-spreading, and good cheer, the program surpassed its goal and raised $2.85 million, securing the $2.5 million matching donation and raising the total donation to the UICB to $5.35 million.

"All of us with the UICB are grateful to the Windgate Foundation for their longtime belief in the program and for their extraordinary gift," says Matt Brown, Center for the Book director. "In addition, we are thankful for our campus partners and every person who chose to join this initiative, with gifts big and small and everywhere in between."

The direct donations and WCF matching gift will address three crucial UICB needs: student funding, endowed faculty support, and professional travel. In addition, the funds will benefit the program’s students and faculty, the University of Iowa arts and humanities communities more generally, and book arts and book history at large.

The grant also pays tribute to the remarkable leadership of Tim Barrett, at the heart of the program since its inception in 1986. Barrett retired in 2020.

The UICB is the most innovative combined book arts and book studies program in higher education today. Its students go on to careers as book artists, printers, conservators, book designers, librarians, publishers, and scholars. Many of its graduates teach in prestigious workshops and academic programs or schools.

Press Contact: Director, Center for the Book; Associate Professor, English/UICB Matt Brown, 319-335-0454, matthew-p-brown@uiowa.edu