Thursday, February 7, 2019

While we tend to assume one attends graduate school in the humanities to become a professor, deep immersion in anthropology, art, history, literature, philosophy, and other cultural disciplines is excellent preparation for all kinds of workplaces--especially when content is enhanced by competencies sought by a variety of employers. In fall 2018, the University of Iowa received a four-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the Obermann Center’s creation of a degree in the Graduate College for people who are open to flexible futures. We look forward to collaborating with humanities departments, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of Library Science, the Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio, and other units on campus to prepare students for diverse careers in the non-profit sector, public policy, government, libraries, cultural administration, technology, publishing, and institutional education and research.

Humanities for the Public Good will explore benefits of campus-community partnerships, team-taught courses, and funded summer internships and externships. The grant includes funding for postdoctoral fellows, graduate interns, faculty development opportunities, visiting scholars, travel to conferences, and co-learning opportunities for students, staff, faculty members, alumni, and community partners. 

The Obermann Center is seeking to fill two positions to help support our work on this grant:

  • 2019-20 Graduate Research Assistant 

    • Percentage appointment: 50%, 20 hours/week from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020

    • Formal title:  Project Management and Research Assistant

    • Under the supervision of the Director of the Obermann Center, who is the Principal Investigator on the project, the ideal candidate will be an outstanding scholar-teacher who is interested in conducting and sharing research on the larger ecosystem of the humanities and diverse careers for humanities scholars and learning the skills necessary to be a successful project director as well as scholar. The graduate assistant will work closely with the HPG Advisory Committee to learn about innovative programs across the country and to interview our own Ph.D. alumni to learn about their careers. We also seek a graduate assistant with strong skills in communication and in digital tools for documenting and sharing our discoveries in creative multi-media formats. The director and staff of the Obermann Center will provide mentoring, and the graduate assistant will work closely with a postdoctoral fellow. This is a 50% fiscal year appointment that will run from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.

    • Review of applications begins March 5, 2019. Learn more:  https://uihumanitiesforthepublicgood.com/19-20-graduate-research-assistant/

  • 2019-21 Postdoctoral Fellow

    • This two-year residency will begin on August 12, 2019, and is a 12-month appointment each of the two years. The position is funded through the generosity of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is part of a four-year initiative to create a new humanities degree, Humanities for the Public Good: An Integrative, Collaborative, Practice-Based Humanities PhD (HPG).

    • The purpose of the grant is to create a degree in the Graduate College in collaboration with humanities departments that choose to participate. The goal is to prepare students for diverse careers, specifically in the non-profit sector, public policy, government, libraries, cultural administration, technology, publishing, and institutional education and research. The program will explore benefits of campus-community partnerships, team-taught courses, and funded summer internships and externships. The Postdoctoral Scholar will be the lead project manager, working in close collaboration with faculty, staff, and graduate student members of the HPG Advisory Committee and with the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies under the supervision of the director of the Obermann Center and P.I. on the grant, Teresa Mangum. This position offers an opportunity to develop topnotch skills as an academic leader and administrator while also continuing to grow as a scholar and researcher.

    • Review of applications begins March 5, 2019.  Learn more:  https://uihumanitiesforthepublicgood.com/opportunities/19-21-postdoctoral-scholar/