Ideas worth hearing: TEDxConnecticutCollege returns to campus
Tickets are on sale now for TEDxConnecticutCollege, a student-organized offshoot of the popular TED conferences that bring together some of the world's leading thinkers to offer “Ideas Worth Spreading.” The College’s TEDx event, “Genius Loves Company,” is on Saturday, April 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Oliver Ames ’17, co-director of Connsider, the student organization which produces the event, believes “Genius Loves Company” will be the biggest of the four TEDxConnecticutCollege events held to date, citing not only a lower ticket price of $10 — made possible by funding from the College’s Student Government Association — but also enhanced food and beverage offerings, additional time for discussions between talks, and a wider diversity of talk topics.
“We feel we have a dedication to students to give them an event that they can learn from, discuss and ultimately connect with,” said Ames. “’Genius Loves Company’ came out of a long discussion in which we wondered about the importance of a community and how it ultimately drives the biggest breakthroughs. Once, our communities were limited to where an individual could walk to, but now we are a part of a global society. The result is an unstoppable wave of progress, the likes of which we have never seen. We have challenged our speakers to explore the role company has played in their genius, and in this way we feel we have done our duty as a student organization on a campus where community is prized above all else.”
Speakers at this year’s event include Bill Conway, a writer for television and film; Jerry Davis, the producer of animated films including “Robots” and “Epic”; Bruce Elfstrom, a biologist, outdoorsman and explorer; Sonia Magano, a student at Clark Lane Middle School who spoke at the College's TEDxYouthDay2014; Onassis Parungao, a martial arts professional; David Rau, education director of the Florence Griswold Museum; and Robert Safian, editor of Fast Company magazine.
Faculty and staff speakers include Postal Assistant Stephen Hallquist; Associate Professor of Religious Studies David Kim; and Christopher Steiner, the Lucy C. McDannel '22 Professor of Art History. And three students will speak: Walker Cammack ’16, an environmental studies and ethnobotany double major who plans to start his own wild foods business after graduating; Ramzi Kaiss ’17, who is studying philosophy and international relations and has a deep interest in the different countries and cultures of the world; and Ali Rice ’15, who is majoring in international relations with a concentration in human rights and is the vice president of the student group Slavery Ends Today.
Visit the TEDxConnecticutCollege website for more information and to purchase tickets.
April 2, 2015