Upcoming Events

Application Deadline: Small Important Project Grants promotional image

Application Deadline: Small Important Project Grants

Friday, May 8, 2026 5:00pm
111 Church Street

This new Obermann Center program offers modest yet swift support for those portions of research and creative endeavors by UI scholars that are important toward advancing a project but do not have enough funding from other sources. We will grant ten awards of $500 or less per academic year. Note that funds need to be spent by June 30 of each year.

Eligibility: Open to all University of Iowa faculty and staff researchers

Graduate students: Note that the Graduate College offers Small Grants for the...

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Upcoming Application Deadlines

Upcoming Application Deadlines

Application Deadline: Spring 2026 Obermann Writing Collective promotional image

Application Deadline: Spring 2026 Obermann Writing Collective

Friday, January 23, 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.

In spring 2026, four writing groups will meet in our Writers' Attic at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies at 111 Church St. Each group will meet once a week for 1.5 hours, beginning the week of...

Nomination Deadline: Obermann Interdisciplinary Achievement Award promotional image

Nomination Deadline: Obermann Interdisciplinary Achievement Award

Monday, February 2, 2026 5:00pm
111 Church Street

The new Obermann Interdisciplinary Achievement Award recognizes individuals or teams whose trajectories have engaged diverse disciplines to produce insights that would be unattainable within a single academic silo. These scholars cultivate collaborative work, fostering dialogue across academic fields and institutional units. Their research or creative work engages with foundational questions that resonate across society. By recognizing interdisciplinary excellence, the Obermann Center for...

Application Deadline: Obermann International Fellowships (Fall 2026) promotional image

Application Deadline: Obermann International Fellowships (Fall 2026)

Saturday, February 14, 2026 (all day)
111 Church Street

The UI Obermann Center for Advanced studies is accepting applications for Fall 2026 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 with...

Spring Application Deadline: Book Ends Book Completion Workshop promotional image

Spring Application Deadline: Book Ends Book Completion Workshop

Tuesday, February 17, 2026 5:00pm
111 Church Street

Co-sponsored by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the Office of the Vice President for Research, Book Ends—Obermann Book Completion Workshop 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 in turning promising manuscripts into important, field-changing, published books.

Application Deadline: Small Important Project Grants promotional image

Application Deadline: Small Important Project Grants

Friday, May 8, 2026 5:00pm
111 Church Street

This new Obermann Center program offers modest yet swift support for those portions of research and creative endeavors by UI scholars that are important toward advancing a project but do not have enough funding from other sources. We will grant ten awards of $500 or less per academic year. Note that funds need to be spent by June 30 of each year.

Eligibility: Open to all University of Iowa faculty and staff researchers

Graduate students: Note that the Graduate College offers Small Grants for the...

News

Lake Effect

In January 2012, Lisa Johnson participated in the Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy. Her final project was a collaborative arts ensemble between women at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women and community partners. During the intense week-long Institute working with the public was front and center in Johnson’s mind, but having coffee with farmers near Estherville or...

Iowa Humanities Festival Features UI Faculty, NEH Chair Leach

Jim Leach, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will speak at the first ever Iowa Humanities Festival in Des Moines on March 9. Collectors and collecting is the theme of this inaugural event, which brings together scholars, museum directors, librarians, and personal collectors from across the state...

Rewiring the Classroom

Teaching Teachers About Technology: This month, college educators are uniting at the University of Iowa to discuss the digital classroom, as well as teaching others how to use the powerful tools of the 21st century. On February 23, 2013, “Rewiring the Classroom,”a forum on digital practices and philosophies for the college classroom, will take place at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and will...

Chicago Humanities Festival / ACLS Fellowship

Public Engagement Opportunity: The Chicago Humanities Festival has been selected as a host institution for the 2013 Public Fellows Program of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). The Mellon-funded initiative will bring two recent humanities PhD into the Chicago Humanities Festival organization, each serving as Program Manager for a period of two years (July 2013 through July 2015). This...

MOOCs: History, Hype, and Reality, a talk by VPR Dan Reed

Vice President for Research Dan Reed Launches Obermann Afternoons—occasional informal presentations on recent discoveries, compelling research questions, and current events. The New York Times declared 2012 "The Year of the MOOC" citing recent multi-million dollar ventures that make college and university courses available to large audiences via...

Judith Pascoe

In 2003 when Judith Pascoe (English, CLAS) joined an Obermann Cmiel Research Semester, “Sounding the Voice,” she had a topic in mind but did not anticipate that it would become the center of her work for the next few years. Several years later, The Sarah Siddons Audio Files won the prestigious Barnard Hewitt Book Award from the American Society for Theatre Research. The award was a major stamp of...
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Recent Events

Registration Deadline: Graduate Student Breakfast & Talk with Sara Jo Cohen, Obermann Editor-in-Residence promotional image

Registration Deadline: Graduate Student Breakfast & Talk with Sara Jo Cohen, Obermann Editor-in-Residence

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 5:00pm
111 Church Street

UI graduate students at all stages are invited to join Editor Cohen for breakfast and a talk focused on turning an article, thesis, or dissertation into a book. The session will take place on Tuesday, November 4, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Obermann Center library.

Register by Oct. 21, 5 p.m. Learn more and register at https://obermann.uiowa.edu/obermann-editor-residence.

Cohen is Editorial Director at University of Michigan Press, where she acquires titles in music, theater and performance...

Application Deadline: Editorial Consultations with Sara Jo Cohen, Obermann Editor-in-Residence promotional image

Application Deadline: Editorial Consultations with Sara Jo Cohen, Obermann Editor-in-Residence

Monday, October 13, 2025 5:00pm
111 Church Street

UI faculty, students, and staff are invited to apply for a 20- 30-minute editorial consultation with the Obermann Center's 2025 Editor-in-Residence, Sara Jo Cohen, at the Obermann Center library on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.

Potential discussion topics could include finding an editor, pitching a book, writing a book proposal, how the publishing process works, etc. Applications are due Oct. 13 by 5 p.m.

Learn more and apply at https://obermann.uiowa.edu/obermann-editor-residence.

Cohen is Editorial...

Application Deadline: Obermann Interdisciplinary Research Grants (Summer 2026) promotional image

Application Deadline: Obermann Interdisciplinary Research Grants (Summer 2026)

Wednesday, October 8, 2025 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...

5/2: How Polarity Yields Five Codes of Music - A Syzygy with S/Z. Presentation 1: From Polarity to Plurality promotional image

5/2: How Polarity Yields Five Codes of Music - A Syzygy with S/Z. Presentation 1: From Polarity to Plurality

Monday, October 6, 2025 7:30pm
Voxman Music Building
The first of seven presentations of an intergalactic music poetics. Drawing together ancient wisdom and modern science, this poetics aims at transmuting one’s experience of everything as music and living joyfully even as we work confidently toward an abundant future.
Application Deadline: Faculty Book Proposal Workshop with Sara Jo Cohen, Obermann Editor-in-Residence promotional image

Application Deadline: Faculty Book Proposal Workshop with Sara Jo Cohen, Obermann Editor-in-Residence

Wednesday, October 1, 2025 5:00pm
111 Church Street

For this workshop, 4–5 UI faculty members will submit book proposal drafts for a collaborative feedback session on Nov. 5 led by Sara Jo Cohen, the Obermann Center's 2025 Editor-in-Residence. The session is designed to help authors write a compelling book proposal, with a focus on crafting a strong pitch, identifying target audiences, and outlining the project’s structure. The workshop’s goal is for participants to walk away with a strong and cohesive book proposal, increasing their chance of...

The Fourth Age of Life: The Challenges of Aging and the Joys of Connecting — An Obermann Counterpoint Event promotional image

The Fourth Age of Life: The Challenges of Aging and the Joys of Connecting — An Obermann Counterpoint Event

Wednesday, October 1, 2025 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Voxman Music Building

What does it truly mean to grow and thrive as we age? In this thought-provoking Obermann Counterpoint event, Mercedes Bern-Klug (School of Social Work, CLAS) and Amy Colbert (Tippie College of Business) will explore the diverse ways we live, adapt, and flourish in our later years, whether we choose to navigate life independently or in a communal care setting. Against the backdrop of a growing loneliness epidemic among older adults, the two will discuss the health and social benefits of nursing...