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The Catastrophic Drowning of the Black Sea and the Science behind Early Flood Legends - William B. F. Ryan
7:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - William B. F. Ryan is the Doherty Senior Scholar at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and an adjunct professor of earth and environmental science at Columbia University. He is the coauthor, with Walter Pitman, of Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event that Changed History. Together these geologists gathered scientific evidence that could help explain the story of Noah and the great flood. Ryan and Pitman hypothesize that about 7,500 years ago the global warming that followed the last Ice Age caused seas to rise. When sea levels rose beyond a critical point, the Mediterranean Sea overflowed, deluging the Black Sea basin with salty water and destroying the fertile plains around the once-shallow freshwater lake.

Political Action Week: Student and Local Issues - Secretary of State Michael Mauro and Elected City Officials
11:00 AM – Central Campus - Ames mayor Ann Campbell and city council members Ryan Doll and Dan Rice will initiate the day's discussion on student and local issues. Topics include funding for higher education, campus policies, affordable rental housing, minimum age for bar admittance, Ames Police party patrol, tuition increases, housing-residents ordinance, and campus safety. Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro will speak at 12:10, followed by comments from Government of the Student Body respresentatives and other Iowa State students. Nourishment for mind and stomach provided - $1 daily meals.

The Rise of the Creative Class - Richard Florida
8:00 PM – Stephens Auditorium, Iowa State Center - Richard Florida, Helen LeBaron Hilton Chair in Human Sciences Fall Lecturer, is one of the world's leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation. He is professor of business economics and the Academic Director of the newly established Centre for Jurisdictional Advantage and Prosperity at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Senior Scientist with the Gallup Organization. Florida is the author of the 2002 bestseller The Rise of the Creative Class and he more recent The Flight of the Creative Class, an examination of the global competition for creative talent. Florida's ideas on the "creative class," commercial innovation, and regional development have been featured in major ad campaigns from BMW and Apple, and are being used globally to change the way regions and nations do business and transform their economies. The Helen LeBaron Hilton Chair in Human Sciences Fall Lecture and part of a community-wide celebration of Iowa State's sesquicentennial.

Popular Culture and Globalization in the Arab World - Christian Sinclair
6:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Christian Sinclair is the director of Middle Eastern Studies at the School for International Training (SIT) Study Abroad, a division of World Learning. Sinclair is responsible for the development and management of educational programs in the Middle East and North Africa. Technology, Globalization, and Culture Series.

Vegetable Oil: Changing Source of Food, Fuel and Chemicals - Thomas Binder
4:00 PM – LeBaron Hall Auditorium, Rm 1210 - Thomas Binder is President of Archer Daniels Midlands Research Division. He joined ADM in 1986 as a research scientist and has held various management positions in process development and fermentation research. He is author or coauthor of eleven patents and eight peer-reviewed publications. He currently serves on the Federal Advisory Committee for Biomass Research. Binder received his PhD in biochemistry from Iowa State University. Iowa State 150th Anniversary Alumni Lecture Series.

Political Action Week: Social Issues, Agriculture and the Environment
11:00 AM – Central Campus - Topics for the Wednesday event will focus on current social issues, including separation of church and state, gay rights, racial equity and affirmative action, and women's rights. Agricultural and environmental issues, such as sustainable agriculture, global warming, and energy policy, will be discussed as well. Presidential candidate Karl Krueger will open at 11:00 am, followed by State Representative Lisa Heddens at 11:30 am. Former gubernatorial candidate Ed Fallon will speak at 12:10 pm, and Iowa State graduate student Basil Mahayni will lead the discussion. Nourishment for mind and stomach provided - $1 daily meals.

Globalization: Looking Back and Looking Forward - George Strawn
6:30 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - George Strawn is the Chief Information Officer at the National Science Foundation. He has served NSF in numerous roles, notably, as NSFNET Program Director during the time it became the first national DS-3 Internet network. Prior to working at NSF, Strawn was a computer science faculty member at Iowa State University, where he also held several administrative positions. He received a PhD in mathematics from Iowa State University. Technology, Globalization, and Culture Series and part of the Iowa State 150th Anniversary Alumni Lecture Series.

Guantanamo Bay: An Inside Look at a Constitutional Crisis - Tom Fleener
8:00 PM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - Tom Fleener is an attorney and former Guantanamo Bay military defense counsel and has been an outspoken critic and public commentator on the use of special military trials for terrorist suspects. He served as an Army JAG officer for eight years both prosecuting and defending soldiers around the world. A native Iowan and graduate of Ames High School, Fleener left the active Army in 2003 to take an appointment as an Assistant Federal Public Defender and was recalled to active duty in 2005 to represent alleged al Qaeda propagandist Ali Hamza al Bahlul of Yemen. During the two years in the Office of Military Commissions in Washington, D.C., he made several appearances before a military commission in Guantanamo Bay, until ultimately convincing Congress to afford detainees choice of counsel. Constitution Day Lecture and part of the World Affairs Series.

Political Action Week - Foreign Affairs
11:00 AM – Central Campus - Natalie Sugira from the ONE Campaign and James McCormick, professor and chair of Political Science, kick off Political Action Week with a discussion on foreign affairs. Topics include the Middle East, international and national security, trade policies, the crisis in Darfur, foreign aid, diplomacy, and the U.S. role in the world. Nourishment for mind and stomach provided - $1 daily meals.

Restoring America's Standing in the World - Madeleine Albright
3:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Madeleine Albright served as U.S. secretary of state from 1997 to 2001, the first woman ever to hold the position. Her distinguished career in government includes positions in the National Security Council, on Capitol Hill, and as a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Part of the World Affairs Series and the 2008 Presidential Caucus Series.