Lorenzo Sanford, the youngest elected chief of the Kalinago people in Dominica, visited the University of Iowa as part of the Major Project Award, Sacred Threads: Spirituality, Health, and Collaborative Partnerships for Health in Indigenous Communities.

Three events in late April will provide a unique platform to celebrate Indigenous leadership; discuss spirituality, healing, and cultural preservation; and strategize for community-based health solutions that foster equity and well-being.

Dr. Nada M. Melhem, visiting faculty from the American University of Beirut, opened the eyes of Iowa City residents to the public health challenges impacting her home country of Lebanon during a lecture on cholera on Sept. 13.

The Major Project centers on a week-long visit in September by Dr. Nada Melhem, professor of infectious diseases and microbiology in the Division of Health Professions, Medical Laboratory Sciences, at the American University of Beirut.

A winner of the UI International Programs’ Major Project Award, and hosted by the UI Center of the book, a Japanese Papermaking festival hosted international artists for talkbacks and demonstrations from April 13-14.

This production of WorldCanvass opened the two-day international and interdisciplinary colloquium "Reading and Re-translation," which focused on the current state of research on reading and re-translation.  Host Joan Kjaer invited guests, many of whom presented at the colloquium, to explore the act of reading and dive into this space where social and symbolic power is enforced.

On the next WorldCanvass, we’ll explore the act of reading and dive into this space where social and symbolic power is enforced. We’ll also discuss how re-translations shape transnational, literary, and cultural relations and ask what arts and humanities perspectives need to be reasserted in a digitized world where algorithms increasingly read us. Join us on March 28 for WorldCanvass when the topic is “What’s in a Word? The Translator’s Challenge.”  The program, which is free and open to the public, takes place at MERGE, 136 South Dubuque Street, Iowa City, from 5:30-7 p.m.  All are invited to a pre-show reception from 5-5:30 p.m.

While immigrants have long fueled the American experiment, passionate debate about the pros and cons of immigration are nothing new. The rhetoric of recent national and local elections highlights tensions around changing demographics, inspiring debate about the impact of immigration on employment, on crime, and on community identity, while challenging the citizenry to examine their values and notions of what it means to be an American. On the next WorldCanvass, host Joan Kjaer and a diverse panel of guests will discuss the history of immigration in the Midwest over the past century and a half, as well as current questions about bilingualism, multiculturalism, and belonging and exclusion in times of international and domestic conflict. The public is invited to attend the free WorldCanvass discussion on Wednesday, March 8, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. in the Voxman Recital Hall.