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Rapture in the Earth: Visions of Nature, Animals, and Spirit - Brenda Peterson
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Brenda Peterson is the author of three novels, one of which, Duck and Cover, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She began her career working for The New Yorker and then relocated to the Pacific Northwest. Her nonfiction includes Living by Water, Nature and Other Mothers, and Sister Stories. She also coedited, with Linda Hogan, the anthologies Intimate Nature: The Bond between Women and Animals and The Sweet Breathing of Plants: Women Writing on the Green World, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Peterson's articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Sierra, Orion, and Utne Reader. She will speak and show slides from her new work Raptured: Seal Sitting in the End Times and her memoir, Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals. Part of the 4th Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination.

Letters to a Young Iowan: Readings - Zachary Jack and Friends
2:00 PM – Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Ave. - Iowa State alum Zachary Jack joins faculty and community members in reading from Letters to a Young Iowan. These wise, humorous, and thoughtful letters advise young Iowans on how to live in and preserve the environment of our home state. Zachary Jack is an assistant professor at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and editor of Black Earth and Ivory Tower: New American Essays from Farm and Classroom. Other participants include Jim Pease, an extension wildlife specialist and associate professor in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management; Neil Nakadate, University Professor of English and author of Understanding Jane Smiley; Susan Futrell an Ames native, freelance writer, and owner of One Backyard; Ames resident Phyllis Harris, author of Stories from Where We Live: Great Lakes Edition; and Karen Menz, who lives and teaches in Perry, Iowa.

Ethics and the Emotional Lives of Animals - Marc Bekoff
1:00 PM – Gilman Hall Auditorium, Rm 1002 - Marc Bekoff is Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society, and a former Guggenheim Fellow. In 2000 he was awarded the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society for major long-term contributions to the field of animal behavior. Bekoff is also regional coordinator for Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots program, in which he works with students of all ages, senior citizens and prisoners, and he is a member of the Ethics Committee of the Jane Goodall Institute. In 2000 he and Goodall cofounded the organization Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: Citizens for Responsible Animal Behavior Studies. Bekoff is the author of eighteen books, including Animals Matter. Keynote address for the Symposium on the Ethics of Wildlife Research.

Tales of the Ice Ages - Tanya Atwater
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Tanya Atwater is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Distinguished Speaker of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, and on the faculty of Geological Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She was educated at M.I.T., the University of California, Berkeley, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Atwater researches many aspects of plate tectonics, especially the evolution of western North America and the San Andreas fault system. Her presentation brings Earth processes alive with computer animations.

L.A. Graffiti: Is It Art? - Steve Grody
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Since 1990 Los Angeles native Steve Grody has been studying the graffiti art of L.A.'s back alleys, washes and abandoned lots, cultivating trust among the city's most prolific, skilled and infamous graffiti writers. His recent book, Graffiti L.A.: Street Styles and Art, includes interviews with the artists and explores the motivations and creativity behind graffiti as well as questions of its legality. The book was named one of the top ten books of 2007 by New York Magazine. Steve Grody earned his B.A. in fine arts. He is also an internationally respected martial arts instructor and swing dance instructor, and choreographer for Jim Carrey and cast in The Truman Show.

Event Being Planned
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Event to be announced.

Beyond the Autism Diagnosis: How Professionals Can Help Parents - Marion O'Brien
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Marion O'Brien directs the Family Research Center and is a professor in the Department of Human Development & Family Studies at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She has conducted extensive research on children and families and is one of the investigators of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care & Youth Development. She is also an investigator for the STAR Project in Greensboro, NC, a longitudinal study of children's early social-emotional and cognitive skills and how they integrate to enhance early school success. O'Brien studies parenting practices and parental attitudes and their influence on parent-child relationships and child development. Her book for professionals who work with families of children with autism, Beyond the Autism Diagnosis, was published in 2006. Part of the Hansen Lecture Series.

The Future of Agriculture in Iowa - A Panel Discussion
7:00 PM – Curtiss Hall Auditorium - Panelists will include Iowa Senator David Johnson; Director of the Leopold Center, Jerry DeWitt; Director of the Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers, Aaron Putze; and Kevin Miskell, Vice President of the Iowa Farmers Union. Jerry Perkins, Des Moines Register Farm Editor, will moderate the discussion.

Unclaimed Legacy: Who Will Lead? Jeff Johnson
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Jeff Johnson, originally known as "Cousin Jeff," has earned a reputation as the conscience voice of BET Networks. A journalist, social activist, and political commentator, he has a commitment to fostering broad-based communication about issues related to race, politics, pop culture, and socioeconomics. His new book Everything I'm Not Made Me Everything I Am is a call to service for the post-Civil Rights generation. Johnson has worked as senior advisor for Media and Youth Outreach for People for the American Way, as national director of the Youth & College Division of the NAACP, and as the vice president of Russell Simmons' Hip Hop Summit Action Network. Part of the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday Celebration.

Finding Solutions to End the Brain Drain - A Generation Iowa Forum
1:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - The Generation Iowa Commission will host an open forum for feedback on its recently published report identifying key challenges and potential solutions for keeping young people in the state after graduation. The commission, established in spring 2007, is charged with finding solutions to Iowa's brain drain. It has identified several challenges to retaining young people, including a lack of state marketing, lack of entertainment options for young people, a lack of diversity among the state's population, high student loan debt and lower wage jobs, and the declining populations of rural areas. The Commission is interested in engaging Iowans to further develop solutions to these issues and to identify other areas of improvement for the state.