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THANKSGIVING BREAK
8:00 AM – No events scheduled - No events scheduled the week of Nov 20-24.

The Melting Ice Cellar - Patricia A. L. Cochran
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Patricia Cochran, an Inupiat Eskimo born and raised in Nome, serves as executive director of the Alaska Native Science Commission (ANSC), a public, not-for-profit corporation. The ANSC provides a linkage for creating partnerships and communication between science and research and Alaska Native communities. The 35th Annual Richard Thompson Memorial Lecture.

Walkable Communities - Mark Fenton
7:00 PM – Oak Room, Memorial Union - Mark Fenton is one the nation's foremost experts on walking, the former editor-at-large of WALKING Magazine, and host of the new PBS series America's Walking. Mark was a member of the U.S. national racewalking team five times and represented the United States in numerous international competitions. His background led him to become a vocal pedestrian advocate and recognized authority on public health issues and the need for community, environmental, and public-policy initiatives to encourage more walking and bicycling. He will be discussing characteristics of "walkable communities" and will share ideas about how to make Iowa communities more walkable.

Torture and the War on Terror - Jumana Musa
8:00 PM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - Jumana Musa is the Advocacy Director for Domestic Human Rights and International Justice at Amnesty International, where she addresses the domestic and international impact of the Bush administration's "war on terror" on human rights. She was one of the first human rights attorneys allowed to travel to the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and serves as Amnesty International's legal observer at military commission proceedings on the base. Part of the World Affairs series.

Witness to Terror in Central America: Ron Hennessey, An Iowa Missionary's Experience and Lessons for Today - Thomas Melville
8:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Fr. Ron Hennessey from Ryan, Iowa, worked in Central America for thirty-five years and witnessed the State terror unleashed on civilians in the parishes where he served in Guatemala and El Salvador. The author of his story, Thomas Melville, will talk of Hennessey's life and the lessons for today.

How to Spend $50 Billion to Make the World a Better Place - A Panel Discussion
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Iowa State University Professor Peter Orazem (Economics) will summarize his recent presentation at a UN conference on prioritizing limited resources to end poverty. Professors Tony Smith (Philosophy), Robert Mazur (Sociology), and Francis Owusu (Community and Regional Planning) will also provide a range of perspectives on this important topic. Mary Sawyer (Religious Studies) will moderate. Audience members are invited to join in the discussion. Part of the World Affairs series.

Pop Culture, Politics and Writing - Steve Almond
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Steve Almond is the author of the short story collections The Evil B.B. Chow and My Life in Heavy Metal, the nonfiction book Candyfreak, and is the coauthor (with Julianna Baggott) of the novel Which Brings Me to You. He served as adjunct professor in creative writing at Boston College for five years until publishing an open letter of resignation in the Boston Globe on May 12, 2006, protesting the selection of Condoleezza Rice as the college's 2006 commencement guest speaker. His next book, a collection of essays, will be published by Random House in 2007.

Slip-sliding Away: Studying Glacier Movement and Rock Erosion beneath the Svartisen Ice Cap, Norway - Neal Iverson
8:00 PM – Gallery Room, Memorial Union - Neal R. Iverson, a Sigma Xi Lecturer, is a professor in the Department of Geological & Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State University. In 2002 Iverson led a team of seven researchers to a spot seven hundred feet under the Svartisen Ice Cap in northern Norway to get a firsthand look at how modern glaciers move across rock and sediment - a first step toward understanding how glaciers have triggered climate change and shaped landscapes. Iverson's experiments, funded by the National Science Foundation, have been featured in the New York Times. In addition to his research, Iverson teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in geomorphology and glacial geology.

U.S. Foreign Policy after the Mid-term Elections - A Panel Discussion
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Jim McCormick is author of American Foreign Policy and Process, coeditor of Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy, and chair of the ISU Political Science Department. Richard Mansbach is the author and coauthor of a number of books, including The Global Puzzle: Issues and Actors in World Politics; Politics: Authority, Identities and Change; and The State, Conceptual Chaos, and the Future of International Relations; he is a professor in the ISU Political Science Department. Dianne Bystrom is director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics and is author and contributor to many books, including Gender and Candidate Communication. Part of the World Affairs series.

Dead Poet Talking - Neal Bowers
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Neal Bowers, Distinguished Professor of English at Iowa State University, is the inaugural speaker for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Lecture Series. He is the author of eight books that span a variety of genres - poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and literary scholarship. A poster display will precede the talk, and a reception and book signing will follow.