Abram Anders Honored with Inaugural Jonathan Wickert Professorship of Innovation
Author: jmschaef
April 30th, 2025
Abram Anders, Associate Professor of English and Associate Director of the Student Innovation Center, has been named as the inaugural Jonathan Wickert Professor of Innovation by President Wendy Wintersteen of Iowa State University.
This Professorship is endowed by Rudy and Deb Herrman. Pithan Executive Director of Innovation, Jim Oliver, says “This support will enable Abram to accelerate his already impressive career growth to benefit the Student Innovation Center and all Iowa State students.”
Abram Anders is a native Iowan, attended the University of Minnesota, Duluth for his masters before getting his PhD in English from Penn State. In 2019, Abram joined the English Department at Iowa State where he was instrumental in transitioning thousands of students and faculty to online learning during the COVID pandemic. In 2022, he was promoted to Director of Communication Innovation for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences where he helped to develop a new course focused on AI and writing.
Anders says he is grateful for this new title as the Jonathan Wickert Professor of Innovation , and is already hard at work to get the pieces in motion for the start of the new AI Studio in the Student Innovation Center as part of the new Applied AI minor that is to be offered at Iowa State.