Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
January 26, 2001

Annual institute opens next month

An exploration of childhood and coming of age will be the focus when the 2001 Institute on National Affairs gets under way next month in the Memorial Union. Inspired by the theme "Growing Up In America," the lectures touch on great-grandparents, parents of gay children, violence, addiction and more.

ISU professor Peter Martin starts things off talking about "What Does Great-Grandma Think About this?" Martin, human development and family studies and head of the gerontology program, will speak at noon Tuesday, Feb. 6, in the Pioneer Room.

Betty DeGeneres, mother of actress and comedian Ellen DeGeneres, talks about being "Just a Mom" that evening in the Sun Room. She has written Love, Ellen: A Mother-Daughter Journeyand Just a Mom,which features gay and lesbian children and their relationships with their parents.

"The Impact of Mandatory Sentencing on Families" is the title of a talk by Polk County Juvenile Court associate Judge Connie Cohen at noon Wednesday, Feb. 7, in the Pioneer Room.

Other highlights of the institute include Stephen Bloom, who will talk about the subject of his book, Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America. The book focuses on changes facing the small, predominantly Lutheran, Iowa town after 150 Lubavither Jews settle there.

Jean Kilbourne, a nationally recognized expert on addictions, gender issues and the media, will examine "Deadly Persuasion: Advertising and Addition." Her first film, Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Womenis among the most popular educational films of all time.

Ross Parke will wind up the institute in April with a talk on "Fatherhood." Parke, director of the Center for Family Studies at the University of California, Riverside, has a book with the same title.

Institute on National Affairs:"Growing Up in America"
Feb. 6-April 3, Memorial Union
4-9934

Tuesday, February 6

Noon, Lecture, "What Does Great-Grandma Think About This?" Peter Martin, ISU human development and family studies, Pioneer Room.
8 p.m., Lecture, "Just a Mom," Betty DeGeneres, mother of actress and comedian Ellen DeGeneres, Sun Room.

Wednesday, February 7

Noon, Lecture, "The Impact of Mandatory Sentencing on Families," Connie Cohen, associate judge, Polk County Juvenile Court, Pioneer Room.
8 p.m., Lecture, "Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them," James Garbarino, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., Sun Room.

Monday, February 19

8 p.m., Lecture, "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America," Stephen Bloom, University of Iowa, Sun Room.

Wednesday, February 21

8 p.m., Lecture, "Emerging Families: How Family Relationships Develop Across Generations," Rand Conger, ISU sociology and psychology, Sun Room.

Thursday, February 22

8 p.m., Lecture, "Deadly Persuasion: Advertising and Addiction," Jean Kilbourne, author and expert on addictions, gender issues and the media, Sun Room.

Thursday, March 22

8 p.m., Lecture, "Family Diversity," Vonnie McLoyd, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Pioneer Room.

Monday, April 2

8 p.m., Lecture, "Reinventing Childhood," David Elkind, Tufts University, Medford, Mass., Sun Room.

Tuesday, April 3

8:15 p.m., Lecture, "Fatherhood," Ross Parke, University of California, Riverside, Sun Room.