Upcoming Events

Book Matters: Christopher Goetz in Conversation with Corey Creekmur at Prairie Lights promotional image

Book Matters: Christopher Goetz in Conversation with Corey Creekmur at Prairie Lights

Thursday, March 21, 2024 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Prairie Lights Books
Join us for a reading and discussion, co-hosted by Prairie Lights, to celebrate Christopher Goetz’s recent book, The Counterfeit Coin: Videogames and Fantasies of Empowerment. Goetz is an associate professor and head of film studies in the Department of Cinematic Arts. After the reading, Corey Creekmur, associate professor in the departments of Cinematic Arts and English, will join Goetz for a conversation and Q&A with the audience. A reception will follow the event. Thursday, March 21, 2024 7...
Global Visiting Scholar Presentation: Policy Engagement & Development for Women’s Reproductive Health in India promotional image

Global Visiting Scholar Presentation: Policy Engagement & Development for Women’s Reproductive Health in India

Tuesday, March 26, 2024 1:30pm to 2:20pm
Virtual
Join global visiting scholar, Dr. M. Sivakamy, as she speaks about her research in gender-based policy and women's health in India.

New Histories for Reproductive Justice: Authors in Conversation

Thursday, March 28, 2024 7:00pm
Prairie Lights Books
Professors Natalie Lira, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and Angela Hume, University of California, Berkeley, will be in conversation with each other about their recent books on the topics of abortion and the history of sterilization. Their work is deeply informed by and grounded in a reproductive justice framework.
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Obermann Center Hosts Spring 2024 Environmental Series

Monday, February 5, 2024
This spring, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies hosts the Interdisciplinary, Experimental Environmental Education and Research series, which invites campus artists, humanities scholars, and researchers in the sciences and social sciences to imagine the many ways that our campus and connected spaces might serve as a living laboratory for environmental research. The series, co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, includes visits from facilities and research leaders at other campuses who have developed transformative, place-based research collaborations that include students, staff, and faculty. Kathleen Socolofsky, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, will present "The UCD Arboretum and Public Garden as Interdisciplinary, Learning Laboratory—Connecting the Campus and Community Through Experiential Teaching, Learning, and Research on and in the Environment" on Friday, April 5, alongside Bethany Wiggin, professor and Founding Director of the Program in Environmental Humanities and the My Climate Story and Ecotopian Toolkit projects at the University of Pennsylvania, who will present ""Humanists at Work in the World: Campus-Community Partnerships for Environmental Justice."
Damani Phillips

Read and Blew Notes

Monday, January 29, 2024
In November 2023, Damani Phillips (School of Music and African American Studies, CLAS) and spoken-word artist Brandon Alexander Williams released the world's first "listening book," Read and Blew Notes. A new medium intended to replace physical music products like CDs and download cards, the "L.B." brings back the ritual experience of listening to new music with a physical product in hand. The book includes album liner notes, full musical scores, and interviews with artists on how their music came into being. The Obermann Center was proud to support the project through co-sponsorship funding.

Featured Programs

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Interdisciplinary, Experiential Environmental Education and Research

Join us for transformative, place-based research collaboration in Spring 2024

This series invites campus artists, humanities scholars, and researchers in the sciences and social sciences to imagine the many ways that our campus and connected spaces might serve as a living laboratory for environmental research.

The series includes visits from facilities and research leaders at other campuses who have developed transformative, place-based research collaborations that include students, staff, and faculty. It culminates in a Design Workshop for Environmental Studies Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration led by Lesley-Ann Noel, professor of design at North Carolina State University.

These events are hosted by the UI Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and generously co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research.

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Humanities for the Public Good Closing Symposium: A Celebration

Where We’ve Been & Where We’re Headed

Join us on March 1 and 2, 2024, to celebrate the exciting outcomes of our multi-year grant from the Mellon Foundation focused on the transformation of humanities graduate education, Humanities for the Public Good. We've invited leaders of innovative graduate programs that also see the humanities as crucial to the public good to join us for this two-day symposium. It will be an opportunity to share our successes and to build a local and national learning community of students, staff, and faculty committed to new possibilities for graduate education in the humanities.

The symposium is free and open to all.

Schedule & presenters
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Book Ends: Obermann/OVPR Book Completion Workshop

This program supports University of Iowa faculty from disciplines in which publishing a monograph is required for tenure and promotion. The award is designed to assist faculty members turn promising manuscripts into important, field-changing, published books.

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