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Energy and Politics - Charles Doran
7:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Charles Doran is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of International Relations and Director of the Global Theory and History Program at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. He is also a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.He has written extensively on energy politics, and directed a multi-year project on Persian Gulf energy security at the Middle East Institute for the MacArthur Foundation and a project on North American free trade for the Foreign Policy Institute. He is well-known for his "power cycle" theory in international politics, as well as his expertise on Canadian politics. Part of the Engineering Thematic Year on Energy and Sustainability.

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Roberts - Neal Katyal
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Neal Katyal is an expert in national security law, the American Constitution, the Geneva Conventions, and the role of the president and Congress after 9/11. He successfully challenged the policy of military trials at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba. On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court sided with him by a 5-3 vote, finding that President Bush's tribunals violated the constitutional separation of powers, domestic military law, and international law. He is currently a professor at Georgetown University Law School. Constitution Day Lecture and Part of the National Affairs Series: How Will America Change?

Challenging Chomsky: Has a Remote Amazonian Language Changed our Understanding of Culture, Grammar, and Thinking? Daniel L. Everett
8:00 PM РSun Room, MU - Daniel L. Everett has lived in jungle villages for more than 7 years of his life and has conducted field research every year since 1977, beginning with his move to a Piraḥ village at the mouth of the Maici River in the Lowland Amazonia region in Brazil. His research has led him to the conclusion that Noam Chomsky's framework of universal grammar, the fundamental principle of recursion in particular, did not obtain in Piraḥ. His 2005 article in Current Anthropology, titled "Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Piraḥ," has caused a controversy in the field of linguistics. He is Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics at Illinois State University. He is also Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the School of Languages, Linguistics, and Cultures at University of Manchester in Manchester, UK. His book, Don't Sleep, There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, will be released internationally in November. The 2007-08 Quentin Johnson Lecture.

Should Gay Rights Prevail Over Traditional Biblical Sexual Ethics? A Debate: Jan Mickelson and Hector Avalos
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Jan Mickelson of WHO's "Mickelson in the Morning" is a talk show host who covers a range of controversial topics from city and state government to entertainment and educational issues. He was named one of the 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America, 1997, by Talkers Magazine. Hector Avalos is a professor of religious studies at Iowa State University whose books include The End of Biblical Studies and Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence. He received a Master of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate in biblical studies at Harvard. Anastasia Bodnar will moderate.

Can Capitalism Save the Planet? Ted Steinberg
8:00 PM – Ames City Auditorium, 515 Clark Ave. - Ted Steinberg, Adeline Barry Davee Distinguished Professor of History and Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University, has worked as a U.S. environmental historian for nearly twenty years. He will examine the roots of modern ecological change and the emergence of a new, more business-friendly strand of environmental thinking. His books include American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn; Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History; Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America; and Nature Incorporated: Industrialization and the Waters of New England. Part of the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Series: Sustaining the Earth. The ISU Council on Sustainability will be hosting a Dessert Reception at 7pm at the Ames City Auditorium. The Cafe will cater the reception, using organic, local ingredients. The University Book Store will also be selling copies of Ted Steinberg's books.

Energy and Its Relationship to National Security - A Roundtable with James Woolsey
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, will participate in a roundtable discussion on energy policy and national security. Participants include Robert C. Brown, director of the Bioeconomy Institute and Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering at Iowa State, and David Morris, Vice President of the Institute for Local Self Reliance. David Yepsen, chief political correspondent for the Des Moines Register, will moderate. Woolsey has held presidential appointments in two Republican and two Democratic administrations. Since the September 11 attacks, he's become one of the most influential advocates of energy independence and the environmental benefits of shifting away from fossil fuels. Part of the Engineering Thematic Year on Energy and Sustainability.

Now It's Personal - Edward Mazria
7:00 PM – Kocimski Auditorium, Design College - Architect, author, and educator Ed Mazria will present the 2030 Blueprint, a plan for achieving energy independence and solving climate change via the building sector, the largest energy consumer in the U.S. Mazria's award-winning architecture and planning projects span a thirty-five-year period and employ an environmental approach to design. He is the author of numerous published works, including the primary text on solar design, The Passive Solar Energy Book. He is the founder of Architecture 2030, a research organization focused on protecting the global environment that developed a strategy to dramatically reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions and fossil-fuel consumption by the year 2030. Part of the College of Design's 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Enrique's Journey and America's Immigration Dilemma - Sonia Nazario
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Sonia Nazario, projects reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Nazario won a Pulitzer Prize for her series on the experiences of Latin American children who immigrate to join their parents in the United States. The series was the basis for her book Enrique's Journey, which tells the story of a Honduran boy's struggle to reach his mother in the United States. She has spent more than two decades reporting and writing about social issues, including children of drug-addicted parents and hunger among California schoolchildren. Part of the Latino Heritage Month Celebration.

Rewriting the World: Personal, Poetic, Political - Adrienne Rich
10:00 AM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - This informal meeting is an opportunity for questions and discussion with poet and feminist icon Adrienne Rich. Rich's poetry and prose are taught in literature, creative writing, and gender and gay studies courses across the country and abroad. In 1951 she received the Yale Younger Poets Award. She is the author of more than sixteen volumes of poetry.

An Evening with Adrienne Rich
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Adrienne Rich is a poet, nonfiction writer and feminist icon. Her poetry and prose are taught in literature, creative writing, and gender and gay studies courses across the country and abroad. In 2006, she was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation "in recognition of her incomparable influence and achievement as a poet and nonfiction writer. For more than fifty years, her eloquent and visionary writings have shaped the world of poetry as well as feminist and political thought." She is the author of more than sixteen volumes of poetry.The 2008 Goldtrap Lecture.