Tippie Magazine (Fall 2022) - Tippie College of Business

alumni
FEATURE
The iconic campus innovation
co-founded by a business student turns 50
BY TOM SNEE
C. Douglas Couto (BBA72) was a sophomore at Iowa in 1970 and talking
with fellow members of the Associated Residence Halls, a student group
that mostly sponsored dorm events like movies or pizza parties.
This time, he said they wanted to think big.
“Some of us thought we should do something more
useful, and we came up with the idea to run a school bus
between the dorms,” Couto said. It would be a quick and
free way for students to get across campus, especially
helpful in nasty weather, so they started running a single
school bus across campus in fall 1970.
routes that stretch as far as the Hawkeye Tennis and
Recreation Complex and the Oakdale Research Park in
Coralville. It employs 160 students who hold driving,
training, dispatching, route planning, support, vehicle
maintenance, and supervisor positions. Only 10 nonstudent
employees work for CAMBUS.
“It was always popular and full beyond capacity,” he said.
With university support, that one-bus brainstorm
would grow into CAMBUS, one of the university’s
most enduring symbols that celebrates its 50th
anniversary this year. Today, CAMBUS runs 34 vehicles
and gives more than 3 million rides a year on 14
“We’re proud to be student-operated and having
students in leadership positions making day-to-day
decisions,” said Mia Brunelli (BBA14), operations
manager for CAMBUS. “It gives them an experience
that’s applicable in most any major and is great
on a resume.”
16 TIPPIE MAGAZINE FALL 2022