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Upcoming Application Deadlines

Upcoming Application Deadlines

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

Loyce Arthur Brings Carnaval to Iowa City

On June 9, Loyce Arthur (Theatre Arts, CLAS) will realize her dream of bringing Carnaval to Iowa City. The Iowa City Carnaval Parade will occur Sunday, June 9, in conjunction with the annual Iowa City Arts Festival. Carnaval is a strong, vibrant tradition in several island nations and Latin American countries as well as urban centers around the world, with community members working for a year in...

Redefining a Period

Cinema & Comparative Literature Professor Steve Ungar has spent the past year immersed in the history of documentary films in France between 1928-1962. What has especially captured his attention is how setting a specific film in various time frames affects our understanding of it. “What is a period? What is duration?” he asks with deceptive simplicity. As the recipient of the prestigious...

Obermann Afternoons Features Interdisciplinary Research on Aging

From Cells to Sensors: Interdisciplinary Research in Aging“I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now.” (Bob Dylan, 1964)People have long sought a Fountain of Youth. The Aging Mind and Brain Initiative (AMBI) uses science to uncover mechanisms of aging and develop ways to promote healthy brain aging across the lifespan. On April 30 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm at the Obermann Center, Dr. Matt...

Reflections on the First Iowa Humanities Festival

Reflections on the First Iowa Humanities Festival by Jennifer Shook: On Saturday, March 9, 2013, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies co-hosted the inaugural Iowa Humanities Festival (IHF) with Salisbury House and Gardens in Des Moines. I was one of more than 150 Iowans in attendance. Participants included National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Jim Leach, Iowa Representative Helen Miller...

Translating Whitman

“Poets to Come” in Five Languages: Ed Folsom has spent his career deciphering the works of Walt Whitman. After decades of reading and re-reading the quintessential American author, Folsom has had some unexpected new insights into his work by reading translations from German, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Polish. In June 2011, Folsom, who is the Carver Professor in the Department of...

MOOCs: History, Hype, and Reality slideshow

MOOCS—History, Hype, and Reality: In February, UI Vice President for Research Dan Reed kicked off the Obermann Afternoons series with a talk detailing the history of so-called massive open online courses and their futures. Here are the slides from his talk.

Recent Events

Political Activism Panel - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium promotional image

Political Activism Panel - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium

Saturday, September 23, 2023 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Iowa City Public Library

Panel #2: Political Activism

Travers (Simon Fraser University): “Trans Participation in Sport: The Fight to Include Us in Public Life” Douglas Hartmann (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities): "Documenting and Rethinking the Impact of Protest through Sport: The Case of WNBA Activism in the 2020 Georgia Senate Race" Jason Kido Lopez (University of Wisconsin, Madison): "Constructing Crisis in Women’s Sports: Outkick’s 'Anti-Woke' Sports Media Brand"

There will be a break from noon to 1 p.m.

...
Athletes and Resistance Panel - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium promotional image

Athletes and Resistance Panel - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium

Saturday, September 23, 2023 10:30am to 12:00pm
Iowa City Public Library

Panel #3: Athletes and Resistance

Adrian Burgos (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign): "In Clemente's Wake: Afro-Latino Ballplayers and the Quest for Respect"

Noah Cohan (Washington University, St. Louis): “Raising a Glass Helmet: How Black Athletes and Artists Resist Football’s Head Gear”

Jaime Schultz (Penn State University): "Consumed: On Women, Distance Running, Disordered Eating, and Illness Narratives"

Moderated by Glenn Houlihan, a PhD student in American...

Publishing Fair and Reception - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium promotional image

Publishing Fair and Reception - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium

Friday, September 22, 2023 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building

In addition to snacks and drinks, this informal reception will include booths from university presses that publish work on sport.

This event is a part of the Sports, Power, and Resistance: Legacies and Futures Obermann Arts and Humanities Symposium. 

Free and open to all.

'I Was Raised on this Sport: Football and Female Expertise' Keynote Address - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium promotional image

'I Was Raised on this Sport: Football and Female Expertise' Keynote Address - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium

Friday, September 22, 2023 2:30pm to 4:00pm
Stanley Museum of Art

How can the history of activism in sports help us understand the dynamics shaping conflicts today? How might labor relations in sport be imagined differently? How does the structure of sporting entertainment provide opportunities and obstacles to activism, and how can activists navigate these challenges?

As fans flock to sports arenas to cheer for their favorite teams, these spaces are simultaneously important societal battlegrounds. From acts of political protest by players to legislative...

Imagining Belonging Panel - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium promotional image

Imagining Belonging Panel - Sports, Power, and Resistance Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium

Friday, September 22, 2023 10:15am to 1:00pm
Iowa City Public Library

Welcomes and Panel #1: Imagining Belonging

Michael Butterworth (University of Texas, Austin): "The Team That United a City: On Sports Documentaries and the Rhetorical Construction of Unity" Theresa Runstedtler (American University): "Black vs. White Ball: Race and the 1974 NBA Finals" Ashley Brown (University of Wisconsin, Madison): “A Patriot’s Game: Tennis, Physical Fitness, and ‘Good Citizenship’ during World War II” Abraham Kahn (University of Arkansas): “Sundays and Saturdays: Brian...
Ready, Set, Flow: How to Make the Most of Your Writing Time This Fall promotional image

Ready, Set, Flow: How to Make the Most of Your Writing Time This Fall

Friday, September 22, 2023 10:00am to 4:00pm
Virtual

The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies & the Office of the Vice President for Research present Ready, Set, Flow: How to Make the Most of Your Writing Time This Fall, a daylong online writing retreat for faculty, academic staff, and graduate students across the UI, led by Michelle Boyd, PhD, of InkWell Academic Writing Retreats.

This full-day online writing retreat offers an opportunity to set up your fall writing plans. You'll learn how to quickly clarify what needs to be done, what to do...