Author Nicholson Baker will be an Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor in the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Stephen J. Rapp, the ambassador-at-large heading the Office of Global Criminal Justice in the U.S. Department of State, will discuss "Diplomacy for Global Justice: The tools for establishing truth, accountability and reconciliation after the commission of mass atrocities" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, in the Iowa Memorial Union.

The annual Celebration of Excellence and Achievement Among Women presents some of the university's top honors for faculty and staff, as well as scholarships for promising students.

Marilynne Robinson, faculty member of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Pulitzer Prize winning author, will speak at the “Finding God at Iowa” lunch forum Friday, April 13.

The Rape Victim Advocacy Program (RVAP) at the University of Iowa hopes to raise public awareness and educate the community on preventing sexual violence during April, nationally recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This year's theme is "Start By Believing."

UI professor emeritus Paul Weller will discuss the recent unprecedented U.S. government bailout of banks and financial institutions deemed “too big to fail,” as well as Europe's current economic turmoil and a 1997 crisis concentrated in Asia, at an April 3 lecture.

The University of Iowa Symphony Band will present the world premiere of UI School of Music composition alumnus Aaron Perrine's Beneath a Canvas of Green in a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in the Iowa Memorial Union Ballroom.

Dorothy Wickenden will read from her book about the adventures of her grandmother teaching homesteaders on the western slope of the Rockies at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, in Prairie Lights Books and on a live stream at the University of Iowa website www.writinguniversity.org.

One of the Navy's first female fighter pilots who currently studies artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is among the five internationally recognized neuroscientists who will deliver free public lectures during the University of Iowa's Health Sciences Research Week 2012.

UI students can learn about the fundamentals of Cuban drumming and dancing at a March 29 open house of the Afro-Cuban Drum and Dance Ensemble.

The Mainstage series of University of Iowa Theatre will perform Charles Mee's Big Love, opening at 8 p.m., Thursday, March 29, in the David Thayer Theatre of the UI Theatre Building.

It's the house behind America's most famously dour couple, the pair in Grant Wood's "American Gothic" painting. But it will move into the spotlight when Holly Berg, administrator of the American Gothic House Center, shares her insights about it at the University of Iowa Old Capitol Museum on March 29.