Jeff and Sarah Jones took a leap of faith when they moved their family of five from their home state of Missouri to Iowa in pursuit of new job opportunities and work-life balance.
"It's a pretty big step to take your entire family and move six hours, but this worked out better than we ever could have imagined," says Jeff Jones, senior construction project manager in Facilities Management. "It's been unanimous that, yes, we made the right decision."
Making a move for family
Jeff and Sarah spent decades in southwest Missouri building successful careers – Jeff, the vice president of a general contracting company, and Sarah, a founding member of the midwifery practice at her local hospital.
Despite their well-established careers and family ties to Springfield, Missouri, the Jones family knew they needed to make a change to prioritize time with their three daughters.
"The biggest reason for the move was for our family," says Sarah Jones, a certified nurse-midwife in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Iowa Health Care. "We've found that the University of Iowa really supports families."
Before relocating to Iowa, the Jones family had other opportunities to move, but nothing in the job search and relocation process clicked into place until Jeff applied for a position with Facilities Management.
"I put my resume in on a Sunday and I had a phone call the next morning," Jeff recalls. "That's a testament to the people in Facilities Management. Not only were they attentive to my position, but it wasn't long before Sarah interviewed for her job."
"I feel like both departments worked really well to make sure that we both had job offers," says Sarah, noting the health insurance benefits that may be available to married UI employees.
In less than two years with Facilities Management, Jeff was promoted from construction manager to senior construction project manager, and Sarah has benefitted from the breadth and complexity of cases she sees at one of the nation's best hospitals.
"Our family is just as busy as we were before," Sarah says, "but now we're busy with the right things."
Part of a welcoming community
The whole family has appreciated the opportunities afforded to their daughters by attending top-tier public schools and living with Big Ten athletics in their backyard. One of the highlights of the last three years was taking their daughters to see basketball superstar Caitlin Clark when she played for the Hawkeyes.
Their oldest daughter, now a freshman in high school, is a competitive gymnast and was thrilled to find out Jeff was part of the project team that built the new Gymnastics and Spirit Squads Training Center.
The support the Jones family has felt from their community in North Liberty and from the UI has been unique.
"Iowa Nice is legitimate," Sarah says. "When we first moved here, we had kids at our door right away anxious to meet our children. On their first day of school, kids in the neighborhood met them at our house and walked to school with them.
"That was so amazing, that as transplants, our family was just immediately absorbed into the community."
Having the courage to make a change
Jeff and Sarah are the first to admit that for families with school-age children and established careers, it can be daunting to make a big life change like this one. But moving to Iowa "has been a game-changer," Jeff says.
"It's crazy to think that we ever lived anywhere else."