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The Art of Mindfulness - Romapada Swami
6:00 PM – Cardinal Room, Memorial Union - Romapada Swami is a Vaishnava monk, a scholar on Eastern (Vedic) thought and philosophy, and a highly respected spiritual leader. He will discuss how mindfulness can help one achieve peace and happiness and its role as a spiritual practice for the Hare Krishnas. Romapada Swami attended the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he was introduced to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a religious organization rooted in ancient sanskrit Vedic scriptures and formed to spread the wisdom of Bhakti Yoga. He oversees temples in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Chicago, Naperville, St Louis, Kansas City and, currently, Freeport, NY.

Trade Relations and U.S. Agriculture - Tom Vilsack
6:30 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Tom Vilsack served as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for eight years and is currently president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. As Secretary of Agriculture he worked to strengthen rural communities and ensure a safe, sufficient and nutritious food supply for Americans at home but also to expand markets abroad. He has been honored for his public service and work to advance American agriculture by the Congressional Hunger Center, National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau, and National Farmers Union. Tom Vilsack served as Governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007. Part of the Technology, Globalization and Culture Series

4th Congressional District Democratic Candidate Forum
6:30 PM – South Ballroom, Memorial Union - The Iowa State College Democrats will host a forum with candidates running for the Democratic nomination for the 4th Congressional District, which includes the city of Ames and Iowa State University. The primary election is scheduled for June 5. The three Candidates will address issues of concern to Iowa State University students in brief opening remarks and then take questions, which can be submitted online. Participants include Leann Jacobsen of Spencer, John Paschen of Ames, and J. D. Scholten of Sioux City. Part of the Campaign 2018 Series, providing the university and community with opportunities to question candidates before the election. A candidate meet-and-greet will precede the forum at 6:00pm. Link: Online Question Submission Form

George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Life - Preview of the IPTV Documentary & Conversation with the Filmmaker
7:30 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Filmmaker Laurel Bower will show a 30-minute segment of her hour-long documentary celebrating the life of George Washington Carver, including Iowa State’s role in his path to education. The full documentary will premiere on statewide Iowa Public Television Monday, April 30 at 8 p.m. After the excerpt is shown, producer and director Laurel Bower will be joined by associate producer and Iowa State alum Paxton Williams, who has portrayed Carver more than 400 times, to take questions from the audience.

Ethical Considerations - Brian Green
7:00 PM – 2050 Agronomy Hall - Brian Green, Director of Technology Ethics at Santa Clara University, will speak about the potential ethical implications of emerging and disruptive food technologies. He’ll share what needs to be considered in using these technologies in ways that encourage the development of a healthy, fair and sustainable food system for the future. 2017-18 Helen LeBaron Hilton Endowed Chair Lecture Series

Where Is U.S. Foreign Policy Headed? - Stephen Walt
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Stephen Walt is Belfer Professor of International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a former academic dean. He also taught at Princeton and the University of Chicago and has been a resident associate of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace and a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Walt is a contributing editor at Foreign Policy and co-chair of the editorial board of International Security. His books include The Origins of Alliances; Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy; and The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. He is currently writing a book about why U.S. foreign policy keeps failing. Phi Beta Kappa Lecture

Is Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture Possible? - Sieg Snapp
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Sieglinde Snapp is a professor of soils and cropping systems ecology at Michigan State University. She will discuss her work in Africa and the U.S. using agroecology as a framework for developing environmentally friendly, and farmer-relevant agricultural systems. Snapp’s research addresses harnessing biology in service of sustainable intensification, with innovations such as doubled up legumes and perennializing of field crops. She is committed to participatory research and extension programming to address farmer constraints. The mother-and-baby trial design she developed linking research trials with on-farm experimentation has been adopted by agronomists and plant breeders around the globe. Sustainable Agriculture Symposium Keynote A poster session and reception will precede the lecture, 5:30-7:00pm, in the South Ballroom.

Writing Science Fiction Thrillers in the Age of Climate Change - Paolo Bacigalupi
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Paolo Bacigalupi is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer and author of several popular dystopian novels for young adults, including Ship Breaker and, most recently, Tool of War. His debut novel, The Windup Girl, received Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named one of the ten best novels of 2009 by TIME Magazine. A work of environmental science fiction, it explores the unintended effects of bioengineering and a future world in which fossil fuels are no longer viable. Bacigalupi’s latest novel for adults, The Water Knife, is a near-future thriller about climate change and drought in the southwestern United States. Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writers Series

Why We Get Into Ethical Difficulty and How to Stop Ourselves - Marianne Jennings
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Marianne Jennings is the author of The Seven Signs of Ethics Collapse and a professor of legal and ethical studies in business in the Department of Management at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. She will discuss a common pattern in ethical decline as well as steps that can be taken to prevent missteps. Jennings teaches graduate courses in the MBA program in business ethics and the legal environment of business and is the author of six text books and monographs. She has also done consulting work for law firms, businesses and professional groups, including Boeing, DuPont, Motorola, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Hy-Vee Foods. Murray Bacon Center for Business Ethics Lecture

Talk Is Cheap, Free Speech Isn’t: Why the First Amendment Is Worth It - Paul Kix
8:00 PM – Benton Auditorium, Scheman Building - First Amendment freedoms are vital to democracy in the United States. Paul Kix knows that. The deputy editor of ESPN, The Magazine, just wrote a book about a daring French aristocrat who became a nightmare for the Germans during World War II. Fifteen years after helping with Iowa State’s first celebration of the First Amendment, Kix returns to Ames for the 16th-annual festivities. Kix will discuss why 2018 is a critical year for celebrating and using these five freedoms and that universities must embrace all sorts of speech, not just messages that support consensus views. First Amendment Days