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The Uninhabitable Earth? Climate Change and Your Future
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - This panel discussion will focus on the effects of climate change, particularly political, psychological, and economic consequences, and what we can do to mitigate or change our current situation. This event is being held to celebrate ISU alum Dwight Ink’s 99th birthday (which is September 9). Mr. Ink is a native Iowan, an accomplished civil servant with extraordinary and outstanding contributions to government and governing, and a trusted advisor to seven U.S. presidents. Mr. Ink, who grew up in a poverty-stricken rural family during the Great Depression, entered Iowa State College in 1940, but he left to serve in the U.S. Army for three years (1942–1945). He returned to Ames and in 1947 was the first Iowa State student to earn a degree in government. Moderator: Dr. Karen Kedrowski; Panelists: Dr. Yu Wang, Dr. Amy Erica Smith, Dr. Robert Brown, and Dr. Craig Anderson

A Thousand Thunderbolts: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
7:30 PM – Online - Livestream Performance, April 24 @ 7:30 pm (Details for streaming to come.) On April 24, 2021, the Iowa State University Symphony Orchestra will commemorate the victims of one of the worst chapters of racial violence in the United States: the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The title of the concert is taken from a speech given by Black civil rights advocate Joseph C. Price in 1890 in Minneapolis, in which he wished for a thousand tongues, each representing a thousand thunderbolts, each representing a thousand voices, with which to advocate for the Black people of America. The concert will exclusively feature music written by Black composers from the United States, including Florence Price, George Walker, Mary Watkins, Jessie Montgomery, and William Grant Still. Each work will be preceded by a short video of a Black civil rights leader, icon, or advocate to illuminate the history and lasting effects of race relations in the United States from personal perspectives.

Kidney to Share
7:00 PM – See WebEx Link - WebEx Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/onstage/g.php?MTID=eb1bd0513212663417d7600986a739700 In Kidney to Share, Martha Gershun tells the story of her decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. She takes readers through the complex process by which such donors are vetted to ensure that they are physically and psychologically fit to take the risk of a major operation. John D. Lantos, a physician and bioethicist, places Gershun’s story in the larger context of the history of kidney transplantation and the ethical controversies that surround living donors. Together, they help readers understand the discoveries that made transplantation relatively safe and effective as well as the legal, ethical, and economic policies that make it feasible.

The Costs of Activism: A Dilemma for the Individual Asian American
5:00 PM – Online - WebEx Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/onstage/g.php?MTID=ee611e989f9556e19a5d55c2fe9236c2a Dr. Lisa K. Son, Professor of Psychology at Barnard College, Columbia University, specializes in human learning and memory, and in metacognition. Her research focuses on how accurately people know the “self,” and on the optimization of long-term retention. Receiving a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from Columbia University, her work has been published in prestigious journals including Psychological Science, Cognitive Science, and Educational Psychology Review. She has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education and the American Psychological Society for her work with elementary school-aged children, and was, twice, named a Fulbright Scholar to South Korea. Her book, The Science of Metacognition (2019, in Korean), has begun to raise awareness on the illusions that occur during learning, and on ways in which to increase performance. Dr. Son has recently become active in the movement against anti-Asian racism, contributing at rallies, on radio, and in various opinion pieces.   

Domestic Violence: The Journey from College Student to Federal Prisoner
7:00 PM – See WebEx Link - WebEx Link: https://bit.ly/3cIT9HG Kemba Smith-Pradia will share her dramatic story about how she went from college student to drug dealer’s girlfriend to domestic violence victim to federal prisoner. Kemba shares her story of how making poor choices blinded by love and devotion can have long-term consequences. Kemba’s case drew support from across the nation and the world. The support prompted then President Clinton to commute her 24.5 years sentence to time served – six and a half years – in December 2000. Often labeled the “poster child” for reversing a disturbing trend in the rise of lengthy sentences for first-time, non-violent drug offenders, Kemba’s story has been featured on BET, CNN, Nightline, “Judge Hatchett,” Court TV, “The Early Morning Show; and a host of other television programs. In addition, Kemba’s story has been featured in several publications such as Emerge, JET, Essence, Glamour, People magazines, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

How to Hold Schools Accountable
7:00 PM – See WebEx Link - Matt Lamb is an assistant editor for The College Fix, a higher education news site, which trains student journalists. In college, he interned for a government watchdog group called Open the Books. He has a B.A. in Political Science from Loyola University-Chicago, where he also studied Economics and Catholic Studies. He has a M.A. in Political Science from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He previously worked as the director of communications for Students for Life of America and as the first executive director of Students for Life Action. He lives in northwest Indiana with his wife. This talk will delve into the tools students and other people can use to hold their school and government entities accountable. Lamb will talk about how to see how much your school spends on different services, your rights to certain information and overall how to become a more engaged citizen. WebEx Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/onstage/g.php?MTID=e1775feb4dabe82159667d376afe78679

Hate: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship
7:00 PM – See WebEx Link - WebEx Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/onstage/g.php?MTID=e84bee96f79a8d4cfa8263d158e056f73 Nadine Strossen is a Professor of Constitutional Law at New York Law School and the first woman national President of the American Civil Liberties Union, where she served from 1991 through 2008. A frequent speaker on constitutional and civil liberties issues, her media appearances include 60 Minutes, CBS Sunday Morning, Today, Good Morning America, The Daily Show, and other news programs. First Amendment Days

Signs of Resistance: A Visual History of Protest in America
7:00 PM – See WebEx Link - WebEx Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/onstage/g.php?MTID=e8d7ef7c6c9e775c73993867617d804cd Bonnie Siegler, voted one of the fifty most influential designers working today by Graphic Design USA, founded and runs the award-winning design studio Eight and a Half. She is best known for her design work for Saturday Night Live, HBO, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Newsweek. Most recently, she was the creative director of the Trump parody autobiography You Can't Spell America Without Me by Alec Baldwin and Kurt Andersen and created the main title sequence for Will & Grace. She has taught at the graduate level for many years at the School of Visual Arts and Yale University. First Amendment Days

Emerging Issues in Global Markets and Trade
7:00 PM – See link below - Link to event: https://alumni.cals.iastate.edu/lectures/carl-and-marjory-hertz-lecture-on-emerging-issues-in-agriculture/ Dhamu Thamodaran, retired executive vice president, chief strategy officer and chief commodity hedging officer for Smithfield Foods, has been a respected global leader in the agricultural industry for more than 30 years. He joined Smithfield in 1995 as director of price risk management and advanced in the organization and was promoted to his current role in 2016. At the time of his retirement in December 2020, Thamodaran led strategy development for Smithfield Food’s vertically integrated business and managed the company’s commodity hedging activities and global economics commodities research and analysis group. During his time with the organization, Smithfield Foods grew to become the world’s largest swine producer and processor. Thamodaran’s expertise in understanding world agricultural markets, macroeconomics and the pork value chain make him a sought-after speaker nationally and globally at food and agricultural industry events. In 2019, Thamodaran joined the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group’s Agricultural Markets Advisory Council and was awarded the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Henry A. Wallace Award. During his time at Iowa State University, Thamodaran graduated summa cum laude in his doctorate program. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Gamma Sigma Delta honors societies. An advocate for education, Thamodaran regularly shares his knowledge in university classrooms across the nation. Prior to his time on campus Thamodaran graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1978 from India’s Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and a master’s degree in agricultural economics and statistics from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 1980.

The First Amendment and the Civil Rights Movement: Our History, Our Present, Our Future
5:30 PM – See link below - YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/xGAzq0ej_jA First Amendment Days Event Robert Bickel, professor emeritus of law at Stetson University College of Law, and Gene Policinski, senior fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum, are authors of “The First Amendment and the Civil Rights Movement,” created with the support of Stetson University and the Freedom Forum. Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute and of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. A veteran multimedia journalist, he also writes, lectures, and is interviewed regularly on First Amendment issues. Policinski, a founding editor of USA Today, oversees all programs of the Freedom Forum Institute and also is a longtime proponent of diversity in journalism as an essential characteristic of a free press. He speaks and writes regularly on news gathering and reporting, newsroom diversity and on journalism ethics. Robert Bickel taught at Stetson for almost 40 years. His national awards include the American Bar Association's Harrison Tweed Award for Continuing Legal Education and the Florida Bar's Faculty Professionalism Award. In 1994, he was elected to the American Law Institute and he is a fellow of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Joining Stetson's faculty in 1978, Professor Bickel served as assistant dean and created the law school's first federal civil procedure course. Professor Bickel created and launched the National Conference on Law and Higher Education. This event is not available for attendance tracking for extra credit.