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Past Events
Wednesday, 21 Sep 2011
Inuit Culture of North Canada - Peter Irniq
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Peter Irniq is a longtime resident of the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut in Canada's Northwest Territories and a member of the indigenous Inuit peoples. He will be in Ames to build three inuksuit, or "signposts of the north," in local parks between September 18 and October 1. Inuksuit are large monuments often made of unworked stone that have been used by the Inuit people as guides in the Arctic, marking trails, caches of food, nearby people, or the migration routes of caribou. Irniq, a former representative in the Northwest Territories legislature, has served as the executive director of the Inuit Cultural Institute and in the Department of Education, Culture and Employment for the Government of Northwest Territories. His most recent post with that agency is Deputy Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, where his mandate is to protect traditional Inuit culture and language.
Saturday, 17 Sep 2011
MYTHBUSTERS with Grant Imahara
7:00 PM – Stephens Auditorium - Grant Imahara, a member of the Discovery Channel's MythBusters team, will show clips from the show and explain how they do it all. Imahara is a former animatronics engineer and model maker for George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic, the special-effects shop, where he worked on such movies as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. He also worked on The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. Imahara earned a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California. Mythbusters is a science and technology television series that takes a light-hearted look at modern misconceptions and the bizarre claims of Urban Legends and puts them to the test. Engineers' Week.
Thursday, 15 Sep 2011
Sex+Money: A National Search for Human Worth
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Sex+Money is a documentary about the sex trafficking of minors in the United States and the modern-day abolitionist movement fighting to stop it. It was filmed by a group of photojournalists who traveled cross-country conducting interviews with federal agents, victims, politicians, activists, psychologists and porn-stars, among others. The group previously produced a collection of photographs and stories by the same title that provided a global perspective on human trafficking. While researching that book, the journalists were shocked to discover that the same injustice was happening on their own soil. Currently, between 100,000 and 300,000 minors are being sexually exploited across America. The sexual exploitation of children has become the nation's fastest-growing form of organized crime. A discussion following the 90-min film will include a victim and her family member, an FBI special agent, and a social worker.
Wednesday, 14 Sep 2011
A Campaign Narrative: Why Iowa Matters - or Not! Clarence Page
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Clarence Page, the 1989 Pulitzer Prize winner for Commentary, is a columnist syndicated nationally by Tribune Media Services and a member of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board. He is a frequent contributor of essays to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and has been a regular on such news panel programs as PBS's The McLaughlin Group, NBC's The Chris Matthews Show, ABC's Nightline and BET's Lead Story. Page worked as a reporter and assistant city editor for the Chicago Tribune early in his career. In 1972 he participated in the paper's Task Force series on vote fraud, which won the Pulitzer. He is the author of Showing My Color: Impolite Essays on Race and Identity. 2011 Chamberlin Lecture
A Histo-Musical Lecture about the Gullah/Geechee - Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine, the selected and elected official head-of-state and spokesperson for the Gullah/Geechee people, uses activism through the arts to educate global audiences on human rights and the continuation of cultural communities. Her presentation, "Gullah/Geechee: Crakin Teet wid de Worl Bout Who WEBE" is about the distinctive group of Black Americans who live in farming and fishing communities on the Sea Islands from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida. They are known for the preservation of their African cultural and linguistic heritage. Queen Quet is the founder of the cultural advocacy organization the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition. Her "histo-musical presentations" use the arts to educate audiences on human rights and cultural continuation. Part of the Technology, Globalization and Culture Series.
Monday, 12 Sep 2011
Creating an Infrastructure for Peace - Dorothy Maver
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dorothy Maver is an international educator and peacebuilder. She is the president of the National Peace Academy, a founding member of the Leadership Council of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, and coauthor of the book Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom. The lecture will cover peace building; catalyzing a movement for peace activism; and personal, social, political and ecological peace learning. Maver will also address the questions Is peace a human right? Is it possible in our world? Part of the World Affairs Series
Thursday, 8 Sep 2011
Investigation of Magnetic Reversal at Almost the Nanoscale - E. Dan Dahlberg
5:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - E. Dan Dahlberg is a professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He is also director of the Magnetic Microscopy Center (MMC). The MMC applies magnetic force microscopy techniques to a variety of outstanding physics problems such as the dynamics of single domain magnetic particles, micromagnetics of domain structures and magnetic logic devices. His active research program involves a substantial effort in spin transport in magnetic multilayers and films and ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic exchange coupling. Dahlberg has a master's and doctorate in physics from UCLA and a master's in physics from the University of Texas at Arlington where he earned his undergraduate degree in physics. Part of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series.
Tuesday, 6 Sep 2011
Religion and Violence: A New Theory for an Old Problem - Hector Avalos
6:30 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Hector Avalos is a professor of religious studies at Iowa State University whose books include The End of Biblical Studies and Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence. He received a Master of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate in biblical studies at Harvard.
Thursday, 25 Aug 2011
Haiti after the Earthquake - Paul Farmer
7:00 PM – Stephens Auditorium - Global humanitarian, medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer has dedicated his life to improving health care for the world's poorest people. He is a founding director of Partners In Health, an international nonprofit organization whose medical services, research and advocacy activities have shown that high-quality health care can be delivered in resource-poor settings. Dr. Farmer has written extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality. His most recent book is Haiti after the Earthquake. He is chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School; Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital; and the United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti. Dr. Farmer is also the subject of the book Mountains beyond Mountains by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder. Part of the World Affairs Series.
Donations may be made to Partners In Health online at Support Partners In Health
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Civic Education About Climate Change: Opinion-Leaders, Communication Infrastructure, and Participatory Culture - Matthew Nisbet
2:15 PM – Cardinal Room, Memorial Union - Matthew Nisbet is a social scientist who studies strategic communication in policymaking and public affairs, focusing on debates over science, the environment and public health. His keynote address is titled "Climate Shift: Clear Vision for the Next Decade of Public Debate." Nisbet will present the findings of a study of the financial resources, strategies, and communication activities of environmental groups and scientists working to mobilize societal action on climate change and compare them to a comparable study of conservative groups and industry associations that oppose action. A discussion of the implications for universities, as institutions engaged in research, education, and public engagement, will follow. Matthew Nisbet is an associate professor in the School of Communication at the American University in Washington, DC. Part of the Summer Symposium on the Ethical Challenges of Communicating Science within Political Controversies.