Major Sponsors
Obermann Center for Advanced Studies
The UI’s Obermann Center for Advanced Studies serves the research mission of the University of Iowa. The Center is a convening space dedicated to debate and discovery. Its grants for University of Iowa artists and researchers support imaginative collaborations and multi-disciplinary exploration. Its programming connects scholars across campus and engages the larger public in the ambitious, illuminating, and transformative work of the artists and scholars it serves.
The purpose of the annual Obermann Humanities Symposium is to explore an important humanities topic that highlights UI scholars and scholarship and includes both UI and visiting participants. Recent symposia have explored the role of the humanities in understanding and communicating the new age known as the Anthropocene, celebrating and forming a cohesive vision for the study of Latinos in the Midwest, and an examination of Don Quixote as one of literature’s most famous exemplars of parody and plagiarism.
Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professorships Program
The Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professorships Program was established in 1978–79 with the income from a bequest to the University by the late Ida Cordelia Beam of Vinton.
Past visits by distinguished teachers and scholars from the United States and abroad greatly enrich our instructional and research programs. The Ida Cordelia Beam visiting professorships are a source of intellectual stimulation for students and faculty and provide an opportunity to bring new perspectives in knowledge and teaching to our campus.
Arts and Humanities Initiative Program
The group has received an AHI grant via the UI Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR). The OVPR supports and advances research, scholarship, and creative activity on the University of Iowa campus. Through a broad variety of activities and services, the OVPR seeks to play an important role in the underpinning of these creative activities in the public and private sectors in our region.
Valued Site Partners
University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art
The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art welcomes the University of Iowa community, all Iowans, and the world to discover and enjoy extraordinary works of art, explore new ideas, and cultivate new insights into history, culture, and the act of creation. The Museum creates diverse communities around its collections by fostering creative connections across the university, the state, and the world. Through the wise stewardship and dynamic presentation of the collections in its care, the Stanley Museum encourages transformative encounters with works of art and contemplation of the human story.
Iowa City FilmScene
FilmScene is member-supported, mission-driven independent cinema that shows more than 300 feature films every year, in addition to presenting filmmaker dialogues, panel discussions, and community events.
Iowa City Public Library
The Iowa City Public Library is a center of community life that connects people of all ages with information, engages them with the world of ideas and with each other, and enriches the community by supporting learning, promoting literacy, and encouraging creativity.
University of Iowa Libraries
The University of Iowa Libraries is the largest library system in Iowa and 7th in materials expenditures among U.S. public research libraries (ARL FY17 data). The University’s Main Library, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, 5 branch libraries, and the Law Library contain more than 5 million volumes.
Generous Supporters
GENEROUS SUPPORTERS
University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Established in 1924, The University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication has long been recognized as a leader in journalism education. The School has produced thousands of distinguished graduates, and some have gone on to win Pulitzer Prizes, Peabody Awards, and Emmy Awards.
The undergraduate program prepares students for dynamic careers in many traditional and new fields—working in media industries, or in other industries but within communications, and as entrepreneurs.
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication offers a Master’s in Journalism and Mass Communication, a Master's in Strategic Communication and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication. Each emphasizes individualized inquiry into communication phenomena in a lively intellectual environment. A competitively small program sizes permit students and faculty to work closer together as a community of learners.
University of Iowa Department of American Studies
The Department of American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of U.S.-American culture and society. American Studies students engage in interdisciplinary inquiry and practice the art of analyzing cultural materials in light of historical change, social justice and socio-cultural identities, communications media, and the operations of power across transnational, domestic/national and community contexts. Students acquire skills for analyzing cultural materials in such areas as the visual and literary arts; race, ethnicity and gender/sexuality in mass media and popular culture; the cultural study of sport and identity; technology and culture; public memory; faith communities and the institutions of the secular state.
Faculty in American Studies specialize in a wide variety of interdisciplinary topics, including gender/sexuality and affect in American cultural life; Latin-American and border studies; Comparative American Studies; race, gender, media and the globalization of sport; the history of leisure and tourism; Native American and Indigenous studies; community engaged scholarship; Animal Studies; Food Studies; American music; American humor; publicly engaged and digital humanities; environmental justice; and, more generally, capitalist cultures and coloniality (the dynamics of empire) in U.S. social and historical development.
University of Iowa Department of Gender, Women's, & Sexuality Studies
University of Iowa Department of Gender, Women's, & Sexuality Studies
The Women's Studies Program was established at The University of Iowa in 1974 and is one of the first programs in the United States. Our initial strength in joint appointments in the social sciences made the program unique within an interdisciplinary field most often drawn from the humanities. Our recent appointments give us strength in both social sciences and the humanities and enable us to continue to develop the breadth of interdisciplinary strength we believe to be the cornerstone of a strong gender, women's and sexuality studies program. Certainly, the interdisciplinary nature of the program evokes strong support from faculty and students who consider themselves part of the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies community even though their ties are informal and their rewards intrinsic.
Comm Studies
University of Iowa Department of Communication Studies
The mission of the Department of Communication Studies is to explore the central role that communication and media play in shaping our relationships, institutions, and societies. Our department teaches skills that prepare students for a variety of workplace settings and to serve as innovative scholars, engaged citizens, and visionary leaders in their communities.
The unique composition of Iowa’s department, which spans the humanities and social sciences, is rare compared to other institutions in the U.S., which means our students graduate with a rich understanding of the ways that communication matters. They enter the professional world with the tools necessary to identify what is at stake in communication encounters that range from interpersonal exchanges and conflict resolution to media messaging and political speeches. This nuanced understanding of communication, which is often taken for granted, uniquely positions our students to have a positive and productive impact on their relationships, workplaces, and the world.
Sociology
University of Iowa Department of Sociology & Criminology
Iowa is one of only a few integrated sociology and criminology departments at R-1 institutions in the nation; this supports our strong focus on race, gender, ethnic, and class aspects of criminology, and allows our students to blend coursework and training in these areas seamlessly.
The Department of Sociology and Criminology offers our students the opportunity to ask essential questions about the societies in which we live and participate in research with nationally renowned faculty on a host of topics. Our students develop strong theoretical foundations that combine with broad methodological training to develop the skills that lead to successful professional and academic careers; and our culture is characterized by a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
University of Iowa Department of Cinematic Arts
University of Iowa Department of Cinematic Arts
The Department of Cinematic Arts approaches film from a critical and creative perspective, in relation to the other arts, and within an international and interdisciplinary frame. It provides students with the critical tools necessary for the theoretical and historical analysis of cinema as well as the creative skills required for the production of film, video, and digital media. The department offers undergraduate degrees in cinema and screenwriting, as well as graduate degrees in film studies and film and video production.
University of Iowa Department of History
University of Iowa Department of History
The Department of History sees its mission as serving students, the State of Iowa, and the public sphere more broadly. Because of the geographical breadth of its courses, UI History students develop a global consciousness that helps them to navigate the streets (and the news) from Iowa City to Berlin to Nairobi. Employers value history students’ ability to analyze human and social behavior, to research pressing problems, and to express themselves clearly. And graduates of the UI History department occupy prominent positions in government, private industry, journalism, law, entertainment, education, the non-profit sector, and more.
University of Iowa Department of Intercollegiate Athletics
University of Iowa Department of Intercollegiate Athletics
The mission of the University of Iowa Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is to provide the administrative and coaching support, facilities, resources, and equipment necessary for student-athletes to graduate from the University of Iowa while competing successfully in broad-based championship-caliber athletic competition.