Book Ends supports University of Iowa faculty from disciplines in which publishing a monograph is required for tenure and promotion. The award is designed to assist faculty members in turning promising manuscripts into important, field-changing, published books. Read more about the program.Interested applicants are invited to learn more about the program and application process at a virtual information session on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. Obermann Center Director Luis Martín...

For this workshop, 4–5 UI faculty members will submit book proposal drafts for a collaborative feedback session on November 5 led by Sara Jo Cohen, the Obermann Center's 2025 Editor-in-Residence. The session is designed to help authors write a compelling book proposal, with a focus on crafting a strong pitch, identifying target audiences, and outlining the project’s structure. The workshop’s goal is for participants to walk away with a strong and cohesive book proposal, increasing their chance...

UI faculty, students, and staff are invited to apply for a 20-30–minute editorial consultation with the Obermann Center's 2025 Editor-in-Residence, Sara Jo Cohen, at the Obermann Center library on Monday, November 3, 2025.Potential discussion topics could include finding an editor, pitching a book, writing a book proposal, how the publishing process works, etc. Applications are due October 13 by 5:00 p.m.Learn more and apply at https://obermann.uiowa.edu/obermann-editor-residence.Cohen is...

UI graduate students at all stages are invited to join Editor Cohen for breakfast and a talk focused on turning an article, thesis, or dissertation into a book. The session will take place on Tuesday, November 4, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Obermann Center library.Register by October 21, 5:00 p.m. Learn more and register at https://obermann.uiowa.edu/obermann-editor-residence.Cohen is Editorial Director at University of Michigan Press, where she acquires titles in music, theater and...

Publishing a scholarly book is not a solitary act of authorship, but a collaborative process in which scholars work with a team of editors. Scholars don’t just submit manuscripts; they engage in sustained dialogue with editors who help to shape, refine, and position their work. Far from being gatekeepers, acquisition editors are collaborators, advocates, and stewards of knowledge. Their work is especially critical as they align the intellectual ambitions of scholars with the practical demands of...

This seminar will cover fundamental concepts of proposal planning and writing for the Arts and Humanities faculty backed by concrete tips and operational strategies that support planning and longer-term sustainability.Planning and Writing Successful Grant Proposals in the Creative Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities SeminarThe Research Development Office is hosting an in person grant writing seminar, Planning and Writing Successful Grant Proposals in the Creative Arts, Social Sciences, and...

Directed by Brian R. Farrell, Daria Fisher Page, and Ryan T. Sakoda (UI College of Law), Cultivating Rurality: Building Community around Rural Research will bring together scholars, community leaders, and professionals who work with rural populations and in rural spaces. During the symposium, attendees will be invited to collaborate in theorizing rurality, share how it impacts their work, examine how rurality is represented and celebrated, and problem-solve challenges faced by rural communities...

Directed by Brian R. Farrell, Daria Fisher Page, and Ryan T. Sakoda (UI College of Law), Cultivating Rurality: Building Community around Rural Research will bring together scholars, community leaders, and professionals who work with rural populations and in rural spaces. During the symposium, attendees will be invited to collaborate in theorizing rurality, share how it impacts their work, examine how rurality is represented and celebrated, and problem-solve challenges faced by rural communities...

This new Obermann Center program offers modest yet swift support for those portions of research and creative endeavors by UI scholars that are important toward advancing a project but do not have enough funding from other sources. We will grant ten awards of $500 or less per academic year. Note that funds need to be spent by June 30 of each year.Eligibility: Open to all University of Iowa faculty and staff researchersGraduate students: Note that the Graduate College offers Small Grants for the...

Professor Emerita Niño-Murcia will discuss big and small ways in which language politics generate and perpetuate North American inequalities.

This lecture traces Professor Trachsel's studies on cross-species communication from analyses of ape language research in the early 2000’s to investigation of other interspecies language types, such as horse whispering and the telepathy professed by animal communicators. Her current research on human-wild animal relationships has entailed wolf-tracking in Yellowstone, a “women and wolves” workshop in the Boundary Waters, observation of feral horses out west, and visits to wildlife "encounter"...

The internet mews, barks, growls, and hisses with alleged evidence of cross-species attachment. These stories — from Genesis to Victorian animal painter Edwin Landseer’s narrative paintings to the latest videos and memes — entice audiences with the promise that we can bridge and bond across species difference. But they also document what it costs animals for humans to be near them.  ~ Sponsored by the Emeritus Faculty Council and the Office of the Provost ~

This talk will give an overview of three research initiatives that use VR technology. First, a series of studies that used large screen pedestrian and bicycling simulators to examine how two people coordinate their decisions and actions when crossing a stream of traffic. The studies reveal the powerful influence that others have on how we make consequential decisions in performing routine but potentially dangerous activities. Second, a series of studies looking at how mobile technology can help...

This lecture will detail our 38-year journey toward the restoration of vision for people blinded by inherited retinal disease. Edwin M. Stone, MD, PhD, is Professor of Ophthalmology. Director of the Iowa Institute for Vision Research, and the Seamans-Hauser Chair of Molecular Ophthalmology. ~ Sponsored by the Emeritus Faculty Council and the Office of the Provost ~

Bruce Tomblin, PhD Professor Emeritus, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Language is often viewed as one of the signal attributes of humans. It is a universal property of humans that is acquired easily during early childhood with no formal instruction. During this time some children are more adept at language learning than others. These individual differences in language development have the potential of affecting children’s well-being. This talk will provide an overview of a...

Leslie uses the social and cultural history of Civil War medicine and science to probe the question of how and why anti-Black racism survived the destruction of slavery. Leslie's talk will describe how white Northerners—the U.S. Sanitary Commission and Army medical personnel—conducted wartime research aimed at proving Black medical and biological inferiority. She argues that this research not only led to the mistreatment of Black soldiers and civilians, it also promoted the notion of white...

As Iowa entered the 1960s, it faced issues that reflected the transition from an agricultural, rural state to one that had become majority urban with consequent tensions between its urban and rural communities—tensions that continue to this day. At the same time, Iowa’s food-based economy seemed increasingly out of sync with a national economy driven proportionately less by the consumption of food and more by growing consumer demand for homes, cars, televisions, hi-fis, and clothes—items that...