Learning Commission to offer graduate degrees in 1995, and in 1999 started its International Program by establishing centers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was also during 1994 to 2003 that UIU underwent an aggressive landscaping and building renovation that brought changes to its Fayette campus. This included the construction of Lee Tower Residence Halls, the acquisition of a new physical plant building and the construction of a recreation center. In 2004, the new Andres Center for Business and Education was built, and Alan G. Walker was appointed the 20th president of the university. During summer 2009, the largest capital improvement project broke ground on the Fayette campus — $75 million — which will include a new student center, suite-style housing, and a Liberal Arts academic building. UIU Campus and town of Fayette Upper Iowa's traditional residential campus is in Fayette, Iowa; a small town of 1,200 residents in the county of the same name, in far northeast Iowa. In 1984, the former Fayette Community School District merged with the larger North Fayette County Community Schools, headquartered in the nearby county seat town of West Union. In 2018, North Fayette itself merged with the Valley Community School District, to form the North Fayette Valley Community Schools, leaving Fayette with neither an elementary nor a secondary school. Consequently, Fayette is one of the few communities in the nation with a university but no public school within its boundaries. The Fayette campus is primarily for undergraduate students, but a master's degree in education is also offered, along with two-week IXEL classes in the summer. Students can choose from 40 majors, with the most popular being Elementary Education and Teaching, Marketing/Marketing Management, General, and Natural Resources/Conservation. The Pleggenkuhle Prairie, donated by the Pleggenkuhle family to UIU, is of virgin prairie northwest of Hawkeye. It is used as a teaching tool for students to learn about the prairie ecosystem and to conduct prescribed burns and research projects at the site. Academics Upper Iowa University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It has a chapter of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society. Distance education Upper Iowa Distance Education includes 15 center locations across the U.S. in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana and Wisconsin, an Independent Study program, as well as an Online Program recognized by GetEducated.com Best Buy Rankings since 2007 and the Online Education Database (OEDb) Online College