American Sign Language
The American Sign Language Program is committed to reaching beyond our classrooms to the campus and community at large. Because we regularly experience ignorance about ASL and Deaf culture, we are committed to providing exposure and education for all. Our most significant outreach event is an annual Deaf Awareness Week. This series of informational events, which we began in 2013, is a celebration of Deaf culture and American Sign Language held in September in conjunction with the World Federations of the Deaf’s “International Week of the Deaf.” It consists of 2 or more public discussions/panels, informational lectures, and programming at the Iowa City Public Library. The American Sign Language Program has also worked with FilmScene, a local Iowa City theater, to host and promote films with Deaf actors and American Sign Language.
ASL Club
Our ASL Club, a student-run organization, typically invites a speaker at least once a year to campus. These events range from ASL literature performances to educational lectures concerning ASL linguistics, Deaf history, or Deaf Studies.
Community events
Interacting with other language users is a crucial part of the language learning process. We hold regular conversation hours for students to interact in American Sign Language outside of class. We also keep students informed about a variety of ASL events, both locally, statewide, and in neighboring regions. The Cedar Rapids Association of the Deaf (CRAD) regularly holds Deaf events that students are encouraged to attend. Other events include Deaf Capitol Day in Des Moines, an opportunity for the Deaf community to interact with legislators and social events with Community Hands, a local advocacy group.
Chinese
Collaborate with Iowa City Area Chinese Association (ICACA) on Chinese cultural celebration activities and events; Provide translation service to needed organizations of Iowa community; offer international academic conference on Chinese Applied linguistics and regional academic conferences and workshops to promote Chinese education; publishing JUHE magazine to serve as a platform for Chinese learners in North America to exchange their Chinese essay writing experience.
German
We are making things German and the work of faculty members visible on campus and across Iowa. Please contact us with your ideas what we can do for you.
- We organize public readings and talks by faculty members and visitors.
- We offer events on Campus such as the Berlin Wall exhibition and the coming Anne Frank exhibit.
- Lots of events coming in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022: Anne Frank Sapling award; see The Anne Frank Tree: Taking Root in Iowa.
- We offer German language online courses for High School Students anywhere in Iowa who qualify through the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Act and earn college credit while in High School. Contact us for a visit by a faculty member and/or students to talk about German at the UI.
Public Humanities projects you can get involved in:
- German Iowa and the Global Midwest (Glenn Ehrstine)
- Johann Heinrich Ramberg as Illustrator of Books and Almanacs (Waltraud Maierhofer)
Japanese
The Department of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Iowa hosts the annual Bunkasai (Japanese Culture Festival), sharing traditional and contemporary aspects of Japanese culture with the broader Iowa community.
Korean
The Korean program, along with the King Sejong Institute, has been serving the public by providing Korean language courses and cultural activities. The Korean cultural events we have held include Korean cooking demonstrations, Korean holiday events, Korean speech contest, K-pop contest, and academic lectures on Korean studies. These activities have provided meaningful opportunities for students and community people to gain a richer understanding, not only of language, but also Korean culture.
International studies
International studies students learn to engage with international communities abroad and at home in respectful, ethical and productive ways, then apply that knowledge in varied kinds of engaged interaction.
Such engagement follows the model of Community Engaged Learning (CEL) which combines academic coursework with the application of institutional resources to address challenges facing communities through:
- Engagement that addresses societal needs identified by a community
- Intentional integration of learning objectives co-created with community partner(s)
- Student preparation and ongoing critical reflection
- Clearly articulated benefits for students, community, and campus partners
- Opportunities to critically examine social issues and situate self within a community setting
After graduation, IS students often continue such outreach by teaching English abroad with the Fulbright program or Peace Corps.
IS:3012 - Community Engaged Learning with Immigrants and Refugees in Iowa
For example, our IS:3012 - Community Engaged Learning with Immigrants and Refugees in Iowa course partners with the Refugee and Immigrant Association (RIA), an Iowa City non-profit created by refugees and immigrants from African nations. This group is committed to welcoming and supporting “new Iowans” as well as to connecting them, in various ways, to the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids area and its residents so that they feel a part of the wider community. Working with and for the RIA, and understanding the broad and specific issues at stake, students undertake and present research projects designed to help advance the organization’s mission. This collaborative approach offers a practical and mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge, experiences, and ideas.
IS:2009 - World Travel: Cross-Cultural Skills for International Business, Education, and Service
International studies students also learn the skills needed to engage in ethical outreach and interconnection in our class IS:2009 - World Travel: Cross-Cultural Skills for International Business, Education, and Service. Students preparing for or debriefing from international experiences reflect on their own backgrounds and assumptions of others as they solidify skills for engaging meaningfully without stereotyping.
Community organizations
Our students apply such skills beyond the classroom by not only interning abroad, but also interning and volunteering in the local community with organizations such as Council on International Visitors to Iowa Cities (CIVIC), the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council (ICFRC), Iowa United Nations Association, Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, and IC Compassion.
Russian
Offers the Russian festival Kapustnik (Cabbage festival). During the festival students from the Russian program perform skits, play Russian games, and other activities to present Russian culture and traditions. The festival is extended to the local community; collaborate with the University in Milan for language and cultural exchanging activities.
Translation
Translation builds communities, whether local or global, since we live and work in an increasingly interconnected world where virtually every form of exchange has come to depend on translation. Students are therefore encouraged to seek service and outreach opportunities, and overseas research and practical experience. Our faculty and students organize readings, curate installations, offer workshops for diverse audiences in Iowa City and abroad, regularly present at the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature Book Festival, and collaborate in translating works by the International Writers in Residence. Translation program also sponsors an audio podcast series, Translators Note, two online journals, and a social media platform for over 4000 international translators.
Public engagement in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The University of Iowa’s core mission extends beyond the classrooms, laboratories, studios, and libraries where we educate students, conduct our research, and create new artistic work. Equally important is our engagement with communities throughout Iowa, across the nation, and around the world.
Our faculty, students, and staff work to solve problems, imagine new approaches to challenges, and improve quality of life, often through service-learning courses in which students earn academic credit.
It’s a virtuous circle: When UI expertise is harnessed to help a community or region improve the lives of its residents, the experience adds unique educational value to students’ academic journeys, and advances the research and creative production of our faculty. In turn, that new knowledge empowers us to help more communities, solve more problems, and improve more lives.
The UI is not just the University of Iowa, we're the University for Iowa—and throughout the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, we are proud to serve.