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IPR's Politics Day on the Road
6:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Join Ben Kieffer, host of IPR's River to River, and a panel featuring Iowa State University students and political science professor Karen M. Kedrowski, as he takes the weekly talk show "Politics Day” on the road to Iowa State. During the event, we'll aim to capture the perspectives of young voters -- considered to be swing voters -- as we approach the 2024 election. Attendees can register to vote at the event thanks to the Catt Center's #CyclonesVote program.Please note: this lecture will not be recorded.

Language Inequality and Fight for Free Speech in Haiti: Two Sides of the Same Coin
3:30 PM – Pearson 2105 - Websder Corneille is a Haitian Linguist and Adjunct Lecturer of Haitian Creole Language and Haitian Studies at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He started his MA in Psychosociology in 2022 at the State University of Haiti where he has earned his BA in Linguistic with a focus on Critical Discourse Analysis. His personal and professional interests include second language acquisition, linguistic hybridity and cultural identity in the Caribbean, storytelling, and literature. He is the founder and director of the flagship Haitian Creole Language and Culture Program, which aims to break barriers and bridge communities through language and culture. He co-founded the Haitian Midwest Scholars Society which is located at the University of Michigan. He is the Haitian Creole ESL Reading Interventionist at Promise Prep Elementary School in Indianapolis, and he serves as an ad hoc interpreter for Haitian parents with limited English proficiency (LEP).There will be Q&A following the lecture.Please note: this lecture will not be recorded.

How to Design Physical Environments that Promote Healing, Justice, and Peace
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Architect Deanna Van Buren will speak about how interdisciplinary approaches to design with social workers, game designers, artists and more can play in healing and repair as it relates to supporting inner and outer peace. Her talk will cover research and its associative spatial applications for spaces for survivors of violence to artistic practices that support personal and interpersonal healing and transformation.Van Buren is the co-founder and executive director of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces. An architecture and real estate nonprofit working to end mass incarceration through place-based solutions, DJDS builds infrastructure that address its root causes: poverty, racism, unequal access to resources, and the criminal justice system itself. She is also a socially engaged artist working across media platforms including public art, film and video games.Van Buren has been profiled by The New York Times and has written op-eds on the intersection of design, architecture, mass incarceration and video games in outlets such as Politico, Architectural Record and Gamasutra. Her TEDWomen talk on what a world without prisons could look like has been viewed more than one million times.

How to Eat, Move, and Find Your Groove for Optimal Wellness
5:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Are you looking for simple, positive ways to increase energy, optimize productivity, and boost your health and well-being? It's amazing what our bodies can do for us. Did you know that by adding quick and easy "wellness piggybacks" to your day can increase energy, boost your wellness, and foster a vibrant health span? Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and author Susie Kundrat will offer 11 simple ways to eat, move, and support your personal well-being every day. **First 25 students in line at 4:30pm will receive a free, signed copy of Susie's book Eat Move Groove!** You must have a valid ISU student ID card.Susie Kundrat, MS, RD, LDN, is the founder of Eat Move Groove (www.eatmovegroove.com) and the author of Eat Move Groove: Unlock the Simple Steps to Lifelong Nutrition, Fitness, and Wellness. She is a life-long well-being advocate with over three decades of experience developing programming focused on nutrition, health, wellness, and disease prevention. She has worked with consumers, corporations, active people, and athletes of all ages and levels (youth to professional) to boost performance and well-being with optimal nutrition, including the Milwaukee Bucks, US Speedskating, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Fighting Illini, and the Northwestern University Wildcats. She is a clinical professor emerita with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health and an adjunct instructor with the University of Illinois Food Science and Human Nutrition Department and Walla Walla Community College. Susie earned her AA from Waldorf University, her BS in Dietetics from Minnesota State University-Mankato, and her MS in Human Nutrition from Iowa State University. 

Criminalizing Difference in the Holocaust and Beyond: Jews, Roma, African Americans, and Latinx People
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - In order to subjugate or in some cases destroy racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, a state or governing body often criminalizes whole communities through the mobilization of legal and societal discrimination. This panel brings together experts on criminalization and state discrimination against European Jews, Roma communities and individuals, and Native Peoples of the U.S. and Canada that occurred during overlapping periods.  As part of a moderated panel, the speakers will discuss the unique and common characteristics of criminalization and its role in racial prejudice and violence. While discussing specific marginalized groups--Jews, Roma, and Native Peoples in the U.S. and Canada--the panelists will help describe the process of creating racialized “others” through legal and societal discrimination. This interdisciplinary study will explore the persecution experienced by these communities at the hands of their governments and by exclusionary state laws.“Criminalizing Difference” is part of a three-day symposium at ISU, UNI, and the University of Iowa co-sponsored by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as part of its Great Plains Regional Programming theme, “Physical and Social Spaces of Exclusion in Nazi Germany and the Great Plains.” Kierra Crago-Schneider, the Campus Outreach Program Officer, the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Dr. Crago-Schneider is a Holocaust scholar and expert on the experiences of Holocaust survivors in Europe after liberation.Chelsi West Ohueri, Assistant Professor, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, appointments in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, the University of Texas, Austin. Dr. West Ohueri is a sociocultural anthropologist of race and racialization in southeastern Europe.Brian Behnken, Professor, Department of History, affiliate faculty in U.S. Latino/a Studies Program and African and African American Studies Program, Iowa State University. Dr. Behnken is a specialist in the history of civil rights activism and comparative race relations in the United States, especially in African American and Mexican American communities.Moderator: Jeremy Best, Associate Professor, Department of History. Dr. Best is a historian of modern Germany specializing in representations of racial difference in the Western cultural imagination during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event. Additionally, the cosponsors of this event have provided access to a live stream, which will begin at the start of the lecture at this link.

Agitating and Organizing 101
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Sally Kohn is one of the leading progressive voices in America today. The author of The Opposite of Hate (April 2018, Algonquin), Sally is a former political commentator on CNN and Fox News. Sally is a member of the board of contributors at USA Today and a regular contributor to Afar Magazine, among many other outlets. She is also a highly sought-after media trainer and public speaking coach and her three TED Talks have been viewed over six million times.The University Book Store will be onsite selling The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to repairing Our Humanity at the event.This event is part of a Women’s and Gender Studies Lecture Series funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities Grant, which was awarded to Dr. Winfrey and the WGS program in the fall of 2023.This lecture will be recorded and available to view for two weeks to those with an iastate.edu email address on the Available Recordings page, approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.

Mass Extinctions of the Past and Future: Are We In a Mass Extinction Era?
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Fall 2024 Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Ryosuke Motani is a professor of geobiology and paleobiology and vice chair for undergraduate programs at the University of California Davis. He has studied fossils in tandem with leading-edge computational and chemical analysis techniques. His research has led to landmark discoveries, from using eye socket measurements to determine that some dinosaurs were nocturnal to revealing how land animals adapted to the ocean, among a host of other discoveries.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.  

Sustainable Art Using Natural Materials
6:00 PM – Garden Room, Reiman Gardens - Hear from several local artists who are using natural materials to create sustainable works of art.Pam Dennis and Ryk Weiss of Flock 9 Studios are artists and educators with 25+ years of experience creating art, teaching workshops, and leading collaborative public installation projects. The couple lives simply with a conservation ethic on an acreage north of Ogden in central Iowa, and over the years, they've completed commissioned work for nature centers, gardens, hospitals, and schools. Dennis has been a popular teacher for the Iowa Arts Council’s Arts in Education program. Found things become décor in the garden, while the willow on their property - indigenous and renewable - is an apt material for their art.Robert Sunderman graduated from the University of Iowa with a BFA, MA & MFA in 1982. He is a Fine Artist, Scenic Designer, Scenic Artist & ISU Associate Professor Emeritus of Theatre. He was the Resident Scenic Designer/Scenic Artist & Associate Professor of Theatre Design at Iowa State University for 21 years. Before that, he was the Scenic Designer at Iowa PBS for 16 years. Rob has taught art classes at the Des Moines Art Center for over 35 years. He has designed & scenic painted over 286 shows during his career. He has received Iowa Film, National Broadcasting Designers, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival awards for his scenic designs & many Fine Art awards. He has been a fine artist throughout his life & has exhibited his work in over 295 exhibitions nationally & internationally.Rob’s artwork is best described by his quote: “Not limiting materials is so important in my work. I use whatever materials best convey the subject or story that I am addressing”. Recently, he has been working on pieces dealing with renewal, fleeting moments, and human intervention in natural cycles. Most of Rob’s work has to do with nature, humanities intrusive nature, natural environment & climate change. His work conveys a sense of beauty, but also confronts the challenges we are faced within our environment and proposes creative solutions. He has been in online and in-person exhibitions now as well. Rob is presently working on the following series of sculpture work: "Reliquary Series," "Shattered Glass Series," "Tree/Fire Series," "Grain Crib: A Storage for Knowledge & Growth" and a painting/photography series: "Iowa Aerial View with Clouds?" He is pursuing solo exhibitions, galleries and new ways to promote his artwork nationally and internationally. He also is continuing to work on scenic design projects. Please note: This lecture will not be recorded.

Threat Investigations and Analysis: A Conversation About Diplomatic Security Careers
5:30 PM – Cardinal Room, Memorial Union - The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) leads worldwide security and law enforcement efforts to advance U.S. foreign policy and safeguard national security interests. Careers include special agents, security engineering officers, security technical specialists, and diplomatic couriers.Mr. Paul R Houston is a Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) and the Assistant Director of the DSS, Directorate of Threat Investigations and Analysis (TIA) at the U.S. Department of State. In this role, Mr. Houston manages all source information analysis and dissemination for the protection of U.S. government equities, interests, and personnel around the globe. Mr. Houston is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor and a DSS Special Agent.Mr. Houston received a BA degree in political science and international business at the University of Iowa and a master’s degree in national security policy and international economics from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.The conversation about DSS careers will be moderated by Dr. Karen Kedrowski, director of the ISU Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics.Please note: this event will not be recorded.

Fowl, Fish and Forest—Leadership Lessons from Great Conservationists
7:00 PM – 127 Curtiss - William K. Deal Endowed Leadership LectureLarry A. Nielsen, professor emeritus of natural resources at North Carolina State University, earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois, master’s degree at the University of Missouri and doctoral degree from Cornell University. He spent 40 years as a faculty member and administrator at Virginia Tech, Penn State and North Carolina State University before retiring in January 2018.With a passion for teaching, Nielsen has instructed many courses about natural resources and related topics over the years. His teaching efforts have been recognized through the Excellence in Fisheries Education Award from the American Fisheries Society and being inducted into the North Carolina State Academy of Outstanding Teachers.According to Nielsen, while the present may seem stressful for the environment and sustainability, we should not fear because “our world is better today than in the past, and it will be even better in the future.” He said if people follow the leadership of great conservationists such as Ding Darling, Billy Frank Jr. and Wangari Maathai, a sustainable and beautiful world can be achieved. “Their passion, persistence, and use of partnerships led them to extraordinary success. All we need to do is be like them,” Nielsen said of the conservationists.This lecture will be recorded and ready to view on the Available Recordings page approximately 24-36 hours after the conclusion of the event.