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Upcoming Application Deadlines

Upcoming Application Deadlines

Application Deadline: Summer 2026 Obermann Writing Collective promotional image

Application Deadline: Summer 2026 Obermann Writing Collective

Friday, May 22, 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.Each group meets once a week for 1.5 hours. Weekly writing sessions include brief check-ins, goal setting, and sustained writing time. All groups are open to everyone in the University of Iowa...

Application Deadline: Obermann International Fellowships (Spring 2027) promotional image

Application Deadline: Obermann International Fellowships (Spring 2027)

Friday, September 18, 2026 11:59pm
111 Church Street

The UI Obermann Center for Advanced studies is accepting applications for Spring 2027 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...

Application Deadline: Book Ends, Obermann Book Completion Workshop promotional image

Application Deadline: Book Ends, Obermann Book Completion Workshop

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 5:00pm
Virtual

Books Ends supports University of Iowa faculty from disciplines in which publishing a monograph is required for tenure and promotion. The award is designed to assist UI faculty members with significant research responsibilities turn promising manuscripts into important, field-changing, published books.

Book Ends brings together a panel of senior scholars for a candid, constructive three-hour workshop on a faculty member’s book manuscript. The award provides a $500 honorarium for two external...

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...

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...

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...

News

man with glasses, grey hair, and button-up shirt

Demystifying the Publishing Process

Publishing a monograph is essential to the careers of scholars in many disciplines, but the academic publishing process is often opaque and mystifying. This spring, the Obermann Center begins a new program to set UI faculty and graduate students up for success in the publishing market by connecting them with an accomplished editor from a scholarly press.
CHCI logo

Obermann Center Receives Funding for Global Writing Initiative

The Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI)—a global forum that strengthens the work of humanities centers through advocacy, grant-making, and inclusive collaboration—has selected a joint humanities project of the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the Universidad de la República, Uruguay, to participate in its Global Justice and Humanities Practices initiative, with an accompanying award of $10,000. “Mass Migrations, Personal Voices: Latin American Women Migrants Write Their Stories” will explore and disseminate new insights into the impact of guided creative writing on the lives of Latin American migrant women. Luis Martín-Estudillo, Director of the Obermann Center, authored the proposal and will serve as the project’s PI. Luis Muñoz, UI Associate Professor of Spanish and director of the MFA in Spanish Creative Writing, and a graduate student in Spanish Creative Writing, will work alongside Martín-Estudillo and two faculty from the Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios Migratorios (Center for Interdisciplinary Migration Studies) at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay’s flagship institution, to plan and conduct creative writing workshops for women who recently migrated to Uruguay, having fled economic and humanitarian crises in their native Venezuela.
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Obermann Center seeks ABD PhD student for '25-'26 Program Coordinator position

The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies is seeking an advanced (ABD) humanities or social sciences PhD student to work with the Obermann staff to support programs and events and tell the stories of the exciting research projects and initiatives supported by the Center.
world map with flag pins

CSSI Invites Applications for Co-Sponsored Fall 2025 Obermann International Fellowships Program

The Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) is pleased to announce its co-sponsorship of a Fall 2025 Obermann Center for Advanced Studies International Fellowship. The fellowship program provides international researchers and artists with the opportunity to develop collegiate collaborations and pursue independent work at the University of Iowa. CSSI will co-sponsor one fellow who aims to conduct innovative social science research on campus. Prospective fellows can request a CSSI co-sponsorship within their application. In tandem with the benefits provided by the Obermann Center, fellows co-sponsored by CSSI will be provided with a quiet, dedicated office space at CSSI and access to the Center’s amenities (such as meeting rooms, break areas, and office support).
Jose Fernandez

Humanities Without Walls Externship Program Fosters Career Diversity, Community Collaboration

At some point, every student pursuing a graduate degree in the humanities has been asked, “So you're going to be a professor?” Humanities PhDs and MAs are often seen as hyperspecialized degrees useful only in the realm of academia—but in fact, the analytical and communication skills, as well as the broad understanding of culture attained through high-level study of the humanities, sets students up for success in a variety of careers, especially in the nonprofit sector. As globalization and rapid technological advancements are transforming the job market and accelerating its pace of change, it’s essential that graduate students be prepared to apply their skills in unexpected ways. University faculty, however, are not typically trained to guide these students toward meaningful, productive careers outside of academia.
world map with flag pins

Obermann Center Invites International Applicants for Residential Fellows Program

The Obermann Center is thrilled to announce that it is expanding its residential fellowship program to accept international researchers and artists. Fellowships offer dedicated space, time, and funding for scholars and artists based outside of the United States to develop collaborations and pursue independent work at the University of Iowa. Up to eight international fellowships will be granted every academic year, and fellows will receive a $2,000 stipend, office space at the Obermann Center, access to University of Iowa libraries, and other benefits.

Recent Events

Out There:  A Symposium on Provocative Research, Pedagogy, and Academic Freedom promotional image

Out There: A Symposium on Provocative Research, Pedagogy, and Academic Freedom

Friday, March 29, 2019 9:00am to 4:00pm
Old Capitol Museum

Academics and intellectual freedom are increasingly under attack in the United States. This is demonstrated, for example, by the November 2016 launch of the Professor Watchlist by Turning Point USA and the targeted harassment of faculty aimed at intimidating educators and stifling the exchange of ideas and thoughtful debate. This symposium gathers administrators, faculty, and graduate students from across the University of Iowa to discuss the climate currently informing academic life, and to...

Reading and Re-Translation - an international colloquium promotional image

Reading and Re-Translation - an international colloquium

Friday, March 29 to Saturday, March 30, 2019 (all day)
University Capitol Centre

Reading and Re-translation" is an international and interdisciplinary colloquium dedicated to the theorization and practice of reading. With funding from an International Programs Major Projects Award, organizers and speakers from around the globe will focus on the current state of research on reading and re-translation and will generate scholarly and creative exchanges between colleagues in diverse fields in the arts, sciences, literatures, and humanities.

The conference opens with a special...

Reading and Re-Translation - an international colloquium promotional image

Reading and Re-Translation - an international colloquium

Thursday, March 28 to Saturday, March 30, 2019 (all day)
University Capitol Centre

Reading and Re-translation" is an international and interdisciplinary colloquium dedicated to the theorization and practice of reading. With funding from an International Programs Major Projects Award, organizers and speakers from around the globe will focus on the current state of research on reading and re-translation and will generate scholarly and creative exchanges between colleagues in diverse fields in the arts, sciences, literatures, and humanities.

The conference opens with a special...

The Future of US Politics: Looking Ahead to 2020 promotional image

The Future of US Politics: Looking Ahead to 2020

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 7:00pm to 9:00pm
The Englert

Join us for a thoughtful discussion of politics in the United States and the future of the Democratic and Republican parties from left, right and analytical perspectives. Featuring Melissa Ryan of Ctrl Alt-Right Delete, Chris Buskirk of American Greatness, and Tamara Keith of NPR.

Local Disabilities Initiatives: An Obermann Conversation promotional image

Local Disabilities Initiatives: An Obermann Conversation

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Iowa City Public Library

In this Obermann Conversation, we’ll hear from activists representing various organizations about current projects that support, amplify, and advocate for people with disabilities. Tammy Nyden gives an overview of the work of the Johnson County Children’s Colation, a project of our local NAMI; Michael Hoenig shares the disability training offered to UI health sciences students; Andrew Tubbs describes the work of Combined Efforts’ multi-arts projects; Sujit Singh will talk about a local...

Commitment to Internationalization Lecture Series promotional image

Commitment to Internationalization Lecture Series

Monday, March 11, 2019 4:30pm
University Capitol Centre

Philip Altbach is the fifth speaker in the Commitment to Internationalization lecture series. His talk, "The Peril and Promise of Internationalization in the Era of Trump, Brexit, and Global Competition," continues the conversation about the UI's vision and strategic themes for campus internationalization.

RSVP online.

Philip G. Altbach is Research Professor and Founding Director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, where from 1994 to 2015 he was the Monan...