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Turning Love Into a Political Force - Marianne Williamson
8:15 PM – South Ballroom - Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is an author and activist, with a 35-year career focused on spiritual enlightenment and well-being. She has counseled leaders around the world, including heads of state and luminaries, and has published 12 books. Her latest, A Politics of Love: Handbook for a New American Revolution, will be released this spring. Williamson's early involvement with the AIDS crisis in the Los Angeles area in the 1980s greatly influenced her political platforms. Statements about key issues, including child advocacy, climate change, racial reconciliation, LGBTQ rights are available at Marianne2020.com. Part of the Campaign Series in 2019, providing the university community with opportunities to question candidates before the Iowa Caucuses.

Getting A Good Night's Sleep: Rest, Resiliency, and the Art of Digital Detox - Brian Luke Seaward
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Over 50% of Americans claim to suffer from poor quality of sleep, which often translates into poor work habits, poor communication skills, compromised relationships, and compromised health.  Brian Luke Seaward will outline the connections between good health and resiliency as well as the connections between stress, screen addictions, and poor sleep. He also offers suggestions for how to improve the quality of one’s sleep. Seaward served for 25 years on the faculty of the University of Colorado Consortium for Public Health. He is currently a faculty member of The Graduate Institute and Executive Director of the Paramount Wellness Institute. His many books include The Art of Calm, Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backward, and Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water.

#MeToo-Why Has It Taken So Long? - Florence George Graves
7:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - There will not be a recording available for this event. Florence George Graves is an award-winning journalist and founding director of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University. Her reporting helped expose the imbalance of power between women and men in Washington long before the #Metoo era. Graves authored investigative reports for the Washington Post on the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings and broke the story of sexual harassment and abuse of power by U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood, resulting in his censure and forced resignation. She was the founding editor of Common Cause Magazine in the 1980s, which won major awards for repeatedly breaking national stories on money in politics, congressional ethics, and regulatory mismanagement. Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics

A Second Chance at Life - Holocaust Survivor Celina Karp Biniaz
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Celina Karp Biniaz is one of the last living survivors of Schindler’s List - the list of 1098 Jewish men, women and children who were saved from the Nazis and the Holocaust largely due to the humanity of Oskar Schindler. She will share her story of survival from living a comfortable, middle-class childhood to being forced into a Jewish ghetto and later one of the most infamous Nazi death camps, Auschwitz. Celina's family worked in Schindler's factory until they were liberated in May 1945. Two years later they immigrated to Des Moines, where she graduated from North High School and subsequently attended Grinnell College.

Re-Envisioning the 1930s Midwest: The Farmer, the Artist, and the Aerial Photographer - Jason Weems
8:15 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Jason Weems is an associate professor of American art, visuality, and material culture studies and author of Barnstorming the Prairies: How Aerial Vision Shaped the Midwest. His current research includes an exploration of the intersection of art and archaeological imagery in the Americas at the turn of the century, and an investigation into photography of and by Native Americans during the New Deal. Jason Weems currently chairs the History of Art Department at the University of California, Riverside. His talk is part of an interdisciplinary symposium on the history of Midwest science and engineering.

Haitian Culture Night - Cohosted by Exercise is Medicine & Wings of Hope
7:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Join Exercise is Medicine at Iowa State University for a Haitian Culture Night philanthropic event. Attendees will get a glimpse of Haitian culture through song, dance, and art. The organization is working to raise funds for Wings of Hope, a non-profit respite care home which serves the intellectually and physically disabled of Jacmel, Haiti. Specifically, funds are being raised to pay the salary of a physical therapist. There will be paintings created by Wings of Hope residents for sale and free-will donations will be accepted.

Bringing Our Soil Back to Life - David Montgomery
7:00 PM РGreat Hall, Memorial Union - David R. Montgomery, author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, is a professor at the University of Washington, where he studies the evolution of topography and how geological processes shape landscapes and influence ecological systems. He will speak about his most recent book, Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life, and make a case for how agriculture can be the solution to global environmental problems. The book draws on his experiences visiting farms around the world as a MacArthur Fellow and explores practices that help restore soil health and fertility. Montgomery is the author of several other books, including The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life, co-written with Anne Bikl̩. Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture

Using Insights from Behavioral Economics to Address Physical Activity Disparities - Rebecca Hasson
5:30 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Rebecca Hasson is an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan, where she directs the Childhood Disparities Research Laboratory. She studies the causes and consequences of racial and ethnic disparities in obesity and obesity-related complications among children and adolescents. She is specifically interested in what socioeconomic, behavioral, and biological factors contribute to these health disparities and options for behavioral intervention. Hasson’s multidisciplinary research approach integrates her previous training in such areas as exercise physiology, endocrinology, pediatrics, and social epidemiology.

Changing the World Through Food - Fedele Bauccio
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Fedele Bauccio is cofounder of Bon Appétit Management Company, which provides food service to 1,000-plus cafés located at corporations, universities, and museums in 34 states. Together Bauccio and Bon Appétit have revolutionized the food service industry, both by introducing fresh, made-from-scratch food to the contract market and by pioneering environmentally and socially responsible practices designed to create a more sustainable food system. Bon Appétit has committed to serving only sustainable seafood, switching to humanely raised meat, addressing farmworker rights, and most recently banning plastic straws. Fedele Bauccio’s many professional honors include the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 National Retail and Consumer Products Award and one of the James Beard Foundation’s inaugural Leadership Awards. Part of the 2018-19 Helen LeBaron Hilton Endowed Chair Lecture Series, hosted by the Department of Apparel, Events and Hospitality Management. Celebrating 10 Years of the Live Green! Initiative

Women in Business: Can You Design and Build the Career You Want? - Suzanna de Baca
4:00 PM – College of Design Gallery - Suzanna de Baca has more than 20 years of executive leadership at public, privately held and not-for-profit organizations and was recently named president and publisher of the Des Moines-based Business Publications Corporation. She has held leadership roles at several nationally recognized financial services and wealth management firms, including Ameriprise Financial, Bank of America Private Bank, Morgan Stanley’s Private Asset Management division, and Weiss, Peck & Greer Investments. Most recently de Baca served as president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. Raised on a farm near Huxley, de Baca received her BA from Iowa State and then completed her MBA studies at the Harvard University School of Business Administration.