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Historians’ expertise is employed not just in the classroom or between hardcovers, but in a wide array of venues.
UI historians have collaborated or consulted on museum exhibits, documentaries, podcasts, and artistic productions. Here are some examples:
Museums
Hyperallergic
Sarah E. Bond works closely with a range of museums for her work with Hyperallergic. Professor Bond extensively covers exhibitions focused on the ancient world with a focus on digital colonialism.
Disability History Museum
Doug Baynton is an academic advisor to the Disability History Museum, an online exhibit which aims to foster a deeper understanding about how changing cultural values, notions of identity, laws and policies have shaped and influenced the experience of people with disabilities, their families and their communities over time.
Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City
Colin Gordon provided the text and images for Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City; a travelling exhibit of the Missouri Historical Society based on the book of the same title.
Offshore Energy Center (OEC)
Tyler Priest works with the Offshore Energy Center (OEC) in Houston, Texas to nominate and elect pioneers in offshore oil industry to the OEC’s offshore “Hall of Fame.” The OEC is an industry-supported non-profit that owns and manages the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Museum and Education Center in Galveston, Texas.
Artistic productions
Cross-Examined
Leslie Schwalm collaborated with University of Iowa MFA student and playwright Margot Connolly on the script for Cross-Examined, a play about two Iowa mothers—Charlotta Smith, a former slave, and Mary Jane Dove, the wife of a respected minister—determined in 1874 to end the unconstitutional exclusion of black children from Keokuk, Iowa’s public schools.
My Daughters Are My Writings
Jim Giblin, and students in his Spring 2018 “Seminar in Oral Histories” class collaborated with University of Iowa MFA student and playwright Margot Connolly on My Daughters Are My Writings, a play based on oral histories of seven Iowa City residents from Sudan.
Journalism, documentaries, and podcasts
"What Were The Very First Olympics Like? with Professors Sarah E. Bond and Joel Christensen" - Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
Sarah E. Bond was featured on Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. Professors Sarah E. Bond and Joel Christensen join Jonathan to discuss these early athletic competitions and what they reveal about ancient Greek and Roman politics, religions, gender roles, and more. (July 20, 2021).
"Would I Have Been The Toast Of The Ancient Mediterranean? with Dr. Sarah E. Bond" - Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
Sarah E. Bond was featured on Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. Associate Professor of History at the University of Iowa Dr. Sarah E. Bond speaks with Jonathan about ancient Egyptians who loved beer, ancient Greeks who sipped the night away at symposia, and ancient Romans who went bar hopping. There’s truly so much to imbibe here, and thankfully, knowledge pairs well with whatever you’re already drinking. (October 6, 2020).
"What Elizabeth Warren Learned from Frances Perkins" - The Atlantic
Landon Storrs was interviewed by journalist Susannah Jacob for her article, "What Elizabeth Warren Learned from Frances Perkins," The Atlantic (October 2019).
"100 Years of Women Voting" - The Gazette: Life in Eastern Iowa magazine
For a feature on the University of Iowa's commemoration of the 19th Amendment centennial, including a series of lectures, events and the "Rapid Response History" class in Spring 2020, Landon Storrs was interviewed for an article in Gazette: Life in Eastern Iowa magazine (March 29, 2020).
"The Iowa Labor History Oral Project: History From The Ground Up" - Iowa Public Radio’s River to River
John McKerley and Shelton Stromquist were guest speakers on Iowa Public Radio’s River to River in September 2019: "The Iowa Labor History Oral Project: History From The Ground Up". Their conversation highlights six individuals from the collection whose stories, when put together, help tell Iowa's labor history.
"The Doll Houses of St. Louis" - 99 Percent Invisible
Colin Gordon worked with the producers of 99 Percent Invisible, on the episode The Doll Houses of St. Louis, which examines the politics and history of residential vacancies on the north side of St. Louis.
"Becoming Helen Keller" - PBS
Doug Baynton was a consultant and on-air commentator for an award-winning PBS documentary, Through Deaf Eyes and for the NPR broadcast, Beyond Affliction: The Disability History Project. He is currently an advisor for a PBS documentary film biography in development, Becoming Helen Keller.
"Gain A Husband, Lose a Country" - BackStory
A hundred years ago, if an American woman married a foreign man, then the woman lost her U.S. citizenship and took on the nationality of her husband. In Gain a Husband, Lose a Country, Nathan Connolly of BackStory talks with Linda Kerber about the 1907 Expatriation Act, which turned this long-established custom into law. Professor Kerber’s research on this topic was also featured on the NPR CodeSwitch episode That Time American Women Lost Their Citizenship Because They Married Foreigners.
"Episode 4: The Progressive Era" - One Nation/Every Vote
The late 19th century saw a movement to root out political corruption and enhance the power of the individual voter. It also saw the start of the largest decline in voter turnout in the country's history. Shelton Stromquist explains how this happened in this One Nation/Every Vote podcast.
"Trump vs. the ‘Deep State’: How the Administration’s loyalists are quietly reshaping American governance" - The New Yorker
The research of Landon Storrs was featured in the New Yorker story, Evan Osnos, Trump vs. the ‘Deep State’: How the Administration’s loyalists are quietly reshaping American governance (May 21, 2018).
"Rising Antisemitism" & "Decriminalizing Sex Work" - KCRG Ethical Perspectives on the News
Lisa Heineman has spoken on rising antisemitism (March 2019) and the decriminalization of sex work (September 2015) on the KCRG newsmagazine “Ethical Perspectives on the News.”
The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen, November 8, 2017
Lisa Heineman was a guest on Arnie Arneson’s “The Attitude” (WNHN, New Hampshire) discussing her work on the erotica empire of Beate Uhse (November 2017).
Public engagement in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The University of Iowa’s core mission extends beyond the classrooms, laboratories, studios, and libraries where we educate students, conduct our research, and create new artistic work. Equally important is our engagement with communities throughout Iowa, across the nation, and around the world.
Our faculty, students, and staff work to solve problems, imagine new approaches to challenges, and improve quality of life, often through service-learning courses in which students earn academic credit.
It’s a virtuous circle: When UI expertise is harnessed to help a community or region improve the lives of its residents, the experience adds unique educational value to students’ academic journeys, and advances the research and creative production of our faculty. In turn, that new knowledge empowers us to help more communities, solve more problems, and improve more lives.
The UI is not just the University of Iowa, we're the University for Iowa—and throughout the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, we are proud to serve.