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Past Events

Monday, 19 Feb 2007

The Bell Project - Patrick Hazell
10:45 AM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Musician Patrick Hazell grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in Burlington, Iowa, a town of many beautiful church spires. Years later, this landscape inspired his unique Bell Projects, large-scale sound events featuring the interplay of church, fire station, school, and other bells found in urban environments. Hazell focuses on environmental sounds, both natural and machine-made. The project is intended, in part, to raise the awareness of noise pollution in our towns and cities. In his presentation, Hazell will also discuss elements of historical, urban sound environments and the importance of considering sound in urban development. Part of the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness & the Creative Imagination.

Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape - Panel Discussion
9:00 AM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - A panel discussion featuring contributors to Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape (2006), edited by National Book Award-winning Barry Lopez. The book features forty-five writers known for their intimate connection to particular places who, collectively, create a unique American dictionary. Panel moderator Debra Gwartney was managing editor for the book and is a member of the faculty at Portland State University and a former correspondent for Newsweek and The Oregonian. Bill McKibben is a former staff writer for the New Yorker and one of the nation's top environmental writers. Mary Swander is a professor of English at Iowa State and the author of ten books of poetry and nonfiction. Part of the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination.

Sunday, 18 Feb 2007

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future - Bill McKibben
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Bill McKibben is a former staff writer for the New Yorker. He is a well-known environmental writer whose books include The End of Nature; Hope, Human and Wild; Maybe One; Hundred Dollar Holiday; The Age of Missing Information, and his most recent, Wandering Home: A Long Walk through America's Most Hopeful Landscape. He is a frequent contributor to Harper's, the Atlantic Monthly, The New York Review of Books, Outside, and the New York Times. As the keynote speaker for the Third Annual Symposium for Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination, McKibben offers a challenge to the prevailing view of our economy. For the first time in human history, "more" is no longer synonymous with "better." He puts forward a new way to think about the things we buy, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the money that pays for it all. For McKibben, our purchases need not be at odds with the things we truly value. Part of "Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape," the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness & the Creative Imagination.

Saturday, 17 Feb 2007

From Debt to Dollars: Financial Power for Young Women - Shonna Jacobs
11:40 AM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - Shonna Jacobs is with Citigroup's Office of Financial Education. She is the keynote speaker for this one-day workshop designed to educate young women on the importance of understanding and improving their financial situation.

Thursday, 15 Feb 2007

In the Wake of Columbus: The Biological Consequences of Contact and Colonialism in the Americas - Clark Spencer Larsen
8:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Clark Spencer Larsen, Sigma Xi Lecturer, is Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the chair of the Department of Anthropology at Ohio State University. He is also the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Larsen has spent most of his professional career directing the La Florida Bioarchaeology Project, a collaboration of scientists from the United States and elsewhere investigating the consequences of major adaptive shifts in coastal and terrestrial settings of the modern states of Georgia and Florida. A popular account of the project is presented in Skeletons in our Closet: Revealing our Past through Bioarchaeology (2000), and the most recent research results can be found in his edited book Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida: The Impact of Colonialism (2001).

Monday, 12 Feb 2007

Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence - Film and Discussion
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Many parts of the world are experiencing a massive resurgence of anti-Semitism - from hate propaganda, to vandalism, to violent attacks on Jews themselves. Worldwide, since the year 2000, major violent acts against Jews and Jewish institutions have nearly doubled from the levels of the 1990s. Hosted by veteran broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff, this PBS documentary explores the roots of anti-Semitism and examines why it flourishes today. It was written, produced and directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Goldberg. Veteran broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff hosts and narrates.

Saturday, 10 Feb 2007

From Science to Action: Where Do We Stand on Pollinator Conservation - Claire Kremen
1:00 PM – Molecular Biology Building Auditorium, Rm 1414 - Claire Kremen is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. Her talk is the keynote address for the Iowa Conservation Biology Symposium. Kremen is currently investigating the inter-relationship between land use practices, wild bee communities and pollination services that these bees provide to crops on farms.

Friday, 9 Feb 2007

Black History Month Gospel Choir Extravaganza
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - The 2007 Black History Month Gospel Choir Extravaganza will feature the Restoration & Prayze Gospel Choir from Des Moines, the Gospel Soul Innovators, and the New Birth Baptist Church Children's Choir.

Thursday, 8 Feb 2007

How Can Sudan Be Saved? A Panel Discussion
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - This panel will feature Abdalaziz Adam Alhilu, a former member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Leadership Council, former Deputy Secretary General of SPLM for Northern Sudan Sector, former governor of Nuba Mountains state, and former commander in the Sudan People's Liberation Army. Other panelists include Anwar Elnor, president of the Darfur People's Association, and Rev. Russell Melby, director of the Iowa chapter of the Church World Service/CROP, a cooperative ministry of thirty-five Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations working to eradicate hunger and poverty and providing sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance in some eighty countries. Moderated by Mary Barratt, faculty advisor to the ISU South Sudanese Student Organization and an instructor in the Intensive English Orientation Program. Barratt recently traveled to South Sudan as part of the ISU project "Women's Lives in Fragile Contexts: South Sudan." Part of the World Affairs Series.

Wednesday, 7 Feb 2007

Understanding Islam - Ingrid Mattson
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Ingrid Mattson is the first woman elected president of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest Muslim organization in North America. She is also Director of Islamic Chaplaincy and a professor at the Macdonald Center for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT. Mattson's research is focused on Islamic law and society; among her articles are studies on slavery, poverty, and Islamic legal theory. In 1987-88 she lived in Pakistan, where she worked with Afghan refugee women.