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Past Events
Monday, 26 Mar 2012
Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement - Anne Clifford
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Anne Clifford is the Msgr. James Supple Chair of Catholic Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State. She will discuss the work of environmentalist, women's rights activist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai. Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement began as a grassroots tree planting program to address environmental challenges in her home country of Kenya. It grew into a vehicle for empowering women in natural resource management, economic development, and political governance. Anne Clifford is a former consultant for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Environmental Justice Program and has written on the topic of Catholicism and environmental stewardship. She is also the author of Introducing Feminist Theology and coeditor of Christology: Memory, Inquiry, Practice. Msgr. James A. Supple Lecture Series.
Thursday, 22 Mar 2012
Challenging the Status Quo for Native American Women: Stories from a Career in Film, Finance and Philanthropy - Valerie Red-Horse
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Valerie Red-Horse, of Cherokee ancestry, is a filmmaker, entrepreneur and investment banker. She has raised or assisted in more than $2 billion in financings for American Indian Tribal Projects and founded two female Native American-owned investment banks on Wall Street - one believed to be the first ever. She is also the founder and owner of Red-Horse Native Productions, which collaborates with tribal nations to bring Native stories accurately and respectfully to the screen. She is perhaps best known for her production of the PBS documentary True Whispers: The Story of Navajo Code Talkers. A graduate of UCLA and a resident of southern California, she has established the nonprofit Hollywood Access Program for Natives as well as the Bel Air Presbyterian Dance Ministry, serving women in rehabilitation in downtown Los Angeles. Part of the Women's Leadership Series.
Thursday, 8 Mar 2012
The Impact of Retrotransposons on Human Genome Evolution - Mark Batzer
8:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Mark Batzer was part of the international consortium of scientists who recently decoded the orangutan genome. His research focuses on understanding the genetic diversity of humans, in particular the study of mobile DNA elements. The inclusion or omission of these "jumping genes" can lead to genetic diseases in humans as well as the creation of new genes and gene families in the genome. Batzer is the System Boyd Professor and Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University. He earned a PhD in genetics and zoology at LSU and completed his postdoctoral education at the Human Genome Center at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he subsequently worked as a biomedical scientist. Sigma Xi Lecture.
CANCELED: The Impact of Women's and Gender Studies in Academia and Beyond - Jill Bystydzienski
7:00 PM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - This lecture has been canceled due to a family emergency.
Jill Bystydzienski will discuss the variety of women's and gender studies programs in higher education today as well as international collaborations in this area. Her broad range of work has addressed such topics as women, gender and politics in a global perspective and building cross-cultural coalitions. Her new book is Intercultural Couples: Crossing Boundaries, Negotiating Difference. She has also researched barriers to the advancement of girls and women in science, technology and engineering fields. Jill Bystydzienski is a professor in and the chair of the Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Ohio State University. Prior to that she was a faculty member in Sociology and directed the Women's Studies Program at Iowa State. Part of the Women's & Gender Studies Program 35th-Anniversary Celebration.
Wednesday, 7 Mar 2012
The War between Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon - Farhad Manjoo
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - It used to be that Amazon sold books, Google was a search engine, Facebook was a social network and Apple sold computers. Now these technology giants are branching out into all kinds of products and disrupting business across the economy. Farhad Manjoo is a technology columnist for Slate magazine and the author of True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society. He also contributes regularly to National Public Radio, Wired News and Fast Company, for which he recently wrote "The Great Tech War Of 2012" about the battle for the future of the innovation economy. The piece outlines how these companies are competing with each other - and other companies - in markets for mobile phones, apps, social networking, retailing, advertising, finance and much more. Part of the National Affairs Series: The Nation in Transition.
Tuesday, 6 Mar 2012
Fighting Human Trafficking - Luis CdeBaca
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Luis CdeBaca is Ambassador at Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. He has worked under three presidential administrations to combat human trafficking and modern-day forms of slavery. He was appointed by President Obama in 2009 to direct the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the Department of State. He served formerly as Counsel to the House Committee on the Judiciary, where his portfolio included national security, intelligence, immigration, and civil rights. Ambassador CdeBaca is a graduate of Iowa State University and received his law degree from the Michigan Law School. Part of the World Affairs Series.
Monday, 5 Mar 2012
Setting the Global Table: Strategies for Feeding and Fueling a Growing World - Joe Taets
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Joe Taets is Senior Vice President at Archer Daniels Midland Company and an Iowa State alum. He leads ADM's Agricultural Services business unit, where he is responsible for commercial activities and operations. He is also part of the company's Strategic Planning Committee. Previously, Taets was president of ADM's grain group, overseeing the company's domestic and export grain businesses and grain merchandising operations. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural business from Iowa State in 1988 and an MBA from Drake University in 1992. The Carl and Marjory Hertz Lecture on Emerging Issues in Agriculture.
No audio recording available for download or podcasting.
Miss Representation - Film
6:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Miss Representation exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The film challenges the media's limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself. It features stories from teenage girls and interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, like Condoleezza Rice, Katie Couric, Margaret Cho and Gloria Steinem. Jennifer Siebel Newsom wrote, directed, and produced this 2011 Sundance documentary. A discussion will immediately follow the 80-minute film led by Joel Geske, Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Sunday, 4 Mar 2012
Environmental Pollution, Climate Change and Our Health - Sandra Steingraber
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Sandra Steingraber is a biologist as well as a cancer survivor. She is the author of several books, including Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment and Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood, a memoir of her own pregnancy with her daughter and an investigation of fetal toxicology. Her latest book is Raising Elijah: Protecting Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis. She speaks as both a scientist and a mother about the joys of bringing up her son while searching for ways to shield him - and all children - in a world facing climate change and increased environmental pollution. Steingraber was recently honored with the Heinz Award, given for significant achievements benefitting the environment. She is scholar-in-residence in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Ithaca College and has a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Michigan. The 2012 Shivvers Memorial Lecture.
Friday, 2 Mar 2012
Memories of Internment - Grace Amemiya
12:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Grace Amemiya was a nursing student at the University of California, San Francisco, in 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Her education was interrupted when she and her family, along with 120,000 other Americans of Japanese heritage, were detained in internment camps. Grace Amemiya will talk about her personal experiences as a former internee. She is an Ames resident who often speaks on the impact of internment and has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning News. Part of the 2012 Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity, ISCORE.