Upcoming Events & Deadlines

AI Is Not Your Friend: Cautions and Vents about Its Uses and Abuses in the Creation of Scholarly Publications promotional image

AI Is Not Your Friend: Cautions and Vents about Its Uses and Abuses in the Creation of Scholarly Publications

Tuesday, October 6, 2026 3:00pm to 4:00pm
111 Church Street

On Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, Walter Biggins, editor-in-chief at University of Pennsylvania Press, will offer his perspective as both a longtime acquiring editor and as a writer on how the advent of AI affects the present and possible futures of scholarly publishing. In particular, he will discuss how the emerging technology creates concerns and unresolved tensions — ethical, legal, and otherwise — in publishing around intellectual property...

Application Deadline: Obermann Interdisciplinary Research Grants (Summer 2027) promotional image

Application Deadline: Obermann Interdisciplinary Research Grants (Summer 2027)

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 5:00pm
111 Church Street

Obermann Interdisciplinary Research Grants (IDRG) foster collaborative scholarship and creative work by offering recipients time and space to exchange new ideas leading to invention, creation, and publication. IDRG groups work at the Obermann Center for two weeks, usually in July and/or August. Applicants propose work on a project with colleagues from across the University, across disciplines within their own department, or with colleagues from other parts of the country or the world. Projects...

Holding Space: Stories of Interdisciplinary Collaboration — Counterpoint event featuring Stephanie Miracle promotional image

Holding Space: Stories of Interdisciplinary Collaboration — Counterpoint event featuring Stephanie Miracle

Tuesday, October 13, 2026 5:00pm to 6:15pm
Voxman Music Building

Join us to celebrate the interdisciplinary work of University of Iowa choreographer and assistant professor of dance Stephanie Miracle, recipient of the 2026 Obermann Interdisciplinary Achievement Award.

Miracle will bring together dance, engineering, and the humanities in a brief improvisational performance featuring dancers Bea Beaman and Trinity Woody performing alongside robots built by the University of Iowa College of Engineering, with narration by Eric Gidal and music by Jean-François...

Application Deadline: Obermann Symposium Directorship (2027–28) promotional image

Application Deadline: Obermann Symposium Directorship (2027–28)

Wednesday, October 28, 2026 5:00pm
111 Church Street

Is there a burning topic in your discipline or a topic that cuts across disciplines that we should bring to campus? Is there a format for the conversation that can energize an intellectual community around that topic? That might be the perfect topic for an Obermann Symposium!

In addition to a compelling topic, we invite co-directors to propose national and international speakers who can offer richly diverse perspectives on the symposium theme. We also want to highlight the work of UI and local...

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News

Laptop with Zoom open

Community, Assessment, and the Work of Showing Up

Olivia Alsup
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. My final project for the internship will be putting together a report that will help guide the library through its community assessment process and help inform future library services, spaces, and programs. Day to day, I interview other nonprofit and community leaders who have recently facilitated their own community and program assessments.
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

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.
Robin Johnstone reading book at ICPL

Full Circle: Interning at the Neighborhood Centers

Robin Johnstone
Through the Humanities Without Walls program—administered by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies—I was placed in a paid summer internship at the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County, a natural fit given the organization’s focus on education and telling stories about the communities they serve. My work this summer involves writing profiles of the staff and neighbors around the Pheasant Ridge community, developing a podcast to highlight a variety of ethnic communities in Iowa City, and utilizing my background in pre-college planning, improvisation, and empowering others to tell their own stories.
Washington Okeyo and colleague

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

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.
person writing by hand

“Mass Migrations: Personal Voices”: The Iowa Writing Model Crosses Borders to Empower Venezuelan Women in Uruguay

Maria Torres Melgares
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.
Therapy dog Drax

Building Bonds That Heal: Inside UI’s Human-Animal Interactions Collaborative

Rylee Newland
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.
Stephanie Miracle

Stephanie Miracle to Receive Obermann Interdisciplinary Achievement Award

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.”
Anna by the river

A Universe in the Ear: Tinnitus Research with Anna Carolina Marques Perrella de Barros

Maria Torres Melgares
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.
Story City by Grant Wood, remixed

Building community around rural research

Office of the Vice President for Research
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.
members of the Human-Animal Interactions for Wellbeing working group, with therapy dog

New initiative expands human-animal interactions in UI community

The Daily Iowan
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.
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Recent Events

Fulbright Workshop for Graduate Students in the Humanities promotional image

Fulbright Workshop for Graduate Students in the Humanities

Monday, March 1, 2021 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Virtual

Please join us on Monday, March 1, 2021 from 1-2pm CT for an information session on the Fulbright U.S. Student Program geared toward master’s and doctoral students (applicants must be U.S. citizens). The workshop topics will include:

the basics of writing a Fulbright proposal how to find an affiliation abroad for your research or creative work how to plan the optimal time to apply while working with your advisor

UI Fulbright Faculty Mentors Professor Kathleen Newman (Spanish and...

Humanities Without Walls Info Session promotional image

Humanities Without Walls Info Session

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 3:30pm to 4:30pm
Virtual

The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies is proud to be a member of the Andrew W. Mellon–funded Humanities Without Walls (HWW) consortium, which fosters collaborative research and explores the contributions of humanities in the workplace.

HWW has provided the Obermann Center funding to help UI faculty prepare proposals for HWW seed grant applications (due in November 2021). To learn more about the seed grants and how to apply for them, we welcome you to attend one of our upcoming Zoom...

Podcasting with Purpose: Mark Riechers and Anne Strainchamps promotional image

Podcasting with Purpose: Mark Riechers and Anne Strainchamps

Thursday, February 18, 2021 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Virtual

Calling all podcasters, podcast enthusiasts, and podcast newbies! Learn from expert podcasters about the craft of podcasting with purpose, from the nuts and bolts of recording and editing audio to the intellectual and creative labor of audio storytelling. As part of our goal to prepare graduate students for a wide range of careers serving the public good, Humanities for the Public Good is exploring new and innovative methods of interpretation, storytelling, and meaning-making. The Podcasting...

COVID's Lessons: End of Life and Grief - An Obermann Conversation promotional image

COVID's Lessons: End of Life and Grief - An Obermann Conversation

Tuesday, February 16, 2021 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Virtual

The past year has made the end of life and grief a daily communal event, as we receive numbers from the headlines and news from friends and family. In the West, death and grief have often been private acts, but COVID-19, along with the twin pandemic of racism and its inherent grief, has altered how we tend to these universal aspects of human experience. In this conversation, we'll hear from a palliative care physician, a hospice nurse, and a scholar regarding lessons from this past year. 

Parti...

Exhibition Spotlight: DESIGNED TO WIN Virtual Exhibit Tour and Q&A promotional image

Exhibition Spotlight: DESIGNED TO WIN Virtual Exhibit Tour and Q&A

Monday, February 15, 2021 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual
About the event:

Join the Pentacrest Museums for an Exhibition Spotlight as we debut our latest virtual exhibit with the help of special guest and collector, J. Patrick White. Designed to Win: An Examination of Presidential Political Buttons features the private collection of J. Patrick White who brings a wealth of knowledge on American presidents and their campaigns through these small-but-mighty buttons designed to win the presidency of the United States. We invite you to an exhibit...

Humanities Without Walls Info Session promotional image

Humanities Without Walls Info Session

Monday, February 15, 2021 8:30am to 9:30am
Virtual

The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies is proud to be a member of the Andrew W. Mellon–funded Humanities Without Walls (HWW) consortium, which fosters collaborative research and explores the contributions of humanities in the workplace.

HWW has provided the Obermann Center funding to help UI faculty prepare proposals for HWW seed grant applications (due in November 2021). To learn more about the seed grants and how to apply for them, we welcome you to attend one of our upcoming Zoom...