Application Deadline 

  • Book Ends applications are due Wednesday, September 24, 2025 (5:00 p.m.) and Tuesday, February 17, 2026. If you have any questions about the program or application process, please email our director at luis-martin-estudillo@uiowa.edu. 
  • We encourage potential applicants to attend a virtual information session on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. Register for the session.


Eligibility

  • Faculty members whose appointments include the expectation that 40% or more of the work they will be evaluated on will be research (including creative research) are eligible.
  • Associate professors with mature drafts of monographs leading to promotion to full professor are eligible.
  • Assistant professors with mature drafts of monographs on track for publication in advance of the applicant’s tenure and promotion deadlines are eligible.
  • Full professors with mature drafts of monographs are eligible.


Application Materials & Procedures

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The application will ask you for the following:

  • Your name, department, contact information, title of the book project, and a one-sentence description of your thesis
  • A one-paragraph abstract that describes your project and its significance
  • A brief chapter outline, specifying how much of the manuscript is written and what remains to be done
  • A timeline for completion of a full draft of the manuscript.
  • The names of 4–6 senior, active scholars who would be excellent readers and mentors for this project, briefly noting what each would contribute to your project. Please include a link to each scholar’s homepage. The scholars should not have served on your dissertation committee and should not have a close relationship with you.
  • The names of 2–3 University of Iowa faculty members who would be excellent readers for this project, briefly noting what each could contribute
  • Drafts of two completed chapters of the monograph
  • The name of your DEO

Upon receiving your completed application, we will contact your DEO to confirm that they support it.

Successful applicants will meet with the Director of the Obermann Center to discuss external readers and determine possible dates for the workshop. Book Ends awardees must make initial contact with selected external scholars to gauge their interest in participating; once interest is confirmed, the Obermann Center will send official invitations. 

Please note that this program will remain virtual for the foreseeable future, owing to budgetary and sustainability considerations.