Austin College will host the second annual TEDxAustinCollege on Saturday, September 23, in an event that will feature short (up to 18 minutes) talks by seven members of the Austin College community amid interactive TED programming and TED Talks videos. The talks at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. will be preceded and followed by the lobby experience “Discovery Depot,” providing engaging opportunities to interact with ideas and with fellow TEDx participants. The event takes place in Wright Campus Center, with Main Stage talks in Mabee Hall and live simulcast viewing in alternate locations. The independently organized event, licensed by TED, will feature local voices and TED Talks videos under the theme of “Pieces of a Mosaic.”
Advance ticket registration, required for live and simulcast venues, is available at www.austincollege.edu/tedx and will close September 18. Seating for the live Main Stage event is limited, with ticket prices for area educators and students $15 and general community $25. Lunch is included in the Main Stage ticket price. Seating for the simulcast is free, but advance registration is 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. Senior Pranav Sheth of Plano, Texas, chairs the student planning team. “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 23 event is for everyone to walk away knowing something new, acknowledging a different view point, and challenging those around them,” he added.
Austin College sophomore Sierra Salser will be the first student to speak at TEDxAustinCollege. “This platform has really encouraged me to speak up about the things that I can be an influence to change,” said Salser. “It is very exciting to have the opportunity to speak on a world stage. I hope to inspire people to open up and share ideas that could change the world.”
Alpha Phi Omega sponsor and chemistry faculty member John Richardson believes that TEDxAustinCollege has the opportunity to bring the rest of the world into the engaging, provocative, and life-changing conversations that occur daily in Sherman. “By bringing together students, alumni, and faculty, this year’s talks will highlight how the pieces of the ’RooNation mosaic have been influenced by Austin College and the larger mosaic of the world beyond the classroom,” he said. “Producing a singular event is a feat, but extending TEDxAustinCollege to an annual event is the act of creating tradition, and that is what we are doing here and now.”
2017 TEDxAustinCollege Theme and Speakers: “Pieces of a Mosaic”
“As a mosaic is created from pieces of many sizes, colors, shapes, and elements, our global community includes individuals of diverse cultures, backgrounds, abilities, and experiences. Coming together, we can fashion a masterpiece with our varying ideas, beliefs, functions, and potentials. How then can we inspire diverse individuals to join together to create a more beautiful world mosaic?”
Rob Kelso ’77: “Paving the Way to Planetary Settlement”
Mankind will become a multi-planet species with settlements on the Moon and Mars. It is not a question of “IF” but rather “WHEN.” This TED Talk will explore why we will soon establish an outpost beyond the Earth, how it might differ from man’s mission to the Moon during Apollo in 1969, new discoveries about the Moon that make settlement more likely, and finally, some problems that might arise in shipping hardware to create such settlements.
Kelso is the founder and CEO of Kelso Aerospace. A career civil servant, Kelso served 37 years at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and was formerly the NASA Shuttle Flight Director at NASA’s famed Mission Control Center. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in business administration.
Sierra Salser ’20: “First Glances and First Words”
Is our identity defined solely on the basis of our culture and racial ethnicity? How we approach one another is often built on superficial images generated by society. Are you aware of your approach? And does this matter?
Salser is a sophomore and an international relations major at Austin College. She is a member of the Austin College women’s basketball team. This summer, she worked as an intern for the nonprofits of S.H.A.R.E board and United Way as a part of the Social Entrepreneurship for Poverty Alleviation (SEPA) program at Austin College.
David Savage ’07: “International Refugees in Texas: How They Get Here and What Happens Next”
More than 70,000 refugees from 78 countries now call Houston home, making the city the largest refugee resettlement site in Texas and one of the largest in the U.S. Most of these people escaped life-threatening situations in their motherlands and lived in refugee camps for years before getting the lucky opportunity to resettle to the United States. Even then, the obstacles they face are immense. This talk will explore the resettlement process, the challenges, and the opportunities facing refugees resettled to Texas.
Savage is an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at UTHealth McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas, and aspires to be a primary care internist. He has worked with refugees from Asia and Africa, with upmost respect for the resilience of people who take the risk of leaving their homeland for the United States.
Dr. Peter Schulze: “We Aren’t Going to Mars”
If we can’t keep Earth livable, we can’t make a dead rock in outer space livable and keep it that way. Thus, we’ve nowhere else to go. We must take care of this planet, but we aren’t. Why? We are using the wrong criteria for deciding when to act.
Schulze is professor of biology and environmental science at Austin College, where he directs the college’s Center for Environmental Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in biology from Dartmouth College, serves on the editorial board of the journal Freshwater Biology, and was the J. Herbert Hollomon fellow of the National Academy of Engineering. Schulze and his wife, Helen Schulze, M.D., have two sons, Ben and Matt.
Dr. Ivette Vargas-O’Bryan: “Paradigm Shift Toward Universal Compassion”
A perspectives paradigm shift from conditional relationships to unconditional compassion, which can be found in the Buddhist tradition, promotes a more balanced world. We can empower our future generations to end the cycle of selfishness, inequality, and greed.
Vargas-O’Bryan is chair and professor of religious studies at Austin College. She was trained as a historian of Buddhism and in medical anthropology at Harvard University with an undergraduate political science degree from Columbia University. As a Fulbright scholar, she taught at Chinese universities. Dr. Vargas-O’Bryan enjoys traveling, learning languages, digital technology, art, mind-body exercises, and baking with her son.
Aaron White ’04: “What Part of You Will Live Forever?”
What if your memories live on after you die? As humans, we seem hard wired to ask if our lives makes a difference, and recent science suggests that, like magic, our experiences impact generations of people we will never meet. What part of you will live forever?”
White serves as the associate minister of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. He graduated from Austin College in 2004 with a degree in religion and theatre, and completed his seminary training at Harvard Divinity School. He and his wife, Kate, a 2004 Austin College graduate, live in east Dallas with their two sons, Hank and Micah.
Asil Yassine ’12: “Literacy is a Civil Right”
Literacy is so foundational to innumerable aspects of our lives that it is difficult to navigate the world without it. It is precisely this that has made literacy a potent tool for racial oppression. The argument here is simple but transformative for our nation: literacy must be considered a civil right.
Yassine is the daughter of Lebanese immigrants and was raised in Plano, Texas. A graduate of Austin College, she recently completed her master’s degree in education at Harvard University. She taught middle school and high school math in Detroit to students who largely emigrated from Yemen, which catalyzed her interest in literacy and identity development. She previously worked at The Commit! Partnership, serving to improve education for kids in Dallas County. She enjoys hiking, camping, exploring bookstores, and watercolor painting.
About TEDx
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.
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.