Humanities Without Walls

Humanities Without Walls

HWW logoThe Obermann Center represents the University of Iowa as one of 15 research universities that are part of a $3,000,000 award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Humanities Without Walls consortium uses the power of humanities centers to leverage the strengths of multiple distinctive campuses with the goal of creating new avenues for collaborative research, teaching, and the production of scholarship in the humanities.

Led initially by Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Director and Principal Investigator Dianne Harris—and now led by IPRH Interim Director Antoinette Burton—the grant funds two initiatives. First, summer workshops will serve pre-doctoral students in the humanities considering careers outside the academy. Second, cross-institutional teams of faculty and graduate students are pursuing research that focuses on a grand challenge: “The Global Midwest.” Their collaborative research positions the past and present Midwest as a shaping force of global economies and cultures.

During the summer of 2014, the Obermann Center provided $17,000 in seed grants to help the following three groups organize toward a formal HWW grant application:

Scholars Connecting with American Indian Communities and Tribes

Project leaders: Jacki Rand (History, CLAS, University of Iowa) and Erica Prussing (Anthropology, CLAS, University of Iowa)

Global Midwest through Animal Lives

Project leaders: Kim Marra (Theatre Arts and American Studies, CLAS, University of Iowa), Mary Trachsel (Rhetoric, CLAS, University of Iowa), and Jane Desmond (Anthropology, University of Illinois)

Midwestern Voices, Midwestern Vision: Transmedia Storytelling as Civic Discourse

Project leader: Charles Connerly (Urban & Regional Planning, Graduate College, University of Iowa)

In this first competition, two of our faculty members are in consortium projects that were awarded funding:

Kim Marra (Theatre Arts and American Studies, CLAS)

Christine Shea (Spanish & Portuguese, CLAS)

We offer them a hearty congratulations on their success!

Learn more about Obermann’s involvement with Humanities Without Walls here.

Learn more about the nationwide Humanities Without Walls initiative here.