Roy J. Carver Professor of English Ed Folsom's teaching and research have centered on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American poetry and culture. He has been particularly interested in the ways American poets have talked back to Walt Whitman over the years, and how Whitman tapped into American culture in surprising ways to construct a radical new kind of writing. He has written, edited, and co-edited a number of books on Whitman, including Walt Whitman: The Measure of His Song (Choice "Outstanding Academic Book," Independent Publisher Book Award for Poetry), Walt Whitman's Native Representations (Choice "Outstanding Academic Book"), Walt Whitman and the World, Walt Whitman: The Centennial Essays, Whitman East and West, Whitman Making Books / Books Making Whitman, Leaves of Grass: The Sesquicentennial Essays, Walt Whitman's Democratic Vistas: The Original Edition, and Re-Scripting Walt Whitman (co-authored with Kenneth M. Price). He has been a leader in the development of Digital Humanities, co-editing a CD-ROM archive of Whitman's work, co-directing the Walt Whitman Archive, preparing the Whitman bibliography for Oxford Bibliographies Online, and in 2014 teaming up with Christopher Merrill to teach "Every Atom: Walt Whitman's 'Song of Myself,'" the University of Iowa's first MOOC. He edits the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review and the Whitman Series for the University of Iowa Press.

Professor of English Christopher Merrill has published six collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; many works of translation and edited volumes, among them, The Forgotten Language: Contemporary Poets and Nature and From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon; and five books of nonfiction, The Grass of Another Country: A Journey Through the World of Soccer, The Old Bridge: The Third Balkan War and the Age of the Refugee, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain, and The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War. His work has been translated into nearly forty languages, his honors include a knighthood in arts and letters from the French government, and his journalism appears in many publications. As director of the University of Iowa's International Writing Program, he has undertaken cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries.