Obermann Center for Advanced Studies
Graduate Institute on Public Engagement and the Academy 2015
Co-directed by Barbara Eckstein and Craig Just
With assistance from Senior Fellow, Emily Kroska
Contact information for emergencies:
Barbara: Barbara-eckstein@uiowa.edu
Craig: craig-just@uiowa.edu; 319-430-9745
Emily: emily-kroska@uiowa.edu; 515-491-3647
Obermann Center: 319-335-4034
*Email contact is preferred.
Location:
Except where otherwise noted, all events will be held in 3111 Seamans Center.
Introduction
This document is intended to serve as your guide to the goals, expectations,
readings, and schedule of the 2015 Graduate Institute. The Institute will take
place between Monday, January 12, 2015 and Friday, January 16, 2015. Each year
it is co-directed by two UI faculty members – one a returning director, and the
other a new director. A Senior Fellow from the previous year’s cohort assists
them. The Institute has developed organically over the past eight years, and the
experience of this week is built on the work of these co-directors and students.
The goals for the week are as follows:
1. Surveying the Theoretical Landscape
 Review emerging discussions of present and future relations between
institutions of higher education and sectors of public life—such as public
policy, nonprofit organizations, and local community organizations
 Develop definitions of key terms for engaged research and teaching:
public, community, culture, engagement, scholarship, and education
 Examine models for community-based research and teaching
2. Understanding on-the-ground Challenges
 Consult with community and organizational leaders as well as engaged
scholars/teachers on best practices for collaboration
 Assess the kinds of institutional support that would help academics and
community partners to work together effectively
 Assess the personal and professional skills you have and will need to be
an engaged teacher, scholar, and/or artist
3. Developing Intellectual Projects—Putting Theory into Practice
 Draw upon Institute members to help develop your own engaged
project in light of these goals, whether that project is in its beginning
stages or well-advanced.
 Acknowledging the differences in stages of project development, we
expect you to design a succinct project summary (SPS) in which you
describe your project, clarify goals, identify what you need from the
Institution and the community partners to move project forward, and
outline the benefits to participants and other audiences.
What is public scholarship, and what are we here to learn?
As you’ll discover, there are multiple definitions and terminologies for the kind of
work we’ll be exploring this week. Here’s a three-part definition from the
organization Imagining America that we can take as a starting point. As this
definition suggests, we are not simply interested in teaching, research/artistic
practice, or service; instead, we will be exploring how an active concern for the
public can transform all three.



Public scholarship is scholarly or creative work integral to a faculty
member’s academic area. It is jointly planned, carried out, and
reflected on by co-equal university and community partners. And it
yields one or more public good products.
Subject to three conditions, public scholarship may encompass artistic,
design, historical, and critical work that contributes to public discourse
and the formation of robust rubrics. It may also include disciplinary or
interdisciplinary efforts to advance public engagement in higher
education itself and reflection on research on the import of such
efforts.
Public good products may take diverse and plural forms, including but
not limited to: public fora, performances, exhibitions, installations,
murals or festivals; new K-12 curricula, site designs or plans for
‘cultural corridors,’ and other place-making work; presentations at
academic and non-academic conferences and meetings; oral histories
or ethnographies; individual or co-authored publications; other forms
of writing and publication via various media; and policy
recommendations (“Scholarship in Public: Knowledge Creation and
Tenure Policy in the Engaged University,” Ellison and Eatman,
Imagining America, 2008).
Expectations
Following are the four basic expectations of the Institute. This document and
those on ICON will outline the expectations in more detail.
 Read or view all materials assigned, preferably both in advance of the
January 12th start date, and, in review, the night before their discussion
at the Institute. Readings and other materials are available on ICON, so
be certain that you have access to the site.
 Complete the three “Before the Institute” activities as described on
ICON.
 Be present and active in all Institute sessions the week of January 1216.
 Publicly present your project in a manner that is most useful to your
scholarship and/or project.
Final Project
You were asked to propose a project in your application. We know that some of
you have a project already in progress that you will be honing during the
Institute, while others of you are starting at ground level. Some in the Institute
have done a great deal of engagement work; others are taking more initial steps.
Either of these is a fine place to be!
By Friday, January 16, you should have a succinct (lucid) project summary (SPS)
ready to present to a small group of your peers and Graduate Institute leaders.
We will workshop each other’s succinct project summaries, providing ideas not
only for presentation but for the nuts and bolts of your project (e.g., additional
partners, different methodology). These presentation summaries should be five
minutes or less.
In preparing for the SPS, address the following questions:
 How does your project relate to your scholarship and/or teaching
goals?
 Who are your community partner(s), and how does this project serve
them? (Have they answered this question, or are you answering it?)
 What “public good product” will come from the project?
 What are the practical issues that you need to address, such as funding
or IRB?
 What is the project’s timeline?
We will have access to projectors if you’d like to incorporate technology into your
presentation.
Following the Institute, you will choose one of the following ways to publicly
present your project (though you are, of course, welcome to do more than one):
1. The Jakobsen Conference
 Register to give a presentation (not a poster) at the Jakobsen Graduate
Conference on Saturday XX, 2015. Registration will be open early in
the spring semester. Benefits: You’ll gain public speaking skills and a
conference talk for your CV.
2. Video or other digital media presentation
 Work with Obermann staff or on your own to produce a video of less
than five minutes that responds to the questions outlined above. We
have produced several example videos that you can access from the
Obermann homepage and YouTube channel (Obermann Graduate
Fellow). Benefits: You’ll have a video of your project that you can
share widely with potential partners and advisors.
3. Public presentation to your department or presentation to
potential community partners or with community partners
 If there is a regularly occurring meeting in your department or with
one of your partners, you can present your project to that group. We
ask that you record the session and share a copy with the co-directors.
Benefits: Build bridges within your department or community.
Assignments
All Institute assignments can be found on the ICON page. All are listed below (for
the sake of space and clarity, only the author/creator and an abbreviated title are
included). Please read/view all of them before the Institute, and review them as
you contemplate each day’s discussions and exercises.
Pre-Institute Exercises:
1. The Artifact Exercise
Take Your Work into New Spaces. Landscape historian John
Stilgoe begins his book Outside Lies Magic with an exhortation: “Get out
now. Not just outside, but beyond the trap of the programmed electronic
age so gently closing around so many people at the end of our century. Go
outside, move deliberately, then relax, slow down, and look around. Do not
jog. Do not run…Walk. Saunter…Explore.” Before we immerse ourselves in
the texts and each other’s shared experiences for a week, we want you to
get outside your usual geography, to immerse yourself in a place that is
different and unfamiliar. That might mean taking a walk in an unknown
part of town, exploring a part of O’Hare Airport you’ve never seen before
during a five-hour layover, or attending a place of worship with a friend
outside of your usual practice. You can make this exercise as small or big
as you desire, but note that simply stepping outside of our “normal” path
can help you look at the world through different eyes.
When you go into the new space, keep your eyes open. Wonder
about the origin and purpose of things you see on your exploration.
Everything from telephone lines to lichen to scrap from a Thai newspaper
has significance. What do they have to do with you? If you took students
here, what would you want them to see? What would become your
teachable moment? Can you connect anything here to your own scholarly
interests? Come home and reflect on these questions?
Find something to remind you of this experience – perhaps a stone
or an event program. You might also take a photo. Just know that you’ll
need to bring some material reference of your experience to the first day of
class.
2. A Spotlight on Liz Coleman
 Watch TED talk (link below and on ICON)
http://www.ted.com/talks/liz_coleman_s_call_to_reinvent_liberal_a
rts_education.html
 Read post-TED talk interview transcript
3. Send us your answers to these three questions by January 5:
 What issues keep you up at night?
 Who are your heroes?
 How do you define “community”?
*We will use your answers anonymously to introduce the group on
Day 1 of the Institute.
Day 1: Monday, January 12
Public Engagement: What it is, and What it’s Good For
Assignments
1. University of North Carolina-Greensboro, “Greensboro Community
Engagement Terms and Definitions”
2. Hiram E. Fitzgerald, et al., “The Centrality of Engagement in Higher
Education” 6/7. PPS 16, 19
Time
9:00-9:30
Title
Welcome
9:30-10:20
Artifact Exercise
10:30-11:30
Wall Exercise: Roses, Buds, and
Thorns
11:45-12:45
1:00-2:00
Public Engagement: The Lay of
the Land
Shared Lunch at Seamans
Past Graduate Fellows Panel
2:00-3:00
3:00-3:10
3:10-3:25
Discussion of Assignments
Break
Succinct Project Summary (SPS)
3:25-5:00
Developing Project Ideas
Details
Welcome by Barbara, Craig, Jennifer, and
Emily
Why are we here?
How did we get here?
Where might we be going?
What are the current strengths,
possibilities, and obstacles to the
successful pursuit of your project?
Facilitated by: Jennifer New
Remarks by Teresa Mangum, Director of
the Obermann Center and co-founder of
the Graduate Institute
A panel of former fellows tells us about
their projects, and what they’ve learned
about their public engagement work since
the Institute.
Panelists: Kat Litchfield, Eric Zimmer,
Emily Kroska
Discuss today’s assignments
We will introduce the basic components of
and expectations for the SPS.
Work in small groups on project ideas and
developing SPS.
Day 2: Tuesday, January 13
The Challenges of Public Engagement
Assignments
1. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Drum Major Instinct” (audio on ICON)
2. Nancy Cantor, “Call and Responses”
3. Duff, et al. “Design with the Developing World and the International
Engineering Service Program”
4. Reviewer comments on Duff, et al. paper regarding public engagement
Time
9:00-9:15
Title
Housekeeping
9:15-10:00
SPS, Group 1
10:15-11:15
The Drum Major Instinct
(civic engagement process)
11:15-12:15
Lunch
12:15-1:30
Faculty Panel
Details
Create groups by level of project
development
First round of students give 2-minute SPS
Georgina Dodge, the UI Chief Diversity
Officer, will lead us in a civic reflection on
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech.
Lunch on your own.
Invited faculty will provide overviews of
their engagement work and how it’s
applied to their teaching and
research/artistic production, as well as
ethical issues that have arisen.
Panelists: Will Liu, Counseling
Psychology; Loyce Arthur, Theatre Arts;
Chuck Connerly, Urban and Regional
Planning
Second round of students give 2-minute
SPS
1:30-2:15
SPS, Group 2
2:15-2:30
2:30-4:00
Break
Discussion
Discuss day’s assignments
SPS, Group 3
Wrap Up
Trailer: Goodell story
Third round of students give 2-minute SPS
Logistics for Site Visit
4:00-4:45
4:45-5:00
Day 3: Wednesday, January 14
Public Engagement at the Iowa City Water Plant
Assignments
1. FYI UIowa Faculty Engagement
2. Globe Gazette—Goodell
3. Water chapter of Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber
Time
9:00-10:00
10:00-10:45
Title
Site Visit
North Dubuque Street
Site Visit, continued
Details
Introductions/Tour
Discussion of challenges for safe drinking
water production and water shed
protection, including water shed
management districts that stretch across
county boundaries. Exploring
triangulation challenges from all
perspectives—government entities,
academic interests in watershed, and
public partners.
Conversation with Carol Sweeting and
Larry Weber
10:45-11:00
11:00-11:50
Break
Meet with Water Plant Staff and
Water Activists
11:50-12:30
12:30-1:00
Lunch
Graduate Student Engagement
1:00-1:45
1:45-3:15
Transportation
Discussion
3111 Seamans Center
Break
Storyteller
3:15-3:30
3:30-5:00
Questions to the board members—Why
did they choose to become engaged
citizens in working with the Board? What
are the challenges? What are the rewards?
Invited Speakers: Carol Sweeting, Ed
Moreno, Dave Ratliff, Wayne Peterson,
Mary Skopec
At Water Plant
English River Water Management District,
developing a stormwater plan and utility
for Decorah
Panelist: Vanessa Fixmer-Oraiz
Return to Campus
Site visits, assignments reflection, and
preparation for tomorrow’s activities
Kate Krohn-Hawbecker
Day 4: Thursday, January 15
Practicing and Measuring Public Engagement
Assignments
1. Dwight Giles, “Understanding an Emerging Field of Scholarship: Toward a
Research Agenda for Engaged, Public Scholarship”
2. Sarah L. Ash and Patti H. Clayton, “The Articulated Learning: An Approach
to Guided Reflection and Assessment”
3. Ron Krabill, “Graduate Mentoring Against Common Sense”
4. Lupton, PPS Ch. 7, “Philadelphia Dreaming: Discovering Citizenship
between the University and the Schools”
Time
9:00-9:45
5. Shulman, “Counting and Recounting: Assessment and the Quest for
Accountability”
Title
Details
Movement Exercise
Collaborative Movement
Meet at Halsey Hall
9:45-10:00
10:00-11:15
11:15-11:30
11:30-1:30
Transition
Publicly Engaged Education In
and Outside the Classroom
At Natural History Museum
Transition
Lunch & Movie
At Filmscene
Led by: Jennifer New, Obermann Center;
Jennifer Kayle, Dance
Panelists: Tilly Woodward, Grinnell
College; Tori Forbes, Chemistry; Trina
Roberts, Curator of Natural History
Museum; Carolyn Colvin, Education
“If You Build It” movie showing
(86 minutes) & conversation after the
movie
Panelists: Mark Patton (HFH), Orville
Townsend (Iowa City School Board),
Sally Scott (UIowa Public Policy Center),
Matt Degner (SE High School Principal),
Crissy Canganelli (Shelter House), Scott
Koepke (Soilmates Organic Garden
Education Service)
1:30-1:45
1:45-2:45
2:45-3:45
Transition
Assessing your project
Funding your work
How to use your assessment to
understand how your projects are
working.
Wayne Jacobson, Director of Assessment,
Office of the Provost
Funding and grants for public engagement
work: where to apply, how to approach the
grant writing process, and resources on
and off campus.
Jennifer Teitle, Graduate College & Office
of Student Success
3:45-4:00
4:00-5:00
Reflection
Project Preparation
Work in small groups or on your own to
further develop project and fine-tune SPS
for Friday’s presentations.
Day 5: Friday, January 16
Workshopping Your Projects, Mentoring, and Reflection
Assignments
1. Create the poster of your project.
Time
Before 9:00 AM
Title
Poster
9:00-11:00
Project Presentations
11:00-12:00
12:00-1:30
Break/Lunch
Discussion
1:30-2:30
Roses, Buds, and Thorns
Afternoon
Reflection and Evaluation
4:00-6:00
Appetizers at the Obermann
Center
Details
Email the 8.5 X 11 poster of your project
before we meet in the morning to erinhackathorn@uiowa.edu
Meet in 3111 Seamans Center for
introductions to your small group.
Presentations will occur in rooms
throughout Seamans Center (to be
announced on ICON).
Lunch on your own.
Discussion and reflection about the
documentary and the storyteller.
Revisit the strengths, opportunities, and
challenges for your projects. What do you
need? What can you do? What resources
or people can you seek out to help you to
continue moving forward?
Facilitated by: Jennifer New
We ask two things of you this afternoon:
1.) Reflect on your project in preparation
for meeting with mentors and partners
this evening.
2.) Fill out the Institute survey (link on
ICON).
Posters will be displayed throughout the
center. Community partners, mentors, and
University administrators and faculty, and
Obermann fellows will be invited.