University of Iowa PhD candidate in archaeology Christie Vogler poses for a portrait on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020 in her office inside of Macbride Hall. Vogler’s research focuses on possible means of authority for affluent women living in the Gangivecchio, Sicily, region during the 1st-3rd century CE.
Riley Davis, The Daily Iowan
University of Iowa graduate student Christie Vogler’s recreated dissertation thesis on gender archaeology and gender studies in Ancient Rome won first place in the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies’ first-ever, humanities-based Three Minutes Thesis competition.
Obermann Center Associate Director Jennifer New said in an email to The Daily Iowan that the Graduate College has sponsored the campus-wide competition for a number of years, but this past fall marked the first humanities-based competition.
“Although it’s grown in popularity, there has been a relatively low participation rate by students in the humanities,” she said. “Because the Obermann Center supports the humanities and also works with graduate students via the Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy … we thought we’d offer a humanities-focused 3MT.”
Four humanities competitors went on to the campus-wide competition and two progressed to the finals, New said.
Vogler’s initial research pursued indications of a nearby cult site to the Greek goddesses Persephone and Demeter. She hoped to find evidence of how the site may have been a touchstone for the Greek, Roman, and indigenous groups’ cultures to interact.