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Three graduate students earn fellowships
to The Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy

Nonfiction writing student Emma Rainey and doctoral students Bridget Drexler and Lindsey Row-Heyveld will be learning more about service learning pedagogy at the Janurary 2008 Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy. Each has earned a fellowship to share and develop their community/classroom projects.

Emma Rainey wants to create a partnership between the University of Iowa's graduate students in the Nonfiction Writing Program and Shelter--a facility for homeless children ages 12-17 operated by Four Oaks. Her desire is to engage this marginalized teen population in the process of developing positive identities through writing, no matter what trajectory their lives may take.

Bridget Drexler's project integrates service learning into a freshman rhetoric course designed around issues of community, politics, and consumerism within education.

Lindsey Row-Heyveld proposes a General Education Literature course in which students organize a film screening and discussion panel focusing on representations of disability. The assignment will require that students not only select an appropriate film and qualified respondents, but also ensure that the screening is advertised and fully accessible to Iowa City's disabled community.