Marcus Bach Fellowships for Graduate Students in the Humanities award winners announced

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences is pleased to announce the winners of the Marcus Bach Fellowships for Graduate Students in the Humanities for 2015-2016:

  • Noaquia Callahan, a Ph.D. candidate in History, will complete her dissertation: “Divided Duty: African American Feminist Transnational Activism and the Lure of the Imperial Gaze, 1888-1922.” Her thesis advisors are Leslie Schwalm and Lisa Heineman.
  • Kyle Dieleman, a Ph.D. candidate in Religious Studies, will complete his dissertation: “Battle for the Sabbath in the Dutch Reformation: Desecration or Devotion.” His thesis advisor is Raymond Mentzer.
  • Jennifer Loman, a Ph.D. candidate in English, will complete her dissertation: “Christian Hospitality, Shame, and the Making of an American Ethos.” Her thesis advisor is Phil Round.
  • Aihua Zheng, a Ph.D. candidate in History, will complete her dissertation: “Shaku Sōen and Rinzai Zen in Modern Japan: 1868-1919.” Her thesis advisor is Stephen Vlastos.

Bach Fellowships are awarded by the College to support the completion of a master of fine arts (MFA) thesis project or a doctoral dissertation. The fellowship’s goal is to foster intercultural communication and/or the understanding of diverse philosophies and religious perspectives.

The Marcus Bach Fellowships are made possible by a bequest from the estate of Dr. Marcus Bach. Dr. Bach received a doctorate from The University of Iowa in 1942 in Speech and Dramatic Arts (now the Department of Communication Studies and the Department of Theatre Arts). 

A call for applications for 2016-2017 will be made fall 2015.

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.