Obermann Staff

Teresa Mangum

Director
(she/her)

(she/her)
A Professor in the Departments of Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies and English and Affiliate Faculty with the Public Policy Center, Teresa Mangum was appointed as Director of the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies in 2010. She is the author of Married, Middle-brow, and Militant: Sarah Grand and the New Woman Novel (1998); editor of A Cultural History of Women: Volume 5: The Age of Empire, 1800–1920 (Berg 2013); and guest editor of special issues of Philological Quarterly, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Victorian Periodicals Review, and the Journal of Aging Studies. With Anne Valk of Brown University, she co-edits the book series Humanities and Public Life for the University of Iowa Press.

Click Teresa's name to view her full bio and CV.

Esther Claudio

2022-23 Mellon Sawyer Seminar Postdoctoral Scholar
(she/her)

319-335-4034

Esther Claudio received her Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her book project, Walking the page, reframing history: Urban comics and the right to the city, analyzes how global sociopolitical dynamics manifest itself in the local use of urban space and how individuals and communities resist, challenge and redesign segregation, gentrification, and the criminalization of racial categorizations in their experience of the city. She organized the First International Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels in Spain (Universidad de Alcalá, 2011), she co-created the www.comicsgrid.com and she is proud to be part of the editorial board of Studies in Comics and CuCo: Cuadernos de Cómics.

Erin Hackathorn

Operations Director
(she/her)

erin-hackathorn@uiowa.edu

319-335-4034

In her role as Director of Operations, Erin Hackathorn handles the financial aspects of the center, Teresa Mangum's calendar, and operational issues at the center. She served as the Administrative Services Coordinator for the English Department for seven years. She is an active reader and vegetarian cook. A graduate of the University of Iowa, she lives in Oxford and enjoys spoiling her nephew.

Jenna Hammerich

Communications Specialist
(she/her)

jenna-hammerich@uiowa.edu

319-335-4034

Jenna Hammerich assists with Obermann's web presence and communications. Previously she served as Deputy Managing Editor of The Iowa Review and as a writer for the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She has an MFA in nonfiction writing and an MA in English literature. She lives on a blueberry farm near Iowa City with her husband, daughter, and llamas.

Jennifer New

Associate Director
(she/her)

jennifer-new@uiowa.edu

319-335-4034

Jennifer New oversees the Center's communications and plays a major role in facilitating the programs, community engagement, and event planning. An accomplished writer, she is the author of three books, Dan Eldon: Safari as a Way of Life (Chronicle Books, 2011) being the most recent. She has curated several exhibits and co-directed two short documentaries. Jennifer is a lifelong student of yoga and teaches locally.

Jacqueline Wahl

ICRU Research Assistant
(she/her)

jacqueline-wahl@uiowa.edu

319-335-4034

Jacqueline Wahl is currently studying English with minors in Cinema; Philosophy; Health Equity; and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. Outside of her studies, she is the event manager for the English Society, a nonfiction editor for earthwords: the undergraduate literary review, an English ambassador, and a member of the Bijou Film Board. On any given day, she's either tucked away in the library reading, rowing with the Hawkeye Community Rowing team, or at Film Scene watching a movie.