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Past Events

Tuesday, 16 Nov 2010

Valley Forge: A Story of Endurance and Transformation - Newt Gingrich
6:30 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Newt Gingrich is the coauthor of Valley Forge, a tour-de-force novel about endurance, survival, transformation, and rebirth. It chronicles the unique crucible of time and place where Washington and his Continental Army were forged into a fighting force that would win a revolution and found a nation. Newt Gingrich served in Congress for twenty years and as Speaker of the House. He is a member of the Defense Policy Board and cochair of the UN Task Force. He is also the author of several bestselling works of historical fiction, including Gettysburg and Pearl Harbor. His coauthor, William R. Forstchen, is the author of more than forty books and is a Faculty Fellow at Montreat College. Books will be available for sale and a book signing will follow his presentation.

Monday, 15 Nov 2010

United Citizens: The Supreme Court Ruling on Corporate Personhood - David Cobb
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Attorney and activist David Cobb will discuss efforts to end corporate personhood after the recent Supreme Court ruling that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. In Citizens United, the Court struck down a provision of the McCain-Feingold Act that restricted corporate-sponsored broadcast communications. The ruling overturned two precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations. David Cobb has worked with the Program on Corporations, Law and Corporations, the Center for Voting and Democracy and ReclaimDemocracy.org. Cobb was the Green Party nominee for President of the United States in 2004, and previously served as the General Counsel for the Green Party. In 2002 he ran for state Attorney General in Texas.

Thursday, 11 Nov 2010

Physical Activity or Body Weight: Which Is More Important for Your Health? Steven Blair
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Steven Blair is a recognized authority on exercise and its health benefits. He is coauthor of Fitness after 50, Active Living Every Day, and Physical Activity and Health and was the senior scientific editor for the first U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health. He has done extensive research using the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, which examines the impact of diet, physical activity and other lifestyle factors on mortality. Blair is currently on the faculty at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, where he holds joint appointments in the Department of Exercise Science and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Prior to that, he was a researcher and then president and CEO of the Cooper Institute, a nonprofit research and education center recognized as a leader in exercise science. The 2010 Helen LeBaron Hilton Chair in Human Sciences.

Tracking Giants across the Blue Oceans - Barbara Block
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Marine biologist Barbara Block is recognized for her research on the movement patterns and behavior of large pelagic fishes, such as tunas, billfishes, and sharks. A former MacArthur Fellow, Block helped established the Tuna Research and Conservation Center to study the physiology and population structure of these species, which are highly exploited by international fisheries. She serves as a scientific advisor to the Tag A Giant Program, which pioneered electronic tagging of marine fish species across the globe. The team has tagged over 1,600 northern bluefin tuna as part of an effort to rebuild and maintain sustainable populations of these fish. Block is the Charles & Elizabeth Prothro Professor in Marine Sciences at Stanford University. The Annual Paul L. Errington Memorial Lecture and part of the Women in STEM Series.

Wednesday, 10 Nov 2010

Nobody's Enemy: The Youth Culture of Iran - Neda Sarmast
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Neda Sarmast will show clips from her documentary, Nobody's Enemy: The Youth Culture of Iran, and discuss her work to correct misperceptions about Iranians and Muslims in the U.S. media. Sarmast was born in Iran and, before moving to the U.S. at the age of nine, was an eyewitness to the Iran-Iraq war. During the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and again after 9/11, she found herself defending Iranians and their beliefs to Americans, and in turn defending Americans and their way of life to Iranians. In 2005 she returned to Iran to film a documentary on the country's youth culture. Sarmast, who had a successful career in music management, marketing and PR, combines her personal experience with her professional background to facilitate global youth dialogue and promote tolerance among Eastern and Western cultures.

Nuclear Arms Control for the 21st Century - Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller
12:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Rose Gottemoeller is the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, and was the chief negotiator of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the Russian Federation. Formerly Deputy Undersecretary of Energy for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation and before that, Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation and National Security, also at the Department of Energy, she was responsible for all nonproliferation cooperation with Russia and the Newly Independent States. Part of the World Affairs Series.

Tuesday, 9 Nov 2010

Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? Tom Geoghegan
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Tom Geoghegan is a public interest attorney and the author of Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? an examination of the benefits and successes of the European social democracy. He will discuss what Germany's global competitiveness has to teach our country. Geoghegan has practiced law in Chicago since 1979, working on a variety of public interest, labor, and employment cases. His other books include See You in Court, The Secret Lives of Citizens, and Which Side Are You On? Geoghegan worked previously as a policy analyst for the U.S. Department of Energy. He holds degrees from Harvard University and Harvard Law School. Part of the Technology, Globalization & Culture Series.

Sunday, 7 Nov 2010

Grant Wood: A Life - R. Tripp Evans
7:00 PM – Morrill Hall Auditorium, Room 2019 - R. Tripp Evans is the author of the forthcoming biography Grant Wood: A Life. The book uncovers the artist's personal life and the many ways it contradicted his public image. Wood's American Gothic and scenes of farmlands and folklore represented traditional values and a simple, agrarian life. In contrast, Woods himself was ambivalent about religion, had idiosyncratic relations with family and spent most of his life hiding his homosexuality. Tripp Evans teaches American art and architecture at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. He holds a PhD in art history from Yale. Two of Grant Wood's largest murals were installed at Iowa State's Parks Library in 1934.

Thursday, 4 Nov 2010

Engineering For A Sustainable World: An Artist's Approach - Rosette Gault
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Rosette Gault's work is a blend of art and science. She holds a patent on paperclay, a plastic modeling mix of clay, paper pulp, and water whose fired result can be indistinguishable from conventional clay but is much lighter in weight. In addition to her studio art, Gault is currently working to develop a water filtration system for developing countries, taking advantage of the nanoparticle size of the openings left by the burned-out paper in the firing process. She has also explored ways to convert industrial paper waste and scrap glazes into new building materials. A studio potter, Gault holds an MFA in ceramics. She has authored several books on paperclay for ceramic sculptors.

Invisible Children: Stories of War - Film and Discussion with Asimwe Proscovia
7:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Invisible Children is working to rebuild education in northern Uganda, a region recovering from over twenty years of war. It uses documentary films about war-affected children in east Africa as well as international speaking tours to advocate for access to education and economic development. As part of the 2010 Face-to-Face Tour, Asimwe Proscovia will share her experience as a recent graduate of the Invisible Children Legacy Scholarship Program. The program's students are child mothers, displaced persons, and orphans by war who refuse to be defined by their past. Asimwe Proscovia will speak and take questions immediately following the film. Part of the World Affairs Series.