The Book Ends: Obermann Book Completion Workshop 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 senior scholars ($500 for each). We will also ask one University of Iowa senior faculty member to participate.

The Obermann Center welcomes the opportunity to support activities and events that further our mission—promoting research and creative work, facilitating publicly engaged art and scholarship, and building intellectual community. University of Iowa faculty members may request small, discretionary grants (up to $400) to fund opportunities such as visiting speakers and conferences.

Each year, the Counterpoint series features the most recent recipient of the Obermann Interdisciplinary Achievement Award, which recognizes a University of Iowa faculty member for fostering collaboration across academic fields and institutional units. The honoree is joined by creative and research collaborators from other disciplines for a public conversation exploring their shared work. Held in the beautiful Voxman Recital Hall, each event opens with a short artistic program inspired by the theme of the discussion. Counterpoint events are free and open to all.

This program connects University of Iowa faculty and graduate student researchers with university press editors. Every year, the Obermann Center brings an accomplished editor from a scholarly press to campus for a short residency that includes workshops and presentations.The workshops support faculty and graduate students from disciplines in which publishing a monograph is expected. The Editor-in-Residence program also aims to emphasize the crucial role that publishing professionals play in academia. 

This program is funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research's Writing for the Public Good P3 initiative.

Each spring, 20 participants enjoy a week of quiet productivity apart from the distractions of campus at the beautiful North Ridge Pavilion in Coralville. Daily catered lunches will provide an opportunity for exchange and discussion with other writers across campus. Each day includes structured blocks for writing, breaks, small-group check-ins, and activities crafted to spark creativity and foster well-being. 

End-of-Year Writing Retreats are open to University of Iowa artists, scholars, and researchers working on any kind of writing project.

This program is funded by the P3 Writing for the Public Good Initiative.

The Obermann Interdisciplinary Achievement Award recognizes individuals or teams whose trajectories have engaged diverse disciplines to produce insights that would be unattainable within a single academic silo. These scholars cultivate collaborative work, fostering dialogue across academic fields and institutional units. Their research or creative work engages with foundational questions that resonate across society. By recognizing interdisciplinary excellence, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies reaffirms its commitment to nurturing a scholarly environment where creativity and collaboration flourish.

One award will be given every academic year to a single faculty member or a research group.

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 are intended to result in an important scholarly or creative work.

Each collaborator is awarded $3,000 in research funding for a 2-week residency.

In Spring 2025, the Obermann Center expanded its residential fellowship program to attract international scholars to the UI campus. The Center now offers eight fellowships per academic year to active researchers at accredited institutions of higher learning outside of the United States. 

Obermann International Fellowships (OIF) can last a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of one UI academic semester. The Obermann Center will facilitate opportunities for the international fellows to engage with faculty and students to develop intellectual collaborations.

In the spirit of Laura Spelman Rockefeller's commitments and the focus of the Foundation that honored her, the Obermann Center uses Spelman Rockefeller funds to support artists, scholars, and researchers whose work focuses on the well-being and education of children and families. We are currently using these funds to support Obermann Working Groups, Small Important Projects, and Interdisciplinary Research Grant teams whose projects fit these funding priorities. 

The Obermann Symposium is an opportunity for UI scholars to explore an important topic using an interdisciplinary lens. Co-directors invite national and international speakers who provide an interdisciplinary response to the theme, and also highlight the work of UI and local experts. The symposium often includes an arts component, as well as opportunities to share pedagogical approaches.

Recent symposia have explored rurality research at the University of Iowa; the contested terrain of sports as a political force; and the influence of disability on and in the arts and political and economic life.

This is an award of up to $15,000, including significant staff support.

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 explore new work and to share their own research, to organize a symposium, and to develop grant proposals. 

This program allows participants from across the campus and beyond to explore complex issues at a moment when cross-disciplinary collaboration is crucial to address shifting domains of knowledge and a rapidly changing world.

For each gathering in the Wide Lens series, researchers, scholars, and artists from across the university briefly present their work on a shared topic of interest PechaKucha–style. Then, we open the floor to questions and conviviality over hors d'oeuvres and drinks. Series events are free and open to all.

The Obermann Writing Collective offers accountability to artists, scholars, and researchers working on any kind of writing project (articles, essays, fellowship or grant applications, book projects, edited volumes, etc.) who want dedicated time, a cozy space, and a community for the practice of writing.

Groups of 10-15 writers meet in our Writers' Attic 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 academic community.