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Past Events
Tuesday, 12 Oct 2010
Global Farmer Town Hall Meeting on Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity Practices
10:00 AM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Join farmers from around the globe to discuss sustainable agriculture practices and their role in biodiversity preservation. The panel will feature farmers from Asia and North and South America discussing what they do daily to preserve the environment. Experts, including Iowa State Seed Science Endowed Chair Gary Munkvold and International Food Policy Research Institute program director Judy Chambers, will address how these practices benefit our world. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will offer opening remarks and participate in the discussion. Orion Samuelson, host of National Farm Report will moderate. The event is part of the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity and is being held in conjunction with the World Food Prize celebration.
This town hall meeting will be broadcast via the Internet to students around the world, and the panel will take questions live via Twitter, e-mail, Facebook, and two-way video.
Monday, 11 Oct 2010
Grassroots Efforts in the Fight against Global Hunger - 2010 World Food Prize Laureates David Beckmann & Jo Luck
8:00 PM – Sun Room/South Ballroom, Memorial Union - David Beckmann and Jo Luck are co-recipients of the 2010 World Food Prize and will discuss the role of nongovernmental organizations in combating hunger and poverty around the world.
David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World, a faith-based organization that seeks to influence leaders in Washington to end hunger at home and abroad. Through Bread for the World he led a grassroots effort to persuade the U.S. government to increase funding for the fight against hunger as well as develop more focused policies and long-term solutions. During Beckmann's tenure, Bread For the World's membership has nearly doubled, and Congress has tripled its poverty-focused development assistance; U.S. aid to Africa for agriculture and rural infrastructure has increased eightfold. Beckmann is the author of two books, including the newly released Exodus from Hunger. An economist and Lutheran pastor, he worked on poverty issues at the World Bank for fifteen years and holds degrees from Yale University, Christ Seminary, and the London School of Economics.
Jo Luck is president of Heifer International, an organization that teaches the world's resource-poor and hungry how to become self-sustaining. Heifer's unique public education initiative links grassroots donors in wealthy countries to recipients in developing countries. It provides extremely poor families with food- and income-producing animals as well as a model for community development that combines improved human nutrition and management of animal and natural resources with training in business development, leadership, gender equity, and environmental conservation practices. Under Jo Luck's leadership, Heifer International's supporters have grown from 20,000 to 500,000, and its message of sustainable solutions to hunger has reached the homes of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Jo Luck is a graduate of David Lipscomb College and attended the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School Executive Education Program.
The 2010 Norman Borlaug Lecture and part of the World Affairs Series.
Thursday, 7 Oct 2010
A New Vision for Iowa Food and Agriculture: What's For Breakfast? - Francis Thicke
7:30 PM – Gold Room, Memorial Union - Democratic candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Francis Thicke owns and operates an organic dairy near Fairfield. Prior to returning to full-time farming in 1992, he served as the National Program Leader for Soil Science for the USDA-Extension Service in Washington, DC. He has also served at the appointment of Iowa governors on the state Environmental Protection Commission, Food Policy Council, and the Organic Standards Boards. Thicke is the recipient of the Leopold Center's 2009 Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture and the 2007 Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award from the Practical Farmers of Iowa. He earned an M.S. in soil science and a Ph.D. in agronomy, with a soil fertility specialty. Part of the Iowa State University Campaign 2010 Series.
abUSed: The Postville Raid - Film and Discussion with Director Luis Argueta
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - In his documentary abUSed:The Postville Raid, Guatamalan-born filmmaker Luis Argueta weaves together the stories of individuals and families affected by the May 2008 immigration raid at the
Agriprocessor meatpacking plant. It presents the human face of immigration, the socioeconomic forces that fuel migration and the exploitation experienced by workers. The film was recorded in Postville, Iowa, as well as in four communities in Guatemala. Luis Argueta, now a U.S. citizen, owns the production company Maya Media Corp. His film The Silence of Neto is the only Guatemalan film to have reached the Academy Awards competition, and he is the only Guatemalan director to have received a CLIO. A discussion with director Luis Argueta will immediately follow the 60-minute film. Part of the Latino Heritage Month Celebration
Wednesday, 6 Oct 2010
It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It: Communication for Leaders - Denise Vrchota
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Denise Vrchota teaches classes in nonverbal communication, small group communication, professional communication and conflict resolution. She is a consultant with the ISUComm initiative and works with faculty in other departments and colleges who wish to integrate oral communication skills with disciplinary content in their classes. Vrchota offers workshops on a variety of oral communication topics to members of the ISU Community and to external organizations, as well as conducts focus groups and facilitates strategic planning meetings for a variety of organizations. She is an assistant professor in English and Communications Studies. Part of the Women's Leadership Series.
The New Normal and the Value and Values Consumer - Christine Romans
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Iowa State alum Christine Romans is the host of Your $$$$$, CNN's weekend business roundtable program, and a featured correspondent for American Morning. Her coverage focuses on the latest breaking developments in the current economic crisis and what they mean to Americans and their money. Her new book is Smart Is the New Rich: If You Can't Afford It, Put It Down. Romans served previously as a correspondent for Moneyline and Lou Dobbs Tonight and has covered such topics as immigration reform, homeland security, American foreign policy with China and Latin America, and the war on terrorism's effect on markets. Prior to joining CNN, she reported for Reuters and Knight-Ridder Financial News. Part of the Technology, Globalization & Culture Series.
Monday, 4 Oct 2010
Roads to Activism: Traveling Mercies in Afghanistan, Kenya, Haiti and Mexico - Aldo Magazzeni
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Aldo Magazzeni organizes volunteer community service projects building wells and water systems around the world through his nonprofit organization Traveling Mercies. Though seemingly isolated, his efforts have a far-reaching impact for the people they serve. Traveling Mercies partners with such groups as Rotary, the Salvation Army, Voices of Women and local churches to plan, fund, and implement its projects. Internationally, his work has included the installation of a well in Eldoret, Kenya, for the care of street children; water systems, day care centers and safe shelters for women and children in the Herat Province of Afghanistan; and the installation of water catchments for the school buildings at the Tashirat Orphanage in Tepoztlan, Mexico. All of this came about after he established a successful business - Champion Fasteners Inc. He then combined his penchant for mountain climbing with a love of community service.Part of the World Affairs Series.
Working for Education: The Bedrock of a Free and Good Government - Bill Maske
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Democratic Congressional candidate Bill Maske has served as an educational administrator for twenty-five years, most recently as superintendent of the Interstate 35 Community School District. He began his career in education as a teacher at the American School in Tehran, Iran, in 1975 and has served the Iowa districts of Everly, Nashua, Valley, and Belmond-Klemme. He has been active in the Democratic Party as a campaign worker, campaign chair and county chair. He has also served as a city council member, Iowa State Education Association officer, and community volunteer. Part of the Campaign 2010 Series.
Thursday, 30 Sep 2010
Where in the World Is Intellectual Freedom? Barbara M. Jones
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Barbara M. Jones is the director of the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom and executive director of their Freedom to Read Foundation. Jones has twenty-five years of active engagement on intellectual freedom issues. She received a doctorate in U.S. Legal History from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; an M.A. in History, Archival Management, and Historical Editing from New York University; an M.L.S. from the Columbia University School of Library Service; an M.A.T. in English from Northwestern University; and a B.A. in English from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Banned Book Week and Constitution Day Series.
Wednesday, 29 Sep 2010
Moral Ground: A Town Meeting on Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril - Kathleen Dean Moore & Michael Nelson
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Michael Nelson and Kathleen Dean Moore will lead a discussion on the importance of taking personal moral responsibility for the planet as a way to move beyond scientific debates, political legislation and mandates to solve the environmental crisis. The town meetings are in conjunction with the release of their new book Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril. Kathleen Dean Moore is author or editor of ten books, including Riverwalking: Reflections on Moving Water; Holdfast: At Home in the Natural World; The Pine Island Paradox; and her forthcoming book of essays, Wild Comfort: A Book of Healing. She is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and University Writer Laureate at Oregon State University. Michael Nelson has coauthored or edited three other books in the area of environmental philosophy: The Great New Wilderness Debate, The Wilderness Debate Rages On and American Indian Environmental Ethics. He holds a joint appointment as an associate professor of philosophy and environmental ethics, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, at Michigan State University. Part of the Live Green! Sustainability Series.