Women of Influence

Fall 2013
Art &
Ecology
Artist Lisa Johnson explores
the perceived value of our
natural resources.
IOWA
GRADUATE EDUCATION at
Innovative. Interdisciplinary. Impactful.

Innovative. Interdisciplinary. Impactful. Graduate Education at Iowa.
ON THE COVER
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
www.grad.uiowa.edu
[email protected]
Office of the Dean

201 Gilmore Hall
319.335.2143
John C. Keller, Ph.D.

Associate Provost and Dean
Professor, College of Dentistry
[email protected]
Dale Eric Wurster, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs

Professor, College of Pharmacy
[email protected]
Daniel Berkowitz, Ph.D.

Associate Dean of Student and
Administrative Affairs
Professor, School of Journalism
and Mass Communication
[email protected]
Minnetta Gardinier, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Graduate Recruitment

and Professional Development
Associate Professor, Pharmacology
[email protected]
WATER FOR TRADE: UI artist Lisa Johnson paddles a canoe on Lake Okoboji, near the
UIs Lakeside Lab, having collected lake water to raise awareness of this natural
resource. Her project focused on engaging with local residents, lake visitors, and lab
scientists to gauge their perceptions of the value of water. Photo by R. Eric Stone.
Office of Academic Affairs

205 Gilmore Hall
319.335.2135
Heidi Arbisi-Kelm, M.S., M.Ed.
Graduate Education at Iowa
Director of Academic Affairs

[email protected]
Published each fall and spring

by the Graduate College at the University of Iowa
Office of UI Grad Success
Online at www.grad.uiowa.edu
Jennifer Masadaeditor, designer, writer, photos
John Riehlwriter, photos
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additional information, contact the Office of Equal Opportunity
and Diversity, 319.335.0705.
Printed by UI Printing Department, job #W08434-H
422 Gilmore Hall

319.335.3597
Jennifer R. Teitle, Ph.D.
Associate Director, UI Grad Success

[email protected]
Office of Graduate Inclusion

411 Gilmore Hall
319.335.2148
Diana Bryant
Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator

[email protected]
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2
Fall 2013
IOWA
GRADUATE EDUCATION at
Fall 2013
Innovative. Interdisciplinary. Impactful.
CoverArt & Ecology

18
WATER FOR TRADE
Artist Lisa Johnson explores the perceived value of natural resources.
Notable graduate research

4
CYSTIC FIBROSIS
AUTISM
BRAINS POWER TO HEAL
Leah Reznikov examines CFs impact on the nervous system.
Heather Robinson looks at the big picture of autism.

Matthew Sutterer researches epilepsy.
Features
7
UI GRAD SUCCESS
PRIZE-WINNING RESEARCH
New services offer grad students a competitive edge in the job market.
Three graduate students win top dissertation honors.
10
DANIEL COLLIER What causes hypertension?
14
ELIOT SHEARER Deafness in the genomics era.
16
MELISSA MORETON Women of influence.
THE UIS TOP DISSERTATIONS
Prize-winning
research
Three UI graduate students earn top honors
Montgomery Dissertation Prize, which recognizes excellence in doctoral

research at the University of Iowa in the area of disease prevention and/
Dissertation Prize will be awarded annually in the biomedical and health
sciences disciplines.
Montgomery is an emeritus
professor of biochemistry in the
UIs Carver College of Medicine
and became a full professor in
dean for academic affairs in the
Carver College of Medicine
Iowa has had five

national dissertation
winners, more than
any other public
institution.
serving as associate dean of
Daniel Collier
Biological & Life Sciences
Spriestersbach Prize Winner
Collier discovered a feedback
mechanism in cells that affects blood
molecular interactions that can be used
to control the problem.
Melissa Moreton
Humanities & Fine Arts
Spriestersbach Prize Winner
Moretons research reveals the
scholarship and artistry of Renaissance
interim vice president of research.
furthering that eras humanist revival

the Spriestersbach Prize, which is named for Duane C. Spriestersbach
as tangible evidenceas gold standardsof the outstanding work
of which graduate students are capable and to which all others should
aspire.
Winners of the Spriestersbach and Montgomery Prizes are the UIs
Eliot Shearer
Biomedical & Health Sciences
Montgomery Prize Winner
Shearer utilized technological advances
national award is the most prestigious dissertation prize in the country.

genes, making diagnostic testing more
since the awards inception.

Photo by Melissa Moreton.
INVESTING IN TEACHING
Fall 2013
Women of in
T
live in their original bindings. Given their

age, these unspoiled specimens are a lovely
or Italian on thin material made from calfskin,

sheepskin, or goatskin.
works hand copied by Italian religious women who
played a far more important role in the Renaissance
than commonly thought.
manuscripts. She documented an exhaustive list of

manuscripts produced by Italian Renaissance nuns,
the birthplace of the Renaissance. Moreton went on
that these nuns were surprisingly connected to
the humanist revival of the arts and scholarship
of the time.
Moreton challenges the scornful portrayal of
women by Italian humanists of the time, a picture
accepted by most scholars ever since that there
was little or no book learning for women except
under the most extraordinary circumstances,
says Constance Berman, professor of history and
Moretons dissertation advisor. She shows that
and printed books were well educated in the
types of book learning done by priests and
humanists alike.
graduate students are capable and to which all

others should aspire.
As a Spriestersbach Prize winner, Moreton is this
years UI nominee for the Council of Graduate
most prestigious dissertation prize in the country.
Educated women of Italy

Nuns are often viewed as cloistered, religious
women who are set apart from the rest of society.
As a result, their work is often marginalized.
However, after studying these manuscripts,
Moreton discovered that history should paint a
much different picture of these religious women.
Moreton says secular and religious life was
intertwined during the Renaissance, and high dowry
fees prevented a father from negotiating marriage
father had six daughters, he might be able to pay
the dowry for only two, and the remaining four
daughters would enter into convent life. Many of
these religious women came from elite families.
were too poor to do anything but enter the convent.
a good chance she was educated, says Moreton,

who received a Ballard and Seashore Dissertation
dissertation is titled, Scritto di bellissima lettera:
Century Italy.
convent, bookmaking was a way for educated

women to express their intellectual and artistic
Spriestersbach, who served as Graduate College

it would serve as tangible evidenceas gold
standardsof the outstanding work of which
16
Fall 2013
educated women.
THE UIS TOP DISSERTATIONS
nfluence
copied manuscripts
were devotional and/or
theological texts used for
private meditation and
study. Moreton found
most of these manuscripts
in good condition.
Since these devotional
luxury manuscripts with
elaborate painting and
gilding, they were largely
left alone and not cut
up or rebound over the
centuries, Moreton says.
So, a very high number
of these books are still in
their original bindingsa
rare treasure that provides
a wealth of information
about books and learning
in the period.
Moreton says that by
mining the primary
documents related to these
THE WORK OF RENAISSANCE NUNS: Manuscripts in Florence, Italy. Photo by Melissa Moreton.
after earning a masters degree in Italian Renaissance Art History
contextualize the work they did.

Jonathan Wilcox agrees. He is professor of English and member
allows Melissa to unpack the economics of early printing and to
he says.. Melissa is able to uncover some of the structures of
power that underlie book production in religious houses, including
both cooperation with powerful menreligious or secularand
cases where the production was apparently motivated by the
women themselves.
generally of very high status, and they collaborated more than one
might expect with monks and secular folk.
Impact of her work
from Venice, which is housed in Special Collections at the UI Main

Library.
student in history in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
dissertation. Her work combines expertise on book production,
Moreton has provided a great scholarly tool that will allow
future scholars to identify books produced by Italian nuns in a
all known manuscripts produced by Italian nuns will remain the
Moreton came to the University of Iowa trained as an art historian

17
The University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA 52242
www.grad.uiowa.edu
[email protected]
Support Iowa.
All of your
support
goes
directly
to fund
UI graduate
students.
Daejeong Choi
2012 T. Anne Cleary International Dissertation Fellow
Candidate for the Ph.D. in Management & Organizations
Daejeong Choi examines social and cultural contexts that
Scan to donate
www.givetoiowa.org/graduate
24
Fall 2013

Women of Influence

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Fall 2013

Innovative. Interdisciplinary. Impactful.

Office of the Dean

John C. Keller, Ph.D.

Dale Eric Wurster, Ph.D.

Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs

Daniel Berkowitz, Ph.D.

Minnetta Gardinier, Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Graduate Recruitment

Office of Academic Affairs

Heidi Arbisi-Kelm, M.S., M.Ed.

Graduate Education at Iowa

Director of Academic Affairs

Published each fall and spring

Office of UI Grad Success

422 Gilmore Hall

Jennifer R. Teitle, Ph.D.

Associate Director, UI Grad Success

Office of Graduate Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator

Innovative. Interdisciplinary. Impactful.

CoverArt & Ecology

WATER FOR TRADE

Artist Lisa Johnson explores the perceived value of natural resources.

Notable graduate research

BRAINS POWER TO HEAL

Leah Reznikov examines CFs impact on the nervous system.

Heather Robinson looks at the big picture of autism.

Three graduate students win top dissertation honors.

DANIEL COLLIER What causes hypertension?

ELIOT SHEARER Deafness in the genomics era.

MELISSA MORETON Women of influence.

Innovative. Interdisciplinary. Impactful. Graduate Education at Iowa.

THE UIS TOP DISSERTATIONS

Three UI graduate students earn top honors

Montgomery Dissertation Prize, which recognizes excellence in doctoral

Iowa has had five

serving as associate dean of

interim vice president of research.

furthering that eras humanist revival

national award is the most prestigious dissertation prize in the country.

since the awards inception.

Innovative. Interdisciplinary. Impactful. Graduate Education at Iowa.

live in their original bindings. Given their

or Italian on thin material made from calfskin,

manuscripts. She documented an exhaustive list of

graduate students are capable and to which all

most prestigious dissertation prize in the country.

Educated women of Italy

a good chance she was educated, says Moreton,

convent, bookmaking was a way for educated

Spriestersbach, who served as Graduate College

THE UIS TOP DISSERTATIONS

after earning a masters degree in Italian Renaissance Art History

contextualize the work they did.

Impact of her work

from Venice, which is housed in Special Collections at the UI Main

Moreton came to the University of Iowa trained as an art historian

The University of Iowa

Daejeong Choi examines social and cultural contexts that