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Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism - Richard Wolff
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a visiting professor at the New School University in New York. His groundbreaking book Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism inspired the creation of Democracy at Work, a nonprofit organization dedicated to showing how and why to make democratic workplaces real. Wolff's recent work has concentrated on analyzing the causes and alternative solutions to the global economic crisis. His other books include Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism and Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It.

Atheist Voter Initiative & the Patient's Right To Know Act - Amanda Knief
7:00 PM – Cardinal Room, Memorial Union - Amanda Knief is the acting Legal Counsel and Public Policy Advisor for the American Atheists. She will discuss the Patient's Right To Know Act, proposed legislation that would require health care providers to disclose to patients any treatments or services that are legally available but that the provider chooses not to provide because of religious or philosophical beliefs. Knief helped draft the legislation and is working with groups across the country to get introduced in state legislatures. She will also speak about the Atheist voter initiative, encouraging atheists and the non-religious and to become active in the 2016 election. Knief is a graduate of Iowa State, a founding member of the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers, and author of The Citizen Lobbyist: A How-to Guide for Making Your Voice Heard in Government.

The Global Tide of Women Rising - Kathleen Parker
7:30 PM – Benton Auditorium, Scheman Building, Iowa State Center - Kathleen Parker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post, for which she writes a nationally syndicated column twice weekly on politics and culture. She is also a political analyst for MSNBC and a regular panelist on NBC's Meet the Press. A columnist since 1987, she has worked for five newspapers and has written for several magazines, including The Weekly Standard, TIME, Newsweek, and Fortune Small Business. Parker is currently the most widely syndicated columnist in the United States, appearing in more than 500 newspapers and with a readership of approximately 80 million people. She is also a contributor to the online magazine, The Daily Beast, and is the author of the book Save the Males: Why Men Matter, Why Women Should Care. Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics

What Matters? - Documentary & Discussion
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - What Matters? is a feature-length documentary about three friends, two idealistic Christians and one skeptic Atheist, attempting to live in extreme poverty, just $1.25 a day, across three continents. The adventure takes a devastating turn when two of them survive a deadly plane crash in Africa, and all three must fight to finish what they started. Through their film and Q & A, the filmmakers will make the case that this generation can have a profound impact on the issues that break their heart. Using personal stories, humor and technology, the audience is engaged with their mission to "connect those who need something to live for with those who just need something to live." A discussion and Q&A session will follow the 87-min film.

The Piracy of the Rich and Poor along the East Africa Coast: The Somali Case - Abdi Ismail Samatar
7:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Abdi Ismail Samatar is a distinguished Africanist scholar, an elected member of the African Academy of Sciences, and an Iowa State alumnus. He is currently chair of the Department of Geography, Environment and Society at the University of Minnesota and a research fellow at the University of Pretoria. Samatar's research focuses on the relationship between democracy and development in the Third World in general and Africa in particular. He is the coeditor of The Dialectics of Piracy in Somalia: The Poor versus the Rich and The African State: Reconsiderations. Samatar earned an MCRP in Community & Regional Planning from the Iowa State and completed a doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley.

Censorship and the New Puritans on Campus - David French
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - David French is a staff writer at National Review, an attorney concentrating his practice in constitutional law and the law of armed conflict, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He will discuss the censorship of conservative voices on college campuses. French is the author or co-author of several books, including, most recently, Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom. He is also the past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), whose Guide to Religious Liberty on Campus he authored.

Poems of Environmental & Social Justice - Jane Satterfield & Ned Balbo
7:00 PM – Campanile Room, Memorial Union - From their unique perspectives, poets Jane Satterfield and Ned Balbo engage personal and public history through an awareness of the challenges that shape our contemporary moment. Jane Satterfield is the author of four books, including Daughters of Empire: a Memoir of a Year in Britain and Beyond, and Her Familiars, a collection of poetry. Satterfield's honors include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry, the Florida Review Editors' Prize, the Mslexia women's poetry prize, and the Bellingham Review's 49th Parallel Poetry Prize. She has served as the literary editor for the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, and she is an associate professor of writing at Loyola University Maryland. Ned Balbo is the author of three books, including, most recently, The Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems, which was awarded the 2010 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and the Poets' Prize. Balbo currently teaches in the MFA program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University. His honors include the John Guyon Nonfiction Award, the Robert Frost Foundation Poetry Award, and three Maryland Arts Council grants. His fourth book, Upcycling Paumanok, which poet Mark Jarman has lauded as "the vital history of one of the crucial American places," is forthcoming in 2016. Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writers Series

The Plight of Homeless LGBTQ+ Youth - Ryan Berg
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Ryan Berg, author of No House to Call My Home: Love, Family, & Other Transgressions, will talk about his work in New York City as a counselor with LGBTQ teenagers in foster care, especially those who are about to age out of the child welfare system. Berg begins this account of LGBTQ teens in the NYC foster care system with statistics that are at once shocking and painfully familiar: Children placed in foster care are more likely than veterans of war to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. LGBTQ teens make up 40% of homeless youth and are especially vulnerable. 70% of LGBTQ youth in group homes reported violence based on LGBTQ status. Berg is a West Des Moines native and Valley High School graduate now living in Minneapolis. A panel discussion with Ryan Berg will follow. Participants include Donna Red Wing of One Iowa, Penny McGee of Iowa Kids Net, and Julia Webb of Youth & Shelter Services. The panel will speak to the needs and problems in Iowa with special emphasis on the search for LGBTQ-affirming family foster and adoptive homes.

Iowa Caucus Education Workshop - How to Participate in the Iowa Caucuses
4:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Guest speakers will provide an overview of the Iowa Caucus process and lead a community-wide training session. The 75-minute workshop includes an overview of the Iowa Republican and Democratic Parties' caucuses and will include a mock caucus. Guest speakers include Kim Reem, president of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women (IFRW); Andy McGuire, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party; Gwen Ecklund, past president of the IFRW; and Josie-Rae Bradley, the Caucus to Convention director for the Iowa Democratic Party. Dave Price, WHO-TV's political director, will provide opening remarks on the importance of the Iowa Caucuses.

Native Stories and Flute Music of the Great Plains - Joseph FireCrow
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Joseph FireCrow is an accomplished Native American flute player and Grammy Award-winning musician. He has released seven solo albums, five internationally, and is the recipient of seven Native American Music Awards as well as a Telly award. His music has been featured in Ken Burns's PBS documentaries Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery and The National Parks: America's Best Ideas. FireCrow is enrolled with the Northern Cheyenne tribe. In addition to performing, he will share his knowledge of traditional Plains Indian music.