Search For Lectures

Donald Glover & Childish Gambino: The IAMDONALD Tour
9:00 PM – Stephens Auditorium - Most recognized for his role as the jock Troy on NBC's Community, Donald Glover was hired as a staff writer on the hit show 30 Rock while still a Resident Assistant at New York University. In addition to Community, Donald continues to tour and perform stand-up. His first Comedy Central Stand-Up Special aired in March 2010, and in July of that year he received the first ever Rising Comedy Star of the Year Award at the 2010 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. Donald is also one of the founding members of the internet sketch comedy sensation, DERRICK Comedy, whose YouTube videos have garnered over 50 million views. In addition to his acting and stand-up, Donald raps under the moniker "Childish Gambino." His most recent album, Culdesac, was released in July.

VEISHEA Opening Ceremony with the National Teacher of the Year
12:00 PM – Central Campus - Sarah Brown Wessling is the 2010 National Teacher of the Year and a Johnston High School language arts teacher. Her comments will focus on inspiring life-long learning in students. Wessling holds both a bachelor's degree (1998) and master's degree (2003) in English from Iowa State, where she also completed the teacher licensure program. She has taught at Johnston High School for ten years.

Rock and Roll Testimony: Finding the Sacred in Guitar, Bass and Drums - David Nantais
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Can rock music enrich one's spiritual life? David Nantais, a freelance writer and religion book reviewer for Publishers Weekly, tackles this question. Nantais's writings on such topics as bioethics and the intersection of spirituality and popular culture can be found in print publications like America and online at Busted Halo. He earned an MS In biochemistry from Iowa State University, followed by an MA in philosophy from Loyola University and a Master's in Theological Studies from Weston Jesuit School of Theology. He has played the drums in rock bands in Detroit, Chicago, Ames, and Boston. Msgr. James A. Supple Lecture.

President Obama's First Term and the 2012 Campaign - A Forum with Iowa Public Radio Commentators
7:00 PM – Curtiss Hall Auditorium - Join Steffen Schmidt, Arnie Arnesen, and other Iowa Public Radio political commentators for an evaluation of the Obama Administration as the president enters the second half of his term and prepares for the 2012 campaign. Steffen Schmidt is a professor of political science at Iowa State and longtime contributor to WOI Radio's weekly political call-in show. Arnie Arnesen is a former New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate and frequent guest on Iowa Public Radio. The discussion will be moderated by Ben Kieffer host of IPR's "The Exchange."

Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change - Paul Thompson
3:10 PM – 2050 Agronomy - Paul Thompson is the Kellogg Chair in Agriculture, Food, and Community at Michigan State University. He joined the Philosophy Department at Michigan State in 2003, with partial appointments in the Agricultural Economics and Resource Development Departments. His previous academic positions included distinguished professor of philosophy at Purdue University, where he also served as director of the Center for Food Animal Productivity and Well-Being, and professor of philosophy and agricultural economics at Texas A&M University, where he was director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy and Ethics. He is the author of The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics and editor of The Ethics of Intensification: Agricultural Development and Cultural Change and What Can Nanotechnology Learn from Biotechnology? Part of the Live Green! Sustainability Series.

Comparative Study in Development and Social Change: Debates on Capitalism from the Perspective of the Global South - Samuel Zalanga
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Samuel Zalanga teaches in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Bethel University. He specializes in development studies and social change, teaching on such topics as the sociology of development, growth and development of the modern city, social inequality and religion in society. He earned a master's degree at the University of Jos in Northern Nigeria and completed his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota. He has lived, researched, and taught in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Bauchi State, Northeastern Nigeria.

Ecology, Biotechnology, and Sustainable Agriculture - Paul Thompson and Fred Kirschenmann
6:00 PM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - Paul Thompson is the Kellogg Chair in Agriculture, Food, and Community at Michigan State University. He joined the Philosophy Department at Michigan State in 2003, with partial appointments in the Agricultural Economics and Resource Development Departments. Previously he held faculty positions at Purdue and Texas A&M. He is the author of The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics and editor of The Ethics of Intensification: Agricultural Development and Cultural Change. Fred Kirschenmann is Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State and president of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York. He also oversees management of his family's 2,600-acre certified organic farm in south central North Dakota. His 2010 collection of essays is Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher. Part of the Live Green! Sustainability Series.

Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People - Amy Sedaris
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Actress Amy Sedaris once again nips at the heels of Martha Stewart with a new book to help fans through these dire economic times. It is appropriately named Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. She previously shared her domestic skills in the satirical guide to entertaining I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. Sedaris was the anti-heroine Jerri Blank in Comedy Central's cult hit Strangers with Candy, which she wrote with Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello. She has appeared in the movies Elf, School of Rock, Maid in Manhattan, the film version of Bewitched and on television in Rescue Me, Monk, Just Shoot Me! Sex and the City, and My Name Is Earl. She also made a guest appearance on Sesame Street as a flustered Snow White who keeps losing her dwarves. Amy is half of the Obie-winning "Talent Family" playwright team with her brother, author and essayist David Sedaris. She lives in Manhattan with her imaginary boyfriend, Ricky, and her pet rabbit, Dusty. A book signing will follow. Part of the National Affairs Series.

Why Students Depend on Freedom of Expression - Frank LoMonte
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Frank LoMonte is the executive director of the Student Press Law Center, an experienced commercial litigation attorney, and a former investigative journalist and political columnist. Before attending law school, he worked in state capitol news bureaus in Florida and Georgia, and in Washington, D.C., with the Morris newspaper chain. LoMonte then practiced law with an Atlanta-based firm and clerked for federal judges on the Northern District of Georgia and the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was a senior editor of the Georgia Law Review. The First Amendment Day Celebration Keynote Address.

Protecting the Planet: An Earth Warrior's Story
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Paul Watson founded the world's leading direct action ocean conservation organization - the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Since 2002, Watson and his crew have attempted to stop Japanese ships from hunting whales in Antarctica documented in Animal Planet's series Whale Wars, now in its fourth season. A co-founder of Greenpeace and the Greenpeace Foundation, Watson has also worked for Defenders of Wildlife, Fund for Animals, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals. He cofounded the Earthforce Environmental Society and Friends of the Wolf, and has served on the National Board of the Sierra Club USA. He is also the author of several books, including Sea Shepherd: My Fight for Whales and Seals, Earthforce!, An Earth Warrior's Guide to Strategy, Ocean Warrior: My Battle to End the Illegal Slaughter on the High Seas, Seal Wars: Twenty-Five Years on the Front Lines With the Harp Seals, and Cry Wolf. Part of the Live Green! Sustainability Series and Earth Day 2011