The University of Iowa Council on Teaching named 29 teaching assistants as recipients of the 2021 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. These awards have been given annually since 1988 to a select group of graduate teaching assistants who have effectively promoted learning and creativity both inside and outside the classroom while demonstrating enthusiasm and dedication to student success. “Teaching assistants are vital to our mission of student success,” says Executive Vice President and Provost Kevin Kregel. “I am grateful for their dedication to our students and I thank them for all that they do to exemplify excellence in our classrooms.”

Inés Sánchez Cruz, a Mexican poet living as a creative writing teacher in the United States, arrives at the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid to teach a poetry workshop and investigate a recent find: the family archive of Joaquín Amigo, one of Lorca's friends, also violently murdered and disappeared at the beginning of the civil war. Inés carries a deep anguish apparently as a result of the power struggles in the academic field and the betrayal by a close friend, but the death of one of her colleagues activates a series of traumatic memories that intermingle with the investigations of the documents and letters from the family archive.

“Mariana combines creative writing with theater and dance. Writing is her voice but she is in constant dialogue with others. She makes the UI community stronger with her multidisciplinary understanding of creativity.” – Ana Merino, Professor of Spanish

Four University of Iowa faculty members were awarded the nation’s most prestigious humanities scholarship, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants. The NEH awarded $24.7 million to 208 humanities projects nationwide.

By becoming fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, Holly Harris is striving for an international career where she can use the power of language to bring people together.