The Obermann Center's Advisory Board has proven to be a valuable sounding board and source of ideas and advice. Members serve three-year terms and meet once per month. The charge of the Advisory Board is to make recommendations to the Vice President for Research and the Director of the Obermann Center on major matters of policy regarding the mission and direction of the Center; to advise the Vice President and Director how the Center can best serve the research and creative needs of the faculty of the University; to advise the Vice President and the Director on programs and projects at the Center; to assist in the review of proposals for Center grants; and to help publicize opportunities available at the Center.
Members of the 2022–23 Advisory Board:
Jennifer Buckley
Jennifer Buckley is an associate professor in English. She teaches, researches, and writes about modern and contemporary drama, theater, performance art, and media in Europe, the UK, and the US.
Mary Beth Easley
Mary Beth Easley is Associate Professor of Directing, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts, and Head of Directing. She focuses on new play development, intercultural theatre expression, and outreach to under-represented urban and rural communities, where she utilizes devised theatre as a means to deepen awareness and foment change.
Claire Fox
Claire F. Fox is Professor in the Departments of English and Spanish & Portuguese. Her interests include literary and cultural studies of the Americas, Latina/o American literature and culture, Mexican and U.S.-Mexican border arts and culture, visual culture, and cultural policy.
Cory Gundlach
Cory Gundlach is Curator of African Art at the UI Stanley Museum of Art.
Amanda Haertling Thein
Amanda Haertling Thein is Associate Provost for Graduate and Professional Education and Dean of the Graduate College, as well as a professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture in the College of Education.
Brandi Janssen
Brandi Janssen is Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational & Environmental Health. As director of Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (I-CASH), she oversees a statewide coalition of public and private organizations devoted to reducing injuries and fatalities on farms. As a researcher, she examines local food production in Iowa to better understand how to develop food systems that are environmentally sustainable, accessible to consumers, and profitable for farmers.
Kristy Nabhan-Warren
Kristy Nabhan-Warren is an Associate Vice President for Research in the Office of the Vice President for Research. She is also Professor and V.O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Chair in Catholic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, and a professor in the Department of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. She is committed to making scholarship meaningful to non-academics as well as academics, and prides herself on writing for a wide audience. She embraces a Humanities for the Public Good approach to her research, writing, and dissemination of information.
Maurine Neiman
Maurine Neiman is Professor in the departments of Biology and Gender, Women's, & Sexuality Studies, as well as Provost Faculty Fellow for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Her research interests include biological diversity and the simultaneous operation of adaptive and non-adaptive evolutionary processes within organisms, populations, and lineages.
Roland Racevskis (ex-officio)
Roland Racevskis oversees programs in the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In his role as Associate Dean, he directs faculty recruitment as well as faculty reviews. He also collaborates with the other Associate Deans to implement the CLAS strategic plan as it pertains to the Arts and Humanities. Racevskis seeks opportunities to learn more about faculty scholarship and teaching and to support high-impact creative and scholarly activities in the college. He is also a professor in the Department of French & Italian.
Victor Ray
Victor Ray is F. Wendell Miller Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology & Criminology and African American Studies, as well as Director of Graduate Studies in African American Studies. His research applies critical race theory to classic sociological questions to show how race shapes social processes typically considered race-neutral, such as organizational policy. He is also an active public scholar, publishing commentary in outlets such as The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Boston Review. Ray's work has been funded by the Ford Foundation and the National Science Foundation, among others.
Stephen Warren
Stephen Warren is Professor in the History Department and the Chair of the American Studies Department. As both a teacher and a scholar, Warren emphasizes that the past is never safely historical. In the classes he teaches, he asks his students to view academic research with a fresh perspective; as avenues for serving the world rather than knowledge that is peculiar and limited to the college classroom.