Andrew W. Mellon–funded Grand Challenge — The Global Midwest 

As we announced last year, the Obermann Center is one of 15 centers in the $3,000,000 Mellon-funded Humanities Without Walls Consortium headed by Professor Dianne Harris of the University of Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. Applications are welcome from faculty at two or more consortial universities whose scholarship focuses on important problems of broad public interest on the theme, the Global Midwest. We hope to position the Midwest as a major force in this century’s global economy and culture and to demonstrate how the “applied humanities” can respond to grand intellectual challenges. The grant will provide up to $100,000 to several collaborative teams.

This summer, Obermann Center Seed Grants funded three groups preparing applications for the larger competition. However, it’s not too late for you to participate!

To learn about emerging collaborations at all the consortial universities and about individuals seeking partners, visit the HWW wiki (link no longer available). If you would like to participate in an application, share your research interests so that others can find you. The full HWW RFP is available online on the HWW website. [link removed] You are also welcome to attend a Global Midwest Workshop in Chicago on September 19-20. Questions? Contact us at obermann-center@uiowa.edu.   

HWW Alternative Academic Career Summer Workshops for Pre-Doctoral Students in the Humanities

This project aims to help prepare doctoral students for careers both within and outside the academy through a series of summer workshops. Graduate students selected for this three-week workshop will engage in intensive discussions with organizers of public humanities projects, leaders of university presses and learned societies, experts in the various domains of the digital humanities, representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations, and holders of important non-faculty positions in colleges and universities. The first workshop will be July 20-August 7, 2015.

Two students from the University of Iowa will receive a $4,500 Fellowship to attend summer workshops in summer 2016. Applications are due to the Obermann Center on November 1, 2015 by 5 pm. Send to obermann-center@uiowa.edu. For more information, see the HWW website [link no longer available].