Search For Lectures


Past Events

Tuesday, 17 Apr 2012

Let's Prepare for Earth Day: Organics, Sex and The Lorax - Matthew Miller
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Matthew Miller is a graduate of Iowa State and has been farming organically for the past twelve years. He also works as an organic inspector and has completed more than two thousand compliance audits of organic farms and food-processing facilities in Iowa and surrounding states. Following completion of his bachelor's degree in agricultural education and agricultural business, he taught high school agricultural education. He has studied human sexuality at the Theology of the Body Institute, which is grounded in Pope John Paul II's teachings on human love. Miller will offer a Catholic perspective on an all-natural lifestyle that he says makes for a better environment.

VEISHEA Opening Ceremony and Awards
4:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - The annual VEISHEA celebration is one of Iowa State's oldest traditions, showcasing the university community with a variety of educational and entertainment events. This year's speaker will be Cyclone men's basketball coach Fred Hoiberg. Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill will present the awards, recognizing students, faculty and staff for outstanding leadership.

Monday, 16 Apr 2012

Beyond Consent: How Reclaiming Sexuality Combats Sexual Violence - Jaclyn Friedman
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Jaclyn Friedman is a writer, performer, activist and author of the book What You Really Want: The Smart Girl's Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety. As a college undergraduate, Friedman was a victim of sexual assault. The experience led her to become an instructor of IMPACT safety training and an advocate for safer communities for women everywhere. Her 2007 article "Drinking and Rape: Let's Wise Up About It" became a popular reference for new thinking about preventing rape without shaming or blaming women. It was also the inspiration for her book Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World without Rape. VEISHEA 2012

CANCELED: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made - David Menton
6:30 PM – Cardinal Room, Memorial Union - This event may be rescheduled for fall 2012. Dr. David Menton was an associate professor of anatomy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for more than thirty years. Now retired from the faculty, he is a full-time researcher and speaker with Answers in Genesis.

Friday, 13 Apr 2012

A Conversation with Sean Kenney, LEGOâ„¢ Building Sculptor
12:00 PM – Lyle E. Lightfoot Forum, Atrium, College of Design - Join us for a conversation and interactive demonstration with Sean Kenney, who was named the world's first LEGOâ„¢ Certified Professional in 2005, and remains one of only nine such artists in the world. Kenney has been turning ordinary LEGOâ„¢ bricks into contemporary sculpture, corporate commissions, and personalized gifts for people around the world for more than thirty years. Based in New York City, he has created pieces for television, celebrities, tourist attractions, galleries, museums, and companies like Google, Mazda, Nintendo and Samsung. He and his work have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ELLE, Good Morning America, and numerous documentaries and retrospectives about LEGOâ„¢, including a full-length documentary about Kenney himself. He is the author of the bestselling Cool Cars and Trucks, the first in a series of picture-book-building-guides for children. He also runs MOCpages.com, the world's largest LEGOâ„¢ fan community. Sean Kenney will use LEGOâ„¢ bricks to create a new blockbuster display for the gardening world. The traveling exhibit premiers at Reiman Gardens in 2012. Twenty-seven LEGOâ„¢ brick sculptures have been commissioned to create 14 individual displays ranging in size from 6 inches to nearly 8 feet using almost 500,000 individual LEGOâ„¢ bricks. The sculptures are inspired by gardens and wildlife from birds to flowers, butterflies to garden tools.

Thursday, 12 Apr 2012

Songwriters in the Round - Freedom Sings Post-Show Performance
10:00 PM – Maintenance Shop, Memorial Union - Admission FREE - Join the Freedom Sings Band members for a post-show performance. Live from Nashville these singers, songwriters and musicians will share original material and play some of their greatest hits. Participating musicians include guitarist Bill Lloyd of Foster and Lloyd and Sky Kings; songwriter and guitarist Jason White; singer Ashley Cleveland, a 2010 Grammy Award nominee for Best Traditional Gospel Album; and Joseph Wooten, keyboardist for the Steve Miller Band. Part of the 10th-Anniversary First Amendment Day Celebration.

Freedom Sings: A Musical Celebration of the First Amendment
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Ten years after launching Iowa State's First Amendment Day Celebration, Freedom Sings returns to campus. The multimedia presentation is part concert and part conversation and features music that has been banned, censored or sounded a call for social change. A program of the First Amendment Center, Freedom Sings features live music, video and narration, and showcases hit songwriters, performers and Grammy Award winners. It looks at some of the most controversial songs in American history, recognizing the full spectrum of political views. Ken Paulson, former editor of USA TODAY and president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors will host. Participating musicians include Bill Lloyd, guitar; Jason White, guitar; Ashley Cleveland, vocals; and the Steve Miller Band's Joseph Wooten, keyboard. Part of the 10th-Anniversary First Amendment Day Celebration.

Is the Bible the Source of Absolute Moral Rules for Today? A Debate - Hector Avalos and Keith Darrell
7:00 PM – 2055 Hoover Hall - Hector Avalos is a professor of religious studies at Iowa State. He is the author or editor of nine books, including The End of Biblical Studies and, most recently, Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Ethics of Biblical Scholarship. He received a Master of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate in biblical studies from Harvard University. Keith Darrell is founder and an evangelist with the Whitefield Fellowship. Mr. Darrell earned a Master's of Divinity from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

Is Religion Compatible with Science? Sabeel Ahmed
7:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Dr. Sabeel Ahmed is the director of the GainPeace Project, an outreach project of Islamic Circle of North America. GainPeace.com conducts outreach projects in Chicago and other cities to educate people about misconceptions regarding the teachings of Islam. He travels across the United States giving lectures and workshops about various topics related to Islam. After completing his medical education, Dr. Sabeel worked in the medical field until 2008 when he became a full-time daee.

Influential Landscapes: An Artist's Evolution - Katy Stone
7:00 PM – Kocimski Auditorium, College of Design - Studio artist Katy Stone, an Iowa native and Iowa State alum, has a unique visual voice that is heavily influenced by the natural environment and a connection to landscape. She paints on a nontraditional artistic material, archival plastic film, as well as on paper and metal. The accumulated mass of gestures are then cut, combined and layered into three-dimensional assemblages. Katy Stone has exhibited her artwork in over forty solo and group exhibitions and completed ten art commissions. Her work is also featured in the U.S. Art in Embassies Collection in Mumbai, India, and Baghdad, Iraq. Stone grew up in Iowa and received her BFA in painting and drawing from Iowa State in 1992. She has been living in the Pacific Northwest since receiving her MFA from the University of Washington. No audio recording available for download or podcasting.