Descriptions are from www.lectures.iastate.edu. Some are edited for length.

Movie screening: BlacKkKlansman

Date and time: January 23 at 7 p.m.

Location: Carver 101

Description: 1970s civil rights movement, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) becomes the first black detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department. He sets out to prove his worth by infiltrating the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and convinces his Jewish colleague (Adam Driver) to go undercover as a white supremacist. The film is an adaptation of Stallworth’s memoir and based on actual events.

Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Convocation – Keynote speaker: Black Klansman author Ron Stallworth

Date and time: January 24 at 7 p.m.

Location: Sun Room in the Memorial Union

Description: Join us for Iowa State’s university-wide celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s program features keynote speaker Ron Stallworth, whose extraordinary story of being a black detective who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan is the subject of Spike Lee’s recent movie BlacKkKlansman.As the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department, Stallworth overcame fierce racial hostility to achieve a long and distinguished career in law enforcement. It was in 1978 that he responded to a KKK recruitment ad using his real name while posing as a white man. With the help of a partner standing in as the “white” Ron Stallworth, he was able to sabotage cross burnings and expose members of the white supremacist group. Stallworth will discuss the months-long investigation and Black Klansman, the memoir he subsequently wrote to share his experiences of a deeply divided America.

The Power of Knowing Your Purpose

Date and time: January 28 at 7 p.m.

Location: Great Hall in the Memorial Union

Description: Brittany Packnett is a leader at the intersection of culture and justice. A former teacher, non-profit executive director, and Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, she has been named one of TIME Magazine’s 12 New Faces of Black Leadership and honored at the 2018 BET Awards as “one of the fiercest activists of our time.” Packnett serves as Teach For America’s Vice President of National Community Alliances, where she leads partnerships and civil rights work with communities of color. The 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Series Keynote

Creating Disney Magic: Lessons in Leadership, Management, and Customer Service

Date and time: January 31 at 7 p.m.

Location: Great Hall in the Memorial Union

Description: Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World® Resort, has held various executive positions in the hospitality and entertainment business and authored several books on leadership, management and customer service excellence. At Disney, Cockerell led a team of 40,000 cast members and was responsible for the operations of 20 resort hotels, 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a shopping & entertainment village and the ESPN sports and recreation complex in addition to their ancillary operations.

How would you balance the federal budget?: A principles and priorities exercise 

Date and time: January 31 at 6:30 p.m.

Location: Sun Room in the Memorial Union

Description: This 2-hour event kicks off with a short overview of federal spending, followed by the 90-minute Principles and Priorities exercise. Working in small groups, participants will review current federal spending priorities, tax policy and entitlement reform options and apply their own principles and negotiating skills to put forward a consensus-based deficit reduction plan. It’s an eye-opening experience designed to educate voters on the political will and compromise required to address our spiraling national debt. David Oman, Senior Advisor to the Concord Coalition and former Chief of Staff for Governors Robert Ray and Terry Branstad, will facilitate the workshop. The Concord Coalition is a bipartisan national organization that for 25 years has worked to encourage a balanced federal budget.