The Move

This summer the UI Center for the Book formally moved into the Division of Interdisciplinary Programs within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This move gives us a new and exciting support structure in the Jefferson Building (JB). Most of our administrative needs will now be handled by the outstanding group of support staff in 210 JB, with Diane Byrne acting as our key liaison over there. We will also be making use of the Academic Advisors on the fourth floor of JB, while I look forward to working closely with the Director, Helena Dettmer, to further the interests of the Center for the Book. Despite our new presence in the Jefferson Building, we will retain our specialist classrooms in North Hall as well as the specialist paper facilities in the Art Building and at Oakdale.

With this move, I become Coordinator of the UICB (rather than Acting Director), a position that I have agreed to fill for the 2004-05 academic year. I have an office at 409 JB (office hour there Wednesdays 11-12), although I will continue to be mostly based in my office in 572 EPB.

New Committee Structure

With the move to the Division of Interdisciplinary Programs, the UICB has also adopted a new committee structure. The old Advisory Board voted to disband itself in Spring 2004. In its place, there will be a streamlined Advisory Committee chaired by myself and made up of the following UICB faculty:
Tim Barrett (UICB), timothy-barrett@uiowa.edu
Matt Brown (UICB/English), matthew-p-brown@uiowa.edu
Julie Leonard (UICB), julia-leonard@uiowa.edu
Christine Pawley (SLIS), christine-pawley@uiowa.edu.
If you have any suggestions about Center operations, please contact myself or any of these Advisory Committee members.

The Center will also retain its own Admissions Committee, Curriculum and Certification Committee, and Committee for Center Enhancement.

Successful Graduates

I am delighted to announce that a number of UICB certificate students successfully completed their graduate certificates this Spring and Summer semester, namely:
Keiko Ishii (who will be moving to the bookmaking community in Minneapolis)
Craig Kelchen (who will be teaching for the UICB 2004-05)
Jon Lee (who has gone to a tenure-track position in San Antonio, Texas)
Julie Cobb Smith (who will be teaching for the UICB 2004-05)
Ken Walker
Congratulations to those five! I look forward to reporting on further successful completions this semester.

Incoming Students

Five students have entered the Graduate Certificate program this semester, namely:
Jeremy Chen (also in SAAH/Printmaking)
Stephanie Gowler (also in SLIS)
David Herwaldt (also in SAAH/Design)
Sarah McCoy (also in SAAH/Design)
Nicole Terry (finished MFA in WW)
Welcome all to the program!

New Instructors This Year

Two instructors new to the UICB will be teaching letterpress printing this semester, namely Craig Kelchen and Emily Wilson, who are presenting two different letterpress printing courses in the S&E program. In the spring, letterpress printing courses will be offered by Craig Kelchen and Nikki Flores. Next semester, too, Penny McKean will join our existing team of bookbinding instructors, while graduate students Lee Running and Kate Carr will add to our papermaking classes.

New Track with SLIS

In late Spring, a new track was approved by the Graduate College which will allow for closer cooperation and overlap for students who want to pursue the Center's Graduate Certificate alongside an advanced degree in librarianship from the School of Information and Library Science..

Continuing Cooperation with Printing Services

UICB students now have access to a working Linotype machine in the newly-appointed Print Studio within the Mossman Printing Services Building. In this space we also have a working Reliance Handpress, once used by Robert Middleton of the Cherryburn Press, kindly donated to the UICB by David Woodward. Thanks to Gary Frost, who has been active in pursuing this valuable link. An official opening of this new space is projected for October 26, 2-5 p.m. Further details will follow.

Year of the Arts and Humanities Events

The UICB proposed a number of initiatives to fit into the events of the Year of Arts and Humanities announced by President Skorton and Governor Vilsack (see http://www.yah.uiowa.edu/ for further details). One of our initiatives was funded, namely a proposal to take Book Arts to the Public Library in a series of weekend workshops that will be coordinated by Julie Leonard and Matt Brown. More details will follow.

In addition to this funded initiative, the UICB will be well represented throughout the events of the YAH. We will be responsible for a broadside of the official YAH poem by Marvin Bell, with letterpress printing by Sara Sauers and calligraphy by Cheryl Jacobsen, which will be featured at the opening YAH celebrations on September 7. In addition, Emily Martin is one of the featured artists for project "Hey YAH!" and her work will be featured on the Daily Palette of September 26. The Daily Palette is a new web-link featuring Iowa artists accessible directly off the university's main home-page at http://www.uiowa.edu/. Other UICB events will be featured in the YAH calendar, frequently updated at http://www.yah.uiowa.edu/calendar.htm.

Exciting Brownell Lecture

This year's Brownell Lecture on the History of the Book will be given by one of America's leading poets, Susan Howe. The lecture will take place on Monday, October 18, 5:30 p.m. in E109 Art Building and will be followed by a reception. Titled "Remember We Are Travelling As Relations," the talk is characterized by the poet as follows:
"A meditation on mysterious interactions between the visual and the textual: on ownership, marginalia, quotation, cutwork, and the material disintegration of loved books."
In addition to her numerous collections of poetry, Susan Howe has been working lately on the fascicle publication of Emily Dickinson, and this may be a part of her lecture. Illustrations and intellectual stimulation guaranteed!

Party

And, finally, the party. Let us welcome the new UICB students and teachers, and welcome back all friends, faculty, students, associates, and well-wishers of the UICB with a party at my house:
404 Linder Road
Saturday, September 4, 5-8 p.m.
We'll have some snacks and drinks; feel free to bring food or drink to share if you like. Friends and family are all welcome.