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Girl Rising - Documentary & Discussion
7:00 PM – Cardinal Room, Memorial Union - Girl Rising journeys around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world. Viewers get to know nine unforgettable girls living in the developing world: ordinary girls who confront tremendous challenges and overcome nearly impossible odds to pursue their dreams. Prize-winning authors put the girls' remarkable stories into words, and renowned actors give them voice. The organization Girl Rising is a global campaign working for girls' education.

The Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon: Lessons from the Past for a Sustainable Future - Stanley Temple
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Stanley Temple is a Senior Fellow and Science Advisor with the Aldo Leopold Foundation. For more than thirty years he was the Beers-Bascom Professor in Conservation in the Department of Wildlife Ecology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, a position originally held by Aldo Leopold himself. His talk marks the centennial of the extinction of the passenger pigeon in 1914. Temple uses the case of the passenger pigeon to call attention to the world's ongoing extinction crisis and our relationship with other species.

Engaging Conservatives on Energy and Climate - Bob Inglis
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Bob Inglis was a six-term Republican congressman from one of South Carolina's most conservative districts when he told an audience at a 2010 campaign event that he believed in human-caused climate change. The fallout from that comment helped ensure his defeat. After leaving Congress, Inglis established the Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University. The organization has taken on a mission to convince American conservatives that climate change is real and that free enterprise principles hold the keys for dealing with it. Inglis favors removing all fuel subsidies - from solar and wind to fossil fuels - and imposing a carbon tax as the fairest way to make polluters pay for the greenhouse gas emissions they cause. Part of the National Affairs Series

How to Find Inner Peace in the Modern World: A Buddhist Perspective - Arjia Rinpoche
4:30 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Arjia Rinpoche is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Indiana University and one of the most prominent Tibetan lamas in the world. In 1998, after sixteen years of confinement in a forced labor camp and as he was about to become leader of the Chinese National Buddhist Association, Arjia Rinpoche chose exile overseas. He eventually settled in Mill Valley, California, where he established the Tibetan Center for Compassion and Wisdom. In 2005 he was appointed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as Director of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington, Indiana. Both centers are dedicated to the preservation of Buddhist teachings and Tibetan art and culture. In 2010, he published his memoirs, Surviving the Dragon.

Lectures Program Event Being Planned
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Speaker to be announced.

LIVE via WEBCAST: Language and the Internet - David Crystal
3:00 PM – Doziel Auditorium, 127 Curtiss Hall - Linguist David Crystal is perhaps best known as the author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. He has authored more than one hundred books on the English language, with topics ranging from phonetics and grammar to Shakespeare to clinical linguistics. He has also been a presenter or consultant for several television programs, including the BBC's The Story of English. His latest book, with his wife and business partner, Hilary Crystal, is Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-language Tourist's Guide to Britain. Crystal is an Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. Quentin Johnson Lecture in Linguistics

Redefining Hip Hop Culture with Respect and Dignity - MC Lyte
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - MC Lyte has long been considered one of hip-hop's pioneer feminists. She first gained fame in 1988 as the first solo female rapper to release a full album, Lyte as a Rock. This past September, MC Lyte was honored with the "I Am Hip-Hop Award" at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards. She is the CEO of Sunni Gyrl, an entertainment management and production firm, and author of Unstoppable, Igniting the Power Within to Achieve Your Greatest Potential. She is also active in social projects, including anti-violence campaigns and Rock the Vote. MC Lyte is an honorary member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority and chair and founder of the nonprofit Hip Hop Sisters. Annual Big XII Conference on Black Student Government Keynote Speaker

The Global Pandemic of Physical Inactivity: An Urgent Priority for Public Health - Bill Kohl
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - For nearly thirty years, Harold (Bill) Kohl has worked to promote exercise and fitness as a public health priority. He helped create the first U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines, which were published in 2008, and is an advocate for increasing physical activity among adults and children, including in K-12 school environments. Kohl worked previously for the Centers for Disease Control, where he served as the lead epidemiologist and team leader for the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. He is currently a professor of epidemiology and kinesiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health. The 2013-14 Pease Family Scholar

Climate Preparedness and Resilient Cities: What It Means in Iowa - Mayor Frank Cownie
6:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie was one of eight U.S. mayors recently appointed to the State, Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience. The group has been charged with making recommendations to the White House for developing and financing tools to improve preparedness at the local level for increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions. Mayor Cownie has been an advocate for environmental sustainability within the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), and he was invited to participate as a local government delegate at the International Climate Meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the 2014 Symposium on Sustainability

Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? - Alan Weisman
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Author and journalist Alan Weisman's best selling book The World Without Us asked readers to envision how our planet would respond to a loss of the human race. His new book, Countdown: Our Last Best Hope for a Future on Earth? tackles population growth and the challenges it poses for a sustainable human future. The book took him to more than twenty countries, seeking insight into how we could achieve a stable, optimum population and design an economy that allows for prosperity without endless growth. Alan Weisman's reports have been featured in publications ranging from the Atlantic Monthly to Vanity Fair and have earned him appearances on The Daily Show, Nova and The Today Show. He is a former contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times Magazine, a senior radio producer for Homelands Productions and taught international journalism at the University of Arizona. Part of the Wildness, Wilderness & the Environmental Imagination Series and the University Symposium on Sustainability.