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Past Events

Thursday, 24 Apr 2014

Caucus Cup Debate: College Democrats v. College Republicans
8:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - The ISU College Democrats will debate the College Republicans on an issue of the day for the chance at the Caucus Cup. The winner claims the trophy for a year and will defend the Cup at the 2015 debate. This year's issues will include gun control and voter identification laws. The judges are Jean Goodwin, Valerie Hennings and Peter Orazem. Jake Swanson will moderate. First Amendment Days

A One Health Approach to Mountain Gorilla Conservation - Michael R. Cranfield
5:00 PM – 2226 Vet Med Building - Michael Cranfield, DVM, is the project director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, a non-profit dedicated to the care of mountain gorillas. Five years ago, the MGVP partnered with the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine to form Gorilla Doctors, which is co-directed by Dr. Cranfield. Gorilla Doctors employs more than a dozen veterinarians and health experts to provide healthcare in the countries where mountain gorillas live. He was one of the first veterinarians to embrace the One Health concept for great ape conservation. He is a graduate of the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College, and completed a residency program at the Toronto Zoo. He is also a consulting veterinarian for the Maryland Zoo and serves on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University. Part of the One Health Lecture Series. A reception will precede the lecture at 4:30 pm in the Fish Tank Lobby.

Tuesday, 22 Apr 2014

Caucus Chaos - Dave Price
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Dave Price is political director and weekend news anchor at WHO-TV and author of the new book Caucus Chaos. The year 2012 brought an Iowa Caucus campaign like the country had never seen before. What happened then could have a big impact on how future candidates run, how Iowans choose their favorites and how the country views the results. Price reveals never before told stories from hundreds of conversations with presidential candidates, key staffers and analysts. Price has covered local, state and national politics in Des Moines since 2001, including the past three Iowa caucuses.

Monday, 21 Apr 2014

The Beginning of Something Big: IT and the Post-Traditional World - Diana Oblinger
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Diana Oblinger is president and CEO of the nonprofit EDUCAUSE, where she works with more than 2,000 institutions to advance higher education through information technology. Oblinger has held many leadership roles in academia and business, including Vice President for Information Resources and the Chief Information Officer for the University of North Carolina system, Executive Director of Higher Education for Microsoft, and IBM Director of the Institute for Academic Technology. She was on the faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia and at Michigan State University and served as the Associate Dean of Academic Programs at the University of Missouri. Oblinger earned all three of her degrees from Iowa State, including a doctorate in cytogenetics. Part of the Women's Leadership Series and Women in STEM Series

That Horse Has Stripes! How Zoos and Veterinarians Are Helping to Save Wildlife - Joe Flanagan
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Joe Flanagan is Chief Veterinarian at the Houston Zoo where he is responsible for the healthcare of 6000 animals ranging from invertebrates to great apes. Set in a 55-acre lush tropical landscape, the Zoo is dedicated to the conservation of endangered species. When he is not treating the animals at the zoo, his conservation activities include providing medical care to the National Marine Fisheries Sea Turtle barn in Galveston, advising the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Research Station, and extensive work with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Dr. Flanagan graduated from the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1982. After graduation, Dr. Flanagan trained at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo until he began work as a veterinarian at the Houston Zoo in December 1982. Part of the National Affairs Series on Innovation.

Thursday, 17 Apr 2014

Medieval Superstition and Modern Skepticism - Michael Bailey
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Michael Bailey, an associate professor of history at Iowa State, examines how magic and superstition have been defined in various historical eras and how these constructions have changed over time. He will discuss how Medieval superstitious beliefs like magic, astrology and divination often transcended religion and draw on rational and scientific thinking. Bailey is the author of Battling Demons: Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages; Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft; and Magic and Superstition in Europe: A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present. College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean's Lecture Series

Student Speech and the First Amendment: Two Supreme Court Cases and Their Legacies - Mary Beth Tinker, Cathy Kuhlmeier Frey & Mike Hiestand
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Almost fifty years after several Des Moines students were suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, John and Mary Beth Tinker are returning to Iowa to discuss free-speech rights and the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in their case, Tinker vs. Des Moines. Mary Beth Tinker will be joined by Cathy Kuhlmeier Frey, one of three students who thirty years ago sued their Missouri school district after their principal cut stories about pregnancy and divorce from their high school newspaper. The Hazelwood vs. Kuhlmeier decision tempered Tinker by allowing administrators to consider the "valid educational purpose" of speech. Mike Hiestand, a former staff attorney for the Student Press Law Center, will moderate. First Amendment Days

Wednesday, 16 Apr 2014

Exonerated by the Evidence, Convicted by the System - Kerry Max Cook
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - At 21-years-old, Kerry Max Cook was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of an East Texas woman. He was tried and re-tried nearly four times over 22 years in what is considered, "...the worst documented example of police and prosecutorial misconduct in Texas history." Twenty years after his first conviction, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction, and prosecutors still refused to drop the charges against Kerry. After rejecting multiple plea deals, Kerry reluctantly accepted a plea-of-no-contest in exchange for immediate freedom. Kerry's plea did not include an admission of guilt or the standard "Stipulation of Evidence." Despite this, the judge accepted Kerry's no-contest plea, the first and only in a Capital Murder case in Texas, and he was released. Two months later, the results of a DNA test showed that semen found in the victim's underwear belonged to her 45-year-old, married ex-boyfriend, James Mayfield. Despite this exonerating DNA evidence, Kerry remains convicted of a murder he did not commit.

Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins - A One-Woman Play
8:00 PM – Ames City Auditorium, 515 Clark Avenue - Admission free! No tickets required. Red Hot Patriot, a one-woman play written by sisters Allison and Margaret Engel, celebrates the life and work of syndicated columnist Molly Ivins. Ivins, who died in 2007 at the age of 62, was noted for her satirical columns, especially about Texas politics. Ivins will be played by actress Barbara Chisholm, who starred in the show's run in Austin, Texas. After the performance, playwrights Allison and Margaret Engel will discuss writing the play and the First Amendment. The sisters have strong Iowa ties. Their father, Jack Engel, was on the journalism faculty at Iowa State, and both spent part of their careers at the Des Moines Register. 2014 First Amendment Day Celebration.

Corporate Constitutional Rights and the Erosion of Democracy - David Cobb
3:00 PM – Oak Room, Memorial Union - David Cobb is a former Green Party presidential candidate and the spokesperson for the grassroots organization Move to Amend. Move to Amend is leading a coalition of organizations and individuals working for a constitutional amendment to reverse the 2010 Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision. Cobb will discuss the history of corporate constitutional rights and how their evolution has changed the democracy on which our government was founded.