Rethinking Introductory Graduate Courses
A Humanities for the Public Good Update
|
During the past several years, nearly 100 faculty, staff, and graduate students have been part of the transformational work of Humanities for the Public Good, a Mellon Foundation-funded program. Together, we developed an appreciation for the value of incremental changes. Through a series of HPG course mini-grants, we invited faculty to find discipline-appropriate ways to integrate HPG values and practices, asking each awardee: How can we prepare students to use humanistic methods and mindsets and a commitment to social justice to position themselves for success in diverse careers?” Many faculty members who took advantage of the mini-grants were rethinking introduction to graduate studies courses in their departments.
|
Jennifer New, who has been with the Obermann Center for twelve years, and had also worked at the Center for two years when it was at the old Oakdale campus, is leaving her position next week. Jennifer has started her own company, Hypha, which offers communications and program facilitation for community-facing organizations that want to increase collaboration and resilience. Related to this work, she is taking a short-term appointment with the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities as a Community Engagement Specialist.
Jennifer’s innumerable talents as a facilitator, communicator, interviewer, listener, author, advocate, organizer, and so much more have been shaping forces at the Obermann Center. We know that any of you who have had the immense pleasure of working with Jennifer will join all of us at the Obermann Center in sharing our deepest gratitude and our warmest good wishes as she starts this next chapter in her professional life.
|
Apply to Direct an Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium
We've overhauled this longtime program. We think you'll like the changes!
|
Is there a burning topic in your discipline or a topic that cuts across disciplines that we should bring to campus? Is there a format for the conversation that can energize an intellectual community around that topic? Propose a day-long or half-day imaginative, cross-disciplinary symposium that engages campus and community. As director of an Obermann Arts and Humanities Symposium, you can bring up to six invited speakers to campus while also highlighting the work of UI and local experts. As we reaffirm our commitment to inclusive practices, the embrace of diverse voices and intentionally equitable design will be especially valued in proposals.
|
Equitable Access Grant to Attend November's National Humanities Alliance Annual Conference
|
The National Humanities Alliance and the Federation of State Humanities Councils host an invaluable annual conference for scholars interested in publicly engaged arts and research. Want to attend this year’s Nov. 10-13 conference in Los Angeles? Apply for an Equitable Access grant here by September 30.
|
|
New Book One of Multiple Outcomes from Obermann Programs |
It's been a decade since two Obermann programs focused on the theme of Latinos in the Midwest took place. The 2012-13 Humanities Symposium and the 2013 Summer Seminar brought together leading scholars who focus on Latinx history, culture, and placemaking in the Midwest. Claire Fox (English and Latina/o/x Studies) was one of the co-directors of both programs, and became co-PI on a Humanities Without Walls (HWW) Grand Challenge grant that grew from those initial meetings. It is safe to say that the two Obermann programs, with speakers from across major midwestern universities, laid the groundwork for the inter-institutional work that was at the heart of the three-year (2017-19) HWW project. Now, Fox is co-editor of a new book produced from the HWW grant, Building Sustainable Worlds: Latinx Placemaking in the Midwest (University of Illinois Press). She also has a chapter, "Radical Hospitality in a Small Town," which focuses on Hampton, IA, and the unconditional welcome offered by La Luz Hispana, a Latinx community center.
Applications for HWW's current Grand Research Challenge grant are due November 15. The grant encourages partnerships with community organizations, minority serving institutions, community colleges, and other HWW consortium universities.
|
Morehouse's Corrie Claiborne Shares Project |
One of the benefits of the Obermann Center’s membership in the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) is participation in communities like the Public Humanities Network. Recently, our director, Teresa Mangum, one of the network organizers, moderated a session featuring Professor Corrie Claiborne of Morehouse University and her Mellon-funded Movement, Memory, and Justice Project. Claiborne received a Mellon “Humanities for All Times” award, designed to “support newly developed curricula that both instruct students in methods of humanities practice and clearly demonstrate those methods’ relevance to broader social justice pursuits.”
|
Awards, Accomplishments, & Other Happy News |
-
Michaela Hoenicke-Moore (HPG Advisory Board) published a chapter, "Containing the Multitudes: Nationalism and U.S. Foreign Policy Ideas at the Grassroots Level," in Ideology in U.S. Foreign Relations (Columbia UP, 2022).
-
E Cram (Book Ends) received the New Investigator Award from the Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division of the National Communication Association.
|
|
