This scary looking fellow was the Chemistry Department's prize-winning entry into last week's Pumpkin Palooza at Olmsted Center. This pumpkin won the President's Choice Award. Other winners include Admissions' "The Gourd Show," which took Most Creative and Best In Show. Arts and Sciences took the School Spirit Award for their untitled entry and Athletics won for Scariest with "Old Pumpkin Head." The All Staff Council sponsored Pumpkin Palooza. For more information on future ASC events, visit www.drake.edu/asc.

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Steven F. Faux, Drake University associate professor of psychology, believes recent neuroscience research that claims to have located centers of morality in the brain is flawed and adds little to our scientific understanding of behavior.

New studies, using technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging, show colorful pictures of the human brain with red dots allegedly marking the spots where moral decisions are influenced. Faux, a psychologist who came to Drake from Harvard Medical School, however, argues the studies are misleading - a stand only a handful of psychologists and scientists are taking nationwide.

"All this gives you is a very beautiful picture with some dots on it," Faux said. "And it may not be any more significant than that."

Faux will present his controversial opinions on the current brain studies as part of the Stalnaker Lecture Series at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Sheslow Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

During one of the studies, participants were asked questions about various moral decisions, such as whether they would stop to help a bleeding person by the side of the road or whether they would donate money to charity to help starving children.

Neuroscientists monitor the brain using functional MRI technology, which takes a snapshot of where oxygen-rich blood is being distributed in the brain. The studies claim those snapshots map the portions of the brain used in making high-level decisions, such as morality.

Faux, by contrast, believes that functional MRI technology is too slow to accurately capture meaningful data on moral decision-making. It takes about 6 seconds for the brain to allocate blood to an area after a major event - such as making a moral decision.

The fastest functional MRI technology can take a snapshot of brain activity only once every two seconds - which is not fast enough to track actual neural activity, because nerves impulses travel at about 100 meters per second. Further, by looking only at certain "hot spots" in the brain, Faux said, the research discounts the remainder of the brain that may be just as critical in decision-making.

"Functional MRI provides less information than a still picture of traffic patterns on a freeway," Faux said. "A brain map might tell us the neural freeway is being used at a specific location, but we still will not know precisely when the neural traffic occurred, the speed of the neural traffic or even the direction of the traffic."

A Drake psychology professor since 1990, Faux teaches courses in introductory psychology, sensation and perception, cognitive psychology, and occasional courses in the Drake Honors Program. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside, and his Ph.D from Brigham Young University. Prior to coming to Drake, Faux was an assistant professor of research psychology at Harvard Medical School, where he served for five years.

Faux has served as director of the honors program, and he is currently the chair of the psychology department. In 1995, he was named the Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year and last spring, he won the Madelyn M. Levitt Excellence in Teaching award.

His major research interests revolve around the neural and behavioral correlates of the P300 event-related potential - a study of brain activity when responding to specific stimuli. He has published over 30 professional journal articles, primarily about brain wave correlates of cognition and brain disorder. He has presented numerous papers on neuroscience at national and international conventions. As an academic hobby, Faux enjoys studying the old pioneer trails of Iowa and the western United States, and he has made several national and regional presentations on that topic.

Faux's talk will be the 12th Luther W. Stalnaker Lecture, named after a graduate of the College of Liberal Arts graduate, a former professor of philosophy and former dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, who was a beloved teacher who died in tragic automobile accident in 1954.
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Craig S. Donohue, chief executive officer of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, will be the keynote speaker at the annual Financial Executives International-Drake Lecture at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in Sheslow Auditorium. The title of his lecture, which is free and open to the public, is "The Future is in Futures."

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is the largest futures exchange in the United States for the trading of futures contracts and options on futures contracts as measured by 2004 trading volume. On Dec. 9, 2004, the CME set a record for the number of outstanding contracts of any exchange in the world with 28.5 million contracts outstanding on that day. In November 2000 the CME became the first publicly traded financial exchange in the United States.

Donohue, a 1983 College of Arts and Sciences alumnus, played a leading role in CME's demutualization and initial public offering, which made CME the first publicly traded financial exchange in the United States. In addition, he has contributed significantly to setting the organization's vision and developing growth strategies to expand CME's core business and global distribution. Irish America Magazine recognized him as one of the top 100 Irish Business Leaders in 2003 and 2004.

In addition to serving on CME's Board of Directors, Donohue is on the Board of Directors of the National Council on Economic Education, a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the economic literacy of students and teachers. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Global Markets Advisory Committee.

For more information on the lecture, contact Chuck Terlouw, associate professor of accounting, at x3142 or chuck.terlouw@drake.edu.
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The Drake University Center for the Humanities Colloquium Series for fall 2005 opens with a presentation by Karl Schaefer, associate professor of librarianship, titled "A Missing Link in the History of Printing: Medieval Arabic Block Printed Amulets." The event, which is open to students, faculty and staff, will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in room 104 of Meredith Hall.

Schaefer came to Drake in 1995 from Firestone Library at Princeton University, where he was a cataloger of Arabic and Persian manuscripts. Before that he was a faculty member at the University of Tulsa, where he had been since completing his dissertation and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at New York University.

Schaefer's work has focused on Arabic block printing and he has just completed a manuscript for E. J. Brill, Publishers titled "Enigmatic Charms: Medieval Arabic Block Printed Amulets in American and European Libraries and Museums." For his presentation in this series, Schaefer will draw from his research, offering commentary on and slides of Arabic block printing.
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An interactive lecture on "Justice and Joy: Ethics and Living Well" will be presented Thursday, Oct. 27, at Drake University by Daniel Spencer, former Drake professor of religion and ethics, and Jennifer McCrickerd, Drake associate professor of philosophy. The lecture, which is free and open to the public as part of the J. William Paquette Lecture Series, will start at 7 p.m. in room 213 of Cartwright Hall.

Spencer joined the Drake faculty in 1993 and taught courses in religion and ethics at Drake for 10 years. He was named the Madelyn M. Levitt Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 1999-2000, the same year he served as president of the Faculty Senate. He was selected Outstanding Teacher of the Year in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1997-98. He now teaches environmental studies, liberal studies and philosophy at the University of Montana. Spencer, who was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1998, holds a bachelor's degree from Carleton College and a master's of divinity and a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary.

McCrickerd also has received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award in the College of Arts and Sciences as well as the Honors Program Teacher of the Year Award. She chairs Drake's Department of Philosophy and Religion and teaches courses dealing with ethics, philosophy of science, feminist philosophy and the art of living. In addition, she has served as a consultant for various ethics committees regarding health care and is pursuing a master's degree in public health at the University of Iowa. She holds a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College and a master's degree and Ph.D. from Washington University.

The J. William Paquette Lecture Series was established in 2002 by the family of the late J. William Paquette, long-time director of career planning and placement at Drake.

In addition to the lecture, Spencer will give an informal talk at 11 a.m. Friday, October 28, in the Medbury Hall Lounge. This event is free and open to the public. For more information about the lecture and informal talk, call x3751.
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Faculty, staff and students may receive flu shots while supplies last from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, and Thursday, Oct. 27, in the lobby of Olmsted Center.

During the Drake Health Fair on Wednesday, Oct. 26, Iowa Health System will offer flu shots to spouses of faculty and staff and to children of faculty and staff who are from 14 to 17 years old with a guardian present. The fair will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Pomerantz Stage in Olmsted Center.

The first 100 people to attend the Drake Health Fair will receive a free prize and all attendees will get a chance to win a wellness gift package that includes a 30-minute massage. The fair will feature more than 20 vendors offering health information and screenings. The screenings include body fat, blood pressure, weight and body mass index and facial skin analyzer. The fair is free to faculty, staff and students, although fees apply to select, optional screenings.

Among the participating vendors are Iowa Health System, American Cancer Society, the Diabetes Center, Des Moines Parks and Recreation, Employee and Family Resources, the Blood Center of Iowa, MediHealth Solutions, Walgreens Patient Care, the Drake Counseling Center, Student Health Center, Sodexho Campus Services, the Academy of Student Pharmacists and Drake Wellness.

After Thursday, Oct. 27, the flu vaccine will be available by appointment only in the Student Health Center while supplies last. For an appointment, call x3731.

The cost of a flu shot is $20, payable by check or cash only.
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Eric Faden is revitalizing the Campus Theater.

Eric Faden, who teaches courses in film history, theory and production at Bucknell University, will discuss "Documentary Fictions/Fictional Documentaries: an Essay Film" at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in the Cowles Library Reading Room as part of the Drake Writers and Critics Series. The event is free and open to the public.

Faden has co-directed, along with Renee Gosson, "Landscape and Memory: Martinican Land-People-History," a documentary film acquired for international distribution by Third World Newsreel. His research interests include early cinema and recent trends in digital special technologies.

In addition to his academic pursuits, Faden has purchased and initiated a large renovation project on a historic Art Deco movie theater in Lewisburg, Pa. The Campus Theater, built in 1940, continues to show first-run independent, art and foreign films. The theater also has hosted two film festivals - one sponsored by the Library of Congress and the other sponsored by the French Cultural Emissary.

The Writers and Critics Series is sponsored by the Drake English Department and the Drake Center for the Humanities. For more information, contact Dina Smith at x3127 or dina.smith@drake.edu.
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Vampires, fairies and the occasional superhero will battle for prizes at the Drake University Community Halloween Hoops Shoot Out, set for 6:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 31, at the Bell Center.

The event that bills itself as 90 percent hype, 10 percent action and 100 percent fun returns to Drake for the 11th year. Free and open to children, Drake Law and undergraduate students, faculty and staff, participants wear costumes - or something orange in the spirit of the event - and compete in a series of basketball events for prizes. Contestants are encouraged to bring their own basketball, mini-basketball or Nurf-style ball.

Events include The Odd Ball, Off-hand Free Throw, The Under-Handed Free Throw (a.k.a., the Granny Shot), In the Paint, Behind the Backboard, Over the Backboard Shot and Shooting the Trey.

Pizza, soda pop, piñatas, candy and face painting will be a part of the annual hoops hoopla.

Russ Lovell, Drake law professor, and Dolph Pulliam, a former Drake basketball star and Drake director of community outreach, host the event. The Drake Law School Student Bar Association, Delta Theta Phi and the Des Moines branch of the NAACP co-sponsor the event.

For more information, contact Dolph Pulliam at x3084 or dolph.pulliam@drake.edu.
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Mary Kline-Misol's paintings are on display through Nov. 27 at the State Historical Building.

The Lewis Carroll Society of North America held its fall meeting Oct. 15 at the State Historical Building of Iowa so that members could experience a Carroll-inspired exhibit by Drake University graduate and recognized Iowa artist Mary Kline-Misol.

The exhibit, "The Alice Cycle: A Retrospective," includes 39 paintings Kline-Misol created between 1988 and 2004, all inspired by the books of the Victorian author, including "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass."

The Lewis Carroll Society is a respected literary organization with members worldwide. The fall meeting included a full day of lectures and programs, including a gallery talk led by Kline-Misol, a mini-film festival of historical "Alice" films, a panel discussion of collectors, and lectures by experts on Carroll and John Tenniel, illustrator for Carroll's "Alice" books.

Kline-Misol's interest in Lewis Carroll began during her studies at Drake, where she received her BFA in 1976 and her MFA in 1985. She has shown her work extensively in regional shows and has work in a widening circle of private and public collections in the Midwest.

Beth Younger, assistant professor of English at Drake, was quoted in a recent Associated Press story about the Lewis Carroll Society's meeting in Des Moines. Younger, who teaches adolescent literature, said the fact that Carroll's work receives so much attention today shows the extent of its reach. "It's one of those works that functions on two basic levels," Younger said. "It really appeals to children because it involves fantasy and there are illustrations. Also, at the same time, it appeals to adults."

"The Alice Cycle: A Retrospective" is on display at the State Historical Building, 600 E. Locust St., through Nov. 27. It is part of "Discover Victorian Iowa," an exhibit that explores literature, history and the Victorian era through an interactive setting.

More information and examples of Mary Kline-Misol's work are available at http://www.angelfire.com/art/MKMisol.
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R. Dean Wright, professor emeritus of sociology, will lend his voice to some of the exciting stories of Drake history during the Live! at Cowles Library event, set for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 1, in the Reading Room, including a showcase of the Cowles Drake Heritage Collection.

"There are a lot of great characters in Drake and Des Moines history that we're just not aware of and this will be an opportunity for us to get to know them a little better," Wright said. "I spent the summer going through the University archives looking for stories that people could really connect to."

The event coincides with the newly renovated Collier Heritage Room exhibit of historical artifacts and photos from Des Moines and Drake history. The gallery can be viewed online at www.lib.drake.edu/heritage.
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Neil Hamilton holds his Glynwood Harvest Innovator of the Year Award.

As the recipients of the Glynwood Harvest Innovator of the Year Award, Drake law professor Neil Hamilton recently participated in an awards ceremony in New York City and a host of special events for the winners of the Glynwood Harvest Awards. The Glynwood Center, based in Cold Spring, N.Y., launched the annual awards in 2003 to honor those who support regional farming and assure access to fresh, healthy food.

Hamilton, who directs the Drake Agricultural Law Center, and the other winners were treated to a dinner celebration at Glynwood sponsored by the Valley Restaurant at The Garrison. Valley Restaurant's Chef Jeff Raider designed a menu featuring products from current and past Harvest Award winners and Glynwood Farm itself. Other activities included a behind-the-scenes Greenmarket Tour in New York City followed by a brunch hosted by The Savoy Restaurant and Chef Peter Hoffman. Dinner for the winners following the Oct. 14 awards program was hosted by the Marlon Abela Restaurant Corp., at its new restaurant in Manhattan, featuring Chef Andrew Carmellini, winner of a recent James Beard Award.
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Law students and faculty packed room 213 in Cartwright Hall last week to hear a lecture on "Holocaust Litigation in American Courts" by Burt Neuborne, a renowned civil rights lawyer and scholar who was lead settlement counsel in the litigation against Swiss banks arising out of the Holocaust.

Neuborne, who teaches at New York University Law School, said this was the first time he had publicly talked about his role in the final $1.25 billion settlement with Swiss banks and the litigation against German corporations involving claims of slave labor during World War II that resulted in the establishment of a $5.2 billion German Foundation designed to compensate Holocaust victims.

"It was a packed house and he gave an exciting and informative talk about this very complex Holocaust litigation that he's been involved with and explained some of the inside story behind the litigation that you couldn't get from newspapers and books," said Mark Kende, the James Madison chair in constitutional law and director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center, which sponsored the lecture.
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Celebrate the holiday season in the tradition of Elizabethan England with all the pageantry of a Renaissance madrigal dinner. Drake's 17th annual madrigal dinners, which have been sell-outs for many years, will be presented at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, and Sunday, Dec. 4, in Olmsted Center by the Drake Chamber Choir, Musica Antiqua and assorted jugglers, magicians, dancers and even a few wenches.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Drake faculty and staff may reserve tickets prior to the public sale by contacting Aimee Beckmann-Collier at aimee.beckmann-collier@drake.edu before Thursday, Oct. 27. Tickets are $45 per person and all seats are reserved. Dinner includes Cornish game hen, rice pilaf, harvest greens, baked apples, scones, flaming figgy pudding and wassail. Vegetarian meals are available.
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Students in three First-Year Seminars will attend a panel discussion on "The Pleasures and Challenges of Local Food" and participate in a food tasting from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Metro Market on the southeast corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Woodland Avenue. The students have been studying local agriculture, health and landscape aesthetics.

Darcie Vandegrift, assistant professor of sociology, organized the event, which is free and open to the public. The panelists will be David Schlarmann, owner of the Metro Market; Angela Tedesco, farmer and owner of Turtle Farms of Johnston; Teva Dawson, AS'97, coordinator of the Des Moines Community Garden Program; and Jeff and Jill Burkhart, owners of Burkhart's Picket Fence Creamery.

"I think the students will learn a great deal from hearing about the environmental and social issues surrounding local food production from people who are actually doing it," Vandegrift said.

Drake's First-Year Seminar Program and Women's Studies Program are co-sponsoring the event. For more information, contact Vandegrift at x2840 or darcie.vandegrift@drake.edu.
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Jeff Chelesvig, president and chief executive officer of the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, will be the keynote speaker at Drake University's final 'Let's DU Lunch" of the fall season on Wednesday, Nov. 2. His speech is titled "From Backstage to Center Stage: Creating the Magic of Broadway in Iowa."

The luncheon, which is open to the public, will start at11:30 a.m. at the Polk County Convention Complex, 501 Grand Ave. The cost is $15 and reservations are recommended due to limited seating. For reservations, contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs at x3848 or alumni.rsvp@drake.edu.

The Drake University Central Iowa Alumni Chapter and the Greater Des Moines Partnership sponsor the luncheon series, which will resume in February.
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• Flu shots for faculty, staff and students, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., lobby of Olmsted Center, $20.
• Stalnaker Lecture Series: "Brain Imaging and Event-Related Potentials: The Principle of Uncertainty in the Cartography and Chronometry of Cognitive Neuroscience" by Steven F. Faux, 7 p.m., Sheslow Auditorium. A reception will follow in Levitt Hall.

• The Drake Health Fair will include flu shots for faculty, staff and students as well as spouses and children (age 14-17) of faculty and staff, 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Pomerantz Stage, Olmsted Center, $20.
• Drake women's soccer vs. University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 5 p.m., Cownie Soccer Complex.
• Drake men's soccer vs. Creighton, 7:30 p.m., Cownie Soccer Complex.

• Flu shots for faculty, staff and students, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., lobby of Olmsted Center, $20.
• Drake Center for the Humanities Colloquium Series: "A Missing Link in the History of Printing: Medieval Arabic Block Printed Amulets," by Karl Schaefer, 3:30 p.m., room 104, Meredith Hall.
• J. William Paquette Lecture Series: "Justice and Joy: Ethics and Living Well" by Daniel Spencer and Jennifer McCrickerd, 7 p.m., room 213, Cartwright Hall.
• Financial Executives International-Drake Lecture: "The Future is in Futures" by Drake alumnus Craig S. Donohue, CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, 7:15 p.m., Sheslow Auditorium.
• Drake Writers and Critics Series: "Documentary Fictions/Fictional Documentaries: An Essay Film" by Eric Faden of Bucknell University, 8 p.m., Cowles Library Reading Room.

• Annual Drake Men's and Women's Basketball Tip-Off Breakfast featuring head basketball coaches Tom Davis and Amy Stephens, 7 a.m., Downtown Marriott, $15. For reservations, contact x3647 (DOGS) or bulldog.rsvp@drake.edu.
• Informal talk by Daniel Spencer, 11 a.m., Medbury Lounge.
• Final presentation of the fall season: "The Stellar Menagerie," 8 p.m., Drake Municipal Observatory, Waveland Park.

• National College Prep Day for high school juniors and seniors in Polk County, 8:15 a.m. to 1 p.m., Olmsted Center.
• Saxophone master class taught by guest artist Nathan Nabb, 9 to 11 a.m., Monroe Recital Hall, Harmon Fine Arts Center.
• Drake football vs. Butler, 1 p.m., Valley High School Stadium.
• Guest recital by Nathan Nabb, saxophone, and Janet Bradford, piano, 8 p.m., Jordan Stage, Sheslow Auditorium.
• Panel Discussion: "The Pleasures and Challenges of Local Food" and a food tasting, 2 to 4 p.m., Metro Market, Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Woodland Avenue.

• Bulldog Bonanza: Doors open at 1 p.m. at the Drake Knapp Center and the Drake women's basketball team scrimmage will start at 1:30 and the men's basketball team scrimmage will follow the women's game.

• Admission Preview Day, 8:30 a.m. to noon, Sheslow Auditorium.
• Drake University Community Halloween Hoops Shoot Out, 6:30 p.m., Bell Center.

• Live! at Cowles Library: "Here We Build Our University" by R. Dean Wright, professor emeritus of sociology, 7 p.m. Cowles Library Reading Room. A dessert reception will follow.

Delaney Kirk, professor of management, recently had her new book, "Taking Back the Classroom: Tips for the College Professor on Becoming a More Effective Teacher," released by Tiberius Publications. It can be ordered at www.cbpa.drake.edu/kirk/classmanagement or amazon.com. In addition, Kirk will be doing a book signing this week in connection with a conference on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif. In November, she will speak at the Southern Management Association national meeting in Charleston, S.C.