Humanities for the Public Good: An Integrative, Collaborative, Practice-Based Humanities PhD is a new program focused on creating cross-disciplinary opportunities for humanities graduate students
interested in a range of careers.
Welcome to this extra edition of the
HPG Newsletter for April 2020.
 This issue serves as a brief check-in to offer timely
insights, notices, reminders, and resources.
Pandemic Insights with Lydia Maunz, Lindsay Mattock, and Aiden Bettine
The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies asked its community of scholars and artists to reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of their research. Lydia Maunz, HPG advisory board member and PhD candidate in English, shares her work on women's writing about grief and dying during WWI and how their work illuminates our own period of being disconnected from death. Lydia is a former Obermann Graduate Fellow and is a current member of the Humanities for the Public Good Advisory Board.

Lindsay Mattock, an Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Science, and Aiden Bettine, a PhD candidate in History and an MA candidate in the School of Library and Information Science, discuss the LGBTQ community archives they have been researching, including troves of information that was saved at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Lindsay is a current member of the Humanities for the Public Good Advisory Board, and Aiden was the first graduate research assistant for the grant. Click below to watch their video interviews with Obermann Associate Director Jennifer New, who is also part of the HPG team.
Mental Health Virtual Panel Discussions:
Coping in the Time of COVID-19
Coping in the time of COVID-19 is an uncharted, life-changing task for everyone, and it can make caring for our own mental health and the mental health of those around us a challenge. Join the University of Iowa's virtual Panel Discussion TODAY to learn about resources and strategies for coping with COVID-19.

Students (12:00-1:15 PM CST): UIOWA.ZOOM.US/J/98325033953
Faculty/Staff (1:30-2:45 PM CST): UIOWA.ZOOM.US/J/99144926236
Meet Dominic Dongilli:
HPG's New Graduate
Research Assistant
Arriving at the University of Iowa in Fall 2018 to begin his graduate studies, Dominic Dongilli knew that he wanted to participate in his new community in multiple ways. It was not going to be only about the library and classes. With that intention in mind, he applied for the new Humanities for the Public Good (HPG) advisory board last spring. 
HPG Advisory Board Applications Due May 1
The HPG Advisory Committee serves as a kind of humanities lab, actively and collaboratively developing a cross-disciplinary, experiential humanities Ph.D. The committee will work with the P.I. and postdoctoral fellows in small working groups to conduct research into diverse career initiatives at other universities, study critiques of humanities graduate education, envision possible structures and partnerships for cross-disciplinary humanities collaborations, attend HPG events, and consult with UI alumni and other graduates of PhD programs in a range of careers. The group will also provide feedback for plans and proposals each year. Advisory Board members each receive a $3,000 stipend for their commitment. Join us 1) in considering how this unique degree can thoughtfully collaborate with and bolster existing Ph.D. programs on campus and 2) in asking "what do we need from humanities graduate education for the future?"

To accommodate the shifting terrain that the novel coronavirus presents, the application due date has been extended to May 1, 2020.
UI Libraries Update: Emergency Access to Copyrighted Books
Until normal access to physical collections resumes, students, faculty, and staff at the University of Iowa have online access to a large portion of the University Libraries’ print collection—volumes that would have been difficult to access from library facilities that are closed due to COVID-19. Reading access to digitized copies of print volumes has been granted to the UI by HathiTrust, a not-for-profit, collaborative digital library that holds over 17 million volumes digitized from academic and research libraries. Any books available through HathiTrust that are also in the UI Libraries’ collections will be available online without the additional step of requesting a digital scan.
Graduate Seminar: Media, Activism, and Social Change
Melissa Tully, senior research fellow in the Media, Policy, and Public Opinion Research Program and associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will be teaching a graduate seminar in Fall 2020, exploring the myriad ways that people and organizations use media as tools for civic engagement, activism, and political participation, as well as how the media portrays activism, activists, and movements.
Coping with COVID-19
Data gathered from the April 2020 newsletter poll.

Was this email forwarded to you?

Want to stay up to date with HPG news?