Senior Professionals

Integrated STEM: More than Just the Sum of its Parts - September 24 Learn why STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) is increasingly viewed as an integrated discipline, Darner will highlight funding agencies’ priorities for research and their alignment with national goals, STEM at ISU, educational research and under-representation by women and minority groups. Rebekka Darner, Director of the Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology, ISU Teaching STEM Ideas to Kids - September 25 What are best practices for learning STEM topics?…

THE EXTENDING EMPATHY PROJECT: ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT, REVISITED - September 27 To whom will we extend our empathy? We tend to answer this question through the interaction of unconscious assumptions and the social norms they foster. Because we generate these assumptions unconsciously, we are, in a sense, living in a dream. Moments of conscious reflection, then, are the means by which we wake up, as it were, and examine alternatives to our assumptions. J. Scott Jordan, Professor and Chair, Department…

Recently, the U.S. Speaker and a powerful House committee chair claimed a constitutional crisis existed. Several political pundits and legal experts agreed. However, others argued while current politics is unusual a constitutional crisis is not present. Arguments for both sides will be assessed as well as the criteria for a constitutional crisis and past crises in this nation. *$15.00 payable only at the door. (No pre-registration) Wednesday, October 16  9:30-11:30 am Robert Bradley, Professor Emeritus, Politics & Government, ISU

There’s No Place Like Home: The Wizard of Oz as Political Propaganda - October 28 Although children’s lit seems like an unlikely vehicle for political propaganda, scholars have proven otherwise. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1902) carries overtones of the Populist political party’s agenda at the early part of the 20th century. Victor Fleming’s film The Wizard of Oz (1939) was released to the public seven days prior to Germany’s bombing of Poland. Roberta Seelinger Trites, Distinguished Professor of English, ISU  …

Four different topics covering medieval history, art and literature will be explored. Each addresses the public perception of a controversial subject and seeks to challenge what we think we know about the medieval world. November 12: Common stereotypes of the Virgin Mary November 14: Travels and travelers in the medieval Mediterranean November 19: Taking the Middle Ages “global” November 21: The Black Death Kathryn Jasper, Associate Professor and Director of European Studies, Department of History, ISU