Austin College will host TEDxAustinCollege on September 22 in a two-hour event that will feature short (up to 18 minutes) talks by four Austin College faculty amid interactive TED programming and TED Talks videos. The talks at 11 a.m. will be preceded and followed by the lobby experience providing engaging opportunities to interact with ideas and with fellow TEDx participants. The talks will be presented in Mabee Hall of Wright Campus Center, with live simulcast viewing in alternate locations. The independently organized event, licensed by TED, will feature local voices and TED Talks videos under the theme “Adding Value to a Changing World.”
Advance ticket registration is required for live and simulcast venues and opens Friday, August 26, at TEDxAustinCollege. Seating for the live Main Stage event will be limited, with ticket prices ranging from $15 to $100. Seating for the simulcast is free, registration required.
Millions of viewers worldwide have seen videos of the annual TED Conferences, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers have been invited to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of “ideas worth spreading.” Launched in 2009, TEDx brings a TED-like experience to local venues. Some of the best talks from TEDx events have been featured on TED.com and garnered millions of views from audiences across the globe. Austin College’s talks will be recorded and posted on the TEDx YouTube channel.
TEDxAustinCollege was conceived by members of the Austin College chapter of the national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. Rather than organize a service project with limited reach, the students sought a project with the potential to engage individuals beyond the local community. The student planning team is chaired by junior Pranav Sheth of Plano, Texas, and senior Ganesh Maniam of Houston, Texas. “Austin College sends students to see and serve the world through study abroad, Global Outreach Fellowships, and other programs,” Sheth said. “Those students extend their knowledge and ideas beyond the classroom and spread it to wherever they go. This time, we want to spread ideas not only within the Austin College community but to the entire world.”
Sheth said that already TEDxAustinCollege has gotten the larger Austin College community involved, from local businesses to alumni. “Our goal for the September 22 event is for everyone to walk away knowing something new, acknowledging a different view point, and challenging those around them,” he added.
Rising senior Emma Polini served to curate the 2016 speakers. “Being granted the opportunity to chair the speaker selection committee has been one of my most rewarding college experiences,” said Polini. “Our TEDx speakers reveal a diversity of ideas, mirroring the liberal arts education offered to the students at Austin College, and shared with the broader community in this type of event.”
Austin College President Marjorie Hass said that she is delighted that student leadership conceived this event. “TEDxAustinCollege will bring together remarkable people and innovative concepts to spark conversation around ‘ideas worth spreading,’” Dr. Hass noted. “I hope to see a broad and enthusiastic audience respond to this opportunity to bring attention to the ideas generated at Austin College. This should provide an engaging experience for our campus community as well as alumni, parents, and friends.” College organizers anticipate that this pilot program will become an annual event.
2016 TEDxAustinCollege Speakers: “Adding Value to a Changing World”
Mark Hébert: “Happiness vs. Meaning?”
Everyone wants to lead a happy and meaningful life, but does the pursuit of one affect the other? Bluntly put, could seeking happiness compromise meaningfulness, or vice versa?
Hébert is chair of the Philosophy Department at Austin College, where he has taught for 26 years. From 2002 to 2007, he directed Austin College’s Lily Endowment project, “A Life that Matters: The Theological Exploration of Vocation,” and now directs the College’s freshman seminar program.
David Baker: “The Most Extreme Life Form in Our Solar System”
Throughout the ages, humans have stared at the night sky and likely wondered, “What is out there?” Recent scientific discoveries shed light on this ancient question and unearth surprising possibilities in the search for the most extreme life form in our solar system.
Baker is a professor of physics at Austin College, where he chairs the Physics Department and is the director of the Adams Observatory in the College’s IDEA Center. He joined the Austin College faculty in 2000.
Lisa M. Brown: “Who Gets the Benefit of the Doubt? And Who Shouldn’t?”
The “post-racial America” supposedly evidenced by the election of Barack Obama continues to produce incidents of violence against unarmed Black people. These incidents and others beg the question—in the criminal justice system and in U.S. society generally—who gets the benefit of the doubt?
Brown has been a member of the Psychology Department faculty since 2004 and serves a co-chair of the College’s Inclusion and Diversity Task Force.
George Diggs: “Optimal Diets for Lions, Zebras, Humans, and Beyond”
Healthy diets for animals as diverse as lions, zebras, and humans share some basic principles. Scientific evidence and clinical practice show that these can make a major difference in human health and quality of life. How can these ideas actually be used to improve our lives?
Diggs, an evolutionary biologist, is the MacGregor Professor of Natural History and co-director of the Public Health program at Austin College. He joined the Austin College faculty in 1981.
Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan, associate professor of religious studies, at Austin College, is an alternate speaker.
President Hass said she is grateful to the faculty who have volunteered to take part. Initially, 28 speakers were nominated and deliberations narrowed the field to the final four presenters, with one alternate. “In addition to sharing their ideas with the world, the TEDxAustinCollege speakers will model for our students the importance of effective presentation of even the most complex ideas,” Dr. Hass said. “Our students should feel confident and comfortable speaking in today’s TED-style about the things that matter to them.”
About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks videos and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today’s leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED’s annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.
TED’s open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a “wish,” or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
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About Austin College
Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned a reputation for excellence in academic preparation, international study, pre-professional foundations, leadership development, committed faculty, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 36 percent of students representing ethnic minorities. A residential student body of 1,275 students and a faculty of more than 100 allow a 13:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. The College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and cultivates an inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. Founded in 1849, the College is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.