TEDxUOregon to explore intersections of diversity and creativity

Second on-campus TED event is April 19, includes faculty, students and community leaders

EUGENE, Ore. – (April 8, 2014) – The University of Oregon’s Center on Diversity and Community (CoDaC) and the Division of Student Affairs are proud to bring TED’s movement of “ideas worth spreading” to campus.  The TEDxUOregon conference will be April 19 in Beall Hall. The theme for TEDxUOregon is “Intersections: Diversity is Critical to Creativity.”

“Our speaker selection celebrates the diverse nature of our campus and captures the innovative and creative nature of the Pacific Northwest,” said Rita Radostitz, TEDxUOregon event coordinator. “We are excited to present talks ranging from the intersection of string theory and art, to dance and disability, and the director and producer of the documentary ‘Whitelandia’.“

The following speakers are confirmed:

  • Alito Alessi: “DanceAbility: All Bodies Speak”
  • Tracy MacDonald and Matt Zodrow: “The Whitelandia Documentary: Oregon’s Determination To Become a White Homeland”
  • Kevin Marbury:  “Yogi’s Forks and Co-Pilots”
  • Deb Morrison: “Creative Courage in the Age of Ideas”
  • Sabrina Parsons: “Be Bossy and Proud: Why we don't want to ban the word ‘bossy.’” 
  • Cornel Pewewardy: “Walk a Mile in My Redface: On Ending the Colonial Legacy in Schools, Sports Culture, Mass Media and Civic Life”
  • Alaí (Irmary) Reyes-Santos:  “Building Intercultural Communities: Knowledge, Pedagogy and Activism”
  • Wilson Smith: “Designing for Diversity”
  • Richard Taylor: “Creativity Across the Arts and Sciences”

Additionally, more than 40 students from the UO applied to present their “idea worth spreading.’ Eight students have been selected to give shorter TEDx Talks:

  • Grace Aaraj, architecture graduate student 
  • Alexander Dang, English undergraduate student    
  • Sahil Diwan, computer and information science undergraduate student  
  • Liz Fetherston, undergraduate student
  • Carlyle Garrick, business administration undergraduate student
  • Sarah Nachbar, psychology undergraduate student
  • Christine Ngo, counseling psychology graduate student
  • Hillel Samlan, counseling psychology graduate student

TEDxUOregon will also include performances by Rehearsals for Life, DanceAbility and UO Professor Barbara Baird on Beall Concert Hall's Jürgen Ahrend pipe organ.

Tickets are $40 each (including a box lunch) and are available through the EMU Ticket Office. To ensure that cost is not a barrier for attendance, special requests for free or reduced admission can be made to tedxuoregon@gmail.com.  

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, TEDTalks video 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. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world's leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily; the new TED Conversations, enabling broad conversations among TED fans; and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

For information about TED's upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED

MEDIA CONTACT: Rita Radostitz, director of strategic communications and marketing, Student Affairs, 541-346-8540, mobile: 541-513-4536, rjr@uoregon.edu

LINK: Event website and ticket information, http://tedxuoregon.com/

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