The Graduate College is pleased to fund five interdisciplinary campus projects through Innovation in Graduate Education Challenge Grants for the 2020 fiscal year.

These Innovation in Graduate Education Challenge Grants are designed to assist academic and campus programs to better prepare graduate students for the global challenges and broader career options, which align with the University of Iowa Strategic Plan Student Success goal of providing a transformative educational experience that educates all UI students to be engaged citizens.

Here are the five funded projects:

• Studio Short Course Series — The University of Iowa Libraries Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio will create a series of one-semester hour short courses designed to complement the Graduate College’s certificate program in the Public Digital Humanities and the graduate curriculum. These courses will allow students to focus on learning digital skills, while creating a space for an early infusion of digital methods.
• Graduate Certificate in Ethics — The Department of Philosophy will establish a certificate program in Theoretical and Practical Ethics. The mission of this program is to support graduate research in applied ethics across many disciplines. Areas of study include bioethics and medical ethics, journalism and media ethics, ethics of artificial intelligence and technology, neuroethics, animal ethics, environmental ethics, criminal justice, and social justice.
• New Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Sustainability Development — This program, to be housed in the Graduate College, will build on course work, community-engaged projects, and professional development experiences that will prepare graduate students for technical or policy leadership roles in the private or public sector. Primary academic programs initiating this new Master of Science degree in Sustainable Development include the Sustainable Water Development graduate program within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the School of Urban and Regional Planning, and the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences.
• Interdisciplinary Expansion of a Successful Community-Focused Science Education Program — This project is an extension of the Department of Biology’s successful community-based science education program, the Science Booster Club. Funds will be used to incorporate three new faculty collaborators and four graduate student interns from the Departments of Anthropology, Biology, and Geographical and Sustainability Sciences. Project goals include: increase community science engagement in underserved Iowa regions, provide graduate students with skills to engage with the public, and break down barriers between universities and their surrounding communities.
• Preparing Graduate STEM Students for Industry Success Via Mentored Team Training with Communications and Business Professionals — This one-credit, semester-long course is designed to help STEM graduate students become more attractive to industry employers by training them in industrial communication, cultural competence, and teamwork skills. This program involves multiple colleges and industry professionals, undergraduate students from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, and graduate students from STEM fields.