Obermann Graduate Institute
on Engagement and the Academy
Advisory Board

Co-chairs

Teresa Mangum, Department of English and International Programs, CLAS
David Redlawsk, Department of Political Science, CLAS

Members

Thais Winkleblack, Vice President, MidwestOne Bank, Iowa City, IA
Patti Fields, United Way, Iowa City, IA
Jean Florman, UI Center for Teaching
Mary Mathew Wilson, UI Civic Engagement Program, Office of the Provost
Ken Brown, Management and Organizations, College of Business, UI
Gigi Durham, School of Journalism and Mass Communications and Associate Director of the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies
Kirsten Beyer, 2007 Graduate Institute Fellow, Geography, CLAS
Elizabeth Sutton, 2008 Graduate Institute Fellow, School of Art and Art History, CLAS

Ex Officio

Kate Kauper, 2009 Graduate Institute Senior Fellow, Educational Policy and Leadership Studies, College of Education

Obermann Graduate Institute Advisory Board Members

Kirsten Beyer is a Ph.D. candidate in Geography at the University of Iowa, studying the geography of health. She holds an MPH in global health, also from the University of Iowa. She participated as a Graduate Fellow in the 2008 Institute, during which time she focused on the development of her dissertation proposal. Her dissertation research is currently underway in Storm Lake, IA, where she is incorporating community participation in exploratory spatial analysis of colorectal cancer incidence, stage, screening and mortality data.

Ken Brown is an Associate Professor and Henry B. Tippie Research Fellow in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business. Dr. Brown conducts research in the area of workplace training and development. His work on the use of technology in learning environments garnered research awards from Society of Human Resource Management and the American Society of Training and Development.Dr. Brown is also an award-winning teacher, having been selected for the Collegiate Teaching Award in 2007, and twice been named the Student’s Choice for Faculty Excellence by the Tippie College undergraduates (2005, 2006). He has taught two courses with a service-learning component, including an upper-level undergraduate course where students consulted with local nonprofits like the Iowa Children’s Museum and the Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity ReStore. His own philanthropic work includes a stint as President of the Board of Director’s for the Good Shepherd Corporation as well as volunteer work for the Free Lunch Program, First United Methodist Church, Mid-Eastern Iowa Community Mental Health Center, and Weber Elementary School.

Gigi Durham is associate professor of Journalism and Mass Communication and the 2008-09 associate faculty director of the Obermann Center. Her research focuses on feminist analyses of representations of gender and sexuality in the media. Her last book, The Lolita Effect, was published in 2008.”

Jean Florman As a writer and public radio producer, Jean Florman has written for and collaborated with a number of national publications including the Washington Post, Hearst Publishing, Meredith Publishing, and McGraw-Hill, as well as for corporations and nonprofits and The University of Iowa. She has taught a number of writing courses at the University and has served as the Associate Director of the Center for Teaching since 2004.

Elizabeth Sutton is a Ph.D candidate in Early Modern Northern European Art
History. An Obermann Fellow in 2007, Elizabeth studies ethnographic prints in Dutch travel accounts. Currently a Seashore Fellow, Elizabeth will be defending her dissertation this January. She has recently returned from the University of Leiden, where she was a fellow at the Scaliger Institute, and she is currently preparing a
manuscript for the publication stemming from the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies "New Worlds, New Publics" symposium in which she took part in September.

Mary Mathew Wilson, Program Associate with the Office of the Provost, has served as coordinator of the Civic Engagement Program at The University of Iowa since July, 2005. She is also an instructor for the College Transition course for first-year students. Mary’s previous roles at the UI have included: managing interdisciplinary special projects in the Office of the Associate Provost for Health Sciences, including the Health Sciences Learning Community; grant manager and academic advisor for the UI College of Nursing; UI test programs administrator and manager of the UI Faculty Senate office. Prior to coming to Iowa, Mary was a curriculum development specialist at the Instructional Materials Laboratory in the College of Education at the University of Missouri in Columbia. She has a Masters degree in Higher Education from The University of Iowa.

Thais Winkleblack is Vice President of a local community bank, MidWestOne Bank. She is a Grinnell College graduate (Russian and Spanish) who loves living in Iowa and has been an active volunteer in the Iowa City area. She currently serves as President of the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club.