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Organizers of TEDx SU announce 9 speakers for April event

By Justin Mattingly

UPDATED: March 18, 2015 at 10:53 p.m.

Organizers of TEDx Syracuse University have announced the nine speakers who will talk at this year’s event on April 17.

The event, which is titled “Evolve,” will take place from 5–7 p.m. in Watson Theater. The nine speakers will deliver talks on a range of subjects, including clean energy solutions and healing with art, according to a press release. Speakers for this year’s event, the second TEDx SU, will include SU students and faculty, members of the community and alumni, among others.

Here are the nine speakers:

— Charisse L’Pree, assistant professor of communications at SU



— Bill Jensen, Futurist and Management Consultant

— Hailey Temple, senior public relations and information management and technology major

— Doug Melville, Class of 1998 SU alumnus and Chief Diversity Officer of TBWA, North America

— Ronald Taylor, senior political science and policy studies major

— Derek Grassman, CEO of Kohilo Wind

— Petra Kolber, Founder of Moving to Happiness

— Domingo Zapata, Contemporary Artist

— Sean Kirst, Syracuse.com columnist

Tickets for the event are free and will be made available for reservation soon, according to the release.

Emma Herrera, the lead organizer of the event and a sophomore information management and technology major, said in an email that those involved with the event chose the “Evolve” theme, “because at the end of the speaker process all of the speakers’ talks all touched on evolving your mind, consciousness, perspective, health, life, technology, relationships and behavior.”

She said the group received 43 total applications before narrowing it down to the final nine speakers. Ronald Taylor, a senior at SU, is the only speaker who also spoke at last year’s event. Herrera added that there is diversity within the talks, despite all of them fitting into the “Evolve” category.

A training session will be held for the speakers on Thursday and a full dress rehearsal will be held on April 16, the day before the actual event, Herrera said.





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