Dr. Thomas L. Hill is currently Vice President of Student Affairs at Iowa State University, a position he has held since 1997. Dr. Hill shared his life story that included humble beginnings from his childhood in New Orleans, Louisiana - to becoming a bronze medal winner in the 110-meter high hurdles in the 1972 Munich Olympics - to his Ph. D from the University of Florida - to his current role and influence on student life at Iowa State University.

Kathy Wade is an author and musician/composer. She told us about her recently published book, I’ll Meet My Maker in Blue Jeans. Kathy has also written music to go with the book. Each vignette tells a story about the joys of growing up on a farm in Iowa with family, friends and animals. It is a delightfully heartwarming book and her music helps set the celebratory, nostalgic mood.

Trio-X X is an avant-garde jazz group and members of Trio-X conducted a Face to Face Workshop on jazz improvisation for area music students at Prairieview School in Waukee “We are so excited that these jazz legends will be able to share some of their knowledge with the Waukee students” said Saylor. Also as part of the Face to Face with the Arts series, ticket holders were invited to attend a "Meet the Artists" reception after the concert at Caspe Terrace. Trio X was organized in 1997 to play at New York City’s Vision Festival, Trio-X features bassist Dominic Duval, saxophonist and trumpeter Joe McPhee and drummer Jay Rosen. Individually, each performer in Trio-X is a major improviser in his own right. Together, Trio-X explores the possibility of collective improvisation, often taking well-known jazz standards like My Funny Valentine, Round Midnight and Blue Monk into the far reaches of the avant-garde. According to McPhee, each Trio-X performance is like a one off painting, created in the moment.

Simon Estes on May 4-5, 2006. As a part of the Face to Face series Mr. Estes, spoke as a part of the character counts program and conducted workshops with the 6-12th grade choirs. He performed at the Waukee High School Auditorium to benefit the Waukee Area Arts Council. The Friday night concert opened with the Waukee High School A Cappella choir followed with a performance by Mr. Estes and closed with the Estes Celebration Choir, a 160 member multi-age youth choir (grades 5 – 12) singing two songs with Mr. Estes. The Choir will join Mr. Estes singing “Plenty Good Room” and the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. Simon Estes, internationally acclaimed bass baritone, is now the star of the stage at the world’s major opera houses; a long way from the Bill Riley Stage where he started as a rising young Iowa performer. Mr. Estes came from humble beginnings and grew up in Centerville, Iowa.

Andrew Chaikin Chaikin was the first visitor in the Face to Face series. He is an internationally renowned authority on space exploration and has written about space for more than two decades but also has a love of the arts as a painter, musician and songwriter. Chaikin is the author of A Man on the Moon: The Triumphant Story of the Apollo Space Program, which was the basis for Tom Hanks’ HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon, which won the Emmy for best miniseries in 1998. Chaikin spent eight years writing and researching A Man on the Moon, including hundreds of hours of personal interviews with each of the 23 surviving lunar astronauts.