The Symbolism of the Sand Mandala - Monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery will create a mandala sand painting in the lobby of the Memorial Union Monday, September 24 through Friday, September 28. The process consists of opening ceremony with chants, music and mantra recitation and ends with the dismantling of the mandala and dispersal of the sand. Millions of grains of sand are poured from traditional metal funnels called chakpur to create a finished mandala approximately five feet by five feet in size. Formed of a traditional prescribed iconography that includes geometric shapes and ancient spiritual symbols, the sand-painted mandala is used as a tool for re-consecrating the earth and its inhabitants.

Mental Illness, Tragedy and Transformation: The Mark Becker Story - Joan & David Becker
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - The Story County Mental Health Resource Fair will precede the lecture, 6:00-7:00pm in the South Ballroom. Joan and Dave Becker share their family’s story about their son Mark and the experience they had coping with his paranoid schizophrenia. They hope it will help other families, caregivers, and professionals understand how they can make a difference in moving forward and improving our mental health system. The Beckers spent years visiting doctors, pleading with state mental health services, and trying to get their son help for what was finally diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia just three days before the unthinkable happened in their rural community of Parkersburg. National Recovery Awareness Month – Story County Mental Health Expo

Equity in Physical Activity for People with Disabilities - James Rimmer
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - James Rimmer has been developing and directing physical activity and health promotion programs for people with disabilities for more than 30 years. He is the inaugural Lakeshore Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Promotion and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and director of the Lakeshore Foundation/UAB Collaborative. Rimmer is on the NIH National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research advisory board. He was also the first researcher with a focus on the fitness of people with disabilities to be named to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Science Board. The 2018 Pease Family Scholar in Kinesiology

Unlocking Your Inner Entrepreneur - Sara Wyant
7:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - One of the luckiest days of my life was when I got fired from a job I loved. Sara Wyant is president of Agri-Pulse Communications, with offices in Washington DC and Camdenton, Missouri. As a veteran farm policy reporter, she is well recognized on Capitol Hill as well as with farm and commodity associations across the country. The Agri-Pulse newsletter and website include the latest updates on farm policy, commodity and conservation programs, trade, food safety, rural development, and environmental and regulatory programs. Wyant is a graduate of Iowa State and grew up on a farm near Marengo. William K. Deal Endowed Leadership Lecture and part of CALS Week

Student Forum with Candidates for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture
3:10 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - The Sustainable Agriculture Colloquium will host candidates for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture in advance of the upcoming November 6 elections. Participants include Democratic candidate Tim Gannon and Libertarian candidate Rick Stewart. The discussion will be moderated by Neil Hamilton, director of the Drake University Agricultural Law Center. The candidates will offer opening remarks and take questions, with a meet-and-greet immediately following forum.

Controversy and the U.S. Supreme Court - A Panel Discussion
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Join a discussion on recent Supreme Court rulings on issues including gerrymandering, President Trump’s travel ban, and the right to refuse service for religious reasons. Participants include Dirk Deam, senior lecturer in Political Science; Clark Wolf, Iowa State Bioethics Program Director, philosophy professor and expert in philosophy of the law; and Mark Kende, the James Madison Chair on Constitutional Law at Drake Law School. They will also discuss any shift in the balance of the court caused by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. Constitution Day Event and part of the National Affairs Series: Building a Better Democracy

Soil Carbon Sequestration for Climate Change Mitigation: What We Can Expect - William Schlesinger
4:10 PM – 2050 Agronomy Hall - Dr. William Schlesinger, member of the NAS and former director of the Cary Institute and former Dean of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Improved soil management is increasingly pursued to ensure food security for the world’s rising global population, with the ancillary benefit of storing carbon in soils to lower the threat of climate change. While all increments to soil organic matter are laudable, we suggest caution in ascribing large, potential climate change mitigation to enhanced soil management. We find that the most promising techniques, including applications of biochar and enhanced silicate weathering, are not likely to balance more than 5% of annual emissions of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion. 2018 William H. Pierre Memorial Lecture in Soil Science

Making T-Shirts Out of Pop Bottles - Mike Draper
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Mike Draper is the owner of RAYGUN, the Des Moines-based t-shirt company known for its Iowa-themed apparel with its own quirky and unique sense of humor. RAYGUN has been called “The Greatest Store in the Universe” by RAYGUN. With locations in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and Kansas City, the company sells about $4 million worth of words on things every year, employing 65 people in the process. Its headquarters in Des Moines is only about 6 blocks from the hospital where Mike was born, so, geographically speaking, Mike has not come very far in life. Celebrating 10 Years of the Live Green! Initiative Come early to learn more about what Iowa State students are doing to promote sustainability on campus, in our communities, and around the world. Student organizations will share information and displays prior to the talk, 6:15-7:00pm.