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November 23, 2024
Football Hawkeye Huddle: Maryland
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm (CST)
Where: 3800 Golf Course Road, College Park, MD US 20742

We look forward to seeing you at our Hawkeye Huddle in College Park next week. You can enjoy cash refreshments and snacks, Hawkeye swag and door prizes, Hawkeye DJ, Herky the Hawk, and the Iowa Spirit Squads. We have room for more Hawkeyes to join us. Please share the registration link below with family and friends who are in or traveling to College Park.

Pre-registration is requested. 

Contact: Hawkeye Events 319-467-3410

Departments: Center for Advancement

September 22, 2024 - November 24, 2024
Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop
2:30 pm - 4:15 pm (CDT)
Where: 160 West Burlington Street, Iowa City, IA US 52242

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Fall Semester!

Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece.

Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry. Teen and adult writers in all genres are welcome.

Write at the Stanley meets every fourth Sunday of the month. 

Space is limited, so we encourage you to reserve your spot by clicking the dates below:

Sept. 22 | Alisha Jeddeloh

Oct. 27 | Blueberry Morningsnow

Nov. 24 | David Duer

Contact: Stanley Museum of Art 319-335-1727

Departments: University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, Pentacrest Museums, International Writing Program, The Writing University, Office of the Provost, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Center for Advancement

December 3, 2024
Giving Tuesday!
All Day ()

This Giving Tuesday, join the University of Iowa in making a difference! Support two impactful funds:

  • UI Health Care: Advance medical care, research, and education to improve lives.
  • First Gen Hawks Fund: Empower first-generation students with scholarships, mentorship, and resources to help them succeed.

 

Prefer to give to another program you´re passionate about? You can choose to support any area at the University of Iowa that matters most to you!

Every gift, no matter the size, helps us create brighter futures. Let´s come together as Hawkeyes to make an impact.

Learn more and donate: https://foriowa.info/4fEM1uf

Contact: Katie McCoid (319) 467-3435

Departments: Center for Advancement, Office of the Provost

August 2, 2024 - December 5, 2025
Art & Write Night
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm (CDT)
Where: 39-53 East Jefferson Street, Iowa City, IA US 52240

Join the long, rich, historical tradition of artists creating in our spaces.

Professional, aspiring, and amateur artists alike, make our museum your muse. The return of this popular program series welcomes guests into the Museum of Natural History's magical gallery spaces after-hours to work on sketching or writing projects with other campus and community artists.

Tell a friend, grab a notebook, and join us on the first Friday of each month. We'll provide a new inspo prompt for each session and will sometimes move about the Museum but we'll always start in the Hageboeck Hall of Birds (Bird Hall) on the third Floor of Macbride Hall. Join anytime between 6-8 p.m. and feel free to participate in a themed creation challenge or work on your own project with our exhibits as inspiration. We'll save the last 15-30 minutes of each session to share what we've been working on, connecting with others (optional, of course!).


Please note, the Museum is typically closed during this time, meaning the main entrance to Iowa Hall (atop the large staircase outside on the east side of Macbride Hall) will be closed and locked. All other building doors will be open, offering access to the Ground Floor of Macbride Hall. Bird Hall is located on the third floor of Macbride Hall and can be reached by stairs or by taking the elevator to the third floor and crossing the auditorium to the north side of the building. 

Contact: Carolina Kaufman 319-467-3130

Departments: Pentacrest Museums, Museum of Natural History, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Division of Student Life, Leadership and Engagement, Department of Biology, University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, University Libraries, Department of English

December 7, 2024
Keith Haring's Enduring Legacy | A Conversation with Gil Vazquez and Brad Gooch
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm (CST)
Where: 160 West Burlington Street, Iowa City, IA US 52242

Join us for an engaging conversation featuring Gil Vazquez, Executive Director of the Keith Haring Foundation, and Brad Gooch, acclaimed author of Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring. This insightful discussion will be facilitated by Diana Tuite, curator of the exhibition To My Friends at Horn: Keith Haring in Iowa City.

The conversation will include insights into Keith Haring´s life, work, and activism; the process of writing Haring´s biography; and explore how Haring´s work continues to resonate today.

Contact: Stanley Museum of Art 319-335-1727

Departments: University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, Office of the Provost, Pentacrest Museums, School of Music, The Writing University

September 15, 2024 - December 15, 2024
Drawing Salon with Robert Caputo
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm (CDT)
Where: 160 West Burlington Street, Iowa City, IA US 52242

The Drawing Salon focuses on drawing artworks from the museum's collection. Each session will focus on a different artwork. The sessions will begin with an introduction and discussion of the selected work. Participants will be encouraged to pursue their own visions and to take inspiration from the artworks in the gallery.

Pencils and sketchbooks/paper are the only artmaking materials allowed in the galleries. The museum has golf pencils with erasers and clipboards for participants to use. Stools and benches are available in the galleries.

Robert Caputo, an Iowa City-based painter and sculptor, will lead the Drawing Salons.

The drawing salon is limited to 15 participants. Please reserve your spot by clicking below:

Sept. 15, 2024

Oct. 20, 2024

Nov. 17, 2024

Dec. 15, 2024

Contact: Stanley Museum of Art 319-335-1727

Departments: University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, Pentacrest Museums, Center for Advancement, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

December 21, 2024
Hawkeye Huddle-Iowa Men´s Basketball at Sanford Pentagon
2:30 pm - 4:30 pm (CST)
Where: 2210 W Pentagon Pl, Sioux Falls, SD US 57017

Join your fellow Hawkeyes for a Hawkeye Huddle before the Iowa men´s basketball team takes on Utah at the Sanford Pentagon. Please note: A game ticket will be required to attend the Hawkeye Huddle. 

This Hawkeye Huddle is hosted by the I-Club, in partnership with the Office of Alumni Engagement and the Iowa Swarm Collective.

Pre-registration is requested.

Contact: Iowa Athletics Development 319-467-3410

Departments: Center for Advancement

January 22, 2025
Tippie Webinar: Financing Your Startup
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (CST)

Every entrepreneur knows that cash is king, but how do you get your initial startup funding? Would your business concept attract angel investors, venture funds or should you look at debt financing? Our panel of experts will provide insight into how entrepreneurs can secure funds for their business as well as when you might want to look at your exit strategy. Moderator: Adam Keune, Executive Director, John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center Panelists: Tej Dhawan, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Plains Angels; Adrienne Greenwald (MA15), Managing Principal at VentureNet Iowa, and John Hall (MBA66), founder of Goose Island Brewery.

 

Contact: Barbara Thomas 319-335-2188

Departments: Tippie College of Business, Iowa MBA

February 6, 2025
Provost´s Global Forum: Private Sector and University Partnerships: Pursuing Pathways for Global Collaboration, Learning, Prosperity, and Democracy
2:30 pm - 6:00 pm (CST)
Where: 200 South Capitol Street, Iowa City, IA US 52240

The 2025 Provost´s Global Forum, Private Sector and University Partnerships: Pursuing Pathways for Global Collaboration, Learning, Prosperity, and Democracy, will bring together experts from across the University of Iowa campus, the greater Iowa City area, and around the world to identify and showcase evidence, strategies, approaches, and solutions that form sustainable university private sector partnerships that bring added values to stakeholders of campuses, business, communities, and nation-states.

Experts will convene in Iowa City in early February 2025, for a three-day symposium.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025
Time: 2:30-6 p.m.
Location: International Commons, University Capitol Centre, room 1117

Date: Friday, Feb. 7, 2025
Time: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Location: Tippie College of Business, Pappajohn Business Building, room S401

Date: Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025
Time: 10 a.m.-noon
Location: International Commons, University Capitol Centre, room 1117

RSVP to let organizers know which sessions you´ll attend and help determine the amount of refreshments needed for various breaks and meals.

Highlights of the forum include:

  • Three days of sessions, including a highlight of the currently active Private Sector Partnership to Strengthen Higher Education Activity, the USAID-Kosovo activity between the University of Iowa and Kosovo, which has been instrumental in supporting higher education reform in Kosovo, providing a model for global collaboration.
  • A keynote presentation by Catherine Chong, director of the Office of Industry Engagement at Singapore Management University in Singapore.
  • The 2025 Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture by Dr. Helena Jerregård, deputy vice-chancellor cooperation & vice president at Mälardalen University in Västerås, Sweden.

Universities support society by contributing to discovery and innovation, and offering expertise that produces new insights, solutions, processes, and technologies. Throughout this symposium, presenters will share insights on industry-informed approaches to reforming and creating curriculum that prepares students for the global economy. Additionally, thought leaders in education and business will showcase the strategies the universities around the world use to build and deepen partnerships with companies. Evidence will be provided of the ways university research and expertise can be utilized to support global economic goals in emerging democracies and markets.

This event is made possible through the generous support and financial contributions from the Stanley-University of Iowa Foundation Support Organization, UI International Programs, and UI Tippie College of Business. Activities for the 2025 Provost's Global Forum are hosted in collaboration with the UI College of Education, UI Tippie College of Business, and the Kosova Education Center.

Contact: Daniel Vorwerk 319-467-1619

Departments: International Programs, Office of the Provost, International Studies Program, Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Center for Advancement

February 7, 2025
Provost´s Global Forum: Private Sector and University Partnerships: Pursuing Pathways for Global Collaboration, Learning, Prosperity, and Democracy
10:00 am - 4:30 pm (CST)
Where: 200 South Capitol Street, Iowa City, IA US 52240

The 2025 Provost´s Global Forum, Private Sector and University Partnerships: Pursuing Pathways for Global Collaboration, Learning, Prosperity, and Democracy, will bring together experts from across the University of Iowa campus, the greater Iowa City area, and around the world to identify and showcase evidence, strategies, approaches, and solutions that form sustainable university private sector partnerships that bring added values to stakeholders of campuses, business, communities, and nation-states.

Experts will convene in Iowa City in early February 2025, for a three-day symposium.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025
Time: 2:30-6 p.m.
Location: International Commons, University Capitol Centre, room 1117

Date: Friday, Feb. 7, 2025
Time: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Location: Tippie College of Business, Pappajohn Business Building, room S401

Date: Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025
Time: 10 a.m.-noon
Location: International Commons, University Capitol Centre, room 1117

RSVP to let organizers know which sessions you´ll attend and help determine the amount of refreshments needed for various breaks and meals.

Highlights of the forum include:

  • Three days of sessions, including a highlight of the currently active Private Sector Partnership to Strengthen Higher Education Activity, the USAID-Kosovo activity between the University of Iowa and Kosovo, which has been instrumental in supporting higher education reform in Kosovo, providing a model for global collaboration.
  • A keynote presentation by Catherine Chong, director of the Office of Industry Engagement at Singapore Management University in Singapore.
  • The 2025 Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture by Dr. Helena Jerregård, deputy vice-chancellor cooperation & vice president at Mälardalen University in Västerås, Sweden.

Universities support society by contributing to discovery and innovation, and offering expertise that produces new insights, solutions, processes, and technologies. Throughout this symposium, presenters will share insights on industry-informed approaches to reforming and creating curriculum that prepares students for the global economy. Additionally, thought leaders in education and business will showcase the strategies the universities around the world use to build and deepen partnerships with companies. Evidence will be provided of the ways university research and expertise can be utilized to support global economic goals in emerging democracies and markets.

This event is made possible through the generous support and financial contributions from the Stanley-University of Iowa Foundation Support Organization, UI International Programs, and UI Tippie College of Business. Activities for the 2025 Provost's Global Forum are hosted in collaboration with the UI College of Education, UI Tippie College of Business, and the Kosova Education Center.

Contact: Daniel Vorwerk 319-467-1619

Departments: International Programs, Office of the Provost, International Studies Program, Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Center for Advancement

February 8, 2025
Provost´s Global Forum: Private Sector and University Partnerships: Pursuing Pathways for Global Collaboration, Learning, Prosperity, and Democracy
10:00 am - 12:00 pm (CST)
Where: 200 South Capitol Street, Iowa City, IA US 52240

The 2025 Provost´s Global Forum, Private Sector and University Partnerships: Pursuing Pathways for Global Collaboration, Learning, Prosperity, and Democracy, will bring together experts from across the University of Iowa campus, the greater Iowa City area, and around the world to identify and showcase evidence, strategies, approaches, and solutions that form sustainable university private sector partnerships that bring added values to stakeholders of campuses, business, communities, and nation-states.

Experts will convene in Iowa City in early February 2025, for a three-day symposium.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025
Time: 2:30-6 p.m.
Location: International Commons, University Capitol Centre, room 1117

Date: Friday, Feb. 7, 2025
Time: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Location: Tippie College of Business, Pappajohn Business Building, room S401

Date: Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025
Time: 10 a.m.-noon
Location: International Commons, University Capitol Centre, room 1117

RSVP to let organizers know which sessions you´ll attend and help determine the amount of refreshments needed for various breaks and meals.

Highlights of the forum include:

  • Three days of sessions, including a highlight of the currently active Private Sector Partnership to Strengthen Higher Education Activity, the USAID-Kosovo activity between the University of Iowa and Kosovo, which has been instrumental in supporting higher education reform in Kosovo, providing a model for global collaboration.
  • A keynote presentation by Catherine Chong, director of the Office of Industry Engagement at Singapore Management University in Singapore.
  • The 2025 Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture by Dr. Helena Jerregård, deputy vice-chancellor cooperation & vice president at Mälardalen University in Västerås, Sweden.

Universities support society by contributing to discovery and innovation, and offering expertise that produces new insights, solutions, processes, and technologies. Throughout this symposium, presenters will share insights on industry-informed approaches to reforming and creating curriculum that prepares students for the global economy. Additionally, thought leaders in education and business will showcase the strategies the universities around the world use to build and deepen partnerships with companies. Evidence will be provided of the ways university research and expertise can be utilized to support global economic goals in emerging democracies and markets.

This event is made possible through the generous support and financial contributions from the Stanley-University of Iowa Foundation Support Organization, UI International Programs, and UI Tippie College of Business. Activities for the 2025 Provost's Global Forum are hosted in collaboration with the UI College of Education, UI Tippie College of Business, and the Kosova Education Center.

Contact: Daniel Vorwerk 319-467-1619

Departments: International Programs, Office of the Provost, International Studies Program, Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Center for Advancement

February 15, 2025
Application Deadline: Obermann International Fellowships (Fall 2025)
11:59 pm (CST)

The UI Obermann Center for Advanced studies is currently accepting applications for its new International Fellowships Program, which offers dedicated space, time, and funding for interdisciplinary scholars to collaborate on innovative research at the University of Iowa. Up to eight international fellowships will be granted every academic year. Applicants must be active researchers at an accredited institution of higher learning outside of the United States or independent researchers/artists with a track record of excellence based outside of the U.S. Their area of research must have a direct equivalent at the University of Iowa. 

Obermann International Fellows will receive:

  • A $2,000 stipend to help defray the cost of travel and lodging
  • University of Iowa health insurance coverage for the duration of the fellowship
  • Office space at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies
  • Temporary University of Iowa affiliation, including access to UI libraries
  • Structured opportunities for scholarly exchange (seminars, lectures, introduction to UI researchers, etc.)
  • An official letter of invitation for institutional and visa purposes
  • Information about accommodations and other practical needs

Read more about the program and application process at https://obermann.uiowa.edu/obermann-international-fellowships. Applications for the Fall 2025 semester are due February 15, 2025. 

Obermann International Fellowships are funded by the University of Iowa's Obermann Center for Advanced Studies with generous additional support from International Programs.

Contact: Erin Hackathorn 319-335-4034

Departments: Obermann Center, International Studies Program, International Writing Program, Center for Advancement, Office of the Vice President for Research, Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

March 26, 2025
One Day for Iowa | The University of Iowa's 24-Hour Online Giving Day
All Day ()

Level-up your giving by taking advantage of limited-time matches and unlock opportunities - which can lift your gift by double or more.

Contact: Shaina Spencer 319-335-3305

Departments: Center for Advancement

March 28, 2025
Iowa Symphony Band and Iowa State University Wind Ensemble Concert
7:30 pm (CDT)
Where: 20 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL US 60604

The Iowa Symphony Band will once again appear in one of the finest concert halls in the world when they perform in Orchestra Hall in Chicago. The Symphony Band, under the direction of Director of Bands Mark Heidel, will join the Iowa State University Wind Ensemble under the direction of Director of Bands Michael Golemo to present a unique collaborative performance. 

These ensembles have never collaborated, and the March performance will be a thrilling experience for the performers as well as a proud moment for the State of Iowa. Alongside the 2008 Carnegie Hall concert, the 2025 Orchestra Hall concert will rank among the most noteworthy achievements in the rich history of Iowa Bands.

Contact: UI School of Music 319-335-1603

Departments: Center for Advancement, School of Music

April 4, 2025 - April 6, 2025
Iowa Black Alumni Association Reunion
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm (CDT)
Where: 328 S. Clinton St., Iowa City, IA US 52240

We hope you can join us for the 2025 Iowa Black Alumni Association Reunion!

Check-in begins on Friday, April 4, at noon at the Hilton Garden Inn registration desk where you´ll receive an information packet for the weekend. Check-in will continue throughout Friday as well as Saturday morning. Other than the IBAA/African American Studies Recognition/Awards program at the Iowa City Public Library and a campus tour, all events will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Friday: The IBAA/African American Studies Recognition/Awards program runs from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Iowa City Public Library (Meeting Room A), followed by a Mix & Mingle Variety Performance at the Hilton Garden Inn. If you´d like to showcase your skills at this event, sign up to be a performer.

Saturday: Participate in reunion workshops from 9 a.m. to noon, a campus tour, and the Black & Gold Gala at 6 p.m., which includes a banquet and dance. Venise Berry (77BA, 79MA) will lead a workshop to discuss the nature of racial ideology that has changed in our society. She and filmmaker Steven Berry created a documentary that explores racialism beyond traditional racism. It involves images, ideas, and issues that are produced, distributed, and consumed repetitively and intertextually.

Sunday: Our business brunch meeting begins at 9 a.m. If you´d like to attend a church in the area, we will have a list available during registration. If you wish to attend Bethel A.M.E. Church, you may take a personal tour of the newly renovated church. 

Visit the registration page for more details and the complete schedule.

The hotel´s hospitality room will be open periodically throughout the weekend for registrants. Free Wi-Fi and parking are included with your hotel reservation.

If you have questions, email alumni.engagement@foriowa.org. We look forward to seeing you!

Contact: Vanessa Sandoval 319-467-3515

Departments: Center for Advancement, Multicultural and International Student Support and Engagement, Carver College of Medicine

April 16, 2025
Tippie Webinar - Open for Business: Launching and Growing Your Startup
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (CDT)

Establishing a business provides many challenges - from launch, to expansion, to selling the business or even closing the doors. Our panel of experts will share experiences from their entrepreneurial journeys that will provide insight and ideas for attendees. Moderator: Kurt Heiar (BA83), Associate Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship Panelists: Tom Cardella (MBA95) Founder and CEO of TLCx, Eric Engelmann (BBA97), General Partner at ISA Ventures, Partner at Novy, and Board Chair of the New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative (NewBoCo), and Frances Johnson, Chief Innovation Officer at Perspective Therapeutics.

Contact: Barbara Thomas 319-335-2188

Departments: Tippie College of Business, Undergraduate Program, Graduate Management Programs, Center for Advancement, Graduate Program

May 8, 2025
Eight Over 80 Awards
11:00 am (CDT)

As Hawkeyes, we give back throughout our lives.

We're leaders in our professions. We're generous with our time and talent. We're passionate about things we love - especially anything black and gold. And some Hawkeyes continue to make an impact well beyond retirement.

That's why we are honoring Iowa alumni, age 80 and over, who carry the Hawkeye spirit of achievement and continue to help others.

Nominate a Hawkeye for this award: https://www.foriowa.org/eight-over-80/

Contact: Erin Brokel 319-467-3668

Departments: Center for Advancement, Office of Community Engagement, Office of the Provost

May 8, 2025
Wide Lens: LISTENING
5:30 pm (CDT)
Where: 93 East Burlington Street, Iowa City, IA US 52240

In a world full of noise, we often try listening to something: conversations with colleagues and family, music in our headphones, videos blasting from our smartphones. We hear all these things daily, but what does it mean to truly listen? In what sense do devices also listen to us? What is the role of silence in listening? How has listening changed over time? Can political tensions be solved through "listening"? How is listening both an art and a science? This Wide Lens event brings together researchers from science, social sciences, the humanities, and the arts to investigate what it means to listen deeply and thoughtfully.

Note: The event will take place on Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the Herald Stark Opera Studio at Voxman Music Building. It is tentatively scheduled to begin at 5:30, but this may change. Please check back closer to the event.

Presenters:

  • Gerta Bardhoshi, Counseling (College of Education)
  • Brittany Bettendorf, Rheumatology (Carver College of Medicine)
  • Eric Hunter, Communication Sciences and Disorders (CLAS)
  • Julianna Pacheco, Political Science (CLAS)
  • Damani Phillips, Jazz Studies, School of Music (CLAS)
  • Morten Schlütter, Religious Studies (CLAS)

Hosts: Luis Martín-Estudillo, Director, Obermann Center for Advanced Studies; Roland Racevskis, Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities, CLAS; and Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Associate Vice President for Research in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Free and open to all.

About the series:

The Wide Lens series, a joint initiative of the UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and the Office of the Vice President for Research, aims to inspire and connect the University of Iowa community across the disciplines. For each Wide Lens event, researchers, scholars, and artists from across the university briefly present their work on a shared topic of interest pecha kucha-style. Then, we open the floor to questions and conviviality over hors d'oeuvres and drinks.

Wide Lens is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and the Office of the Vice President for Research. 

Contact: Erin Hackathorn 319-335-4034

Departments: Obermann Center, School of Music, College of Education, Center for Advancement, Office of the Vice President for Research

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The Krause Essay Prize and its $10,000 award is presented annually by a unique panel of judges: UI graduate students. Photo: Tim Schoon/UI Office of Strategic Communication Students in the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program's graduate seminar dug into their weekly reading assignments with particular enthusiasm this past spring?and for good reason. By the end of the semester, they were tasked with selecting the best of the bunch for a prestigious award on behalf of a university known for its literary tradition. This marks the 12th year that nonfiction graduate students served as judges for the newly renamed Krause Essay Prize, a national award presented to an essayist who pushes the boundaries of the genre through experimentation, exploration, and discovery. Thought to be the only national literary honor selected by students, the prize is accompanied by a $10,000 award for the first time this year thanks to a new partnership between the UI Nonfiction Writing Program and the Kyle J. and Sharon Krause Family Foundation. Shawn Wen, winner of the 2018 Krause Essay Prize, is the author of A Twenty Minute Silence Followed by Applause. Her writing has appeared in The New Inquiry, Seneca Review, Iowa Review, White Review, and the anthology City by City: Dispatches from the American Metropolis. This year's Krause Essay Prize recipient is Shawn Wen, a San Francisco-based multimedia artist and the author of A Twenty Minute Silence Followed by Applause (Sarabande Books, 2017), a book-length essay on the life of French mime Marcel Marceau. Wen, whom students selected from a pool of 14 nominees, accepted her award at a ceremony in September in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber. Nicol?s Medina Mora Perez, a third-year MFA student from Mexico City, was among the prize judges in the spring seminar taught by author and Nonfiction Writing Program director John D'Agata (98MFA). Perez said that beyond discussing the merits of the nominated essays each week, class conversations revolved around how they define essay writing and the type of nonfiction they wanted to champion as representatives of the UI. By serving as judges, Perez says, students had the opportunity to read a broad selection of contemporary nonfiction that they may not have otherwise sought out. "By the end of the semester I had a clearer idea of the sort of work that people are publishing today, which includes stuff that I'd like to imitate and stuff that I'd rather not," Perez says. "I guess it's a bit like watching the World Cup with your soccer teammates: You see moves that you think are cool and want to steal for your own gameplay, but you also notice pitfalls that you should learn to avoid." Wen says she's been "over the moon" since learning she was selected as this year's Krause Essay Prize winner. A producer for Youth Radio in Oakland, California, Wen says discovering essay writing "was very much like falling in love" and has long admired the UI's approach to the genre. "When I started writing essays, I felt like all these dusty windows in my brain were opened, letting in light and fresh air," she says. "It's incredibly meaningful to me that my writing has been recognized by this program and its students." D'Agata dreamed up the prize in 2007 as a way to introduce his students to high-caliber essay writing and the many forms it can take. The professor asked colleagues from around the country to recommend their favorite essays from the past year, which he then compiled into a reading list for his seminar. As an added twist, D'Agata noted that submissions could be from any medium?including radio and film?as long as they were "essayistic." To give class discussions a sense of consequence, D'Agata had students evaluate each piece at the end of the semester and select a single award winner. Author Aaron Kunin received the inaugural Essay Prize, as the award was previously known, and it soon became an annual tradition. D'Agata's seminar students spend the semester dissecting the pieces, giving presentations, and writing critiques for the The Essay Review, the Nonfiction Writing Program's national magazine. Over the years, the class has crowned winners as varied as poet?Claudia Rankine, science writer Oliver Sacks, performance artist Sophie Calle, and the producers of Radio Lab. A current group of 14 writers and artists from around the nation serve as the nominating committee, includes luminaries like Roxane Gay, Leslie Jamison (06MFA), and Kiese Laymon. "In the U.S. we do a great job teaching students about the powers and pleasures of reading and writing?poetry and fiction, but not so much with essays," says D'Agata, who in 2016 published an anthology titled The Making of the American Essay. "Essays are often an afterthought in literature classes in America." In 2017, the Kyle J. and Sharon Krause Family Foundation made a $500,000 donation to bolster the endowment of the UI Nonfiction Writing Program?the largest gift in the distinguished program's history. Founded in 1976, the Nonfiction Writing Program, a graduate program within the Department of English, is regularly ranked among the best in the nation and has launched the careers of alumni who have gone on to write for magazines like the New Yorker, Rolling Stone and Harper's. "The Krause Foundation is about giving back and giving forward," says Elliott Krause (14MFA), a Nonfiction Writing Program alumnus who now works at the Wall Street Journal. "Helping fund the Essay Prize is a rare chance to do both. Eleven Krauses and counting have graduated from the University of Iowa; the Krause Essay Prize is a way to both express our gratitude for all Iowa has given us and be a champion for the arts." The support from the Krause family has not only allowed the program to award a cash prize for the first time, but also to invite winners to campus to present their essays and spend time with students and faculty. When Wen visited in late September, she taught a series of master classes for nonfiction students. D'Agata says that the foundation's support further legitimizes the idea of a student-driven award and its importance to the literary world. "It's also helping to bring attention to the entire genre," D'Agata says. "There are a lot of awards out there for works of fiction and poetry, but very few awards for essays. This award is saying, 'essays are awesome.' If you're an essayist, you don't hear that very?often. The Krause Foundation is helping to fix that." Krause Essay Prize Winners The UI Nonfiction Writing Program has awarded a national essay-writing prize annually since 2007. With support from the Kyle J. and Sharon Krause Family Foundation, the award was renamed the Krause Essay Prize this year. For more on the prize, visit krauseessayprize.org. 2018: Shawn Wen, A Twenty Minute Silence Followed by Applause 2017: Peter Middleton and James Spinney, Notes on Blindness 2016: Oliver Sacks, Gratitude 2015: Claudia Rankine, Citizen 2014: Sophie Calle, The Address Book 2013: David Rakoff, Waiting 2012: Lauren Redniss, Radioactive 2011: Judith Schalansky, Atlas of Remote Islands 2010: Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, New Normal? 2009: Mary Ruefle, The Most of It 2008: Joshua Raskin, I Met the Walrus 2007: Aaron Kunin, Secret Architecture

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