At the Obermann Center, we’re in the privileged position of seeing projects through stages from the earliest ambitions to exploratory conversations to what I have come to see as “snapshot” moments—an initial presentation at the Obermann Fellows biweekly seminar, a reimagined syllabus, that first grant application, a sudden meeting of minds at a campus-community conversation, the eureka moment when collaborators connect, the instant students in our graduate institute recognize kindred spirits.
We hope you’ll support Obermann because…
Obermann offers the impetus and the resources for people from across campus to come together to explore and create.
Andrew W. Mellon Sawyer Seminar: The Manuscript Across Premodern Eurasia
During the 2016–17 academic year, a core group of University of Iowa faculty and graduate students worked to map cultural exchanges across Eurasia from roughly 400 CE ca. 1450 CE, by focusing on the development, distribution, and sharing of manuscript technologies.
Humanities Symposium: German Iowa and the Global Midwest
This year’s Obermann Humanities Symposium explored Iowa’s multicultural history through the largest group of European origin to settle in the state, with a slate of public lectures, exhibits, performances, & conferences.
Fellows-in-Residence
From book projects to major grant proposals, our Fellows-in-Residence were busy!
Digital Bridges for Humanistic Inquiry: A Grinnell College and University of Iowa Partnership
The Obermann Center is an active partner in this grant, generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant supports collaboration between the two institutions with a special emphasis on creative teaching with technology.
Summer Seminar: BAM
Paul Dilley, Sarah Bond, and 12 visiting scholars converged to explore and visualize ancient texts in new ways.
Interdisciplinary Research Grants
Brazilian carnival, network analytics, cochlear implants, and Big Ten diversity programs were all underway at Obermann in Summer 2016.