Faculty and scholars from across the University of Iowa gathered for the annual Humanities Award Showcase, co-hosted by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, the Office of the Vice President of Research (OVPR), and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). Now in its third year, the event celebrated the accomplishments of humanities faculty and explored best practices for applying for and winning grants and fellowships.
Kevin Kregel, executive vice president and provost, welcomed guests and noted that as ‘The Writing University,’ Iowa’s humanities impact extends beyond CLAS to programs across the university, including in the Tippie College of Business, the College of Engineering, the Carver College of Medicine, and the new Office of Writing and Communication.
“It is important; critical, even, that the humanities stay front and center in our creative discovery and scholarly pursuits across campus, and that we acknowledge the expertise right here in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,” Kregel said.
The showcase was organized by the External Awards and Recognition Office and hosted by Roland Racevskis, associate dean for the arts and humanities in CLAS, and Joshua Weiner, associate dean for research in CLAS. The two moderated a panel discussion of accomplished CLAS humanities award recipients*:
Kaveh Akbar, director of the English and Creative Writing Major and professor in the Department of English
Guggenheim Fellowship for exceptional creative ability in the arts
Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship: an international residency for writers and artists
Paul Dilley, DEO and professor in the Department of Religious Studies
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Digital Humanities Advancement Grant (2023-2025) for Communicating Revealed Texts: Best Practices for Born-Digital Editions Using Enhanced Imaging
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Burkhardt Fellowship for Recently Tenured Scholars, awarded for advanced humanities research
Melissa Febos, director of the Nonfiction Writing Program and professor in the Department of English
Guggenheim Fellowship for exceptional creative ability in the arts
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship for creative writing
Colin Gordon, DEO and professor in the Department of History
NEH Fellowship (2021–2022) for research on Dividing the City: Race-Restrictive Covenants and the Architecture of Segregation, including a digital humanities companion project
Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar Fellowship (2022–2023) for research in social science and public policy history
Donika Kelly, associate professor in the Department of English
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship for creative writing
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry (2022) for The Renunciations
Luis Martín-Estudillo, director of the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese
NEH Research Fellowship for Spanish Culture and the Rise of Euroskepticism, 1939–2013, which led to his book The Rise of Euroskepticism: Europe and Its Critics in Spanish Culture (2018)
NEH Fellowships Open Book Award (2020) for The Rise of Euroskepticism, enabling its publication as a free e-book
A theme of the afternoon’s discussion was the panel’s advice to volunteer to read applications for awards: “Instead of apply, apply, apply; review, review, review,” Martín-Estudillo said. “You learn a lot by being on the other side of the process.”
Panelists also encouraged attendees to seek mentors or trusted friends in the field to offer advice, and to lean on the resources available within CLAS and the broader university. Kristy Nabhan-Warren, professor in the Department of Religious Studies and associate vice president for research in the OVPR, stressed the availability of internal funding for Humanities projects with the Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI) program, which awards $165,000 of internal funding for individual projects, major conferences, and major research and creative projects.
“With our AHI awards, as well as our $65,000 of internal end-of-project subvention grants we partner with CLAS on, we have ample funding available to distribute within CLAS,” she said. “We want to see that zeroed out every year. The more internal funding we distribute, the more visible we are to external entities who also have funding opportunities.”
*The humanities awards listed for each panelist are illustrative, not exhaustive. They represent examples of the types of awards these panelists have experience with and could provide guidance on, rather than a complete record of all their achievements.