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.

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.

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.

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.

Storytelling is intrinsic to the human experience. Since prehistoric times, we have made sense of our lives—and of ourselves—through narrative. Today, that enduring power of literature lies at the heart of “Mass Migrations: Personal Voices,” a research project co-funded by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Iowa and the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes. This international collaboration brings together the University of Iowa and the Universidad de la República, Uruguay’s principal public university. Led by Luis Martín-Estudillo, director of the Obermann Center, and Fernando Ordóñez of the Universidad de la República, the project centers on a population both vulnerable and remarkably resilient: Venezuelan migrant women who have arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, seeking refuge from an ongoing humanitarian crisis.

This article is a special contribution by UI undergraduate Rylee Newland, a journalism and mass communication major. She wrote this piece for her Spring 2026 Reporting and Writing class. The University of Iowa recently became home to the Human-Animal Interactions for Wellbeing Collaborative in the fall of 2025. This collaborative is one of the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies’ newest working groups. The collaborative is co-directed by Adrienne Johnson, an associate professor of instruction in the health, sport and human physiology department, and Katy Schroeder, an associate professor in the College of Education. The Human-Animal Interactions for Wellbeing Collaborative seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and community knowledge surrounding human-animal interactions. The group brings together scholars and advocates from various disciplines, with the ultimate goal of creating a space where discussions around best practices, ethics, and education on animal-assisted interventions can be held.

We’re pleased to announce that our Advisory Board has named Stephanie Miracle, assistant professor of dance, the recipient of the inaugural Obermann Interdisciplinary Achievement Award. The new award recognizes scholars who cross disciplinary boundaries to produce insights not possible within a single field. As interdisciplinarity is a core value of the Obermann Center’s mission, director Luis Martín-Estudillo established the award, noting, “The most transformative ideas emerge when disciplines intersect […] These collaborations spark breakthroughs that expand the horizons of knowledge.”

What does it mean to live with a sound that has no external source? For millions worldwide, this is the daily reality of tinnitus—a complex auditory symptom that can range from a minor annoyance to a deeply distressing condition. This "universe" of sound is the primary focus of Anna Carolina Marques Perrella de Barros, an audiologist and researcher from the Tinnitus and Sound Intolerance Group at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo in Brazil. Her pursuit of advanced clinical management strategies and research collaboration brought her to the University of Iowa as an Obermann International Fellow.

A pregnant woman in rural Iowa must make so many extra decisions about her and her baby’s health. It isn’t just whether she should go to the hospital about unexpected complications, but which one. If she goes to the closest hospital, will it have the expertise to treat her? If not, will it have an ambulance that can transfer her to a more urban hospital? One Iowa mom facing these questions inspired Stephanie Radke, clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Iowa, to found the Iowa Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (IPQCC). IPQCC is responsible for improving communication and collaboration among groups addressing obstetrical and neonatal care in Iowa, especially in rural communities.

The Human-Animal Interactions for Well-Being Collaborative, which is co-directed by Adrienne Johnson and Katy Schroeder, will expand opportunities and awareness for human-animal interactions around campus.