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The Girls from Ames - Jeffrey Zaslow
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Jeffrey Zaslow, Wall Street Journal columnist and coauthor of The Last Lecture, introduces us to The Girls from Ames in his new book, the true story of a group of ordinary women who built an extraordinary friendship. Eleven childhood friends, now in their forties, formed a special bond growing up in Ames, Iowa. As young women, they moved to eight different states, yet managed to maintain an enduring friendship that is a testament to the deep bonds women form as they experience life’s joys and challenges, triumphing over heartbreak and unexpected tragedy. This book also illustrates how close female relationships can shape every aspect of women’s lives – their sense of themselves, their choice of men, their need for validation, their relationships with their mothers, their dreams for their daughters – and reveals how such friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them. Learn more at www.GirlsFromAmes.com.

Biofuels Research at ConocoPhillips - Lisa Myers
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Lisa Myers is the director of biofuels research and development for ConocoPhillips. She began her career with Phillips Petroleum Company in 1998 as an analytical chemist in research and development. After the merger of ConocoPhillips, she transferred to downstream operations as the special projects chemist for the Sweeny Refinery. In 2005 she returned to research and development as the director of new catalyst development, and in 2006 was named director of biofuels research & development. Myers received a doctorate in chemistry from Oklahoma State University and is a member of the American Chemical Society. Part of the Women in STEM Speaker Series. A reception and poster display will precede the lecture at 6:00 p.m. in the Cardinal Room, Memorial Union.

Take Back the Night - Rally, March & Open Mic
6:00 PM – Memorial Union West Terrace - The annual Take Back the Night rally, march and open mic event is organized with the purpose of unifying women, men, and children in an awareness of violence against women, children and families. The march begins at 7:15 p.m. Taking the Stage to Reflect and Express Open Mic begins at 8:15 p.m. in the Maintenance Shop, with audience members sharing stories, poems, and music. Light snacks and refreshments will be served.

Voices of the Immigrant Experience – Dennis Chamberlin
12:00 PM – Multicultural Center, Memorial Union - Dennis Chamberlin will show and discuss images from Marshalltown, Iowa, that were taken as part of the “Voices of the Immigrant Experience” project, a combination of portraits and audio recordings in which people tell their stories about being immigrants in Iowa. Chamberlin has been on the faculty in the Iowa State Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication since 2005, when he received his MFA in photography from Indiana University. He has been a staff photographer for the Denver Post and done work for such publications as National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, and Time. He received a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 as a member of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel editorial staff for the paper’s flood coverage. Part of the Latinos in Iowa Series.

Feeding the World: The Role of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Prabhu Pingali
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Prabhu Pingali is Head of the Agricultural Policy and Statistics Agriculture Development Division at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He formerly served as Director of the Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization at the United Nations and has over twenty-five years of experience in analyzing food, agriculture and development policy in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Pingali has authored nine books and over 90 refereed journal articles and book chapters on food policy, technological change, productivity growth and resource management in the developing world. Part of the World Affairs Series and 2009 BIGMAP Symposium - Food and Fuel Crops: Issues, Policies, and Regulation.

Confessions of the Guerrilla Girls
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - The Guerrilla Girls are women activists fighting for gender and racial equality within politics, the art world, film and the culture at large. They are a group of anonymous females who take the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms and appear in public wearing gorilla masks. They use humor to convey information, provoke discussion, and show that feminists can be funny and wear gorilla masks to focus on the issues rather than their personalities. Dubbing themselves the conscience of culture, they declare themselves feminist counterparts to the mostly male tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Batman, and the Lone Ranger.

How Obama Really Won the Election - Nate Silver
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Nate Silver was already celebrated among baseball fans for developing PECOTA, now recognized as the most accurate system for forecasting how athletes and teams will perform in the future. The University of Chicago economics graduate, sold his system to Baseball Prospectus, staying on as a writer and consultant. In 2007, turning to politics, he fed a database with every poll available, along with state demographics and election results from 1952 forward, adjusting for a variety of factors. The model he built simulated elections and outperformed every established pollster in the primary season, and so he launched the political web site FiveThirty Eight.com. By the end of election night, he had predicted the popular vote within one percentage point, predicted 49 of 50 states’ results correctly, and predicted all of the resolved Senate races correctly. In addition to running the political-prediction Web site FiveThirtyEight.com and being an analyst and writer for Baseball Prospectus, he writes an Esquire column called "The Data."

VEISHEA Comedy with Bill Burr
9:00 PM – Stephens Auditorium - ADMISSION FREE -doors open at 8 p.m. - Bill Burr first gained notoriety for his recurring role on the second season of Chappelle's Show, but has gone on to become a regular performer on the Late Show with David Letterman and to have his own HBO Half Hour Special. His most recent project was the hour-long Comedy Central special Why Do I Do This? He also co-hosts his own XM radio show, Uninformed, with fellow comedian Joe DeRosa.

VEISHEA Opening Ceremony - Paul Rhoads
12:00 PM – Central Campus - Paul Rhoads, successful defensive coordinator at both Pitt and Auburn and a former Cyclone assistant coach, returned home to become head football coach at Iowa State University. Rain location: Carver 101

Zen Buddhism and Creativity - Thomas Kasulis
8:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Thomas P. Kasulis is Professor of Comparative Studies in Humanities; former chair of East Asian Languages and Literatures; former chair of the Division of Comparative Studies; and Founding Director of the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities at Ohio State University. His books include Zen Action/Zen Person; Intimacy or Integrity: Philosophy and Cultural Difference; and Shinto: The Way Home.