Upcoming Events & Deadlines

Application Deadline: Small Important Project Grants promotional image

Application Deadline: Small Important Project Grants

Thursday, April 1, 2027 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 10 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 who have not received a SIP award in the past academic year.

Application...

Application Deadline: Obermann Working Groups (2027–30) promotional image

Application Deadline: Obermann Working Groups (2027–30)

Wednesday, April 7, 2027 5:00pm
111 Church Street

Obermann Center Working Groups provide space, structure, and discretionary funding for groups led by faculty that may include advanced graduate students, staff members, and community members with a shared intellectual interest.

Groups have used this opportunity to share their work in progress or draw up a set of readings they want to undertake and discuss. Others have organized conferences, applied for grants together, written articles together, designed new courses, taken field trips, organized...

Application Deadline: Book Ends Book Completion Workshop promotional image

Application Deadline: Book Ends Book Completion Workshop

Thursday, May 31, 2029 (all day)
111 Church Street

Books 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 turn promising manuscripts into important, field-changing, published books.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

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News

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Surveying the Effects of Political Corruption

Americans may feel they are living in an era of unprecedented political corruption. Just weeks ago, President Trump pardoned eleven people, many of whose convictions included bribery, tax fraud, and the sale of a public office. In the whirl of daily headlines, it can be easy to forget that corruption is nearly as old as democracy itself, with the ancient Greeks and Romans providing many examples...

UI grad student takes home first place for humanities-based Three Minute Thesis competition

UI graduate student Christie Vogler wins the Obermann Center’s first humanities-based Three-Minute Thesis competition with her research on gender archeology, which uncovers the unknown roles of women in Ancient Rome. Read the full article at The Daily Iowan's website: https://dailyiowan.com/2020/02/10/university-of-iowa-grad-student-takes-home-first-place-for-humanities-based-three-minute-thesis...
What Can Museums Become? logo

Activating the Museum

March Humanities Symposium to Explore Future of Museums When you think about museums, what comes to mind? Many of us picture an imposing building with artworks and artifacts displayed among velvet ropes, marble columns, and guards who shush you. But there are many possibilities for museums, and the two directors of this spring’s Obermann Humanities Symposium, “What Can Museums Become?”, Joyce Tsai...
Imagining Latinidades podcast logo

Imagining Latinidades Offers Full Slate This Spring

The second half of the year-long Andrew W. Mellon Sawyer Seminar Imagining Latinidades welcomes a full slate of speakers to campus this spring. After hosting an opening conference and two short symposia in the fall, in addition to commencing a podcast, the Seminar’s directors—Darrel Wanzer-Serrano (Latina/o Studies and Communication Studies), Rene Rocha (Political Science and Latina/o Studies)...
Jean Gordon

Lost Language Found: Gordon Develops Tool to Improve Aphasia Diagnosis

How would you feel if, in the middle of a conversation, you couldn’t come up with the word for water, shirt, or table—or your own name? If suddenly it was a struggle to comment on a movie or tell a simple story? You’d likely feel confused, embarrassed, frustrated, scared. According to the National Aphasia Association, over two million Americans suffer from aphasia—the inability to speak, write...

It All Depends on 31 Syllables: A Study of the Power of Japan's Medieval Waka

Imagine if your social stature and your livelihood were dependent on your ability to write poetry and refer to the work of other poets. If there were poetry competitions among the elite that decided one’s worthiness. Or if the entire direction of a nation could be changed via 31 syllables. Japanese waka, a 31-syllable precursor to haiku, held just this kind of sway for several centuries...

Recent Events

Next-Generation Dissertations—New Projects for an Engaged Academy promotional image

Next-Generation Dissertations—New Projects for an Engaged Academy

Monday, March 7, 2022 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Virtual

Dissertation reform is an essential thread in the tapestry of reimagining doctoral education. More and more scholars are finding creative ways to share their scholarly research and intellectual insights in dynamic, engaging forms such as graphic novels, mobile games, documentary films, and more, and are having an impact both within and beyond the academy. Join several humanities and social science scholars and the advisors who have supported them to learn more about these projects and why this...

Application Deadline: Mellon Sawyer Seminar Post-Doctoral Scholar promotional image

Application Deadline: Mellon Sawyer Seminar Post-Doctoral Scholar

Friday, March 4, 2022 11:59pm

The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Iowa welcomes applications for a full-time, twelve-month Post-Doctoral Scholar to begin on August 15, 2022. The Post-Doctoral Fellowship is for the academic year and includes participation in the 2022-2023 Mellon Sawyer Seminar on “Racial Reckoning and Social Justice through Comics” to be led by Corey Creekmur (Cinematic Arts, English, Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies), Ana Merino (Spanish and Portuguese), and Rachel Williams...

Carl V. Gisolfi Seminar Series: "The Misunderstanding of Exercise for Those with Autism" by David Geslak promotional image

Carl V. Gisolfi Seminar Series: "The Misunderstanding of Exercise for Those with Autism" by David Geslak

Friday, March 4, 2022 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Iowa Bioscience Innovation Facility

Exercise is one of the most underutilized and cost-­effective treatments for individuals with autism. In addition to the health-­related benefits, research shows that exercise can increase attention span, reduce stress, enhance language development and enhance well-being for individuals with autism. David S. Geslak, President and Founder of Exercise Connection, has trained professionals around the world. In this lecture, titled, "The Misunderstanding of Exercise for Those with Autism," he will...

Starting & Sustaining a Writing Group — An Obermann Get It Done Workshop promotional image

Starting & Sustaining a Writing Group — An Obermann Get It Done Workshop

Friday, March 4, 2022 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Virtual

Those of us who write either by compulsion or necessity often yearn for a group of co-creators who will keep us company and hold us accountable. Writing groups seem like the answer to the often lonely work of crafting words. In this informal lunchtime session, Naomi Greyser will provide ideas for how to mindfully start a group and then sustain it—which can be trickier than it seems.

Naomi is the head writing coach at the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. She is a faculty...

Igniting Change One Wall at a Time — An Obermann Conversation promotional image

Igniting Change One Wall at a Time — An Obermann Conversation

Thursday, March 3, 2022 7:00pm to 8:00pm
Virtual

When two large figures took shape on Burlington Street in Iowa City last summer, passersby had to contend with messages that went beyond the colorful, playful images of other downtown murals. "Weaponize your privilege" reads one of the so-called Oracles of Iowa City. The twin images are part of a long history of public art that challenges viewers and pushes for change, while asking who the "public" is in public art. Hear from artists and scholars involved in this project and other large-scale...

Provost's Global Forum: Teaching Anne Frank - Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture promotional image

Provost's Global Forum: Teaching Anne Frank - Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture

Wednesday, March 2, 2022 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Virtual

February 28 - March 2, 2022, the University of Iowa will host scholars, experts, and researchers from around the world as part of the 2022 Provost’s Global Forum, "Teaching Anne Frank."

With a goal to inspire discussions of global affairs and build relationships between the university and the state of Iowa, this Provost's Global Forum brings together a multi-disciplinary panel of experts from Iowa and across Europe to highlight the educational value and continuing relevance of Anne Frank's...