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9/18/26— Application Deadline: Spring 2027 Obermann International Fellows

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Meet our Summer '26 Humanities Without Walls Interns!

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Where Money Meets the People: What Academics Can Do for Their Community

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Upcoming Events

Application Deadline: Fall 2026 Obermann Writing Collective promotional image

Application Deadline: Fall 2026 Obermann Writing Collective

Thursday, August 27, 2026 5:00pm
111 Church Street

This program offers accountability to artists, scholars, and researchers working on any kind of writing project (articles, essays, fellowship or grant applications, dissertations, book projects, edited volumes, etc.) who want dedicated time, a cozy space, and a community for the practice of writing.Each group meets once a week for 1.5 hours in the Writers' Attic at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies (111 Church St.). Weekly writing sessions include brief check-ins, goal setting, and...

Application Deadline: Obermann International Fellowships (Spring 2027) promotional image

Application Deadline: Obermann International Fellowships (Spring 2027)

Friday, September 18, 2026 11:59pm
111 Church Street

The UI Obermann Center for Advanced studies is accepting applications for Spring 2027 Obermann International Fellowships. This program offers dedicated space, time, and funding for interdisciplinary scholars to collaborate on innovative research at the University of Iowa. Up to eight international fellowships will be granted every academic year. Applicants must be active researchers at an accredited institution of higher learning outside of the United States or independent researchers/artists...

Application Deadline: Book Ends, Obermann Book Completion Workshop promotional image

Application Deadline: Book Ends, Obermann Book Completion Workshop

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 5:00pm
Virtual

Books Ends supports University of Iowa faculty from disciplines in which publishing a monograph is required for tenure and promotion. The award is designed to assist UI faculty members of all ranks and with significant research responsibilities to turn promising manuscripts into important, field-changing, published books.

Book Ends brings together a panel of senior scholars for a candid, constructive three-hour virtual workshop on a faculty member’s book manuscript. The award provides a $500...

Eleanor Waltzes: Women’s Poetry and Music for Eleanor Roosevelt During the Great Depression promotional image

Eleanor Waltzes: Women’s Poetry and Music for Eleanor Roosevelt During the Great Depression

Saturday, September 26, 2026 3:00pm
Voxman Music Building

“Eleanor Waltzes” honors First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt through performances of songs and poetry created and sent to her by American women. The event will also feature an exhibit of materials from the Iowa Women’s Archives and a “making do” reception with 1930s recipes. “Eleanor Waltzes” is part of Sounding the Nation at 250, a series of commemorative concerts surrounding the U.S. Semiquincentennial sponsored by the Society for American Music.

Saturday, September 26, 2026, 3 pm

Recital Hall, Voxman...

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News

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Community, Assessment, and the Work of Showing Up

Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Olivia Alsup
Who is your community? I moved to Iowa City from Kentucky almost one year ago to begin working toward the joint English PhD and Master’s in Library Science at the University of Iowa. As an undergraduate, your community sometimes forms naturally, especially at a smaller university like the one I attended, through the people in your dorms and classes, your coworkers, and those you meet in clubs and student organizations. As a graduate student, I worried that moving several states away from the small area of Kentucky where I had spent my life would be lonely, but after a year in Iowa City, I have found the opposite to be true. This summer, I am working as the Community Feedback Framework Intern for the Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation. In this position, I'm working on examining current best practices for how libraries can engage intentionally and effectively with the communities they serve.
The Community surrounding the Towncrest Center while their street sign is being installed.

Where Money Meets the People: What Academics Can Do for Their Community

Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Aaron Stagner
Five years ago, I was sitting at a desk a lot like the one I’m sitting at now, doing similar things. In 2021, I taught ESL and adult continuing education classes in Houston, Texas. Teaching both new and established residents made it clear that anybody, from anywhere, could make Houston their home. Working closely with my community, I discovered one of the most important requirements for my students to establish themselves successfully: literacy. Both in language and technology, literacy allowed my students to thrive, get jobs, and build a community. To support our neighbors in this mission, we provided English language classes, adult-focused technology classes like the Microsoft Suite, and free laptops for students and jobseekers alike. My organization couldn’t enhance literacy alone—we relied on community volunteers for tutoring, partenered with local private companies for access to educational programs, and received funding from both state and federal government to purchase and donate laptops.
Robin Johnstone reading book at ICPL

Full Circle: Interning at the Neighborhood Centers

Monday, June 29, 2026
Robin Johnstone
As a doctoral student in Teaching and Learning in the College of Education, I often reflect on how I reached this point in my education. And those who know more about me and my upbringing sometimes ask, with emphasis, how did you reach this point in your education? My academic achievement is punctuated by a series of alphabetic abbreviations. BA. BA. MA. MFA. PhD. All along, though, I have been acutely aware that my background is not common among my peers. According to the most recent survey conducted by the National Center of Science and Engineering Statistics, only 14.9% of doctoral recipients’ parents hold a maximum educational attainment of high school. Estimates for undergraduate degree attainment for children raised in poverty usually don’t exceed 25%. Given that only about 2% of the general population holds doctoral degrees, the subsection of those degree holders who were raised in poverty must certainly be infinitesimal.
Washington Okeyo and colleague

Bridging Continents with AI: Prof. Washington Okeyo’s Vision for Entrepreneurship Education

Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Maria Torres Melgares
This spring, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies welcomed Professor Washington Okeyo as an Obermann International Fellow. Working closely with the Tippie College of Business, Prof. Okeyo used his fellowship to explore a rapidly evolving frontier: the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into entrepreneurship education.
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Featured Programs

AI + Care @ Iowa symposium banner

AI + Care @ Iowa: Challenge and Promise

2027 Obermann Symposium

Directed by Kenneth Nepple (Department of Urology), Jason Misurac (Department of Pediatrics), and Weiguo Patrick Fan (Department of Business Analytics), this symposium builds on the University of Iowa Health Care’s deployment of AI to engage the issue of care in all its dimensions. Practitioners and researchers from different disciplines will address issues from the cancer rate in Iowa and healthcare provider burnout to the values underlying different approaches to caring for others and the self. The event will facilitate interdisciplinary discussions between professionals in medicine, business analytics, humanities, law, the arts, software engineering, journalism, social sciences, education, and more. Our goal is that the symposium will bridge these perspectives to look productively at an issue that generates both trepidation and hope.

The symposium takes place April 1 and 2, 2027.

international flags on UI campus bridge

Spring 2027 Obermann International Fellowships

Application period open

We offer flexible fellowships for international researchers and artists to develop collaborations and pursue independent work at our beautiful Iowa City campus. International Fellows will receive a $3,000 stipend to help defray the cost of travel and lodging; University of Iowa health insurance coverage for the duration of the fellowship; office space at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies; temporary University of Iowa affiliation, including access to UI libraries; and structured opportunities for scholarly exchange.

Applications for Spring 2027 fellowships are due September 18, 2026.

Butterflies coming out of a book

Book Ends: 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.