Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
August 10, 2001

Lecture program promises to challenge students

by Debra Gibson
Their vitae burst with the Nobel Peace Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, even the Oscar. They are the politicians, the authors, the scientists, the performers who will rouse university audiences during the 2001-02 ISU Lecture Series.

With a nod to Iowa State's new theme year, students will be challenged to think outside the box when the series kicks off its season Thursday, Aug. 30. Julie Stoffer and Justin Deabler, former participants on MTV's Real World series, will discuss "Dealing with Difference in the Real World," at 8 p.m. in Stephens Auditorium.

Stoffer, a Wisconsin native and outspoken Mormon, is a former student at Brigham Young University. Deabler, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is a politically active gay man involved in such social issues as HIV/AIDS education.

Also on hand to welcome students back to campus will be comedian Jake Johannsen, who will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, at Stephens. Johannsen, a former Iowa State student, has appeared on Late Night With David Letterman, The Tonight Show, Politically Incorrect and on Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

The remaining September lectures run the gamut from guns to bugs. Gregory Jaffe, co-director of the Biotechnology Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, will lecture on "Resolving the Food Fight: Consumer Perspective on Agricultural Biotechnology." The ISU Entomology Club will sponsor its annual "Insect Horror Film Festival," including a screening of the film James and the Giant Peach.

Bill Halamandaris, president and co-founder of the Heart of America Foundation, will lecture on "Citizen Leadership," while "Guns, Germs and Steel: How the Modern World Came to Be" will be presented by Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and professor of physiology at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Rounding out September will be Paul Billings, an expert on the impact of genetic technology on society. He will discuss "The Promise and Pitfalls of the Genetics Revolution."

October: Lech Walesa
October will bring painter Stanislavas Sugintas, speaking on "The Artist and His Muse: An Intimate Relationship," and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Lech Walesa, former president of Poland, on "Leadership, Democracy and Freedom."

"Protestant Scholar in the Vatican: An Inside Story" will be addressed by Samuele Bacchiocchi, author and professor of theology at Andrews University. Janel Curry, professor of geography and environmental studies at Calvin College, will discuss how a feminist theory of caring can construct a system for judging the ethical nature of agricultural production and management.

Women's Week also kicks off in October with Kevin Powell, author and former senior writer for Vibe magazine, who will speak on "Confessions of a Recovering Misogynist: A Not So Good Brother Describes His Struggle to Become a Better Man."

"Women and Power" will be discussed by Marie Wilson, president of the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Rounding out the Women's Week agenda will be performance poet Stacey Ann Chin, who will perform slam poetry; Vijitha Mahadevan Eyango, gender and education adviser for the Asia/Near East bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development, who will speak on "Ending Global Gender Inequality"; and actress Kaiulani Lee in a one-woman play, A Sense of Wonder, based on the life and works of environmentalist Rachel Carson.

Also in October, Jonathon Petropolous, research director for the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States, will speak on "Nazi Culture and the Seduction of the Art World During the Third Reich."

November brings the Institute on World Affairs examining "The Colombian Drug War: Another Vietnam?" Speakers will look at the historical and political aspects of the issue, and a screening of the Academy Award-winning film Traffic is scheduled.