TEDxUofA will feature professor and student talks on aberration

March 13, 2019

Courtesy Taylor Eddleman

Stickers and lanyards from the 2018 TEDxUofA. The event will return to campus on Friday, March 15, 2019, in the ENR2 Building.

Seven University of Arizona faculty and students will take to the stage in the ENR2 Building on Friday, March 15, to give of series of TEDx-style talks at the UA’s second annual TEDxUofA.

The theme for this year’s set of talks is Aberration.

“Aberration is defined as a departure from what is normal, usual or expected,” said Taylor Eddleman, executive director of TEDxUofA and a UA student studying business economics and Spanish.

This year’s seven speakers will focus on topics not usually a part of popular conversation in an effort to challenge the way communities think and connect, according to Eddleman.

Tickets for the event, which will run from 4-7 p.m., are available online at tedxuofa.com and start at $10 for students and $25 for community members.

“We truly hope that attendees can recognize the value of “aberration” and that we all must deviate from the norm sometimes — whether that be to reach new communities, to invite challenging conversations or to better ourselves,” Eddleman said.

This year’s speakers come from a diversity of backgrounds, including such speakers as UA professors and a biochemistry sophomore.

Matthew Mars, a UA assistant professor in agricultural leadership and innovation, will discuss the dynamics and factors that influence community and agricultural development, pulling from his interdisciplinary research, in his talk “ Innovation … Overrated?”

In her talk “Is Marriage the New Deviance”, Albertina Antognini, an associate professor of law, will discuss the regulation of non-marital relationships and the legal doctrines of marriage.

Bryant Valencia, a doctoral student in higher education, will discuss how college instructors can implement policies to remove masculinity and patriarchal culture from their classrooms, thereby reducing marginalization on a college campus, in his talk “Where is the Love?”.

Plant sciences professor David Galbraith will examine how artificial environments impact the human body in his talk “There is no Planet B”.

Given by Nooshin Warren, a marketing assistant professor, the talk “The Aftermath of Activism Advertising” will dive into the formation of corporation identity and corporate activism.

With 666 scholarly articles, Albrecht Classen, a professor of German studies, will apply his knowledge of German and European history to provide a new perspective on solving modern problems in his talk titled “Transforming Students into Global Citizens”.

Jeremiah Pate, a biochemistry sophomore at the UA, is the the youngest speaker at this year’s event – but the only one to own his own satellite company. Pate will discuss his efforts to develop an algorithm to be used to help treat Parkinson’s disease patients in his talk “Parkinson’s Disease: Fold or Fail.”

“TEDxUofA seeks to not only give a platform to UA affiliates to showcase their thoughts and research but to also stimulate progressive conversation within the community,” Eddleman said.

This year’s event is also being sponsored by the Birttenham Family Foundation, Gentle Ben’s Brewing and the Radcliff Financial Group.

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