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Play for Fun and Play for Learning: What Science Tells Us - Karin Lifter
7:00 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - Karin Lifter is an early intervention specialist and a professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at Northeastern University in Boston. She directs the Interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Early Intervention, which prepares personnel to serve infants and toddlers with disabilities or at risk for developmental delay as well as their families. Lifter conducts both descriptive and intervention studies on the play, language, and social development of young children with and without disabilities, bridging cognitive and behavioral theories. She and her colleagues developed the Developmental Play Assessment (DPA), and Lifter now leads Project Play, which offers a user-friendly version of the DPA and online training program for practitioners. The 2019 Barbara E. (Mound) Hansen Lecture in Early Childhood Education

The Role of the U.S. in the Global Food and Agriculture Marketplace - Ken Isley
7:00 PM – Dolezal Auditorium, 127 Curtiss Hall - Ken Isley heads the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service, where he leads offices around the world in expanding trade and export opportunities for American agriculture. Previously, Isley worked for Dow AgroSciences, where he held various senior leadership roles, including vice president, general counsel, and head of the company’s global legal department. Most recently he was special adviser for Corteva Agriscience. Isley holds a BS degree from the Iowa State University and a JD from the University of Iowa. He grew up on his family’s farm in Iowa and continues to own and manage grain and livestock operations. Carl and Marjory Hertz Lecture on Emerging Issues in Agriculture

Epic, Funny, Sad, Strange, True: The Stories We Tell and Why We Tell Them - Kira Obolensky
8:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Kira Obolensky is currently a Mellon Foundation Playwright-in-Residence with Ten Thousand Things, an award-winning theatre company based in Minneapolis. Obolensky has co-created and written seven plays for Ten Thousand Things that have been performed for audiences in prisons, shelters, community centers in rural and urban areas, psychiatric wards, immigrant and adult education programs, as well as to paying audiences in the Twin Cities. She will discuss her work with the company and share some techniques for thinking about stories as a way to engage collective imaginations. Obolensky attended Juilliard’s Playwriting Program and teaches at the University of Minnesota. Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writers Series

Gridshock: A Film about Sex Trafficking in Iowa - Documentary & Discussion with Filmmaker Vanessa McNeal
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Filmmaker Vanessa McNeal, a graduate of Iowa State, will screen her fourth and most recent film, Gridshock, a documentary exposing the hidden and disturbing reality behind sex trafficking in Iowa and the often-overlooked reality about why the industry thrives - because there is a demand for it. McNeal’s film features survivors of sex trafficking, local and federal law enforcement, advocates, politicians, and a recovering sex addict. What you think you know about sex trafficking will be challenged. Sexual Assault Awareness Month This film is 55 minutes, and a discussion and Q&A with filmmaker Vanessa McNeal will immediately follow the screening. She will be joined by Steffani Simbric, Human Trafficking Instructor for the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy; Karen Gale, FBI victim specialist; and a staff member from the YSS Teens Against Human Trafficking.

Anecdotes in Applied Machine Learning - Brian McClendon
4:00 PM – Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall - Brian McClendon, a former Vice President at Google, will discuss how machine learning has become a bigger and more important factor in nearly every business and share examples of potential applications in the future. McClendon spent two years at Uber leading its Maps and Business Platform efforts. For 10 years, McClendon was a vice president with Google and led its entire Geo business unit including Google Maps, Street View, and Google Earth. He spent 8 years at Silicon Graphics, designing 3D graphics workstations. McClendon was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2015 and holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas, where he is currently a research professor. ISU Innovation Prize Weekend

We Can End AIDS Speaker Tour
4:00 PM – Pioneer Room - The Student Global AIDS Campaign is on tour on campuses across the U.S. to bring the message that we can stop AIDS. Recent news of a second person cured of HIV has brought renewed attention to the HIV & AIDS epidemic. Four speakers, from the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, the U.S. and South Africa, will talk about how HIV and AIDS have impacted their personal lives, and why people should support the prevention of HIV.

Refugees as a Weapon of War - Johnpaul Agaba
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Johnpaul Agaba is a Ugandan lawyer and visiting Fulbright scholar teaching global health at the College of Saint Rose, NY, and Regis College, MA. He will discuss the significance of and role refugees have played in the geopolitics of East and Central Africa from pre-colonial tribal wars, to the colonial era of foreign African mercenary fighters, to the current use of refugees in Uganda as spies in proxy wars in Somalia, Burundi, Rwanda and Sudan. Agaba has over 15 years of experience working with USAID programs on HIV/AIDS, gender issues, and legal advocacy for forced migrants from the Greatlakes region of East and Central Africa. He is a founding member of Refugee Advocacy for Development, a nonprofit providing legal advocacy for forced migrants in Uganda.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask - Anton Treuer
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Anton Treuer is Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and author of 14 books, including Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask. A distinguished scholar and member of the Ojibwe tribe, he uses personal examples in clear language to alleviate misconception and bridge knowledge gaps among cultures. In addition to his work documenting the culture, history, and language of the Ojibwe, Treuer speaks frequently about issues of cultural competence and equity, education, and sovereignty for Native peoples. He has a BA from Princeton and earned MA and PhD degrees in history from the University of Minnesota. The 2019 Richard Thompson Memorial Lecture

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.