TEDxValparaisoUniversity Announces Speaker Line-up for 2020 Event

TEDxValparaisoUniversity will take place Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, at the Duesenberg Recital Hall in the Valparaiso University Center for the Arts from 4–8 p.m. The independently organized event, licensed by TED, will feature local voices and TED Talks videos under the theme of 2020.

Launched in 2009, TEDx is a program of locally organized events that bring the community together to share a TED-like experience. Some of the best talks from TEDx events have gone on to be featured on TED.com and garnered millions of views from audiences across the globe.

TEDxValparaisoUniversity is a forward–thinking, student–led event. Aiming to challenge convention with a constructive attitude, the event leaders hope to inspire change and innovation that spreads beyond Valpo’s Northwest Indiana campus.

This year, the event is operating under the tagline “2020.” This not only draws from the year it is being held but also alludes to vision, which gives way to many possibilities. Many like to say that hindsight is 2020, so part of the event will be dedicated to looking back into history. The event will have speakers who identify different things going on presently and speakers who will share their ideas of what the future may hold.

Speakers at TEDxValparaisoUniversity include:

  • Alex Ruscitti ’19 – Alex Ruscitti is a computer engineer for Motorola Solutions, where he practices software development and cyber security.
  • Alexandra Moran – Through 30 years of horsemanship, Alexandra Moran has found abounding overlap in her own personal and corporate life as in that of the lives of horses and their herds.
  • Brian Tenclinger – Brian Tenclinger is an experienced professional in the fields of higher education administration and nonprofit association management.
  • Carrie Koh – Carrie Koh is a health care executive and CEO of Carrie Koh Consulting with a passion for enhancing the way we communicate with one another to ensure efficient and innovative results with greater fulfillment along the way.
  • Clayton Poland – Clayton Poland is a civil engineer turned author, speaker, storyteller, and entertainer, encouraging folks to focus on the good stuff.
  • Edward G Young III – Edward is a world traveler and transformational speaker.
  • Jenna Rifai ’21 – Jenna is a junior at Valparaiso University majoring in history with a minor in chemistry, while also being a scholar at Christ College.
  • Jesse Hershberger ’20 – Jesse Hershberger is a senior undergraduate student at Valparaiso University with a triple major in Spanish, English, and political science while also participating in the Christ College Honors program.
  • Shana James – For 15 years Shana has coached more than a thousand leaders, CEOs, authors, speakers, and people with big visions to step into more powerful leadership, start and grow businesses, create more effective teams, increase their impact, get promoted, find love, rekindle spark, create a legacy, and become more personally inspired and fulfilled.
  • Stephanie Jass ’92 – Stephanie Jass has a Ph.D. in history and more than 25 years of classroom experience teaching American history and gender studies.
  • Shreedar Panday ’22 – Shree is an international student from Kathmandu, Nepal. He is a sophomore at Valparaiso University and is majoring in computer science with a double minor in business administration and mathematics.

For more information about TEDxValparaisoUniversity, please visit tedxvalparaisouniversity.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, TED Talks 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, often in the form of short talks delivered by leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED conferences, including our annual gathering in Vancouver, as well as TEDWomen, intimate TED Salons and thousands of independently organized TEDx events around the world. Videos of these talks are made available, free, on TED.com and other platforms. Audio versions of the talks from TED2019 are published to TED’s podcast TED Talks Daily, available on all podcast platforms.

TED’s open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; TEDx, which licenses thousands of individuals and groups to host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities; the Audacious Project, which surfaces and funds critical ideas that have the potential to impact millions of lives; TEDSummit, which gathers the most engaged members of the global TED community for brainstorms, discussions, performances, workshops and an eclectic program of mainstage talks; and the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED also has a growing library of original podcasts, including The TED Interview with Chris Anderson, WorkLife with Adam Grant, TED en Español and Sincerely, X.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED, on Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences.

Campus in the fall