Upcoming Events

2025 Virtual Dissertation Camp promotional image

2025 Virtual Dissertation Camp

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 9:00am to 1:00pm
Virtual
The Writing Center's Dissertation Writing Camp takes place via Zoom from Tuesday May 27 to Friday June 6. Graduate students from colleges and departments across campus meet in facilitated discussion groups, write together, track their progress on blogs, meet individually with Writing Center consultants, and attend presentations on dissertation-related topics. Events include presentations from staff in the UI Libraries, the Graduate College, and Student Health about resources to support graduate...
2025 Virtual Dissertation Camp promotional image

2025 Virtual Dissertation Camp

Thursday, May 29, 2025 9:00am to 1:00pm
Virtual
The Writing Center's Dissertation Writing Camp takes place via Zoom from Tuesday May 27 to Friday June 6. Graduate students from colleges and departments across campus meet in facilitated discussion groups, write together, track their progress on blogs, meet individually with Writing Center consultants, and attend presentations on dissertation-related topics. Events include presentations from staff in the UI Libraries, the Graduate College, and Student Health about resources to support graduate...
2025 Virtual Dissertation Camp promotional image

2025 Virtual Dissertation Camp

Friday, May 30, 2025 9:00am to 1:00pm
Virtual
The Writing Center's Dissertation Writing Camp takes place via Zoom from Tuesday May 27 to Friday June 6. Graduate students from colleges and departments across campus meet in facilitated discussion groups, write together, track their progress on blogs, meet individually with Writing Center consultants, and attend presentations on dissertation-related topics. Events include presentations from staff in the UI Libraries, the Graduate College, and Student Health about resources to support graduate...
2025 Virtual Dissertation Camp promotional image

2025 Virtual Dissertation Camp

Monday, June 2, 2025 9:00am to 1:00pm
Virtual
The Writing Center's Dissertation Writing Camp takes place via Zoom from Tuesday May 27 to Friday June 6. Graduate students from colleges and departments across campus meet in facilitated discussion groups, write together, track their progress on blogs, meet individually with Writing Center consultants, and attend presentations on dissertation-related topics. Events include presentations from staff in the UI Libraries, the Graduate College, and Student Health about resources to support graduate...
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News

Eleanor Ball at UI Main Library

Eleanor Ball Lands Faculty Position at UNI!

Thursday, April 10, 2025
Congratulations to Obermann Communications Assistant Eleanor Ball, who has secured two extraordinary library positions for the coming year! In May, Eleanor will graduate from the UI with a Master of Library & Information Science degree and will begin remote work as a Junior Fellow with the Library of Congress Center for Learning, Literacy, and Engagement. As part of the Center’s Literary Initiatives team, which develops literary programming and administers literary ambassadorships, Eleanor will help to increase the visibility and accessibility of programs like the National Book Festival, promote awareness of the Library’s resources and services, and share with the public a diverse range of established and new literary voices. Then, in August, she’ll begin a three-year term with the University of Northern Iowa as Assistant Professor of Instruction & Information Literacy and Liaison Librarian, where she’ll liaise with the library and academic departments across campus, as well as teach information literacy classes.
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Rurality to be Focus of March 2026 Obermann Symposium

Tuesday, April 8, 2025
We’re pleased to announce the 2025-26 Obermann Symposium, “Cultivating Rurality: Building Community around Rural Research,” co-directed by Daria Fisher Page, Brian R. Farrell, and Ryan T. Sakoda from the UI College of Law. “Cultivating Rurality” will take a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the subject of rurality through the lenses of law, medicine, education, sustainability, business, social science, and the arts by connecting faculty members and others at the University of Iowa who are already engaged in rural research and teaching, as well as scholars, community leaders, and professionals who work with rural populations and in rural spaces.
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Meet Obermann International Fellow Ercan Canhasi

Tuesday, April 1, 2025
This spring, we welcomed Obermann International Fellow Dr. Ercan Canhasi, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Prizren in Kosovo.
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Meet Obermann International Fellow Thomas Horky

Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Dr. Thomas Horky, a professor of sports journalism at the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, Germany, reflects on his research in sport and media and his time in Iowa City as an Obermann International Fellow in Spring 2025.
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Demystifying the Publishing Process

Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Publishing a monograph is essential to the careers of scholars in many disciplines, but the academic publishing process is often opaque and mystifying. This spring, the Obermann Center begins a new program to set UI faculty and graduate students up for success in the publishing market by connecting them with an accomplished editor from a scholarly press.
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Obermann Center Receives Funding for Global Writing Initiative

Tuesday, February 11, 2025
The Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI)—a global forum that strengthens the work of humanities centers through advocacy, grant-making, and inclusive collaboration—has selected a joint humanities project of the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the Universidad de la República, Uruguay, to participate in its Global Justice and Humanities Practices initiative, with an accompanying award of $10,000. “Mass Migrations, Personal Voices: Latin American Women Migrants Write Their Stories” will explore and disseminate new insights into the impact of guided creative writing on the lives of Latin American migrant women. Luis Martín-Estudillo, Director of the Obermann Center, authored the proposal and will serve as the project’s PI. Luis Muñoz, UI Associate Professor of Spanish and director of the MFA in Spanish Creative Writing, and a graduate student in Spanish Creative Writing, will work alongside Martín-Estudillo and two faculty from the Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios Migratorios (Center for Interdisciplinary Migration Studies) at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay’s flagship institution, to plan and conduct creative writing workshops for women who recently migrated to Uruguay, having fled economic and humanitarian crises in their native Venezuela.
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Obermann Center seeks ABD PhD student for '25-'26 Program Coordinator position

Tuesday, January 21, 2025
The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies is seeking an advanced (ABD) humanities or social sciences PhD student to work with the Obermann staff to support programs and events and tell the stories of the exciting research projects and initiatives supported by the Center.
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CSSI Invites Applications for Co-Sponsored Fall 2025 Obermann International Fellowships Program

Monday, January 13, 2025
The Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) is pleased to announce its co-sponsorship of a Fall 2025 Obermann Center for Advanced Studies International Fellowship. The fellowship program provides international researchers and artists with the opportunity to develop collegiate collaborations and pursue independent work at the University of Iowa. CSSI will co-sponsor one fellow who aims to conduct innovative social science research on campus. Prospective fellows can request a CSSI co-sponsorship within their application. In tandem with the benefits provided by the Obermann Center, fellows co-sponsored by CSSI will be provided with a quiet, dedicated office space at CSSI and access to the Center’s amenities (such as meeting rooms, break areas, and office support).
Jose Fernandez

Humanities Without Walls Externship Program Fosters Career Diversity, Community Collaboration

Thursday, December 5, 2024
At some point, every student pursuing a graduate degree in the humanities has been asked, “So you're going to be a professor?” Humanities PhDs and MAs are often seen as hyperspecialized degrees useful only in the realm of academia—but in fact, the analytical and communication skills, as well as the broad understanding of culture attained through high-level study of the humanities, sets students up for success in a variety of careers, especially in the nonprofit sector. As globalization and rapid technological advancements are transforming the job market and accelerating its pace of change, it’s essential that graduate students be prepared to apply their skills in unexpected ways. University faculty, however, are not typically trained to guide these students toward meaningful, productive careers outside of academia.
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Obermann Center Invites International Applicants for Residential Fellows Program

Thursday, October 17, 2024
The Obermann Center is thrilled to announce that it is expanding its residential fellowship program to accept international researchers and artists. Fellowships offer dedicated space, time, and funding for scholars and artists based outside of the United States to develop collaborations and pursue independent work at the University of Iowa. Up to eight international fellowships will be granted every academic year, and fellows will receive a $2,000 stipend, office space at the Obermann Center, access to University of Iowa libraries, and other benefits.

Featured Programs

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Obermann International Fellowships

An open invitation to scholars from around the world

The Obermann Center now offers flexible fellowships for international researchers and artists to develop collaborations and pursue independent work at our beautiful Iowa City campus. Fellowships offer dedicated space, time, and funding for scholars and artists based outside of the United States to develop collaborations and pursue independent work at the University of Iowa. Up to eight international fellowships will be granted every academic year, and fellows will receive a $2,000 stipend, office space at the Obermann Center, access to University of Iowa libraries, and other benefits.

Obermann International Fellowships are funded by the University of Iowa's Obermann Center for Advanced Studies with generous additional support from International Programs.

Applications for Spring 2026 fellowships are due October 24, 2025.

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Join us for Wide Lens: LISTENING

May 8, 5:30 p.m.

In a world full of noise, we often try to listen—to conversations with colleagues and family, to music in our headphones, to videos blasting from our smartphones. We hear all these things daily, but what does it mean to truly listen? In what sense do our devices also listen to us? What is the role of silence in listening? How has listening changed over time? Can political tensions be eased through listening? How is listening both an art and a science? This Wide Lens event brings together UI researchers from science, social sciences, the humanities, and the arts to investigate what it means to listen deeply and thoughtfully.

Join us on Thursday, May 8, at 5:30 p.m. in the Herald Stark Opera Studio, Voxman Music Building. Food and drink provided!

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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. Book Ends brings together a panel of 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 will also ask one University of Iowa senior faculty member to participate.

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