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Past Events
Thursday, 10 Apr 2008
Dreams to Reality - Clayton Anderson
3:10 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Astronaut and Iowa State alum Clayton Anderson will share a multimedia experience that chronicles his 152 days in space as part of the 15th and 16th expeditions to the International Space Station. Anderson joined the Johnson Space Center in 1983 and held a number of positions before being selected as a mission specialist in 1998. In June 2007 he launched to the International Space Station aboard Shuttle Atlantis with the crew of STS-117. During his 152 day stint onboard the ISS, Anderson performed three spacewalks, totaling 18 hours of extravehicular activity. He holds a a master of science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University (1983). Part of the Distinguished Lecture Series in Aerospace Engineering.
A reception and his induction into the Department of Aerospace Engineering's Hall of Distinguished Alumni will follow.
The First Amendment in a Post-9/11 World - A Panel Discussion
2:15 PM – 2432 Food Science - Distinguished panelists include Peter Erlinder, professor of constitutional law at William Mitchell Law School; Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild; Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney for Electronic Frontier Foundation; and Gene Choo, senior producer for NBC News. David Saldana from the Greenlee School of Journalism will moderate the discussion. Part of the First Amendment Day Celebration.
Wednesday, 9 Apr 2008
Post-Traumatic "Press" Syndrome and the State of the Media - A Panel Discussion
8:00 PM – Gerdin Business Building Auditorium, Room 1148 - Frank Ochberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University and expert on post-traumatic stress disorder, will lead a discussion on the stresses journalists face when covering war, terrorism, and mass murder. Panelists include Tina Croley, editor of the Detroit Free Press series "Homicide in Detroit," and Donna Alvis-Banks, who covered the Virginia Tech shootings and their aftermath for the Roanoke (Va.) Times. The discussion will be moderated by Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism. Part of the First Amendment Day Celebration.
The Power of Procrastination - Jorge Cham
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Jorge Cham, the author of the Piled Higher and Deeper comic strip, has been called the Dilbert of academia. The strip appears in numerous university newspapers and chronicles the struggles and humor of the lives of graduate students, the majority of whom admit to feeling overwhelmed and often depressed. Cham speaks about his experiences bringing humor into the lives of stressed out academics, examines the source of their anxieties and explores the guilt, the myth and the power of procrastination. Three books compiling the strips have been released, including Life Is Tough and Then You Graduate and, most recently, Scooped!. Cham completed his doctorate in mechanical engineering at Stanford and is currently an instructor and researcher at the California Institute of Technology.
Monday, 7 Apr 2008
Because I Said So! - Michael Ian Black
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Michael Ian Black is perhaps most recognized for his commentary on VH1's popular I Love the '70s/'80s/'90s series and as the star of the sketch-comedy show The State. He was cocreator of and starred in the Comedy Central series Stella and was a series regular on NBC's Ed, playing Phil, Stuckeybowl's manager. He is the screenwriter of Run, Fatboy, Run, has appeared in the film Wet Hot American Summer, been featured in a series of television commercials for Sierra Mist and was a player on Celebrity Poker Showdown.
Russia after the Presidential Elections: Is There Hope for Democracy? - David Satter
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - David Satter is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He left his position as a police reporter for the Chicago Tribune in 1976 when he was named Moscow correspondent for the London Financial Times. He worked in Moscow for six years, during which time he collected accounts of everyday people on the nature of Soviet society. He then became a special correspondent on Soviet affairs for The Wall Street Journal, contributing to the paper's editorial page. In 1990 he was named a Thornton Hooper fellow, and later a senior fellow, at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. Satter is the author of two books about Russia, Age of Delirium: The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union and Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State. Part of the World Affairs Series and the First Amendment Day Celebration. The LAS Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Program Distinguished Speaker.
Tuesday, 1 Apr 2008
Media Coverage of the Arab-Israeli Conflict - Gary Kenzer
7:30 PM – Molecular Biology Building Auditorium, Room 1414 - Gary Kenzer is the National USA Executive Director of Honest Reporting, an organization devoted to exposing bias and promoting balance and accuracy in media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Kenzer has over twenty-five years of experience in the nonprofit industry. Prior to assuming his present position, he served for nine years as the executive director of Magen David Adom USA, Israel's emergency medical health, blood and disaster services. He was a founding member and director of The KIDS Help Foundation and worked with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in his home state of Illinois. He has a degree from Loyola University of Chicago.
Monday, 31 Mar 2008
Exploring Crop Genomes, Advancing Crop Improvement - Patrick Schnable
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Patrick Schnable is the associate director of the Plant Sciences Institute, director of the Center for Plant Genomics, and director of the newly formed Center for Carbon Capturing Crops. He joined the Iowa State faculty in 1988 and is currently Baker Professor of Agronomy, holding appointments in the Departments of Agronomy and Genetics, Development and Cell Biology. He manages a research program that emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to understanding plant biology. Schnable is a participant in the NSF-funded maize genome sequencing project and is chair of the international maize genetics executive committee. He recently helped write the first draft of the corn genome sequence, announced at the 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference. Understanding the corn genome could help scientists improve corn plants so they withstand global climate change, add nutritional value to grain, sequester more atmospheric carbon in agricultural soils, and boost yields. Schnable received his B.S. from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from Iowa State University and conducted post-doctoral research at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. The Spring 2008 University Presidential Lecture.
A reception and display of student research will precede the lecture at 7:00 p.m. in the South Ballroom.
Thursday, 27 Mar 2008
The Anatomy of Prejudice - Jane Elliott
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Jane Elliott, the adaptor of the Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise, will lead a three-hour presentation teaching about the anatomy of prejudice. The Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise, which she developed in her Riceville, Iowa, classroom, was the subject of the Peabody Award-winning documentary "The Eye of the Storm" and the follow-up PBS/FRONTLINE production "A Class Divided." She will show clips and discuss that film and explore with the audience the problems of racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and ethnocentrism, and ways to eliminate them from ourselves and our environment.
Wednesday, 26 Mar 2008
Science, Policies and Food in Today's Market - A Dialogue with Whole Foods Market's Walter Robb and Stonyfield Farm's Gary Hirshberg
5:10 PM – Curtiss Hall Auditorium - Walter Robb is Co-President & Chief Operating Officer of Whole Foods Market, Inc., the world's leading retailer of natural and organic foods, with more than 270 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market was founded in 1978 and is based in Austin, Texas. The company - whose offerings include everything from meats and produce to vitamins and body care to pet and household products - is dedicated to stringent quality standards and committed to sustainable agriculture. Gary Hirshberg is President and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, the world's leading organic yogurt producer, based in Londonderry, New Hampshire. For the past twenty-five years, Hirshberg has overseen Stonyfield Farm's growth from a seven-cow organic farming school to its current $260 million in annual sales. In 2001 Stonyfield Farm entered into a partnership with Groupe Danone, and in 2005 Hirshberg was named Managing Director of Stonyfield Europe, a joint venture between the two firms with brands in Ireland, the UK and France.