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Past Events

Wednesday, 16 Oct 2013

What Is (Ab)Normal? How to Identify Mental Illness - Robert Krueger
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Psychologist Robert Krueger will discuss the differences between normal and abnormal human behavior and how the two overlap. He specializes in the diagnosis of mental illness and the role of genetics in personality and personality disorders. Robert Krueger recently served on the task force to develop the upcoming 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. He is the Hathaway Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University Minnesota. His awards include the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution from the American Psychological Association. Disability Awareness Week.

Tuesday, 15 Oct 2013

How Migration Is Changing Our World - Paul Collier author of The Bottom Billion
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Economist Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, is an expert on developing markets. He is director of the Centre of the Study of African Economies at Oxford University, advisor to the Strategy and Policy Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and advisor to the Africa Region of the World Bank. His most recent books include The Plundered Planet: Why We Must - and How We Can - Manage Nature for Global Prosperity and, most recently, Exodus: How Migration is Changing Our World. Part of the World Affairs Series: Development, Defense and Diplomacy

Monday, 14 Oct 2013

Scientific Discovery and the Fight to End Global Hunger - Marc Van Montagu, Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert T. Fraley
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - From laboratory research to in-field applications, the innovations of Marc Van Montagu, Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert T. Fraley are helping farmers around the world improve crop yields and feed a growing global population in an increasingly volatile climate. Van Montagu, Chilton and Fraley are joint recipients of the 2013 World Food Prize for their research and achievements in agricultural biotechnology. Working in separate facilities on two continents, they were pioneers in molecular biology and the science of genetically engineering plants. Their work has made it possible to develop crops that are resistant to insects and disease, tolerate extreme variations in climate, require less chemical fertilizer and help ensure an agricultural livelihood for some of the world's poorest farmers. Norman E. Borlaug Lecture A reception and student poster display will precede the lecture from 7 to 8 p.m. in the South Ballroom, Memorial Union. Posters will address world food issues and are submitted by undergraduate and graduate students.

Thursday, 10 Oct 2013

Innovative Solutions for Restoring Water Quality - Joe Whitworth
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Joe Whitworth is president of The Freshwater Trust where he and his team focus on cooperative, market-based solutions that benefit rivers, working lands and local communities. This work is especially important as traditional conservation methods used over the last quarter century are proving inadequate to the environmental challenges of today. A native Midwesterner, Whitworth has dedicated the last two decades of his career working to restore freshwater quality through innovative solutions. The Trust has developed strategies for water quality credit trading programs as well as an innovative, patented online platform to manage the funding, permitting, and implementation of restoration projects. The organization's goal is a new kind of conservation that properly integrates the economy and the environment to achieve measurable benefit and workable solutions. Part of the National Affairs Series on Innovation

Wednesday, 9 Oct 2013

Entrepreneurs & Leadership in the Swine Industry
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dr. Howard Hill is president-elect of the National Pork Producers Council and a strategic council to Iowa Select Farms. Hill earned a master's degree and PhD in veterinary microbiology from Iowa State and subsequently joined Iowa State's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. During his twenty-year tenure at the university, he served as an industry leader in the eradication of pseudorabies (PRV). In 2011 Dr. Hill was one of nine veterinarians appointed to serve on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Advisory Committee on Animal Health. William K. Deal Endowed Leadership Lecture

Tuesday, 8 Oct 2013

United States and India: How Far Have We Come, What Lies Ahead? Ambassador Nirupama Rao
7:30 PM – Dolezal Auditorium, 127 Curtiss Hall - Her Excellency Nirupama Rao has served as India's ambassador to the United States since September 2011. In a diplomatic career spanning more than three decades, she served in various capitals around the world, including Washington, Beijing and Moscow. She was India's Foreign Secretary from 2009 to 2011. After serving in the East Asia Division of the Foreign Ministry at the policy level, she was named India's first female Ambassador to China. She was High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and served as spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science and part of the World Affairs Series. Parking available in the Memorial Union Parking Ramp or in the East Parking Deck behind East Hall.

Friday, 4 Oct 2013

Dating in a Digital World - Nev Schulman of MTV's CATFISH
11:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - It was love at first type, but will it be love at first sight? MTV's Catfish: The TV Show tackles the mystery and complexities of dating in a digital world. Series hosts Nev Schulman and Max Joseph track "catfish" - people who create a false identity or intentionally misrepresent themselves in online forums - as they follow the first-time, real-life encounters of young couples taking their online-only relationships to a new level, face-to-face. Schulman shares his experiences and some insights on how social media sites, and the always lurking catfish, have both simplified and complicated dating for Millenials. ISU After Dark

Thursday, 3 Oct 2013

The CEOs of Leadership: Clarity, Example and Optimism - Karen Hughes
12:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Ambassador Karen Hughes worked for more than thirty years in public administration, public policy and communications. As Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs from 2005 to 2007, she dramatically reshaped the State Department's communications efforts. As counselor to President Bush from 2001 to 2002, Hughes was a strategic adviser to the president on policy and communications and managed the White House offices of communications, media affairs, speechwriting and press secretary. In 2008, Hughes joined Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, and currently serves as worldwide vice chair. Mary Louise Smith Chair for Women and Politics

Wednesday, 2 Oct 2013

Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers - Kwame Anthony Appiah
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Kwame Anthony Appiah, named one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 public intellectuals, is the Laurence S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is also the president of the PEN American Center, the world's oldest human rights organization. In 2012 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by the White House. Born in London to a Ghanaian father and a white mother, he was raised in Ghana and educated in England at Cambridge University, where he received a PhD in philosophy. As a scholar of African and African-American studies, he established himself as an intellectual with a broad reach. His book In My Father's House and his collaborations with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., including The Dictionary of Global Culture and Africana, are major works of African struggles for self-determination. His latest book is The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen. Part of the Technology, Globalization & Culture Series and the World Affairs Series.

Tuesday, 1 Oct 2013

Emerging Powers and the Responsibility to Protect - Ramesh Thakur
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Ramesh Thakur, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, currently directs the Centre for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament at Australian National University. He has held academic positions in Australia, New Zealand and Canada; advised the Australian and New Zealand governments on arms control and international security issues; and served as UN Senior Adviser on Reforms as well Senior Vice Rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo. He was a principal author of the 2001 Responsibility to Protect report, which the UN later adopted as guiding principles for the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity. Thakur is coeditor of the newly released Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy, the author of more than thirty books, and writes regularly for the international press. Part of the World Affairs Series