2026 Obermann Symposium
March 26–27, 2026
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All UI faculty and staff members who are personally or professionally interested in rural issues, or who work with rural populations or in rural spaces, are invited to complete the following survey. It will remain open for the foreseeable future in the interest of building a lasting network of UI rurality scholars. (Log in to the survey with your HawkID and password.)
Cultivating Rurality: Building Community around Rural Research
Directed by Brian R. Farrell, Daria Fisher Page, and Ryan T. Sakoda (UI College of Law), Cultivating Rurality: Building Community around Rural Research brought together scholars, community leaders from across the U.S., and professionals who work with rural populations and in rural spaces. During the symposium, attendees were invited to collaborate in theorizing rurality, share how it impacts their work, examine how rurality is represented and celebrated, and discuss challenges faced by rural communities.
The symposium took place on March 26 and 27, 2026. Cultivating Rurality aimed to identify and connect faculty members and others at the University of Iowa already engaged in rural research and teaching, and also included several events open to the public. Participants left the symposium with new scholarly tools and professional connections to more effectively address interdisciplinary issues of rurality in the future.