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Student Success

The Magid Center is home to the Certificate in Writing program, available on campus and online. The certificate helps students develop a range of highly prized writing skills, including the ability to write clearly and concisely, correctly use mechanics and style, communicate with particular audiences for specific purposes, and overcome obstacles that occur during the writing process.

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Experiential Learning/Professional Skill Building

Home to many student publications and organizations, the Magid Center provides opportunities for UI students to expand their résumés with rewarding and valuable real-world work experiences. From editing to marketing, and from event planning to budget oversight, working with these publications helps our students grow.

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Outreach and Engagement

Iowa is writing, and writing is for everyone. With the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, and the Iowa Youth Writing Project, the Magid Center provides in-person and online workshops that reach youth and adult learners. These non-credit bearing programs have something for everyone.

News and Announcements

Find Your Voice in Fall 2024: The IYWP Can Help With College Admissions Essays!

Wednesday, September 4, 2024
As a high school junior or senior, you will get your test scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation in order—but what about that last crucial item, the college application essay? How can you convey your goals, personality, and sense of self in just a few hundred words?

INK Lit Magazine featured in The Daily Iowan

Wednesday, April 3, 2024
The Magid Center's INK Lit Magazine and freshman editor-in-chief Rachel Sorensen were featured this month in The Daily Iowan.

Iowa Writers' Room Course Featured in Iowa Magazine

Thursday, December 21, 2023
The inaugural course in the Iowa Writers' Room program, Adaptation for Television, is profiled in this month's edition of Iowa Magazine.

Upcoming Events

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Counterpoint: The Politics of (International) Writing

Monday, October 14, 2024 7:30pm
Voxman Music Building
How do politics affect what poets or novelists write, and even how they write it? How does literature inform political discourse? What is cultural diplomacy, why is it so important, and what is the UI’s role in promoting it? For this inaugural event in the Obermann Center’s new Counterpoint public conversation series, Christopher Merrill — poet, nonfiction writer, translator, editor, and director of the UI’s renowned International Writing Program — and Loren Glass, a historian of creative...

Literary Legends With Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Tracy Kidder

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 7:30pm
Iowa Memorial Union (IMU)
Sit in on a one-of-a-kind evening with writer and Iowa graduate Tracy Kidder, “a master of the nonfiction narrative” (Baltimore Sun), as he reflects on his lengthy literary career and reads from some of his bestselling work. The event will feature a conversation about the power of long-form investigative writing between Kidder and renowned author Stuart Dybek (73MFA), as well as a Q&A session and book signing. Register here: https://foriowa.info/3yUJ2h8 The author of nonfiction classics such...
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Art & Write Night

Friday, November 1, 2024 6:00pm to 8:00pm
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History
Join the long, rich, historical tradition of artists creating in our spaces. Professional, aspiring, and amateur artists alike, make our museum your muse. The return of this popular program series welcomes guests into the Museum of Natural History's magical gallery spaces after-hours to work on sketching or writing projects with other campus and community artists. Tell a friend, grab a notebook, and join us on the first Friday of each month. We'll provide a new inspo prompt for each session...
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