MIDDLEBURY — In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED, or “Technology, Education, and Design” is a media conference dedicated to sharing ideas worth spreading. Middlebury College students have organized a local version, called TEDxMiddlebury, that will be held this Sunday, Nov. 4.
In the name TEDxMiddlebury, “x” denotes an independently organized TED event.
TEDxMiddlebury, which will be held at the college’s Mahaney Center for the Arts beginning at 10:30 a.m., will feature TEDTalks video and live speakers combining to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including this one, are self-organized.
The theme of the event this year is “(Un)hinged.”
“To us, ‘(Un)hinged’ is about exploring times of crises and stability and the thin line that separates the two,” said Middlebury students Claire Cousineau and James Finn. “Topics can include anything, big or small, that signals a turning point in one’s life.”
At this year’s event, speakers will include Lida Winfield, Rebecca Duras, Karen Fondacaro, Sixto Cancel Ahmed, El-Geneidy and Kelly Brush.
Karen Fondacaro, Ph.D. is a clinical psychology professor at UVM and director of the Vermont Psychological Services Center, a mental health training clinic for pre-doctoral clinicians at UVM. In 2007, Fondacaro established Connecting Cultures, a clinical science program specifically designed to focus on the mental health needs of refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers. At TEDxMiddlebury, she will share her unique perspective on these kinds of social issues.
On Feb. 18, 2006, Brush had a ski racing accident that left her paralyzed from the chest down. She spent three months in the hospital recovering and learning to use a wheelchair. After graduating from Middlebury College in 2008, she received a master’s degree as a nurse practitioner in 2013. At TEDxMiddlebury, Brush will share insights on how she and her family started the Kelly Brush Foundation after her injury to provide people with spinal cord injuries the opportunity to participate in adaptive sports.
More information on the speakers is online at tinyurl.com/TEDxMidd.
“Middlebury’s TEDx conferences in years past have drawn audiences of up to 350 people, consisting mostly of Middlebury College students,” Cousineau and Finn said. “We would love to see more local attendance at the event this year.”
Event tickets are $20 and can be purchased at go.middlebury.edu/tedx2018.