Center for the Humanities

Jody Swilky (English) reports on his recent trip as a featured speaker at a humanities grants workshop in Cedar Rapids:

"I was invited to lecture on immigration-related issues at universities and professional conferences in Iowa, New York, California, and Mexico. Most recently, I was one of two featured speakers at The Humanities in Iowa: A Conversation and Grants Workshop, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, The University of Iowa, and the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. My presentation is summarized in a profile on the National Humanities Alliance Foundation’s website."

The Center would also like to congratulate Dr. Swilky on receiving the 2020 Principal Global Citizenship  Award” for developing global citizens by internationalizing the curriculum and campus. For the past decade, he has contributed to the goal of developing "responsible global citizens" by creating curriculum that infuses multicultural perspectives, designing team-taught courses that enable our students to collaborate with students enrolled at a partner institution, facilitating workshops at a partner institution, designing and hosting residencies across campuses, and creating multiple travel seminars. His current work in two areas continues this: he is working on a book project, tentatively titled Breaking down the Wall: Connections Between Tapatias in Des Moines and Guadalajara, which examines the challenges Tapatios have faced when settling in the U.S. and maintaining connections to family in Guadalajara. He is also exploring funding from Humanities Iowa and the NEH for a documentary  that would explore this subject.

The Center further notes that in fall 2020, Dr. Swilky will design and participate in a series of panel discussions across Iowa that will focus on “what it means to be an informed citizen,” locally, nationally and internationally. With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Humanities Iowa is sponsoring this series of discussions, which are designed “to bring the humanities from the academy to main street.” Other panelists will be Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Cullen of the Storm Lake Times and Mark Grey, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration. You can read more about the Mellon Foundation grant at Humanities Iowa here.