News from Obermann Center for Advanced Studies

ISSUE #17 | Spring 2022

Events & Deadlines

The following events are either sponsored or co-sponsored by the Obermann Center or highlight work close to that of our mission.

Jan. 18 - March 2 - Let Me Be Myself, an exhibit that connects Anne Frank's life story with the present and personalizes the fate of the millions persecuted during WWII, on display at the UI Old Capitol Museum (part of the Anne Frank Tree: Taking Root in Iowa event series)

Jan. 26 - A Conversation about Reimagining the Intro to Graduate Studies Course in the Humanities

Feb. 1 - Book Ends information session

Feb. 2 - Reproductive Justice: An Obermann Conversation

Feb. 4 - Information session for Summer '22 Humanities for the Public Good internships

Feb. 4 - Starting & Sustaining a Writing Group — A Get It Done Workshop with Naomi Greyser

Feb. 7 - What Do We Mean by Research Now? Collaborative Approaches to Understanding Memory and Minds (11:00-12:00 CST)

Feb. 11 - Visions of Beirut, a virtual book talk hosted by the Obermann Global Media Studies Working Group

Feb. 15 - APPLICATION DEADLINE - 2022-23 Book Ends Book Completion Workshop

Feb. 21 - APPLICATION DEADLINE - Summer 2022 Humanities for the Public Good internships

Feb. 28 - SUBMISSION DEADLINE - Iowa Youth Writing Project Anne Frank Sapling Prize, a contest for junior high and high school students (part of the Anne Frank Tree: Taking Root in Iowa event series)

From Our Director

This past year, I was honored to be one of the consultants in a Design Workshop for a New Academy funded by the Henry Luce Foundation and organized by the American Council of Learned Societies. Teams from six universities spent several months developing practical solutions to strengthen the humanities and social sciences. The discussions focused on 1) expanding what counts for tenure and promotion, 2) retaining diverse scholars and valuing diverse modes of scholarship, including new approaches to the dissertation, and 3) creating a new hub for scholarly exchange. What could we at the University of Iowa learn from these rich discussions and action plans?

Register to attend the February 10, 2022, 3:00-4:30 CST session, “Change or Be Changed: Designing Solutions for Challenges Facing the Humanities and Social Sciences” to hear the teams' recommendations to “help humanistic studies thrive.” It might just be the new year’s inspiration you need.

With all good wishes for the coming semester,

Teresa

HPG Intern Creates History with Brokaw Press Passes

In 2016, journalist Tom Brokaw donated his papers to The University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections and Archives. Among the notes and drafts for several of Brokaw's books, letters, photographs, and awards was a large knotted collection of press passes. Last summer, Andrew W. Mellon HPG intern Patrick Johnson (Journalism & Mass Communication) turned those passes into a content-rich website intended as a teaching tool for college and high school educators.

Press Pass Access with Tom Brokaw: History Through the Eyes of a Journalist places 150 of Brokaw's passes on a timeline that begins with Brokaw's early years as a journalist in Nebraska and South Dakota in the 1960s and extends to major events of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. A former high school journalism teacher who counts Brokaw as one of his major professional heroes, Johnson tells us that the project was a unique opportunity to hone his professional skills in the name of something he deeply cares about.

Statement from Obermann's Jewish Studies Working Group

Many of us passed an anxious Saturday on January 15, 2022, as an armed man took several Jewish worshippers hostage during a Shabbat service in Colleyville, TX. We are relieved that the hostages emerged safely, even as we recognize the larger pattern of harm done by such incidents.

The Jewish Studies Network (International Programs) and the Jewish Studies Working Group (Obermann) at the University of Iowa are committed to teaching, research, and creative production as means of combating antisemitism and creating a more just and equitable world for all. We invite members of the UI and the broader community to tap the many opportunities for education about Jewish life, history, and culture, as well as antisemitism and other forms of bias.

Members of the University community wishing to process these or other incidents further may also wish to tap these additional resources:

Students interested in Jewish Studies classes can check out spring course offerings, many of which have openings. We invite members of the campus and broader communities to participate in the many events surrounding the planting of the Anne Frank tree this semester.

Reproductive Justice the Topic of Feb. 2 Obermann Conversation

In the fight surrounding Roe v. Wade, it's easy to lose sight of the many other ways that access to reproductive healthcare can be limited or denied. On Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m., two Obermann scholars, Lina-Maria Murillo and Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz, will talk with local healthcare providers and researchers to provide a fuller landscape of reproductive justice in the Midwest. The conversation brings to life the chapter Murillo and Fixmer-Oraiz wrote and published last year, "Reproductive Justice in the Heartland: Mothering, Maternal Care, and Race in Twenty-First Century Iowa,” in the collection Maternal Theory: The Essential Readings (ed. Andrea O’Reilly. Ontario: Demeter Press, 2021).

Featured speakers:

Lastascia Coleman, nurse-midwife, UIHC
Nicole Novak, research faculty, College of Public Health
Meagan Thompson, nurse-midwife, UIHC

Watch Murillo & Fixmer-Oraiz talk about writing their article in tandem during the pandemic:

Lina-Maria Murillo & Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz Discuss Work of 2020-21 Obermann Working Group

Applications Open for 2022 HPG Summer Internships

One of the cornerstones of the Humanities for the Public Good graduate degree will be experiential learning. With the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the University of Iowa Graduate College, along with the help of our Graduate Summer Intern Fellow and our internship hosts, we’re asking what the “applied humanities” might look like.

Among this summer's nine internship sites, we're excited to offer two outside of Iowa City—one in Washington, DC with the UI Office of Federal Relations and another in South Bend, IN with the Civil Rights Heritage Center. Interns spend eight weeks working with a partner on projects that support the organization's work and hone the interns' skills.

Summer 2022 internship sites:

The Civil Rights Heritage Center
Open Heartland
University of Iowa Office of Federal Relations
Iowa City Area Business Partnership
Public Space One
University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist
Multicultural Development Center of Iowa
University of Iowa Labor Center
University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections & Archives

LEARN MORE & APPLY

ATTEND INFO SESSION

What Do We Mean by Research Now? Collaborative Approaches to Understanding Memory and Mind

How do scientists gather and sustain teams to understand infinitely complex mysteries—in this case, memory and the mind? And how are our departments, colleges, and disciplinary organizations adapting to the need for such deeply interdisciplinary teams?

Join us on February 7, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. as a group of University of Iowa researchers from neuroscience, microbiology, and internal medicine share their process, challenges, and suggestions for the future of research.

Panelists:

Ted Abel, Professor, Chair, and DEO of Neuroscience and Pharmacology
Josalyn Cho, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine)
Nandakumar Narayanan, Associate Professor of Neurology
Stanley Perlman, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Professor of Pediatrics
Moderator: Teresa Mangum, Director of the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies