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Past Events
Wednesday, 20 Oct 2010
Who's Afraid of International Trade? Pietra Rivoli
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Pietra Rivoli is the author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, which takes readers from cotton farms in Texas to factories in China to labor unions in the American South to used-clothing vendors in Tanzania. The book explores not only the market forces but also the social dimensions of a global economy. Rivoli is a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and has special interests in social justice issues in international business and in China. She has a PhD in finance and international economics from the University of Florida. Part of the Technology, Globalization & Culture Series.
Investments in Our Future: Exploring Space through Innovation and Technology - Robert Braun
11:00 AM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, 1140 Howe Hall - NASA Chief Technologist Robert Braun will speak about NASA's efforts to open up the solar system for robotic and human exploration. He will also discuss the impact space research and technology may have on broader societal challenges in energy, environment and national security. Braun has more than twenty years of experience in design and analysis of planetary exploration systems, including several robotic space flight systems for the exploration of Mars. He was appointed NASA Chief Technologist in February 2010 and is the David and Andrew Lewis Professor of Space Technology in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The T. A. Wilson Lecture in Aerospace Engineering.
Tuesday, 19 Oct 2010
Immersive Landscapes - Andrea Cochran
6:00 PM – Kocimski Auditorium, 101 College of Design - Andrea Cochran is the principal of Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture in San Francisco. Her work is known for the careful consideration of site, climate and existing architecture and blurring the line between the natural and built environment. The firm has won a large number of national and regional awards, including Honor Awards in general and residential design from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Allegheny Public Square Design Competition for the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, a National Grand Award for Affordable Housing from Residential Architect Magazine, and a National Green Building Award from the American Institute of Architects. Work by Cochran and her firm has been published in several books, including Andrea Cochran: Landscapes and New Garden Design. She has a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University. The P. H. Elwood Lecture in Landscape Architecture.
Monday, 18 Oct 2010
Crossing Arizona - Documentary
8:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Crossing Arizona is an in-depth look at the divisiveness that occurs when immigration and border policy fails everyone. Heightened security in California and Texas has pushed the number of illegal border-crossers into the Arizona desert to an estimated 4,500 a day. Most are men in search of work, but increasingly they are women and children seeking to reunite with their families. Crossing Arizona examines this crisis through the eyes of those directly affected, including ranchers who own the land, humanitarian groups attempting to save lives, farmers who depend on the illegal work force, political activists, and armed citizen patrols. The film was directed by Joseph Mathew and Daniel DeVivo.
Join us Wednesday, October 20 at 8:15 pm for a discussion of Crossing Arizona led by Iowa State faculty and graduate students. It follows the 7:00 pm screening of the film in the Great Hall: More Information
Family Farms in Russia and U.S.-Russian Collaboration - Vladimir Plotnikov
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Senator Vladimir Plotnikov, a member of the Upper Chamber of the Russian Parliament, is president of the Association of Private Farmers and Cooperatives of Russia (AKKOR) and has a Ph.D. in economics. AKKOR works to protect the rights and interests of small- and medium-sized Russian farmers and represents farmers associations and partnerships in the Russian Federation. The organization also coordinates farmers' entrepreneurial activity in order to increase the efficiency of farming, enhance the quality of life in rural communities, and make sure that farming is recognized as an important component of the Russian economy. The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation is working with AKKOR to revive programs established between Iowa and Russian farmers. Part of the World Affairs Series.
Friday, 15 Oct 2010
Food Security in an Era of Climate Change - M.S. Swaminathan
12:00 PM – Ensminger Room, 1204 Kildee Hall - Indian agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan is often recognized as the father of the Green Revolution in India. He is the first recipient of the World Food Prize, in 1987, for spearheading the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties among farmers of that nation. His research ultimately helped India end its reliance on grain imports. Swaminathan studied agriculture in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, earned a Ph.D. in plant genetics from Cambridge, and continued his research in the United States. He began as a scientist with the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in the 1960s and subsequently held such positions as director general of the International Rice Research Center and chairman of the National Commission on Farmers for the Government of India. Swaminathan currently serves as chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, holding its UNESCO Cousteau Chair in Ecotechnology. Part of the Global Agricultural Program's Feeding the World Seminar Series and part of the World Affairs Series.
Thursday, 14 Oct 2010
Sustaining Life on a Tough New Planet - Bill McKibben
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Author and environmentalist Bill McKibben writes about global climate change, alternative energy, and economics. His new book is Eaarth: Making Life on a Tough New Planet. His other books include Wandering Home: A Long Walk through America's Most Hopeful Landscape; The End of Nature; Hope, Human and Wild; and The Age of Missing Information. McKibben is a former staff writer for the New Yorker and a frequent contributor to Harper's, Atlantic Monthly and Outside. He is also the founder of 350.org, an international organization whose mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of climate change with practical actions. The 2010 Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture and part of the Live Green Sustainability Series.
Wednesday, 13 Oct 2010
Flooding in Ames: The Problems and Prospects - Panel Discussion
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - A panel of ISU faculty will discuss factors contributing to flooding in Ames as well as ways to reduce the impact of such events. Topics include what meteorological models tell us about climate change in Iowa, the implications of more frequent and intense flooding, how various mitigation options would affect the local hydrologic system, the effect of flooding on local water quality and quantity, and what we can learn from flood prevention efforts elsewhere in the state. Panelists include Bill Gutowski, Kristie Franz, and Bill Simpkins from Geological and Atmospheric Sciences and Stephen Jones from Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. Their comments will be followed by questions from selected faculty and university and community representatives. The panel will then take questions from the audience. Peter Orazem, University Professor of economics and Ames city council member, will moderate.
PowerPoint slides from this event are available upon request.
Tuesday, 12 Oct 2010
The Rule of Law and the Iowa Supreme Court - Chief Justice Marsha K. Ternus
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, Des Moines, is the first woman to serve as chief justice of Iowa's highest court. She was appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court in 1993 by Governor Terry Branstad, and members of the court selected her as chief justice in 2006. Chief Justice Ternus has made the improvement of court oversight of child welfare cases a priority for the Iowa Judicial Branch. She led an effort to form and now chairs the State Children's Justice Council, which consists of representatives of the judicial branch, state agencies and private entities involved in the child welfare system. In 2009, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appointed her to the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction. She is one of only four state supreme court justices serving on the committee. An Iowa native, Chief Justice Ternus earned her law degree from Drake University Law School. Constitution Day Series
Catholicism and Buddhism: Eastern and Western Spiritualities in Dialogue - Alan Hartway
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Fr. Alan Hartway is chair of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at Naropa University, the only accredited Buddhist university in the United States. Hartway, an ordained Catholic priest, has an MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa, is a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado, and has studied with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. His ministry is in the context of daily interreligious dialogue. He also works with the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, a lay Catholic missionary organization that funds projects in developing countries. Msgr. James A. Supple Lecture.