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2023-24 Annual Report
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Upcoming Events
Application Deadline: Obermann Interdisciplinary Research Grants (Summer 2025)
Counterpoint: The Politics of (International) Writing
Application Deadline: Obermann Symposium Director (2025–26)
News
Global connections: How international faculty shape Iowa’s future
Introducing Counterpoint, the Obermann Center's Newest Series
Sorting Through Scholarship
Featured Programs
Locating Reproductive Justice: Global & Regional Perspectives
As calls for transnational solidarity among reproductive justice movements emerge, communities are asking how reproductive liberation is tethered to struggles for democracy, environmental justice, migrant justice, trans and queer justice, and other social movements. This symposium brings together scholars and artists with local, regional, and global perspectives to bear on the pursuit of reproductive justice as we launch a new book series from the University of Iowa Press: “Locating Reproductive Justice: Global and Regional Perspectives."
Join us for transnational, cross-disciplinary conversations featuring readings, seminars, and discussions on March 27–28, 2025, in Iowa City.
Counterpoint
For each annual event in Obermann’s new Counterpoint series, two University of Iowa researchers from different disciplines will discuss a compelling topical issue in a public forum. Discussions will take place in the beautiful Voxman Recital Hall, and a short musical program designed to echo the theme of the conversation will open each event. This series is co-presented by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the UI School of Music. Series events are free and open to all.
For the first event in the series—on Monday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m.—Christopher Merrill—poet, nonfiction writer, translator, editor, and director of the UI’s renowned International Writing Program—and Loren Glass, a historian of creative writing and M.F. Carpenter Professor and chair of the UI English department, will discuss the relationship between international politics and literature, taking Merrill’s 24-year tenure at the IWP as a point of departure.
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. Book Ends brings together four senior scholars for a candid, constructive three-hour workshop on a faculty member’s book manuscript. The award provides a $500 honorarium for two external senior scholars ($500 for each). We also ask two University of Iowa senior faculty members to participate, as an opportunity to learn about and support the work of a colleague.