Seventeen UI graduate students have been selected as Obermann Graduate Fellows and will participate in the 2014 Obermann Graduate Institute. The Institute is a highly competitive program for graduate students across the University who are interested in developing publicly engaged dimensions for research, arts, and teaching. The weeklong Institute (January 13-January 17, 2014) includes opportunities for students to think deeply about the evolution of engagement in higher education and practical applications to their own work. Each Fellow imagines and plans a project that combines an aspect of his or her research or teaching with a community partner.
This year's Institute is co-directed by Carolyn Colvin (Language, Literacy, & Culture, Education) and Barbara Eckstein (English, CLAS) with support from Senior Fellow Jake Kurczek (Neuroscience, Graduate College). The 2014 Graduate Fellows include students from a wide-range of disciplines including printmaking, management, and nursing. A full list of the Graduate Fellows can be found below.
Each year, the Institute spends part of one day at a site visit where they learn more about effective partnerships between academic researchers and community-based organizations. This year's site visit will be at Shelter House and will focus, in part, on the work of several UI graduate students and College of Education professor Will Liu, director of the Counseling Psychology program, who has a longstanding relationship with Shelter House. In addition, panels throughout the week will feature UI faculty and graduate students involved in publicly engaged work, as well as presentations that speak to the issues of assessment, funding, and career paths outside of research universities.
2014 Graduate Fellows
- Tala Al-Rousan, Epidemiology, College of Public Health
- Gabe Baker, History, CLAS
- Janice Byrd, Counselor Education, College of Education
- Noaquia Callahan, History, CLAS
- Bethany Cockburn, Management & Organizations, Business
- Brian Collins, Philosophy, CLAS
- Gemma Goodale-Sussen, English, CLAS
- Emily Kroska, Psychology, CLAS
- Kathrina Litchfield, Library & Information Science, Graduate College
- Nicole Loew, Nursing
- Michael Overholt, Classics, CLAS
- Ellen Schafer, Community & Behavioral Health, College of Public Health
- Heather Seibel, Art Education, College of Education
- Veronica Smith, Art & Art History, CLAS
- Mark Sulzer, Language, Literacy, & Culture, College of Education
- Corinne Teed, Art & Art History, CLAS
- Gloria Wenman, Urban & Regional Planning, Graduate College