A Culture of Connection
Honoring 150 Years of Impact in the Cedar Valley
Watch the full conversation on YouTube.
In the Cedar Valley, connection has never been a slogan or a strategic plan. It has always been a lived experience — the kind that happens in the spaces between people. A handshake at a ballgame. A conversation over coffee. A student stepping into a senior living community for the first time and discovering something unexpected: themselves. For decades, the University of Northern Iowa and Western Home Communities have nurtured these moments, not through formal programs, but through something far more powerful — people.
What began as a handful of internships, classroom visits, and Panther Proud traditions has grown into a culture that now defines both institutions. It is rooted in education, service and the belief that community is not a place you live in but one you build. In the Cedar Valley, that building has happened quietly, steadily and beautifully for generations.
The connection between Western Home Communities and the University of Northern Iowa isn’t a strategic initiative — it’s a living, breathing partnership. Today, the bond between UNI and Western Home feels almost inevitable, rooted in the same foundation that shaped Jerry Harris. Long before he became a leader at Western Home, Jerry was a UNI student discovering who he was and how he wanted to lead. Football brought him to campus, but the community he found there — through student government, the Men’s Glee Club, and especially his years as a Resident Assistant — shaped his instincts for empathy, conflict resolution and trust-building. UNI didn’t just educate him; it shaped the relational style that would later define Western Home’s culture.
UNI President Dr. Mark Nook captures the shared mission in a single sentence: “Our purpose is to enrich lives, communities, and the world through the lives of our students, our staff and our alumni.”
Western Home CEO Kris Hansen echoes that conviction from a different angle: “We are a charitable Christian service organization dedicated to creating fulfilling lifestyles for those we serve, their families and our employees.” Two missions. One heartbeat.
Residents at Western Home often describe their interactions with UNI students as transformative. Many arrive with quiet apprehension about the world’s rapid pace of change — technology that evolves faster than they can keep up with, news that arrives in real time, and a sense that the next generation lives in a different universe. Then a student sits beside them. A story is shared. A laugh breaks the ice. Suddenly, the distance between generations collapses.
Students undergo their own metamorphosis. As Jerry Harris explains, “Many have never had a meaningful relationship with an older adult. Some have only known a single elderly neighbor across the street.” At Western Home, they encounter a depth of humanity that textbooks cannot convey, including stories of war, migration, family, loss, triumph and change. They learn that aging is not a decline but a continuation of identity. They discover purpose. They find direction. They see themselves differently.
Kris Hansen witnesses this transformation daily. He recalls a student theater group that created a performance called Timeless Journeys based on their experiences with residents. “I was so moved,” he said. “To hear the students say, ‘Now we’re not afraid of what’s happening in our own families’ — that’s the power of connection.”
Dr. Nook shared a story about an email from a man in Peoria. His wife, living with dementia, needed help in a restaurant restroom. A group of UNI women’s basketball players stepped in without hesitation. “He was writing to thank me for having students who were that thoughtful,” Nook said. “The depth of these connections touches not only our students but also the world.”
“Living well isn’t just working out. It’s learning. It’s music. It’s curiosity.”
— Kris Hansen, CEO, Western Home Communities
Both leaders spoke candidly about barriers that are not physical but perceptual. The kind that keeps people from stepping onto a campus or walking into a senior living community because they don’t feel they belong. Western Home’s Jorgensen Plaza was designed to erase those barriers. “Our whole goal,” Hansen said, “was to create a place where hired professionals, young professionals, and seniors can interact and learn from one another.” One conversation at a time, those barriers fall.
“It’s okay to walk onto campus. It’s okay to walk into Western Home. It’s okay to belong.”
— Mark Nook, President, University of Northern Iowa
UNI embodies the same philosophy. Dr. Nook emphasized that the university must help students understand that the barriers they perceive are often illusions. “It’s okay to go engage,” he said. “It’s okay to walk onto campus, to walk into Western Home, and to be part of the community.”
This is where Jerry Harris, Chief Experience Officer/President of Cedar Falls Operations Western Home Communities, becomes more than a character in the story; he becomes the bridge. UNI-grown and Western Home-raised, he is committed to ensuring the next generation experiences the same transformative blend of mentorship, service and belonging that shaped his path. Western Home has become an extension of UNI’s learning environment, a place where students discover their calling, residents find renewed purpose, and community is built through genuine connection rather than formal structure.
The UNI–Western Home relationship is not static. It evolves alongside the Cedar Valley’s needs. When COVID-19 exposed the region’s critical shortage of nurses, UNI responded by launching a nursing program, not to compete but to fill gaps. “They identified the gaps and built bridges,” Hansen said. Clinical sites opened, and fundraising support materialized. A regional workforce pipeline began to take shape.
That synergy now spans healthcare, engineering, education and beyond. For Western Home, the future is about living well, intellectually, socially, and spiritually. “Living well isn’t just working out,” Hansen said. “It’s learning. It’s music. It’s conversation. It’s curiosity.” Dr. Nook agrees, viewing Western Home as a vital part of UNI’s extended learning ecosystem.
As UNI celebrates its anniversary and Western Home expands its vision for community living, both leaders share a common horizon: a Cedar Valley where people of all ages feel connected, supported, and enriched. “We’re building a sense of place,” Nook said. “A place where people want to live, work, learn, and retire.” Hansen echoed the sentiment: “If we’re all living well, the barriers fall away, and we create the kind of community we all want to be part of.” Jerry Harris added, “It is a shared future, built together.”
“A shared future, built together.”
— Jerry Harris, Chief Experience Officer and President of Cedar Falls Operations, Western Home Communities
What UNI and Western Home have built is not a partnership in the traditional sense. It is a culture that grows through shared meals, stories, challenges and purpose. It is a culture where a nursing student discovers her calling, a resident finds renewed hope, and a CEO and a university president finish each other’s sentences because their missions are intertwined.
It is a culture that reminds us that community is not something you join. It is something you create. In the Cedar Valley, that creation happens every day, one conversation, one connection, and one human moment at a time.
