Search For Lectures

Imagining the Land: Visiting Writers Series - The Flatness and Other Landscapes: Essays in Search of the Midwest - Michael Martone
7:00 PM – Oak Room, Memorial Union - Michael Martone is the author of five books of short fiction including Seeing Eye, Pensées: The Thoughts of Dan Quayle, Fort Wayne Is Seventh on Hitler's List, Safety Patrol, and Alive and Dead in Indiana. He has edited two collections of essays about the Midwest: A Place of Sense: Essays in Search of the Midwest andTownships: Pieces of the Midwest . He edits Story County Books, and his newest book, The Flatness and Other Landscapes , a collection of his own essays about the Midwest, won the AWP Prize for Creative Nonfiction in 1998. He is Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Alabama. Before that, he taught at Syracuse University, Iowa State University, and Harvard University.

Remembrance - Tin Shi Tam
12:00 PM – Curtiss Hall Steps - rain location: Great Hall of Memorial Union - Carillonneur Tin Shi Tam will play, following a moment of silence on central campus. Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco, Vice President Thomas Hill, President Gregory Geoffroy, and GSB President T. J. Schneider will provide brief comments. Art exhibits by student artists will be on display in the Sun Room from 10am - 5pm. Students posted a message in the South Ballroom on the Journaling Wall from 10am - 5pm.

Self-governance, Self-Reliance and Eco-Friendly Development: The Story of Kuthambakkam Village - Shri Elango
6:30 PM – 171 Durham - Shri Elango is Village Panchayat President in the Kuthambakkam, India, and played a key role in helping to make his village into a model for creating other self-sufficient rural communities. Rangaswamy Elango was born into a dalit, farmer's family in Kuthambakkam in 1960. He earned a degree in Chemical Engineering and worked as a scientist at the Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) for eight years, before returning to his village to help raise Kuthambakkam from poverty to prosperity.

Comedy Opener - Lewis Black
8:00 PM – Stephens Auditorium, ISU Center - Admission Free - No tickets needed. Doors open at 7 p.m. - Lewis Black is best known for his weekly Back in Black spotlight on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," and appears regularly on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Winner of the American Comedy Award for "Viewers' Choice Stand-Up Comic, he continues to act, appearing in the films Hannah and Her Sisters and in Jacob 's Ladder and The Night We Never Met. He has appeared on television, guest-starring on "Homicide," "Law and Order" and "Mad About You,"and is currently developing a ncw series, in which he will star, for Castle Rock Entertainment.

A Performance: COMEDY! - Brett Butler
7:30 PM – Fisher Theater, ISU Center - Admission Free - Brett Butler has been performing stand-up comedy for 18 years and has appeared on The Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, and in comedy clubs across the country. She starred in one of TV's top-rated situation comedies Grace Under Fire on ABC for 4 years, winning the People's Choice Award for Favorite Female in a New Series. Her autobiography is Knee Deep in Paradise, and is currently developing a new series for ABC.

A Will and Company Production - The Life of William Shakespeare: Not Without Right
7:30 PM – Fisher Theater, ISU Center - Admission Free - Will and Company's Colin Cox and Terry Diab take us on the journey through the life and writings of William Shakespeare. We learn how he came to be considered one of England's greatest actors, and ultimately, one of the world's greatest writer. Colin Cox has acted in, directed, produced and/or taught the entire canon of William Shakespeare. He founded Will & Company in 1988, and produced and directed an independent film production of "Romeo & Juliet." Terry Diab has worked extensively in British theatre, most notably at the Royal National Theatre, playing Caterina Cavalieri in "Amadeus," Minnehaha in "Hiawatha," Morgana in "The Romans of Britain" and Ines in "The mayor of Zalamea." She also played Juliet in a workshop production of "Romeo & Juliet" at the Royal National Theatre.

Summer at Iowa State - Drawn and Quartered: Brian Duffy on the Art of Political Cartooning
7:30 PM – Fisher Theater, ISU Center - Brian Duffy is the front-page editorial cartoonist for the Des Moines Register, and is one of the cartoonists whose work is featured in King Features Syndicate's popular "Best and Wittiest" package of topical cartoons distributed five times a week to such newspapers as the Washington Post, New York Times, Chicago Sun Times and more than 400 other newspapers and periodicals such as Newsweek. Duffy is an 8-time award winner for editorial cartooning in the Best of Gannett contest and was awarded first place in the World Hunger Media Award in 1985 and 1986. Two collections of his cartoons have been published, "A Decade of Duffy" (1993) and "More of Duffy" (1995).

FAIR TRADE WEEK - The Coffee Crisis and Fair Trade - Melissa Schweisguth
8:00 PM – Oak Room, Memorial Union - Melissa Schweisguth is Fair Trade Coordinator at Global Exchange. She organizes GX's network of 130 local campaigns in support of Fair Trade coffee. She also coordinates all the grassroots advocacy for both the Folgers and M & M/Mars campaigns. Melissa joined the Global Exchange staff from San Diego, where she coordinated the recycling and energy campaigns for the Campus Greens at the University of California, San Diego. There she was regional coordinator for the Free Burma Coalition's corporate accountability campaign and was a journalist with the San Diego Independent Media Center. Global Exchange is a human rights organization located in San Francisco dedicated to promoting environmental, political, and social justice around the world. Since their founding in 1988,they have worked to increase global awareness among the US public while building international partnerships around the world.

The Maya Numbering System: An Excuse to Think About Arithmetic - William Yslas Velez
4:00 PM – Oak Room, Memorial Union - William Yslas Velez is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Arizona, and governor-at-large for minority interests on the Board of Governors of the Mathematical Association of America. He was the recipient of the 1997 President's Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring Programs; director of the Southwest Regional Institute in the Mathematical Sciences, and president of the Society for the Advancement ofChicanos and Native Americans in Science. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics from the University of Arizona.

Democratizing Science: New Alliances for Addressing Global Problems of Poverty and the Environment - Dr. Fortmann
8:00 PM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - Dr. Fortmann specializes in forestry and agroforestry, land tenure, community natural resource management, and gender issues. Professor Fortmann and her students study the outcomes of natural resource use and management for individuals and for communities. Her research is located in California and southern Africa, while her students work worldwide. Their combined research addresses four key issues: Gender, Property, Poverty, and Community Control of Natural Resources. Dr. Fortmann is the Rudy Grah Professor of Forestry & Sustainable Development and Chair of the Division of Resource Institutions, Policy and Management in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley