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The Second Vatican Council and Pope John XXIII's Commitment to Religious Unity - Anne Clifford
7:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - In 1959 Pope John XXIII called an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, the first in nearly a century. Anne Clifford, the Msgr. James Supple Chair in Catholic Studies at Iowa State, will examine Pope John's life with a focus on how his years as a Vatican diplomat in Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and France contributed to his vision for the Second Vatican Council and the resulting commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to cultivate relations not only with other Christian churches but also with other religions, especially Judaism and Islam. Anne Clifford earned a PhD in theology from the Catholic University of America and has held faculty positions at Duquesne University and John Carroll University. She is the author of Introducing Feminist Theology and coeditor of Christology: Memory, Inquiry. Supple Lecture Series

The Strange Saga of Academic Freedom and the Law - Matthew Finkin
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Matthew W. Finkin is the author of For the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom and the The Case for Tenure. He is on the faculty at the University of Illinois College of Law, where he is the Albert J. Harno and Edward W. Cleary Chair in Law, and director of the Program in Comparative Labor and Employment Law and Policy.

Is Technology Gendered in Africa? A View from Namibia - Heike Winschiers-Theophilus
6:30 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Heike Winschiers-Theophilus is a professor in the Department of Software Engineering at the Polytechnic of Namibia. Her work has focused on designing visualization systems and technology interfaces for use by indigenous people. She is interested in how indigenous culture and knowledge is captured and managed, and how indigenous peoples are represented. She earned her PhD from the University of Hamburg and has undergraduate and Master's degrees in computer science. She was formerly dean of Polytechnic's School of Information Technology. Part of the Women in STEM Series.

The Puerto Rican Independence Movement in the 21st Century
7:00 PM – Central Campus - South of Campanile - Juan Manuel Dalmau Ramerez is a leader in Puerto Rico's independence movement and the Puerto Rican Independent Party (PIP). He was the PIP's candidate for governor and has served as secretary general and commissioner of the party. An attorney, Dalmau worked as a legistlative assistant under Senator Ruben Berrios, as a legal officer for Puerto Rican Supreme Court Chief Justice Jose Andreu Garcia, and as an advisesr to Senator Manuel Rodriguez Orellana. He earned his law degree from the University of Puerto Rico and has taught constitutional law at the undergraduate level. This presentation is part of the Puerto Rican Student Association's Cultural Night, which runs 7-10 pm and includes traditional food and dancing. Lecture rain location: 127 Curtiss Hall

The Political Status of Puerto Rico: Independence or Statehood?
12:00 PM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - Juan Manuel Dalmau Ramerez is a leader in Puerto Rico's independence movement and the Puerto Rican Independent Party (PIP). He was the PIP's candidate for governor and has served as secretary general and commissioner of the party. An attorney, Dalmau worked as a legistlative assistant under Senator Ruben Berrios, as a legal officer for Puerto Rican Supreme Court Chief Justice Jose Andreu Garcia, and as an advisesr to Senator Manuel Rodriguez Orellana. He earned his law degree from the University of Puerto Rico and has taught constitutional law at the undergraduate level.

Me the People: One Man's Quest to Rewrite the Constitution - Kevin Bleyer
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Kevin Bleyer, Emmy-winning writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, hopes to end the constant bickering about the Constitution by simply rewriting it. With humor and wit, he drags our nation's founding document into the 21st century in Me the People: One Man's Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America. He takes readers to Greece, the birthplace of democracy; Philadelphia, the home of American freedom; and debates the failures of Article III with Justice Antonin Scalia. Kevin Bleyer also negotiated bipartisan consensus as a writer and producer for Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and Dennis Miller and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Banned Book Week, Constitution Day Speaker and part of the National Affairs Series.

How Artists Are Transforming the Narrative on Immigration and Equality - Favianna Rodriguez
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Favianna Rodriguez is a printmaker, digital artist and cultural organizer. She is known for her vibrant posters dealing with issues such as war, immigration, globalization and social movements. She also promotes the use of art in civic engagement and leads art workshops at schools around the country. She is directing CultureStrike, a national arts organization that engages artists, writers and performers in migrant rights and in 2009 helped found Presente.org, a national online organizing network dedicated to the political empowerment of Latino communities. Part of the Latino Heritage Month Celebration.

Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations - David R. Montgomery
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Geologist David R. Montgomery is the author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, a mix of history, archaeology and geology that shows how soil use - and abuse - has shaped great civilizations from Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire, China to Central America, and the American push westward. A MacArthur "Genius" Award recipient, Montgomery teaches at the University of Washington, where he studies the evolution of topography and how geological processes shape landscapes and influence ecological systems. He will discuss his current work, a solution-oriented approach to the problem of global soil erosion outlined in Dirt. Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture Homo sapiens, wise man indeed. There's still time to live up to our name - if only we stop treating our soil like dirt. - David Montgomery

A New American Space Plan - Rocket City Rednecks' Travis Taylor
7:00 PM – Stephens Auditorium, Iowa State Center - No tickets - Doors open at 6:15 pm - Travis Taylor is the official ringleader of the Rocket City Rednecks, a National Geographic Channel series that follows five guys from Huntsville, Alabama - home to NASA's Marshall Flight Center and the birthplace of the U.S. space programs. Travis will show clips from the show and explain how they do it all. The Rednecks are rocket scientists with PhDs, and their weekend experiments combine a little hillbilly ingenuity with advanced engineering and physics. Travis has worked with the Department of Defense and NASA for the past twenty-five years, holds five degrees, is completing a second PhD in aerospace engineering, and is the author of A New American Space Plan. Engineers Week 2013 Book signing to follow.

Understanding the Mind and Brain - George D. Pollak
5:30 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - George Pollak is a professor of neurobiology at the University of Texas, where he studies how the brain controls behavior. His expertise is in auditory neuroscience and how we process sound, including how the brain computes from where in space a sound is coming. He uses bats as experimental subjects due to their high reliance on hearing. Dr. Pollak's many honors and awards include a Claude Pepper Award from the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders and a Career Research Award from the National Institutes of Health. Pollak earned his PhD in physiology from the University of Maryland and has been on the faculty at the University of Texas since 1973.