Fellows-in-Residence

Obermann Center Fellows-in-Residence fully devote themselves to projects within an interdisciplinary community. The program supports artists, researchers, and scholars during periods when focus and feedback are crucial. The program is rooted in our mission: to support the work of individual scholars, while also providing them with the opportunity to enrich a single, discipline-specific project through interdisciplinary exchanges with a lively intellectual community of Fellows.

Shanna Greene Benjamin, English (Grinnell College)—Benjamin revised the introduction to her book, HALF IN SHADOW: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF NELLIE Y. MCKAY, after gathering feedback from fellow Obermann residents. She also traveled to the NEH’s regional application workshop and had a productive discussion about her NEH fellowship application with program officer Daniel Sack.

Charles Connerly, Urban & Regional Planning (CLAS)—Connerly completed two chapters of a book manuscript, PRAIRIE STATE SUSTAINABILITY: IOWA’S ENVIRONMENTAL, COMMUNITY, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE CHALLENGES. In addition, he co-wrote “Planning for Floods at the University of Iowa: A Challenge for Resilience and Sustainability” with Lucie Laurian and Jim Throgmorton, a case study of the 2008 Iowa-Cedar River floods. The article was published in the May 2016 issue of the JOURNAL OF PLANNING HISTORY.

Kathleen Diffley, English (CLAS)—Diffley completed a chapter of and drafted a prospectus for her book manuscript, THE FATEFUL LIGHTNING, which explores the way the Civil War was told in a 19th-century magazine culture shaped by market concerns. In addition, she took an archival research trip, organized and chaired a roundtable for a national convention, and delivered an invited conference paper.

Carrie Hough, Anthropology (Augustana College)—Hough completed data analysis for an ethnographic research project on American mothers and their decisions about their return to work and parenting. She also began work on an article about the intersections of employment and infant feeding for new mothers.

Kathy Lavezzo, English (CLAS)—Lavezzo completed a book manuscript, THE ACCOMMODATED JEW: ENGLISH ANTISEMITISM FROM BEDE TO MILTON, now in production with Cornell University Press. She also began work on a digital project, “Mapping Jews and Christians in Medieval and Renaissance England” and completed an essay for A NEW COMPANION TO CHAUCER, forthcoming from Wiley-Blackwell.

Johna Leddy, Chemistry (CLAS)—Leddy completed and submitted a book manuscript, a book chapter, and a paper. She also wrote and submitted multiple research and funding proposals, as well as developed a model to characterize common ion exchange polymer, which has been previously overlooked in electrochemical systems research.

Kristine Muñoz, Spanish & Portuguese (CLAS)—Muñoz revised several chapters of a book manuscript on relationships across cultures and submitted the book proposal to a publisher. She also revised two related articles and submitted them to journals, developed a Spring 2017 course for Spanish majors, and learned how to extend that course into a public digital humanities project, “Revisioning Medellín,” to serve as a pedagogical and research resource for a wider audience.

Renee Perelmutter, Slavic Languages & Literature (University of Kansas)—Perelmutter drafted a portion of a scholarly monograph, completed and submitted two academic articles, submitted multiple grant applications and conference proposals, and hosted a senior colleague who was sponsored by the Obermann Center.

Ana Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Spanish & Portuguese (CLAS)—Rodríguez-Rodríguez designed and reoriented her next book, incorporating feedback from fellow Obermann scholars. She wrote a draft of a new book chapter and developed two presentations: one on DON QUIXOTE and one on Spain’s Early Modern empire in the Pacific.