The University of Iowa’s popular Hawkeye Lunch and Learn series, which has been drawing capacity crowds since its January 2014 debut, will offer two events in January, one focusing on Jackson Pollock’s famous Mural and the other on the challenges of the obesity epidemic in the 21st century.

These two events kick off the spring 2015 slate of Lunch and Learn events in Iowa City and Des Moines. The series offers monthly events designed to connect Iowa communities, university faculty, and government and industry leaders ( jump to full schedule at article's end).

Jan. 7 in Iowa City: Sean O’Harrow, “Two Years in the Life of Iowa’s Most Famous Painting”

One of the most influential American art works of the latter half of the 20th century has been doing a painting’s version of “couch surfing” since it lost its home to massive flooding in 2008. After finding temporary homes in Davenport and Des Moines, Jackson Pollock’s Mural, headed west in 2012, where it underwent technical study and conservation treatment by research scientists at the Getty Conservation Institute and conservators at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Now it is back in Iowa, and its primary caretaker, Sean O’Harrow, director of the University of Iowa Museum of Art, is sharing the tale of artistic adventure from noon to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 7, in Iowa City. O’Harrow will speak on “Two Years in the Life of Iowa’s Most Famous Painting” at the Iowa Theater in the Iowa Memorial Union, 125 N. Madison St.

Guests are invited to bring their lunches—desserts and drinks will be provided. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited— RSVP online.

Mural is considered by many to be the most significant and influential painting in American art since World War II. The painting has been in the UI’s art collection since Peggy Guggenheim donated it in 1951.

“The University of Iowa received this important art donation from Guggenheim just after the war, when she identified Iowa as having one of the most forward-thinking and advanced art programs in the country,” O’Harrow says. “This painting has since become an integral part of the Iowa's artistic legacy and heritage, not only enriching our educational programs, but also bringing national and international attention to our state's cultural offerings.”

The conservation initiative has been followed avidly by the international press and has brought hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world to view Iowa's most important cultural legacy. It will be displayed at the Sioux City Arts Center through April 10.

Jan. 13 in Des Moines: Allyn Mark, “Inconvenient Truths About Obesity”

The past three decades have witnessed a global epidemic of obesity. The surge in obesity has corresponded with increased availability of food and advances in technology (automobiles, TV, computers) that have promoted over-nutrition and increasingly sedentary occupations and lifestyles.

In 2013, 30 percent of Iowans were obese and another 30 percent were overweight. Two trends have been of greater concern. First, the prevalence of childhood obesity in Iowa has more than tripled in the past three decades. Second, the incidence of extreme obesity has increased dramatically in both adults and children.

Allyn Mark, founding co-director of the UI Obesity Research and Education Initiative and professor of internal medicine in the UI Carver College of Medicine, will address these issues with “Inconvenient Truths About Obesity” from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, in Room 201 of the John and Mary Pappajohn Education Center, 1200 Grand Ave., Des Moines.

Guests are invited to bring their lunches—desserts and drinks will be provided. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited— RSVP online.

The prevention and treatment of obesity have largely defied solution. Obesity has long been viewed as a behavioral or psychological disorder—a personal failing where the obese lack willpower and are substantially responsible for their own condition. In contrast, there is now mounting and irrefutable evidence that obesity is a complex disorder—a chronic disease—with many causes including environmental, genetic, and biologic contributors that are largely beyond an individual’s ability to control. Specifically, there are individuals who are genetically prone to obesity in a “toxic” environment and others who are genetically resistant to obesity in the same environment.

Mark will review the challenge of the obesity epidemic in the 21st century and emphasize that progress in prevention and treatment of obesity must avoid stigmatization of the obese and instead should focus on a sustained, multidisciplinary research and education initiative that includes:

• Community-based research to promote healthy environments and lifestyles
• Understanding the biologic regulation of eating behavior and metabolism
• Promotion of physical activity
• Innovative methods to maintain weight loss during dieting
• Delineation of genetic factors that predispose some people to obesity
• Continued advances in bariatric surgery

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation to participate in this program, contact the Office of the Provost in advance at 319-335-3565.

Lunch and Learn Series: Spring 2015

Iowa City events:

• Wednesday, Jan. 7: Sean O'Harrow presenting Two Years in the Life of Iowa's Most Famous Painting. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
• Wednesday, Feb. 11: John Culshaw and David McCartney presenting Embracing the Future and Preserving the Past: The 21st Century Research Library. Click here for information and to RSVP.
• Wednesday, March 4: Corinne Peek-Asa presenting Steering Teens Safe: How Research Has Informed Best Practices for New Drivers. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
• Wednesday, April 8: Dr. Patrick Brophy presenting Telemedicine in Iowa: Improving Health Care Delivery. Click here for more information and to RSVP.

Des Moines events:

• Tuesday, Jan. 13: Dr. Allyn Mark presenting Inconvenient Truths About Obesity; The Role of Environmental, Genetic and Biologic Factors and the Challenge of Dietary Therapy. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
• Tuesday, Feb. 10: Corinne Peek-Asa presenting Steering Teens Safe: How Research Has Informed Best Practices for New Drivers. Click here for information and to RSVP.
• Thursday, March 19: Dr. Patrick Brophy presenting Telemedicine in Iowa: Improving Health Care Delivery. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
• Tuesday, April 28: Bob McMurray presenting From the Pristine Lab to the Noisy Classroom and Back Again. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
• Tuesday, May 19: Chuck Connerly and Nick Benson presenting Enhancing Sustainability in Iowa through Community Engagement. Click here for more information and to RSVP.