Roughly 40 people attended the first event of the Iowa City Downtown District’s First Round Series Wednesday at Prairie Lights Cafe in collaboration with the University of Iowa Office of Innovation.

Attendees heard from Robert Cargill, UI associate professor of biblical studies, who discussed the question “Can archaeology prove the Bible?” 

In November 2025, the Downtown District tested a version of the idea at St. Burch Tavern with UI associate professor Casey DeRoo. The event drew a crowd of approximately 60 people and prompted the partnership to inform the Iowa City community of the variety of achievements professors are accomplishing at the university.

There will be a First Round partnership with a UI professor once every other month. 

According to the Iowa City Downtown District website, the series was created to give Iowa City residents the opportunity to be informed about what is happening in the business, culture, and art scene downtown. 

The First Round name comes from the fact that the sponsor for the event will cover the price of a first round of drinks for every attendee.

UI Office of Innovation Director of Special Projects Jordan Jones said the partnership is being used to create community interest in the university’s research.

“We’re looking at ways that we can bring engagement between the university and the community,” Jones said. “So knowing that Downtown District had these events, it felt like a really natural way to partner with an existing downtown program.”

Cargill said he took the opportunity of being the first speaker in the First Round partnership series so he could highlight developments at UI, specifically in his field.

“This is what I love doing,” Cargill said. “I love telling people about Iowa City and the University of Iowa, and if it involves archaeology or biblical studies, I’m all in.”

Matt Krueger, a fourth-year UI student and one of Cargill’s students, attended the event with his roommates. One of his roommates is also in Cargill’s class, and they both find the content of Cargill’s Ancient Origins class to be informative. 

Cargill said people should always question their beliefs and what they’ve been told, a piece of advice that resonated with Krueger.

Cargill also said the crowd should “learn to live in the gray areas” and “never stop investing in the humanities.”

Jones said Cargill was picked as the first in the series because of his “Bible & Archaeology” project, which covers the humanities in the digital sphere by posting informative content on its YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook accounts. 

Mary Kate Lichty, a fourth-year UI student, helped set up the event at the cafe and shared her experience being involved with the First Round series.

“This is a really cool movement that’s going on in the downtown district, bringing academia and community together,” Lichty said. “It’s really important to be a part of the First Round opportunity.”

Before the event started, Lichty shared that attendees were excited not only for this event, but the partnership going forward and what it could offer Iowa City residents.

“A lot of people are excited,” Lichty said. “A lot of people want access to public scholarships, so when it’s given in a manner like this, it makes it easily deliverable and easily attainable.”

Jones said the process for choosing speakers for future events will be based on the Office of Innovation’s goal of reaching as many people as possible, so they will look to find guests across different disciplines.

“We are looking at a variety of individuals,” Jones said. “We want to spread as many interests as we can.”