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Past Events

Monday, 4 Oct 2021

Divided We Stand
7:00 PM – Benton Auditorium, Scheman Building - Editor Marjorie Spruill has compiled the most comprehensive collection of writings about the woman suffrage movement in America. The essays, both contemporary and historical, challenge widely accepted theories and illustrate the diversity and complexity of the fight for the 19th Amendment.

Thursday, 30 Sep 2021

The Improvisor's Mindset: How to Stay Present, Adapt, and Thrive
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dion Flynn is a teacher, improviser, comedian, performer, writer, and army veteran best known for his impersonation of Barack Obama on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, among his more than 100 appearances on the show. He is an expert in fun and innovative ways to help people connect with themselves and others. Dion discovered that the skills he used on stage and TV for both improvisational and scripted comedy paralleled the skills needed in recovery from process and substance addiction, and also came in handy for basic human development as well as interpersonal and business communication skills. As a result, he co-created The Improvisor’s Mindset (with Jeanne M. Stafford) to draw connections between these theatrical skills and the critical skills needed for successful, grounded connection for the spiritual seeker, and an enhanced business and personal life for the rest of us.

Wednesday, 29 Sep 2021

Nothin Is Too Big to Fail
6:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Kerry Killinger was the chairman, president and CEO of Washington Mutual Bank, the sixth largest depository bank in the country prior to the financial crisis of 2008. He graduated with a BBA with honors and an MBA from the University of Iowa. He is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and a fellow in the Life Management Institute. Linda Killinger was vice chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines and chair of its audit/finance committee. She was also a consulting partner in an international accounting firm specializing in strategic planning and merger/acquisitions for financial institutions. She was the publisher and editor of Overseas Business magazine.

Tuesday, 28 Sep 2021

Be the Glue
7:00 PM – 127 Curtiss, Dolezal Auditorium - 2021 William K. Deal Endowed Leadership Lecture Chris Cornelius, co-owner of Cornelius Seed, grew up on a diversified farm in Guttenberg, Iowa. She earned a bachelor’s degree in ag journalism from Iowa State University in 1983. Alongside her husband, Chuck, and their two sons, Will and James, she co-owns and manages her family’s independent, fifth generation seed business. The business celebrated 85 years of success in 2020. She serves as first vice-president of the Independent Professional Seed Association. Chris is also an active partner in their farming entity, Cornelius Land & Cattle. A connector and a networker, Cornelius will share how she has been the glue that has helped keep the multi-generational family’s business together and successful. She’ll also discuss the importance of having leadership skills and building a network with a positive image.

Monday, 27 Sep 2021

Latinx in the U.S.A.: Music as a Cultural History
7:30 PM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - Music can be viewed and “read” as a tool that shares the cultural values, roots, and history of peoples. Over the years, Latinx musical genres share the concerns of Latin@s throughout the years--songs about immigrant woes tell tales from the early 20th century to today, but recent tunes have been created to add Latinx voices to Black Lives Matter protests. Through specific songs, this program shares a broad and non-chronological overview of milestone events in the Latino U.S. as a way of understanding our identity and roots. Catalina Maria Johnson, Ph.D. is a Chicago-based journalist. She hosts and produces her own radio show, Beat Latino, which airs in Chicago on Vocalo (Chicago Public Media). Catalina is also a regular contributor to NPR, Bandcamp, Downbeat and other outlets and a member of the editorial board of Revista Contratiempo.

Don't Be Evil: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and Big Tech
6:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Financial Times and global economic analyst Rana Foroohar covers the intersection of business, economics, politics, and foreign affairs. She will be speaking about the evolution of major internet forces, such as Google, Apple, and Facebook, from idealistic start-ups to globally dominating purveyors of individuals' private information. She explores how internet companies are profiting from our own internet usage--and why the U.S. government and others have been almost powerless to stop them. Ms. Foroohar is the Global Business Analyst at The Financial Times and Global Economic Analyst at CNN. The former Economics Columnist and Assistant Managing Editor for TIME, Ms. Foroohar has penned numerous cover stories and essays on China and the next global recession, Europe’s economic crisis, and what the rise of “localnomics” means for American business. She has written two books: Makers and Takers and Don't Be Evil: The Trouble with Big Tech.

Thursday, 23 Sep 2021

Towns and Ranches: Testimonies of Latino/a Families and Communities in Northwest Iowa
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - What does it mean to be a modern day Latino father in rural Iowa? This presentation will include the vibrant experiences and insights of Latino fathers supporting their children and families in education and community settings. This presentation explores the lives of Latino fathers, their families, and the education of their children in rural Northwest Iowa. The presentation also examines the role of leaders in rural Latino families and communities in Northwest Iowa. Dr. Ruben P. Viramontez Anguiano is the son of Mexican immigrant parents and is originally from New Mexico, where he was raised on a small ranch and worked in the agricultural fields. During his formative years in New Mexico he learned to give back and the importance of social justice which paved the road for his interest in serving diverse families and communities. While at Texas State University during his undergraduate degree he served as a missionary volunteer in Chicago with Latinx children and their families and conducted undergraduate research with underserved families in Central Texas. At Iowa State University, he earned his MS in Human Development and Family Studies where he participated in research and outreach with rural Latinx families in North Central Iowa. He received his PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Michigan State University, where the emphasis of culturally and linguistically diverse families in community and educational settings was critical to his studies and outreach. He is currently the Founding Chair and Professor of the Human Development and Family Relations Program at the University of Colorado Denver. His program is the first bilingual (English and Spanish) HDFR/HDFS in the United States. The program focuses on family diversity and social justice. 

The Right to Have Rights: Cuban Artists Confront the State
6:00 PM – Brunnier Art Museum, 295 Scheman - Coco Fusco's lecture will accompany the exhibition Arte Cubano on view in the Brunnier Art Museum. Arte Cubano highlights contemporary Cuban artists whose art has been shaped by the great diversity of the island and the cultural blending of African, European, and Latin/Caribbean influences. The art also represents a unique view point of artists whose existence was heavily shaped by the 1959 revolution and the repercussions that informed life on the island into the 21st century. Coco Fusco is an interdisciplinary artist and writer. She is a recipient of a 2021 American Academy of Arts and Letters Arts Award, a 2018 Rabkin Prize for Art Criticism, a 2016 Greenfield Prize, a 2014 Cintas Fellowship, a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2013 Absolut Art Writing Award, a 2013 Fulbright Fellowship, a 2012 US Artists Fellowship and a 2003 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts. Fusco's performances and videos have been presented in the 56th Venice Biennale, Frieze Special Projects, Basel Unlimited, two Whitney Biennials (2008 and 1993), and several other international exhibitions. Her works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Center, the Centre Pompidou, the Imperial War Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona. She is represented by Alexander Gray Associates in New York. She is a Professor of Art at Cooper Union.

Wednesday, 22 Sep 2021

The Black Holocaust: How the Atlantic Slave Trade Still Affects Us Today
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - In this American moment, of questions of academic censorship, why tell the story of the Black Holocaust? What is it? What was/is the significance of depopulation of the African continent for ten centuries, in the past and now? Who participated, benefited, and lost? And, what lessons can we learn about the power of the stories we tell and don't tell, research of oppressed peoples, and the successes and shortcoming of the 2020 racial reckoning? Dr. Kesho Scott is an internationally renowned Diversity Trainer/Consultant, an Associate Professor of American Studies and Sociology at Grinnell College, and an award-winning writer.

Tuesday, 21 Sep 2021

Be Here Tomorrow: The Ripple Effect of Suicide
6:00 PM – Virtual: see link below - WebEx Link: https://iastate.webex.com/iastate/onstage/g.php?MTID=e5cc0a4c4467beaa80bf4af48492b869e Visit http://storycountymhexpo.com/ for resources and information about mental health resources. Kevin Hines is an award-winning brain/mental health and suicide prevention activist, entrepreneur, multiple award-winning filmmaker, best-selling author, international educator and speaker who reaches audiences with his story of an unlikely survival and his strong will to live. Two years after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (19 years of age), he attempted to take his life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. He is one of only thirty-four to survive the fall, and the only one to regain full physical mobility. The fall would break his body, but not his spirit. Today, Kevin dedicates his life to saving lives and encouraging others to seek help and spread empathy by spreading the message of hope and sharing his story. He is one of the most respected and admired voices of lived experience. Kevin’s story is a remarkable testament to the strength of the human spirit and a reminder for us to love the life we have.