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Past Events

Thursday, 30 Oct 2008

A Canadian Conversation with the New U.S. President - Lloyd Axworthy
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Lloyd Axworthy is President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. He has previously held several Cabinet positions in the Canadian government, notably Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Employment and Immigration, and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women. Minister Axworthy became internationally known for his advancement of the human security concept, in particular, the Ottawa Treaty - a landmark global treaty banning anti-personnel landmines for which he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. For his efforts in establishing the International Criminal Court and the Protocol on Child Soldiers, he received the North-South Institute's Peace Award. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Minister Axworthy as his special envoy for Ethiopia-Eritrea to assist in implementing a peace agreement between the East African countries in 2004. The Manatt-Phelps Lecture in Political Science and part of the World Affairs Series

Tuesday, 28 Oct 2008

Religious Upheaval and Its Effects on U.S. Policy Toward the Middle East - Arthur Waskow
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center, is involved in numerous interreligious projects that address issues of peace and social justice, the environment, and community building. He is recognized as a writer and teacher of Jewish history and theology and a leader in the movement for Jewish renewal. In 2007, Newsweek magazine named him one of the fifty most influential American rabbis. For fourteen years Waskow was a Resident Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, a center for independent analysis of governmental policy and social change. He is the author or editor of over two dozen books, including Godwrestling, Down-to-Earth Judaism, and, most recently, The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. He earned a PhD in U.S. history from the University of Wisconsin. Part of the World Affairs Series: Why Should We Care?

The Cultural and Health Benefits of a Vegan Diet - A Panel Discussion with Will Tuttle
6:30 PM – Oak Room, Memorial Union - Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet, will speak on the spiritual, cultural, and health benefits of eliminating animal agriculture. He will be joined by two panelists: Erica Fuchs, director of the Center for Plant-Based Diet Development and research associate in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State, will discuss vegan nutrition. Harold Brown, a former farmer, rancher, and founder of Farm Kind, will speak on his conversion from animal- to plant-based agriculture. William Tuttle was trained in Korea as a Zen Buddhist monk. He has a doctorate in the philosophy of education from the University of California, Berkeley, and is cofounder of Karuna Music & Art and the Prayer Circle for Animals. Part of the Sustainable Food Conference: A New Paradigm for a Peaceful Planet.

Monday, 27 Oct 2008

Why Are We Producing Biofuels? Robert C. Brown
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Robert C. Brown is the Iowa Farm Bureau Director of the Bioeconomy Institute and Director of the Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies. He is part of a team developing technologies that use heat and catalysts to produce biofuels and was instrumental in securing a contract with ConocoPhillips for an eight-year, $22.5 million biofuels research program at Iowa State. Brown is the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Bergles Professor in Thermal Science. He holds faculty appointments in the departments of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. Brown’s publications include the textbook Biorenewable Resources: Engineering New Products from Agriculture. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University. A reception and display of student research will precede the lecture at 7:00 p.m. in the South Ballroom. Fall Presidential University Lecture.

The Effects of Animal Agriculture on World Hunger and the Environment - A Panel Discussion with Will Tuttle
6:30 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Will Tuttle, author of the World Peace Diet, will speak on the social, psychological, and spiritual consequences of animal agriculture. He will be joined by two panelists: Harold Brown, a former farmer, rancher, and founder of Farm Kind, will address animal agriculture as it relates to the environment. Clark Ford, associate professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State, will speak about the relationship of animal production to world hunger. William Tuttle was trained in Korea as a Zen Buddhist monk. He has a doctorate in the philosophy of education from the University of California, Berkeley, and is cofounder of Karuna Music & Art and the Prayer Circle for Animals. Part of the Sustainable Food Conference: New Paradigm for a Peaceful Planet. The Cultural and Health Benefits of a Vegan Diet - A Panel Discussion with William Tuttle, will be held on Tuesday, October 28, at 7:00 PM in the Oak Room, Memorial Union.

Thursday, 23 Oct 2008

Climate Ethics after Bali - Andrew Light
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Andrew Light is an associate professor of philosophy and public affairs and an adjunct professor of geography and public health genetics at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is also a faculty fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Texas at Austin, an affiliate faculty member of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College, and a studio fellow at the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. Light has edited or coedited sixteen publications in the fields of environmental ethics and the philosophy of technology. He is coauthor of the recently published Environment and Values, an historical and community-based approach to environmental valuation. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Riverside. Part of the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Series: Sustaining the Earth.

The Financial Crisis: What Now?
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Three leaders in the financial sector will discuss the underlying forces leading to the current financial crisis, the effect it is having on their respective firm or agency, and options for managing the crisis in the short and long term. The participants, all Iowa State alums, include: James A. Overdahl, Chief Economist, Securities and Exchange Commission; Robert F. Baur, Chief Global Economist, Principal Global Investors; and Ned P. Zachar, CFA, Portfolio Manager, KLS Diversified. Part of the National Affairs Series: How Will America Change?

Wednesday, 22 Oct 2008

America's Racial Divide: The Kerner Report 40 Years Later - A Roundtable
8:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - President Lyndon Johnson formed an 11-member National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders in July 1967 to explain the riots that plagued cities each summer since 1964 and to provide recommendations for the future. The Commission’s 1968 report, informally known as the Kerner Report, concluded that the nation was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” The Kerner Commission work was continued by the bipartisan Eisenhower Violence Commission, formed by President Johnson and extended by President Nixon. Iowa State Rep. Wayne Ford, a member of the Eisenhower Foundation, and Carolyn Cutrona, director of the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research and professor of psychology at Iowa State, will lead the discussion.

Observations on the Changing American University and Globalization - Michael Crow
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Michael Crow is president of Arizona State University. Under his direction the university pursues teaching, research, and creative excellence focused on the major intellectual questions of our time as well as those central to the building of a sustainable environment and economy for Arizona. He was executive vice provost of Columbia University, where he also was professor of science and technology policy in the School of International and Public Affairs. He played the lead role in the creation of the Columbia Earth Institute and helped found the Center for Science, Policy and Outcomes in Washington, D.C., a think tank dedicated to linking science and technology to desired social, economic, and environmental outcomes. Part of the Technology, Globalization, and Culture Series.

Space of Trees - Gary Hilderbrand
6:00 PM – Kocimski Auditorium, College of Design - Gary Hilderbrand is widely published as an author and critic on twentieth-century landscape architecture practice. His monograph Making a Landscape of Continuity: The Practice of Innocenti and Webel, was recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects and won the American Institute of Graphic Arts Award for Outstanding Book Design. Hilderbrand holds degrees from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he has taught since 1990. He serves on the editorial boards of Land Forum and Harvard Design Magazineand is a principal in Reed Hilderbrand Associates Inc. Landscape Architecture, Watertown, Massachusetts. The P.H. Elwood Lecture in Landscape Architectureand part of the College of Design's 30th Anniversary Celebration.