CLAS awards three Marcus Bach Fellowships for Graduate Students in the Humanities

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Three College of Liberal Arts & Sciences students have received 2017-18 Marcus Bach Fellowships for Graduate Students in the Humanities, awarded by CLAS to support the completion of an MFA project or doctoral dissertation. The fellowship’s goal is to foster intercultural communication and/or the understanding of diverse philosophies and religious perspectives.

The Marcus Bach Fellowships are made possible by a bequest from the estate of Dr. Marcus Bach. Dr. Bach received a doctorate from The University of Iowa in 1942 in Speech and Dramatic Arts (now the Department of Communication Studies and the Department of Theatre Arts).

The award is for the Fall 2017 semester, and includes:
• $9,000 Salary
• $675 Fringe Benefits
• $1,010 Tuition Scholarship for up to 2 s.h. credit
• $49 (25% of mandatory fees)

The award recipients are below:

  • Jing-Fu Jeffrey Chiou (Music)
    Dissertation: "Using Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching to Cultivate a Classical Performing Musician’s Professional Mindset"
  • Erica Damman (Interdisciplinary PhD Program, Environmental Humanities)
    Dissertation: "Playing within the Trouble: Critical Art Games and Environmental Thought"
  • Aldrin Tinashe Magaya (History)
    Dissertation: "Christianity, Culture and the African Experience in Marange: 1932-1960"

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.