Hi, Reid! You’re the new program coordinator at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies (OCAS). Can you explain your role? 

Hi! Certainly. It’s a blend of responsibilities, but mostly communications support. I help with interviews, social media, outreach, and recordkeeping. I’m also learning from the Obermann staff—Jenna, Erin, Amy, and Luis—how an organism like OCAS supports research and intellectual life inside and outside the University of Iowa. Their combined experience and skill set can be a little dazzling, and the work feels special. Not every school has something like the Obermann Center on campus, dedicated to sharing resources, building networks, and thinking about the best ways to make things happen.

Any favorite experiences so far?

Over the summer, I conducted interviews with this summer's Interdisciplinary Research Grant teams. I’m so grateful for the time those researchers gave me. I was able to see the immense resources we have right beneath our feet at Iowa and how little it takes for really valuable outcomes to surface. Each conversation made me want to switch disciplines.

When will those interviews appear?

Throughout fall 2026. Stay tuned!

And what about you? How did you come to Iowa? What’s your own relationship to interdisciplinarity?

I came to Iowa City from Arizona. As an undergraduate, I studied linguistics and English literature, two very different ways of thinking about words. I think part of coming here was an attempt to reconcile the two fields for myself. I first completed an MFA in literary translation, and I’m now finishing a PhD in English. My current research is in 19^th-century literature and intellectual history, but my first loves were semantics and sociolinguistics, the “how” of meaning-making. I think I’ll always approach the world that way.

How’s the dissertation coming?

Could I get some water, please?

Favorite thing about Iowa City?

Running into friends and acquaintances so frequently—it’s healthy, I think. The obligation to acknowledge one another.